Reviews of 20Self Improvement ProgramsMy reviews of these self improvement programs will focus mostly on what I got out of them. Therefore, I will talk about my experiences and feelings during and after these activities.
For several reasons, I will not be presenting too many details on what goes
on during live programs. In many cases, it wouldn’t make much sense to
you because the information would be taken out of context. In other words,
you would need to be there in order to understand. It would also create
preconceived notions about the activity, which could compromise the benefits you
might otherwise get from it You’ll probably recognize several of the names of the organizations that offer these programs. A couple of them have controversial reputations that have led some people to call them “cult-like” in nature. I’ve never really understood why certain organizations get this label while others that are equally deserving of it do not. There are many different types of groups that you could consider being cult-like from religious to corporate organizations. If you do online research on some of the organizations presented here, you’ll likely run across a self proclaimed cult expert. If do a search on him, you’ll find a Wikipedia profile indicating that he has a questionable background of his own. In my opinion, he may be sincere in his desire to help others, or to make a living, but I read him as being too eager to label unconventional groups as being a cult. I didn’t see any information on his site that talked about him investigating groups from within by participating in one of their programs. Here’s are the definitions for a “cult” from my dictionary. 1. A system or community of religious worship and ritual. 2. Obsessive devotion to a person or ideal. 2b. A group of persons sharing such devotion. That definition could certainly be applied to many organizations and individuals. There is good and bad in all things. Take advantage of the good and ignore the bad. Those who retain their powers of choice could never be considered a cult member of any group. Here are my reviews of self improvement programs that I’ve attended live, watched on video, or listened to. Just click on a title to jump down to it. Use the "Back" button in your browser to return to where you were. *** Learning is a lifetime project that keeps filling us with knowledge on how to
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Live
Video - Audio
Local Classes & Workshops
Live
Transcendental
Meditation (TM) – Initiation & Practice I learned Transcendental Meditation (TM) from a qualified teacher during my first year of college. It made a tremendous difference in my life. I still do it to this day. Meditation gives you greater clarity, more creativity, reduced stress, and improved health. The Transcendental Meditation technique is unique among techniques of meditation. The TM initiation process was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. When it was over, I felt a sense of serenity and relaxation that I’d never experienced before. It was magnificent! The initiation
event as compared to all the meditation sessions that have followed could be
described like this. The initiation is like your first organism. All
the meditation sessions that follow are satisfying and a pleasant reminder
of the first time (during the initiation). The cool the thing about
meditation though, is that the benefits of doing it are accumulative! The
more you do it, the greater the payoff.
Tips: Enjoy the initiation to the fullest. Meditate daily.
Dale Carnegie This multi week course, which focuses on overcoming the fear of public speaking and developing interpersonal skills, is brilliant! Carnegie must have been a genius. This course transformed me into a different person. I was so enthused by the results that I considered going to work at one of their local training centers. I had a profound fear of public speaking when my boss informed me that I would be the main speaker in front of hundreds of people a few minutes before the meeting started. He handed me a script and jokingly said, “Take all time you need to go over it, just be ready in about 20 minutes. Even though it was a relatively short script, I panicked! I was scared out of my mind. I got through it, but I did a terrible job. When it was over, I took my boss aside and told him that I was committed to master public speaking. Then I asked him if public speaking courses qualified for the tuition reimbursement program. He said, “I'm not sure, but you find reputable a program and I'll get it approved.” I was ecstatic! I was also relived that a solution was ahead that would enable me to succeed in my corporate career. I looked into the Dale Carnegie course that same day and enrolled a few weeks later. To give you an indication of how severe my problem was, I started and quit that course three times before I finally completed it. But I when graduated, I received several awards and was asked to be an assistant to the instructor for future classes. The course helped me to make huge breakthroughs in overcoming my shyness and fear of public speaking. I also enjoyed an unexpected bonus from this training. When you learn how to speak in front of a crowd, it also improves your ability to communicate one-on-one and in small groups at the same time. I don’t remember them mentioning this bonus during the course, but when I found myself speaking more confidently and relaxed in small groups and one-on-one I was thrilled! The brilliance of the course is that it takes you through a wide range of
public speaking scenarios. This eliminates all the actual or potential
areas of fear and concern. It also instills the confidence that you can
handle whatever situation might come up during a speech.
Here are some the
Dale Carnegie
The Quick and Easy Way to Effective Speaking
How to Develop Self-Confidence By Public Speaking
How to Win Friends & Influence People
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living Tips: There is no reason to have any fear about attending this course regardless of how shy or anxious you are. Every Dale Carnegie instructor that I’ve met is extremely encouraging, kindhearted, supportive, devoted, and skilled.
Toastmasters – Club Membership & Participation After completing the Dale Carnegie course, I realized that I needed to hone
my public speaking skills even further. I wanted to do this for several
reasons. When I was working at my corporate job, I found that I was
required to speak in front of larger and larger groups the higher I moved up the
ranks. In order to succeed, I had to refine my skills. The other
reason involved my desire to completely overcome my shyness and become more
skilled socially. I knew from my experience with the Carnegie course that
as my public speaking skills grew, my social skills would develop right along
with it. The Carnegie course had taught me how to get the butterflies in my stomach to fly in formation. Now I wanted to get them to do aerial acrobatics and high altitude soaring like the Blue Angels on command! So I decided to join a local Toastmasters club. Toastmasters is a non-profit organization, which charges a very small fee for membership and dues. Each club follows the guidelines of Toastmasters, but they operate and conduct meetings on their own. The club membership is comprised of like-minded individuals who want to hone their communication and leadership skills. Meetings are well organized and productive. The atmosphere is supportive, encouraging, and fun! Toastmasters helped me to take my public speaking skills to the next level and beyond. I achieved the first competency level (CTM) and was very active for a number of years. As I’ve moved to different cities, I’ve joined other clubs and participated as my schedule permitted. Tips: Visit several clubs in your area before you paid the fees and join. Although the format of the meeting is almost identical and the members have a similar mindset, the culture and emphasis of clubs can vary widely. For example, there are clubs whose members are all single or they come from one particular industry. Clubs have prospective members visiting all the time. So don’t feel uncomfortable going to several clubs for 1-3 meetings. They are always very cordial.
Sterling Institute of Relationship - The Men’s Weekend (Women’s too!) I did the “Men’s Weekend” many years ago and the influences of that event are still very much apart of me. That weekend was the most transformative, intense, exciting, enlightening, emotional, frightening, powerful, joyous, and loving of my life! Nothing else comes close. When I left, I had a profound sense of knowing, freedom, and power as man like I had never felt before. It was as if I had finally been shown my true place in the world. I was in my early 30’s at the time. Many longstanding questions and issues were answered during that weekend. And the entire process felt incredibly natural. It was remarkable! I flew to my company’s headquarters for my annual review a few hours after the weekend ended. You can probably imagine how that review went. I’m sure my boss sensed that positive recognition was the order of the day. There’s a weekend for the men and one for the women. There are also
alumni events that bring the men and women together. I’ve never been to a
gathering where there was so much comradery, respect, love, and sexual energy, whether there was alcohol available or not, then there was at these events.
They were amazing! Tips: Commit yourself to stay for the entire weekend. No matter how you feel at the beginning, do not leave. The “gifts” will arrive before long and continue.
Scientology - Communication Course (Introductory Course) Somewhere around 18-20 years old, I heard about Scientology and decided to look into it. I was anxious to find ways to improve myself and get over my shyness. This would be my first experience taking a live self improvement course. I took the first level, introductory course. I don’t remember the exact name, but their website mentions a communication course that seems to fit. As I recall, the course included processes and information for improving your
one-on-one communication, emotional response control, and self confidence.
The course was comprised mostly of one-on-one face-to-face exercises with a
classmate rather lectures. They also encouraged you
to read their most well known book, “Dianetics This course had a big impact on me. It really helped me to conquer some of my shyness and gain some confidence in my ability to communicate one-on-one. Had I had the money at the time, I would have taken the next course. The introductory course is rather inexpensive. The prices for those that follow are significantly more as I recall. There’s nothing usual about that approach, but it’s a budget consideration. Based on my experience, I’ve never understood why there has been so much ugly
controversy about the Church of Scientology (COS). I think what draws such
nasty suspicions to organizations like the I haven’t been involved with Scientology since I took that course, so I
don’t know what’s going on inside today. At this point, I am neither for nor against the Tips: Read
"Dianetics
Video - Audio
Rhonda Byrne This video is a documentary and seminar about the Law of Attraction (LoA).
Without a doubt, watching this
video as opposed to reading the
book I don’t want to sound too dramatic, but this video changed my life. It caused a major shift in my thinking. And it give me some exciting solutions to issues I had been struggling with for years. I grew up during the time when clinic psychology was becoming an extremely popular profession. It became a well-accepted belief in our society during that period that analyzing your past and discussing your problems with a psychologist was the answer. I have not seen anyone make significant improvements in their life as a result of psychotherapy. It may have helped bring them to the level of normalcy, but I have no knowledge of psychotherapy being the catalyst or the gateway for significant change and success in a person’s life. I’ve actually witnessed the opposite. What’s my point? There is almost nothing to be gained by analyzing your past or discussing your problems, fears, and insecurities. It’s impossible to unravel all the painful issues of your past or gain courage through discussion or thought processes. And it usually leads to blaming someone else and not accepting 100% responsibility for your life. Thinking and talking about your problems and all the other stuff you don’t want, causes those things to grow and manifest in your life. Your time will be better spent and you’ll start to make notable progress if you focus your attention on what you want and take action to get it. This is the message of “The Secret.”
Mike Dooley Mike is one of the teachers in “The Secret.” In this program, Mike talks about his own experiences in applying the Law of Attraction. He discusses the LoA from a slightly different angle and often uses different terms to describe it. Mike’s presentation style is down-to-earth, folksy, and humorous. It’s also very easy to follow and understand. I really enjoyed listening to him talk. This program greatly enhanced my understanding about the power of our thoughts.
John Assaraf John was also one of the teachers in “The Secret.” John shares a very inspiring story about his past in this program. He also does an outstanding job of explaining the principles he used to achieve his goals and dreams. John’s presentation filled in a number of missing pieces for me. As John finished explaining certain principles, I remember thinking several times, “Now I completely understand this!"
Wayne Dyer Although I’m not a big fan of
psychology, Dr. Wayne Dyer's work is a
good example of the kind of innovation that is needed in this field.
If anyone deserves to be called a guru, it’s Wayne Dyer, even though he
wouldn’t want this label. The power of intention is a slightly different take on the law of attraction.
Dr. Dyer
takes a more spiritual approach in the power of intention. Dr. Dyer’s
presentation style is warmhearted and sincere. The real life stories he
tells, adds a lot of credence to his message. This video helped me to understand and get excited about the infinite
possibilities through the application of the power of intention.
Louise Hay I enjoyed this video as much as the
book
Jim Rohn This was the first self improvement program that I listened to. I went on to listened to it dozens of times. Jim has a very appealing presentation style. He’s engaging, informative, challenging, and inspiring! There’s no clever or trendy concepts discussed. Just old fashion down-home wisdom on living successfully. This program is a blueprint for living a truly successful life. And it provides a very solid foundation for self improvement.
Tony Robbins This is one of Tony’s earliest programs. From what I’ve gathered in
seeing parts of later works, it appears that all of them built upon the
concepts he developed for this program.
Tony is a very enthusiastic and exciting presenter. I believe he is sincere in his desire to help people. But there are a few things that just don’t resonate with me. I like the majority of Tony’s work, but I can’t get my head around a few of his methods. One of them is the “Swish Pattern.” I’m not going to describe why I don’t like it because it might work for you. Another reason I can’t relate well with Tony is his uninspiring background.
He often tells the story of living in a “tiny” 400 sq ft bachelor apartment, in
the Californian beach town of It’s nothing against Tony, but I have trouble relating to such a shallow comeback story. I guess I need a comeback story that is similar to or more significant than my own in order to relate well and get inspired. If his comeback story isn’t a issue for you, then this or another
Robbins
This program got me excited about the benefits and healing powers of a
healthy diet and
vitamin supplements. It also got me interested in
power walking as a replacement
to the Stairmaster when I gave up my health club membership and built a
home gym.
Joe Cross - Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead (Video) This video, along with the next one, convinced me to go from being a partial vegetarian to being a 100 percent vegan! Joe chronicles his journey from being seriously over weight and sick with a
rare disease to being trim and disease free by changing to a plant based diet
and exercising. Clever and humorous cartoon-like animation is used to explain key points. The animation made it easy to understand these important issues. Joe’s Australian charm and laidback attitude makes watching the video a pleasant experience. If you want more information about the benefits and importance of a healthy diet, I strongly recommend this documentary entitled, "Food Matters."
Jill Ovnik - Change Your Food Change Your Life (Video) As Jill points out at the beginning of the video, she isn’t a medical professional nor does she have any degrees in nutrition. I liked this fact because an unbiased individual who had done her own research, and made her own diet changes, was presenting the information. During the first half of the video, Jill is in front of an audience presenting some very compelling information comparing an animal-based diet with a plant-based diet. This information completely removed my desire to eat animal-based food products. During the second half, Jill is at grocery stores and restaurants offering suggestions on which products to buy and guidance on how to order a vegetarian meal from various menus. Then she spends a considerable amount of time showing you how to prepare recipes she created. Her recipes would be good for the beginner who’s trying to make the transition to a vegetarian diet. But I wouldn’t recommend some of her recipes long-term if you’re aiming for the ultimate healthy diet because they contain too many processed foods. She also mentions that olive oil is fattening. Olive oil contains the good fat, so using it is a healthy choice when used in moderation. This informative and inspiring video was strongly instrumental in my decision to become a vegetarian. I found Jill’s guidance on how to order food at restaurants and make satisfying vegetarian meals to be particularly helpful in implementing this lifestyle.
Local Classes & Workshops
These are local classes
and workshops that may or may not be available in your area. Even so, I’m
going to give you my reviews of them so that you know what to look for in your
part of the world.
Interpersonal Communication (Class) I took this course at a community college prior to graduating. At the start of the course, the professor recommended that we read a book entitled, "Being Your Own Best Friend." That book provided just the right message for the challenging and unfamiliar communication exercises we would be doing. This class was very enlightening. I was amazed at what I learned about communication styles and myself during the one-on-one and small group exercises. I discovered that my perceptions of how people viewed me were inaccurate. What they saw was flattering. What I thought they saw was not. This instructor inspired me to want to become a college professor. I some times feel like I am fulfilling that desire through some of my articles.
Personal Financial Management (Class) I took this course at a community college years after graduating from a university. This course covered all aspects of personal finance including bank and credit card management, investment monitoring, budget creation, frugal living, and smart buying. It was a very eye opening class. It radically changed the way I dealt with my finances forever.
Understanding Mutual Funds (Class) I took this course at a community college years after graduating from a university. We learned about all the different types of mutual funds, the costs to buy and maintain them, and how to pick the right investments based on our age and tolerance for risk. I was pleased that I took this course before I bought my first mutual fund. I had read several books on the subject, but this instructor gave us the inside scope. This information changed how and where I invested my money.
Couple’s Communication Workshop(s) A psychologist led two of these workshops. A church adult singles pastor led a third for my singles organization. All three were held at rented public facilities. I’m not a big fan of the field of psychology or organized religions, but both of these individuals were outstanding. My girlfriend (at the time) and I had several communication breakthroughs during the first two workshops. I developed several key components for my book, “The Couple’s Review,” based on ideas I got from these workshops. In fact, I describe how the processes in my book are like a private couples’ workshop.
Dating Mastery for Men (Workshop) A doctor of holistic medicine led this workshop at a rented public facility. The man who led the workshop was phenomenal. His detailed and informative presentation completely changed the way I viewed and approached dating.I didn’t need any help finding dates. My problem was finding women who were a good match for me. The workshop gave me the tools to identify and connect with women who were right for me. Many of the things I learned during
this workshop are included in my book, “Finding
the One Who’s Right.”
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books that were used or recommended during the course.
