I was first exposed to the self-help or self-improvement community in college. Bored with the material being presented I decided to find alternative teachers online.I discovered the vast online community of self-help gurus and was drawn to the idea that my future was not set in stone. One of the first speakers I remember listening to was Stephen Covey who wrote the book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” I was drawn to the idea that our “habits” created our destiny, but our habits could be changed, therefore our destiny could be changed. I took this concept and began my journey to personal improvement.
Top Self Help Gurus and Books That Changed My Life
When it comes to self help gurus there is no shortage of people trying to sell you the secret that will fix all your problems. The truth is, there is no secret or quick fix. Humans change their behaviors and patterns slowly over time using repetition to reprogram the subconscious brain (see NLP, Richard Bandler). Many behaviors take a life time to learn, therefore they can be extremely difficult to change. The older we get the harder it becomes to break with our current paradigm. After listening to literally hundreds of different speakers over the years I have learned that no one person has all the answers. Self-help gurus usually excel on a certain area of self improvement. Speed up your learning curve by starting with the self improvement expert in the area that you need the most improvement in. It’s best to take only the information you find useful from each self improvement guru and add it to your daily routine.
WARNING: Many people fail to make lasting personal change because they learn but they do not act. They listen to the speaker but they don’t feel sufficient motivation to TAKE ACTION. Reading a book or listening to a speaker in itself will not change your life. The real magic happens when you act upon the information by adding it to your daily routine.
“Repetition is the key to mastery.” – E.J. Gold
Top 5 Self Help Gurus
Bob Proctor – My favorite Bob Proctor affirmation is “I’m so happy and grateful now that money comes to me in increasing quantities, through multiple sources on a continuous basis.” Bob proctor is a legendary self improvement guru who helps people move past fear to achieve the life they really want. Bob proctor talks about how the sub-conscious mind is holding us back from the destiny we desire. Bob Proctor teaches you how to break through your failure loop and the limiting beliefs of the sub-conscious mind. Bob Proctor is constantly repeating the following quote, “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek,” by Joseph Campbell. I have recently applied the principle “go where you fear to go” to my life and I strongly recommend it.
Stephen Covey – 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey is a powerful framework for self improvement. Of all the self improvement gurus, Stephen Covey has had the most influence on my life. Stephen Covey teaches that the space between stimulus and response is the freedom of choice. We must not be a slave to our emotions, but instead create a space where we have the power to choose our response. My favorite Stephen Covey line that sticks with me today was about a man falling out of “love” with his wife. He came to Stephen and said he was unsure of what to do, he no longer “loved” his wife. Stephen replied with the following statement, “then love her.” The man replied again, “you see that’s the problem Stephen I’m no longer in love with her.” Stephen replied again, “well then love her, love is a verb, something you do daily, not something you feel.” That one line was a huge paradigm shift for me and from that point on I have thought about love differently. Here is a brief summary of Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Habit 1: Be proactive – Change starts from within, your not a captive of your past.
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind – Develop a personal mission statement based on personal principles and long term goals.
Habit 3: Put First Things First – Spend most of your time doing things that fit into your personal mission.
Habit 4: Think win/win – Only seek agreements and relationships that are mutually beneficial, if win/win cannot be achieved no deal is best.
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood – Most important principle for interpersonal relationships, listen before you speak.
Habit 6: Synergize -Leverage individual differences to create a whole great than the sum of the parts
Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw – Take time out from production to build more production capacity.
Final Thoughts on the Law of Attraction and Success
I hope you enjoyed my list of “The Top 5 Self-Help Gurus.” I found it difficult to refine my list to just 5 names because of the thousands of great self help men and women out there. The 5 authors I have chosen represent the self-help gurus that I have found the most useful in my life. I hope you enjoyed the list!
I wanted to include a short list of other important self improvement gurus that I didn’t include in the Top 5:
Napoleon Hill – Author of the ground breaking book Think and Grow Rich.
Click here to download the Think and Grow Rich Audio Book By Napoleon Hill.
Eckhart Tolle – Mainstream, but the concept of “The Power of Now” is so powerful he must be mentioned.
Robert Greene – Laws of Power is a must read for social climbers.
Shinzin Young – Is my favorite meditation teacher and guru. If you want to work on your inner game I highly suggest “The Science of Enlightenment”
Richard Bandler– Co-creator and founder of NLP. Richard Bandler is the master of hypnosis and suggestion. Use Richard’s techniques if your looking to change the subconscious mind.
Experts agree, you are what you think about. Learn how to attract what you want in life by using the LAW OF ATTRACTION. Ready to take the next step?
