I hadn’t be as excited to get something in the mail in a long time as I was when Personal Development for Smart People by Steve Pavlina came. I have been reading Steve Pavlina’s blog for a few years now and I knew this book had to be pretty special.
I decided to read it twice. The first time just for me and the second time to pick out highlights for this review. I avoided reading other reviews of the book online so that I could remain uninfluenced by other people’s opinions.
In general, I think this book is what I was expecting from Steve, but better. The content is very clear, well organized, and carefully thought out. I really like the practical tone of the book and what makes it really different from most books in this category is that it leaves out all the extra sensationalism and fluff.
While reading through it, I had many aha! moments. This book seems to take what you feel to be true subconsciously and put it in common sense terms. It’s like it’s full of things you always knew, but didn’t know you knew. Not to say that there isn’t a lot to learn here though!
Steve has everything categorized into 7 fundamental principles; truth, love, power, oneness, authority, courage, and intelligence. The first three principles; truth, love, and power are the three main principles and oneness, authority, and courage are the sub principles made from connections between the first three. Finally, intelligence is what you get when you combine all of the principles together. This organization makes a lot of sense and really helps you understand the ideas that Steve is presenting.
The book also has tons of productivity tips, tips for having and making better relationships, dealing with money, and growing spiritually. There are also several exercises and things to try to get you started right away. The first day I started reading the book, I decided to implement Steve’s tip on getting your hardest tasks done first thing in the morning so that your day feels progressively easier. I’ve been implementing that idea for the last few weeks and I have to say, that alone has helped my productivity quite a bit. I’m very much looking forward to implementing more things little by little from here on. There’s enough here to keep you occupied for quite awhile, I’m sure.
I also liked the special focus throughout the book on relationships. The idea that we are each “atoms” connected to a larger “body” is fascinating. I think the last several years in particular, people have managed to distance themselves from each other a lot. If more of us realized that we are connected and live with that idea in mind, the world would certainly change for better.
I’d wholeheartedly recommend this book for both people just becoming interested in personal development and to people who have more experience with it. I think it could be a useful tool for just about anyone looking for ideas and ways to improve their life and relationships and one of the best books I’ve read in this field.
