In the past few years, there has been a proliferation of seminars, mainly around wealth creation, Internet marketing and personal growth. Various “gurus”, like Anthony Robbins, made this style of training for the masses popular and more and more people attend, in hope of becoming rich, successful and happy.
However, if you’ve attended any personal growth seminar, you have probably come out of it wanting more and thinking “Gosh, this gives me so much, but I’m not much better off now than I was before. What’s going on here?”
What’s going on is that most of these seminars operate at the general level. They are tailored for a “standard person”, and, more often than not, are mainly a very elaborate method for selling additional products and services to a captive and thoroughly pre-qualified audience.
“So are you saying that personal growth seminars are worthless?”, you ask.
No, they most certainly aren’t. In fact, many of them are great, but they are only as good as your focus. You see, if you find yourself sitting in the big room and thinking about what the presenter is getting out of the seminar, you are forgetting about yourself at the same time.
However, if you are constantly on the lookout for information you can use for your own benefit, you will find plenty of it.
How to get the most out of personal growth seminars
What’s more, personal growth seminars (and others) are excellent networking opportunities, which you can use to build relationships with like-minded people, who share at least one meaningful experience with you.
So when the presenter says, “Walk around the room and introduce yourself”, make yourself known to as many people as you can, swap cards with them and get to know something about them.
When the presenter says, “Tell the person next to you they are great and give them a hug”, turn to the person next to you and do just that, because when you give, you receive. Hugs feel good even when the presenter wants to manipulate you.
If you focus on yourself, you will enjoy the hug and maybe walk out of there with new friends.
I was talking to a friend of mine about a personal growth seminar I had attended, and he asked, “Isn’t all this stuff you already knew?” Technically, it was, but it was presented from a different angle, using new examples, and (and this is the most important) I was a different person.
Sometimes, I hear or read something and it stays for a while, but I don’t implement it, until the knowledge fades away. Getting another exposure to it, especially in another context, awakens me to its potential again and reinforces my previous learning, which I would not have used if I didn’t bump into it again.
So I say focus on the value you are getting for yourself at personal growth seminars, participate with everything you’ve got, meet your neighbors and implement.
Yours,
Gal
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