Guru’s, guru’s everywhere
We live in a word of gurus, busy telling us how we should all live our lives. Who can ever forget the nonsense of ‘The Secret,’ where all you had to do was ‘wish it to be true’ and it was. Whilst many woke up and realised that finding the genie in the bottle is an actual fantasy, in today’s digital world the new age gurus have found a whole new captive audience.
From daily affirmations, to how to get rich, popular or famous. If you seek it out, the online world has you covered.
Expert in human behaviour Mark Carter will explores how all this noise leads to a life of viewing content without taking action to change one’s own life, expecting to miraculously wake up and find your world is now perfect.
When the change does not occur, and the reality hits, how this impacts our self-confidence, sending us back to seek out further gurus, creating and endless cycle that leads us nowhere.
As part of this pitch we can look at examples of the popular gurus, the more crazy gurus, the mass followers they have and provide tips as to when you need to give the gurus the flick.
It’s a big business the guru game
• It is estimated that we spend globally $16 billion on personal development
• This sort if money attracts both the charlatans and the genuine.
How to identify whether a guru is not all they seem:
• If your guru seems more interested in your wallet than you – If you are being pushed to ‘buy’ yet another piece of the puzzle it’s time to move on
• If you start thinking that you have all the answers in life because ‘your guru told you so’ – no one can unlock all the answers in life and if that is what your guru claims then that should be a red flag
• You find yourself mimicking your guru – if you find yourself not only convinced that you have all the answers, but are now a carbon copy of your guru, well that is time to put down the Kool-Aid
• When your guru starts to believe that are little more than a guru – having confidence is one thing, believing you are an enlightened spiritual being with all answers, well that is time RUN.
Tips to follow to untangle the guru syndrome:
• Identify yourself what are the key principles you feel you need in life and then seek out those leaders who can you help you evolve as a person
• Do not put all your eggs in one basket and once you have found what you want to personally develop find 2 or 3 different thought leaders and specialists in that field, instead of focusing on only one
• Before committing to any personal development try to identify the areas in life you really need help by being brave and seeking out the perspectives from people close to you, those who’s opinion you value
• Set a definitive budget by being clear on how much you want to invest, in both time and money. If you find yourself over investing in either, then it’s time to rethink your strategy.
Listen to the podcast here.