Life-changing skills for today’s world.

Large parts of the self-improvement industry are money making ventures with little regard for the efficacy of the end product. This is evidenced by the way products are sold. Manipulative techniques, unsubstantiated promises, empty motivation designed to create eager buyers and inappropriate products that set participants up to fail. The industry has been like this for decades, but social media has turbo charged the problem leading to unscrupulous grifters exploiting vulnerable people.

Success means different things to different people. For example, we all know that being wealthy is only a small part of a more complex answer. If it were just about wealth then all rich people would be happy (they’re not) and Finland would not be voted the happiest place on earth (it is). Sadly, the accumulation of wealth plays an outsized role in the personal development industry. Wealth creation is, in reality, part of a constellation of goals including meaning, connection, mastery, mental and physical health and our role in society. The skills shared during the Sustainable Human masterclass will help to provide a holistic approach to success that is long lasting and profound.

The major flaw in the vast majority of products are the relentless focus on “The Self”. Personal Development, Self-help, Self-Improvement sound easy and attractive but fail to address the core challenges of the modern world. The most important skills today are those that connect us to other people. Mastery of our personality, the creation of an extraordinary reputation, the ability to think like a successful person. Importantly, it is other people that make you successful, that make you feel valued and who provide meaning in your life. We are so busy looking at our screens that we forget just how important our fellow humans are. Truly successful people are fantastic with other people and have world class communication skills plus a collection of higher skills that set them apart.

The rapid advancement of technology is changing the world in many exciting ways. Unfortunately, there have been some unintended consequences that negatively affect humans. Our phones dominate our lives and we spend far too much time spectating rather than participating in the world. In the last decade social scientists have proven that our algorithmic lives are causing rises in addiction, anxiety, depression, loneliness and a host of other social problems. For us to be successful, this relationship must be reimagined. Technology thrives on a relentless process of upgrading whereas humans are more complex and cannot necessarily thrive simply by being continuously optimised by different devices. Tech should not overwhelm us, it should be part of a sustainable approach to living.