Personal Development: The Truth No One Tells You

“You don’t start at the top tier, you grow into it.”

Lessons Learned the Hard Way

I’ve been in personal development not only as a coach, but as a practicing student for well over 14 years now.

Interestingly enough, did you know they call it a therapy practice, because it’s on-going work… maybe that seemed obvious to you, but I literally learned that this year.

Anyways, I’ve learned a few things about personal development, and I think a lot of people tend to do things the wrong way.

I most certainly did, I spent thousands of dollars on coaches and courses that I shouldn’t have.

I went into crippling debt at one point because I gave a coach promising me the world the last of my money in my bank account.

Why I Made Those Mistakes

Now I think there were a few reasons I did this, one is I was 25, young and very naive.

Two is I severely lacked confidence in myself and I was 100% willing to throw money at someone I thought would lead me to the promised land.

Lastly, and this is probably the biggest one, I didn’t understand what I actually needed, and the coaches out there are all too ready to sell you their program, whether you actually need it or not.

What Most People Get Wrong

As a coach, I can safely tell you, I strongly dislike most coaches and call them out constantly for reasons such as this above.

But I digress Deep Breath so anyways here’s what I wish I knew sooner, and will share with you in hopes of not having you waste your time, money, energy, emotion, and hope.

There are levels to personal development, they come with different commitments, costs, effort, energy, and of most of all your vibe.

So let’s dive into it...

Starting Small and Building Clarity

This is your lowest cost, lowest commitment, and lowest level of energy tier.

This tier should cost you between free and maybe $100 a month.

This is just starting off tier, where anything you do can shape you and help you grow.

This is where you invest in low cost courses, or cheap group programs.

You may also get books, listen to podcasts, or youtube videos.

This tier is meant to be low entry and the reason you should start here is for these main reasons.

It won’t cost you much if anything at all, so if you find you don’t enjoy the material or the person it doesn’t really matter much.

You can switch and pivot your direction easily without any complex contracts or harsh lost investments.

You begin to figure out what you need to learn more about, the information you are consuming will either really connect with you, or you’ll feel disengaged and know to move on.

This stage helps build massive clarity around what you should continue to consume and go more in depth on.

It is the start of finding your vibe and your tribe.

As you begin to be exposed to different people and information you will see who you resonate with heavily.

You’ll figure out if you want an aggressive guy yelling at you to carry boats, or a more mild mannered person sipping tea on a couch telling you how to achieve harmony with the universe.

Either way you’ll begin to understand what you like which means…

Investing Deeper and Finding Your People

This is your mid tier which means a lower to medium type of investment.

You may now be spending a few hundred or thousands of dollars on courses, seminars, events, programs, or even masterminds.

This is the tier that begins to bring a deeper level of commitment, clarity, support, and growth because you are now more properly positioned to receive what you need.

This tier is meant to get the more committed people enrolled into the next process of someone’s brand or teachings.

Here are the reasons you should dive into this tier.

This tier is meant to take you into a more specific area of learning, it will still be general since it is targeted towards mass amounts of people, however the information is more in depth because it is meant for the person who wanted to take the next step in their growth journey with this specific brand or creator.

This tier heavily gets you involved in a tribe of sorts, you’re most likely meeting people with common interests and similar personalities since you’re all congregating in the same space.

You have more exposure to the person you are seeking guidance from, it will still most likely be general, such as the format of 1-many, however now they are facilitating or in the same room as you.

This is the start of building real connections and relationships with the people who inspire you.

Lastly you’re more certain on the specific person you want to learn from and this allows you to also understand the type of person/personality you want to develop yourself into.

Usually when we choose a mentor, it’s because we admire their traits and want to learn to absorb more of them into ourselves.

Going All In with the Right Person

This is usually your highest level tier, it will be most costly, time consuming, specific, highest committed, and most personalized.

This is where you invest in your 1-1 mentoring/coaching.

This tier can run you a few thousand or well into the five figure mark, especially if you want to work with a truly great coach or mentor.

This tier is the most important decision you can make in your personal development journey, and it should take a good bit of time to get here.

This tier in my opinion should only be invested in when you are absolutely certain about the person you NEED in your life.

You’ve been in personal development for a while, maybe had some former coaches, therapists, or mentors but stopped growing.

This is a great opportunity to find someone with more skill, experience, and value to help guide you on your path.

You are absolutely certain about the vibe that you like when working with someone.

You understand the kind of personality that you want to have in your life when you are working on your own growth journey.

Your hired mentor/coach will become a big part of your life, it’s extremely important that you connect well with them.

You need that specific information to break through roadblocks on your journey, and you need their information to do it.

The biggest difference between tier 2 and 3 is this right here.

In tier two you’re getting specific information from the person you like, however it’s still general enough to appeal to their entire audience.

In this tier you’re getting information from the person you like, however it’s personalized to your unique situation which makes application easier, and more effective.

You know that this commitment will have massive impact on your life because you’ve been around this person and their teachings for quite a bit, now the next step is a lot easier to take.

This also helps with buyer remorse and will keep you more committed because the certainty in your decision is higher.

You will feel better about the investment and most likely put in more effort, leading to better outcomes.

Closing Thoughts

Overall this is the way I have come to understand the best ways to do personal development properly.

I think too many times we jump in because we hear a piece of information or advice we like, however we fail to recognize there are many varying factors that may actually make the 1-1 commitment a TERRIBLE idea.

If I had this breakdown when I first started my personal development journey I’d probably have saved myself over $50,000, but hey we’re here now and you can take my life tuition and apply it to yourself for free.