The peculiar category of personal development software
by Michael Finley
Exclusive to Computer User
Copyright © 1996 by Michael Finley. All rights reserved.
The quest by Silicon Valley for "the next killer application" has turned over many stones, and few are as curious as the category of personal development software. What is most curious is the concept underlying the category -- that machine programs can help us become more complete human beings.
Though the actual number of offerings in the personal development category may be small, the breadth they cover is remarkable, for the simple reason that there is a range of thought on what constitute personal development. Here is the range, from extreme to middle to the other extreme, along with the message that each type makes:
Recoveryware. The personal fix-it category, for incremental growth. "All I need to become a better person is to get control of bad habits. This kind of program helps you modify your behavior by keeping track of successes and failures."
Schmaltzware. Also known as Teshware. "I'm most comfortable with a positive, soothing message that reassures me that I'm OK and everything's going to be all right."
Hubrisware. "New age software for exponential growth. I want to become a superpowerful person able to bend spoons and see into the future. My mental and moral capabilities will make ordinary humans look puny and inconsequential."
First Things First
I have been fortunate to have several of these kinds of packages swim into my ken in recent weeks. Some are big and ambitious and some are small and modest. But all hope to nudge your behavior in the direction you want it to go.
"Keeping a commitment or a promise is a major deposit; breaking one is a major withdrawal."
"Making and keeping promises to ourselves precedes making and keeping promises to others. "
"The power to make and keep commitments to ourselves is the essence of developing the basic habits of effectiveness. "
At this point, the Covey company has created several software products: a "7 Habits" toolkit ($49.95), a CD-ROM library of the Covey books ($59.95), a Covey quote screen saver ($19.95), and a CD compilation of Executive Excellence magazine, an excellent journal for and about leadership edited by Ken Shelton ($199).
The 7 Habits Tools program helps you establish a personal mission for your life and work, and a journal for recording your progress on the path toward effectiveness. One curious downside to this program is that it is an bolt-on to the Schedule+ module of Microsoft Office -- curious because Schedule+ is not a program everyone uses. (A package combining Schedule+ and the tools is available for $139.95.)
"Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of
Life's longing for itself."
I thought about that for a while, and afterward ran a check to see if I felt more successful. Sure enough, I did.
Insights Software also offers softwarized book editions by Wayne Dyer, Og Mandino (which, God help me, I always read as Mandingo), Dale Carnegie and W. Clement Stone, all grizzled veterans warriors of the motivational wars. Bottom line for them is that YOU are your biggest problem, and with a little nudge YOU can do anything.
Other stuff
You may also want to check out these products and companies:
After reviewing these materials, I am left with a couple of disturbing feelings. The first, which is relatively minor, is that there is precious little humor in all this self-development and personal success material. Say what you will about Kahlil Gibran, there is not a good solid laugh in his complete life's work.
I don't mean knee-slapping humor. I'm talking about the sly stuff that cuts through the reality around you and tells you something useful about the world, that makes it more tolerable, and your shortcomings less lamentable. Like Stephen Wright's "It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it." It's funny, it hurts, and it's true.
I finally figured out that Jack Canfield is the basis for Jack Handey, the solemn Saturday Night Live guru ("If you drop your car keys into a lava flow, forget about them. They're gone." Because Canfield/Handey's sayings lie there in just about the same pronate attitude. Given the choice of Jack Canfield and Jack Handey, I'll take Jack Handey any time. Given the choice of Stephen Covey or Stephen Wright, I'll take Mr. Wright.
(On the plus side, it is said that the nickname given Covey by his subordinates in Provo is "The Evil One." I was strangely cheered to hear that there are gaps in the great man's hagiography. Already an interesting person, this put him over the top with me.)
Say No to the For-Profit Prophets
The second matter is a bit more serious. It strikes me as odd that we have trouble remembering these simple truths about who and what we are without prompting from our PCs, and very sad that we need it at all.
Wouldn't it be interesting if one of these awareness/motivation programs, instead of lulling you to sleep with orange sunsets and nerf dingbats, were to club you awake with the very signal reminder that YOU are not the total picture.
What about the people out there who stay up late nights trying to think up ways to separate YOU from your money, with an earnest twinkle in their eye, an ethically square jaw, and a handshake firmer than virtue itself? x
Michael Finley writes a weekly column about the war between people and machines, for the Saint Paul Pioneer Press. He is author of the newly released WHY CHANGE DOESN'T WORK (Peterson's).
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