When Steve announced his upcoming book Personal Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth, I looked forward to reading it. I was thankful to be one of the few to get a pre-release copy to review here.

Let me begin by getting one small thing off my chest. When I first started reading it, it felt really slow and I couldn’t figure out why. Finally it occurred to me that the publisher had chosen a sans-serif typeface. Sans-serif is great for reading on the screen, but it really slows me down in long prose. I missed those little serifs on the letters to help pull my eye along. Maybe this was a conscious decision to force readers to slow down, I don’t know, but I didn’t care for it.

Steve says that in this book he set out to write a book on personal development that was unlike any other. He has spent many of his recent years searching for the “prime numbers” of personal development. He identifies these as Truth, Power, and Love. Steve spends the first half of the book explaining these four elements, including the combinations of Oneness, Authority, Courage, and Intelligence. In the second half of the book he provides chapters on how to apply these elements to the areas of Habits, Career, Money, Health, Relationships, and Spirituality.

The book is a very interesting read. It held my attention well and I enjoyed the stories he shared, even though I had read some of them on his blog before. Although I don’t agree with anyone about everything they believe (where would be the fun in that?), I do think that Steve has come a long ways towards providing some structure for understanding human growth. Although Steve applies his findings to personal development topics throughout the book, the overall concept is very much a philosophy.

I haven’t yet read any of the reviews by other readers (batch 1, batch 2, batch 3), but I think we’ll have to wait a few years to see if Steve’s philosophy holds water. The proof will be in how people apply the information presented here, and how they share those applications with other. Steve has done a good thing in getting bloggers on board with reading and reviewing his book–he definitely understands marketing. I look forward to reading how others have applied this information. Just as hundreds of people have created various systems and programs to help them apply David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodologies, it will be interesting to see if people begin creating systems and programs to help them apply the concepts of Truth, Love, and Power.

One thing I picked up quite readily is how well Christianity, as I understand and practice my relationship with Christ, identifies closely with the core concepts Steve lays out. I’ve been thinking a great deal in recent months about the personal growth movement, Christianity, how these two interrelate, and how to maximize people’s growth in Christ. I need to re-read the entire book in this particular light, but I’m optomistic that this will provide a good pattern for that.

That’s what Steve has provided in this book: a philosophical framework that can be applied to most any area of our lives. I know that much of this works becuase it’s the way I, and I believe lots of other successful people, naturally relate to the world around us. Regardless of whether or not this work becomes the foundation of future personal development, I think it is certainly worth reading–at least once, but probably a few more times to make sure the concepts are fully understood. As with all personal development books, the proof will be in the application. You can’t grow very much by only reading. You have to begin applying what he teaches.

If you’ve read Personal Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth, or have specific questions about it, contribute to the conversation in the comments!

I just read an article at the New York Times called “Betting Your Retirement on Your Start-Up.” In this article, a man has about 160,000 in his 401k, and wants to buy into a franchise with $30,000 franchise fee. He also needs start-up capital. He didn’t have any other acceptable sources for financing.

To sum up the article, here is what he did:

• He got advice from BeneTrends, Inc., a company that specializes in helping people with these types of transactions. Total cost about $5,000.
• He set up his business as a C Coprporation, a designation that allows a company to issue private shares of stock.
• He created a profit-sharing retirement plan within his corporation. This made it eligible to accept pretax retirement contributions.
• He rolled over about half of his retirement savings, roughly $80,000, from his 401(k) into the profit-sharing plan. The profit-sharing plan bought the franchise rights and also provided working capital for his business.

If you want to find out more, read the New York Times article. I’m posting this here just so I don’t lose this idea. I also thought some of my readers might be interested as well.

My History in the Boy Scouts of America and Activity in the Merit Badge Program

I was very involved in the Boy Scouts of America program from 7th grade through 12th grade (12 to 18 years old). The path to Eagle Scout played a major role in shaping me and preparing me for my future.

One of the things I liked most about scouting was the merit badge program. I think there were 105 available merit badges at the time. I earned 25 merit badges in all including 11 that were required for Eagle. To illustrate the broad range of areas in which merit badges are available, my merit badge sash included badges for: Basketry; Model Design and Building; Firemanship; Rowing; First Aid; Camping; Fishing; Scholarship; Emergency Preparedness; Communications; and Citizenship in the Community, Nation, and World. I believe this broad scope of learning opportunities helped me to develop an interest in all sorts of learning and made me a very well-rounded person by the time I turned 18 years old.

How Does the Boy Scout Merit Badge Program Work?

There are seven ranks in Boy Scouts: Scout, Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class, Star, Life, and Eagle. Although any scout may earn any merit badges he wants at any time, a certain number of merit badges are required for the Star, Life, and Eagle awards. This provides motivation to earn them.

Each merit badge has a set of requirements. The requirements for each badge vary greatly but are designed to allow the scout to develop and demonstrate at least a general working knowledge in the area. Merit badges are by no means an indication that the scout is an expert in the area, but rather that he has done enough research and application to have an understanding or working knowledge in the area. For a complete list of merit badges and requirements, visit MeritBadge.org.

Once a scout decides he wants to earn a badge in a particular area he would tell his Scoutmaster. The Scoutmaster would then help the scout find a qualified person to serve as a Merit Badge Counselor to help the scout with achieving the requirements for the award. While the scout would do much of the research and work on his own, he still had to meet with the counselor to demonstrate his knowledge and skill.

After the scout completed the requirements to the satisfaction of his counselor, the merit badge would be presented at a Court of Honor–a ceremony to honro scouting achievements. The scout would then add the badge to his merit badge sash–part of his uniform that showed off his accomplishments to his fellow scouts.

Merit Badges Get Replaced in Adult Life

After scouting, there really isn’t a close replacement for merit badges. Sure, we can: read books; take classes; attend seminars; join organizations; earn certifications, licenses, and degrees; and learn as we generally experience life. However, there is nothing for adults that comes close to the fun, excitement, and stress-free opportunity available in the Boy Scout merit badge program.

What I’d Like to See In An Adult Merit Badge Program

• Available Badges - While the Boy Scout program currently only offers 121 different merit badges, I think there could be an unlimited number of merit badges in an Adult program. Here are a few ideas just off the top of my head: Cooking, Barbecuing, Lawncare, Automotive Maintenance, Microsoft Word, Coin Collecting, Podcasting, GTD–Getting Things Done, Online Marketing, Travel, Guitar Playing, Dog Ownership, Astronomy, Local Politics, Cake Decorating, Blogging, Personal Finance, Child Rearing, etc…
• The Requirements - Just as in the Boy Scouts, the requirements shouldn’t be designed to make someone an expert, but rather to ensure that the learner has a good working knowledge in the area. I believe that almost anyone who is an expert in a particular area will likely be quite capable of writing requirements. There should be some sort of review process, possibly by other experts in the field, to insure that there is some consensus that the requirements meet the working-knowledge objective and are also written in a consistent manner and style. The requirements also need to be reviewed regularly to ensure that they keep up with current technologies and social trends.
• Counselors - Unless things have changed in the last 25 years, there are no set requirements for merit badge counselors. When I earned my Computers merit badge, my Algebra teacher was my counselor. When I earned my Leatherwork merit badge, a fellow scout with leatherworking knowledge was my counselor. For many of them, I simply presented my work and demonstrated my skill to one of my scout leaders. I think that in an Adult Merit Badge program, adults should be able to seek out a counselor they feel will be able to properly assist them and answer their questions.
• The Award - The adult merit badge counselor would indicate that a particular candidate had completed all the necessary requirements for a particular award. The learner would receive some sort of certificate or other token to indicate he or she had completed the requirements. Perhaps even an icon or logo that could be put on their own web site.

How Would an Adult Merit Badge Program Be Managed and Administered?

Perhaps the reason nothing like this has been done before is because there is no system to manage and administer such a program. The Boy Scouts of America has a massive network of hundreds of thousands of volunteers to administer the program on a one-on-one level. While many people will serve in this capacity to prepare young people for their future, I’m doubtful that many adults would be likely to volunteer their time to make a similar program successful for other adults.

In this day of technology and the Internet, it might not be a huge task to create a web-based program through which it could be managed and administered. It could be a social networking type of site similar to LinkedIn, FaceBook, and MySpace. Each participant would have their own personal page to display their awards, locate others with similar interests, and to generally form community around their demonstrated skills and knowledge.

Talk with Me People!

So, what do you think? Do you think Merit Badges for Adults would be a good idea? What ideas do you have to execute the idea? How would you see something like this affecting your life? Let me know in the comments!

Greg,

I discovered your Ceiling Fan Questions and Answers blog while researching a particular question. I read your articles on ceiling fan efficiency, but still haven’t found an answer to my question, so I thought this might be a good question for your blog.

We have several ceiling fans in our home. If I remember correctly, they have all specified that we are to use 60-watt or less bulbs. This is both the 3-bulb and 4-bulb models of fans. I find that 60-watt bulbs In the bedrooms are fine. However, in my office I want more light than this provides. I just replaced the four 60-watt incandescent bulbs with four 23-watt compact fluorescent bulbs (equivalent light of four 100-watt incandescent bulbs). This is the kind of light I like in my office! My guess is that the manufacturers specify 60-watt bulbs or less because of the heat generated, but I don’t know that for certain. I’m wondering if my use of four 23-watt compact fluorescent bulbs will damage the fan or cause some other safety issue since they provide the equivalent light of four 100-watt incandescent bulbs. If so, must I stick with four 15-watt compact fluorescent bulbs (equivalent light output of 60-watt incandescent bulbs) or is there something else I can do to safely increase the amount of light in my office without installing new fixtures or stand-alone lamps.

Thank you for your time. I’m sure I can’t be the only person looking for an answer to this question. Great job on the blog too!

Within just a few minutes, I received the following response from Greg:

Great question…and yes, we should address this on our site.

Actually, the maximum wattage for the sockets is based on 2 things: the heat generated by the bulbs and the wattage they consume. The compact fluorescent bulbs will consume less wattage and burn cooler, so they are better in both aspects. You can certainly use the 23 watt bulbs. You could potentially use 60 watt CFLs if they made them.

Wow! I’m guessing that a 60-watt CFL would be like equivalent to a 240-watt incandescent. With four of them that would be like having nearly 1000-watts of incandescent light in my office! I could probably tan while I worked!

If you have questions about ceiling fans, I suggest you send Greg an email–and of course, check out their store too.

My wife wasn’t able to join me on my trip to Seattle this week, so I decided to use Twitter to bridge the 2,000+ mile divide between us. I posted several pictures via TwitPic so she would feel more connected to me. I think incorporating pictures is a great way to give people a better feel for what you are doing right at that time–it’s the next best thing to being there.

I had read several articles about Twitter and many of them said that one really has to seriously use Twitter to develop an appreciation for it. I found that to be the case. I’m starting to find other uses besides just answering the question of, “What are you doing right now?” For example, I frequently get ideas for products and businesses–I’ve started posting some of those ideas on my Twitter page. I think I may use it to share inspirational quotes and other things as well.

I also used the Twitter Tools plugin for WordPress to have a digest of each day’s tweets posted here on my blog. I never received any comments on those posts, nor comments on whether or not those digests were appreciated or hated. I’ve decided to turn off that feature for now. If you really miss it, or really hated it, let me know in the comments.

If you would like to follow me, you can do so at http://twitter.com/rickyspears

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http://twitpic.com/91fq - US Air must be hurting. They charge $2 for water and use duct tape to hold the plane together. #

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