A Steve Pavlina Interview on How to Build Your Career
Work Happy Now was granted an interview with Steve Pavlina, the online Personal Development King. I just gave him that title, but I think most of us can agree that no one has more online “personal development” clout than Steve.
I was nervous. I wanted everything to go perfectly. My voice was a little shaky at the start. You’ll notice this when you listen to the first podcast. I calmed down after a few minutes and I delivered a pretty good interview.
I told my wife that I probably would put Steve at the top of my list of famous people to interview.
“What about Obama?” she asked.
“Sure, I would love to interview Obama, but interviewing Steve meant more to me. I would probably get more readers with an Obama interview, but that doesn’t matter. I’ve been following Steve’s blog for almost three years,” I replied.
“Wow! You really enjoyed talking with him.”
“Yeah, he’s down to earth and intelligent. I couldn’t have asked for a better interview.”
“You’ve worked hard for this. I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks.”
I broke the interview down into five parts:
The sound quality isn’t the greatest since I recorded it using Skype. I had to increase the volume on Steve’s answers so it matched my volume. It’s not a perfect recording, but I’m sure you’ll find it interesting. Steve’s answers are honest and unique.
Enjoy! I know I did.
Check out my review of Steve’s book Personal Development for Smart People.
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Personal Development for Smart People – Book Review
You’re a smart person, right? Of course you are or you wouldn’t be reading this blog.
The title of Steve Pavlina’s book and blog compliment the reader before they even start on the first page. Personal Development for Smart People has a ring to it that makes the reader want to pick it up and check out what’s inside.
The genius behind Steve Pavlina lies in striking the right chord at the right time. He created a personal development blog when all the personal development gurus had static sites. He wrote valuable content on a daily basis and his audience grew fast.
Steve refused to dumb it down so it would be easy to access the information. He asked you to join him on his level and this helped the readers lift themselves up out of their present cyclical thinking.
He can now boast that he maintains the largest personal development website in the world. That took strategic planning and creativity. Few people are willing to dig as deep as Steve has done to discover new personal development ideas. He understood how to stand out (weird posts), but he also understood how to connect with a mass audience (common sense writing).
Steve’s first book is filled with common sense and fresh ideas that will satisfy the most critical reader. It’s already on the best seller list on Amazon and other sites.
Foundation
Steve has learned to adjust his vibrational tuning fork to connect with millions of people. If you enjoy personal development, you have probably already visited his website. Doesn’t it seem like every other personal development blog that you read is influenced by Steve in some way? That is a tribute to a man who paved his own path.
Like his blog, Personal Development for Smart People is a well rounded book. It gives the reader the foundation to create a prosperous life.
The three main themes of the book are:
- Truth
- Love
- Power
I love how he weaves these ideas throughout each concept.
How this Book can Help Your Career
The section on careers is very useful. I’ll share two of my favorite quotes from this chapter:
“When we express ourselves creatively we are sharing what’s most important to ourselves.”
He goes on to say:
“Think of your career as a primary outlet for creative expression.”
He breaks down his thoughts in a user-friendly way to help you apply these ideas to your own life. That’s the most that you can ask for in a personal development book – easy to understand and applicable ideas that encourage the reader to take action.
I encourage you to check out his website in order to supplement the information in the book.
His website gives such gems as:
- How to discover your life purpose in about 20 minutes
Steve’s writing within the book is incredibly polished and easy to follow. The thoughts connect and always come back to the central themes.
I would recommend this book to anyone trying to reach a deeper understanding of themselves.
Spirituality
One of my favorite sections was the one on spirituality, toward the end of the book. We have an amazing opportunity that few people have had before this time period. We can learn from any culture with a click of the mouse. You and I can learn how Buddhists, Muslims, and Christians handle certain situations. We don’t need to look through one religious lens. We can explore many perspectives to help us gain a better understanding of our lives.
This was also one of my favorite topics that he touched on in his blog, but in his book his ideas really came together to help me gain a better understanding of how to improve my outlook.
Your Choice
It’s your choice to buy this book, but I promise it will change your life, especially if you have never read his blog. If you’ve read his blog, many of his thoughts are brought together with his book into a cohesive pattern that helps the reader understand Steve’s thinking.
Getting inside an intelligent man’s head and taking a few nuggets of knowledge to improve your life is worth $20.
Work Happy Now Interview with Steve Pavlina
Steve was awesome enough to give me an interview that I recorded over Skype. It was really amazing to have the opportunity to ask him anything I wanted. As you can tell I’m a big fan of his.
I broke the interview into five parts:
- Building Your Career Foundation – 8:36
- How to Overcome Fear – 7:53
- Why Passion if More Important Than Money – 6:21
- Spirituality – 4:23
- Steve Pavlina’s Core Principals – 10:39
I will post all 5 Podcasts tomorrow. He answered the questions that I thought would help all of you the most. So stop by tomorrow and enjoy a fun interview.
* Update: Click here to check out the Steve Pavlina interview – enjoy.
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Personal Development for Smart People
Steve Pavlina was the first blogger that I began seriously reading. He was recommended to me by the reverend who performed my wedding. I’ve been reading Steve’s personal development blog for over two years. His depth and unique framing has helped improve my life in many ways.
He has taught me:
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The value of being completely honest with myself
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How to dig a little deeper into my thought processes
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The power of my feelings
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Visualization techniques that I use on a weekly basis
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Confidence to do what I love
This post is a favor to Steve. We’ve had brief contact through email and he’s always been very gracious in his responses. He has a book coming out in October, Personal Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal. Steve deserves free exposure. Plus I know the book will be good. Almost all of his posts give me some new insight that has helped me improve my life. I’m looking forward to reading a whole book on his views. In his blog he describes the book’s three main principles.
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Truth
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Love
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Power
From Steve’s post about pre-ordering his book, I can tell that he will knock our boots off with some amazing perspectives.
What does personal development have to do with working happy? I believe that work is based on a 50/50 system. 50% of our work happiness comes from within and the other 50% comes from outside influences. If we can maximize our personal happiness then we can at least be happy 50% of the time. When you can become secure within yourself it will start to affect other parts of your life. People will gravitate toward you and you’ll attract positive results. That’s a recipe for maximizing your career happiness.
If you want to pre-order his book due out on October 15, 2008 then click on one of these links to Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com. If you’re not sure then check out his website and check out his brilliant perspectives for yourself.
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