We are born with the desire for success in life. As human beings, we have
built into us the drive to win. In fact, each one of us represents a huge
chain of winners that goes back in time to the beginnings of our species.
That's why we kept developing larger brains -- these were tools of
survival in a world in which you needed all you the smarts you could
muster.
Our more modern idea of self-improvement has as its basis in the correct
belief that use the wisdom and teachings of those who are successful
by emulating their winning moves or employing their unique insights.
Whether we measure success by money, happiness, intelligence, creativity,
social skills or a combination of all of the above -- we know that we can
become better in the ways that we wish -- if we choose the right
self-improvement tool.
Education in traditional venues, such as schools, colleges and training
programs can help us learn certain sets of skills. But we also know that
we can get the extra edge from self-help and self-improvement materials
developed outside the traditional areas of education. Self-improvement has
been around a long time. Yet with exception of a few books like the
Almanacs of Benjamin Franklin and the Saying of Lao Tse really caught on
like a book written 50 years ago -- Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.
Halfway into the century, Napoleon Hill, an advisor to two presidents and
some of the richest man in the world wrote the book that would launch the
self-improvement movement. It is one of the best sellers of all time and
many have people who have attained prominent places in our society have
attested to it's importance in their life.
So with half a century to the new Millennium, there was a sense that the
rate of change was speeding up in the world and that we had to adapt to
these changes by changing ourselves. Psychologists including Carl Jung and
Abraham Maslow were starting to talk about becoming "self-actualized" --
which meant mental growth beyond mere normality -- a state which had
usually been considered acceptable until then.
In the 'Forties, another book, How to Win Friends and Influence people
became another self-improvement best seller -- this time focusing on
improving our relationships as a path to success. And in the next saw
Psycho-Cybernetics by plastic surgeon Maxwell Maltz, M.D demonstrate that
the way we saw ourselves could change our perceptions.
Self-improvement as course of action for success-oriented people
really began to develop momentum.
But this was just the beginning. By the time the 70's rolled around,
Leo Busgalia was telling all of us how to love more and live better in
books and on a special program on PBS. In the late 70's, Tony Robbins
exploded onto the scene with Unlimited Power.
With almost everyone having a tape recorder and more free time while
driving home with the wife and kids, it was natural that audio taped
version of self-improvement books would catch on. Certainly, Robbins books
were popular, but an entire company, Nightingale-Conant began selling
tapes by an ever-increasing number of self-help experts.
While the number of self-improvement and self-help books has exploded, the
two books mentioned above -- Think and Grow Rich and How to Win Friends
and Influence people still remain remarkably popular. In fact, entire
training programs have been created to help those who can't get the entire
teaching from a book.
Seminars are certainly more interactive than listening to a book or tape.
I know I've read books and listened to tapes that asked me to do
exercises. Usually I either skip them or fast forward the tape. But
seminars, with their group setting, lend themselves to experimenting with
new behaviors and ideas.
Until the mid-80's, self-improvement was confined mainly to the three
genres listed above, books, tapes and seminars. It was in 1993 that Mind
Prober, the first interactive personality test was released by Human Edge
Software. Back then, with only a million PC's in the entire world (there
are now a several hundred times that number, Mind Prober sold one quarter
million software packages!
Computers, from the beginning, lent themselves to self-improvement, in a
way that none of the previous media had. Unlike a book or tape, you don't
passively listen to them, you interact with them in ways that are fun and
interesting. I never find myself skipping through a program the way I do
through a book or tape. And they are personalized in a way that seminars
can never be. When you are in a room with 200 people, it is hard to have
the material tailored for your needs. You vie for the attention of the
trainer. And many are too embarrassed to try for his attention in front of
so many other people. On the PC -- you can work discreetly and with all of
the information personalized to your style.
Ten years ago, the president of our company, Bruce Ehrlich got the idea
that he could put together a catalog of self-improvement software and
offer it to the public. Thus was born the Mindware catalog. Five years
later, Ehrlich took another jump, putting his Mindware catalog on-line as
the Mind Media Life-Enhancement Network. Ours was one of the first ten
thousand sites on he web.
One of the first things we did when we took the leap into cyberspace was
license the rights to publish our top twenty best sellers from the ten
issues of our print catalog and sell them inexpensively. We have sold many
thousands of these bundles -- which are designed to give everyone a chance
to discover the advantages of software for improving their lives. You can
now buy this bundle for a fraction of it's original retail price -- just
$49.95 -- by tuning your web browsers here.
But yes -- the Millennium is drawing to a close. With it, the computer
technologies including Multimedia and the Internet have turned the PC into
the ideal medium for self-improvement that Bruce Ehrlich once imagined it
would become. Multimedia CD-ROMs have been created which take a quantum
jump in their ability to transform lives.This issue is dedicated to Mind
Media's focus as we enter a new era. Below are some of the new features
that you will be seeing on Mind Media Life Enhancement Network and some
news about five new technology CD-ROMs that Mind Media features. These are
the next generation self-improvement and psychological growth tools you've
been waiting for.
Guide to the
Web