The Future of Personal Development Scene — Part 4
Future. – Time yet to to come.
Prophecy – A prediction of the future.
In this post we will dig deep into the possible future of the personal development on the Internet. This is the last part of a series of posts analyzing the Personal Development Scene.
First of all, I can hardly be considered a prophet. 
Therefore, we will not talk about the prophecy. In this article, we’ll look at some possibilities.
In the future, I expect dramatic changes in the personal development scene. It will be fun to take part in that. However, it’s not possible to have the entire picture of the future in only one scenario.
My point here is not complex. There are several scenarios that could play out on self-help scene, and today, I’ll illustrate several of them. We shall divide them into four main categories (possible scenarios):
- Dark scenario — Death Of The Community
- Bright scenario — Strong and Powerful Community
- “Only a few of the best” scenario
- Separation of the Community scenario
Why I write this post? Because I’m curious and because it is an interesting topic.
1. The future of personal development scene, Dark scenario — Death Of The Community
Have you heard the story of Atlantis?
Atlantis was the island that sank into the ocean, in one day and night. At least according to Plato. Could this happen to personal development scene? A victory for the self-help cynics and skeptics…
Well if I’ve learned anything in my life, it’s that nothing is impossible.
A few years ago, in my neighborhood, a man opens the first fast-food restaurant. Obviously, selling hamburgers was quite profitable. People were waiting in lines. Soon, there was another fast-food restaurant. And another and another. And another and another and another. However, some restaurants have started to shut down. Simply put, there were too many of them. Soon, it was as if it never happened. :)
The same could happen to Personal Development community!
What would happen? Well, first the self-help scene would become even more popular. It would bring money and fame to a lot of people. And many people would try to get rich in the same way. Too many people would create too much rubbish on personal development scene. This would cause bad reputation of whole self-help community.
Soon, we would lost confidence in the personal-development. The community would slowly collapse upon itself.
I really hope that this will not happen.
However, this is already happening on the Web, with some communities…
The problem with Web is that it is very complex and simple at the same time. Because of low prices and improving technology, any donkey can make a blog or website today. If he manage to attract people, it may even become an influential factor in the world. This has led to the emergence of vast quantities of rubbish articles, videos, and everything else. (Although I must say there are a lot of great people who have transferred their enthusiasm to the Internet.)
2. The future of personal development scene, Bright scenario — Strong and Powerful Community
Under this scenario, there will be an increase in quality of personal-development informations on the Web. A lot more people would join together with new ideas, theories, principles and methods. With so much competition, the quality of the information will increase. In order to succeed, websites will take various unique and better approaches. Anyone who is not good enough, will not be able to attract attention. Only well-researched, high-quality content will be recognized. The community would increase, both in quality and in quantity.
This would be a great future. Everyone would benefit from growth of personal development community on the Web. The percentage of people who achieve success and make huge positive changes would increase all over the world, as a result of this growth of self-help community.
And soon, only those who deliver the best possible information would remain on the scene… something similar we will see in the following scenario…
3. The future of personal development scene, “Only a few of the best”
This is a mixture of first and second scenario. Under this scenario, a couple of the best resources on personal development would remain at the scene. And the rest of the community would join them.
It is similar to what happened to the search engines. If you ask several people which search engine they use, most will respond “Google.” Many people don’t even know/use any other search engine.
Similarly, it could also happen with the personal development scene. It would be only one or two major sites. The rest of the community would join them.
It would not be the best thing for personal development community. Why? Editors of the big websites would determine the content and not the people who read. That would narrow down the possible growth of readers.
I think it will not come to this scenario. The nature of the search engines and personal development scene is different. But also I believe that nothing is impossible. We’ll see what will happen.
4. The future of personal development scene, Separation of the Community
This is about separation of personal development community in specific topics. So, this is a form of scenario No. 1 The community will be separated into different niches.
For example, today, there are blogs that deal with issues like saving money, managing debt etc. They deal with only a few issues. They don’t have categories and topics like motivation, productivity and so on, unless it deals with saving money. You go there only if you want to save money and get out of debt. Nothing more. It is similar with the blogs on minimalism as a way of life.
Can the whole self-help community transform in large number of smaller, explicitly-defined communities?
It’s possible. Although I personally don’t see it as the best possible future for personal development community.
And Finally, Conclusion
Maybe there are more possible pathways that those I mention above. However, this is enough to understand the growth opportunities of personal development scene.
What can we conclude at the end of this discussion?
What will be the future of personal development scene?
In my opinion, the future of personal development scene will bring us a mixture of these four scenarios. I think that we will at some point in the future see each of these four scenarios.
Thanks for reading this article, feel free to comment, criticize, offer an opinion about future or ask questions… What do you think will happen?
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This is a very interesting and well written post Marko. It sounds as if you have put a lot of considerations into the self improvement sites you visit. Years ago when I had my first website, there were not that many self-help articles online and many people were just beginning to blog. Then as if overnight, there was an explosion. People were making money and profiting from helping others. I started my newest website and began exploring the wide range of self-help stuff. Until then, in fact very recently, I had never heard of coaches. Hopefully, people are more interested in helping others help themselves than they are about making money. The world of self-help does seem to have become, for the most part, a give and take scenario! Give and you shall receive seems to be taken into the area of monetary gain.
Interesting series. Even though I am in the personal development niche, I’m becoming less content with the personal development industry. I am finding less new ideas. Overall, the niche is becoming a collection of recycled ideas. My blog seems to be moving slightly away from that type of information. Lately, its been a journal of my unquenchable desire to accomplish big and different goals. I guess thats good because now I share my experiments and experiences more than when I just presented personal development ideas. Lets see if it works.
Thanks for the thought provoking post!
@Sandra
Thank you Sandra! You wrote a great comment.
I remember when I started reading self-improvement articles online… Now, these ideas seem to be so simple, but back then, they were extremely helpful to me…
Your current website is great… You have great articles, as well as website design and structure… There is true value there, so I can only congratulate you!
@Ralph
Good point… Definitely there are many recycled ideas… therefore it is our responsibility to pay a huge amount of attention and time into quality posts and topics…
I wish you luck with your journal and experiments… I hope things will go great for you.
Hi Marko, I like your research here. You finally concluded it! I think the future of the personal development scene can by any of the above actually. Obviously, there will be competition in any subject out there from personal development to personal finance to business and so on. That’s why it’s important to be different and to add quality to the posts as best as you can. Basically people can stand out in some way and provide good value to others, they will be okay in my opinion. Good job with this!
Marko,
Another great addition bud!
I love the restaurant analogy. Drives the point straight home.
I believe that the scene will be broken down into niches. History shows that this happens often. A large blanket gets broken down to “fabric-like, individual squares”.
I can also see a combination of all 4 ideas, as you suggested. My take on all this is, to just do me. I try not to let anything outside of my thoughts dictate my future. But, it’s human nature to “play off” of what is around you. At the end of the day, I want to look myself in the mirror and make sure I keep MY identity.
I really enjoyed this series, Marko.
Peace!
- Ali
@Hulbert
Yes, when you write an awesome article, research or whatever, you’ll certainly stand out
Thanks for the comment…
@Ali
Indeed, throughout history we could see breaking and sharing of large community in the smaller number of communities… Interesting observation, thank you…
Hi Marko,
It took me a while — I just had to go back and read parts 1 through 3… Thank you for the comprehensive series. I’m familiar with many of the links that you mentioned, but have not ventured into the forums… yet! I began my foray online the beginning of this year and I am in awe of those who have everything dialed in. Offline, I’m accustomed to being a coach / facilitator / consultant. Online I’m a copywriter, social networker, marketer, etc. Well… you know
What you focus on expands and you’ve certainly brought an expansive amount of links and resources into this one series. I’ve found the personal development realm to be supportive. Not only via skype, email, on twitter, etc. but through valuable articles like yours. Thank you for the great post!
Hi Marko,
This is all very interesting and you bring up many good points. I personally will continue to live an interesting and adventurous life so I can enhance my content with great stories and lessons. I also like to share personal stuff…not everyone does…this allows for making the peeps say “I can relate to that.”
@Kim
Thank you because you read the series.
– I’ve found the personal development realm to be supportive. –
Yes, I am glad to see so many different people in the personal development community, working together. It is simply amazing…
@Tess
Hi Tess…
Yes, your site is really full of great lessons, good luck with everything that you planned to this site.
As for the sharing of personal stuff… Each of us has different intentions. I respect the fact you share your personal lessons, I think it’s great and interesting…
My intention with this site from the beginning was NOT to share my personal lessons and stories. I avoid to share personal things as much as I can… It’s just a basic idea of this site.
Hi Marko.
I like this. I hadn’t seen an analysis like this before. These options sure are ways that the PD community could head towards, not to mention other communities, and it is worth seeing what is happening before it happens, so as to alter the course in a more beneficial way, or to switch out of it if desired also.
Scenario 3 seems to be the way most scenes have gone as far as companies, because, like with Google/Microsoft/Apple, once companies get large, they start buying the small ones to add to their repertoire of service, and at a certain point the small ones are defined and the large ones are defined, and then breaking through is almost impossible.
Analysis here is good.
Hi Armen, I am glad that you have read and express opinion…
Like I said, any scenario is possible… I want to see us on the scenario No. 2
but only time will tell…
Marco,
Found your blog from Zeenat’s blog. This is very interesting four possibilities. While I am no future predictor, I think personal development or life improvement always be part of our lives. As a human being we always want to be better ourselves.
Sure, some so called gurus may spoil the community, but I hope it stays alive for people who truly want to change themselves to be better and world around them to be better.
Actually, my name is Marko
but it’s okay, I’m often called Marco on the web 
Hey, thanks for the comment… yes, I follow Zeenat’s blog and comment on it sometimes, she is great person…
I share hopes with you… no matter what happens, there will always be growth-oriented people, I am grateful for that.