Self Improvement is a self guided improvement – whether that’s economically, intellectually or emotionally – often with a substantial psychological basis. There are many different self-help movements, and each has its own unique focus techniques, associated beliefs, proponents and in some cases, leaders. Self improvement often utilizes publicly available information or support groups where people in similar situations join together. From early exemplars in self-drive legal practice and home-spun advice, the connotations of the phrase have spread and often apply particularly to education, business, psychological or psychotherapeutic nostrums, purveyed through the popular genre of self-help books. According to the APA Dictionary of Psychology, potential benefits of self improvement groups that professionals may not be able to provide include friendship, emotional support, experiential knowledge, identity, meaningful roles and a sense of belonging.

Groups associated with health conditions may consist of patients and/or their care givers. As well as featuring long-time members sharing experiences, these health groups can become lobby groups and clearing houses for educational material. Those who help themselves by learning about health problems do exemplify self help, while one might think it better to regard such groups as peer-to-peer support.

The History of Self Improvement

The actual phrase “self-help” often appeared relatively early on in a legal context, referring to the doctrine that a party in a dispute has the right to use lawful means on their own initiative to remedy a wrong. Samuel Smiles published the first self-consciously personal-development “self-help” book — entitled Self-Help — in 1859. Its opening sentence: “Heaven helps those who help themselves”, provides a variation of “God helps them that help themselves”, the oft-quoted maxim that also appeared previously in Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac.

Some commentators suggest that Dale Carnegie (1888-1955) began the self-help movement in the 20th century when he published How to Win Friends and Influence People in 1936. Having failed in several careers, Carnegie became fascinated with success and its link to self-confidence, and studied the subject for years. Carnegie’s books have since sold over 50 million copies. In 1902 James Allen published ‘As a Man Thinketh’, which proceeds from the conviction that “a man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.” Noble thoughts, the book maintains, make for a noble person, whilst lowly thoughts make for a miserable person.

The Self Improvement Industry

Personal development, or Self Improvement, as a growing industry has two very distinct markets: business to individual and business to institution.

The business to individual market involves selling books, courses and techniques to individuals; the market is generally divided into newly invented offerings, fresh interests such as fitness, beauty enhancement and weight loss, and traditional practices, such as yoga, martial arts and meditation. Some programs like this are delivered online, and many are combined with tools sold with the program, such as recipe books for weight-loss, or manuals for yoga and martial arts. Other personal development offerings on the business to individual market might include books, motivational speaking, e-Learning programs, workshops, individual counselling or life coaching.

The business to institution market also involves programs – in this case ones sold to companies and to governments to assess potential, to improve effectiveness, to manage work-life balance or to prepare some entity for a new role in an organization. The goals of these programs are defined with the institution or by the institution and the results are assessed. With the acceptance of personal development as a legitimate field in higher education, universities and business schools, also contract programs to external specialist firms or to individuals. Some business to institution programs may include courses and assessment systems for students in higher education, management services to employees in organizations, training, training and development programs, personal development tools and self assessment.

Some consulting firms specialize in personal development, but as of 2009 generalist firms operating in the fields of human resources, recruitment and organizational strategy have entered what the perceive as a growing market, not to mention smaller firms and self-employed professionals who provide consulting, training and coaching.