Ask HN: Have you invested in self-development and done inner work?

Before realizing on what I should focus on and what my purpose was, I was in the agency world, and close from the infoproduct world.

I came to realize that there's a lot of programs that exist for this audience (agencies and coaches with a course). Most of these programs are steps by steps on how to do X (often sales related) or on how to improve their mindset to scale their business.

When I switched to focusing more on my craft of being an "optimizer" (problem solver) by focusing on being more a maker, I noticed that there's not much of these type of programs.

I am still new to this new "indie" and "maker" world, so maybe I simply have not been exposed to it enough, but I am curious, how many of you have been doing some inner work?

And what have been your experience so far as a creator regarding your personal growth?

I'm not quite sure I follow your question, but I have to keep rediscovering that min-maxing life is not a great strategy. Trying to squeeze every bit of advantage out of what I read, how i work, where I travel, etc. is not the optimal strategy for me. Furthermore, the most successful people I've met tend to focus on doing things that they enjoy rather than on min-maxing.

For me, this has meant studying philosophy, religion, biology, music, and other things that do not necessarily contribute to a fully optimized life.

I too have found a wonderful community in the maker scene, and it has fed my creativity. This can certainly be a good place to spend time.

Something i started doing which has been invaluable has been getting a therapist. Being a founder is freaking painful at times, working on yourself is a lot more than getting good at sales, taxes, technical skills...developing leadership skills and being great at it requires an upgrade not just to your IQ but your EQ. I've got a long way to go, but i feel this has been the largest improvement to me that i've ever managed to make.

While you're at it, if you do anything along these lines, consider couples counselling too. Even if all is great. The closeness and generally better understanding its given my partner and I has been the greatest stress reducer I've ever found. It opens up my bandwidth to so many other things which more generally allows me to be more effective.

Two book recommendations, to refresh your mind if you've been too deep in "investing in inner growth" (can be a trap).

- the Zhuangzi, translation by Burton Watson, which I've read many times. See the last two paragraphs of https://terebess.hu/english/chuangtzu.html about the useless tree

- Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism by Chögyam Trungpa, which I haven't read except extracts, but it could be relevant to you (esp. if you're looking at spiritual growth).

But anyway, instead of buying new book... I'll speak of what I'm doing in a week.

I'll go for ten days in the countryside with my dear partner and leave the laptop at home. I'm quite productive these last months (just submitted something to Show HN today), I find I'm missing guidance on a few areas of my life, and I'm in dear need of slowing down and cutting the external noise.

Haven't taken real holidays in years.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'inner work', that would need defining to answer the question. When I think of 'inner work', it means something (nearly) completely devoid of anything happening in 'the world outside of me'. Whatever I am doing for a profession or for hobbies is (nearly) completely divorced from what is my 'inner work', which is work done for the purpose of increasing consciousness. My particular flavor of inner work (there are many) is done in order to transmit the work to others, for the benefit of those who seek to do the work.

I have been at this for many years and I can say that doing the work requires effort and the expenditure of energy. The benefits to personal creativity have begun to become immense in recent years, as creativity comes naturally as a result of being less attached to ones' personality and being able to more freely allow energy to 'flow through your being' (that's the best I can describe it). These benefits are side effects, though, and not really the purpose of the work. If this is why you seek to do the work, it is misguided and you are probably setting yourself up to simply fuck yourself up. Seek a guide for this kind of work (I am not a guide), and be wary of those who charge money. My guide has been with me for > 10 years, has never charged a cent, and has been instrumental in my efforts. If you do the work with genuine integrity, you will find a guide.