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

"Invested" in "inner work". Indie, maker, optimizer. Maybe it is just a different kinds of people thing but I think we shouldn't use business jargon language, with all the implicit values and associations that come along with it, to define, of all things, our fundamental mindset and relationship to ourselves. Don't frame yourself that way. Don't become another tool or asset to be burned up like so much VC cash in the making of something ultimately trivial. That language has a purpose but is not good for the soul. Sorry for the rant.

I haven't got time to write a better comment, but stopping past to say that I've found Vertical Development the most helpful conceptual framework for my own growth and for making sense of others.

As a mental model, it has applications from very basic to extremely rich and complex.

I've worked as an eng/manager/executive coach and keep discovering new insights.

I always enjoy discussing it more if you're interested

What might be throwing off some of the commenters here:

You're using language like "personal growth" and "inner work" to describe what just sounds to be professional development.

Maybe professional capacity and personal identity are all tied up for you. That's certainly true for a lot of people here, including myself sometimes. But it's also maybe just an echo of working so long in an industry that tried to sell one as the other. It reads as an extraordinarily narrow perspective in world where we only work for a few decades and only with about 25% of our time during those decades.

If you're genuinely interested in personal growth and inner work, consider stepping back from the professional space as you look for programs. And if you're just interested in professional development in your craft, consider using language that's more specifically associated with it.

I don't believe much into self-improvement industry, in fact I believe it is largely snake oil.

One of the things that I find most gross about this whole industry is pushing the idea that you need to be "fixed".

This kind of industry desperately needs to sell you there's something wrong with you that needs to be repaired or improved in order to sell you the solution.

That's not to say there is no good contents out there, but in the end it can all be summed up to: have a purpose in life, work towards that purpose, be self disciplined if you want to achieve anything, be honest with yourself and other people.

There isn't really much else to "self improvement" and "happiness" than understanding what you want to be and do, working towards that goal, having introspections and cultivating meaningful and healthy relationships.

There's no secret sauce out there, no shortcut, if there was we all would've known it already after thousands of years of books, movies and phylosophical essays, reality is simple, but I guess hard work and discipline isn't as sexy and appealing like snake oil.

There's emotional/spiritual inner work like therapy (invaluable for most, but not all).

And then there's mentorship sessions that I see are becoming more and more common in the visual arts world, where the focus is improving on a specific kind of craft and exploring mental blockages. Jayd (https://www.jaydaitkaci.com/services.html) was instrumental in my own maturity in the art world there, and I'd highly recommend those sessions if you're a maker in the visual/drawing sense.