Personal development today seems more and more to be drifting from the old happy clappy goal setting methods as people are becoming wise that it is more strategy that has the most effect not just mere goal setting, because in the reality of truth unless we know strategy, how can we possibly set goals?

A huge favorite of mine  Robert Greene, and author of immense knowledge and a great skill in writing. Though his books are not for the light reader

His Main books are

48 laws of power

The art of seduction

The 33 laws of war

and now with his new book the 50th law this will make an unstoppable collection. It is great to find a gem author of this magnitude!

Here is a section of the 50th law

According to The 50th Law, we can be defined by our relationship to reality. Reality is what lies outside of ourselves, beyond our subjective experience. We have desires. We want people to help, support and like us. We want our projects to gain the appropriate attention and our talents to be recognized. We wish the world around us to remain relatively stable so we can realize our plans or maintain what we have. But then reality intervenes. The people we look to for assistance think first of themselves and their self-interest; their support is rather tepid or they even resist us. To draw positive attention to our work is not so easy; we are competing against thousands of others who have the same desire. Nothing stays the same; unforeseen events are constantly spoiling our plans.

Confronted with this discrepancy between desire and reality, we can go in one of two directions. We can try our best to ignore these outside forces and escape into an inner world of dreams and fantasies. This is the childish reaction, born out of weakness and fear. Or we can see reality as something that must be accepted and dealt with. In coming to such a realization, we move towards power. Instead of whining about people’s lack of support or attention, we decide we will find ways to appeal to their self-interest and improve our communication skills. Instead of fearing change, we decide to embrace it in all its forms and discover how we can exploit it. Instead of resenting how difficult it is to get attention and approval for our projects, we use this resistance to make ourselves work harder, with more discipline and focus. To the degree that we accept reality, we now have the power to shape it.

Most of us throughout our lives are pulled in both directions. We find ourselves indulging in daydreams and deluding ourselves about what is happening around us, but then we recognize the importance of seeing things as they are and we make ourselves wake up to reality. There are people, however, who never engage in this struggle. Their fear of reality is so great and their sense of self is so fragile that their only solution in life is to retreat to a world of illusion and find a way to stay there. For our purposes we shall such a type a neurotic.

The personalities of neurotics are generally formed around some kind of trauma in childhood–parental neglect or suffocation, a nasty divorce in which they were buffeted by unwanted changes, some humiliating experience, a sudden loss of prestige or affection, etc. Their fears for a repeat of such experiences are intense and exaggerated. They come to see the world around them as filled with things that are unpredictable and beyond their control. The only way to gain control is to construct certain illusions in their mind, creating an inner space that is familiar and predictable. They see themselves as good, powerful and talented; people who don’t recognize this are malicious and evil. If neurotics believe and feel these things, then they are real.

Neurotics emphasize the past over the present. They look back to a time before the traumas and imagine a world that was once safe and pleasant. They cling to that memory. They cannot think too deeply about the world or themselves because such self-reflection might disturb their illusions. Instead, they value emotion over reason. Their strategies in life are rather repetitive–all designed to maintain their defenses.

Roberts Blog

http://www.powerseductionandwar.com/archives/interview_with.phtml