Gareth Mitchell

Gareth Mitchell Quick Facts

So the nice people at SelfGrowth.com have been kind enough to grant me ‘Expert’ status in their ‘personal development’ category. But am I really an expert in ‘personal development’?

The fact is, as we’re all too well aware, there are a lot of people (particularly online) who profess to being experts about a lot of different things; and yet they often leave you with the distinct impression that their expertise doesn’t go much further than a mastery of the art of cutting and pasting other people’s work. (I know that’s a bit unfair, some of them actually go to the effort of regurgitating other people’s hard earned knowledge in their own words, whilst some even offer true originality by spieling out the first incoherent nonsense that enters into their heads).

But regardless of the specific means and methods employed, the simple fact is this: the anonymity of the internet has the potential to churn out ‘experts’ quicker than an uncertified online University awarding PhD’s for $49.99.

Some Experts Have Greater Potential Impact on Your Life

Falling foul of such disingenuous ‘bedroom’ experts is of course never a good thing – even if you’re simply looking for expert advice on how to boil an egg. But when it comes to the all-important issues of your future success, happiness and fulfilment, avoiding the self-proclaimed expert hoards is something of a necessity. The path of your life is just too precious to be influenced by the advice and opinions of just anybody who has access to a computer…too much long term damage can be done.

When it comes to seeking answers to those great questions, ‘How do I get more out of life?’, ‘How can I feel more fulfilled?’, ‘What do I have to do to feel more relaxed, more energised, more secure in myself, more proactive?’ there has to be some sort of tangible assurance that the advice you’re digesting is sincere, genuine and credible - that the person who professes to being an expert anonymously online really does have some legitimate credentials to back up their claims.

Life is too short to get it wrong…not to mention the fact that you only have one.

So what are my ‘Personal Development’ credentials?

First things first: I do not have a single qualification in psychology; neither do I work as a ‘success consultant’ in any shape of form. I don’t give seminars on achieving life fulfilment and riches, and I don’t mix with (or even know) any personal development ‘gurus’.

If you’re idea of an ‘authentic’ expert therefore, is someone with an alphabet of letters suffixing their surname or alternatively, someone whose expert status is reflected in a tried and tested public persona, then unfortunately I may well disappoint. In fact, I’d go as far as saying I am not your man – go and read a book by Stephen Covey or Dale Carnegie, or book yourself onto an NLP training seminar with Richard Brandler and Paul McKenna – you’ll be in safe hands.

No…I have none of those outward public trappings of an ‘expert’. However, I do have something I believe is infinitely more valuable: years of personal experience; personal experience born not out of mere interest for the subject of ‘personal development’, but borne out of necessity.

You see, I innately possess a personality of extremes – there’s absolutely no middle ground. That’s reflected in the fact that I have for many years carried on my shoulders official diagnoses of ‘Obsessive Compulsive Disorder’ and ‘Adult ADHD’ – labels that attempt to pigeonhole extremes of personality and behaviour such as anxiety, impulsivity, focus (both lack of and hyper), neurosis, mania and despondence, happiness and depression, rage and passivity – into nicely compartmentalised ‘mental’ disorders.

But the fact is, such labels aren’t real and they don’t help; something I know from first-hand experience: I lost much of my youth looking in vain for a cure for my ‘mental problems’.

Same Universal Problems...Just More Extreme

That was however, before I came to a monumental realisation that changed my life: I didn’t ‘suffer’ from anything – I simply exhibited behaviours and personality traits that were completely normal, but which lay at the extreme end of that ‘normal’ spectrum. To that end, I didn’t suffer from any ‘mental disorder’ and consequently, I had nothing to cure. On the contrary, I simply suffered to a greater degree from the same self-destructive personality traits that afflict every living human being – personality traits I discovered that were in my exclusive remit to modify, control and compensate for.

And that is what I have spent the last ten years of my life doing – overcoming extremes of the same human frailties – negativity, anxiety, low self-esteem, destructive thinking patterns, extremes of emotion etc. etc. – that universally roadblock personal fulfilment, success and happiness in everyone. And I’ve got so efficient at doing so, that for the most part, those universal human frailties have entirely lost their crushing grip over my life. They no longer hold me back – they no longer limit my potential or my happiness – I am free to realise my potential. They are still there – they’re part of my personality (as they are to a greater or lesser degree in everybody)…but I’ve discovered the keys to controlling and even exploiting them.

And therein lies the moral of the tale: If an OCD /ADHD sufferer can overcome his personal demons, so can you. And if an OCD / ADHD sufferer’s personal demons are just an extreme caricature of everyone else’s personal demons, then you can be sure that the strategies that helped an OCD / ADHD sufferer to effectively deal with those personal demons will work equally, if not exponentially, better for you. And what’s more, that OCD / ADHD sufferer’s grasp of what it takes to really grow as a human being will be profound – deeper than that gained through a PhD in psychology and as such, worth its weight in gold :-)

As human beings, we are all blessed with the same gifts – inspiration, imagination, a desire to achieve, a need to find purpose; whilst also cursed with same burdens – limiting self-beliefs, unhelpful perspectives, negative thinking traps, self-destructive habits, a propensity for negative emotions such as stress, anxiety and anger. I hope that my experiences with such extremes of human nature will lead others to a greater affinity with their true potential and all that life has to offer.

All the Best,

Gareth Mitchell, HelpfulHabits.net