Power University: Alumni and Reviews
Hello guys,
it took me some time but I can now proudly say that I'm a Power University alumnus. I created this thread for the alumni and for Lucio. This allows the alumni to get recognized for finishing something requiring discipline and to re-evaluate oneself. This allows Lucio to get feed-back from the most engaged students.
The last lesson I did was the dynamics between Trump and Macron. Here is an example of how it changed my mind. When I started what I saw was gestures of affection with some domination. Today when I looked at the video: I could not believe how much Trump dominated Macron. He really treated him like a school boy and his bitch. It's not elegant, it's not pretty, it's not nice but that's what he did. So this is the kind of change on my perspective that I gained.
This course is hands down one of the best (if not the best) course of personal development that I did and I did quite a few. Here you go:
Pros
- Topic: this topic is not spoken in self-development and the dating coaches treat it very poorly. So it's one of a kind.
- Format: a mix of text, images, videos. Perfect. The visual theme of the course is also pretty and agreeable to use.
- Structure: the course progression is great and is structured by topic. The structure even improved with the last version.
- Quizzes: I like 2 things about the quizzes: they are on a different matter than the course so it's even more material to learn and they are very well-made. Nothing can replace the testing effect (now that I read "make it stick")
- Forum and feed-back: this will sound harsh but I would say that getting feed-back from the teacher is 70% of the value of the course. I know it might sound bad, but this also shows how well-made this course is. It's also great to have feed-back from other forum members and to have a community of people wanting to improve in this domain. That's also how I learned that you cannot really learn something you're going to apply in a vacuum. You cannot learn "power dynamics" or it will be a theoretical conversation. However, you can learn power dynamics in your context: in your organization and in your life. That's what the forum allows: to talk about the specific problems you encounter. These are the actual problems you want to solve and why you came to the course in the first place. So the course allows you to become aware of things so you can see your weaknesses and address them and test things in real life. Then the forum allows you to get feed-back on your real life example. I want to say that Lucio is investing a lot of this time to answer the students and is very reactive. I would also say that using the forum without doing the course is not the most effective learning strategy.
Cons
I know politically I'm supposed to say it's all great. However, I also know that most of the value is in the negative feed-back. Here it is.
- Spelling and syntax: I would say this is the biggest con. It almost feel like self-sabotage. I understand english is not the teacher's mothertongue. I also understand that forum members contribute to correct the text. However, it is wrong in two aspects: 1. we are students but we're also customers. It's normal for us to give feed-back but not to text-proof (???). I understand these are the early stages of the business and it's a smart strategy but it does not give an image of professionalism. I would expect the business owner to pay a proofreader, especially knowing how cheap it is. 2. It feels like the writer did not take the time to proofread himself the text. I understand the author is really busy and moves fast and it's a quality however this really feels like a lack of diligence.
- Loading times: when I click, I have to wait a few seconds each time for the pages to load. It might be my computer but I think not.
- Forum and feed-back: as I said, I think the teacher's feed-back makes most of the course value. So the challenge is to get feed-back from the teacher to get most value out of the course. This poses the challenge of scaling. Probably Lucio you expect the forum to be self-sustaining with students answering one another. However, I think that if you want more teachers like yourself you will have to train them and also that they use the same text format as you use. Your "brand" if you will.
- Quizzes: as said above I think the current quizzes are great. However to take full advantage of the testing effect, I would add a 3-5 questions quiz for each lesson. See “make it stick”.
My final grade of the course is 9.5/10
Because the cons are really minor stuff. Lucio, I know you might not like my review, but as you know I'm training my assertiveness.
Once again: thanks to all of you on the forum helping me to improve my Life and the ones of the people around me by making me a higher-quality man (yes, I changed my mind: I like this identity).
I want to say that my Life improved professionnally and socially since I started this course by a large margin. So the price of the course is fair. If you have not yet: BUY IT! But most importantly: do the course and ask questions.
Disclaimer: I wrote this review from my own initiative only and without any supervision nor censorship.
Spelling and syntax: I would say this is the biggest con. It almost feel like self-sabotage.
I think a partial solution may be to publish the articles/courses/lesson under the "BETA" category, beta as in: "still work in progress yet mostly finished", so if you do not want to wait until the final version you can still get value from this one and even help improve it.
It is basically a way of managing expectations.
Thank you so much, John, loved the feedback!
Just lemme clarify this one as it might be easy to misunderstand:
It's normal for us to give feedback but not to text-proof
That's true.
And in case this was misunderstood: nobody is expected to text-proof (or to provide feedback).
The public thread on typos & syntax started after a reader sent me a private email saying that he'd love to help with the proofreading (and then he disappeared, BTW :). Some guys here then kindly started using it to share their (precious) feedback, including the typos.
Same for the thread on "new lessons" in the private area started after Anon had an idea to use it as a "heads-up" for early new lessons releases, and he then kindly shared his (precious) feedback, which included typos.
None of the people who provided feedback are expected to do it, they've personally chosen to contribute, and I am very, very thankful to them (they all have a credit in my mind).
They -which also includes you, John-, also contributed and helped everyone who is going to join PU -or even just this website- so a big thanks to them from all the non-forum contributors who are still going to learn and grow.
There are a few more things as well that will improve soon concerning the rest of your feedback, but this thread will likely be visited by several prospects. And if I only reply to the cons, I will bring too much attention to the negatives (negative thread expansion, persuasion-dynamics awareness :).
So I'll move towards the rest now:
Quote from John Freeman on December 8, 2020, 6:48 amI want to say that my Life improved professionnally and socially since I started this course by a large margin. So the price of the course is fair. If you have not yet: BUY IT! But most importantly: do the course and ask questions.
Awesome, very happy to hear that, John!
And about this:
Quote from John Freeman on December 8, 2020, 6:48 amI know politically I'm supposed to...
Actually, this was a politically super-smart move.
I should add this on PU:
- Deliver PUBLIC compliments, they're 10x more valuable (social exchange sub-rule)
I have received tens of "thank you" private emails from subscribers or PU users.
These are all people who have login details, and for whom it would be probably easier to write on this forum than to write an email.
So they over-invested, to get less credit.
Why public compliments increase your social account more?
Because public praise increases your giving by 10x!
For those private emailers, it would have been SO easy to increase their social credit -or just to give more- by writing those "thank you" and reviews publicly, since public compliments are worth ten times more than private ones.
And if they'd have a question in the future, for sure I'd feel more compelled to reply, and to reply with some well-thought strategies.
Plus, they'd also have a chance to connect with others here, and have their name be seen (self-promotion, maybe it won't mean much for them on the forum, but it applies in other areas). And that would have also increased the chances that someone else might have given them good feedback.
The same applies in life, of course.
Just an example:
- You go pick up your girl & compliment her in front of the whole family: you don't call your girl privately and murmur "your mom is great". You tell the mom is great, in front of the whole family, plus you add "great choice" with a smile towards the father, and "no surprise you two made such a great daughter", while you reach out to the daughter
You kill 3 birds with a stone with a trio of public compliments, and you're officially the charmer in chief of the household
There are more easy ways to give that cost you nothing, but that increase your social bank account.
Still not sure if those should go under the Machiavellian lesson, since it takes some pro-social Machiavellianism to think this way, or if they should go under the Social Exchange lesson.
We'll see.
For now, thank you John, much-appreciated man!
And congrats on finishing the course, it's a minority of people who see it till the end and call themselves power-graduated :).
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(Book a call) for personalized & private feedback
Hello Lucio,
I’m glad my opinion is valuable to you! It’s interesting because it shows me how my neuronal circuitry have been conditioned to expect rejection. This explains also my behavior which was too submissive previously. I am still biased towards pleasing others due to excessive fear of being rejected. Much progress I have done though (Yoda style phrasing).
Anyway you know I like to communicate bluntly and directly. I’m glad you could hear the facts through my message. I know you know I’m all about the learning.
TB (Bilyeu) says that he got thrown rocks at him only to notice later when he dropped his ego that these rocks where actually rocks made out of gold. So now even if people give him feed-back in the most insulting way publicly he will take it. So he does not care about how the feed-back is delivered as long as he gets to improve based on it. The value is in the learning. Skills are all that matter.
Thanks for the clarifications and please excuse any clumsiness in my way of expressing myself. My intention is honest communication as you know.
Cheers!
Something else is in the Pros: the "Check" button, it's just great!
I am doing the 2nd layer of PU: studying it a second time. I recommend it to all other PU students. As every learner knows: spaced repetition is key. I see and understand way more things now. The first time I discovered the principles. I could apply them the last few months and now I review them. Of course there will be a 3rd and 4th layer as my goal for this year is to master the first 5 modules. This post is to inspire other PU students to aim higher for mastery! The better we are as a group, the higher we go as individuals.