In 1981 I attended an introductory seminar for a program that I wasn't real clear about...the est training. The guy who invited us (my first wife and I) spent more time sharing about the program than measuring our kitchen for cabinets - although he did, eventually. I questioned the whole thing, but he asked me point blank if I was being as effective as I wanted to be at work. I didn't answer him directly, but his questin was right on the money. He got to me, and so I was out to find out if there was something that could really make the difference that 2 degrees and 5 years of field experience couldn't.
That evening both my (ex) wife and I signed up for the two weekend, three evening course called "the est training." Two things convinced me: a leader asking a group "Can you afford the arrogance of living your life as if there is nothing, the knowing of which would make a difference?" Somehow, that rang very true - I was unable to produce the kind of results I wanted with what I knew.
The other thing was an offhand comment made by one of the assistants there. I was standing at the registration table, pretty obviously interested, and he asked if I wanted to register. "I want to," I answered, "but I don't have the money." "You might want to see if that is something that stops you elsewhere in your life" he said and left it at that. His comment went deep - I flashed on a number of things that I wasn't doing and blaming on lack of money. At that point I was about to borrow the registration fee from my wife when she came up, announced that she had registered and offered to pay for my registration. So we left that night enrolled in an upcoming est training.