The problem I found in reading, or general media consumption is, you'll very likely to directly take everything the authoritative figures say, without resolving

The problem I found in reading, or general media consumption is, you'll very likely to directly take everything the authoritative figures say, without resolving internally, if you don't have strong personal philosophy yet. I hate to talk with people who quote Hegel or Kant all the time, using them as natural laws. Even I agree with some of it and respect them a lot, I don't think in essence they're more valuable than any random homeless people say. There are people who read a ton but have the poorest mind. The same goes to artists, there're a ton of artists who read a lot, watched a lot and listened to a lot but still make absolute crap. I think getting into the field of philosophy is very different from developing a personal philosophy. The "field" sounds to me like you'll be talking to other people who study philosophy, and you're expected to read certain materials to stay literal. But to develop your own personal philosophy there's no requirements about what you need to read. I consider myself to have strong personal philosophy, where I have a general rule / ideal mindset that explains everything (ideal meaning I might not act to what I believe in), and my philosophies are the direct reason that I'm always very happy in life (which is my primary goal). I rarely talk to other people about these, so I consider myself not in the field of philosophy. So no, I don't think there's a general clear path to develop a personal philosophy. What is personal philosophy? It's your own personal way of living. I would say it's a lot luck, either you found it or not. It's possible to read something, or watched something that coincidentally matched very well with your underlying personal philosophy that you haven't discovered yourself yet, and discovered a bit after experiencing those, so my only advise would be stay honest with yourself, keep reading / watching / listening to whatevery you're most interested in. Personally I think the film First Love: The Litter on the Breeze (1998), 20th Century Nostalgia (1997) and The Troubleshooters (1988) helped me discover my personal philosophy, but that's highly personal, just written here for reference (also recommend to everyone because they're good).