The Self-Help Market is Out of Control...!
I recently bought a book on Amazon called 'Atomic Habits', the general gist being that if you have a vision of how you want to change your life then the way you get there is my making very small changes on a daily basis rather than trying to make EPIC changes.
It's about starting off by doing just 2 press ups tomorrow rather than committing to an hour in the gym 6 days a week from tomorrow and so on.
I bought this (it hasn't arrived yet) as it's actually something I agree with and so thought it might be worth a read, also there a just a couple of aspects of my life i'd like to improve RN, or maybe a few - principally I want to spend more time cleaning the house on a daily basis, and somehow try and find time to start the allotment this year, basically DOING MORE PHYSICAL STUFF...
I've been telling myself that i should do this for about a year now, but still not actually doing it!
Don't get me wrong I'm doing OK with the workouts and the yoga, but somehow I find myself drawn back to the online world too often!
I thought this book would probably help with a few tips to kick start me.
Anyway, before ordering this on Amazon for £9.99 I took a dutiful trip to Waterstones to see if I could pick it up there, but for £17.99 NO FUCKING WAY. Sorry but my commitment to anti-corporatism doesn't go that far!
Anyway, while in Waterstones I had a look at the self-help section, and unsurprisingly it has got even more out of control than last time I checked - I like to keep track on this...
Jay Blades has a self-help book...
ERR.. WTF...? If I want my grandma's clock fixing then fine, I'll take it to his workshop, but spiritual advice, errr NO! He's basically chill because he's now earning a small fortune and status as a media personality, so he has NOTHING to teach me.
Eddie Hall also has a self-help book..
ERR.. WTF....? If I want to watch people lift heavy objects then fine, I'll tune into Eddie's YouTube channel (in fairness it is very entertaining!) but spiritual life lessons, err, no!
Again here's someone who can be chill because he's mangaged to leverage one World Strongest Man win (JUST) into probably over £!M in earnings via clever management and now he, like Mr Blades, is SORTED, again because he's a media personality.
Do these books really benefit people...?
I mean surely people don't buy this shit thinking these people have anything to teach them...?
These books are nice little side-earners for them, probably worth a few extra grand this year in their pockets, but honestly if I want spiritual life lessons I'll go ask a fucking monk.
Jesus!
Or maybe these are really just mis-categorised!
Honestly probably these are more like auto-biographies, but I don't care enough about either of these media personalities to bother to look inside, I don't know them!
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Dude every self made influencer and their mother has a book with life lessons here. For real. All written by chatgpt and filled with the same. Hard to find a book that actually inspires
Yup, never ending layers of bullshit!
We are used to hear things from the third part, a book or a person, to make changes in our life.
Is there a self help book on choosing the right self help book? It's not the sort of stuff I tend to read, but people want answers and solutions.
My son is an Eddie Hall fan and has met him.
All the choice just makes us more confused.
Oh I like Eddie Hall he's entertaining!
Atomic Habits is a really good book and the guy has really done his research homework also.
Too bad I did fuck-all with it :-)
Hahha that'll be me... doing fuck all with it! Hopefully it'll arrive today!
Mine has been riding in my work bag for the last couple of months. I did skim read it once and it is very good. Guy has a great story and actually gives pretty practical steps to how he changed his life.
I just didn't take any steps....yet...gonna do that tomorrow :-)
Books are like the text you just wrote, we all have ideas that we want to capture and share.
In the world there are different points of view, there are people who have a very particular one, where they can teach you something, even in fantastic stories you can find valuable messages.
I think it all depends on your way of seeing life, if you think there will be something interesting to extract from the book, you will get it, if not, I'm afraid not.
At least that's my way of seeing it.
Yes fair point, but I just think there's too much to wade through!
I gave up buying self-help books about 30 years ago when I found myself outside the University of Washington bookshop in Seattle with 7 self-help books I'd just bought. One of them was entitiled "Stop Improving Yourself and Start Living". Uh. Hang on . . . Oh the irony! 😂 Cured me of my self-help habit though.
They're very seductive, aren't they? Playing into some need we have. Great when you spot the con!
Yeah. It's decades since I bought any. I paid my dues back in the 80's. 😂
I don't understand, can you write a book explaining your journey in more depth?
Funny you should ask. But, back in the day, I didn't actually write and sell one. 😂
I want to release a book called, “Change your life with one easy lesson”. It will be £40 per copy, hardback only, will be 1000 pages long. On each page, there will be one sentence. “You fell for it you silly billy”.
You are right. This whole thing drives me nuts!!
Only £40? I think you could charge more.
That’s valuable market research feedback in the preparation of my new book. There will be private book signings too.
I think I may have already written that!
Damn!!! My master plans have been scuppered for global domination!!
As you say, it's an earner for the celebrities in question. Otherwise, I think its a horribly exploitative genre. I refused to have a self-help section in the bookshop although it is one of the best selling genres.
The other problem I have with those books, even or especially, by specialists in their field, is that they are filled with padding. I really don't need to know the epiphany you had on Mount Kilimanjaro (they are rarely good travel writers), just tell me the science/research. It means you're committing four hours of your life to reading, not just the monetary cost of the book.
There's a very good video in the Zoe series about the content of this book, free and time-stamped. It's focusing on food and eating habits as Zoe is about nutrition but the examples are easy to apply to other circumstances. It's sixty-five minutes to watch all the way through, but even less if you miss the fluff and pick the stamps with the actual information. (Other videos are available).
I agree, too much padding in most of them, I'll give the video a go at some point!
I gotta start with everyone's life is a lesson to be learnt, self help books are for self realization which can be gotten from examining oneself by meditating and studying other people's life, I do agree they are side earners but they also reflect his life principles which pushed him over the bar, it might not be a great self help book, it's definitely one.
Even the monks tell you to study foolish and wise people the moral lesson is in people's life lies the secret to their failure or success it's your to take what you need. To be honest self help books opened my mind to the reality of the only thing you need is discipline and you build that by small consistent practice that's all the self help you need.
Very well said!
Well, with the right mindset and selection process, self-help books can be powerful allies in your journey toward self-improvement. However, different authors without no singular authority on the topic in discussion had been emerging in recent time. So it is important one sticks to the recommended ones - atleast someone has read it and has found it useful.
All the books basically say "I obsessed over something, I made the vision boards, and I showed up every day early" and "when I feel down, because that happens over and over, I picked myself up, and say one more step, one more step, one more step, as though I'm a monk watching my breath... One more breath, one more breath" and end with "and then one day, it just happened, there I was at the top of the mountain"
What they don't say is they also probably got lucky, unlike the other 100 people who did exactly the same as them or more and failed.
Couldn't agree more. Of course luck doesn't sell, Otherwise I'd have at least one lottery winner committed to some space in my brain... But alas... Not a one comes to mind.
Hi my friend!
But do you know that the other day I was in the bookshop and I had a thought identical to the one you wrote here?
I love reading and always prefer books on self-development, personal growth or maybe biographies.
It must be said, however, that now everyone really feels ready to write a book in which they offer life lessons!
The more I study, reflect, educate myself and inform myself, the more I think that "I don't understand shit about life" (sorry for the vulgarity but it takes up the title of an Italian song).
I hug you!
Dude, I walk into Waterstones these days and the first thing that comes to mind is....wow....so many shelves of thought-vomit....
That's what it is you know...sick shit...time wasting crap that plays on people's fantasies and delusions...
The rememdy is simple: do something!
I know what you mean... put on your big girl pants and just get on with it!