They are always at the top of the New York Times Best Seller List and the Amazon Best Seller List. The Self-Help books. How to Do _______ in “x” Amount of Days, or Get the (blank) You Deserve, Learning the Power of (blank), Get the (blank) You Need, or Twelve Steps to ________ Freedom, centered around all kinds of subjects. The most common being love, success, money and purpose, written by everyone from the person who sold millions of something on a fluke, to field and industry experts, to celebrities who have achieved great, insightful and motivational tips. I have a little problem with self-help books though.
First of all, I believe we are all created with individually unique gifts to offer the universe. Every single one of us is as different as the moon is from the sun. We think differently, act and react differently and we pursue things differently, even when in the same environment. Everyone’s journey is different. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not totally against self-help books. We can all glean pieces of information from someone else’s journey, thoughts, failures, successes and other experiences. But the fact is, what worked for one does not work for all. Some have taught that highly successful people don’t sleep and that’s why their highly successful, because they use more hours in the day to get things done. While others teach that the greatly successful make sure to get 7-8 hours of sleep so they can maximize the hours they are wake, thus they are more successful because they are more alert. Finding your way to peace, success, love, financial freedom, career success, joy, healing, and strength can’t be achieved by someone else’s 10-step plan. I’m particularly offended by those who say “if you follow these principles I guarantee your result will be successful”, or cram down your throat “I promise you if you do this, you will be achieve the same results and have what I have.” Nothing could be further from the truth! And when confronted with your inability to make their system work for you the way it worked for them, they will always infuse an excuse to justify their position. “Well you must have skipped step 8.” Lol! Their steps and practices may garner a similar turn out for some, but just because it worked for them, doesn’t mean it will work that way for you. Believing otherwise will only leave you feeling defeated and discouraged, and shortly thereafter running after the next latest and greatest self-help publication. As my grandmother used to say, “eat the meat and spit out the bones”, and “don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater”. Take what you can to enhance your own “self help” principles and then run with your own. Build your own system and get to applying that. Help yourself, lol!!!
