Most of us have experienced the feeling of excitement and hope when purchasing a new self-help book.
You know the one.
It's the widely popular book that has spent months on the best-seller's list and the one that all of your friends are reading.
You may have even spent a considerable amount of time underlining all the key passages and taking notes.
By the end of the book you might even feel very hopeful about life and determined to make some changes.
But after a couple of weeks you are back to where you started before you bought the book.
So, what happened? You are not alone.
Ninety-seven percent of people who follow self-help information do not succeed.
The best-kept secret about self-help books is that many of their theories are untested and widely exaggerated.
There is one book on the New York Times Best Seller List that proclaims that if you just think of the things you want, you will attract them to you.
If only life was that simple! It is these kinds of messages that often lead to disappointment and frustration, leaving readers to wonder what is wrong with them rather than analyzing what might be wrong with self-help theories and advice they are reading.
So, the cycle continues...
people keep on buying more books until they are 'fixed.
' Don't get me wrong, not all self-help books are bad.
However, there are many that are purely after a big piece of the $8 billion dollar self-help industry.
What I (and many others) find the most frustrating are books that are filled with lofty visualization or positive techniques without any steps to create a concrete, step-by-step plan to accomplish goals/bring about real life change.
What is often left out of many of these books is the sheer amount of effort it takes to actually bring about long-lasting change in one's life.
No book, no matter how good its theories and advice can instantly change your life (although some make this promise!).
Most of the self-help industry is based on the fantasy that after achieving your dreams you will be happy.
And who doesn't want to be happy? The fact is that even if you are able to cross off everything on your life's to-do list, you still won't achieve lasting happiness.
This is something that is rarely mentioned in self-help books, as what sells is the fantasy that you, indeed, can have everything you want and be happy.
You know the one.
It's the widely popular book that has spent months on the best-seller's list and the one that all of your friends are reading.
You may have even spent a considerable amount of time underlining all the key passages and taking notes.
By the end of the book you might even feel very hopeful about life and determined to make some changes.
But after a couple of weeks you are back to where you started before you bought the book.
So, what happened? You are not alone.
Ninety-seven percent of people who follow self-help information do not succeed.
The best-kept secret about self-help books is that many of their theories are untested and widely exaggerated.
There is one book on the New York Times Best Seller List that proclaims that if you just think of the things you want, you will attract them to you.
If only life was that simple! It is these kinds of messages that often lead to disappointment and frustration, leaving readers to wonder what is wrong with them rather than analyzing what might be wrong with self-help theories and advice they are reading.
So, the cycle continues...
people keep on buying more books until they are 'fixed.
' Don't get me wrong, not all self-help books are bad.
However, there are many that are purely after a big piece of the $8 billion dollar self-help industry.
What I (and many others) find the most frustrating are books that are filled with lofty visualization or positive techniques without any steps to create a concrete, step-by-step plan to accomplish goals/bring about real life change.
What is often left out of many of these books is the sheer amount of effort it takes to actually bring about long-lasting change in one's life.
No book, no matter how good its theories and advice can instantly change your life (although some make this promise!).
Most of the self-help industry is based on the fantasy that after achieving your dreams you will be happy.
And who doesn't want to be happy? The fact is that even if you are able to cross off everything on your life's to-do list, you still won't achieve lasting happiness.
This is something that is rarely mentioned in self-help books, as what sells is the fantasy that you, indeed, can have everything you want and be happy.