Do Self Help Books Work?

Do self help books work?

I used to go into large book stores and head for the self help book section where I stood before a few hundred titles. I start to browse the books that looked interesting. After about an hour of intense browsing I would decide on the book I wanted and wander out of the store with my new book and head for the nearest Starbucks to start reading it.

Almost every self help book that I read contained glowing testimonials by people whose lives have been transformed by it. I would start reading, full of expectations that I too would be changed by it. After I read it I would say to myself:

“That was a great book, but I feel just the same as I did before reading it!”

I met a friend who complained that she had a whole bookcase full of self help books but none of them had really changed her. I too felt short-changed by these books.  This feeling lasted until the next time I visited the book store and stood in front of the self help goodies! Maybe the next book would be the one that would change my life forever.

So, do self help books work?

Obviously a lot has to do with the quality of the books. Here are some common ideas found in self help books that do not work:

• Visualize your goals – Goal setting is a complex business if you want to achieve your goals.  Simply visualizing  is not enough.
• Use affirmations – Again, affirmations by themselves do not do a lot. For example, if you use the affirmation “I am rich”,  then you may not believe this. There is often the self-sabotaging voice that says ‘I am unworthy”
• When depressed think happy thoughts – Whilst there are strategies that can help depressed people, simply thinking happy thoughts will not work.
• Venting you anger is good – Research has shown that expressing your anger may perpetuate anger and may even lead to violence.
• You can be your own therapist – If you have mild emotional issues then yes you can be your own therapist, but if your condition is severe then you need the help of a highly qualified therapist.
• This book will change your life – Self help books often exaggerate what they will do for you and give you false hope.

A lot of discrimination is needed to weed out the not-very-useful self-help books, and then when you find the good books there is one vital thing that you need to do.

Imagine reading diet books to find the diet  or nutrition program that suites you.  You then do not eat the recommended food. How much weight will you lose, or how healthier will you feel? You will feel no effect whatsoever. Do you then dismiss the book as not working?

Like reading the diet books, there is just one golden rule:

Put into daily practice the strategies that you learn from a book.

This is both simple and obvious, yet I did not always do this. I would read a book from cover to cover and, even if the book contained solid advice, I would not always integrate this advice into my life!

I have written my own short self help book “How to Manage Stress“, which is full of practical strategies for how to relax and deal with your stress.  It is a gift to you from me. But, please, please do not download it unless you intend to put into practice at least some of the strategies taught in this book.

This book works!

Download Here.

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