(Alert – this article contains contentious viewpoints with some harsh language; if this does not suit your taste, please refrain from reading further)
Recently, I received an email from a friend about some interesting article to read. However, it turned out to be a boring stuff. I hate reading self-help and motivational kind of pieces; everything that preaches – “think positive”, “say I am the best”, “how to vent anger”, “how to achieve your goals”, and so on in an over obsessed manner. I have never been able to understand the need and important of such self-help kind of writings.
The first form self-help or motivational writing that I read was “Who moved my cheese”. I read it as a story (like I read Coelho’s Alchemist) and it made no impact on my behaviour or thinking pattern. However, my disgust for writings of this genre began with Shiv Khera’s “You can win” and it continues till today for his “You can sell”.
Such books and writings claim to improve confidence, boost moral, change attitude towards life, and so on – all of which seem to be of utter nuisance to me. I believe, you cannot solve my problems unless you consider my problems as your problems. And this never happens. The so-called self-help gurus keep farting hollow clouds of gyan only to contaminate and confuse the poor reader. (A psychological study reveals that such kind of gyan usually has reverse effect on the person, towards negative side).
I had heard a lot about the book “Secret”. I bought a copy to see what it is all about. Crap – was all it was. It cites some examples about some men and women (who knows whether those personalities existed or not), and how they achieved what they wanted in life. I can summarise the entire book (and its various versions) into one simple word – “TENACITY”, which means persistent determination. Now that does not need a huge rocket science, be focused, work hard, and you will get it – just the way Einstein, Tendulkar, or even Abhijit Sawant did. I am sure none of them required any self-help book. I also do know some one who with just a degree in commerce is flying high with fleet of cars and row of houses – he certainly hasn’t read any such books.
Talk to a friend or listen to music when you are low, keep your desk clean so that you feel energetic while working, space out activities of your day, play some sport so that you remain fit and fresh – all these things are of common sense, I guess.
I dread Amway guys and those in similar clan of MLM who shove down such motivational books into other’s and think great of have achieved something. On the contrary, the reader then starts feeling inferior and works based on fear and not on inspiration.
These books somehow fail to preach that “Success is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration”. What is use of just getting inspired by reading stories of other people – case studies used in such books? And then, there are contradictions too. Some books say follow success; grab it, it is yours; it is the most important thing. Few other books say that your goals are not everything in life, reminding you that it is not the only important thing in life – what the ****
Most often, the self-help techniques are misleading; it is like giving you a capsule on tooth ache when you actually have neck pain. Following such books is like practicing ignorance of your real-time decrepit condition; this is something illusionary and could be disastrous. Also, these self-help books and case studies therein, are utterly time wasting techniques, making you feel more fatigued.
The experts put lot of conditions, if this – then that; if success or comfort for you has to be conditional, how about you setting up some conditions for yourself. I learnt in school, “God helps them, those who help themselves” – a condition again – if I help myself only then will God help me. So from God to a human expert, all are conditional; then the best person that remains to help you is YOU yourself.
Running after such self-help books, articles, and techniques may not make you successful or rich. However, it will certainly make those fallacious experts wealthier. You will keep buying books, CDs. DVDs, attending seminars and increasing the net worth of those self-help gurus, thus fuelling the billion dollar self-help industry.
Recently, I received an email from a friend about some interesting article to read. However, it turned out to be a boring stuff. I hate reading self-help and motivational kind of pieces; everything that preaches – “think positive”, “say I am the best”, “how to vent anger”, “how to achieve your goals”, and so on in an over obsessed manner. I have never been able to understand the need and important of such self-help kind of writings.
The first form self-help or motivational writing that I read was “Who moved my cheese”. I read it as a story (like I read Coelho’s Alchemist) and it made no impact on my behaviour or thinking pattern. However, my disgust for writings of this genre began with Shiv Khera’s “You can win” and it continues till today for his “You can sell”.
Such books and writings claim to improve confidence, boost moral, change attitude towards life, and so on – all of which seem to be of utter nuisance to me. I believe, you cannot solve my problems unless you consider my problems as your problems. And this never happens. The so-called self-help gurus keep farting hollow clouds of gyan only to contaminate and confuse the poor reader. (A psychological study reveals that such kind of gyan usually has reverse effect on the person, towards negative side).
I had heard a lot about the book “Secret”. I bought a copy to see what it is all about. Crap – was all it was. It cites some examples about some men and women (who knows whether those personalities existed or not), and how they achieved what they wanted in life. I can summarise the entire book (and its various versions) into one simple word – “TENACITY”, which means persistent determination. Now that does not need a huge rocket science, be focused, work hard, and you will get it – just the way Einstein, Tendulkar, or even Abhijit Sawant did. I am sure none of them required any self-help book. I also do know some one who with just a degree in commerce is flying high with fleet of cars and row of houses – he certainly hasn’t read any such books.
Talk to a friend or listen to music when you are low, keep your desk clean so that you feel energetic while working, space out activities of your day, play some sport so that you remain fit and fresh – all these things are of common sense, I guess.
I dread Amway guys and those in similar clan of MLM who shove down such motivational books into other’s and think great of have achieved something. On the contrary, the reader then starts feeling inferior and works based on fear and not on inspiration.
These books somehow fail to preach that “Success is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration”. What is use of just getting inspired by reading stories of other people – case studies used in such books? And then, there are contradictions too. Some books say follow success; grab it, it is yours; it is the most important thing. Few other books say that your goals are not everything in life, reminding you that it is not the only important thing in life – what the ****
Most often, the self-help techniques are misleading; it is like giving you a capsule on tooth ache when you actually have neck pain. Following such books is like practicing ignorance of your real-time decrepit condition; this is something illusionary and could be disastrous. Also, these self-help books and case studies therein, are utterly time wasting techniques, making you feel more fatigued.
The experts put lot of conditions, if this – then that; if success or comfort for you has to be conditional, how about you setting up some conditions for yourself. I learnt in school, “God helps them, those who help themselves” – a condition again – if I help myself only then will God help me. So from God to a human expert, all are conditional; then the best person that remains to help you is YOU yourself.
Running after such self-help books, articles, and techniques may not make you successful or rich. However, it will certainly make those fallacious experts wealthier. You will keep buying books, CDs. DVDs, attending seminars and increasing the net worth of those self-help gurus, thus fuelling the billion dollar self-help industry.
Comments
The concept of the "universe" & all that is perhaps only an analogy.
I have seen it happening in my life as well (even before reading the book)...Whenever I have wanted something strongly, I hv got it through some way or the other ( & it includes all things negative & positive)..I very strongly believe in the basic concept of the book that we attract all things in our life, whether negative or positive..The book is only a medium to make you more self-aware of such things...It makes you more conscious of what you wish for!
I am not saying that all Self-Help books are worth the moolah..But some definitely are & "The Secret" scores high on my ranking of them...
"I have seen it happening in my life as well (even before reading the book)...Whenever I have wanted something strongly, I hv got it through some way or the other"...
Good that you agreed to this yourself, and that is precisely the point I made. You got whatever you wanted without even reading the book; so why give undue importance to such books and their writers anyways.
What you have been practicing, in simple term means, "tenacity" or "persistance". Did anything changed in your life after reading that book? Nothing, I am sure; unless you have an influential mind and you have started presuming certain things.
If you know what you want, and determined to get what you want, then no one or nothing can make you go otherwise.
As long as your focus on something remains undeterred, there is no need or reading such books.
Cheers,
Amol
I have nothing else to say. Everyone has the right to express their opinions, likes and dislikes. But one need to understand this, simply because you find something totally worthless it does not mean it is.