Are Self-Help Books Useless?

Do you feel inspired to conquer the world after reading a self-help book?  They often instil positivity, habits for change and value to one’s life.  But after delving into a number of self-help books of varying nature, I feel they have a diminishing effect with the more I read and become useless.  While this may sound controversial, without naming and shaming any specific books I want to explain why. 

Do you actively make changes in your life after reading a self-help book? Do you reflect on these changes over time? Reading endless self-help books for the sake of becoming a better person will not have any effect unless you implement notable changes in your life.   Everyone experiences life through a different lens, and not all changes will work the same for everyone.  In addition, I have noticed trends in self-help books, where authors have given similar advice through differing perspectives.  It is up to the reader whether they still find value in this repetitive message, or if this time reading could be invested elsewhere.   

I have been fortunate enough to engage in a broad range of life experiences, by saying yes to every new opportunity that comes my way.  With these experiences have come challenges and lessons that led to changes and added value to my life.  When reading self-books, there have been many instances where I have thought ‘yes, I agree with this, I have experienced this, and I have already made changes accordingly’, but I have never explicitly acknowledged these lessons.  In these cases, self-help books can be a great way to reflect on what you have already learnt from your personal life experiences.  

Many self-help books are a consolidated outline of an author’s life lessons, which is a collection of their personal experiences and research. Many of these books may be directed to a specific area, for example within entrepreneurship, positive habits at work, or physical and mental growth.  In contrast, The Dice Man is a fictional book, but indirectly taught me the importance of confidence in your personal identity.  Warren Buffet’s biography exposed his mistakes and triumphs, where I was able to draw lessons to apply to my own life.  Eat Like the Animals provided a scientific perspective on healthy eating habits, and the results of their findings inspired me to make positive diet changes.  None of these were self-help books, but the lessons learnt were more impactful because I came to my own conclusions and simply didn’t follow advice.  

I believe self-help books in abundance can become useless when followed blindly and not integrated with life experience.  I challenge you to reflect on the next self-help book you read.  Ask yourself – “Do I already know this? Where has this already happened in my life?”. If not, examine ways that you can implement these perspectives or changes into your life and document your progress.  This is merely a perception of my experiences and I encourage you to come to your own conclusions on this topic.