{"id":6686,"date":"2014-09-08T13:22:52","date_gmt":"2014-09-08T17:22:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/?p=6686"},"modified":"2014-09-08T13:22:52","modified_gmt":"2014-09-08T17:22:52","slug":"why-self-help-doesnt-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/why-self-help-doesnt-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Self-help Doesn’t Help"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week I wrote an article for the upcoming \u00a0Winning Ways newsletter <\/a>and mentioned that I\u2019m not fond of the term self-help because it ignores the fact that it\u2019s not truly a DIY project.\u00a0<\/em>It involves a teacher as well.<\/em><\/p>\n

No matter what we call it, not everyone is getting the kind of results they anticipated. Here are some thoughts on how we can make the most of our personal growth excursions. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u00b0\u00b0\u00b0\u00b0\u00b0\u00b0\u00b0\u00b0\u00b0\u00b0\u00b0\u00b0\u00b0\u00b0<\/p>\n

When I first discovered the literature of personal growth and development, there weren\u2019t many titles to choose from. Today there are thousands.<\/p>\n

I always have a self-help book or two in my current reading pile, because there\u2019s so much to learn.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the self-help movement has spawned plenty of dropouts. Why don\u2019t all readers and seminar participants find this material helpful?<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are some thoughts on that.<\/p>\n

\u00b0 Refuse to abandon skepticism.<\/strong> Hanging onto cherished beliefs is a guaranteed way to prevent growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried that positive thinking stuff once. Didn\u2019t work.\u201d is the motto of the self-help dropout.<\/p>\n

Simply reading a single book or attending one seminar is not going to produce visible change. It\u2019s more a process of chipping away at limiting thoughts and behaviors that have taken hold over years.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the woman I know who dismisses any personal growth suggestions with a quick,\u201dI\u2019ve already heard that.\u201d With great discipline, I resist saying, \u201cIf your life doesn\u2019t show it, you don\u2019t really know it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00b0 Exercises are too much trouble.<\/strong> Most of us think of reading as zooming from the beginning to the end of a book.<\/p>\n

Self-help books invite us to slow down and take a slower journey. Exercises are like rest stops along the way, causing us to pause, reflect and apply.<\/p>\n

\u00b0 TMI Syndrome.<\/strong> It may seem like a good idea to gobble up as much information as you can.<\/p>\n

Sign up for every guru\u2019s mailing list. Be a perpetual seminar attendee.<\/p>\n

However, too much information is as dangerous as too little. It causes confusion and leads to inaction.<\/p>\n

\u00b0 Right book at the wrong time.<\/strong> Personal growth is an evolutionary process and we expand our receptiveness one concept at a time.<\/p>\n

Sometimes a book arrives ahead of our readiness. When that happens, don\u2019t abandon personal growth. Try a different book.<\/p>\n

\u00b0 Miss the point.<\/strong> As Henry David Thoreau said, \u201cA truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week I wrote an article for the upcoming \u00a0Winning Ways newsletter and mentioned that I\u2019m not fond of the term self-help because it ignores the fact that it\u2019s not truly a DIY project.\u00a0It involves a teacher as well. No matter what we call it, not everyone is getting the kind of results they anticipated….<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[27,1398,1409,48,912],"class_list":["post-6686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-postcard-from-barbara","tag-growing-a-business","tag-henry-david-thoreau","tag-personal-growth-challenges","tag-self-help","tag-winning-ways-newsletter","jsn-master"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6686"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6694,"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6686\/revisions\/6694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joyfullyjobless.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}