Self help books are useless. Period.
Are you one of those who take inspiration (or whatever that is) from self-help books? If you are, stop reading them right away. And if you like self-help books, you will perhaps not like what is written further.
One of the reasons I have stopped taking a look at the bestsellers’ lists is because they are populated with self help books. Every time I them one of them on any bestselling list, something breaks inside me (and I do see one of them every time).
I pity those writers who cannot get their books out on the shelf because other readers are busy ‘taking inspiration’ from those self help books.
Self help books makes me think about the actual writers who put in extraneous amounts of work to script an actual novel or a sensible book – that, let’s face it, requires unimaginable amount of research and mental focus.
I pity those writers who cannot get their books out on the shelf because other readers are busy ‘taking inspiration’ from those self help books.
Self help books make me guilty for no reason.
What, I often ask myself, can be the reason that people really care to buy and read books like “How to succeed?”, “How to stay Happy?”, “You can win”, “Ten steps to get rich” etc.?
All of us need something for inspiration… But if that ‘something’ is a book with a picture of a man in a suit pointing a finger at you saying “Yes, You can!” then go kill yourself.
Okay. All of us, at some point or the other, need inspiration. All of us need something to boost our confidence. But if that ‘something’ is a book with a picture of a man in a suit pointing a finger at you saying “Yes, You can!” then go kill yourself.
I am overreacting, aren’t I?
Well, there is a reason. In my opinion, these books are written with simple formulas and require less efforts than actual books.
You, yes you, can write one too.
How, you ask?
First decide your pitch. Let us say that you want to write about “How to Be a Millionaire”. Once that’s done, start collecting all the information that you can about famous millionaires. Inspirational quotes from Google are a MUST.
Then you ask about various business strategies to your uncle who is a really good businessman. You mix all of what you just collected nicely. Flowery language is a MUST.
You sprinkle words like “hard work” “smart” “Intelligence” “luck” “determination” “honesty” “integrity” “credibility” etc.
If you wish, you can add poetic lines before each chapter.
Mission accomplished. Your book is ready to hit the market.
Was it so difficult?
The point here is that it is likely that the author is indifferent to your success or failure. And it is also likely that the author is using is inferiority complex to make money!
All of us, deep down, know that there are no shortcuts to success. There is no fixed formula to stay happy. Everyone faces troubles, and every one of us deals with our problems in our own way.
No book is going to help as life teaches better than books.
Wouldn’t it be a lot more inspiring to get a pat on the back from your dad than reading from a stranger who tells us that we can do everything without knowing a single bit about our life?
Wouldn’t it be a great boost when our dear ones tell us that they are with us, than reading ‘ways to get out of depression’?
It certainly would.
