Is Self-Help a Scam?

By Author Denise Turney – chistell.com

Self-help is an industry that pulls in billions. And where there’s billions of dollars, there could be a scam. Hallmark of a scam is a confidence trick. After all, if you don’t believe in an idea, product or service, you probably won’t try it. Every sales pro knows this. The first step to a sale requires gaining a buyer’s confidence or trust.

Gain trust is something people in the self-help industry do well. In fact, the industry pulls in loads of revenue. In fact, Market Research reports that, in the United States alone, the self-help industry was worth $9.9 billion in 2016.

bird using self-help to reach object in tree
Beautiful colorful bird – Wikimedia Commons – Picture by Andrew Mercer

Self Help Industry Facts

Self-help products and services range from selfhelp books, life coaching, online self improvement courses and weight loss programs. In 2016, motivational speakers and personal or life coaches raked in $1 billion each. They were followed by selfhelp books ($800 million) and audiobooks ($769 million).

Those numbers alone are enough to entice a person to enter the self-help industry, including people with good intentions. But does self-help work? Who’s measuring self-help products and services for effectiveness?

A scam doesn’t do what it builds your confidence to believe that it does.

Measuring Self Improvement Products and Services

Is it possible to measure whether reading a self-improvement book or using a self-help app played a pivotal role in helping someone to lose and keep weight off, move away from an addiction or sleep better long term? Perhaps, and more importantly, can a constant focus on self-help prove tiring.

Also, if self-improvement products and services work, why do the same people keep turning to more of the products and services? It’s like going to the same surgeon for a knee replacement ten times. In this case, could it be that the surgeon’s work isn’t effective?

Downsides of Self-Help

Lack of effectiveness may be only one downside to self-help. Even more, it’s possible to start to feel as if you’re always spotting faults in yourself. It can start to feel as if you always need to “get better” or “be better”.

When I look back on the years when I read dozens and dozens of self-help books (I used to almost always buy a self-help book when I went book shopping), I appreciate the fact that I finally realized that I could read all the self-help books in the world and still think that I was coming up short somewhere. That shared, I must say that I did move forward with my finances and mind stillness after reading and completing exercises in some of those self-help books.

For me, the downside came when I started to believe that I needed to read “one more” self-help book. It was as if I was trying to work my way to a point where I believed that there was no other improvement needed because I had become perfect.

What Are You Really Searching For

Finally, I stopped buying self-improvement books in mass. Why? It had started to send the message that there would always be something wrong with me. All I had to do was “look”.

Will Storr shares in The New Yorker that, “People are suffering and dying under the torture of the fantasy self they’re failing to become.” Also, with self-help books, you’re often self-diagnosing. But what you think is your challenge may, in fact, only be a symptom.

And just how objective are you when it comes to eyeballing yourself? Even more, what are you really searching for when you reach for that next self-help book?

A Never Ending Journey

Change is inner work. But do you need to change, or do you just keep repeating that line to yourself? And if a self-help book, seminar or motivational speech doesn’t work, how will you know? After all, you could simply say that you’re the problem. You could just tell yourself that you just came up short again.

Perhaps, an answer is to allow your life to unfold all on its own. To accept that, regardless of what you do, think or read, you’re going to feel challenged, confused, certain, sad and happy from time to time. And that may not be because you’re flawed or because something is wrong with you.

Instead, you could be on a journey, a journey that calls for climbing at times, floating at times, resting, running, walking, stillness and movement. You could be on a journey that you can’t read your way through. In fact, you could be on a journey that you have no choice except to live through.

Resources

https://www.inc.com/matthew-jones/11-billion-reasons-self-help-industry-doesnt-want-you-to-know-truth-about-happiness.html

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-power-prime/201104/personal-growth-is-the-self-help-industry-fraud

How to Finish Strong in 2019

By Author Denise Turney

Finish strong as a new year gets closer, and you could reap more than fantasy success. You could pull in more than a harvest of hope and great expectations. If you’re serious about advancing in 2020, why not finish 2019 strong? Below are reasons not to take your foot off the accelerator just because 2019 is winding down. After all, the way that you finish 2019 may have more impact on how your 2020 goes than you’d imagine.

Finish Strong in 2019

Sure, it’s tempting to trick yourself into thinking that it’s too late to get real results in 2019. Makes sense. The year really is almost over. But you could use the next several weeks to finalize plans for a new book, business venture, relationship change, home renovation, financial shift, childcare options, healthy lifestyle, marketing strategy and more.

new year 2020 graphic with happy people jumping
Happy New Year – Wikimedia Commons – Picture by
naziruddin (https://www.statuswire.in/2019/11/happy-new-year-images.html)

As it regards marketing, you could try a new audio, visual or print content marketing strategy, the type of content marketing strategy that could grow your sales throughout 2020. Looking for growth ideas? Check out these 2019 year-end marketing actions that you could take to yield good results in new year:

  • Identify three to five experienced freelance writers who you will assign 2020 content marketing responsibilities to
  • Connect with these freelance writers before 2019 closes out
  • Settle on content marketing rates
  • Build on your pool of copywriters
  • Incorporate the strength of these copywriters into your prospecting communications
  • Contact three dozen (or more) prospects before December 31, 2019

That’s just one area where you can finish 2019 strong. And you won’t have to work long hours to complete each of the above options. Simply, create a daily schedule.

Easy Ways to Finish 2019 Strong

Add three actions to each week, and you’d complete each action listed above by the end of the year. As an entrepreneur looking to grow her business, you’d be setting yourself up for a good start to 2020. This is for content marketing. But what about a lifestyle change?

For example, what if you want to get your wellness numbers within a healthy range? Consider not eating and drinking whatever you want over the next several weeks. Instead, start to change your beliefs around food, comfort, excitement and energy.

Wikimedia Commons – Picture by naziruddin (https://www.statuswire.in/2019/11/happy-new-year-images.html)

In fact, with holiday food temptations, now may be one of the best times to start creating deep healthy lifestyle roots. Doable ways to finish 2019 strong as it regards healthy eating, exercise, rest and healthy relationships (a huge part of any healthy lifestyle) include:

  • Eliminate poor relationship habits like gossiping, back biting and manipulation. If you start or engage in gossip, back biting and manipulation, stop. If you’re a listener, let folks know that you’re no longer participating in these unhealthy habits.
  • Drink plenty of fresh water every day. This one should be easy.
  • Avoid talking yourself out of doing what’s good or better for you.

Chart Your Own Course

Chart your own path as the year progresses. Keep at it in the new year. Check out these simple ways to create finish the year strong, creating a path for a rewarding new year:

  • Exercise daily
  • Get your BMI, blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol levels tested
  • Take one unhealthy food or beverage out of your diet
  • Replace an unhealthy food or beverage with a healthy food or beverage item (e.g., fresh, leafy spinach, broccoli)
  • Step away from your desk at least three times a day. For example, you could step away from your desk after breakfast, for lunch and an hour before you head home.
  • Park several yards from stores and offices when you know you’ll exit the buildings while it’s still daylight.
  • Walk stairs that are in safe locations at least once a day instead of taking an elevator
  • Lift weights three days a week. You could start by lifting dumb bells for the remainder of 2019.
  • Stretch at morning and at night before retiring to bed. Strengthen your balance and flexibility.

Also, finish 2019 strong by getting sufficient sleep. You could do this by turning off your TV before you go to bed. If you’re in the habit of sleeping with the TV on, consider turning your TV off the first time you wake in the middle of the night.

Prepare for a Happy New Year

Even more, you could use a lava lamp or other meditation tool to relax an hour before you head for bed. Other ways to unwind before bed include writing in a journal, counting blessings or reading a book while you relax on the sofa.

Key is to break actions into doable steps. Another key, is to get started now. Don’t let the word “now” scare you. After all, you could always just let 2019 wind down, shift into the gear of pulling back and cross your fingers and hope for magic to occur in 2020.

Then again, if improvements don’t just happen out-of-the-blue, it may be best to finish 2019 strong. Start the actions that will help to set you up for a winning 2020.