In 1889, Samuel Smiles, a British doctor turned journalist, published “Self Help.” This tome of encouragement in personal discipline and improvement spawned a genre by the same name. The core premise of Smiles’s work is that individual, personal discipline and education will yield the greatest results.
Present-day self-help is dominated by insufferable egoists who wear pretend glasses and steal other people’s ideas. It’s understandable that such people are reviled. It’s a mistake to write off the genre of self-help, though.
Isn’t self-help a misnomer? When I reach for “self-help” books I’m open to new ideas from other people. What I don’t want is to try to “help” myself with the same tired ideas I’ve been trying.
In reading a bibliophile’s blog, I came across this helpful distinction regarding self-help books. The writer notes, “I’ve read so many [self-help books] over the years that I’ve grown quick at placing them into either of two categories: ‘Same old thing’ or ‘Something Special.’”
What is the “something special” of a good self-help book? It might just be the difference between personality and principles, appearances and the real thing. Anyone can get a ghostwriter to paraphrase some decent ideas to fit a compelling personal brand. Such a book might sell a lot of copies but provide little value.
A book of sound principles, on the other hand, is timeless. Even if you have no idea who wrote it, you can find encouragement and renewed perspective that can genuinely improve your life. The naysayers will insist that they just have a lousy lot in life, but that kind of despairing ingratitude does not conform to reality.
I can understand the temptation to reject all self-help as loathsome artifice, but with a modicum of discernment you can learn from other people and benefit from good ideas.
A few favorite self-help books that come to mind:
Extreme Ownership
