On Self-Help Junkies and the People Who Write Books for Them
Now that I am working again, I am coming face to face with that problem of effectively managing my time well. Truth to tell, I am a confirmed self-help junkie, so the first thing I did was go to my book shelf and pull down my most primo self help Bible to refresh my memory how to do that.
When I had a lot of time on my hands, that book sat on the shelf gathering dust, exactly when I should have been using it. Now that I am feeling the time crunch once more, I pay homage to its wisdom and advice again.
I have found that self-help books are like the medication that we are supposed to take to treat an illness or to stay healthy. The medication works only if we take it as it is meant to be used. The same goes for these self-help books that are sitting on my shelves. I must have at least 10 to 15 of them sitting there and I have probably not cracked open more than five of six of them.
At the book store, I would come across a really interesting book on some aspect of self-help that came from a completely different angle. Great, I would tell myself. Maybe I can get a handle of keeping my place clean or managing my time better or realizing my full potential. You know, making those critical paradigm shifts that will propel me into the successful person I was meant to be. And with sincere intentions of reading it, I would buy it and put it on the shelf. Usually, that is about as far as I got with my resolution to improve myself with that particular book.
I think that the men and women who write these books count on other people doing just the same thing. The idea is to sell the book. To the authors, it would be really nice if people actually read their books. But if the readers out there just buy them off the shelf, that would be okay too, because then the authors of these books will be able to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.
Today, I am going to try to make good on my resolution to actually use my copy of this book on time management. Hey, it is a start. And maybe this time, if I actually take the medication... er, I mean read the book, maybe it will actually do me some good this time.
When I had a lot of time on my hands, that book sat on the shelf gathering dust, exactly when I should have been using it. Now that I am feeling the time crunch once more, I pay homage to its wisdom and advice again.
I have found that self-help books are like the medication that we are supposed to take to treat an illness or to stay healthy. The medication works only if we take it as it is meant to be used. The same goes for these self-help books that are sitting on my shelves. I must have at least 10 to 15 of them sitting there and I have probably not cracked open more than five of six of them.
At the book store, I would come across a really interesting book on some aspect of self-help that came from a completely different angle. Great, I would tell myself. Maybe I can get a handle of keeping my place clean or managing my time better or realizing my full potential. You know, making those critical paradigm shifts that will propel me into the successful person I was meant to be. And with sincere intentions of reading it, I would buy it and put it on the shelf. Usually, that is about as far as I got with my resolution to improve myself with that particular book.
I think that the men and women who write these books count on other people doing just the same thing. The idea is to sell the book. To the authors, it would be really nice if people actually read their books. But if the readers out there just buy them off the shelf, that would be okay too, because then the authors of these books will be able to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.
Today, I am going to try to make good on my resolution to actually use my copy of this book on time management. Hey, it is a start. And maybe this time, if I actually take the medication... er, I mean read the book, maybe it will actually do me some good this time.
posted by hfireman | 11:04 AM
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