Why Self Help Books Usually Fail Us

Successful people read on average 50 books per year. The average person reads about 12 books per year. I am a huge supporter of growth through reading, as I feel our mind is our most powerful asset. I could venture to guess that many books that are read by both the average and highly successful individuals fall into the category of “self-help” books, I too read these.

What Works for One May Not Work for Another

Growth comes from knowledge. Where this can end up cheating us is when we buy into the one size fits all approach. 

Solutions for one person may be hard, de-energizing obstacles for another. An example of this would be the story of a client I had the privilege of helping. She had already hired a coach for her business and was feeling a bit stuck in building momentum. The tried and true was put on her to do list of things to accomplish to see steady growth and success. “Staying in front of the client” through newsletters is absolutely tried and true. For this you must be consistent. Do six things, one thousand times type of thinking. But for this individual it felt heavy, daunting, boring…and so nothing happened. 

This is the cookie cutter approach, and while it’s not wrong, it’s not going to work like a charm for all, and not because it doesn’t work…although that will become the excuse, but because this individual will struggle to WORK it. Why?? This individual struggled under too much structure and thrived in pressure and variety. Building a newsletter was the absolute wrong thing for her to pour her time into. The solution was then to work the math and find out if off boarding the newsletter made more sense.

One Size Fits ONE

The difficult part about books that offer solutions to the many, it leads many to believe they simply are not capable of greatness because it doesn’t feel sustainable. Most people then attribute the lack of success on their ability. The truth in this situation is not that one person is able to succeed while another is not, it’s that we’re all very unique in what energizes us and what our strength is. The gift in not being energized through structure is the visionary side which lends to being strong in the gray…leaning on the creative. If a book or a coach can harness that gift while highlighting theneed for hiring to obtain the much-needed structure, you are allowing the individual to flourish and grow in their strength instead of shrinking in the idea that they cannot live up to the demands of success. 

Moral of the Story

When you take an approach to first learn about YOU, only then you can be more strategic in how you embrace your personal growth journey. Lean into what you do best, and learn to delegate and grow to off board the things that aren’t in your “genius”. You are unique. You have all the unique attributes for YOUR success!