BOOKS

Quick question!

What's with the slander about self-help books?

It's not like it promised to make us millionaires in 30 days.

Okay, maybe it did but that's not all of it.

Honestly, I can't really tell what category of nonfiction is labeled as self-help but I like to think of them as memoirs with a different name. Of course, laced with advice here and there too.

Other than the Bible, the first self-help book I read was "Rich Dad, Poor Dad". I think I was 16 but I felt powerful back then, like I had hacked the secret to riches. My dad returned home that evening and I just kept staring at him, trying to decipher if he was the rich dad, the poor dad, or somewhere in between.

Reality hadn't dawned on me that life was much harder than it seemed.

There's no one-size-fits-all approach for finding happiness, forming habits, mindful living, and the like. But I've learned if the shoe fits one more person then by all means, that's great.

Finance self-help is a genre I'm fascinated with but when I open a book that says "…and that's when my uncle loaned me $1,000 with an ultimatum to pay back in 1 year", I just close it because hold up… where would I find such an uncle?

Okay, I remember reading "Eat That Frog" and muttering "I've heard this all before", "This is common sense", "Bro you're privileged and you aren't acknowledging that fact".

Still, its message reminded me that I needed to get the hardest and most important task done first. This was at the time when I struggled with organising my to-do list believing 24 hours in a day was never enough, so thanks, Brian Tracy.

Then there's "Surrounded by Idiots"! It's more of psychology though and not entirely matter-of-fact, but it was fun to address my siblings by their colours. And that coursemate I simply couldn't avoid? Trying to understand her Red persona rather than give her the death glare every time we crossed paths seemed like a better approach.

I'd be honest! When some self-help books promise it would completely change my life, I read them with such huge expectations, and in most cases end up feeling betrayed. But hey, there's something undeniably satisfying about those profound quotes that give my spirit a boost, even though it's only momentary.

So did that self-help book really help?

Well, maybe not in the way that it claimed. I'm still a tired, mildly flexible, ambitious procrastinator who's trying to navigate this thing called life.

Maybe I'm expecting too much.

Maybe I haven't read enough.

Maybe that advice doesn't do much for me if I don't have the resources to implement them.

Yet, I love reading them! Somehow, these books can imprint on my memory the power of a good laugh, the importance of small gratitudes, the discipline required to form good habits, and the joy of starting something newᅳeven if that something new could mean waking up by 4 a.m. daily, leaving me wondering why I ever thought it was a good idea.

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