The “59 Seconds” Self Help Book

When ABC News interviewed me for their upcoming show on the pros and cons of positive thinking and the Law of Attraction, one of their questions was, “Why are there so many self-help books?”

Apparently a published skeptic felt that if self-help books really worked, we wouldn’t need so many of them.
Does that make sense to you?

Consider –

With all the cookbooks in the world, there will always be more published, guaranteed. With all the books on psychology, or sales, or aviation, or pottery, or martial arts, or law, or religion, or marketing, or sports, or politics, or parenting, or skepticism, or – well, name any category – there will always be more books.

That doesn’t mean there’s a problem with the books already published. It doesn’t mean there’s a problem with the fields themselves, either. It means people are still growing and learning, discovering and sharing.

But somehow with self-help, it’s not accepted.

I find that odd.

I’ve spent most of the day reading Richard Wiseman’s book, 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot. It’s mis-titled, as you can’t read much of it in 59 seconds. Still, it’s an excellent book. It’s research-based self-help. It’s packed with study after study proving or disproving concepts taught in the self-help movement. You should read it.

Side note: It’s interesting that scientific studies in the filed of psychology don’t usually come to any definitive conclusions. In other words, the studies indicate results may “suggest” a particular pattern or insight, but they don’t guarantee it. Even the so-called Law of Reciprocity can’t be guaranteed to work all the time. When you give something to someone, it’s no guarantee they’ll give you anything in return. Still, authors call it a “law” when they don’t allow any leeway for the Law of Attraction.

In short, read the psychological studies as entertainment but test their conclusions in your own life. After all, a different study done with a different audience may indicate a different result. Or so it appears to suggest.

But isn’t 59 Seconds yet another self-help book?

Since it has the blessing of science behind it, it tends to be “allowed” as a self-help book, even by the skeptics.
Do you see the illogical nature of this?

I love self-help and success literature. If it weren’t for those books, and my taking action on what I read, I’d still be unknown, unpublished and unhappy.

One night I watched a documentary on happiness. An author being interviewed (I don’t recall his name) said over 70% of the people who change on their own, without therapy or a coach, do so because of a self-help book.

When celebrity fitness model Jennifer Nicole Lee visited me for the Rolls-Royce Phantom Mastermind (which ABC News filmed) she asked me, “How did you get into self-help?”
I replied, “Because I needed help.”

I told ABC News that neither I nor any self-help author I know set out to write more than one book on self-help. It’s the readers who ask for them. It’s the market that demands more. We simply supply what they request.

When I wrote The Attractor Factor, I never considered I’d write The Key or Zero Limits after it. Neither was in my mind.

And lord knows I never intended to write my recent book, Attract Money Now. That came as a result of my seeing so many people struggling. I even decided to give the digital version of the book away, for free, to help them.

I’m proud to be a self-help author. I don’t plan to write any more books, but I never thought I’d be the author of fifty books, either. (Yes, fifty.)

The point: When you need help, consider books. Yes, there are plenty to choose from. But that’s why restaurants have more than one special. Each person is different. Each desires and feels best with a particular approach.

Books that have helped me include –

The Magic of Believing

Think and Grow Rich

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Why Is This Happening to Me…Again?
The Dark Side of the Light Chasersr
What self-help books have made a difference in your life?
Leave a comment and let me know.

PS – Studies suggest that if you read my new book, Attract Money Now, you’ll learn how to use the Law of Attraction to attract something you might need in your life: money.