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THE ULTIMATE SELF-HELP GUIDE
TO SELF-HELP GUIDES
Jean Pilling
Recognise that exhilarating sensation of browsing though the shelves of a bookshop, wallowing in the luxury of leafing through the volumes, wondering which book to take home with you? Then you inadvertently wander into the self-help guide section and start to panic because deep down inside you know there are so many things about yourself you ought to improve, but you just don’t know where to begin?
OK, it may be reassuring to know that so many other people out there are also in need of self-improvement, but to be confronted with row upon row of well-meaning self-help guides can be a pretty traumatic experience:
Which problem should you solve first?
Why do all these authors claim to be the best specialist offering exactly what you need?
How can so many different approaches to problem-solving claim to achieve the same positive results?
Why do many self-help guides contain so much unintelligible Americanised terminology?
What should you do if halfway through a guide you realise your problems are even more complex than you’d envisaged?
At last all these issues have been tackled in a single generic volume: The Ultimate Self-Help Guide to Self-Help Guides will assist you at the selection, implementation and appraisal stages of the self-improvement process, whatever your problem is.
How reading The Ultimate Self-Help Guide will guide you to help yourself
Reading the chapters of this enlightening self-help guide in sequence will provide a logical and systematic approach to maximising the effectiveness of other self-help guides:
Chapter 1. Problem identification:
Learn to explore and acknowledge the problems in all areas of your life: emotional, physical, health, social, work-related, family-related problems are only the tip of the iceberg. Even readers who assume they haven’t got any problems at all will soon discover a multitude of areas in which they too can seek to make measurable improvements to their lives. Discover problems you never even knew you had … and solve them.
Chapter 2. Prioritisation:
Now you’ve listed all your problems don’t despair but read on and follow the prioritisation guidelines. These will steer you toward identifying the most critical problem areas, the ones that need to be tackled immediately. Now you know exactly which is the right shelf for you in the self-help section of your bookshop.
Chapter 3. Personalisation:
Discover which style of expert advice suits you best: are you more comfortable with the brash American ‘yeah babe let’s shake it up’ style, the inward meditation ‘navel-staring’ style, the pragmatic ‘pull your socks up’ style or the friendly advice ‘next-door-neighbour/psychologist’ style? Extracts from different authors are presented for evaluation of content and terminology, resulting in a personal style-appropriateness score. Never waste your money again on a self-help guide that’s so irritating you don’t even reach Chapter 3.
Chapter 4. Selection:
Once you’ve made your choice of style, evaluate the range of guides available in-store, rating them on aspects such as ergonomics (number of pages, font size and style, hard cover vs paperback - is the guide pleasurable to read or will you give up halfway through?), price (is the guide going to cause you more problems financially than it solves?), author (in the photo does he/she look like someone you would trust with your innermost feelings on a one-to-one basis?)
Chapter 5. Implementation:
Learn how to carry out the self-improvement guidelines provided in the self-help guide you’ve chosen. Tips are provided helping you to persevere and thus ensure you maximise the effectiveness of the problem-solving you’re seeking. Never again give up halfway through or throw your self-help guide in the dustbin in desperation.
Chapter 6. Evaluation:
Having implemented the guidelines in your self-help guide, learn how to evaluate the results on an empirical basis. Rate your guide on a range of attributes such as results in personal improvement, ease of implementation, pleasure and satisfaction gained, perceived value. Norms are provided to aid comparison between competitive guides and across different categories of self-help guides. Develop a learning curve and improve the ROI from your self-help guides.
Chapter 7. Continuation:
Now you’re ready to start all over again. Either buy another self-help guide on the same topic or select the next problem on your priority list and start afresh. With so many areas in which to achieve self-improvement life will never be dull again.
At only £19.99 this guide is a bargain. By no longer buying inappropriate and ineffective self-help guides you will save pounds every month!
Reviews
“The Ultimate Self-Help Guide really changed my life … no more panic purchasing in Ottakar’s! Now I can make value-judgement decisions and not waste my money on guides that simply prove more irritating than inspiring” (Anna Anonymous, Literary Editor, Tiverton Weekly)
“I always advise my clients to read The Ultimate Self-Help Guide after their first couple of sessions with me, though I must admit I’m doing myself out of business by doing so!” (Fred Shrink, Psychologist, Career Improvement plc)
“Once I’d read The Ultimate Self-Help Guide there was no going back. Now I‘ve tackled nearly every problem area on my priority list and am raring to get started on the low priority ones. My life is nearly perfect now … though I guess maybe my addiction to self-help guides will also need to be confronted in the end” (I.M. Insecure)
