8 Key Points to All Self-Help Books

If you’re anything like me, you are a cynic when it comes to things like books on self-help, self-development, motivational talks and other mumbo jumbo. But when you hit an all new low with nowhere to turn to, you’d be surprised at what you’d try. And well I decided to read an inspirational self-help book that a friend recommended.

Now, this friend is someone I admire as she is the same age as me but she runs her own business and seems to lead an amazingly happy life filled with awesomeness- minus unicorns that shit rainbows. Oh and she has a pretty sweet ride too, so I thought why not? Nothing else has worked so far.

So I read “The Secret Letters of the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari” by Robin Sharma. I’m not going to say it changed my life and that everyone needs to go read it and become monks that could afford Ferraris – NO. It didn’t change my life, but it DID improve my mindset. So I went on to read other self-help/development and inspirational books, articles and websites.

I’ll admit I am in a much better place than I was a few months ago. So for those who want a crash course on self-help, here are 8 Key Points to All Self-Help Books:

1. Find your passion

You know the saying “Find what you love and let it kill you”? Finding your passion means exactly that. If you were to dedicate your life to what you love, there is no way you can go wrong. Be mindful that it’s not going to be easy- which brings us to the next point.

2. Do not give up

It’s only normal to fail before you succeed – it’s not meant to be easy, it’s meant to be worth it. You gotta drill it into your head that you should never give up when the going gets tough because you don’t want to look back at the choices you’ve made and think “What if?”

3. Be positive

I know there will be times when it seems all too hard even just to smile. But there is always a silver lining and no matter how down you are feeling, force yourself to smile. It sounds crazy and you’ll probably look like a mad person smiling and crying but sure enough keep it up for a few minutes and you’ll feel better.

4. Focus, focus, focus!

Life today has too many distractions, from the need to check your Facebook newsfeed to Ooo! Look at that cute doggy! – yes, ever wonder why you’re not getting anywhere? It’s because you don’t have a clear focus on what you want in life/your job/your relationship etc.

5. Set (realistic) goals

Now that you have focused your mind, it’s time to set goals. Follow the SMART goal setting rule (Google this) and remember to set long term and short term goals. Break up the bigger goals into smaller manageable tasks and you’ll be amazed how great you can feel by ticking items off your To Do list.

6. Compete with yourself, not others

The only person you should be comparing yourself to is who you were yesterday – are you a better person today? Don’t compare yourself with others because our brains have a tendency to be scumbags and create an unhealthy image of ourselves when comparing with other people who seem to be doing better than us. Never compare your life’s reel with the highlights of another.

7. Be kind to others

How you treat others is how you treat yourself. So be kind to others and be kind to yourself. It is very easy to lose sight of what’s good in this world and it’s hard to see through all the negative muck that clouds our judgement. So practice a kind act daily or when you have the opportunity to do so – you’ll feel heaps better and you’ll never know when you’re the highlight of someone’s day.

8. Be grateful

We are often so focused on what we don’t have that we lose sight of what we do have. The saying “You don’t know what you have till it’s gone” is very true. Take a moment every day to find 3 things that you are grateful for and write it down or just have a quiet moment to yourself with these thoughts.  

To be honest, the 8 points mentioned above are pretty much common sense and things that I already knew before I started reading self-help books. But we all need a helping hand to jog our memory sometimes.

“Motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing - that's why it’s recommend it daily.”

Image by Abhi Sharma from Flickr: Creative Commons