Transcript

Hello and welcome to episode 12 of the Wendy Taylor-Loftus podcast and in this episode, we’re talking about reading self-help books.



Would you let your friends see the self-help section on your bookshelf or would you hide it? Would you feel comfortable reading a self-help book in public or would change the jacket and put the book in a neutral cover? I believe they’re a great place to start on your journey to overcoming whatever issue you face in life

Music

 







It’s a strange thing when it comes to self-help, particularly books in that category; the can attract the most criticism. Most people think they’re a con and wouldn’t ever entertain reading one.



The funny thing is when you want to improve your cooking or baking skills you buy a cookbook. It’s the same when you want to improve your writing skills; you take a writing course and also read material about improving your writing. No-one judges you for that. Let friends and family catch you reading a self-improvement book, and you’ll be hearing about it for weeks.

So, what’s the issue people have with self-help?

When I went into hospital about 11 years ago for major surgery, I knew I’d need a book to read and decided to bring Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich. I never thought anything of it - I was discovering a whole new world that showed me I could make choices to impact my life for the better.



I’d been out of surgery may be a day or so and was reading this book when a nurse spotted the jacket cover. I’ve got my nose buried in the book when I hear her say, ‘So you think you’re gonna get rich do you?’







When I look up, there she was with her hands on her hips glaring at me, clearly not happy with the book title. I look at her as she huffs, then strides off to the nurse’s station. Of course, I continue to read my book, but for the rest of my stay, fortunately, it was no more than four days, she never approaches me once. What had I done to cause such offence? Read something that informs me of a new way of managing my life.



What the nurse didn’t know was I was coming out of the other side of clinical depression, and I wanted to make sure I did everything in my power to prevent it from happening again. It was a time in my like a care not to



repeat.

Through the self-empowerment books,





I was discovering I could prevent it from returning if I made some changes. Now, it wasn’t Mr Hill’s book which taught me this lesson, in particular, that lesson came from Jack Canfield’s book, The Success Principles. But for me, I was seeking a remedy to the mess I had made of my life, and I had found that remedy within the covers of a self-help book.



The thing you soon discover when you enter the personal development world, and that is what I’m talking about, is that many people view self-help as weird or weak. It’s almost as though it scares them. They think you’ve become some kind of hippy. What they don’t realise is you’re seeking to become your better self. Your aim is to grow your character and become a better version of you.



I suppose some people wonder, why would you put in this kind of effort? Why would you change your life? Are you not happy the way it is?



You do it because you know there’s better out there. If there was no such thing as ‘better’ or ‘more’, you’d accept your life as it is. You wouldn’t strive and aim higher. Why would you?