The Self-Help Movement

Doing Well

I'm fascinated by the self-help movement and have been for at least 30 years. In my mind, the modern form of this kind of literature starts with people like Zig Ziglar, who was a sales guru in the 1970s who expanded into improving your whole life.

From this rah-rah kind of motivational stuff eventually came the literature of success and another industry -- life coaching.

Fans of the self-help movement are less interested in following the thoughts of actually successful people, like Nicholas Bredimus or Elon Musk, and instead they follow the thoughts and ideas of "gurus" like Tony Robbins -- or worse, sports figures. (If you want to get into the heads of some people who are actually successful, try following them on LinkedIn. Nicholas Bredimus has an account here, and even Richard Branson has a presence there.)

In fact, I'm amazed that someone's success in the world of sports is supposed to translate into success in other areas of life. If you were a writer who wanted to succeed, wouldn't you be more interested in what Stephen King or Danielle Steel does than what Tommy Lasorda thinks?

I should explain. In the 1990s, Tommy Lasorda was a popular speaker at various events, and he got paid five figures for an appearance. For that, he gave profound advice like, "You gotta want it."

One of the problems with this kind of literature is that it oversimplifies actual useful advice. Also, it often replaces -- at least in the minds of such books' readers -- the actual help they might need from a professional therapist.

I read some fascinating anecdotes and analysis from Steve Salerno in his book SHAM, where he describes some of his experiences at Rodale Press. They are the publishes of Men's Health, Prevention, and Runner's World, among a slew of self-help books.

In fact, Rodale is one of the most successful publishers in the United States. They aggressively promote their products directly to the mailing lists of their magazine readers and the people who've read their other books.

Their stated goal is "to show people how they can use the power of their bodies and minds to make their lives better."

How did they achieve such success?

According to Salerno, they did massive amounts of marketing surveys to decide their editorial direction. These surveys focused on chronic fears and problems that people wanted to solve.

The most hair-raising aspect of this is that customers who had a specific problem would buy another book about the same problem within 18 months of the previous book.

If the books' advice worked, why would they need to get another book about the same problem so quickly?

Salerno also points out that the self-help industry, at least at Rodale, followed the typical line of if this fails, you need more of it. Not getting the results you want from that most recent time management book?

Buy the sequel.

How many Getting Things Done books do you need?

The truth is, failure isn't an anomaly when reading these kinds of books. It's the standard on which the entire business is built. The industry sees at least 3000 or 4000 of these kinds of books being published every year.

The industry is at least a $12 billion a year industry, possibly even more -- that estimate was as of 2008.

How much does our society benefit from this industry, though?

vI doubt we're getting our $12 billion worth.

Of course, part of this is just an example of a market demand being filled. After all, do you really think that permanent solutions are to be found in the pages of self-help books?

I suggest that instead of reading self-help books, tap into the collective wisdom of the ages by reading some of the classic philosophers. Also, read biographies and books about history. Don't neglect works of literature like Shakespeare, which might not make you more successful, but they will expand your self.

And what could be more successful than that?