I’m all for self-help books and self growth and improvement. But my concern lies in the fact that some people seem to always be reading the latest self-help book and saying things like “this is the book for me, this is what I’m going to do to change my life.” The part I’m not ok with is the fact that next week they’ll be reading a new book!

If you’ve made a trip to the bookstore or library lately, you’ve probably noticed how incredibly many self-help books there are on the shelves. There are so many that you probably couldn’t read all of them in your lifetime, even if you wanted to.

Now, I love self-help books. I’m all for self growth and improvement. That’s what I do with my life, help other people grow and build better lives.

But I’m a little concerned that some people seem to always be reading the latest self-help book and saying things like, “This is the book for me. This is what I’m going to do to change my life.” That part is great. The part that is not so great is that the next week they’re reading a different book, and again saying, “This is the book for me….”

I think some people get a little too involved in self-help. They look at the label, “self-help,” but they only see the “help” part. They don’t get that they have to do the helping themselves. That’s why it’s called SELF help.

This is pretty easy to understand. It’s like people who are always on a fad diet. It’s easy to believe, or try to believe, that this diet really will work. And when it doesn’t, you may feel it’s because it wasn’t the right diet, and try another.

That’s a reasonable reaction, once or twice. It’s true that some people do indeed get results, my great uncle is on a men’s plan from Nutrisystem and it seems to be working for him, but he is an anomaly that wakes up at 5 am every morning to exercise so I’m not surprised that it is working. Eventually you need to realize that it’s not the method you’re trying that’s the problem. And if you’re constantly reading self improvement literature hoping “this one” is going to cure your problems, you’ve got a little problem.

There are a couple of stories about prayer that I find really helpful in this situation. I’m not using these examples to make light of anyone’s beliefs, but to show that we have to be active and involved in our growth, whatever our beliefs.

The first story is really just a little piece of advice someone gave a friend of mine years ago. She said she’d been praying for help with a situation. An older gentleman pointed out to her that “I could sit on the steps of the courthouse all day praying that he could get to the corner of Fifth and Main, but unless he got up and started walking, he’d never get there.

The second story is an old joke, but a really good one. During a flood, a woman was stranded on the roof of her house. A boat came by and the pilot offered to take her to safety. “No, thanks, I’ve been praying and God’s going to save me.” Another boat came by. “No, thanks, I’ll just keep praying.” A helicopter tried to lift her at the last minute, but again she said, “No, that’s okay, God’s going to save me.” After the helicopter left, she sank under the water, drowned, and went to heaven. She confronted God. “Why didn’t you save me?” God replied, “I sent you two boats and a helicopter. What more did you want?”

Again, whatever our beliefs, we have to take action on what we learn, to improve our lives. If we’re spending all our time reading self-help books and not doing anything to improve, it’s not really “self improvement.”

To get going with self improvement today:

• What are you reading? Is any of it self-help?
• Make a list of things from your recent reading that you can actually do.
• Start doing one thing today.

Thanks to The Next 45 Years for including this post in the Personal Development Carnival, to Musings of a Thoughtful Conservative for featuring this post in the Waukesha Carnival, to Great Management for highlighting this post in Great Inspirational Articles, to Declutter It! for inclusion in the Organize Your Life Carnival, and to E3 Success Systems for including this post in the Carnival of Success Principles.