Confessions of a Self-Help Junkie: 7 Tips For Reading Books On Personal Development

How to spot BS, separate the wheat from the chaff, and get the most out of books in an industry full of hyperbole and false promises.

“Why do so many people need help? Life is not that complicated. You get up, you go to work, you eat three meals, you take one good s**t, you go to bed. What’s the f**king mystery?”

So goes the classic joke by legendary stand-up comedian George Carlin.

Self-help books are subject to criticism, and rightfully so. So many of these books are full of hyperbole, overhyped sales messages, false promises, and an over-reliance and overestimation of the reliability of psychological research and other dubious sciences.

Despite all these criticisms, these books keep selling.

I think people are buying hope. They hope this next book is gonna unlock some kinda magic bullet that fixes all their problems. And for some people, these books do help.

Now, I’m one of those guys who have been helped by self-help books. I’ve read hundreds of self-help books…