Many people are sniffy about self-help books. Not me. I definitely don't despise proffered wisdom. In fact, back in my publishing days, I used to work on such tomes.

Most of the time, we just get on with life, I guess. But sometimes we need a pep-talk, or a shot in the arm, and a self-help book can provide just that.

1.

Nigel recently encouraged me to read How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story of My Life, by Scott Adams.

It's an enjoyable read. Adams is passionate but humble. He's honest. He's down-to-earth. He doesn't pretend to know why certain things seem to work, but passes them on because they've worked for him.

What's his advice? To sum up:

-- "Goals are for losers [because what you need, instead, is a more long-term "system"].

-- "Your mind isn't magic. It's a moist computer you can program [which is probably why affirmations seem to work, and also why it's worth continually remembering the positive things that happen to us].

-- "The most important metric to track is your personal energy [so focus on what you need to do to increase it, eg, sleep, exercise, eat right, and use the morning hours wisely].

-- "Every skill you acquire doubles your odds of success [good + good = excellent].

-- "Happiness is health plus freedom...

-- "Fitness is the lever that moves the world... "



Hmmm, yes, lots of food for thought there.

2.

As I was packing to go to the UK, I thought I needed an extra plane book. I picked Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist off the shelf, conscious that I'd owned this book for years, and still hadn't read it. I had absolutely no idea what it was about. It just looked like the right length.

Well, I'd finished it by Dubai (in fact, the last paragraphs were consumed at Pinkberry). To my surprise, it resonated with many of the messages I'd got from Scott Adams.

In essence, it's about a shepherd boy's pursuit of his "Personal Legend". What is one of those, you might ask. Well, your "Personal Legend" is "what you have always wanted to accomplish".



"To realize one's Personal Legend is a person's only real obligation...

"And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it..."

On mindfulness, he has this to say:

"If you can concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man. You'll see that there is life in the desert, that there are stars in the heavens, and that tribesmen fight because they are part of the human race. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we're living right now."

Meanwhile, the answer to the question of capacity is this:

"I have inside me the winds, the deserts, the oceans, the stars, and everything created in the universe. We were all made by the same hand, and we have the same soul...



"[Alchemists] show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too..."

3.

The Dubai airport bookshop is not running in Prudence-friendly material. So I ended up buying another self-help book, this one by Robin Sharma (with an endorsement by Paulo Coelho on the front...). This is The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams and Reaching Your Destiny.

Whereas Adams is casual, and Coelho is whimsical, Sharma is relentless. And I found the fable (in which fictional sages, in a fictional rose-covered Himalayan bower, dispense their wisdom to a burnt-out litigator, who passes it on to the narrator) more than a little irritating at times.

Nevertheless, although I agree that this book is "a jumble of too many ideas", they are still ideas that are "potentially very powerful".

Some thoughts, which resonate with both Adams and Coelho:

i. Master your mind

"The quality of your life is determined by the quality of your thoughts.

"The secret of happiness is simple: find out what you truly love to do and then direct all of your energy towards doing it. Once you do this, abundance flows into your life..."



ii. Follow your purpose

"Set clearly defined personal, professional and spiritual goals [or set up a clearly defined system, if you're influenced by Adams], and then have the courage to act on them..."



iii. Practise Kaizen, or self-mastery



iv. Live with discipline

"Willpower is the essential virtue of a fully actualized life...

"'I am more than I appear to be, all the world's strength and power rests inside me.'"

v. Respect your time

"Focus on your priorities and maintain balance;

"Have the courage to say NO."



vi. Selflessly serve others

"By elevating the lives of others, your life reaches its highest dimensions."



vii. Embrace the present

"Live in the 'now'. Savor the gift of the present.

"Grow Your Destiny -- We all have something that we are meant to do. Your genius will shine through, and happiness will fill your life, the instant you discover your higher purpose and then direct all your energies towards it..."

*****

Now certainly, caution is needed. There are self-help traps that we need to avoid falling into.

But out of all those eminently sensible ideas, there must be sufficient inspiration to live my totally unbalanced life differently...

May it be so...