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I totally disagree with the premise of this article, unless I don't get the authors definition of "self help book" > there is an entire book industry that is f

I totally disagree with the premise of this article, unless I don't get the authors definition of "self help book" > there is an entire book industry that is focused on the premise that you are merely one good idea away from the future Many famous people started out with one good idea > The entire business-focused self-help industry is built on the fallacy that successful people read a lot of books Many famous successful people promote the face that they read a lot of books, such as Bill Gates and Barack Obama. It's not a fallacy. There's a lot of junk self help books to wade through, but I have found some jewels among the trash and by jewels I mean they were just right for the situation and age I was at. Edit: I put together a list off the top of my head of self help books I found useful (again, at the age I was at) I'm OK – You're OK, guide to transactional analysis by Thomas Harris Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships by Eric Berne Trances We Live by Stephen Wolinsky Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill Zen and the Art of Leadership by Thomas Cleary

coldtea 5y ago
>Many famous people started out with one good idea Which had nothing or almost nothing to do with their success. Bezos didn't succeed because he had the idea to "make an online bookstore".
- epicureanideal 5y ago
  Based on the limited background information I've read about Bezos, this seems true, but can you explain what you mean in more detail? Just because it's interesting.
  - coldtea 5y ago
    That 500 other people with the same idea would have just as well failed (and in fact, tons of people with the same idea did and do fail in most business attemps). Prerequisites matter (having the money, VC connections), time matter (dot com golden era), place matters (USA vs say Kazakhstan), the overall economic trajectory matters, execution matters - heck, even luck at various different points on setting up the business matters more than the idea.
- jeffreyrogers 5y ago
  Bezos didn't view Amazon an online bookstore. He deliberately went into books first because they take up a lot of space and have a long tail of interest, which made them ideal for internet distribution vs. physical distribution. It's pretty clear from what Bezos has said and written over the past 20 years that he had a decent idea of what he wanted to accomplish and has been gradually executing on that.
- okareaman 5y ago
  You must be one of those who think ideas are worthless because everybody has them
  - coldtea 5y ago
    >You must be one of those who think ideas are worthless because everybody has them Yes, one of those so-called realists. If everybody has them but only 1 of everybody succeeds with the same idea, ideas [1] are obviously worthless. [1] At the level under discussion, that is: "let's do a business doing X", because otherwise e.g. Relativity Theory is also an idea, and it's certainly not worthless.
cl42 5y ago
I've avoided "Think and Grow Rich" for a long time due to the title and premise of the book. I picked it up a few weeks ago and really like it. Heck, I think if I read it 10 years ago I wouldn't even have the emotional maturity to appreciate it. There's a beauty to some of these books --- some of the ideas seem obvious and can easily be written off until you have the emotional wherewithal and maturity to appreciate the difficulty of what they are suggesting. "Think and Grow Rich" is a good example. What do you mean... I just have to write a vision for myself that I believe I can achieve, and read it twice a day? Sounds stupid. ... and then you realize how difficult it is for people to truly come up with a vision statement for their success that they legitimately believe they can achieve within a specific time frame... And that doing this correctly is the hard part. Brilliant.
- okareaman 5y ago
  > I read it 10 years ago I wouldn't even have the emotional maturity to appreciate it That's why I emphasized the right book at the right age. I know successful people who swear by the book. I appreciate it, but I have a small criticism: He basically preaches trampling all over personal boundaries to get what you want. It's an aggressive strategy.

coldtea 5y ago

>Many famous people started out with one good idea Which had nothing or almost nothing to do with their success. Bezos didn't succeed because he had the idea to "make an online bookstore".

epicureanideal 5y ago
Based on the limited background information I've read about Bezos, this seems true, but can you explain what you mean in more detail? Just because it's interesting.
- coldtea 5y ago
  That 500 other people with the same idea would have just as well failed (and in fact, tons of people with the same idea did and do fail in most business attemps). Prerequisites matter (having the money, VC connections), time matter (dot com golden era), place matters (USA vs say Kazakhstan), the overall economic trajectory matters, execution matters - heck, even luck at various different points on setting up the business matters more than the idea.
jeffreyrogers 5y ago
Bezos didn't view Amazon an online bookstore. He deliberately went into books first because they take up a lot of space and have a long tail of interest, which made them ideal for internet distribution vs. physical distribution. It's pretty clear from what Bezos has said and written over the past 20 years that he had a decent idea of what he wanted to accomplish and has been gradually executing on that.
okareaman 5y ago
You must be one of those who think ideas are worthless because everybody has them
- coldtea 5y ago
  >You must be one of those who think ideas are worthless because everybody has them Yes, one of those so-called realists. If everybody has them but only 1 of everybody succeeds with the same idea, ideas [1] are obviously worthless. [1] At the level under discussion, that is: "let's do a business doing X", because otherwise e.g. Relativity Theory is also an idea, and it's certainly not worthless.

cl42 5y ago

I've avoided "Think and Grow Rich" for a long time due to the title and premise of the book. I picked it up a few weeks ago and really like it. Heck, I think if I read it 10 years ago I wouldn't even have the emotional maturity to appreciate it. There's a beauty to some of these books --- some of the ideas seem obvious and can easily be written off until you have the emotional wherewithal and maturity to appreciate the difficulty of what they are suggesting. "Think and Grow Rich" is a good example. What do you mean... I just have to write a vision for myself that I believe I can achieve, and read it twice a day? Sounds stupid. ... and then you realize how difficult it is for people to truly come up with a vision statement for their success that they legitimately believe they can achieve within a specific time frame... And that doing this correctly is the hard part. Brilliant.

okareaman 5y ago
> I read it 10 years ago I wouldn't even have the emotional maturity to appreciate it That's why I emphasized the right book at the right age. I know successful people who swear by the book. I appreciate it, but I have a small criticism: He basically preaches trampling all over personal boundaries to get what you want. It's an aggressive strategy.