Confessions of a Recovering Self-Improvement Junkie
Got your attention, didn't I. Last week I read a post by Seth Godin, one of my favorite bloggers, called How to Read a Business Book. In it, he makes the bold statement that all business books are 95% motivational and 5% "recipes" for action.
He contends that the bullet points are not the point. That the people who get it understand that the book is usually about getting you to change your thinking on something, and with that, your behavior.
I agree. But I also think that many people stop at that motivational level and never get past just feeling excited and ready for change.
Or they think they need to read another book, listen to another speaker, take another class, before they are ready to put theory into action.
That was me. Yes, I was a self-improvement junkie.
It started innocently enough. I was entering a new field of writing: fiction. I took a year-long (excellent) course at the University of Washington. I attended writing conferences from Whidbey Island to New York City and in-between.
I bought dozens of books, scores of books, from Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones and Anne Lamott's bird by bird to Stephen King on Writing and inspirational masterpieces like Eudora Welty's One Writer's Beginnings. I enrolled in 8-week online classes with both Gotham Writers' Workshop and Writer's Digest. I hired a writing coach and mentor.
Now, I admit, I am a right-brained, random thinker. I am curious—interested in everything—and love learning new things. But it can be a curse. When it comes to writing, it causes me to produce rough drafts of dozens of stories but not complete many of them.
One of my UW instructors said about one of my stories, “You have a good start here---just develop it a bit. I don’t think you need to listen to more critiques or get any more advice. If you love this story, work on it. And finish it.”
And it began to dawn on me, this flaw of mine. I thought the answer was to buy another book, Listen to another expert. When really I just needed to apply the "seat to the chair" and work on my craft. Produce 10 pages a day. Apply all those skills I've learned.
I know people just like me. They buy business books like toilet paper. When they run out, they have to buy another one. Sometimes the book sits unread on the nightstand. Sometimes it is consumed but the ideas are left lying on their side, like dead soldiers.
You've been sucked in before. You know you have. The books on the shelf in Barnes and Nobles' business section. You know, the ones that call out, "Buy me." "No, buy ME!" You rub the spine of the book and tilt your head sideways. The catchy title lures you. You lift it from the shelf.
The front inside jacket promises you that you'll double your sales using these five easy strategies. You pull out your credit card. Maybe this is the one. After all, it was on the NYT best-seller list for 12 weeks.
What's to prevent this one from joining all the other dust-covered business books lining your shelves? Well, for a start:
1. Read beyond the title. Editors work very hard to come up with that universally appealing book title. And sometimes it has nothing to do with what the book is actually about.
2. Figure out who the book was written for. Will it have direct applications for the business you are in?
3. Identify what you need. I have bought "big idea" books myself, but sometimes you want real-world applications, too. Look for books that will help you with a current issue or problem.
4. Be sure it isn't another repackaged, flavor-of-the-month book. It's true that there is nothing new under the sun. But still, the author should give you some different ways of looking at a common concept or challenge.
5. Ask your business colleagues and friends for recommendations. Opinions may vary, but if everyone says a book is a waste of money, maybe you should listen.
6. Take the book to the next level. Join a networking group's book club or just get together with a couple of colleagues and go through the book together. It keeps you focused (and reading) and the group discussions can help you apply the strategies to your business.
My resolution as a recovering self-improvement junkie is this: buy fewer business books and get more out of the ones I do plunk down the credit card for.
A couple of years ago I sat in the auditorium at the Whidbey Island Writers' Conference. New York Times best-selling mystery author Elizabeth George was delivering the closing keynote address.
She's the writer famous for the quote, "A lot of writing is simply showing up."
That day, she threw out a bombshell. It made my writing instructor and coach, sitting two rows ahead of me, glance back at me with that kind of I-told-you-so smirk-smile she gets.
What George said to all of us: You don't need another book. There will always be another book. Just get out there and do it.
I glared at my coach. But I walked out of that room— and the conference— without another book on the craft of writing. You see, I am a recovering self-improvement junkie.
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