Self-help Books

If you happen to spend some time in a book store, you will come across quite few "Self Help Books" that guarantee a whole lot of things to you. But do self help books really help?

During one of my group outings the topic of “Self-help books” cropped up while we were sipping tea at a kiosk. One thing that I noted was the disappointment that many expressed about the limited help they could extract from the books they had read.

The trainer in me became alert and I started asking questions and the discussions became quite engaging. It was heartening to see some youngsters asking probing questions in return. The seriousness and the conviction reflected by them warmed my heart and I was all game for a fruitful outcome.

There were further discussions during the day and a few debates too, which is a very healthy sign in a group setting. The learnings that accrued went well with the group members. They vowed to give themselves a better chance to understand the author’s point of view the next time they pick up the book to read.

What I could understand was the need for the readers to be able to connect properly with the thoughts expressed in the books. The authors express their thoughts and opinions, on the basis of their experiences. Their expression skill makes all the difference in making the books readable. Our skills lie in interpreting what they have written and our ability to connect the dots as we look back and reflect on our own experiences to make sense of the written words.

This is possible only if you are able to reflect enough on your experiences and are able to connect the dots for a better outcome and are able to interpret reasonably well what the author wants to convey. The practice of "Reflection" is a very important part of the "Experiential Learning Cycle". It is a skill and if one wants to achieve a certain level of competency to "Reflect" in-depth on experiences, one needs to understand the process well.

Further, it is necessary to experiment with whatever new you have learned to bring about a change in your attitude and behavior to make things happen for you. Last but not least you need to apply the changes to real-life situations to get the desired results.

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