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Helping Me Help Myself: One Skeptic, Ten Self-Help Gurus, and a Year on the Brink of the Comfort Zone

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Manufacturer: William Morrow

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Whether she has been too cynical to embrace self-help or too modest to think she should waste time trying to improve herself, Beth Lisick has never given much thought to self-help until now. Taking a stranger in a strange land approach, Lisick sets out to explore self-help culture - "with an unflagging sense of purpose, a wicked sense of humour, and a soul open to humiliation". She observes that, in this day and age, it's not enough just to feel okay. It seems that everyone has the easy answer to getting rich, looking gorgeous, and feeling absolutely fantastic and reports on her sometimes enlightening, sometimes painful, often hilarious experiences throughout her year-long journey.


PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS:

Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 818.5409
EAN: 9780061143960
Feature: ISBN13: 9780061143960
ISBN: 0061143960
Label: William Morrow
Manufacturer: William Morrow
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: 2008-01-01
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: 2008-01-02
Studio: William Morrow


FEATURES:

• ISBN13: 9780061143960
• Condition: USED - Very Good
• Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed


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CUSTOMER REVIEWS:

Entertaining But Ultimately Unfulfilling -
Beth Lisick doesn't really believe in New Year's resolutions, but, in 2006, she decides that her life could use a few changes. She and her husband are living from week to week on whatever money they are able to bring in from their respective work endeavors; their son, Gus, is wonderful, but a bit unmanageable; they have a garage full of junk so it is easier to buy new than to look for the old; she and her husband have opposite schedules and never seem to see each other anymore; and she has exercised since she was on the track team in high school! It is high time for some changes so Beth decides that she is going to try and improve her life with the help of some of America's best and brightest motivational speakers and writers. She gives herself one year to see some changes and brings her readers along for the ride.

Throughout the year, Lisick reads/listens to:

January - Jack Canfield's The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be: Lisick reads his book and attends a conference where he is the motivational speaker. She learns that she doesn't get a lot of what she wants because she doesn't ask for it - probably true for most of us!

February - Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People: Lisick reads through the book, gives a synopsis of all 7 habits and attends a Covey convention. Her descriptions of who she meets and the Covey FranklinPlanner line is pretty funny. Arguably the best chapter in the book as far as being motivational and funny.

March - John Gray's Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus: Lisick reads the book and attends a convention. Her descriptions of what happens outside of the convention are more entertaining than what actually happens while the speakers are motivating. Apparently Gray is a lot more into selling his line of nutritional supplements than imparting information about relationships these days - who knew?

April - Richard Simmons' "Cruise to Lose": Lisick attends a boat cruise with a chubby friend and enjoys a week of sweatin' with the over-the-top Richard Simmons. Her descriptions of the cruise, her fellow exercisers and Richard Simmons himself are entertaining and well worth reading. This chapter reminds me that celebrities, even those who are mocked and generally discounted, can be really inspiring in person and superstars in their own sphere.

May - Julie Morgenstern's Organizing from the Inside Out: Lisick reads the book and pays a couple hundred bucks for a phone consultation of how to organize her house. She manages to clean up a few areas and throws away a bunch of stuff because she is too embarrassed to send pictures of what her home really looks like! This chapter hit a bit of a personal note for me as I am notoriously disorganized, but there was not enough of a change in Lisick's life to motivate me to read the same book.

June - Thomas W. Phelan's 1-2-3 Magic: Effective Discipline for Children 2-12: Lisick tries to use Phelan's methods to save time from arguing with her toddler son. I think, in many ways, this was the most successful book for Lisick as she was able to see some immediate results from the book and her efforts. Good job - hopefully they continued to follow up and follow through with these methods as they really seemed to work.

July - Lisick was going to read a self-help book about sex, but decided that she and her husband's sex life is fine, they just need to spend more time doing it. She didn't read a book this month.

August - Lisick was planning on hiring a professional stylist or wardrobe evaluator to help her pick out the right clothes and get rid of what isn't working for her, but, in the end she realized she didn't have the money for a new wardrobe and most of her clothes were pretty old. She didn't read a book this month.

September - Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way: Lisick desperately grabs onto this book right before she goes on a vacation to Italy with her extended family. This book reminded me of the divination classes that Harry Potter had to take at Hogwarts. All gobbledegook about creativity and unleashing your inner artist. Apparently this book is only owned by people who are not successful artists and there is quite a bit of mocking involved. A bit confusing and a bit of a downer to learn about. Not one of Lisick's best chapters.

October - Suze Orman's The Nine Steps to Financial Freedom: Practical and Spiritual Advice So You Can Stop Worrying: Suze Orman is not one of my favorite people. She just doesn't appeal that much to me and, apparently, Lisick agrees. Lisick reads the book and then attends a speech by Orman and found that Orman pretty much recycles what is in her book. A lot of women love Orman, however, and they provided some comic relief as Lisick describes the other people present.

November - Deepak Chopra's Life After Death: The Burden of Proof: Lisick reads Chopra's latest book and then attends one of his lectures. Chopra's ideas were too mystical and out there for me to follow through Lisick's descriptions. I am assuming that she didn't understand most of what he said as she couldn't explain it very well. Lisick kind of rambles in this chapter about dreams and a car accident she was in and can't seem to pull it together.

December - Sylvia Browne's If You Could See What I See: Apparently Lisick was running out of steam and over the whole idea for the year as she skips reading the book and plunks down $50 for a ticket to one of Browne's performances. She stays for about an hour and listens to grieving people ask Browne to contact their dead loved ones. A rather depressing chapter and, yes, you finally get the feeling that some of these motivational speakers are rip-offs. I think that calling a psychic a "motivational" speaker or writer is a bit of a stretch, though, as I find anyone working with death on a regular basis isn't much of a motivator.Ent

I was excited to read this book as I feel like Beth Lisick has a very approachable, comedic writing style and I found myself engaged from the first page of her book. I was hoping for something funny and entertaining, maybe a bit sarcastic and snarky, but ultimately, I was looking for some positive change in Lisick's life. I didn't really get anything that I was looking for, which was unfortunate, as this book had a lot of potential. I also felt like the book started out strongly and then kind of petered out by the end to a whimper of an ending. The other thing that bothered me about this book was the fact that the author very clearly had no real interest in changing her life, but felt like she had come up with an idea that she could sell and turn into a marketable book opportunity. This was very disappointing as, about halfway through, I got the feeling that Lisick was doing a rather slapdash job of trying out the advice of the motivational experts and really had no intention of using their advice to change her life. Naturally, not all of the motivational advice contained in the books that Lisick read will have personal application for everyone, but she should have been able to find something useful. She pulled out a few tidbits, but I felt like she didn't give any of them enough time to really see if they worked or not. So, ultimately, we are left with a year's of experiences that didn't change anyone (myself and the author included) and didn't expose any deep, dark secrets about the motivational-speaker world that we live in today. In this respect, I feel that the author failed to deliver on project and left her readers disappointed and unfulfilled.

Wanted to like it, but no dice -
I really wanted to like this book, but by the last chapters, I found myself skimming the pages, looking for something interesting to read. At first, this book sounded promising, but it just devolved from there. The most interesting parts of the book were her encounters with the various gurus, and I wish she had delved into those encounters more. If I were having breakfast with Jack Canfield, I sure as heck would not be shy about picking his brain! Having said this, I'm glad I read this book, but I am even more glad that I did not purchase it full price. This is one to buy used.

Lisick is likable, but this book is lukewarm at best -
I really enjoyed Lisick's Everybody Into the Pool so I was really excited about this book. I went into thinking it was going to be a funny and somewhat scathing, revealing view of the self-help movement, which is something I don't have particularly positive feelings for. But I could tell from the beginning there would be none of that in this book. No cutting wit, no fascinating exposures, no playful ranting. She did freely admit to her cynical moments but then immediately forced herself to obliterate the cynicism. Well, fair enough, I thought. She agreed to write a book about the self-help industry and decided to actually try it out, something that cannot properly be done when everything is instantly rejected as ridiculous. I didn't need it to be scathing; Lisick certainly has a likable, accessible quality and I was willing to read about her experiences even if she wasn't going to hilariously skewer the industry. But I found out that this book sits at a weird place between cynicism/rejection and wholehearted participation. And the result is quite bland.

First off, she starts off the book talking about her reasons for doing this (stemming from thoughts of New Year's resolutions), which may very well be true, but the whole time it just felt to me as if she were propositioned with this idea and simply agreed to go along with it. Even from the start, her mixed feelings toward her self-help gurus came off as muted and unclear. Okay, she feels kind of weird about it, but she's going to try it anyway, kind of. That's basically how the entire book goes.

If she wasn't going to be cynical, or at least a tad more critical, the least she could've done is commit entirely. Really try out the programs, let the reader know how it goes. Instead, she enters into the various programs with a lack of focus and clarity, then reiterates what she learned from the various gurus in a way that's just half-assed and not terribly interesting. Those parts read as a watered-down version of a self-help book, not the insightful memoir I was hoping for.

It could have been interesting to learn what exactly she took away from it all: what it meant to her, how it changed things, and how she really felt about it ultimately. But those issues were mostly just danced around. It actually seemed as though she was trying too hard to be careful, to be nice, to not offend anyone, which is boring. And this book is boring because of it.

I really think it would've been cool if she had gone into the program with an open mind (which to be fair, she did try to do), really committed to trying out the various programs, then written honestly and openly about her feelings of and experiences with the programs, both positive and negative. I would have strongly preferred that to her lukewarm, vague reactions to it all that left me feeling empty and bored.

A Slice of Life -
If you read this book expecting to find out anything about the self-help programs mentioned in the book, you will be disappointed. Lisick never commits to any of the programs. In fact, she never seems to lose her upfront attitude that all of the programs are a joke.

If you are looking for a slice of life novel about someone who's a bit different, and who is just looking for odd things to do, you will probably enjoy the book. If you are looking for any meaningful change, or even an attempt at it, you won't find it here.

Funny but maddening -
The good news is the author is a good writer and probably should do essays for the New Yorker. That bad part is she doesn't try to improve - leaves the basement a mess etc and so she is like those people who revel in their own faults. It gets tiresome to read about how willful and stubborn she is. But she can write a lot better than most. So good writing - infuriating story.

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