“Self-Help” was self-published in 1861 in Britain, by Samuel Smiles, and was an instant success. It sparked a huge, multi-billion-dollar genre that I had previously looked down on. However, while creating Rebel to Ruler and Mentor Scholar I have been reading through the history of self-help literature and made some interesting observations.
Momentous Social Change
First, these books become popular during times of momentous social change, especially when there is mobility into the upper classes. The original was published during the second half of the industrial revolution.
We seem to be in a golden age of self-help literature right now, coinciding with a growth in self-made billionaires. Self-help has grown from books to Instagram feeds, online courses, and Youtube channels, and movies. Self-help books are often just the calling cards of much larger businesses.
Ignored by Academics
Second, the books and their ideas are studiously ignored by academia, for a generation; then, they are introduced into the academy without credit given. Look at all the “positive attitude,” “positive mantras” and “state of mind” work from the 1970s (right after the Civil Rights movement) and “growth mindset” research in academia today.
Bad Advice
Third, there is an enormous amount of bad advice in the books. Charitably, this bad advice is just a way of selling the books and getting attention, but this bad advice can have strong real-world effects. I’ve blogged about this bad advice here.
A Rubric for the Good Advice
Now, I want to organize the good advice, so as to cut down the amount of time it takes to enter academia, cut through the repetitive nature of the genre, and provide you with a way to choose the books you may need.
I have created a matrix.
On one axis are the two competing drives of human existence: freedom and belonging. Freedom can include independence, ideas about “escape,” and language about “adventure” and “conquering fears.” Belonging can include love, status, and certain types of power.
On the other axis, I have identified two major types of advice: strategy and character. Strategy is often referred to as “step-by-step” or similar language; the specifics of “how.” Character is about identity, reputation, virtues, heroes, and “who” you need to be.
These axes create four quadrants:
- Freedom and strategy: Four Hour Work Week, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
- Freedom and character: Extreme Ownership, Man’s Search for Meaning
- Belonging and character: Joseph Campbell
- Belonging and strategy: How to Win Friends and Influence People
The Mentor Scholar program cultivates both character development and strategic thinking, as they are inseparable. And, we apply both of these to four areas of concern: decision-making, networking, academics, and productivity.
We often tout how “research-based” the Mentor Scholar program is, which is true, but we owe a debt of gratitude to the innovative self-help industry, which, if properly filtered, can be a force for powerful social change. It pays to remember that the original title of “Self-Help,” by Smiles, was “The Education of the Working Classes.”
Classifying the Best Sellers
I have chosen a short list of very influential, huge-selling self-help books, and mapped them to their quadrant.
- Self-Help (1,2)
- Power of Positive Thinking (1,2)
- Think and Grow Rich (1)
- How to Win Friend and Influence People (4)
- Awaken the Giant Within (1,2)
- Seven Habits of Highly Successful People (1,2)
- Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus (3)
- Five Love Languages (4)
- The Secret (4)
- 4 Hour Work Week (1,2)
The second and third quadrants are fairly empty. The second quadrant, of character development and freedom, is the realm of ancient Mediterranean philosophies (like Stoicism). The third, of character development and belonging, is the realm of religion. With academic philosophy preoccupied with arcana, and religion, perhaps, on the wane, are these quadrants market opportunities?