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Does The Secret To Success Lie In Books?
This week on the show I hook up with Tom Carter, my regular discussion partner, to have chats about success. In particular we get into a conversation about the validity of self-help and self improvement material.
My contention is that the majority of self improvement material doesn't work – there's something missing. Tom takes the position that it does work at helping people get where they want to go.
Links From The Show
Notes from The Show
Hey folks how are you getting on? Welcome to episode number six of The Larb. this is the podcast show for artists, creatives, creative people, creative entrepreneurs you might say. This week in episode six I'm taking a look at the secret to success. It's something I've written about quite a bit on larrygmaguire.com, and this week my partner in conversation, Tom Carter and I get into a conversation about this.
In particular, we discuss whether or not the majority of self-help material out there, be it book or course form or whatever form you want to consume it in, really is counterproductive or at best doesn't actually work. That's my position, and Tom will take up a counter position. We get into a decent conversation about the secret to success and I think you're gonna find it interesting.
A Little More About The Show
But before we get into that let me tell you a little bit about the show. My name is Larry G. Maguire, writer and artist over at larrygmaguire.com where I write weekly about creativity, art, work, life and how it all goes together. Every week you can get new episodes on iTunes, Stitcher, Soundcloud and other podcast platforms.
Me, me and tom sometimes, me and other guests get into a conversation on a range of topics including, how to do what you love and make a living at it. The creative process, how life influences art and creative work. And how every one of us is creative when it boils down to it. The idea that some of us are creative and some of us are not is ludicrous to me.
We get into these subjects in depth and I think you'll find some of the subjects coming up quite interesting and helpful please god. You can catch all new episodes on iTunes and SoundCloud etc so make sure to hit the subscribe button so not to miss any upcoming episodes.
This Week's Discussion: The Secret To Success
The Secret To Success: My position on self-help and self-improvement material is that most of it doesn't work. Because if it did work it wouldn't be an industry and it wouldn't be growing the way it's growing. People would get results from the material instead of continually going back to the well for more material, guru hunting. I think a lot of it is a waste of time, that's been my experience anyway. Here's an extract from the transcript;
Transcript Extract
Larry: I've been doing a small bit of research and it seems that whole market for this material is growing and growing. Some numbers suggest that the value of the self-improvement market in the US is 10bn. I reckon that most of us have been sold a pup. What do you think?
Tom: Erm, well. In certain circumstances I would agree with you but, and it's a big but, I think you've got to take into account, considering how long the printed book has existed, there were self-help books in the 1600's [for example]. There's always been some sort of material on how to do whatever you want to do – How to fence in the street, how to become successful with ladies in the 19th century. In the internet age there's always going to be people who say, look, this is how I became a millionaire and you can do the same.
I think to some extent I think it's true. I think if you were to read their material you can get an insight into how they've done it. But of course why a lot of people will say, oh it fails, or it's not very good or this stuff is half-baked mumbo jumbo is simply the fact that the people buying the book, buying the course or whatever, either aren't paying attention or aren't putting the work in.
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