Tag Archives: self improvement

How to AVOID Psychobabble and get useful self help tips

Posted on April 24, 2017 | Leave a comment
matches about to be lit by a single match

The right help can light a fire in your life.

This applies. Just give me a second.

I can light a match on a window, my pants, a fingernail and my teeth. Some people can barely light a match using the strike pad on the matchbox.  If someone cannot light a match on their teeth, it doesn’t mean the match is bad.  It doesn’t mean they are bad either.  It just means they can’t light a match on their teeth.

Psychobabble and useful psychology

Using a self help book can be a lot like lighting that match.  Just because a book works for someone else, but not you, doesn’t mean the book is bad or that you are bad. I have a whole list of books that helped me at various times in my life.  But, that was because they were the right book at the right time. If they are of no use to you, wait awhile and they may be.

The difference between psychobabble and useful psychology is often timing, need and preparation.

Here are some books that I’ve found exceptionally useful.  All are available from Amazon. They are in no particular order.

  • How To Fail At Almost Everything And Still Win Big, Scott Adams
  • Looking Out For Number One, Robert Ringer (Relationships that work)
  • Winning Through Intimidation, Robert Ringer (How NOT to be intimidated)
  • Action! Nothing Happens Until Something Moves, Robert Ringer
  • The New PsychoCybernetics, Maxwell Maltz (Freedom through reality)
  • The Power of Positive Thinking, Norman Vincent Peale
  • How To Stop Worrying and Start Living, Dale Carnegie
  • How To Win Friends And Influence People, Dale Carnegie
  • Man’s Search For Meaning, Viktor Frankl
  • Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway, Susan Jeffers
  • Think And Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill

I’m always looking for more great books to read.  I’d love to get your list of the most life changing books you’ve read.

Something To Do Today

Make a list of books you would like to read.  My personal “to read” list currently has about 40 titles.  I read and listen to 2 to 6 books a month.

————————–

Next:    Facts would be nice

Later:  Wrestlers in feather boas

Resumes, interviews and a baby’s grasp

Leave a comment

Posted in Attitude, Focus, Perseverance, talent, Training

Tagged , , ,

Are you more professional than my grandfather?

Posted on September 21, 2012 | Leave a comment

My grandfather was a modern farmer in 1930.  Stubborn too.  The local farm bureau agent came by and said, “The government will pay you to rotate your crops.”  Grandpa replied, “That is the stupidest thing I ever heard.  I already rotate my crops because I can grow more that way.  My land doesn’t get worn out.  It gets renewed.”

Grandpa was stubborn and wouldn’t take the government’s money to do something he knew he should already be doing.  The guys from the conservation bureau had problems with him.  He always implemented the latest ideas without waiting for them to come up with a program to get him to do it.  Crazy old coot?  Well, really he was a visionary farmer.

Do you have to be paid to prepare yourself to earn more money? 

Reading trade magazines and books is the best way to keep current in your field.  College courses in the evening are a great way to build the basics you need for a foundation for growth.  Enthusiasm will get you into seminars and conventions.  Pay for it yourself if you have to.  It is worth it.

Try to be a better professional than my crazy, successful grandfather.

Something to do today

Try it again. The greatest lunch topic you can talk about with your boss is, “What is the emerging world changing technology, technique or skill in our field?”  Try it today.

————————–

Next:     Foreigners stealing jobs

Leave a comment

Posted in Attitude, Training

Tagged , ,