Self help books

The topic of self help books came up on one of our professional forums yesterday. The question was, which self help books would you recommend and why? A few responses had been posted, to which I added that I would of course agree that George Kinder’s Seven Stages of Money Maturity is a profoundly important book and very helpful for dealing with the financial side of personal development, but its also well worth reading Jacob Needleman’s “Money and the Meaning of Life” which predates Seven Stages and is arguably the forerunner of contemporary money / spirit books.

Dr Henry Cloud’s “Integrity” (2006, New York, HarperCollins) takes a somewhat different approach to personal development, but like “Think and Grow Rich”, it is founded in research and is illustrated by stories and interviews with leading business people. From his research, Cloud has identified six key character qualities that need to be developed to leave a positive and strong wake in life. Highly recommended.

I also like “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, Stephen Covey. It is well thought through and is the source of many of the paradigms and models that have been been regurgitated by management and personal development gurus since it was written in 1989. It is not the easiest of reads, and takes some perseverance to get through, although it is peppered with stories to illustrate points. However, it is in the main the author’s own personal theories based on his experiences but not backed up by structured research, although its arguable that you cannot argue with the principle of basing your life on principles. There are strong parallels to Kinder’s Seven Stages.

For the more spiritual aspects of personal development, The Rule of St Benedict still has much to teach us about spiritual well-being and community living even after fifteen hundred or so years. Back up the original text (RB80 is the most common modern translation, although Patrick Barry’s more recent translation is excellent) with any one of the many commentaries around.

I came across my old copy of “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” a couple of days ago, and have just started to re-read it, but perhaps I should not admit that!

The topic of self help / personal development books is itself interesting, and presents a huge opportunity for advisers, partly through writing niche books to satisfy the endless demand for literature on the subject, but also because it is arguable that successful self help comes only to a very small minority. Personal development is not an “I” thing, its something that should take place in the community with a coach, mentor or mastermind group (hence the importance of St Benedict).

Once there was a man called Siddhatta Gotama. He lived in the foothills of the Himalaya in the sixth century BCE. He achieved enlightenment solely through his own efforts, without the help of a personal coach or guru. Such was the rarity and impossibility of such an event that he was elevated in his own community to the hallowed status of the “Enlightened One”, or in the language of the time, the Buddha, from which position he then went on to help others achieve enlightenment.

All the self help books in the world will not provide the support and encouragement that most people need, but as financial planners, helping people deal with life as much as money, we are well suited to fill that role. And as Covey points out, becoming a teacher or coach is one of the best ways of furthering our own self development.

Jeremy