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Over the last I don't know how many years, the self help and self improvement industries (and many of its off shoots) have taken off and turned into multi million dollar businesses. Heck, that was one of the purposes of this web site - to share advice between people - to help out.
However, when you take a person that is searching for help, and give them a structured, broken down *method*; to solve their troubles, this can create a terrible side effect - their belief in themselves goes spiraling down.
For example - I have included the cover of the infamous *;The Rules*; by Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider, as well as *The Game*; by Neil Strauss. Both offer advice, both offer a structured method of reaching your romantic goals, but yet both imply that *if you don't follow this method exactly, you will fail at life*;. Some books inadvertently (and maybe accidentally) imply this, others thrive on that belief to make more money. Yes, the advice is great (most of the time) and helpful (again, most of the time), but blindly following advice alone isn't going to make your life spectacular - no one book has all the answers (no matter what they try to make you believe).
On the other hand, I think we have all been in the situation where we ask our friends for advice, and all they say is *;believe in yourself*;, and we curse them for not coming up with anything a little more specific. Yes, that is very good advice, but where the heck do you start?
So In the end - yes - read the advice, learn stuff, expand your mind, improve yourself. The human brain thrives on structured material - I mean would you rather have your school textbooks break down material into chapters and categories or present it all as one big blob? Yet remember, it's not the *method*; that is charming people around you, it's not the 69 ways to please your man that Cosmo lists that keeps him coming back to you, it's not some exercise gadget or nutritional supplement that makes your life spectacular, it's you.
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