How to Spot Bad Self-Help Advice

The $43 billion self-help industry is full of people peddling a wide range of different ideas. How do you tell the good from the bad?

The self-help industry is massive—in 2022 it made more than $43 billion. This goes to show the huge volume of people who are looking for ways to improve their lives. Some self-help figures do offer valuable advice for achieving happiness and success—but a great many offer false hope and impossible promises.

How can you tell the good from the bad? In this video, I outline some key questions to ask when evaluating self-help figures and the advice they give:

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In Other News

The release date for the Reason for Living book is now confirmed as April 8, 2025! I will soon be announcing how you can pre-order the book, along with a program of live events and courses that I will be running during 2025, both online and in-person.

If you are a member of an organization that runs in-person talks and meetups, or you’d like to arrange an event with me in your city, please get in touch by leaving a comment on this post. I am especially looking for events in the southern and southeastern United States between June and August 2025, and in the UK or Europe outside of those months.