Self-Help Stuff That Works: How to Become More Effective with Your Actions and Feel Good More Often

by Adam Khan and Klassy Evans

Self-Help Stuff That Works is based on a collection of columns originally written by Adam for Rodale Press's newsletter, At Your Best, where his column was voted the readers' favorite. Book jacket. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0962465674
• ISBN13: 9780962465673
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: YouMe Works
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.8" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Everything you (really!) need to know.

Suppose you are an intelligent human being that until now has been thinking: all these self help-books ... can they be really working? There are so many of them! I'm sure all these books repeat the same old tired cliches! And all these screaming covers look so tasteless! Ten years ago I was thinking that. As I am a very curious journalist and writer (in Amsterdam, the Netherlands), I started to read self help-books. I thought: there are so many!, I'm sure all these books repeat the same old tired cliches!, all these screaming covers look so tasteless! After my ten years of reading these books I know: there are indeed lots and lots of these tasteless, screaming cliche-books. But don't let that scare you. You are doing yourself a disfavor if you abandon the whole genre. As in every genre there are brilliant exceptions. One of these is the extremely practical and sensible book "Self-Help Stuff that Works - How to become more effective with your actions and feel good more often" by Adam Khan. It specters the whole genre of self-help. Mr Khan read all these (scientific, serious and not so serious) books, thought about them all, selected the worthy thoughts and theories and wrote in 117 chapters and 368 pages everything there is to know, everything you need to know. It's easy to read (because it's well written), it tells great stories and it is concise. It made my life better. It makes promises and delivers. The 117 chapters are divided in three parts: Attitude, Work and People. It tells you THE thing to know (and to do!) about, for example: how to be a sensible optimist, the best way to criticize, what to do with failure, when you are too polite, how to improve your self-esteem, how to find a lifemate and 100 more necessary things to know. This book tells you things that are not a luxury to know. In a modest, intelligent, moving, funny and easy to read-way. Indeed, no bull, no frills, no hype.

100% concentrated, fast acting, practical advice

There are so many 'self help' books available today, all of them offering you the answers to life's challenges, that you almost need a self help guide just to choose which one is the right one for you!. You could be forgiven for regarding 'Self Help Stuff that Works' by Adam Khan as just another book to be added to the list. But wait a second!! This book is different, very different. Adam Khan has successfully made a distillation of all of the best self help theories, wisdom and ideas, and the final concentrate is a book that has the most practical, funny, easy and enjoyable to read advice that you will find today! The author has a natural gift for writing in a style that is very much as if he is talking directly to you. That, coupled with his ability to take ideas, extract the good bits and make sound practical advice out of it that is easier to apply, make it 'pound for pound' the best book on the shelf! The book is written in the form of concise chapters. Each cover an idea often in the form of a short story that contains wisdom and practical advice on how to approach problems, handle situations, strengthen relationships, choose your direction in life, develop inner strength - the list is endless. The chapters are divided into 3 sections entitled attitude, work, people and the whole concept of producing a book in this format makes so much sense and allows you to use it as a constant source of reference. No longer do you have to spend time sifting through a book to find that 'pearl of wisdom' that really struck a chord when you read it last time. With this book you can quickly refer back to ideas and advice. This also helps you to concentrate on absorbing one or two key ideas over a period of time so that you can really integrate them into your life before moving on to the next idea. As Adam says, 'too often we try to change too many things at one time'. I can tell you from my own personal experience that there are ideas and suggestions contained in this book that you can apply instantly, without any difficulties that have the power to make considerable and lasting changes in your life. I did it myself by taking one particular idea from this book. After applying it, I have changed not only myself but affected to way people behave towards me in a very positive and empowering way. That is what's so great and so different about it. The ideas are so practical and easy to apply but yet give real tangible results immediately as soon as you start using them! I cannot rate it highly enough and I would just say, go and buy this book if you want to make positive, practical changes in your life!!

Self-Help Books Simply Do Not Work!

But wisdom does. Anybody can write a self-help book if they have a double-digit I.Q. and periodic hallucinations. Oh! And a degree from a good dog trainer with a fancy name. And manic- depression also helps. This guy has none of this. And I do believe he is wearing a crew cut? He's marvelous! Simply marvelous! The cover of the book looks like an Army manual. On the cover, it states "No Bull", "No Frills", "No Hype". And Khan even reduces Time Management to 1 or 2 pages. I thought that this book was just another come-on. But why not give it a try. Right? I was boiling with anger. I tried one of his "instant remedies". And my anger was completely gone in less than 90 seconds! Autosuggestion? No. I understood. To understand what I mean, buy this book. Khan has gotten rid of all the "peacock garbage". I don't think he has really contributed one original idea to the book. But what he has done, and so brillantly, is distilled all the ancient self-help books (99% garbage), extracted the 1% that works, and put it together for you to work with and study with. Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography was one of the first truly helpful self-help books (books that can help people). Either Steve Jobs or Picasso said that "true artists don't copy art, they steal it"). Khan has done so in such a brillant fashion. 117 techniques for the new millinium. All condensed into "pill form". Now I can get rid of all my other self-help books with their "neat" diagrams and convulescent but impressive theories. Maybe a "psychobabble yardsale". This is nothing more than less than a Boy Scout Manual for Sanity. Buy it and put it under your pillow!

Finally straight talk without preying on fears

It's about time somebody contributed to this valuable subject without polluting or diluting. Self help gets such a bad rap sometimes, it's really too bad. I've met many people who have no problem admitting they're not complete, but when presented with the opportunity to find real counsel, balk at the chance to help themselves. Undoubtedly, it's because a lot of greedy people make a living out of preying on people's fears and write magic bullet book store flotsam.The information presented here is concise, and quite frankly human. Khan pulls no punches, but doesn't beat you up either. It's just the right approach. The best part is that he has obviously done extensive research and names his sources, unlike many Ph.D.'s who DO NOT name their sources and give the impression that they conceived some time honored proven principles all by themselves.Read this stuff and use it, not just because some so-called "self help" author says so, but because the great minds it references applied the principles successfully themselves.