A new book recently came out about changing yourself, Switch: How to Change When Change is Hard. The book got me thinking about a lot of the other advice books that I've read over the years. And, I've come to the conclusion that the majority of them are full of shit. Keep in mind that I'm not actually talking about Switch the book as I haven't read it, but other motivational books. I'm actually thinking more along the lines of Win Enemies">How to Win Friends and Influence People. Actually, I don't just mean motivation books. I actually mean pretty much any book that tries to influence how people behave and react.
I've read quite a number of books on how to start up a company. I would say that ALL of them mention venture capitalism and bank loans as a means of getting money. The thing is that I know no one who would be able to secure that much financing at ALL. Money isn't just given to people and I never understood why so many books spend so long on these ways of making money (if you don't believe me, just check out the Bullet Ball guy. He's sacrificed everything he's got for a shot.)
What I mean to say is that most ideas that try to get people motivated are based on some sort of simple formula. But, if things were that easy, EVERYONE would already know the formula to begin with. To give a closer example, we've read about lots of tips and tricks on how to make and sell a video game, and we're still as clueless as we've ever been :)
I don't know. I guess what I really mean is that you need to be careful of the advice you get. And, it's important to remember that nothing is ever as easy as it seems.
