Questions and Answers - Questions and Answers About The Book Self-Help Stuff That Works

Written by Adam Khan

Question: What's your background?

Adam: I'm self-educated, which is probably appropriate for a self-help author. I happen to be fascinated with psychology and change and I have been since I was in high school. I've devoured hundreds of books on those subjects and marked passages which I then read onto audiotapes and listened to them in the car and while shaving, ironing, doing dishes, etc. And I try the ideas I learn about. My whole life is a kind of experiment.

Question: How is your book different from other self-help books?

Adam: My book is unique in a couple of useful ways. First, the chapters are short. I usually get right to the

Second, each chapter ends with a principle, usually just one, and usually simply and briefly stated. I've found that you can't really apply a paragraph, or a chapter, or a whole book. But you can apply a sentence.

In Dale Carnegie's biography the authors point out that another book on the same subject was published six years before How to Win Friends and Influence People came out. It was called Strategy in Handling People. The two books had many of the same principles, and in fact, many of the same illustrations. But Carnegie's book went on to be the number two bestseller of all time (behind the Bible) in America. And nobody has heard of the other one.

One reason for the first book's failure is that the principles were long. For example, in Carnegie's book (in the section on persuading others) one of the principles is: Get the other person saying "yes, yes" immediately.

In the Strategy book, the same principle was stated this way:

The first step in persuading people to act as you wish, is to present your plans in such a way as to get a "Yes Response" at the very start. Throughout your interview, but above all at the beginning of it, try to get as many "Yeses" as you possibly can.

Which principle is easier to remember? Which one is easier to apply? Self-Help Stuff That Works does the same thing: The principles are easy to apply. I tested the principles myself and kept changing and re-wording and shortening them until they were very applicable tools.

Question: How did you become interested in this subject?

Adam: I was shy in high school and I wanted to become more popular, especially with girls, so I read Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. It made a difference and taught me things that really helped me in high school.

I think I was lucky to have chosen that particular book for my first self-help book because it is thoroughly action-oriented. The first chapter actually tells you how to get the most out of the book, and I went on to use the same approach with other books, even those that weren't obviously self-help in nature.

Question: What inspired you to write this book?

Adam: The book kind of grew by itself. I have been a columnist for what used to be known as At Your Best, a newsletter sold to business for their employees, which is now part of a much larger online "product" called Rodale's Online Health. In the meantime, I wrote a book called Using Your Head. When I took the manuscript to the publisher, as a last-minute idea, I printed a small collection of my articles into a booklet, and told the publisher I was thinking of publishing a whole book of these little articles after Using Your Head was published.

She looked over the stuff and told me she thought I ought to publish the collection of articles first. My wife, Klassy, had just told me the same thing, so that's what we did.

Question: What kind of newsletter was At Your Best?

Adam: It was a six-page monthly newsletter that was bought by businesses for their employees. If the company had 50 employees, they'd get a subscription for 50 newsletters. They'd put the newsletters in the break rooms or in their checks. Most of the articles were short (500 words or less) and practical. Most were about doing better at work, improving your attitude, and dealing with the normal problems of time management and family concerns.

Question: Who is your book directed toward and what would you like them to get out of it?

Adam: It is directed toward normal, healthy people. It is for people who like to learn and improve their lives. And I would like them to use the principles to have better relationships, to feel better more often, and to make their work life more enjoyable.

I know a lot of people think that self-help is for losers or people with problems. But every person has problems. Everyone has room for improvement.

From what I've seen, the people who are interested in improving themselves are usually upbeat and relatively successful. I don't know if they are upbeat and successful because they have improved themselves, or if upbeat and successful people are simply more likely to be interested in improving. But often the people who could benefit most from self-help material are the ones who would never think of reading a self-help book.

It is not a very sane person who is unwilling to do anything to help himself or improve his circumstances and it is a particularly debilitating belief that I'm just the way I am and I can't do anything to change things. So the pursuit of self-help could be seen as a sign of mental health.