Introduction
Self-help books are often underutilized in their potential to help you improve yourself. While they are by no means the main solution for growing into the person you want to be, they are a cheap and affordable alternative for moving in the right direction.
The Beginning of it All
around for very long, but according to history books, we got it all wrong! The Victorians were the true inventors of the self-help genre. In 1859, Samuel Smiles, a Scottish journalist, published the text Self-Help; with illustrations of character and conduct during the peak of new-age ideas.
This book, alongside Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species and John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty, was considered highly influential during its time. By the time of Smiles’ death in 1904, the book had sold a quarter of a million copies in Britain, which then became recognized worldwide.
Samuel Smiles’ Influence
Smiles held the belief that “national progress was the sum of individual industry, energy and uprightness, as national decay is of individual idleness, selfishness and vice”, what a mouthful! To summarize, Smiles believed that the only way to progress was to come together; this belief greatly shaped the Victorian work ethic.
These same ideas, alongside his thesis on “morals and manners”, not only shaped the Victorian era but also the backbone of the modern wellness industry. Self-help highlighted ideas such as hard work, perseverance, and moral rectitude in the pursuit of success; all of these values were then adapted and modified by other 19th-century authors. Many of Samuel Smiles’ ideals are used today and are credited just the same.
Conclusion
It’s so important to utilize self-help books in a way that is meaningful to you. And who knows, someone in the 19th century may have had the same problems as you!
Photo by Delano Ramdas on Unsplash
