Ninety-year-old Priscilla, in going to school for the first time to learn to read and write, proves it is never too late to learn. But will her story inspire change to the lives of those who read it?
The answer is, probably not.
In a quest to discover if the self-help industry is a blatant money-pit, or supported by science, it is vital to look at arguments for and against.
Most readers to this blog will be decades younger than Priscilla Sitienei, not to mention that in reading this, you can read and write.
According to Shawn Callahan, author of Putting Stories To Work, stories similar to Priscilla’s will not inspire change because, “there is too much of a gap between the sender and the listener.”
Callahan goes on to say motivational speakers may create a momentary burst of inspiration that does not give people a specific set of behaviours to focus on creating change. An audience will find themselves saying things such as, “what a wonderful story, and a fantastic outcome, but it’s not me. They have no idea of what it’s like to be me.”
Bobby Hoffman, Ph.D., associate professor at the University of Central Florida outlines the problem of the well-intentioned “coaches”, when he says, “Ironically, when a motivational huckster’s ‘proven formula’ fails to work, the user is often blamed for not following the prescriptive formula or chastised because they are a ‘non-believer’.”
Triumph and prosperity outlined in the often-repeated stories by self-help authors could be down to a single state of mind, self-esteem.
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