Self-help, self-improvement, call it what you will, zeros in on human insecurity, “you are not reaching your full potential and falling short of the success you deserve.”
They proclaim that through repeated adherence to their ‘coaching’ methods, a follower can increase success and overall satisfaction with their lives.
If we could filter down various publications to a single word to describe the common thread, it would be self-esteem.
But what is self-esteem, and why must we read self-books to get it?
Bruce Springsteen has a career that spans five decades. He is considered one of the world’s best- selling music artists.
Springsteen, however, was no child prodigy. His teachers described him as a loner, and outsider, and a recluse. He was always in trouble at his Catholic elementary school.
He recalls, “In the third grade, a nun stuffed me in a garbage can under her desk because she said that’s where I belonged.”
Although such a humiliating experience could have marred many, Springsteen takes a light-hearted view of his former days. “I also had the distinction of being the only altar boy knocked down by a priest during mass.”
Feeling alienated, Springsteen skipped his school graduation ceremony. He dropped out of Ocean County College. He failed his physical examination after being drafted into military service because of “crazy behaviour”.
Given his formative years, it could be said, Bruce Springsteen was a kid unlikely to succeed.
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