Before I became the writer and editor for an online self-improvement superstore, I spent a number of years working in the role of Operations Manager in the publishing division of one of Europe's largest mail order retailers. Essentially, my job was to ensure things happened to schedule, within budget and to the standard established in our many service level agreements. To that end, it was my remit to oversee our operational processes and improve them.

What has this got to do with self-help books, motivation products and inspirational systems?

Well, it was during my time working in a production environment that I learned about paradigms. And paradigms are crucial to why most self-help books, motivation products and inspirational systems fail.

So, what is a paradigm. The American Heritage Dictionary describes a paradigm as: a set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them.

In other words, a paradigm is a habitually-ingrained way of viewing something.

Paradigms appear for one very simple reason: people like to feel comfortable. We like the familiar. We like to stroll along that well-worn path and know that all is right with the world. When we go to bed at night, we want everything to be as it was, nothing out of place, when we get up the next morning and trudge into the shower. We like our routines. No news is good news, right?

Personal development books, motivation products and inspirational systems are by their very nature paradigms. Even that brand new personal development book, motivation CD or inspirational DVD, fresh off the shelf, represents a paradigm that's waiting to happen. To be fair, it's entirely unavoidable, as these products are designed to encourage you to look at things in a brand new way. In the process, you will certainly lose some of your own inhibiting and potentially destructive paradigms, but you will simply swap them for another array of paradigms, ones which are just as prone to making it difficult (maybe even impossible) to tackle new problems and confront unprecedented situations.

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Luckily, during my pre-writer/editor days, I also learned how to tackle and overcome paradigms.

The key is not to become reliant upon any single solution. In order to prosper, the modern business cannot afford to cling slavishly to the tried-and-tested. Instead, a comprehensive arsenal of solutions is always kept on hand, a bristling box of problem-busting apparatus.

Likewise, the modern-day seeker of self-improvement cannot afford to become reliant on a single solution or to simply swap one paradigm for another. A selection of solutions is needed, mixed-and-matched according to the specific set of problems or issues that need dealing with at any given point in time.

The personal development marketplace is an amazing thing, jam-packed with amazing self-help books, motivation products and inspirational systems. But why stop with one? Give them all a whirl and put together a paradigm-proof toolbox for happiness and success.

At we’ll help you decide exactly what Best Self-Help Product for you is...