Richard Wiseman is speaking to his friend Sophie, a 'bright, successful thirty-something' when she asks him what he thinks of the self-help industry. 10 minutes into his lecture about the scientific research into happiness Sophie stops Richard, points out she's a busy person, can he give her some genuine effective advice that could be implemented in under a minute. This book enlarges on that idea, a refreshing antidote to the avalanche of self-help literature that is at best misguided and at worst psychologically damaging. I really enjoyed it, finding out where I was going right, happy to be proved wrong and vindicated by many of my uneasy gut feelings that making life better for yourself surely could not be as easy as just visualising yourself thinner, richer, prettier etc etc.
Wiseman splits his book into 10 easy to read sections:
Happiness - the effectiveness (or otherwise) of postitive thinking, diarising, and gratitude
Persuasion - how to interact socially and successfully
Motivation - how to plan, overcome procrastination, and think yourself into motivation
Creativity - destroying the myth of brainstorming, the effects of modern art and green plants
Attraction - seduction, roller coaster rides and the art of dating successfully
Stress - punching it out doesn't work, pets, reducing resentment and blood pressure
Relationships - Velcro, photographs and vocalising
Decision making - two heads are not better than one, how to make effective no regrets decisions, how to harness your unconscious and how to tell if you are being lied to
Parenting - the Mozart myth, baby names, effective praise and marshmallows
Personality - graphology, fingers and thumbs, pets, bedtime and OCEAN / CANOEs
develop the gratidue attitude / place pic of baby in wallet (get back) / hang mirror in kitchen (weight loss) / buy pot plant for office (creativity) / touch people lightly on upper arm (dominance persuasion) / write about relat (appreciation) / deal with liars by using email / praise children's effort not ability / visualize doing not achieveing (plan) / consider your legacy (what will they say about you after death)
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