How Crucial Is Your Own Self Help?

If you are interested in helping yourself it is good to know what will bring you the biggest results for your efforts. For example if you want to live longer, then statistically you are better off to stop smoking rather than spending your time becoming thin or getting fit. If you don't currently smoke, then you will get the most benefit from getting fit. Only then do you need to get thin.
 
Most people don't seem to have priorities in their plans for their health and well being. If they do have plans they are usually not based on what will do them the most good. Often the plans include a whole list of things, many of which are unlikely to make a significant long-term difference. As a medical doctor I think that's a bit of a waste, and I recommend starting with what will make the biggest difference in your life.

Self help is a vital ingredient in any plan for well-being. Some people have this in a category called self development, or personal growth. It doesn't really matter what the title is. Getting able to help yourself be independent of others, and yet able to make good use of other people's help is vital.

Much of the world is unsuccessful at doing whatever it is you want to do whether it is earn lots of money, have successful relationships, be healthy, travel the world, or simply live happily. If you want these outcomes then you will usually have to do something very different from what is expected for most people in our society to do in such a situation.

There is one area where there is medical research to back up such an approach. If you get injured then here's some statistics you will want to pay attention to. Your health will be better off if you AVOID getting any compensation. It's true.

The Journal of the American Medical Association has a reputation for quality papers. In 2005 it put on a paper on people who had been injured and who had needed surgery. They compared the results based on whether there was a compensation scheme involved or not, and although 35 studies did not describe any difference, of the remaining studies 175 showed that people were worse off in a compensation system, and only 1 study showed them to be better off. In science this is an incredibly consistent finding.

The conclusion is that you have a mere half a percent chance of having better health if you are involved in compensation. That is tragic. This is supposed to be a system that helps you but in fact you are better off without it. If you can't avoid it, you need to take what measures you can to manage these risks.

I personally think this example has broader truths. In my work as a medical doctor and as a counselor, I have found that there is an inherent danger in any system that helps you. Whether the help is financial, physical, emotional, or psychological or something else it risks doing for you something that you are best doing for yourself. As long as you understand and cater for this danger then you can focus on learning the self help skills you need to make up for this paradox of help that is unhelpful for you.


Every day, in every way, you're getting better and better, but if you are stuck, then you can discover personal development that really works by visiting the blog of medical practitioner and counselor Dr Martin Russell... http://www.DrMartinRussell.com