I wish I had time to create an ongoing compendium of the illogical / unsupportable self-help quotes that I see from time to time on Twitter, contrasted with a rational and pragmatic version of the same expressed concept. Those in the latter category might be an original rephrase by me, or a quote that expresses the same thing without the fallacious reasoning.
But since I can’t be comprehensive about it, I’ll just grab a recent example: “If you know without a doubt you’ll succeed, you will.”
This tweet should be so obviously risible that it would never see the light of day. How about:
“If you know without a doubt that you’ll succeed, and you have the capacity & preparation to do so, you’re much more likely to succeed than if you immerse yourself in doubts.”
A lot of self-help is a form of self-delusion to create confidence… like a lucky charm, a litany.
Think of the Boxer rebellion, in which kung fu masters were convinced they could make themselves bulletproof. Had they been armed with the truth and some parity in weaponry, their martial arts skills would’ve given them an advantage in hand-to-hand combat. But delusion lost the day. The Disney cartoon character Dumbo always had the ability to fly thanks to his ears, but he needed the delusion of the magic feather to even attempt it.
Objective reality is all we have. You can face it or not. The best way to achieve success using these self-delusional platitudes, is re-package them to sell to others via squeeze letters, seminars, CD sets. They also provide handy fodder for the myriad MLM and spambots infesting Twitter, repeating the same quotes over an over in an attempt to get retweets. Don’t take the bait.
Since his emphasis is on consistent action and wise choices, by the way, I do NOT lump Tony Robbins in with this group at all. Anyone that’s listened to him, or read him, would have to admit he does take a rational approach to his ideas (test them to see if they work): he acknowledges that a lot of self-help affirmations are BS. Disparagers have only seen infomercials or a news report. At essence, Tony Robbins is about discipline, volition, will, conscious effort… WORK… which is not pie-in-the-sky.
The next time you see a self-help quote, really mull it over before you retweet it. And if you can, send it my way! 
