Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation
Summary
Through this research, we were able to surmise that:
• Self-help books are both ineffective and effective; this output will be determined by numerous factors: the capability of the reader to focus, the trust the reader has towards himself, if the reader will fully understand and comply with the presented guidelines for effectiveness
• Self-help books’ main goal is character development
• There is a placebo effect in Stephen Covey’s book as well as in all the self-help books that were published
• “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” is not a book that guarantees instant results, but assigns its reader to be patient and persevering in understanding its teachings
• In achieving personal character development, one must combine mental focus with disciplined actions that, still do not guarantee complete success, but increase the possibility for such
• The main goal of the author is not just personal growth, but also the strengthening one’s relationships with his or her loved ones
Conclusion
Through this study, we can safely state that the main text, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is not completely ineffective. The habits provided by the author, are truly obvious, but for it to be deemed completely incapable of any form of therapy would be completely erroneous.
The adequacy and inadequacy of the main text will be completely subjective, as one will not be able totally study its output on individuals on a global scale. The determining factor of the text would simply be for one to assess or simply read the text itself. Society is capable of cognition, and even metacognition.
Therefore, it has to a conclusion that the effectiveness of the text will be purely subjective. However, one still cannot remove the aspect of a trained medical practitioner and his or her capabilities in presiding over one’s mental or emotional disorder. To rely on pure text alone as the main proponent of health would be illogical and dangerous. Even though such texts can be referred by a licensed doctor of any field, in the end, the life of one will still solely depend on the hands of one – not the words of a book.
Recommendations
The scope covered by this study is far too minimal compared to the other studies review in Chapter Two. A simple ubiquity in terms of analysis and criticism can be applied in tackling such a subject – or rather genre of self-help – in other studies.