Help Me! summary

Marianne’s quest for a perfect life started with the book that transformed her career all those years ago: Feel the Fear, by Susan Jeffers. 

As far as Jeffers was concerned, to be happy and successful Marianne had to do the things that scared her. Fear comes up when we’re being pushed out of our comfort zones. And facing that fear is how we move forward in life. 

Some people are terrible with money. They spend it as soon as they get it and can never explain how. They rack up debt and often have to borrow from friends or family. 

You probably know someone like this. You might even be cringing because, like Marianne, you tick all the boxes! In her own words, she “threw money away.” Her bank balance was always a mystery to her, unless her card was declined – then she knew she was down to zero. 

After facing the cold reality of her money problems, Marianne picked up a book with a completely different approach.

The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne, teaches that people can use positive thinking and the law of attraction to manifest anything they want in life. Marianne had very strong opinions about this; she thought it was all delusional. But lots of people had told her that the book changed their lives. And a small part of her wanted a magical fix to all her problems.

When was the last time you went out looking for rejection? Chances are, it’s never crossed your mind to do this. In fact, you’re probably wondering why anyone would do such a thing.

But, as Marianne learned from the book Rejection Therapy, if you keep facing rejection, you become desensitized to it. You stop seeing it as something to avoid. As a result, you become more willing to try new things.

Having walked away from rejection with a few things to show for it, Marianne was ready to try John Parkin’s flavor of self-help. In his book, F**k It!, Parkin advises people to stop obsessing over things that ultimately don’t matter. The more relaxed they are about life, the easier life becomes.

Since she worried so much, learning to say “fuck it” to everything really appealed to Marianne. She was also excited to go on the author’s week-long retreat in Italy.

Marianne may have lost an old friend, but she’d also made new ones who were as enthusiastic about self-help as she was. This is how she came across her next guide on the road to perfection: Tony Robbins.

In his book, Awaken the Giant Within, Robbins teaches that we can have anything we want if we get our minds and bodies in the right state. However, rather than reading the 500 or so pages, Marianne spent around $600 on a seminar led by the man himself.

It’s hard to keep going once you’ve taken a knock. And after hitting rock bottom financially, Marianne wasn’t sure about continuing her self-help project. But she didn’t think she’d be happy facing the real world, either. 

Then, a phone call from her editor pointed a way forward. Marianne was asked to write an article about the growing popularity of angel therapy – the practice of asking guardian angels for help.

Have you ever imagined how your funeral will go? Maybe you’ve thought about what you’ll be wearing, or how many people will show up. Or, you’ve wondered what people will say about you.

This fairly morbid exercise was a step in Marianne’s bid to become selfless. She was following the advice of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey, who believes that happiness comes from being good to others.

How often have you set goals at the beginning of a new year, only to look back after a year and find that you haven’t reached any of them?

It can be discouraging. But many of us dust ourselves off, reassess our goals, and try to figure out how we can do better. Marianne was no different. When she entered the new year without the perfect life she’d set out to create, she consulted a therapist.

When Marianne decided to self-help her way through the dating world, she was surprised to find that she had no problem approaching men. All the fear-facing and rejection therapy had done its work. So, meeting a man would be easy now, right?

Wrong.