You're Not Very Important [Paperback]

"You're Not Very Important" skewers self-help books and many of the people and organizations that purport to help make you a better, happier person. Most chapters are organized with an explanation of a particular quality encouraged by many self-improvement gurus with some stories demonstrating why this quality is bad. This is followed by a table of examples where a well known person has done as suggested and the negative consequences. The chapter ends with a list of specific items for you not to do to avoid the negative repercussions.

For example, many self-help books advise making a plan. Texter tells a story of a textbook salesperson who wanted to convince a community college to choose the book represented by her company. She makes a plan that starts with lying about how good her company's book is and ends with cutting the brake cable on the competing sales representative's car. Good plan. Needless to say, the ending wasn't pretty. There is then a table with examples of "to-do" lists and their consequences. One sample list from a date in 1492 for Christopher Columbus includes saying hi to the nice short guy on the beach, which resulted in Native Americans being exposed to European diseases and twenty million deaths, and offering a ride on a boat to another short guy which started the slave trade in North America.

I found "You're Not Important" to be quite funny. Most of the jokes, references, and absurd logic leading to the conclusion that a particular self-help technique was bad had the desired effect of getting a laugh or tickling my funny bone. Some of the references might be obscure for all but the older reader (40-50 and up), but I don't think there are enough of these to ruin the book for anyone since no one will understand every reference. (An example that might be obscure for younger readers is a reference to George Wallace, not the comedian, but the right-wing politician who was the Governor of Alabama and onetime candidate for President of the United States.) If you'd like a book to lighten things up and serve as an antidote for a fast track life, this is what you're looking for.

**Originally written for "Books and Pals" book blog. May have received a free review copy. **

You're Not Very Important explodes the myth that if people raise their level of self-esteem, the world will somehow be better off. It claims that ideals and "dreams aren't worth getting out of bed for." Why such tongue-in-cheek negativity? Texter feels that raising your own self-esteem can only lead to the downfall or ruination of others leaving the world more screwed up than it already is. In You're Not Very Important, he suggests viable ways to minimize self-esteem and improve today's troubled world.

Good planning should be avoided, particularly if you're one of those methodic, task-oriented persons who must write down your plans. Unwritten plans are more easily forgotten. For the same reason, Daytimers, To-Do lists, and calendars should be trashed immediately. Not completing tasks is a surefire way to leave well-enough alone while not screwing up things for others.

Avoid education at all costs. An unenlightened society will be unable to produce most, if not all of the ideas which led to so-called improvements that caused the world's problems in the first place -- cancer being an example. In an uneducated society, there would be little cancer because heavy industry, which produces cancer-causing agents, would dry up.

If you cannot live off your parents and must work to support yourself, rather than wasting your life by working hard, carefully plan a work-related accident. It will provide monetary compensation for the rest of your life and provide employment for another person.
Shuck everything that hints of God or religion, says You're Not Very Important. Self-esteem built on religion is a powder keg. A simple glance at past history, regardless of its holy books, music, and beliefs, reveals the hypnotic horrors of an inspirational belief system.

Texter would recommend avoiding everyone who might con you into an organized belief system. This includes writers who author self-help manuals to raise esteem when it is obvious the world is screwed up as is. There is no reason for you to make it worse.

Indulging your creative imagination and developing your talents could be considered downright tyranny over others because they'll feel compelled to copy or out-perform you. "People learn by imitation," says Texter, so by all means don't inspire them. Avoid books, movies, and anything motivational lest you become monkey-like and copy their tripe.

You're Not Very Important insists that you should spend whatever money you have. Don't bother saving it. The more you and everyone else spend, the quicker the economy will implode. Texter estimates it will take about twenty minutes. After all, saving money "is a way to get yourself out of the situation you're in." There is no reason to deny yourself anything because when the economy collapses, everyone will be in the same low-esteem situation.

If certain diverse people, their ideas, and their life styles bother or inconvenience you avoid these obnoxious folks. When traveling, stick with package tours because they filter out these undesirables for you. Why witness poverty and distended bellies when you can stay in grand hotel suites or even penthouses? At home, move to a gated community where rubbing elbows with the poor is kept to a bare minimum. Furthermore, stay clear of volunteerism.
People are asked to volunteer because the organizations that work with the destitute are so poor themselves they cannot afford to pay you. Low self-esteem will keep you unmotivated.

Monumental problems can occur when people begin reading, writing, and speaking. These three avenues of communication need to be shackled, lest you learn about someone else's failed philosophy and unwittingly write about it, or even converse about it, adding your own hare-brained ideas to trip up possible followers. What you read, write or talk about, unless it is the weather, isn't worth the effort because it might cause damaging ideas and wild-eyed schemes.

There is no sense discoursing about innovation. You don't need a "new sense of vision" if previous innovation has failed. General ignorance in most cases is desirable. It is dangerous to read about the ills in foreign countries where people are being victimized and brutalized, because of the hypnotic desire to help. If you don't learn about such places, your life will remain unfocused, bland, and unsuspicious. After all, what better way to live than to block out the problems of others and revel in your own joy and self-complacency?

You're Not Very Important pokes fun at everything most people hold sacred. It provides a nonsense look into modern life and its problems yet suggests equally comical ways for dealing with them. I would highly recommend the book to a reader as a comical satire on our political, economic, religious, scientific, and educational systems today.

For my own enjoyment, I read each chapter, then deliberately waited a while, sometimes another day, before reading the next chapter. This kept the comedy of the book from becoming slapstick and tedious. I would recommend that readers do the same so they can reduce their own self-esteem and become like tiny ants, oblivious to the rest of the world.

Review written by Regis Schilken
Author of:
Tears of Deceit

Interesting material:
Healing Your Emotional Self: A Powerful Program to Help You Raise Your Self-Esteem, Quiet Your Inner Critic, and Overcome Your Shame
Creating Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence DVD
Mind Mastery For Self Esteem (DVD & CD)

› Go to Amazon U.S. to see both reviews  4.0 out of 5 stars