by Kaushik Guha

Created on: June 21, 2009   Last Updated: June 22, 2009

What determines the criteria for a quality self improvement article?

What differentiates a motivational masterpiece from the lame-a*s, how-to advice of some cyberdude?

The net is sprawling with How-to's.

From How-to make a million bucks to How to spend a million bucks. They are all screaming for your attention with the intention of selling some junk they created in their basement.

A motivational masterpiece thrives on raw human emotion with sound, practical and logical steps. Even if you are reading a piece that was written 20 years ago by someone from a totally different genre and culture, it still connects on a very deep level. You literally get the feeling of a heart-to-heart connection. This is something the author had lived and, when he writes, he writes with the total belief of a man who has walked the talk.

How does this compare with your average How to?

Click here for a sample.

Okay. Granted this one is an exaggeration, but most How to's don't inspire the audience to action. Hey,if all it took to convince a human being was to outline a series of steps, then I would have convinced all my friends to quit smoking by now, and their wives would gladly cook me free dinners.

No..i. t doesn't work like that.

I have been working quite diligently on personal development for a year now and I have literally gotten to a point where I can pretty certainly spot an effective piece of advice from some marketing crap.

Let's take a very frequently discussed issue: Discipline with regards to Health and Fitness.

The average How to workout plan would probably list a set of bulleted points stating How you should push yourself, How consistency is the key and so on and so forth.

Set of boring blah instructions; no real juice behind the words.

Now compare this with this paragraph by Arnold Schwarzenegger:

"The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow. This area of pain divides the champion from someone else who is not a champion. That's what most people lack, having the guts to go on and just say they'll go through the pain no matter what happens. I threw up many times while I was working out in the gym. But in the end it doesn't matter, because it was all worth it."

Feel the difference?

So to inspire your audience and move them to tears and to action, you need to live your words. There are basically no exceptions to this rule, unless you are a darn fine actor.

So forget how to give quality advice. Just go out and live by example. Nature will take care of the rest.

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