Ummm… short answer: No. Long answer: read on.
I recently encountered an article called “How Your Soul Dies”, by someone named Bryan Ward, whose post had come to me via a targeted Facebook ad. I was intrigued by the title, so I clicked through.
What I found was an article which attempted to commiserate with me on the feelings of stagnation and lack of inspiration (lack of “fire”) that many men in their 30s and middle age struggle with from time to time. After painting this bleak picture of the state of my soul, the post went on to suggest its author had the answer to this problem:
“Getting your soul back: the steps may be shocking, but they are simple. Here’s how: Next Page”.
This began to look all to familiar. I’d seen pages like this before – they describe a general problem – one that many people are faced with – and they make it seem personal to you – and then they offer a solution… for a price. Well, despite knowing I was only a few clicks away from a sales pitch, my curiosity was piqued, and so I clicked through to the next page.
Sure enough, the next page was a long, scrolling sales pitch, which did the following: 1. It went on to describe how difficult our lives become when we lose our motivation and inspiration 2. It introduces the author, and paints him as a relatable guy who, just like you and me, had lost his inspiration years ago, and had paid the price, but, unlike you, he had figured out a magical way to get it back, and 3. promises to teach you how you can tap into this source of “infinite motivation” too, if you just buy his E-Book (well, his 43 page pdf document that is) for $10.
Right now you are probably thinking “so what – you fell for it?” Good question, but the thing is (and you will have to see this for yourself – see the post here if you haven’t read it already), it’s a damn good sales pitch! He really does a good job of suggesting that he does indeed have the answers, and he does a great job of creating a sense of urgency (i.e. offering this low, today-only offer to buy for just $10), he suggests what a terrible mistake it would be to miss out on this opportunity, and he makes a personal appeal, asking you to “take a leap of faith” with him… to trust him.
So now I’m thinking, ok, for 10 bucks its worth it just to satisfy my curiosity. So I do it. I click on Buy Now.
I come to a page asking for credit card and contact info – no surprise there. Then I am brought to a series of pages which are very reminiscent of those ultra low-cost airlines – you know the ones that lure you in with extremely low fares, but then charge you for everything from bringing a carry-on bag to using the bathroom on board. The page offers a bunch of different eBooks you can buy – each one promising to improve a different aspect of your life, and it bundles them together so you can take advantage of great “savings” by choosing to buy them all now for just 50 bucks. Pass.
Finally, I get to the end, and my 10 dollar payment is processed, and I get to the page where I am able to download the book. I am almost surprised, at this point, that there actually is a pdf to download, and it’s not a total scam.
To quote The Princess Bride: it just so happens that this whole sales pitch here is only mostly a scam.
There is some decent life advice in there, but it’s mostly what I would categorize as common sense. The “43 page” document is only about 20 pages of large print text – you can read the whole thing in 20 minutes, and it pretty much can be summed up as follows:
* Spoiler Alert (not sure why you’re reading this if you’re NOT looking for spoilers though) *
- Find the one thing you really want to dedicate yourself to.
- Dedicate (at least) 15 minutes towards pursing that goal every day
- Develop good daily habits (nutrition, exercise, meditation – it pretty much just lists these things – doesn’t go into much detail).
- Find time to spend with your family
- Don’t give up
It’s like – ok, that all sounds good – but I could have told you that – your mom could have told you that – pretty much anybody would have told you something similar to that if you had asked them “what’s the recipe for success”? Am I missing something?
In conclusion, this particular E-Book is a waste of money. It’s author is praying on your hopes and fears and offers no real value other then the the advice to pursue your passion. It’s worth maybe…. $1 Certainly not 10.