A debate on self-motivation books

There is a talk show in a popular Tamil channel called "NEEYA NAANA" (literal meaning- You or Me) which usually brings good topics for debate. What I particularly like about this debate show is that, there is no winners. Winning is not everything. Participation means a lot. The show focuses mainly on all the possible positives and negatives about a particular topic in a healthy way. There is no shouting and yelling. The discussion is always in an educative manner. The topic  that was discussed today was also one such and also which is not much discussed in many talk shows these days. The topic was " ARE SELF-MOTIVATION BOOKS REALLY MOTIVATING?"

I personally feel, these kinds of off cinema-politics-commercialization topics are less discussed in most of the talk shows, so kudos for the program head to choose such interesting topic for discussion.

To brief about this debate, as usual there were two groups, one for the topic and one against the topic.

To start with, I go for "for"the topic people. These people said

• Reading such books made them gain confidence
  
• Some said, it gave them positivity in their life and there by designing a path for their success. 
• For those who studied in non-English medium schools, reading such motivational books gain confidence and reduced their inferiority complex.
• A girl said reading such books made her think in all possible ways to deal a situation
• Some said it increased their personality and presentability during interviews and conferences.
• A lady said after reading  such books she started listening to people without interrupting them...

For those who were against said

• The people who read books for their motivation have no actual drive.
• They lag in practical application
• The people who read these motivational books were actually losing their self and start following what a book directs..
• These books were only for selling points and actually has nothing to do with self-motivation.This was one strong complaint(in strong words).
  

The debate went on for about an hour discussing all the possible pros and cons of reading a self-motivation books. If you ask my opinion of these kind of books, I dont like to read all self-motivation books that are available in the market.  But the quotes I read from Thirukural during my school days have taught me how to self-motivate myself when I am low in positivity & energy.  Books like Autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi has got so many motivational lines. Every book I have read so far had a little self-motivation tip here and there. I personally feel, one should take the content from the books and not completely depend on such books for self- motivation.

The person who hosts the show also mentioned that there is no actual survey in India to know who actually benefits from these kind of books and is it actually helping people to self motivate.. So I thought why not have a polling and know what people actually think, atleast among the bloggers who discuss various topics.

Please vote and  leave your opinion on this topic as it really helps to know whether the self-motivation books are motivational or not. Also pass on to your friends so they can also vote and let their opinion to make this survey a success. Thanks for voting.