Interesting. I’ve read a lot of self-help in my day but was never really drawn in by any of the gurus you list above (except early John Gray, perhaps). That being said, my experience as a consumer of self-help products did evolve at some point to the realization that the main activity I was doing was buying and reading books.
Without a doubt, the self-help book that helped me the most (because I actually applied the information to my life) was Your Money or Your Life, which basically teaches a method to apply a mindfulness practice to one’s financial habits. I don’t think it’s the alpha and omega of financial self help, but it absolutely worked minor miracles for me while I applied it to my life.
The fact is, there are many interests out there that foster and prey on our confusion, and if self-help isn’t one of them, then at the very least there’s likely tacit thankfulness for job security.
Lastly, I’ll add that it’s pretty interesting sometimes to read old self-help lit. Dated stuff like “Think and Grow Rich,” which is pretty much the same thing as “The Secret.” I’m reading one right now about tapping into the subconscious that was written in the 1960s, and it’s full of “he said these magic words, and he got rich” kind of anecdotes. I do think there’s some wheat in that chaff, but it’s the chaff, I suppose that originally sold the book.