I have a bone to pick with personal development speakers whose tagline is “You can earn ten times as much” or ‘You can earn enough to take twice as much time off.” My bone-picking would be supported by the vast majority of people who work for a living.

Nurses. Firemen. NHS Doctors. Police officers and staff. Shop asnd factory workers. Milkmen. Postworkers.

In other words, anyone who works in public service or for an hourly wage. Guess what, Jack Canfield, Grant Carbone et al: in order for them to do what you suggest, they’d have to work 300-hour weeks with enhanced overtime, and I’m sure you see the flaw in that idea.

Of course, the self-employed can up their rates, profit margins, and hours. But the rest of us have to negotiate even the opportunity to work overtime, let alone try to cram ten weeks into one.

Of course, the ‘experts’ in this field would now criticise my ‘lack of ambition’ and ‘dearth of imagination’, but they’d be missing the point.

People in most of those professions do those things because they WANT TO. They have a desire to serve the community in a very important way. Right now, we are all celebrating the services provided by people who can’t change their rates, can’t work 300-hours a week even if they wanted to, and certainly aren’t in a position to take twice as much time off.

And even if they could, do you think their families would appreciate never seeing them again – even if they did have a nicer house?

The self-help field has a lot going for it. It can help people see the value in what they do, to appreciate themselves and others more, to seek abundance within and even despite of the limitations their lives provide. It can help them emotionally when challenge attacks. It can provide inspiration for them to change their situations, create possibility, or to just be content.

But selling the impossible serves nobody.

Rant over.

And thank you to those who do what they do for as little as they get. Because they are almost invariably worth a lot more.