As I sit down to write this article, I'm reminded of something that I put into a previous article, titled "Who Is Your Best Promoter." We all sell ourselves and our opinions on a daily basis. We do it to get ahead, to get money or to get recognition. We live in a competitive world with a market driven economy. If you don't advertise or at least identify your wants and needs, you get left by the wayside. The "squeaky wheel" gets the attention. Self interest groups get more press, no matter how outrageous their demands, than legitimate causes.

I'll give you a good example. Over the past several months, a vocal minority has been demanding the medicinal use of marihuana to relieve the pain of chronically ill patients. To back their demands, they presented medical evidence that in some cases the use of this drug relieves the pain or lessens the side affects of conventional drug treatment for the disease the patient has. The FDA said an emphatic no to making this treatment available. Within days of this decision, the FDA approved a drug company request to make their drug, which contains a synthetic version of the active ingredient in marihuana, legal. How a synthetic version of something can be better than the natural version is a mystery. The reason for approval is not. The drug company did a better job of marketing their product to the FDA than the "natural" advocates.

In traditional retail, the phrase "The Customer Is Always Right" is the motto. In the Self- Help/Motivational field, "The Customer Knows What Problems Need Solutions" is more appropriate.

Why do I say that? Because the customer (reader) is the one with the problem and she is looking for a solution to that problem. Who better to tell you what their problem is than the person with the problem. Unfortunately, most writers don't meet face to face with their readers on a regular basis, so they have to rely on other methods to learn what their readers need. A lot of writers, me
included, write about things that they learned while trying to solve problems that they have had at one point or another in their lives. This works very well, but I would like to try something different. As well as writing about solutions, to problems that I feel are important to a lot of people, I'd like to write about problems that my readers need answers to, problems that have not, to date, bothered me.

How can this be done? There are two very easy ways for people to contact me, or any other self-help/motivational writer. One is to send an e-mail to the writer and the other is to use the comments option made available in most Article Directories and Blogs for entries written by the writer they want to answer the question.

There are thousands of entries in Blogs and Article Directories and yet only a very small number of readers put any comments down about the entry. Readers, this is YOUR chance to be heard! Unlike chat rooms where you have no idea about the qualification of the person supplying answers or comments on the topic, both Blogs and Articles have biographic notes on the writer.

Get answers from experts not vocal amateurs. Chat rooms are interesting and amusing, but the advice, in a lot of cases, is about as reliable as the advice provided in the tabloids sold on the checkout stand at the supermarket. I wouldn't expect to find the solution to one of my life's problems in the pages of the National Enquirer, and I'm sure that you wouldn't either.

Contact a self-help/motivational author. Make sure that you read her, or his, articles, Blogs and newsletters to ensure that the expertise and style of the expert are right for you.

In this Twenty-first Century Information Age, you should not be left without answers. And you certainly should not be left being less than you have the potential to be. Be vocal, demand the
answers you need!

I wish you good luck in your search for answers to the problems that are holding you back from being the best possible YOU that you can be.
About The Author

Gilbert Griffiths helped thousands of people during a professional career that spanned more than 35 years. He recently came out of retirement with a passionate goal to help one million people improve their lives. Would you like to be one of those people? If you would, go to http://www.rockettosuccess.com