How to Ditch the How-to

Kristen Wetherell

Truth and grace mark the ministry of our Lord, and they also mark Tieler’s perceptive book on ditching the endlessly exhausting pursuit of self-help. Full of insight into the human heart, How to Ditch the How-to will expose your need—and Christ’s perfect, abundant grace.

Jen Oshman

Take it from someone who’s been there: Tieler Giles really has put all the latest self-help trends to the test (manifesting, meditating, setting intentions, positive self-talk—you name it, she’s done it!). In How to Ditch the How-to, Tieler takes us with her on her years of trying to find happiness and fulfillment within herself. She shares candidly the effort and exhaustion, the high hopes and deep disillusionment. And then she shares with us the relief, peace, and soul-deep joy she finally found in Jesus. No doubt every reader will see some of herself in Tieler’s story. Who among us hasn’t succumbed to self-help? But Tieler tells us the better and truer story of who we are, in light of who our Creator is and how he made us to find abundant life in him. Tieler’s story is authentic, transparent, and ultimately full of the best news there is. If you’re tired of trying to keep up, then take up this book and find real rest.

“Gospel grace over self-improvement”

This book discusses Giles journey of self-help and self-improvement methods that are popularly used within Western culture. Within her journey she realized that through each different strategy that she was using, she wasn’t finding the fulfillment, happiness, improvement or overall finding what she was hoping to within that season.
She then contrasts the message she was understanding from the self-help method with what the Bible has to say and overall the difference that was able to make in her life. Giles uses Biblical truth to help the reader understanding their identify in Christ and what that means related to their purpose.
This book would be a great read for somebody who is struggling with self-improvement and is looking to the world to understand how they can best improve. This can bring the reader back to remember the truth of who they are and their identity viewed through a lens of grace.

“Great Reminder to Embrace Grace”

As someone who has jumped on the self-help wagon numerous times and still struggles to accept God’s grace, I found Giles’ both theologically and practically encouraging.

Giles shares openly of her search for self-help, even after coming to Christ. She is transparent in the ways she leaned on self-sufficiency rather than Christ’s work on the cross. With a conversational tone, Giles shares timeless truth in a friendly, yet, thought provoking way.

Each section ends with a final thought to embrace grace and memory verse. While I would recommend this book for any time- it is an especially good resource as we enter the new year and for many, begin to make plans and resolutions.

Perfect for self-study but would be really good for a small group study!

“great encouragement”

The concept of this book is fantastic. The amount of "self-help" books, podcasts, shows, etc. there inundate our wavelengths is astounding! And all of them, every single one of them, miss the most important step: Jesus. Yes, there are many Christian, Jesus-oriented self-help resources out there, but they try to take the Bible and sum it up in a 10 step process. That's impossible! That's disrespectful and dishonoring to the God we love and worship.

Giles structures her book with three parts and ten total chapters:

- Part One: Striving

- Part Two: Searching

- Part Three: Surrendering

Each chapter begins with a quote relating to the topic of that chapter and concludes with two sections: Embracing Grace and Memory Verse.

What I found most interesting about this book was Giles' inclusion of some of the more popular self-help strategies, her journey following these and her conclusion with each one: not enough. She was honest, raw, and transparent with her personal journey to discovering that only the Holy Spirit can give us the self-help we so desperately need and want.

She does a wonderful job of sharing her experience and encouraging her readers to skip the self-help strategies and go directly to seeking Jesus.

I received a copy of this book from The Good Book Company in exchange for an honest review.