Stand Firm

Svend Brinkmann was living the relatively sedate life of a professor of psychology at Aalborg University when Stand Firm was published. The book was an overnight sensation in Denmark and catapulted him into the media limelight as a leading public intellectual and cultural critic. Svend now travels widely to host events and lecture on the big questions of modern life. He has featured in several documentaries, and presented Live Fast on Danish television and the Meaningful Life series on national radio.

"Deliciously provocative stuff: a subversive manifesto for white-collar passive resistance and a diatribe against the booming industry that has grown up around career advice."Financial Times"So rather than urging you to “think positive”, “listen to your feelings”, “trust your inner voice”, and other refrains of the self-help industry, Brinkmann advocates their opposite in seven steps, which include “Cut out the navel-gazing”; “Focus on the negative in your life”; “Suppress your feelings”; “Dwell on the past”; and “Sack your coach”. I must say, they work for me."Carol Midgely, The Times"In Stand Firm, Danish philosopher Svend Brinkmann projects a little blast of fresh air into the crowded pressure room of 'self-improvement'. With wit and perceptiveness he takes a swipe at the modern craze to do more, be more, be happier, be more productive. Paradoxically, this anti-self-help guide actually helps us to resist the mania." New Internationalist"Stand firm is a brilliant, funny, liberating and significant critique of the dominant and individualizing hamster wheel culture that we live in... Brinkmann's book is for the people - that is all, for all of us."Politiken"A satirical, but also very deep alternative to the current compulsion for self-developement."Berlingske Tidende"Every once in a while a book comes along that is both ironic and serious, both funny and challenging, both timely and wise. Stand Firm, with its seven steps toward living against our accelerated culture of neoliberal 'self-realization', is such a book. It should be on the bookshelf of every person concerned with the state of the world – or with the state of themselves"Todd May, Clemson University"Stand Firm is an exhilarating broadside against the intense modern pressure to do more, be more, to become happier and more productive, and to 'find yourself'. In championing Stoicism over the relentless and exhausting wild-goose chase of self-help, Svend Brinkmann - though he might not like the fact - has written a book that truly helps."Oliver Burkeman, The Guardian"This wonderfully funny and intelligent book not only exposes the foolishness of the self-help cult, but also offers a concrete and appealing alternative, reminding us that philosophy is as relevant for living our lives today as it has ever been."Carl Cederstrom, Stockholm Business School"As designs for life go, it may just be brilliantly outlandish enough to work."Irish Independent"With anti-self-help such as this, small wonder Denmark is the world's happiest county."Belfast Telepraph"Provocative and entertaining"Standpoint"Stand Firm by Svend Brinkmann is a welcome antidote to the therapeutic consensus which has dictated that we should strive for happiness and 'find ourselves', and insists that anything is possible if we put our minds to it."Patrick West, The Tablet"eloquent and pragmatic" - The Times Literary Supplement

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction1. Cut out the navel-gazing2. Focus on the negative in your life3. Put on the No hat4. Suppress your feelings5. Sack your coach6. Read a novel – not a self-help book or biography7. Dwell on the pastNotes