28 hilarious "self-help" lessons for seniors who've heard it all.

With age comes wisdom. Mostly, we become wise enough to realize that we can’t do some of the things we did so well when we were young. The beloved comedian George Burns said it quite eloquently: “I can do anything at eighty that I could do when I was twenty. That gives you an idea of what terrible shape I was in at twenty.” 

Self-help books offer solid, beneficial techniques, but they really only work for the young. Award-winning comedy writer Gene Perret reveals that more mature devotees must adjust these techniques, tweak them, alter them, and in some cases, ignore them completely.

New Tricks for Old Dogs points out some of the flaws in the self-help philosophy. It tempers the advice with common sense. The battle cry of this volume is “Do it, but don’t overdo it.” Sometimes, after we reach a certain age, the best exercise program is a good, brisk nap. 

Gene Perret has been a professional comedy writer since the early 1960s, writing stand-up material for Slappy White and Phyllis Diller, among others. He began in television in 1968 on The Beautiful Phyllis Diller Show. He wrote for Laugh-In and collected three Emmys as a staff writer on The Carol Burnett Show. Gene was on Bob Hope's writing staff for twenty-eight years, the last twelve as Hope's head writer. He traveled with the Hope troupe to several of the Christmas shows from war zones. He produced Welcome Back Kotter, Three's Company, and The Tim Conway Show. Today, he lives in Southern California and teaches email classes in comedy writing. His hobbies include painting, sketching, and playing the guitar. He paints rather well and sketches adequately, but you don't want to listen to his guitar playing. No one does.

• Introduction
• Chapter One:  Decide What You Want To Do
• Chapter Two:  Desire is the Key to Achievement
• Chapter Three:  Setting Goals
• Chapter Four:  Prioritize
• Chapter Five:  Your True Self vs. Your False Self
• Chapter Six:  Positive Thinking
• Chapter Seven:  Visualization
• Chapter Eight:  Meditation
• Chapter Nine:  The Subconscious Mind
• Chapter Ten:  Auto-Suggestion
• Chapter Eleven:  Manifestation
• Chapter Twelve:  Singleness of Purpose
• Chapter Thirteen:  Do the Work
• Chapter Fourteen:  Go the Extra Mile
• Chapter Fifteen:  Avoid Procrastination
• Chapter Sixteen:  Evaluate Your Potential
• Chapter Seventeen:  Recall Your Triumphs
• Chapter Eighteen:  Live In the Present
• Chapter Nineteen:  Overcoming Fear
• Chapter Twenty:  Self-Esteem
• Chapter Twenty-one:  Get Educated
• Chapter Twenty-two:  Learn from Others
• Chapter Twenty-three:  Work With Others
• Chapter Twenty-four:  Persistence
• Chapter Twenty-five:  Technology
• Chapter Twenty-six:  Self-Discipline
• Chapter Twenty-seven:  Learn To Say “No”
• Chapter Twenty-eight:  How To Get People To Like You
• Chapter Twenty-nine:  Making Decisions