The Self-Improvement Industry Trap

The Self-Improvement Industry Trap

The whole self-help industry began when Dale Carnegie published “How to Win Friends and Influence People” in 1936. Then came other classics like “Think And Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill, “Awaken the Giant Within” by Tony Robbins toward the end of the century.

The Self Improvement Industry Trap: Speaking My Mind!

Today, teaching people how to improve themselves is a business. A pure ruthless business where some people sell sub-par content.

There are unsuccessful Instagrammers and YouTubers with literally no solid background teaching men ‘how to be attractive to women’, ‘how to begin a start-up’, ‘how to become successful’ — most of these guys speaking nothing more than hollow motivational words and cliche stuff. They waste your time. Some of these people who present themselves as hugely successful also give talks and write books.

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There are so many books on financial advice, self-improvement, love, etc and some people actually try to read them. When you start reading a dozen books on finance you realize that they all speak the same language. They are a waste of time, mostly.

The Trap of Self Improvement, Self-Help Books

You are not going to live forever in the learning phase. Don’t procrastinate acting on what you have learned by continually reading nonsense or the same good knowledge in some 10 other books.

Also Remember, the paradoxical point of all self-improvement is to reach a point where you no longer feel you need to improve yourself. Therefore, the constant indulgence in self-improvement material just continues to feed that feeling of inadequacy.

The Self Improvement Industry Trap: Speaking My Mind!

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What you ought to do is choose wisely.

Yes! A good book can change your life, given you do what it asks you to do.

All the books I have named up to now are worthy of reading. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Napolean Hill, Jordan Peterson, Robert Greene, Carl Jung — these guys are worthy of reading. These guys teach what others don’t. Their books are unique and actually, come from relevant and successful people.

When Richard Branson writes a book about entrepreneurship, go read it. Every line in that book is said by one of the greatest entrepreneurs of our time.

But when some Korean millionaire( he claims to be) Youtuber who releases a video titled “Why reading books keeps you broke” and a year later another one “My recommendation of books for grand success” you should be wise to tell him to take a walk.

One millennial author claims self-improvement has an “addictive” nature that keeps us in a state of consumerism, all the while providing an excuse for inaction. Some are addicted to self-improvement because they are allergic to focus and action while delving in the comfortable cocoon of self-improvement in thoughts alone as if such a thing is possible.

These Self-Improvement Gurus sell you Delusions.

The Trap of Self Improvement, self help gurus sell delusions

They say they have those little tricks that only they know that if you use, everything in your life will be perfect. Those little tricks. We are just “making of a to-do-list before sleeping” away from becoming the next Bill Gates.

There are no little tricks.

There is no success-mantra.

Self-improvement is a trap for 99% of the people.

If you are looking for easy ways, you will only keep wasting your time forgetting that your time on this planet is limited, as alive humans that are.

Also, I feel that people who claim to read like a book a day or promote it are below average intellectually. You retain nothing. When you do read a good book, you read slow, sometimes a whole paragraph, again and again, dwelling on it, trying to internalize its knowledge. You try to understand. You think. It takes time.

It’s better to read a good book 10 times than 1000 stupid ones.

So be choosy. Read from the guys who actually know something, not some future ‘influencers’.

What you can take from this article?

-Consume Self-Help content only from credible entrepreneurs.

-Apply in Action what you have learned before reading/watching more of such content.

-Read/Watch many times the same good/awesome content until you get the grasp of the subject.

-Treat Self-Help as advice from someone more learned and experienced than you. That’s about it.

-Learn to love your inadequacies. You are a person, not a school project.

-Don’t fall for the Magic/Trick/Mantra Trap. You alone are the Magic!

The Self Improvement Industry Trap: Speaking My Mind!

The Self Improvement Industry intends to keep you hooked as a consumer. While consuming self-help resources may seem like a surefire way to fast-track your personal development, it’s essential not to fall into the trap of passively consuming these resources and forgetting to actively apply them to your life as they were intended.