I hate self-help and business books.
So I’m reading 52 of them in 2022.
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A couple years ago (it actually feels like two or three lifetimes ago because it was before the pandemic) I stumbled into a six figure, part time, online line of work. In addition, I was self employed, so when a friend called and asked if I wanted to buy a ticket to Japan for the next month, I immediately said “Yes!” After discussing it with my boss (a.k.a., myself) I decided to make it a one way ticket and spend a few months backpacking through Southeast Asia since I could just keep working online.
That’s how I stumbled into digital nomadism without even know what digital nomadism was.
Friends started comparing me to Tim Ferriss almost immediately. My immediate reflex was to gag. Because I can’t stand the life-hack/self-help/entrepreneurship/business/mindset/manifestation/coaching genre. They drive me absolutely crazy. I just get the snake-oil-salesman and multilevel marketing vibe from that whole section at the bookstore.
But over the past few years, I’ve decided that I may need to reexamine these books and authors and give them a second chance. A few experiences and realizations have brought me to this conclusion.
- I realize now that I’ve over generalized the whole genre. There’s definitely some crap in there, but it’s not all crap. It’s going to be a matter of sifting through a bunch of worthless fluff to find some valuable nuggets, but those nuggets will be valuable and the endeavor can still pay off despite all the fluff.
- I’m realizing more and more how huge mindset is. We may all be looking at the same facts in a situation, but we can each see something different there. Some see a disaster waiting to unfold and others see a huge opportunity. If you can develop the mindset that sees the potential upside in any given situation, that’s going to…
