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‘Be the Best Version of Yourself’ Is Terrible Advice
Here’s what you should do instead
In January 2018 The New Yorker published an intriguing piece titled “Improving Ourselves to Death”.
Alexandra Schwartz, the author of this article, made a statement that got straight to the point:
What they’re (self-help gurus) selling is metrics. It’s no longer enough to imagine our way to a better state of body or mind. We must now chart our progress, count our steps, log our sleep rhythms, tweak our diets, record our negative thoughts — then analyze the data, recalibrate, and repeat.
Does this resonate with you? It certainly does with me.
Alexandra found very precise words for a vague feeling that I’ve always had — constantly trying to be the best version of ourselves might not be the best advice. Counting, logging, recording, analyzing, recalibrating — doing all of this might not be the optimal way to live our lives.
I’m not saying that being lazy or living without a thought for tomorrow would be the recommended alternative. No, passivity or even slackness would be on the other end of this spectrum of endless possibilities, and likewise not desirable.
Don’t get me wrong — data is great! I’m a big fan of data (at least the data that is not…
