Addicted to Self-Improvement Content? You Are Not Alone.
The struggle is real
Saturated facts are the new saturated fats. Consume them at your peril. But, that said, without the unprecedented content at our disposal in the self-improvement genre, I would not have become a writer. Books, podcasts, and online publications like this one, have diverted me from the chronic affliction of corporate hustle to one of authentic purpose. The journey has been worth it — so far. As Seth Godin explains in The Practice:
The first step is to separate the process from the outcome. Not because we don’t care about the outcome. But because we do.
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The song “Outshined” by legendary 90’s grunge band Soundgarden always struck a chord with me. Its lyrics allude to the juxtaposition between physical appearance and internal emotion. Italian-tailored blazers cloaked my physical exhaustion, and decadent world travel masked my mental jet lag. I needed help, and recognizing it was the first step to recovery. Now, where to begin?
The luxury products of Murakami (Haruki), Franzen, Bulgakov, Rankin, and Sebald, to name a few, adorned the shelves of my literary vanity. Gradually, the pharmaceutical prescriptions of Gladwell, Kahneman, Godin, and Grant began to occupy considerable shelf space and invade that of my favorite cosmetics. Still, I am grateful for their wise words of advice. There will always be space on the shelf for their orange canisters of insight — but not too much.
Diversification is a good thing, but only in moderation. During the daytime, self-improvement consumption relegated leisure reading to the short witching hour before weary eyes submit to the unconscious. I began to sense a problematic imbalance in my visual and cerebral attention. The vanity was becoming overrun with prescriptions, thus appearing more ill to myself than I actually was. Ironically, I became addicted to self-improvement prescriptions, drowning in an abyss of opinionated and over-saturated content.
The most prevalent side effects were confusion, passivity, and intellectual FOMO (fear of missing out). What if I missed that one piece of life-changing enlightenment? How do I process differing perspectives from equally distinguished masters of their genre? How do I deglaze their tasty bits of wisdom for my own palate? In his book, Originals, Adam Grant states:
Procrastination may be the enemy of productivity, but it can be a resource for creativity… Another said: “In scientific work, ideas need time to mature”, and procrastination is one way to “restrain that urge to respond prematurely.”
I force-fed myself words to the point that it handicapped me from actually doing shit. And it was not the type of procrastination that Grant’s scientific research advocates. Highlighters became my favorite accessory like I was back in elementary school. How much improvement can self-improvement offer when it doesn’t take you off the couch or further than a stroll in the park?
After all, actions speak louder than words. It was time to concoct my proprietary spice blend through trial and error. In other words, by taking action. Godin argues:
If you want to change your story, change your actions first. When we choose to act a certain way, our mind can’t help but rework our narrative to make those actions become coherent. We become what we do.
It slowly came together. I was able to recall the quotes and concepts that made sense mentally. One that stood out is from Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow:
…it is much easier to strive for perfection when you are never bored.
My neon-tinted blocks of text and illegible annotations between the margins were reduced to a comical expression of modern art. Maintaining a sense of humor was essential in my ability to take action. The journey never ends. If you take it too seriously, there is not a single bit of self-improvement content to assist you.
There is a difference between trying your best and doing your best. I spent too much time trying to figure out how to be my best, rather than using the unique combination of existing knowledge and intuition to simply do it.
If you want to be a writer, then write. — Seth Godin
This phase of action is relatively new, but I am now writing on Medium and enjoying the ride. We must embrace our small victories and use them as building blocks for future success. I must have read that somewhere.
