If your Self-Help Advice isn’t Frustrating, it’s not Effective.
You may disagree, but I’d ask you to hear me out first.
Firstly, I’m defining “Self-Help Advice” as any form of life advice which you are believing in, following, or trying out to ‘better yourself’ or reach your ‘potential.’
Secondly, when I say “frustrating” I mean that although it may be simple, it’s not easy. Although it may be ‘obvious’, there is resistance.
For example — Eating healthily is a) good advice, b) a worthwhile endeavor in my opinion, and c) hard as hell to do consistently if you’re not used to it.
Introducing the myth of the ‘One Right Path.’
If you don’t know me, I have multiple degree-level qualifications in Psychology, Neuroscience, and Cognitive Therapy Skills. I’ve also been using self-help books since I was 11 or 12, driven by two things — the fear of being broken, and the drive to improve myself.
Part of my issue with the self-help advice I see around is this belief that there is a right, or even “optimal” or better path — that we should ALL be taking.
No thanks.
Humans are complex animals with millennia of history and there is no way the path I took is “for sure” the best one for you. In fact…
