Self Help Addiction and the Illusion of Progress

Self-help information is important because it encourages us to believe in ourselves and set big goals. Mainly, it encourages a positive mindset – which is good for our mental and physical health – and increases our chances of spiritual and material success.

Although it is advantageous, self-help information can be detrimental to our progress when it becomes addictive. Self-help addiction encourages us to prefer consuming self-help information to working toward our goals. It makes us feel knowledgeable and creates the illusion of progress.

Today, several people have become lazy due to reading too many motivational and spiritual books. Self-help information has resulted in over-optimism and a false sense of enlightenment. As a result, many self-help addicts have big dreams but they never commit to them.

I was in a similar situation in the last four years. I preferred consuming self-help information to action. Instead of meditating, I loved reading about meditation. Instead of working hard, I read books about hard work, and instead of trying to live in the moment, I read books on how to live in the present moment.

I then noticed that all self-help Gurus teach the same thing. Their teachings only appear different because they present them differently. Self-help information, therefore, became repetitive and boring to me.

I also realized that, despite reading many self-help books, I still worried about the future, I could not live in the moment, and I never embraced unconditional love. I was only progressing intellectually.

Thus, I decided to focus more on action than theory because I wanted the information I read to be useful. Now, I take action on what I read, and I am glad that I noticed my self-help addiction and how it created an illusion of progress.

 I also want you to notice your self-help addiction and focus on action rather than reading or watching self-help stuff.

Remember, many spiritual teachers have attained enlightenment without reading a spiritual book, and several people have achieved financial success without consuming self-help information. These people focused on action. For instance, spiritual masters, such as Jesus and Buddha, concentrated on prayer, meditation, and fasting while the financially successful, such as Mayer Amschel Rothschild, focused on making money.

There are also many people who achieved success after consuming self-help information. However, these individuals also focused on action.

By the way, I am not against self-help information because I realized that it is not entirely bad. I noticed that reading self-help books can increase readers’ self-belief, clarity, and focus.  Therefore, self-help helps and we should all consume self-help information. But for real progress to occur, we must overcome our self-help addiction and choose action over consumption.

Shalom.