world is the feeling of getting better
at the things that you're interested in
you know if you're starting to get into
the gym it feels really good to actually
see yourself getting stronger whether
that's visually or the fact that you can
bench more pounds
getting stronger and hitting new records
is at least half the fun
if not all the fun of going to the gym
you know if you're a piano player
and you've been practicing your
improvisational skills
it feels really good to be able to just
make a banger of a melody in like
five minutes you know it feels good to
walk around life with a certain level of
competence
you've put in the work you're better at
certain things than most people you know
competence makes you more useful to
yourself
to your family to your community and it
kind of makes the world a better place
if you think about it but if you've
spent pretty much
any time on the internet whatsoever
you've probably noticed
that there's a culture that exists on
reddit and on youtube and on
bodybuilding forums that sees
self-improvement as its own standalone
hobby detached from any particular
interest or goal
and it's used almost like a widely
prescribed antidote for a crappy life
you feeling down in the dumps try
self-improvement oh damn your dog died
there's this self-improvement book that
i heard is really good you should go
pick it up and read it damn that sucks
dude your wife left you
there's this uh bald self-improvement
youtuber that
gives really good advice you should give
them a try and that's either a good
thing or a bad thing
i don't think you can really bash the
sentiment because improving yourself is
obviously
a noble and worthwhile aim like what
else are you gonna do
like get worse but one thing that i do
think is destructive
is that these internet self-improvement
communities
seem to either intentionally or
unintentionally
sell this idea of self-improvement kind
of being the answer to everything you
know they sell this idea of
being able to improve yourself to a
point where you don't really have to
deal with
life's struggles you know you can
eventually improve yourself to a point
where
everybody loves you because you're so
charismatic you have such a rocking body
everyone's just
impressed with your matte diavella
biceps i'm not ripping on matt diabeta
those things are huge
you know you'll eventually make so much
money that you can pretty much buy
anything you want and all this stuff
sounds really great
i mean who wouldn't want all that stuff
but as soon as you say it out loud it
becomes pretty clear
that this type of thinking almost stems
from a place of insecurity
of conditional happiness it comes from a
certain dissatisfaction of where you are
now self-improvement therefore becomes
kind of like a vehicle
that will take you towards this fantasy
this perfect life that you've always
dreamed of but if you look at some of
the most successful people on planet
earth i can guarantee you they didn't
get to where they were
by just being really into
self-improvement usually they get there
by being really freaking good at
something you know bill gates was
obsessed with coding
elon musk what's he not into if you look
up to these types of people and you want
to be
somewhat like them you have to realize
that they're not obsessing over their
perfect morning routine
and figuring out how to like stack
certain vitamins so that you can see
through walls and
unlock some sort of third eye of truth
or something you know that stuff is
useful
but it's only useful if you're already
doing something
one of the funniest examples of
self-improvement being
super counterproductive or unhelpful is
people who read a lot of books about
social interaction and i'm totally not
speaking from experience it seems like
common sense that the best way to get
better at socializing is to socialize to
go out on a friday night instead of
spending your time playing video games
but there was a point in my life where
i didn't really socialize at all and all
i did was
read books like how to win friends and
influence people
and the like switch and models
by mark manson and it's almost like i
was an alien trying to learn how to
socially interact with people while i
was locking myself in my house
not getting any exposure to people it's
like the perfect example of
obsessive self-improvement not doing
anything to help me improve
you know the very thing that i was
trying to improve was
being sabotaged by the fact that i was
cerebralizing it
theorizing about it instead of just
getting out there and getting experience
now the books that i just mentioned are
helpful and i've recommended them on the
channel before but they're only helpful
if the vast majority of your time
is spent out there in the real world
just living
you know if all you watch is
self-improvement videos
every book you read is a
self-improvement book and
self-improvement is your main hobby
it's almost like you're a night in the
middle ages and you spend
like your entire life deep within the
castle walls
obsessively sharpening your sword and
optimizing your equipment
meanwhile there's a war raging on
outside the castle walls
and the kingdom really needs your help
maybe the princess got captured by a
dragon or something like that
but you're just sitting there inside
making sure you have like the perfect
equipment and you're doing tons of
push-ups and stuff and
making sure you're in shape but you have
no clue
how to fight any of the monsters out
there you've never been on an adventure
before
so it's like you have the sharpest sword
in the world but no idea how to use it
and you're running out of time and what
most people who eventually break out of
this
self-improvement obsession eventually
figure out
is that it was far better to hack and
slash their way through life with a dull
sword
than to spend your entire life inside
with a sharp one
now it would obviously be pretty stupid
if you never sharpened your
sword if you never picked up a book that
suggested a different way of doing
things
if you never questioned your current
lifestyle and what you can do to improve
it
but get out the door go make some
mistakes go try some things go
live life and sharpen your sword along
the way
this video was sponsored by audible and
i really want to use this opportunity to
recommend a book one of my favorite
books that has
absolutely nothing to do with
self-improvement and that is
an astronaut's guide to life on earth by
chris hadfield
and even though it has the word guide in
the title but it's not a
self-improvement book at all chris
hadfield is a canadian astronaut and the
former commander of the international
space station
and his life is a great example of the
fact that he didn't
spend a lot of time obsessing over
self-improvement
he just had a goal and a dream and an
obsession he was out there in the real
world gaining experience
making mistakes failing trying again i
really think it's a worthwhile read and
he narrates the whole thing himself on