The Biggest Self-Help Myth
Recently, I’ve started to notice an increasingly common style of self-help content on social media:
“These 5 books will make you a millionaire.”
“8 podcasts that will teach you how to make $10,000 a month.”
“10 YouTube channels that will put you in the 1%.”
These videos always seem to do extremely well in terms of views and reach. That said, I do think they’re going viral for the wrong reason. Moreover, I think they’re unintentionally giving most viewers the wrong impression of what it really takes to be successful in any field.
This article centers around the following sentence: Success is not found, it is built.
And my issue with these kinds of self-help posts is, they give people the wrong impression that all it actually takes to be successful (financially or not) is to find that one nugget of golden knowledge or tip. It gives people the perception that the reason they’re not where they want to be in life is because they’re missing some key that unlocks the door. That it’s all about finding the right books, the right podcasts, the right lessons.
But the reality is, knowledge and information is necessary, but not sufficient.
Romanticising success
I guess my biggest issue with such posts is the way they’re phrased. They’re practically saying: “If you read/watch this, you will be successful.”
And judging by the massive engagement that these types of content receive, it’s evident that many viewers genuinely believe such notions. After all, we want to believe that success doesn’t require all that much work or effort, but rather just some ‘secrets of the successful’.
We want to believe that, if we just find the right books, listen to the best podcasts, and watch the most educational YouTube videos, that we’ll end up being a master in our specialty of choice.
Here’s a personal example: While organically growing my blog’s Instagram page from zero to over a hundred thousand followers, I realised how much of the “advice” that IG growth “coaches” and “experts” give is really trivial.
For example, I often see posts from Instagram growth “coaches” and “experts” that say stuff along the lines of:
“15 A.I. content creation tools to grow your account.”
“The best time to post on IG to get more views.”
“Secret hashtags to get more reach.”
But the reality is, nothing’s ever so simple.
And I feel that, deep down, people know this to be true. Yet, we so desperately want to believe that we’re missing something. But the reality is, we’re not.
It’s the things that people don’t want to confront and work on that are exactly what will actually bring results.
In content creation, it’s not about posting at the perfect timing, or using magical AI editing tools. It’s about picking the right topics and presenting it in an insightful and interesting way.
In business, is it about reading business books, or is it about the actual products and operating models you build?
The magic you’re looking for is in the work that you’re avoiding.
Nuance
I’m not saying that learning, knowledge, and studying is at all bad. I’m not saying that you can achieve success without them. Indeed, books can teach you things that will help you make your work more effective. YouTube channels and podcasts can certainly give you vital chunks of knowledge.
My issue is that in many cases, people use it as an excuse to not do the real, hard, boring, mundane, yet critical work. After all, it’s easier to just continuously consume information under the guise of “I need to learn more” instead of just starting. It’s easier to get that sense of progress when you’re just absorbing concepts off a page or screen, than to experiment and fail at building something yourself.
But what feels more encouraging, might not always be the right choice. The hard, boring work is what most of success, in any field, is really comprised of.
So yes, read books. Yes, listen to podcasts. And yes, watch educational YouTube videos.
But don’t get the impression that that’s all it takes. Only in the dictionary does success come before work.
Success isn’t found, it’s built.