- One of the best feelings in the entire world is
the feeling of getting better
at the things that you're interested in.
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.
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.
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
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 a 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 bald self-improvement YouTuber
that gives really good advice.
You should give him 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?
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.
They sell this idea
of being able to improve yourself to a point
where you don't really have to deal with life struggles.
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 DIA Vela biceps,
I'm not ripping on mat DIA Vela
those things are huge.
You'll eventually make so much money that,
you can pretty much buy anything you want.
And all this stuff sounds really great,
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.
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 fricking good at something.
Bill Gates was obsessed with coding.
Billion 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.
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 Likes 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.
The very thing that I was trying to improve
was being sabotaged by the fact that I was
cerebralising 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.
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 Knight 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 pushups 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 audible.
And I really wanna 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 the audible version,
so it's definitely well worth it.
Not only does audible
have the largest selection of audio books
on the entire internet,
but every single month
they send you one credit,
which you can spend on an audio book of your choice
regardless of cost,
and they also send you two audible originals.
And one of the best things about audible
is that if you decide to cancel your membership at any time
you still keep your entire library of audio books,
including the audio books that you got for free
using their credit system.
Audibles is one of my favorite sponsors on this channel
because I use them all the time.
I listened to more audio books
than I read physical books.
So to sign up for your free 30 day trial
click the link in the description below
or text "betterideas" to 500-500.
Once again, to sign up for your free 30 day trial,
click the link in the description below,
or text "betterideas" to 500-500.
If you like this video
make sure to hit like,
because when you hit like
the algorithm blesses me
and it shoves my bald head into people's homepages,
which could potentially help them out,
help them snap out of a self-improvement obsession
and start living life to its fullest
that sounded a little bit cheesy
but it's true.
If you're lurking here
and this is the billionth time that you've seen my face
I've said baldhead way too many times in this video.
If you've seen me several times
and you haven't clicked subscribe yet
click subscribe, and make sure you hit the bell icon
so that you don't miss future videos.
I posted a vlog to my second channel,
it's more of like a filmy,
Yeah. I don't know.
The link to my second channels in the description below.
Other than that,
thanks so much for watching,
there's plenty of great content coming up very soon
I'm gonna be posting two more videos
within the next 20 days or so,
so it's gonna be a real hoot.
It feels good to be back
and those new videos will be in my brand new place
'cause I'm moving out of this joint.
Thanks so much for watching
and we'll catch you in the next video.