I went to the bookstore and asked the saleswoman where is the self-help
section? She said if she told me
it would defeat the purpose.
I love this quote by George Carlin.
Hi this is Supreet. I upload new videos every Sunday about personal growth,
meditation and parenting. You can follow me at GrowWithSupreet
on facebook, instagram and twitter. Are you a self-help book junkie
like me? If yes, comment below and tell me what is
the current self-help book you're reading or what was the last one that
you read? The last self-help book that i read was
Jay Shetty's Think Like A Monk. If you want to watch
my video where i review/ summarize this book you can watch it, the
link will be in the description below. Do you ever wonder if self-help books
are a waste of time? I do which is why i gave it some thought
and i decided to make a video about it. self-help books are amazing tools for
growth and personal transformation. if a book is well researched and well
written, it can act like a mentor to give you the push and the motivation
and the inspiration to make positive changes in your life.
i am a big fan of self-help books. in fact i
almost exclusively read non-fiction books,
self-growth, personal growth books. i would even go so far as to say that i
am addicted to personal growth books. addicted - yes!
and that is where the problem arises. when we are reading a self-help book,
it gives us a feeling of positivity and motivation
and we kind of get a high while reading that book.
But then after a few days or a few weeks of reading that book,
we tend to lose that positivity, lose that motivation and lose that high
and so because we are craving that high feeling,
what do we do? we pick up another book and start reading it.
and we finish that book and then we pick up another book.
the same applies to self-help courses and seminars by the way.
what do we do after reading those umpteen books?
we post on social media about completing 52 books in one year or 30 books in one
year. i am not judging anyone here, i have
myself done exactly that. here is the list of
books that i read in 2018. so was i wasting my time reading those
28 books? yes and no. i did learn a lot by reading
those books and they helped me grow. books like power of now and many lives
many masters really helped me emotionally and
spiritually because i lost my dad in 2018 and they
helped me to process the grief and perhaps i was
using reading to escape the realities of life and that
is okay. we all need an escape once in a while.
by the way, if you're getting value from this video would you please hit the like
button and subscribe to my channel. so while it
was okay for me to use books as an escape, in 2019, i realized that in order
to actually grow and in order to actually see a positive
change in my life, i had to take action. i had to take small
steps and actually implement the things that
i'm learning in these amazing books. it is very easy
and very natural to feel that you're taking action
when you finish reading books. putting that check mark on a piece of paper or
even in your mind when you finish reading a book is such a
good feeling! it is one of the best feelings for me!
also i believe that reading gives us an enormous
ego boost. i'll be honest - because i read so many personal growth books,
i sometimes secretly feel wiser and more intellectual and more
sophisticated than people who don't read and i know that is not true. it is
just my delusional point of view. so while reading books gives us an ego
boost and it feels like taking action, it is not taking action. reading books is
actually input and taking action, actually
implementing the things you read on in those books - is output. i'm not saying
start implementing every single thing or hack or step or habit that you
learned in every single book. i don't even think that is possible. but
maybe just pick one thing from every book that
you read and actually implement that one thing
before rushing to read your next book. i am trying to do that myself.
in 2019 and 2020, the list of books i read was much shorter
because i kept on reminding myself to balance
input with output. balance input with output.
we've heard that knowledge is power. i believe knowledge is not
power. knowledge plus action is power. to give you some examples of
the actions i have taken as a result of reading self-help books:
the first one is starting my meditation habit.
it took me reading a lot of books and hearing the same thing from many
different authors in many different books
that meditation is so good for you but the final book that was the tipping
point for me to actually make meditation a regular habit
was meditation for fidgety skeptics by dan harris.
i have struggled a lot with meditation. i have started it and given it up so many
times and if you're struggling just like i was,
please watch my playlists called meditation tips for beginners and easy
meditation techniques. i think they will help you.
if i can meditate, you can meditate! the second action or change that i made in
my life as a result of reading books is to be more present and worry less
about the future and the book that helped me to do this
is power of now by eckhart tolle. i have made a video of my favorite quotes from
this book. if you want to watch that video it'll be
in the description below. another change as a result of reading
books which i am actually in the middle of making that
change right now is to wake up early.. is to wake up at
5:00 am and if you want to hear about what i'm doing differently
to finally start waking up early even though i'm not a morning person at all,
you can watch my video this video sorry this video
it'll be in the description below. sometimes there are changes which i make
but they don't stick. for example i read this book called ikigai
the japanese art of happiness or something like that
and one of the things one of the actions i took after reading that book was to
start drinking green tea. but that is a habit that did not last
because i do not like the taste of green tea so if
you know of a brand that actually tastes good,
comment below and tell me! what was the last self-help book that you read?
comment below and tell me! also what action
have you taken or what change have you made in your life
as a result of reading that book? if the answer is none,
then i encourage you and i challenge you to pick
one thing from that book, just one thing - it could be as small as
i will make my bed every morning - and do that one thing just do it!
remember knowledge is not power. knowledge plus action is power.
so that was my answer to the question "are self-help books a waste of time?"
what is your answer? what are your thoughts on this? do you agree with me do
you disagree with me? let's have a discussion in the comments
below. in next week's video, i'm going to talk about some tips on how to not take
life too seriously. so if you don't want to miss that video,
make sure that you have subscribed to my channel and hit the notification bell.
take care and keep growing!
okay close the door
i'm gonna make coffee actually sorry do you have a second
yeah do it do it do it
she said if
of me reviewing his book
let's do it again if you want
in the description below
ah okay we may think
actually oh boy i see a positive change in my life
why can't i get this right okay doing it again
but
reading books is not taking action
oh gosh
books because
because gosh to take life
video is done