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Experiential Living… via Others

“You’re not gonna like that I say this but, I don’t like reading self-help books.”

This is what an associate of mine said to me today.

To which I replied, surprisingly enough to her, that for the most part—neither do I.

Self-help has become a crowded space that features a ton of regurgitated ideas, shared in an often uncompelling manner, that frequently feels like fluffed up versions of blog posts that should’ve stayed as blog posts.

Maybe you can relate?

…And as a self-help nerd, you might think this presents as a problem.

But what I’m discovering more and more is that the best insights come from the best stories.

The ideas that resonate most deeply for me seem to be the hard earned ones. Not the ones where the insight is told directly—extracted by the author and written out plainly with a few supporting examples—but the ones where I feel like I lived the life of the person and experienced, through the lens of their story, the insight that was uncovered.

And I’m able to make the discovery and come to my own conclusion as a result.

In the same way that the best way to learn is to learn through (reflected upon) experience—the best way to self-help is to help yourself through the experiences of others.

In short: don’t read caricature self-help books—read fat biographies, autobiographies, and literature that has stood the test of time.

One insight from the latter is worth twenty insights from the former.


P.s. You can see what I’m reading and what I’ve read on Goodreads. Recommendations welcome.

Published inArchivesInvesting In YourselfLiving Well