Avoid “Top 5” or “How-To” articles for a Better You
Have you tried diets, self-help books, lectures, new running shoes, a subscription to some app, deep chats with friends, inspirational movies, podcasts, or even buying a new blender? They’ll all do the same thing: give you that momentary sense that you can change and be the person you want to be. Thinner, healthier, smarter, suddenly inspired, more creative, less single. Whatever it is that you’re after, those apps, books, movies, purchases, they’re not going to deliver the change. Sorry.
Let’s consider the articles proclaiming the “the Top 7 books to help you reinvent yourself” or the lists of the “Top 5 most inspiring titles you need to read now.” Perhaps you’ve encountered some articles declaring “How you can reach your potential” or “Why you haven’t succeeded yet.” Will you read any of these and suddenly find yourself on the path to enlightenment, to a life change and/or sudden happiness? Will knowing the “Top 6” things that so-and-so suggested suddenly unlock the vault of world knowledge for you?
Now we move beyond the books and articles and endless “listicles” that exist. How about subscribing to apps or newsletters (paid or not). Does that help turn you into the person you want to become? Can you subscribe yourself to change? Can you buy yourself happiness — whether clothes, material objects or trips to glamorous places? How do you become a better leader, become smarter, more efficient, thinner, find a healthy relationship, or change your ways? Well, I will tell you the truth, as I know it.
If you’re going to change, if you truly seek to become better at something or you’re trying to quit a bad habit, if you want to emerge as someone new, it will not happen because you read a certain book or listened to some all-knowing oracle on the topic, no. Big, effective life changes don’t happen laying in bed on Sunday morning while scrolling through your phone. This article is about to tell you what you already know. The only way to truly change and alter you is YOU. You have to want it and you have to do it. There is no shortcut. There is no “Top 3” things and “poof, you’re a new person.” It needs to come from within. You have to be ready — you have to want it. You need to be ready for it. Really be ready. You have to be willing to adjust your life and make sacrifices. For example, if saving money or losing weight is your goal, is eating out 5–7 days a week helping you reach your destination? You have to be willing to give that up.
Big, effective life changes don’t happen laying in bed on Sunday morning while scrolling through your phone.
When does it happen? You’ll know when/if it happens. It will be time and the urge for dining out will disappear. Meanwhile, yes, keep reading the books and articles and attending talks and listening to podcasts. Those are seeds for change. But if that change is going to happen — REALLY happen — it will come from within. You will know it, feel it, and you will make it happen; not some article on “How to make that change” or from reading a list of the “Top 37 things to help change.” Although, there may be something useful in those. Just know that reading one article is not going to flip the magic switch for life change. But ask yourself if you really want to make the changes. Then ask again. And again. One day you will start and do things differently without even knowing why or how it started.
