“Whether we are eating or working or meditating or listening or talking, the reason that we’re here in this world at all is to study ourselves.  In fact, it has been said that studying ourselves provides all the books we need”

– Pema Chodron

 

We all like to consume far more than we should.  With food the signs are obvious, an increase in weight and an expanding waistline.  With information, the signs are less easy to spot in real time.

 

With a seemingly limitless supply of ‘content’ available at our fingertips, we all have to fight this urge to over consume in our modern day lives.

 

Why?  Because at a certain point more becomes enough and then it is just more.  And too much more leads us swiftly to saturation and overwhelm.

 

Whilst the information sources may have no limits, our own ability to absorb information and do something constructive with it undoubtedly does.  ‘Paralysis through analysis’ is real and it’s never been more alive and well.

 

Knowing When Enough is Enough

On the topics of self-help and self-development, this trend is particularly noticeable.

 

I will admit myself to be something of a self-development hoarder’.  Consuming many books and podcasts in this space.  But the consumption does not always correlate with a constructive output.  In fact, at a certain point, over consumption in this space can lead to less self- development, not more.  An oxymoron if ever there was one.

 

As a writer that often veers into territory that could be considered self-help or self-development, I find myself conflicted at times.  Am I just part of a bigger problem, or part of a solution?  My hope is always the latter.   I want to be part of the signal, not just more of the noise.

 

For my personal consumption, I am left with is a series of realisations.

 

1) Self-help should help but it should also leave us with tools to help ourselves.

How much self-development information really delivers on this?

 

How much of what we absorb do we apply and put into action ourselves?

 

How much do we experiment in our own lives with the different ideas we hear or read?

 

For self-help to help, we must be willing to identify tools and habits that may serve us and then experiment with them.  Applying those that work for us, dropping those that do not.

 

 

2) The goal of self-help information should not be to just keep us coming back for more (and more)

No one source has all the answers.  No one person knows all the habits that can support you live your best life.

 

At a certain point the idea of true self-development tools, content and offerings should be to leave us with what we need to go live our best lives.

 

At a certain point we may even outgrow some of our own long-term favourite sources in this space.

 

 

3) By it’s nature, at a certain point we should be ‘all self-helped out’ on external sources.

More consumption in this space can lead to more confusion, as ideas we read about conflict.

 

As I fight this tendency myself, I have tried to whittle down the amount of voices I listen to.  Rather than spreading my net ever wider, I have found that going deeper on established resources has served me best.

 

What does this look like in practice?

 

It means my bookshelves are less full than they used to be.   There are some books that have held their place because they have spoken to me and served me over and over.   I’m thinking of works by Lao Tzu, Bruce Lee, Thich Nhat Hanh.  I’m thinking about books by Seth Godin, Richard Koch and Tim Ferriss.

 

It means I set self-imposed limits on the number of podcasts I subscribe to.

 

Less quantity, more quality is the aim.

 

Less distraction, more action is my intended outcome with this approach.  Better to commit to one powerful habit change that really serves me than try to juggle a million at once.

 

I am not always successful, like many of us I can give into ‘shiny object syndrome’ but I always find that a ‘less is more’ approach serves me best.

 

 

4) The real, and longer lasting, journey for us all is the one we will walk from inside out.

This is where the real power in self-development comes, adopting and adapting our own approach to living our lives.

 

Learning to tap into and listen to our internal compass.  Walking our own path.  Committing to our own truth. Setting a course for our own North Star.

 

Learn and Apply – Walk Your Path

If anything I write here, or anywhere else, helps you in any way, on any level I am thankful.  I am truly grateful.  It is always my aim to leave the reader with something positive from our exchange. If you show up to read anything I write, I figure I owe you that much.

 

At the same time, I fully expect you not to consider me, or anyone else, the architect of how you should live your own life.  That comes from within. That comes from going deep inside.  From reflection, from asking ourselves searching questions and honouring the answers.  It comes from a life committed to self-study.

 

What serves you today may not tomorrow.  Self-development is always an active and organic process.

 

Put the ‘self’ back in your self-development pursuit.

 

 

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