I’ve been around the self-development sphere long enough to see the same things come and go over and over again. Doesn’t matter if it’s the mainstream self-improvement advice or the “edgier” stuff that you’ll find here. I’ve seen somethings regurgitated again and again before the prior regurgitation is even cold. It’s a mess out there and sad to see. One thing about the whole self-improvement thing, that holds true with lots of things, is that you can’t just read a few books and think you have the thing down.
A little knowledge is dangerous. You need to plow through and get an idea for the thing, to know enough to be able to separate what is useful from what is not. For my money most of the best self-improvement stuff was written over 50 years ago, and most of it has been downhill and repackaged since then. Not that there’s anything wrong with repacking in general. I’m sure everything I’ve ever said has been said at some point before, such is human nature and human life. Rather what you need to avoid is the derivative stuff that forgets what’s important.
And with the online business model we’ve seen cranked out again and again, there’s more recycled garbage than ever before. Everyone parrots the other without taking any time to think themselves. This holds true beyond just success or self-development but it’s what we’re focusing on here. And like the game “telephone” where one person whispers a phrase in the next persons ear and it goes down the line until the message is so far gone from the original its insane, advice gets more and more nonsensical the further from the source it gets.
The Online Success Guru & You
Now I know by many definitions I myself am a sort of “online success guru” although the title makes my skin crawl and I hope that I avoid the faults I lay out here. But overall I’d say the online success gurus hold more people back then they help, including, if not especially, “red pilled” ones. There’s a lot to be said here. An entire book could be wrote about it and probably will be. Not that it’ll help anything. But anyways what’s the problem with online success gurus or success gurus in general?
Like I said, many. But I wanted to highlight one here. We all know that we have to work hard, hard work is part of life and part of accomplishing anything worth while. We all know that. However as I have pointed out other places it’s not just enough to work hard to get success. You have to work smart too. And that’s generally what makes the big difference. But to the lie that success gurus spread. Most success gurus are going to tell you that you have to hustle, hustle, hustle. And there’s something to that. Though I wouldn’t say hard work is the same as hustle there’s a similarity there.
And there’s something too “hustling”. They say you have to go, go, go and keep going. Don’t look back, just keep moving forward and taking action. And again I think there’s something to that as well. Thinking and feeling alone do and solve nothing. Mindset isn’t everything, though I once thought it was. It’s action that defines you, it’s action that moves you forward or wherever you want to go. It’s action that’ll make the difference in your life. But with all that being said we still run into a problem.
Measure Twice, Cut Once
In there endless quest to hustle and take action they forget to take a second to think, they never step back and think “Is this wise? Is this smart? Is this going to get me what I want in an efficient and effective manner?” they just go, go, go. Never looking back and thinking that just “hustling more” is the answer to every problem. Hustling is their only tool and therefore they fall back on it whenever they run into problems. But that’s the thing, hustling alone will only get you tired, with little to show for it.
There’s an old carpentry, and life, saying. To measure twice and cut once. Essentially double check your measurements so you don’t screw up and have to start off. With the modern success gurus they tell you to just cut, cut, cut. And while you have to cut and nothing happens without cutting, it’s still wise to measure before you do, and not just measure, but measure twice. Then cut, cut away and set to work. Nothing happens from measuring alone, even twice. But also understand that endless activity, business, does very little for you.
It’s not about just “hustling harder” or whatever the buzzword of the day is. It’s about doing the right action with the right amount of effort. Not endless action for the sake of action. Don’t get me wrong, you do need to “hustle”, but you need to think about things first. Most success gurus are just parroting higher success gurus, never considering if their words are true, if they did what they say they did, or what the meaning behind what they say is. They just parrot like, well, like a parrot. And this does nothing for you.
Don’t Get Distracted
By people who are trying to sell a brand and make a buck instead of know what they’re actually talking about. Educate yourself on how the whole business works if you want, DotCom Secrets by Russell Brunson is a good place to start. All of his works outline this kind of business very well. Not that I’d necessarily recommend getting involved in one, but still good stuff to know. If only so you don’t get taken advantage of by it. A reason I think everyone should learn sales and marketing. But anyways measure twice, cut once and don’t ever think that simply “hustling harder” is the answer to everything, it isn’t.
If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it.
-Charles Sledge
