Today a buddy of mine asked for a book recommendation and my go to suggestion was Mastery by Robert Green. He assumed it was a self-help book based on the title alone. Ordinarily this would not have struck me as an issue but I just noticed a pattern.

The books I frequently bring up are as follows.

  • Mastery by Robert Greene
  • The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
  • The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything . . . Fast! - Josh Kaufman
  • The Laws of Human Nature - Robert Greene
  • Unscripted: Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Entrepreneurship - MJ DeMarco

Each of these books have shaped my outlook on life and have enhanced my character in the pursuit of self-actualization. I've recently accomplished something that is typically considered to be an impossibility for a single person. Which brings me to the crux of the issue.

People generally have an aversion to self-improvement because we are conditioned to believe that the recognition for the need to improve implies that there this something wrong with us.

This notion of

No, I don't read self help books.

projects

There is nothing wrong with me, I am comfortable in my own skin. People who read those types of book have personal problems so I don't want to be devalued by association.

I think it stems from the failed cultural experiment of raising everyone self-esteem. It has been observed that highly successful people have self-esteem. The logic followed was that if we raised a person's self-esteem they would be happy and successful. Cue the era of participation trophys.

For the layman it is not OK to feel bad about yourself in any way, shape, or form. The problem is that if you don't feel some sort or negativity from within, you won't be able to make the adjustments necessary to improve yourself and or your environment. Welcome to a life of mediocrity.

A man can't change his stars.

The aforementioned books are about maximizing your human potential through skill acquisition and self-reflection. Mastery uses examples from historical figures like Albert Einstein, The Wright Brothers, and Marie Curie. These people mastered their craft and either changed the world, or pushed the limits of their field.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not out here trying to change the world. I just want control over my slice of it. I want to be able to earn money without trading my time for it. That level of freedom has be earned and I need the skills to provide the value to others. To acquire the skills, I need discipline. I need to improve. If I didn't need to improve, then I would already have the life I want.

In conclusion, people online or offline generally have an aversion to self improvement. My friend like many others that I've encountered are dead wrong about the purpose of self-improvement. What I've just described is one of the fundamental differences between a fixed and a growth mindset.

A fixed mindset says:

I'm just not smart enough.

A growth mindset asks:

What do i need to learn?

Thanks for reading my mini ted talk.