Stop reading self-improvement books

[FierceRacoon]

@Madame Peccato, as on example, I have read Eric Franklin's "Dance Imagery for Technique and Performance." In my mind it is not a self-improvement book, however. It doesn't tell me the meaning of life, the "rules for life," how to be a different person.

The self-improvement books I have in mind
(1) tell you that you are in life at a point X,
(2) tell you that you want to be at Y and how to get there, and
(3) tell you that this advice is universal.

Even MJ acknowledges that if you are a performer or otherwise gifted, you can be happy with the Slowlane. So MJ's book is not a self-improvement one. It contains techniques for achieving a given end, for those who are seeking this end. It's non-fiction with helpful information. Self-improvement books replace religion.

The whole concept of self-improvement is flawed: it presupposed a particular measuring stick or hierarchy according to which one "should" improve. But improvement only makes sense in particular context, by either improving particular skills or achieving other tangible results, if only internal. Advice "how to" is fine and welcome; a new system of values based on subjective opinion of some random person is not.

 

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[Madame Peccato]

Oh, you were talking about that specific category of self-help books. I think those are fine for starters. Someone who feels like his life has dictated everything about him. I've read one this year and it was pretty good (The courage to be disliked).

I agree with you @FierceRacoon, consuming many books like that in a row is silly. You're not getting much after the 3rd one aside from dopamine hits. Read one every now and then to reinforce the concepts, but don't go on a reading spree.