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Abstract

</h1><p id="9087">With every level comes another devil. Your challenges are now more complex, and growth is slower. Your newbie gains are in the bank and progress will seem more allusive, more incremental.</p><p id="a83f">Again, this is good. You want to get to this level, and if you are, congratulations. But how do you deal with your new devils?</p><p id="ab22">Here are a few tips that have helped me.</p><h1 id="5d3d">1. Revisit the classics</h1><p id="43ef">When I first read Book 1 of the <i>Conversations with God </i>series, I thought some of the writing was nonsensical and a cop-out. By the time I’d finished the third book in the series and revisited Book 1 again, it all made sense. Every line. The second read was just as powerful, if not more, than the first because my mind had grown and I could absorb the lessons wholly.</p><p id="6ea8">I realised there’s always more to learn from esoteric texts and gurus. You just have to rinse and repeat. And then new lessons and new learning will come to you if you are open to them.</p><h1 id="7878">2. Delve into advanced self-help</h1><p id="011e">Geoff Thompson, a self-help and spiritual author, has written many books. As he has grown, his works have become more advanced, more complex, and more esoteric. He said of his latest book, <i>The Divine CEO</i>, it’s an advanced book for those on a self-help journey. He said this in a podcast just as I was looking for something more mature in the self-help arena.</p><p id="795b">I bought it and read it. It delivered.</p><p id="9fda">But it’s the sort of book I’d have thrown out of the window a few years ago. I wouldn’t have understood it, I wasn’t ready. I’d have believed it was all woo-woo nonsense. But I worked hard to process the information (underlining passages and quotes helped me absorb the text, I recommend trying it) and the book turned out to be utterly revelatory for me. It was a gamer changer.</p><p id="dd34">There are many books like this. Fiction books too. If you’re feeling brave, Dostoevsky seems tempting. So does Solzhenitsyn. Also Nietzsche. I’ve only read a handful of their writings, but boy oh boy, that’s advanced philosophy for you. I’ve read some Tolstoy and Kafka and these works of fiction did more for me than a lot of self-help books.</p><p id="6a3d">There’s a rich vein of thought out there if you want more complex thinking. Don’t be intimidated by it, you are # Options ready.</p><h1 id="3019">3. Action and more action</h1><p id="aa19">In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is always a difference. You have to get out there. You have to act. Theory will only take you so far.</p><p id="693f">Have you ever met people who have gone to all the conferences, read all the books, and attended all the seminars, yet they still do <i>nothing?</i></p><p id="84ec">Self-help is an applicable art form. It’s nothing without doing.</p><p id="1a53">It can be comforting to read or listen to self-help and feel the warm glow of motivation and reassurance, but if you’re not acting on it, it’s nothing more than mental masturbation.</p><p id="b7ff">If self-help isn’t resonating, start acting on its advice. Face your fears, and embrace the doing, I can guarantee you’ll be leaning on those words and speeches when the going gets tough. And the going always gets tough when you’re doing things that scare you. Self-help will then become a tool, not just words on a page.</p><h1 id="c238">4. Write your own self-help</h1><p id="de15">Writing your thoughts means understanding what you understand. It forces you to organise the jumble of ideas in your head and connect the dots.</p><p id="a1e5">This is what I do. It’s what I’m doing now. I write self-help not just because I believe in its power, but because I benefit from sharing these ideas as much as anyone reading them.</p><p id="fcab">You don’t know something properly unless you can explain it in simple terms. Writing (even if you’re not putting it on the internet for general consumption) forces you to articulate your knowledge.</p><p id="304e">Journal, write, blog, whatever works.</p><p id="4d9d">Often it’s hard, but that’s because you’re struggling with ideas. Writing will help you with that.</p><h1 id="89da">Conclusions</h1><p id="c4a8">Everyone’s on their own journey. There are no definite answers. There is no right path. The gaps in my psyche I need self-help to fill will not be your gaps. One person’s book of epiphanies is another person’s paperweight.</p><p id="be90">I only offer up what has helped me, as I grow and change as a human. We are all works in progress that mistakenly think we’re complete (thanks for that one, Dan Gilbert), but perhaps the points above will help you. Keep at it, keep learning, and keep searching. The process is the goal.</p></article></body>

Beyond Self-Help: Strategies for Continued Learning and Personal Growth

If you’ve stopped resonating with self-help, that’s a good sign

I’ve been on a self-help journey since 2014 and it’s changed my life, no doubt. But the things that once resonated, the powerful YouTube speeches, the messages buried in books, the quotes and ideas, they’ve lost their edge.

This freaked me out.

Self-help has been my crutch for years. It re-wired my brain and turned me into someone I wish I could have been 15 years earlier. God knows I needed it. But as its potency wained, and I grew increasingly disillusioned with its message, I began worrying I’m either unfixable, un-motivatable (that’s a word) or perhaps I’ve seen through the snake-oil bullshit of self-help and it was never real in the first place.

Have you been through the same journey?

Don’t panic. It turns out, all that’s happened is you’ve grown.

The simple truths most self-help offers up are now so ingrained in your mind, they’re not revelatory, they’re obvious.

They’re blatant truths, now.

But once they weren’t.

A crazy trick of the mind is once we know something, it’s impossible to not know it. We can conceptually remember not knowing it, but never put ourselves back in that ignorant place. What is seen and heard can never be unseen and unheard.

Consequently, as you grow, you outgrow a lot of self-help but don’t realise it. The lessons in self-help become “obvious” only because you’ve learned them.

At one time 2+2=4 was new information.

I’m not a self-help cynic. I think it’s incredible. It saves people. It saved me. But once these ideas become standard, and you’ve absorbed them both conceptually and experimentally, those basics don’t do it for you anymore.

This is a good sign. A great sign! It is progress.

So what’s next?

With every level comes another devil. Your challenges are now more complex, and growth is slower. Your newbie gains are in the bank and progress will seem more allusive, more incremental.

Again, this is good. You want to get to this level, and if you are, congratulations. But how do you deal with your new devils?

Here are a few tips that have helped me.

1. Revisit the classics

When I first read Book 1 of the Conversations with God series, I thought some of the writing was nonsensical and a cop-out. By the time I’d finished the third book in the series and revisited Book 1 again, it all made sense. Every line. The second read was just as powerful, if not more, than the first because my mind had grown and I could absorb the lessons wholly.

I realised there’s always more to learn from esoteric texts and gurus. You just have to rinse and repeat. And then new lessons and new learning will come to you if you are open to them.

2. Delve into advanced self-help

Geoff Thompson, a self-help and spiritual author, has written many books. As he has grown, his works have become more advanced, more complex, and more esoteric. He said of his latest book, The Divine CEO, it’s an advanced book for those on a self-help journey. He said this in a podcast just as I was looking for something more mature in the self-help arena.

I bought it and read it. It delivered.

But it’s the sort of book I’d have thrown out of the window a few years ago. I wouldn’t have understood it, I wasn’t ready. I’d have believed it was all woo-woo nonsense. But I worked hard to process the information (underlining passages and quotes helped me absorb the text, I recommend trying it) and the book turned out to be utterly revelatory for me. It was a gamer changer.

There are many books like this. Fiction books too. If you’re feeling brave, Dostoevsky seems tempting. So does Solzhenitsyn. Also Nietzsche. I’ve only read a handful of their writings, but boy oh boy, that’s advanced philosophy for you. I’ve read some Tolstoy and Kafka and these works of fiction did more for me than a lot of self-help books.

There’s a rich vein of thought out there if you want more complex thinking. Don’t be intimidated by it, you are ready.

3. Action and more action

In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is always a difference. You have to get out there. You have to act. Theory will only take you so far.

Have you ever met people who have gone to all the conferences, read all the books, and attended all the seminars, yet they still do nothing?

Self-help is an applicable art form. It’s nothing without doing.

It can be comforting to read or listen to self-help and feel the warm glow of motivation and reassurance, but if you’re not acting on it, it’s nothing more than mental masturbation.

If self-help isn’t resonating, start acting on its advice. Face your fears, and embrace the doing, I can guarantee you’ll be leaning on those words and speeches when the going gets tough. And the going always gets tough when you’re doing things that scare you. Self-help will then become a tool, not just words on a page.

4. Write your own self-help

Writing your thoughts means understanding what you understand. It forces you to organise the jumble of ideas in your head and connect the dots.

This is what I do. It’s what I’m doing now. I write self-help not just because I believe in its power, but because I benefit from sharing these ideas as much as anyone reading them.

You don’t know something properly unless you can explain it in simple terms. Writing (even if you’re not putting it on the internet for general consumption) forces you to articulate your knowledge.

Journal, write, blog, whatever works.

Often it’s hard, but that’s because you’re struggling with ideas. Writing will help you with that.

Conclusions

Everyone’s on their own journey. There are no definite answers. There is no right path. The gaps in my psyche I need self-help to fill will not be your gaps. One person’s book of epiphanies is another person’s paperweight.

I only offer up what has helped me, as I grow and change as a human. We are all works in progress that mistakenly think we’re complete (thanks for that one, Dan Gilbert), but perhaps the points above will help you. Keep at it, keep learning, and keep searching. The process is the goal.