Self-development — F@ck gurus
Everyone is trying to convince you to follow the guru. Does it come with a cost?
I am in the Medium community for about 3 years and noticed that some of the most popular articles are the ones that mention famous people and advice that you should follow.
It is normal that you want to read it and find out what someone famous has to say to you as advice. He is famous because he has succeeded in his area and that makes him most of the time wealthy.
Everyone wants to get wealthy.
For example, Warren Buffett's advice to make you a millionaire. If as I don’t, you also don’t like Warren Buffett, don’t worry we have another article: Elon Musk’s routine for success. Yeap I will buy it because I admire him.
We as humans are creatures that imitate other's behavior.
We see something that we like and copy-paste it and reproduce it.
The strange thing is that we convince ourselves that if we do the same thing that another has done we will have the same output. That’s not guaranteed and most of the time we get not the desired outcome and we feel disappointed.
But why is that the case? I have done exactly what the instructions told me to do. Why men, why didn’t I succeed?
The answer is simple enough but we refuse to see it. It is not only what you are doing it is when you are doing it.
I have met up with a lady who would go to the Olympics. She was running every day and she was consistently making exercise. She was motivated by looking at other athletes making exercise. She was 52 years old.
(Normally you have a smile on your face now)
It is nothing wrong with the exercise and with having a big target. But realistically speaking it would be a miracle if she achieves it. There are some limitations in the world. I like the people who try to surpass them. If they are ready to face the possible failure. After all, they are winners because they have made the effort, and in our case, with the lady, she has a 30 years old body and robust health.
Let me share something from my life as an example. I followed the advice from some famous influencers to buy Litecoin and Bitcoin back in late December of 2017. I did exactly what they told me, but I was too late in the game. I didn’t become a millionaire. The bubble pops up. (don’t worry I didn’t sell then and now I am smiling)
The other factor is that the environment is dynamic. Everything is changing. Opinions, beliefs, behaviors and morals are constantly changing.
A friend of mine had bought over 500 jeans with wide legs. He made a good income in one season because this type of jeans was in fashion.
If I do the same now, after 10 years I will lose everything because nobody likes these jeans.
But it gets even more dangerous to follow the gurus in matters about your self-esteem and your personal development. Wake up at 6, look in the mirror and say 6 times the mantra: I am the best, I have it all.
Whatever you repeat will become a habit and after a while, you will believe it, no matter if it’s true or not. That is a dangerous thing. Reality always finds the way to land you on the ground and most of the time reality isn’t gentle.
I don’t say that these gurus don’t say things with value. Some things are even wise. Listen to them but don’t get in the trap to follow what they say, without processing it with your own mind.
If you follow what others saying without first making logical work for your own and see how the advice fits in your world, you will always be dependent on other's advice and wisdom.
As a friend told me, you are the master, you are the teacher, you are the guru of yourself, just listen to your inner voice. So F@ck the guru.
Don’t give to others your most important thing for survival, your logic, your brain.
