Self-help junkie is a term that is used to define someone who indulges so much in the self-help industry that it becomes an addiction for them (that’s what a junkie means.)
For understanding this in a better way, let us introduce a character: Meet John. John is in his twenties, and he is looking for a job for about a month. One day, he calls his friend, who has got a reputable job and is handling a side business too and asks for some advice about how to find a job easily. His friend doesn’t seem to have any particular advice, but he advised John to sharpen up his skills. John’s friend mentioned that his life improved after he started reading books, and listening to podcasts. “Maybe that’s what you should do. Maybe you’ll find something that works for you.”, he said.
As the phone disconnected, John had made up his mind that he was missing out on a big thing: The Self Improvement Industry. So, he opens the browser and starts finding the books that might help him get a job that is good for him. John finds some really cool books that defined the psychology of jobs, and how to get the best job. He downloaded a book to try this new habit out. “Oh! Wow”, he thought after reading the book. He searched for some more. Soon he downloaded Goodreads and started making a “To-Read” collection. He started gathering all the knowledge that might help him succeed. He started listening to top Podcasts and reading books all day. He started attending all the seminars that were held across the city. Soon he became an “intellectual” person with a good amount of knowledge about what works in the job market, and what doesn’t.
But there’s one problem! Although John gathered all the knowledge, he never used it in his real life. He never used it to find the job he wanted to have. By being too much obsessed with the self-help industry, he actually forgot to take the action.
This example makes John seem like a stupid guy who lacks discipline. But, this is the story of almost everyone who is too obsessed with the self-improvement industry. I have seen this happen a lot of times. I have seen myself doing it, so I, to some degree, understand why it feels like an accomplishment when you read a new non-fiction book about habit formation or attend a self-improvement seminar.
There’s nothing wrong with reading books, attending seminars, or doing anything that gives you comfort and expands your knowledge, but the main thing to ask ourselves is: Are we really putting any of the things we are learning into practice? Because that’s the goal of self-improvement.
The ultimate goal of all self-improvement is to reach the point where you no longer feel the need to improve yourself. — Mark Manson
If you’re only reading and reading and reading, and not trying to implement whatever you are learning, then most of the things you’re trying to learn will fade away from your mind. And hence, you are wasting your time by reading that thing. (Now, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read anything out of your domain, but what that means is that most of the things you are spending time on must add some value to your life.)
As I also am a victim of this, I know what happens when you read too much self-improvement, and attend too many seminars, without implementing anything you read, or learned — You start to believe that reading new books is adding value to your life. You actually start believing that you’re doing something wonderful and that you are “improving” yourself. But, in reality, that’s not what you are doing. You are just learning a bunch of stuff that sits in your brain for some amount of time, and then it’s deleted if it’s not implemented in some way or the other.
One of the habits that I am developing this year is that: I write down whatever I have learned from the book (or, YouTube, or courses) and try to figure out how can I implement it in the next thirty days. In that way, if that technique works for me, then I keep it. Otherwise, I discard it. And I do this for every video I watch, every book I read, and every piece of advice I get.
So, if you are a self-help junkie then I would suggest you cut the information for a while and try to implement whatever you’ve learned first. Because you can read every single book in the world, but if you don’t use the wisdom that’s in it, then it’s a waste of time for you.