The Harm Of Smart Books

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Do you consider constant self-education to be the most important task of a thinking modern person? You are in danger

Have you ever read a clever book, article, post on Facebook, exclaim - "Here, this is what I need!"? How many have you tried? Implement in life? If more than half, then you don't have to read further - I admire you. And I envy. If you, like me, exclaim more often than you do, then maybe this stupid note will be useful.

How do you feel when you see a VERY USEFUL BOOK that has not been read yet? Here she lies on the bedside table and looks a little reproachfully at the spine. As if tired of lying rejected, turned down. Turning away awkwardly? Hiding it under another book? Slightly nauseous?

The body wants to express its attitude. We were all taught to ignore his signals for a long time. "Close your mouth and eat!", "Now study, then you will understand why, you will also say thank you!"

What are these feelings and where do they come from? It is unlikely that the book is to blame. I can imagine: you haven't read her for a week, and all sorts of phrases “I thought you could do it, but you are like everyone else…” start to appear over her text. Let's dig deeper?

The brain is evolutionarily fond of learning. This is the key to survival. Therefore, it reinforces the process of new recognition with dopamine and endorphins. Rewards. And this same brain loves to be lazy. Learning a new skill and reinforcing a sustainable skill are not the same thing. Although there is a connection. In Alan Richardson's experiment with basketball players (described in particular in John Kehoe's book "The Subconscious Can Do Everything"), those who simply imagined that they were throwing free kicks showed much better results than the control group. However, here we are talking about improving the skill (athletes took part in the experiment, not people from the street), and not mastering a new one.

Here. We got to the problem. It is enough for the brain to learn new things, get reinforcements and that's it. He has no independent need to implement this skill. To master what you have read, you need to motivate yourself in some other way. It's good if you manage to sincerely catch fire with something, try it on this enthusiasm, roll in and then hone it.

But what kind of enthusiasm is there if you decide to start running in the morning on January 1? Is it just so exciting to get up an hour earlier, kick yourself even harder to go out into the dank twilight? I can already hear the objections "… but it is useful, then you will thank." The body has no "sweat". And in "now" it is disgusting. Here comes the "sudden" nausea when you remember that you were going to start running useful.

And the most important trap. You are reading something beautiful and intelligent, piercing to the core. For example, there is no need to shout at children, otherwise attachment will be broken, the child will suffer all his life. And at this moment you wholeheartedly agree with the author. Everything, you are caught.

Did you agree that you can't yell at children? Oh no no no! He knows everything and screams! The head itself is pressed into the shoulders, has landed on top and pecks at her Majesty VINA. The book, like an annoying mother, will constantly remind, annoy, crush with its wisdom.

Have not yet implemented a system of transparent management, wise facilitation, competent delegation? Although you read a bunch of books, and maybe you went to trainings?

So you haven't learned how to easily flutter in your peignoir, with a smile on your lips, to clean the apartment?

Have not learned how to make creative gifts with your children with your own hands?

Think discipline is lacking? There is another book you can buy, 10 Sure Ways to Develop Discipline. And even learn how to develop it …

What to do? A reasonable question

In order not to contradict myself, I will not give smart advice here. If you've read this far, it's clear that it doesn't work.

Here's some silly advice I give clients.

With the accumulated anger and frenzy, cross out the to-do list of improving yourself. You can write everything out on a sheet of A3 format, and then scribble, paint, tear it. This in itself is pleasant.

Give yourself the right, say, not to quit smoking for a year, not to go to the gym, not to lose weight, not to learn English, not to seek your calling. It may sound blasphemous - I encroach on the sacred - but if you take the risk, share later how much easier it will become for you.

Paradoxically, just such a permission can be a discovery for you. Discovering your new opportunities and interests. Previously, they did not have enough strength and did not reach their hands drawn by bundles of someone else's wisdom.