Although all of the content that I share on ControlShiftLife is original and (hopefully) insightful and valuable, I doubt that any of my insights are truly unique. Chances are, with 6 billion people in the world and billions whom have already lived and passed on, someone somewhere has had already discovered every insight or concept that I could ever dream of. Much of what you read in self-improvement literature is simply common sense knowledge anyway! So where then lies the value in these columns if all I’m doing is repeating to you what you already know?
Quite simply, the answer lies within the secrets of the human mind, because self-help and self-improvement are mostly psychological. Lets examine the several ways that reading self-help lit can help.
The Repetition Effect: The more you hear something, the more you start to believe it.
“The Bigger the lie, the more people believe it”.
Don’t worry, I’m not lying to you about anything. The quotation expresses part of my point though: that the more people believe something, even if its a lie, the more other people will start to believe it. Sometimes you may not believe in an idea until enough people confirm that it is indeed true. What good is one person’s word? It pays sometimes to get a second, third, or even fourth and fith opinion, especially when the stakes are high. I believe so strongly in this concept because I myself have been affected by it many times! I can’t count how many times that I’ve started something only to give up because I start doubting myself and whether it can be done.
This website is no exception. Just yesterday I read a famous blogger’s post and was re-inspired. The result: A Super Day, with 5 content articles written so far (including this one) and counting! The answer is clear: exposing yourself to positive stories and positive people is very valuable. The more you read that 99% of all blogs don’t make any money, and the more blogs you see that get no traffic despite the owner doing all he can to update and write new posts, the less you start to believe in your own chances. However, if you consistently read stories about people succeeding, starting and finishing their endeavours and accomplishing what most people thought improbable or impossible, you start to believe that you yourself can do it. Take Jackie Robinson, one of the most famous baseball players ever. He wasn’t remembered due to being the best black baseball player, but because he changed people’s conceptions about what was possible. Black kids all around the nation were inspired and started to believe that they themselves could follow in his footsteps. Sometimes, you just need to read a success story and hear that a normal person like me, like you, can and has succeeded.
Common Sense, Re-Explained:
I will repeat again: Self-Help Lit is mostly common sense! You already intuitively know most of these concepts, and yet somehow there is value in visiting ControlShiftLife and listening to someone talk about them. Where does the value lie? Well, have you ever intuitively understood a concept, but wasn’t quite sure how to express it in words? As if you knew something in your mind, but you just couldn’t explain it in language? What exactly is going on here?
Chances are, the idea or concept lies in your subconscious, and because you are unable to properly conceptualize the idea in your conscious mind, the idea stays locked away, unable to be harnessed until someone comes along and describes what you’ve actually known all along. Lets get real here: I’m not telling you anything you don’t know or haven’t already heard. The value I provide lies in describing the concept in a way that your mind can comprehend and process, and then eventually harness. I only try to reaffirm and describe what you’ve known all this time. Reading self-improvement lit only brings out what is already inside you. It doesn’t change you, it doesn’t make you a better person, and it doesn’t make your feces smell like roses. The fact is, everyone has strength, courage, and a capacity for growth. Everyone is talented in some way - I truly, truly, truly believe this. For numerous reasons, some of which I discuss in my article To Learn You Must Unlearn, many of us haven’t reached our potential. Often, we are the very ones holding ourselves back. But that energy, talent, drive, hunger, motivation, and capacity to be great are there inside you.
If I could somehow give that precious life force to people by writing, I’d pat myself on the back and think I was the greatest thing since the bread-toaster-and-simultaneous-egg-poaching machine