Goodbye Self Help Books

I thought reading fiction was a waste of time.

If a book wasn't teaching me something life-changing, I didn't want to touch it.

So I spent years stacking self-help books.

Books around psychology, philosophy, habits, health, entrepreneurship…you name it.

I never saw a problem with it.

I thought I was doing something good for myself.

But it turns out…I was only making myself feel different without actually changing anything.

That's the trap with self-help books.

They make you feel successful and productive just by reading them.

So it’s easy to neglect the most crucial part.

The part that actually changes anything…

Action.

Nothing changes unless you practice what you learn.

I took pride in how many books I was reading each year, but I was literally doing nothing with what I learned.

I believe they call this “mental masturbation”.

I also reached a breaking point.

My brain was burnt out.

Stuffed with information I never did anything with.

I could feel my imagination rusting away.

I wanted something different.

So this year, I told myself I’d lean into the world of fiction.

I walked into a bookstore with no wish list.

Just showed up, hoping something might catch my eye.

I walked out with a fiction book.

First one I’ve (willingly) picked up since I was a kid.

I owe an apology to a lot of people…for all the ignorant comments I made about reading fiction, lol.

My recent video is all about that.

[Watch it here]

Cheers,

Laye