The toxic world of self help: a world surrounded by toxic positivity, self help addiction, fake gurus, and hustle culture.

It’s the side of ‘self-development’ that is often overlooked by those on the outside, and even those who are avid consumers of the industry.

In this video we take a dive into the dark side of self-help, and the traps that may lie in wait for those who enter this world.

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DISCLAIMER
This video is primarily based on my own experience in the self help industry, and therefore I want to make it clear that I am coming from a biased perspective throughout this video.

HOW IT BEGINS
Self development has a nice lure to it. It’s this world of people trying to improve themselves, take control over their lives and decisions, and live a better ‘fulfilling’ life. Or at least, it is presented to you this way.

Most people come to the self-help world from a dark place, looking for some sort of ‘hope’ or ‘way out’ – and I was no exception to this. It was this desire to change my life situation that brought me to the world of self-help.

SELF HELP ADDICTION
Addiction to self help content is the first trap to often ensnare people. When you consume self help content you will often gain a surge in motivation. This motivation will urge you to purchase the next self help book, watch the next self help video, attend the next self help seminar from your favourite guru, etc etc.

But this is problematic. This feeling of motivation and fulfilment is an illusion – an illusion of progress. Because in reality you haven’t made any progress, you have only gotten better at convincing yourself that you have.

THE BUSINESS OF SELF HELP
The industry of self-development is estimated to be worth around $13 billion dollars by 2022. The selling of books, online programs, seminars, coaching, podcasts, live speaking events, are some of the main mediums used to generate income from self-development.

But this business knows how addicting this content can be. And your favourite gurus like Tony Robbins, Gary Vaynerchuk, Grant Cardone, Tai Lopez know (even if they won’t admit it) that you are more profitable to them unhappy and discontent than you are happy and fulfilled.

TOXIC POSITIVITY
The self help world can surround you with positive messages. Overwhelming you with ideas like “positive vibrations” in order to get you feeling good the more you consume. But nobody can feel good forever, life will always have ups and downs.

Self-help can often make yo feel as though negative thoughts like quitting are wrong. And this brings us to the next problem: toxic positivity. Toxic positivity is about making you feel bad for not feeling great all the time, and the self help industry can absolutely put you in a position to feel like this.

HUSTLE CULTURE
Finally, we come to hustle culture. In this new world of Instagram entrepreneurs, humble bragging, and fake gurus, this concept of ‘hustling’ and working hard every hour of the day has become romanticised.

There are a few issues with this. Often times those that brag about ‘hustling’ are actually procrastinating and achieving nothing. Then there are those who actually work every hour of the day, thinking that this is what encapsulated what it means to be successful – it doesn’t. Working hard at the RIGHT thing, is what makes the odds of success higher. And the best way to know if you are working hard at the right thing is to take a step back from your ‘hustling’ and reflect on the strategy you are using.

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All materials in these videos are used for educational purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement is intended. If you are or represent the copyright owner of materials used in this video and have a problem with the use of said material, please send me an email on [email protected], and we can sort it out.

AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE: there may be a few links in this description that, at no cost to you, will earn me a commission if you choose to click them and make a purchase 🙂
Don’t worry – I only ever promote things that have genuinely helped me.

Copyright © James Jani 2020

Prologue - 00:00
Part 1: Where it Begins - 02:13
Part 2: Addiction - 04:26
Part 3: The Sinister Business of Selling Hope - 07:39
Part 4: Toxic Positivity - 10:41
Part 5: Hustle Culture - 13:30
Conclusion - 16:36