How to read self-help - Deepstash
How To Live A Long Life

Learn more about personaldevelopment with this collection

The importance of physical activity

The role of genetics in lifespan

How to maintain a healthy diet

How To Live A Long Life

Discover 71 similar ideas in

It takes just

12 mins to read

Self-help

We like reading about self-help but are skeptical at the same time. Any attempt to articulate a theory against self-help ends up sounding like self-help itself.

Some self-help is terrible, while other self-help leads to a better, more fulfilling life.

82

433 reads

Knowledge and wisdom

  • A knowledgeable person can solve a narrow set of problems that few can, like a neurosurgeon.
  • A wise person knows what to do in most situations. She is able to give out general purpose, one-size-fits-all advice. Wisdom is very easy to understand. However, it is very difficult to apply in real life.

115

255 reads

Self-help through the wisdom lens

The purpose of self-help is to acquire wisdom. Self-help books are filled with wisdom. 

It embarrasses us because it's full of easy truisms. We like it because it makes sense. It's trivial to read but nearly impossible to put into practice. That is why we feel so inspired when reading about it.

89

227 reads

Read self-help that makes sense

A rule of thumb is that wisdom should make sense. It is general and obvious advice. If it is not immediately obvious, it is rarely right.

When you hear something, ask:

  • Is this an obvious universal truth?
  • Does it make sense?
  • Can I apply this to a variety of situations?

If you answer "no", you are probably not dealing with wisdom.

88

196 reads

Self-help in practice

Self-help books seem only to give high-level advice and never specifically explain how to drive this wisdom home.
However, wisdom applies to so many different situations and in so many ways, that it is impossible to go through every possibility of application.

76

212 reads

“…in the day to day trenches of adult existence, banal platitudes can have a life or death importance.”

DAVID FOSTER WALLACE

68

234 reads

CURATED BY

iceicegrama

I am sexy because I have beautiful thoughts.

More like this

Read & Learn

20x Faster

without
deepstash

with
deepstash

with

deepstash

Access to 200,000+ ideas

Access to the mobile app

Unlimited idea saving & library

Unlimited history

Unlimited listening to ideas

Downloading & offline access

Personalized recommendations

Supercharge your mind with one idea per day

Enter your email and spend 1 minute every day to learn something new.

Email

I agree to receive email updates