Don't Limit Your Thinking

Most advice or motivational pieces are just recycled words. At best rah rah porn to get you wound up and excited. Usually just information and ideas that are not new or even unique.

That’s not to say that some small pieces of good can’t come from them. Sometimes just the method of delivery makes the difference for the message.

Most of the time you just haven’t heard the idea before and hearing it resonates with you. Making you feel the teller is a sage, an oracle of knowledge and ideas.

Reality is much different. Keep that in mind whenever you attach yourself to an expert on all things human motivation or thinking.

While there are people who have a solid insight or capability to understand humans. And they may have a way to put that insight into steps or a process that stands out. In the end they are just making it up as they go, giving their best guess. Some built on research and an awful lot bounced off ideas they’d heard in the past.

Given this, it is wrong to look to others for ideas and development?

Of course not. If having someone provide concepts or methods that resonate and work for you, then yes, soak it up and use those things. Get as much out of them as you can.

Just keep in mind, there is nothing magical or special in that person or what they are telling you. In fact, there is nothing you couldn’t find, or think of, for yourself. Don’t fixate or let yourself believe that this one person has all the answers.

We like to find that one thing that will solve all of our problems. Having a single source just makes life easier. Humans like easy. But life is not easy. You will always experience things in a way that is unique to you.

This means you need to allow yourself to hear and learn about different ways to approach challenges in your life. From multiple perspectives. The more ways you allow yourself to see the world, the better you will be at finding solutions that fit where you are at the time.

This can mean looking at how people you don’t agree with think as well. Approaching subjects from a direction you wouldn't normally take could end up allowing you to accomplish things differently, maybe even better, then from your favored perspective.

Learning diverse ways to think, problem solve, and view the world will give your mind more options for success.

Just keep in mind that no one viewpoint or process is the be all end all. They are just one way, that one person has approached the world.

Absorb and use as you can, but keep your mind open and flexible. Using what works, paying attention to how it works, and adjusting what you’re doing to improve your life.