Why I Stopped Reading Self Help Books & What I Do Instead (not for everyone) | Quazi Johir

0:00quasi here and in this video I want to share with you why I quit reading self-help books and how I kind of fell into a trap Going book after book looking for the next information after information And I've been seeing that a lot of people do this and I was there too So I kind of want to share with you my personal journey And this is going to be a different style video and really by the end of this video I'm going to share with you the three principles that I live by that's really helped me progress in my spiritual journey with manifestation as well and just really being a master of my own destiny Now back when I started off in this journey a couple years ago three four around five years ago Before entering college. I was like looking and scouring personal development when I first came across it And I was really interested in improving myself and getting better every single day and what I saw was that I would just go on YouTube and search up a lot of videos and And it would lead to nowhere, you know I just learn a lot of different things from a lot of conflicting different viewpoints

1:03It would just confuse me more but looking back at it I needed that confusion to be where I am at today because all of these Confusions start to lead you to wanting to find out truths for yourself right after having worked with so many mentors and so many coaches I never really regret it because you need to make those mistakes to know that you don't need to do those So this is going to be kind of like a like a conflicting thing because at the same time you should be reading a lot of books But at the same time you don't need to okay, so take away from this what you will but Essentially, I would read a lot of books. I remember One book really caught out to me and you know to kind of propel me to making this video It's called the subtle out of not giving a fuck by Mark Manson and in that he says the desire For a positive experience itself is a negative experience Right, so that really got me thinking like we're all desiring this positive experience

2:03right and it says that you're already good enough you don't need to look for books and look to improve yourself Because that becomes counterintuitive. So what do you do with that and to that from my truth? What I've started to see is that You can be good enough, but they can always be better But what most people do is they approach self-help and personal development with I'm not good enough I'm not good. I suck. I Need to become better and then they keep with every single new piece of information They keep looking for they keep reaffirming that point of oh, I'm not good enough. I'm not good I suck so I need to get better and Because of that it keeps their self-esteem the confidence stuck in that same way and They're never able to take those risks that they need because they keep reaffirming the point of I'm not good enough So that's one of the biggest traps. I used to fall into as well until I realized, you know I'm already good enough But I can get better with all of these things

3:04But to give you a background story I used to go from reading like Maybe a book a week to now. I think this year at September now. I haven't even read ten books this year Right, so you go in different stages of your journey where it goes from looking outside For truths and information To slowly going inside and going within if you start to just become very very conscious every single day observe yourself and Acutely observe your environment. You'll find just a lot of truths very very easily Like if you just sit down and sit quietly and just be You'll find more than what you can find in a book Because the biggest drawback with books is its information that's separate from you It never becomes a part of you until you actually apply this information and it becomes an experiential reality Okay, so that's what I've started to see for myself as well You know once I started to apply this information and I started to verify these truths for myself

4:07Then they became personal to me in a way that I could communicate it authentically as opposed to just you know regurgitating some new research or new studies fine that you can do this or You know any new thing because everything I share in this channel the Buddha probably talked about three thousand years ago, right? so with that being said Instead of thirsting for new knowledge. It's about Understanding and realizing all of these things that are around you already you probably already have enough knowledge But it just hasn't clicked the way you needed to click in order for you to take the actions that you need to take and get to the goal that you want to get to so What I want you to take away from this is that Information starts to work for you once the realization has been made It's not about reading a shit ton of books, but about reading a few good books and rereading them and rereading them. I've probably reread

5:10More books than I have read new books Right, and that's because you always come in with a different state of consciousness and then that information It hits you differently So what most people do is they get this shiny object syndrome and they chase after the next information Oh, I'm not good enough. Let's see if this will help. Let's see if that'll help But they don't even know what's helping and what's not because you're just putting in so many things without really trying out one thing to its best So what I ask you to do is just evaluate your situation and evaluate your goals Where are you now and where do you want to get to and what's the biggest obstacle that's preventing you from getting there and Then look for resources that'll help you do that instead of just trying out the next thing Oh, I want to be the best in the world. So just invest in the next coach. It doesn't work What do you feel is preventing you from getting to that next stage you want to get to? Find a coach for that

6:10If it's something internal find a coach for that if it's something business find a coach for that find Books for that find resources in information around that and actually use it Take a piece of information before you invest another one use this first to its fullest extent There's no black or white answer here like I've invested in multiple different programs to help me get to the next level multiple different coaches Multiple different investments because I want to do it as quick as I can but I'm not just Going one and then the other and then one and the other because you always take away from these like all of these different resources You just take away little things Right, you take away all of these little things that start to apply for you and you personalize them and then you use them for yourself You can't blindly copy someone else and do what they're doing Because at best you'll just be a copy of them right you'll never be better than them So if you copy someone at least make it better than what it is But yeah if you read a book it's always that one piece of information

7:15That is worth more than like 10,000 bucks for you Right It's one thing your coach says is that one thing that makes the difference for you But it's difficult to know without you immersing yourself in the full process itself You know you've got to make those bad investments and bad decisions and then make the mistakes in order to learn that they were a mistake Because right now if you're beginning off in your personal development journey and you don't read any books Then that'll be like oh, what are you doing at least start there? Right, but I think the biggest thing I want you to take away is understand yourself and what you need and what you want and What do you think is preventing you from getting to what you want and then cater everything around that? That's the easiest way to achieve your goals So the three principles I want you to take away from this and Why I'm making this video about not reading any self-help books is number one Understand that this is all a personal journey and don't fall into the comparison trap if someone's talking about this and someone's doing that

8:16Don't just blindly jump into it when it makes sense to you then do it You'll intuitively see when it makes sense to you So your personal experience colors this journey as opposed to dryly reading a book You can't experience spirituality from reading a book You can gain some concepts and some understanding that intellectually makes sense for you and gives the mind enough to digest But the true Experiences invaluable right the true experience comes from personal immersion Applying this stuff going out there and taking action someone once said that you should be for every 80% for every eight hours of action you take You should do two hours of theory. I still live by that Number two understand that beingness is the first priority When you place your being as the number one priority than the doing in the having just becomes second and third priority

9:16so what I mean by that is Just become acutely aware of who you are at this moment you know Getting this self-awareness of your own patterns of existence What do you keep repeating over and over what patterns are you seeing in your life? What do you feel stopping you where do you want to go? What are your likes in your dislikes? What do you find that you search on the internet predominantly? Just understanding yourself and just resting as being 20 minutes of meditation is probably better than any book you'll ever read Spending some time in nature is probably better than any book you wrote ever read Because if you just even observe like a little child or a cat or a kitten You'll learn a lot more than any book you'll ever read That's for sure Because it's a different level of knowledge. You know if you become very unbiased and just Observe and see life as it is And number three understand less is more that's a principle. I've been living by and it's it's become very helpful for me

10:22And anytime you find that you're piling on too many books Or too much material See where you can cut down see where you can eliminate complexity in your life The simplest answer is always the best and life will always take the path of least resistance You know Anytime anything ever gets too complex you know you're moving away from the right answer there's a great saying in In the medical field it's called Occam's razor Which literally means when you're making a diagnosis for an illness or a disease the simplest answer is always the best Okay, and with that I conclude this video and I hope this is helpful Leave me a comment and let me know what you thought of this Now I'd never really make videos like this But if it was helpful for you and I'd love to know what you think. Thanks