I wanted to talk a little bit on self help. I like self help stuff, self development books, videos, seminars. One of the dangers isPavlovian responses which is one of the 25 cognitive biases. Our brains are hard-wired to give us dopamine when this occurs. And naturally, it wants those little dopamine rushes.
For example, that little red ballon Facebook icon you get when somebody's commented on your picture or something are dopamine responses that make Mark Zuckerberg rich. They don't make you rich, they make him rich. And if you're not careful, those Pavlovian responses, when it comes to self help, will have you just being an insight junkie. Just like everyday you're looking for new insight, new insight but you're not implementing any. That's low level activity.
It feels, it's kind of like, what Adam Carolla calls a moral satiation, when it comes to things like charity. So people just talk about how, "Oh yeah, I'm really sympathetic to the causes of poverty and injustice." And by saying it, they feel like they've actually contributed but they haven't. Life's not about what you say, it's about what you do.
So just be careful. Nothing wrong with reading a lot of books. Obviously, that's one of my big themes I talk about all the time but be somebody who makes instinctual change happen in your life, okay? So don't be afraid to read the same book over and over. Sometimes people say, "I hear you talking about the same books over and over." Yeah, because I'm not focusing on entertaining myself or other people.
I'd rather talk about the same ideas over and over if they're good even if it doesn't give them the dopamine rush that they want of that new intriguing new idea that they'll never implement.
Make instinctual change. That gives you the big bang for the buck.
