Are you frustrated by the lack of perfection in your life? Are you fed up with all the mediocrity that surrounds you? If you’d like to vanquish uncertainty and mediocrity and replace them with joyful perfection, you’ve come to the right place!
I discovered these 5 breakthrough steps as I backpacked across Mongolia with two of my best friends. It was very late in the evening when we walked into a tiny village with a name I still can’t pronounce. In spite of our blinding exhaustion, we noticed an overwhelming joy radiating from every person we passed. We stayed in that village for almost a month and it was during that time I sat with the town leaders and learned the steps I’m about to share with you.
Of course, it’s impossible to reach perfection. There’s no village in Mongolia with inexplicably joyful people walking around in a haze of perfection. There are no hidden keys to happy living that I can reveal to you in 5 easy steps.
So why do we pretend? Why do productivity writers pander to base instincts and sacrifice real conversations on the altar of quick points? Why do you, as a reader, often exhibit such an appetite for articles written with intense certainty about subjects you know to be too complex for any single article?
Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten. Do you really want to bemusedly read the same steps to a “productive life” over and over as they’re re-purposed across the internet and paired with some inspiring image?
Or have we possibly grown as an online community to the point where a writer like myself can share an imperfect concept and figure out an optimal solution through subsequent commentary and email exchanges with readers? With YOU?
Let’s discuss.
Image: zenonline
sniff sniff…. I smell a douche-bag. So you have no original ideas of your own to help improve people’s live, so you just tear down the work of others. How cutting edge.
My own experience with productivity articles and systems was one of frustration until the light came on and I took the pieces of what I had learned to build a framework of my own.
I also believe that in many cases productivity writers are evangelizing so blue sky scenarios are intended to be more motivational than practical.
Just like in spirituality there is no “one size fits all” approach and the journey is ultimately more important than the destination since productivity hacks more than anything else help the practitioner get in sync with their own brain and thoughts. Increasing productivity is just the goal; the process is what’s important.
@Steve Z: No need to get hostile. If you feel he’s wrong, then prove him wrong. … Right now, you are just trying to tear down his work, while not contributing any original ideas on this matter. :)
A very good point – everyone’s after the quickfix. I believe humanity has lost its spiritual side in favour of materialism and technology, which is why we’re not happy.
Would perfection in everything be true happiness? Dancing makes me very happy, but I’m no way near perfect at it!
@Babant – I’m just as guilty as the rest of writing a quick “11 ways to something or other” article with points included that I might not have in-depth experience on. Hoping some readers will sound in and let me know what they’d like to see on Lifehack and other sites like it in the future.
@his-lordship – I’m a terrible dancer as well. Tends to make me smile and others laugh… if for entirely different reasons! =)
Here’s what I think.
Some blogger says “Follow these five steps and your life will be 100% better.” In reality, you’ll remember one of those rules for few weeks and make your life 10% better.
But many other bloggers will write similar articles, each claiming to solve 100% of your problems. By repetition, you’ll get used to some new rules and in the end, by reading all those blogs rephrasing the same stuff over and over again, you’ll make your life 50% better.
So in the end, you may never reach the absolute perfection that you were promised but you may make your life a little better.
PS: This example was only to make a point, no blogger will promise you perfection.
What a relief, Seth!
I was afraid, that this will be one of “how to” manual for life;-)
Life simply happens, there ain’t any instructions for it.I simply follow one and only rule: “Focus on WOW and the HOW will unfold itself!”
;-)
Have a super cool day, folks.
cheers from Slovakia,
i.
You had me going. I was up in arms, ready to have a go at you in the comments. 10 steps to whatever are in many cases indeed simplifications. There are some nuggets of wisdom to be found, even though a lot of it gets rehashed over and over.
What would be a helpful is a longer lasting discussion around a post. Now, most comments are from the day that the post was made. I’d like to see something like this:
1. A post lists 5 steps to … overcome procrastination (for example)
2. Readers can join a test group in which they will test the 5 steps for a certain period, like 2 weeks or a month. In that time they post about what is working and what they run into and they get support from eachother. Anyone following this can also chip in with their 2 cents.
3. At the end of the testperiod the 5 steps are evaluated and a follow up to the post is written by the original writer.
I think this way you improve the chances of success and you’re invited to actually take action.
Of course, something like this already exists somewhere, but I just miss it at a lot of self improvement websites.
Anyway, nice to see a different kind of post here.
I think each blogger who writes the article does so to his/her best ability, and the XYZ tips reflects his/her current knowledge on how to deal with the situation. And doing so does help readers, even if incrementally so, as Babant said.
Of course, everyone has blind spots, and this applies to personal development bloggers (me included). At the end by constantly cross-sharing knowledge (by way of comments, posts), constantly reading and upgrading ourselves, we help each other grow, and that’s the real intention – to endlessly improve, and not (just) to reach a certain point.
Your entry resonates with me, especially now after a run of three list-type entries in a row in my own self-help weblog.
I think the problem with them is that many of them are either too general, like “Stop worrying about things and your life will be better”, making it impossible to just read the list and go “Oooh, okay!”.
The ones that aren’t too general fall into the other trap, being too specific. Either they only work for the author who wrote them or they deal with situations that most people never end up in.
The best entries that I’ve ever read have been entries that – often using story or parable – influence your mindset rather than giving you easy lists or howto-guides. I suppose the reason we all fall back on our list-entries is that they are short and easy ways of distilling a bunch of information to a soundbite.
It goes to show there’s no short cut or quick fix in life, which itself is a marathon and not a sprint. Let’s enjoy the journey, perfect or not.
It goes to show there’s no short cut or quick fix in life, which itself is a marathon and not a sprint. Let’s enjoy the journey, perfect or not. You use social netowrking well – strong statement to capture attention, and engaging the community in a dialogue. Well done.
Seth -
Fair point here and a good debate to open.
First, your title is clear evidence that as bloggers we need a great title to draw in readers. Often these titles offer huge promises, however they are usually the posts that get the most hits. In the blogosphere, a weak title means zero readers.
Second, as a coach I think a clear distinction needs to be made between short term goal achievement and long term sustainable skills. Short term goal achievement – doing something we aim for once – is good. We might wake up earlier for a while and feel good about it.
Learning long term sustainable skills usually requires more time, patience and focus than any blog can offer. It means developing the attributes we can use to overcome any challenge that comes in our way. If we learn to keep promises to ourself, practice this, overcome relapse and develop true personal accountability, we can then use this to wake up at 5am every morning.
So, blogs do have a purpose – they help to make small changes which can make life better. To make more lasting sustainable change, blogs need to add in multiple interventions, more support, perhaps a community aspect to create lasting change.
I think this is possible, but a tough challenge. I’d love to continue this and brainstorm how to make that happen for the LIfehack community.
Phil
Brilliant – revealing the bs at the heart of quick fix self-help blogs like this one. There are no easy steps to anything worthwhile, though no shortage of hucksters and suckers.
Shit article
Resorting to bait and switch tactics, however well meaning, is never a good idea. It damages your article from the outset. For you, this is not a one-off, as you rely on gimmicks which are quick fixes and have no long-lasting value. For example:
Lifehack Challenge : 24 Hour Digital Fast
Lifehack Challenge : Become an Early Riser in 5 Days
You have other articles interspersed, regular ones, but those two stick out at me, and not in a good way.
Time for me to stop visiting this site, I think.
@DOlivier – Agreed! In this case, there was a play on the gimmick to make a point.
The interesting thing about the Lifehack Challenges is that they were both intended to get Lifehack readers interacting with each other toward a specific achievement. In the case of the early riser challenge, we took an entire week of early-riser and sleep-related articles to build upon the points shared in the original piece. A lot of people seemed to find it interesting and helpful. If you’ve ever tried to start getting up early, I think you’ll find that if you can do it for 5 days, you’ll be okay. =)
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It sounds like you’re taking more issue with the ‘marketing’ of these how-to articles (i.e., the flashy, over-promising headline) than the actual intent or formula behind them.
I click on articles offering “10 Ways to Improve Your Life” with the expectation that, at best, three or four will be applicable to my life. And if I’m really lucky, I will find one that I will actually incorporate into my daily routine.
Just as there are few people who believe that a can of soda pop will make them dance through the streets like in the commercial, I doubt most readers are actually expecting any single online article to completely revolutionize their lives.
The actual content of these articles is oft-repeated for a reason. They usually contain solid (if generic) advice that have helped countless people improve their daily lives in the past. And every time the advice is repackaged and republished, a new reader digests it and it changed forevermore by it.
I do agree that easily digested material is easily forgotten. I recall a study that people who paid for a book found the text more valuable and utilized it more as opposed to people who downloaded the material for free. This post makes me think I should peruse personal development blogs less, and spend more time utilizing things I learned from posts/books I’ve read in the past.
This is a cheap article, simply because it is misleading. There are other ways to make your point. By the way, perfection lies in your definition of it…
About to send this to my perfectionist friend.
Effective bait-and-switch. One thing I’ve noticed is that most self-improvement articles are very self-promoting, largely because there aren’t many other ways to convince your audience that your ideas are important or correct. Hence titles like ’5 easy steps to reach perfection’ and lists of things that will DEFINITELY change your life if you do them.
On the flip side, I’m reminded of ‘Who Moved My Cheese’, a self-help book about accepting change that is told through allegorical storytelling. It may not be as effective in a blog format, but giving the reader an entertaining framework and allowing for individual interpretation and thought would help the reader relate more to the article.
People can get addicted to reading self-help without doing anything to change their lives. These people are addicted because self-help gives you a sense of security that you’re overcoming your obstacles. But when you spend hours on end reading advice but not doing anything with it…. what’s the point?
I also liked how this article addressed the issue of self-help epistimology. In the self-help world, many peices of advices are claimed as “Solid Fact” when in actually their efficacy is only anectodal. That’s why I would recommend the book: “59 Seconds, think little, change a lot”, everything in this book (with its mock title of certainty) is backed up by citations to famous psychology studies. In other words, the entire self-help book is a consolidation of all of the best scientific research on self-help techniques to date!
Well i am no self help guru, if at all i came here looking for help. I must say I am glad this article has promoted active discussion and from it all, I am with: Paul Baarn and his suggestion to create a group that will active test each suggested life hack and rate the information.
I really dont care if this article is trying to sell the blogger or his knowledge as long as it gets me somewhere.
At this juncture I have not realize the answer to increase productivity (Not achieve 100% perfection). Simply because no one here seem to being actually talking about it. Which I believe is the purpose of this discussion? Did i miss something? And I would like to apologize in advance if anyone may have found my post insulting in anyway.
I don’t bealive in perfection, but I do bealive we can do our best.
i am a little damage of my heart when i look the picture. sorry
You started to tell an interesting story….
then..
I would say those leaders in that town you just created in my would say something like:
Start every day in meditation, just breathe.
Be where you are.
You are perfect as you are, be yourself, don’t try to be somebody you are not.
Live each moment, each day to the fullest.
and
one thing we cannot tell you, you have to figure that out yourself…
:)
……..
OK, there are at three words in the title that need tweaking in order to write the guide (and if you tweak them, you can reach it, happily, in three steps rather than five.)
Problem one: Easy steps rather than Simple steps. It’s possible to explain something simply, that doesn’t make it easy.
Problem two: Perfection rather than “world class” – one of the things about truly world-class people in many walks is that they don’t consider that they have reached perfection, and always see room for improvement.
Problem three – anything rather than everything. Most people can simply reach world class standards in ANYTHING they choose, but that’s different from reaching them in EVERYTHING.
So, here we go:
Three SIMPLE steps to reach WORLD-CLASS-STANDARDS in ANYTHING you do.
Step 1: Treat others as you’d like them to treat you.
Step 2: Decide what it is you want to be good at.
Step 3: Commit to learning how to do it (which requires a couple of notes).
3i – It generally takes about 10,000 hours practice to attain world-level mastery of something. So, in your spare time, an hour a day, that will take 30 years. Up that to 20 hours a week, and you cut that to 10 years. Do it for 100 hours a week, and you have a 2 year deadline.
3ii – You’ll also need to work out the right balance between private research (books, Internet research, audio), group-based learning (courses, seminars), 1:1 training, and personal practice (experiments if you’re a science student, playing / singing if you’re a musician, writing if you’re an author).
Easy? Probably not.
Simple? Yes.
That 10,000 hour commitment thing is, by the way, one reason so many coaches actually need to start programmes by getting the right motivation in place.
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