Is Self-Improvement a Trap?
What if trying to fix yourself is the problem? The Self-Improvement Machine Open your phone. There's an app for your sleep. An app for your steps. An app for your water intake. An app for your meditation. An app that tells you how focused you were today—yes, that's a thing. There's a podcast to make you more productive. A book to make you more confident. A course to make you more successful. A coach to make you more everything. We live inside a self-improvement machine. And it never stops. You wake up. Check your sleep score. You didn't get enough REM. Failure. You check your steps. Only 3,000 so far. Failure. You check your inbox. Forty-seven unread. Failure. You go to bed thinking: Tomorrow, I'll do better. And the cycle continues. The Running Never Stops My friend Chidi is a self-improvement addict. He's read 47 books on productivity. He's done three online courses. He has a journal for his journals. He's optimized his morning routine, his evening r...