So, you think you know it all huh? You're an expert in every field. You constantly give out diet and exercise, financial, emotional, and other advice. But look in the mirror. Is this really the truth? Something tells me it probably isn't. Something tells me when you look in the mirror you will realize two realities. A - You don't follow your own advice, which leads to B - Your advice doesn't work.
So you want to be happy, good with people, healthy, financially stable? Does this sound like you. Well guess what. I DO have the solution.
All you have to do... Is pick up a freaking book and read, people... I know it is a tough concept, but if you begin reading you will begin learning. Personally I would narrow it down to the area of your life you want to work on most. Look up reviews of books on that subject online to find what others recommend and then buy it. Then dedicate just a little bit of time to reading it each day to reading and studying until you have sucked in the knowledge it has to offer. It doesn't take much and soon you will have real information which you can use to make knowledgeable decisions.
If you don't read, you won't have anything to base your opinions on other than experience which from what I have seen has failed the general population. All of this reminds me of something that happened a few weeks ago in my local whole foods store. I overheard an over-weight woman telling her friend how she doesn't buy soy because its bad for blah blah blah. I thought... Seriously?!?! If this woman knew anything about leading a healthy lifestyle she wouldn't be as large as she is, and yet she is giving advice to someone else!
Read... Read and learn and know and grow. You CAN have the things you want in life, but you can't have them until you start learning how to achieve your goals. Books are the door to practical methods that can be tested to find out what works for you. Do yourself a favor.
Reading IS important, but I think what needs to be emphasized that goes along with this (and you DID touch on it) is to practice what you preach. (Which you obviously do.) You can read all you want but if you never put any of the information into practice, and then go around telling everyone about...
ReplyDelete"I read from such and such last week that if you this and that x amount of times a week that you can yadda yadda all night long!"
It will all mean very little coming from you. That is unless:
a.) You cite a source (Such and such) that is actually reputable.
b.) You have yourself ACTUALLY yadda yadda'd all night long as a result of this and thatting x times a week!
Like you said, Read and learn and know and grow (Or shrink in the case of us fatty's.) Starts with read as the first step, but you have to take it further than that.
I know this because I have made this mistake in the past. I have read plenty of books telling me what I should be doing in all kinds of areas of life and should know better, but I haven't begun putting into practice everything I have read.
The tendency of people is to want to talk about what one reads before one tries the recommended action, both to gather your peers opinions on the subject (what you tell yourself) and to try to look smart to them (the REAL truth). Also it is FAR easier to talk than to act so people usually start there.
So yes, I have walked the walk of talking the talk so I know what I'm talking about when talk about not walking, got it?
I have on occasion mentioned these wondrous things I've read in conversation or as advice in the past, but I stopped doing it because I felt like a hypocrite. Just like you said, I wasn't following my own advice, and consequently my advice didn't work.
It might have worked had I put it into practice but the real advise I was giving people wasnt the words I was speaking. It was my actions, speaking louder, saying "Sound smart about crap you've read, it will make you feel immediately smart and knowledgeable, then you don't have to bother doing any of it, cause you'll already feel good."
Well that doesn't last and it doesn't count for crap when you do look into the mirror and realize your 'expert' opinion are just the repeated words of people who really DO walk the walk, while you just sit and talk.