The Toxic World of Self Help: Hustle Culture, Toxic Positivity, Addiction, and Fake Gurus.

The toxic world of self help: a world surrounded by toxic positivity, self help addiction, fake gurus, and hustle culture.

It’s the side of ‘self-development’ that is often overlooked by those on the outside, and even those who are avid consumers of the industry.

In this video we take a dive into the dark side of self-help, and the traps that may lie in wait for those who enter this world.

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Copyright © James Jani 2020

Prologue - 00:00
Part 1: Where it Begins - 02:13
Part 2: Addiction - 04:26
Part 3: The Sinister Business of Selling Hope - 07:39
Part 4: Toxic Positivity - 10:41
Part 5: Hustle Culture - 13:30
Conclusion - 16:36

[JamesJani]

IMPORTANT CLARIFICATION/CORRECTIONS:
I want to preface this by saying that I don’t think the entirety of the self-help industry is bad – and as some of you have rightly pointed out, not all the fault should be given to the industry itself, consumers of the industry need to take accountability for their actions as well.

Self-help has benefited me greatly, but only when I approached it from a place of not using self-help as a “quick fix” for motivation and happiness –this video was intended to look at various traps that people can fall into if they use this industry in the wrong way, which I had been doing previously.

I realise now that there must be a BALANCE – both your consumption and action must have a symbiotic relationship, and a combination of both can make self-help something that could prove to be genuinely useful.

So with that in mind, see this video as a look into the aspects of self-help that have been taken and misused by both the producers and the consumers of the industry, but not a hit piece on the self-help industry as a whole.
Hope this clarifies things!
🙏

Edit #1: Also, when I say “my first year in college” in this video I am referring to sixth form (US equivalent of grades 11/12) - we sometimes call this “college” in the UK.

Edit #2: I was harsh when including clips of Gary Vaynerchuk in this video! - Although I didn't mention him by name specifically, I did imply that he was somehow a negative influence of the "self-help" community. Gary V is actually very outspoken against certain aspects of the self-help industry that I've referenced to in this video, and he is a legitimate entrepreneur who profits mostly from his media company, not from self-help. By no stretch of the imagination should he be pegged in the same category as "guru's" like Grant Cardone - this was definitely a mistake on my part.

Edit #3: I recommended Echarte Tolle's "The Power of Now" book at the end of this video. I want to emphasise that whilst I enjoy this book for its philosophy on mindfulness, and bringing awareness to your thoughts, I do belive that are many elements of the book that are "woo-woo" and pseudoscience. Bare that in mind if you ever purchase his book.

[bahardan]

My father always says “If working hard was to make anyone rich, construction workers would be the richest men in the world”
Edit: You really think the world consists of the 1st world country where you lay your comfortable asses at? People working at construction are suffering all around the world, stop saying “they make good money” etc. They work under minimum wage and even worse, there is still slavery in the world, did you know that?

[wuzumaki]

After reading about a dozen self-help books you'll start to realize that they all pretty much consist of the same content.

[quex]

this comment section is more valuable than any self help book.

[SaintVodou]

Life is so much better when your parents teach you early on how to detect BS before you’re standing in it. Mom, Dad—for the millionth time—thank you.

[john_dren]

Toxic positivity is a huge one that in culture globally, people have now ended up shaming others for being *real* rather than _“positive”_ .

[inkdragon]

“A patient healed is a customer lost.”
This is the mindset of the self care industry.

[Altafzama]

After consuming 3 years of self improvement I got understanding of this: i don't need 100 gurus, i need 1 guru, i don't need 100 books, i need 1 book, i have to take 100 actions, from that 1 book.

[LeoStone]

it’s hard to believe that 2020 is four years ago😢

[KingMinos]

"Sleeping eight hours a day? that's a third of your life!"
Yes, but it's the best third dude!

[michaelrantanen]

"If you want self help why would you read a book written by somebody else? That's not self help, that's help." Thanks George.

[erikeinsetler]

What he said at 8:47 made me realize that unhappy people like myself are like a dying cancer patient desperately trying to find the best doctor in town, only to then waste more money on different types of treatments and pills, but never resolving the root cause. Sure, they may take away the pain temporarily and give us a sense of progress, but eventually, our wallets run empty and we're left with nothing except complete hopelessness. 




What a dark world we live in...

[maricarurmeneta]

"Say no to Motion and say yes to Action." Indeed, I've heard this from other mentors as well. We can do things that feels like a progress but it wasn't. Like reading books, listening to podcast, watching educational videos is also a form of procrastination, because instead of putting your knowledge into action you get stuck doing these stuff. Very DANGEROUS and not everyone is aware of this.

[zatoby]

Advice from my father: "How you get good at something isn't what you do when you're motivated, it's how you persevere when you aren't."

[starklelight]

The “working hard” message has become one of the most toxic for me. Because if you do something and it doesn’t work, it’s clearly not because it just doesn’t work for you, it means you just don’t work hard enough. Eventually you start to question your worth and it can go to a very unhealthy spiral. Realizing that I just need to figure out how things work for me has become one of the most important things in my life so far.

[bradbaker]

It took me being hospitalized, diagnosed Lyme disease, and shutting down the doors to my business to realize that I had been ignoring the "negative thoughts" and just needed to think more positively. In reality I was deeply trying to communicate with myself that I was unbearably unhappy doing what I was doing. I worked myself right into the ground at 29 and nearly lost everything. I think one of the main reasons that my body became susceptible to sickness is that I had drained the life out of it and was physically and emotionally exhausted. 18 months later and I'm still learning this difficult lesson. Self help obfuscates the work that needs to be done internally and makes it feel like you are doing inner work. That you are changing. You are not changing you are just becoming someone that you will recognize less and less.

[familyguysofunny]

I remember someone calling self help "motivation porn".

[joeyfajardo]

You know what's better than reading self help books?

Reading things you actually genuinely like.

Edit: I see this has become a controversial take

[newbloomwon]

“If you’re looking for self-help, why would you read a book written by someone else?” —George Carlin

[BAARAKHOONI-PRODUCTION]

"If truth Kills them, let them die"

Thank you Sir for this enlightenting video