I read a self-help book every day for a WEEK -- now i'm more confused than ever

  Hello everyone and welcome back to my BLOG! My name is Jack Edwards and this week we   are going to be taking on self-help books. I bought the biggest selling self-help books of all time   because my self... needs some help. The theory is that if I read one of these books every single day for   seven days then my life should get better... right? So, firstly we have Think like a Monk by Jay Shetty   followed by The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo,   The 5am Club by Robin Sharma, The Four Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss, Rich Dad Poor Dad by   Robert Kiyosaki, and finally How to do Nothing by Jenny Odell. Each day I'm going to be reading one   of these books and then incorporating the lessons that it teaches me into my lifestyle. So, basically,   just think of me as, like, the internet's collective guinea pig. We shall see, let's go... [Intro] On tonight's program ladies and gentlemen, we have something that's going to make you sick Before we get started today there is one other way that you can start to direct your own   journey through self-help and that is by joining Skillshare who have very, very kindly sponsored   today's video! If you are creative and or curious then there are hundreds of Skillshare courses   available to you -- for example, I've been taking this class called "simple productivity: how to accomplish   more with less" by self-help author Greg Mckewen, so this is the perfect alternative to reading   self-help books! Right now is the perfect time to start investing in yourself and your future growth   and you know what? I'm going to help you do just that because the first 1,000 people who click the   link in the description box down below will get a free trial of skillshare premium... you're welcome,   you lucky sausage! It's the perfect platform for both learning new skills and improving the ones   that you already have, so what are you waiting for? Click the link! The first book of many that   I'm going to be reading this week is quite a controversial one and that is Think Like a Monk   by Jay Shetty. This claims that it will "train my mind for peace and purpose every day". Because i've heard   such mixed reviews about this, it makes me want to read it even more because... i am nosy.   So, I'm going to get started and i'll let you know what i think and whether what i think... is like a monk.  Okay, so i'm about halfway through this book now and Jay Shetty has just very helpfully suggested that in   order to be more productive in the mornings you could consider waking up an hour earlier than   you currently do -- fine, that makes sense. However, the next sentence says "like waking up at 4am" -- very bold   of you to assume, Jay, that i was already waking up at 5am and not 1pm. In fairness to him though   it does then go on to say that if you struggle with that then you could just consider waking   up 15 minutes earlier than you currently do and making an active effort to do something in that   time that's away from your phone and so i'm going to try and spend that extra first 15 minutes of   my day reading rather than just scrolling through social media. Also, he suggests here that we should   stop introducing ourselves as our profession, so for example "i'm a lawyer", "i'm a doctor"...  "i'm a youtuber" -- actually that is quite embarrassing to be fair. So, Jay Shetty, if you're watching -- i'm sure you're not -- "hi i'm Jack Edwards, i'm an attention seeker who over-shares in the internet for the   validation of strangers" -- it's got a ring to it! He also makes the case for "transforming the mundane"   and by that he means, instead of tuning out and listening to an audiobook or music whilst you do   the dishes or tidy your room, you should really, really focus on the task at hand. So i am going   to give that a go! Update: just finished doing my dishes with intentionality and mindfulness and it   was really, really boring. I will not be doing that again. This book basically is an amalgamation of   loads of things that you probably already know and then Jay Shetty just puts that into the context   of being a monk. He covers a lot of ground but without saying anything groundbreaking. It's just   a bit wishy-washy. I do think this could be a good introduction to self-help books because it's very   accessible and easy to understand. It also includes these little boxes with tasks that you can do to   basically put the principles into practice -- for example there's one about envy which encourages   you to think, like, if that person was stripped right now of everything that i am jealous of -- so   whether that's money, a job, number of followers, i don't know -- if all of that was gone right now, would   that actually benefit you? And the answer is pretty much always "no" which means it's not worth your   energy to be jealous! So that was quite interesting! It also talks about how you should detach yourself   from material possessions, so you don't need to "not own anything" but you should not let other things own you. He also does a good job of kind of demystifying monks and making them feel a lot   more human and their quest a lot more attainable. Ultimately it did make me think: "would i actually   want to be a monk?" And i think the answer is ... no. It sounds like a lot of work, it sounds like you have   to sacrifice pretty much everything that makes you happy and completely recalibrate your brain into   a whole new paradigm... and i've been putting off making dinner. It has its moments but ultimately   i don't think this is a book i would necessarily recommend. On to the next one! Good morning, it is   day two and i did actually follow Jay Shetty's advice this morning and i set my alarm for 15   minutes earlier than i normally would. I used this app called Alarmy which basically requires you to   scan a barcode in order to shut the thing up and so i set the barcode to be the barcode on the   back of my book so that, basically, i had the book on my desk and then when i woke up this morning   i had to get out of bed and scan the barcode to turn the alarm off, and then i swapped my phone for the   book and then i read for 15 minutes... and actually that was a really good start to the day, so i would-  i would recommend that! I've just finished reading the second book which is The Secret by Rhonda   Byrne and this is the kind of book that people say "changes their lives" and... I have several thoughts.   60% of this book is spent talking about how great and important this book is, and it's like they were   testing the theory that "if we keep telling the reader this, eventually they'll believe it". What   "the secret" actually is -- well, firstly, it's just good marketing: by calling something "the secret"  you basically make it feel like an exclusive club and that the people who read this are superior to   the normal people out on the street -- but, secondly, it is the law of attraction. This is the idea that you will attract the things to you that you manifest, and on a fundamental   level i can acknowledge that that would work in the sense that if you are constantly thinking   about your goals and you always have them in mind, then naturally, instinctively you will make efforts   to achieve them but this book takes that one step further and basically suggests that if you   want something you should behave as if you already have it. So, if you want to be a millionaire it   doesn't matter how many zeros are in your bank account... or whether your bank account is just zero... you should behave like a millionaire and tell yourself that you can afford anything you   want. But surely that will just constantly leave you with the crushing reality that you're not   actually a millionaire? This book also gives some of the most wild, outlandish, outrageous evidence   which i don't believe for a single second -- at one point it suggests that one person who read   this book and had terrible eyesight started manifesting that they could see in 2020 vision   and then in three days their eyesight was cured! And you want me to believe that? How is that even   legal to print? That's either laser eye surgery or lazy writing! And i am someone with terrible   eyesight -- i'm 8.25 in this side 8.75 in that eye, and if you don't know what that means...   you're lucky. I obviously have contact lenses in right now but for the next few days i'm going to   manifest having 20:20 vision and we'll see what happens. It's officially been three days and... I'm   cured! I can't believe i've been wearing these things since i was three years old when i could   have just manifested perfect vision in three days! Forget Specsavers, should have gone to Rhonda Byrne!   I just went from three blind mice to Stuart Little. Thank you Rhonda you, legend! By the way, that's a   joke. I still can't see [ __ ] and whoever told Rhonda Byrne that her book cured their vision lied to her   several times. Ultimately, if you behave in the way that this book encourages you to behave you will   just be a bit of a dick, because it will make you feel so entitled to success when actually life is   incredibly complex and things happen unexpectedly that aren't because you're a terrible person, it's   just because life gets in the way! This book will just make you delusional and it is so full of its   own self-importance that it is just horrible to read. By the way, I don't want you to think that i'm   anti-manifestation because i'm not. It's just this book literally claims at one point that someone   manifested curing their cancer and it worked and i just think it's disgusting to even make claims   like that. But, on a much less extreme level, i'm going to test the theory and i'm going to go for a   run and i'm gonna tell myself that "i am a marathon runner"... I think it goes without saying that i am   not in fact a marathon runner but i want to see whether that mentality will help me on a quick 5k.   [Heavy panting] Okay i'm back and... I am not a marathon runner... [crash] I am not a marathon runner!   Okay so imagine I went online and I bought this book second-hand. I bought the Life-Changing   Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo and this arrives... this is the Life-Changing Magic   of not giving a f[ __ ] -- imagine trying to buy a book about decluttering your life and ending up   with more clutter! Fuming, absolutely fuming. Anyway, eventually i managed to get my hands on this and   i just finished reading it and... i don't know what planet Marie Kondo lives on but it isn't this one.   Marie Kondo comes home every day, empties out her purse, puts everything away -- as if it's not   gonna go back in the purse the next day -- and then thanks her purse for its services that day. At one   point i genuinely turned over the cover to check I wasn't reading the parody. Also, she talks to all   of her possessions in her house.... which at first I would have thought was insanity but we're like   a year into this pandemic and i can kind of see it now. Don't get me wrong, there are some really   great practical tips about organising different possessions that you have and different parts of   your house, and basically her overall principle for decluttering your life is that everything you own   should "spark joy". So, for instance, you should get all of your clothes, put them into a big pile, and   then feel each one one-by-one, speak to them, find their "sweet spot", and decide whether that item of   clothing "sparks joy" in your life. And if it doesn't, it's in the bin. So i'm gonna try it and we'll see   what happens, and i'm also going to tidy my flat because i am feeling quite motivated after reading   this! So, thanks to Marie Kondo i now have a tidy living room area and a tidy bedroom. This area i   think was especially urgent and everything now kind of has a place, including my crispy caramel   mini bites. So, i'm currently facing a mountain of my own clothing which i'm not going to show you   because it's embarrassing... let's just say: suddenly Mount Kilimanjaro is looking quite manageable.  And i'm trying to think about what "sparks joy" but then you come to things like my boxers... like   do these "spark joy"? I suppose you have to kind of invert the idea sometimes because the idea of   going commando as the alternative sparks less joy... and more chafing. I'm all done, I feel like that was   quite productive but i would say i think you need to take Marie Kondo's advice with a little pinch   of salt. I guess that's the case for most self-help authors really but in Marie Kondo's case if you   leave that grain of salt lying around she will tidy it up. This is a no-clutter zone... at least for   the next 20 minutes. The next -- whoops! The next book is one that i was massively putting off and that   is The 5 a.m Club. The reason i've been putting this one off is that i don't want to wake up   at 5 a.m. No part of that is appealing to me... 5 a.m sounds great in the summer but right now it   is the middle of the winter and it is dark until seven! So what the hell am i gonna do at five? Also,   one of the main benefits of waking up at 5am is that you're awake before anyone else but I live   alone... there's no one else here to distract me anyway. That being said, this book was actually   quite fascinating to read and that's because it's a self-help book but it's written as fiction so   it follows these two pretty dull characters (to be honest) and they go to a convention where they meet   a man who whisks them off to a desert island -- which, by the way, that is one way you could convince me   to wake up at 5am with ease -- and he basically teaches them the "life-changing principles" of   the 5 a.m club. Very little of value is actually said until page 206 and that's where we find out   about the 20/20/20 formula -- nothing to do with the year 2020 because we are not reliving that!   So essentially, when you wake up at 5am, for the first 20 minutes you should "move" so you should do   some exercise that makes you sweat. From 5:20 to 5:40 you should "reflect" so that could be journaling,   planning, contemplating, meditating. Then from 5:40 to 6 you "grow" so that could be reading a   book, listening to a podcast, etc. so that's actually quite useful and i'm actually going to try and do   that tomorrow morning, and that period of time is referred to as "the victory hour". I did have plenty   of reservations about a self-help book that is written in the style of fiction but actually it's   really memorable because i can think of every step that those characters took, because it's a linear   narrative! So i actually think i took more in from this book than, say, Think Like a Monk which is just   firing existential questions at you every other page. But equally this book is about 300 pages and   the actual useful content could be condensed down to about 30 or 40. Ah, but then it does stick in   your head -- i'm very conflicted about this book and so tomorrow -- thanks to you -- i'm gonna be setting my   alarm for 5am. Knowing that i have to get up at 5am tomorrow morning is honestly just making me   really sad... i don't want to do it! 5am is the time I like to go to sleep, not wake up! But i'm going   to do it. I'm going to head to bed and i will see you in the morning. It's 5 a.m... um, i am not thriving. And it's literally still dark outside. I'm gonna do my exercise, my journaling, and my reading. So, I did   it and... I feel shattered. Literally, look! It's still dark out there and now that i've done my "victory   hour" it's 6 a.m. I don't start work until 9... i've got nothing to do! The one thing i would say   is that it does make you feel very smug, like i've done all of this before 6am, what have you lot done?   There's no one out there. We're back and we're more tired than ever before. This is the Four Hour Work   Week by Timothy Ferriss which is going to "teach us how to escape the nine to five, live anywhere, and   join the new rich". Tim Ferriss posits that the new rich recognised that money is valuable but not as   valuable as time, so for example we have person A who has made 30 pounds and person B who has   made 50 pounds -- objectively person B is more rich and has more money. However, what if we said that   person B who has made 50 pounds works for 10 hours today in order to make that money whereas person A  only works three hours? Actually, person A is using their time more effectively and is therefore   the new rich. Most of this book is about how Timothy Ferriss automates his life, so he hires   other people to do his dirty work essentially. Mostly he talks about how you can outsource   that work from people abroad who you don't need to pay as much which i think, ethically, is a bit   problematic and actually the beginning of this book is incredibly difficult to read because   it's so obnoxiously written. He talks about how his salary used to be £40,000 per year but   he would work 80 hours a week. He then completely shifted his lifestyle, outsourced work, basically   refused to attend meetings or respond to emails, and was just quite horrible to everyone around   him so that they don't bother him with things that aren't completely urgent. This makes the people who   work with him (and for him) work more independently and have more agency. And now, because of all that,   he works only four hours a week but earns £40,000 a month and essentially he sees   time as having value in itself. The idea is kind of "are you being productive or just active" -- what   if i'm being neither, Timothy Ferriss? Once you wade through this man's ego and the self-importance of   this book, there are actually some good tips -- for example, he talks about Parkinson's Law which is the   idea that we adapt the workload that we have based on how much time we have to complete a task, so   if an essay is due in a week's time i will use that whole week to work on it and i'll work a   lot slower, whereas if it's due tomorrow at 9am i will still get the essay done in the time that i   now have before the deadline. There's also a very interesting idea about prioritisation -- okay, say   you have a seven hour work day stretching before you like i did today, imagine you'll got a call   at the very beginning of the day telling you that there's going to be a family emergency at midday   so you're only going to be able to work three hours that day, how would you use that time? Which   tasks on your to-do list would you prioritise and do straight away, and how would you do them in   the most efficient way possible? And i tried this theory out today when i was at work and actually   it's very useful just in terms of prioritising, time management, and organisation to be thinking   about "okay, how can i reach my goal and how can i achieve it right now?" Timothy Ferriss talks about   how he has a "low information diet" so he barely reads any news. He also talks about how reading   is a waste of time which is kind of ironic when you've just bought his book, and then the end of   the book kind of turns into a cheap travel guide -- and there are good tips but it sort of turns into   a completely different book at the end, so it's a bit strange. Overall, this was worth my time   this was worth reading. I don't think you should take everything he says completely literally and   try not to be insulted when he basically calls you stupid. And now, moving on. Today is day six.   i woke up at 5am as planned, i did my exercise, i did some journaling, and i did some reading...   and then it all went wrong. In fact, it went horribly wrong because i accidentally fell   asleep for two hours on the sofa and -- you know what? -- they didn't include that bit in the 5am club.   I'm currently learning about investments in the stock market from something that isn't Animal Crossing, so   that's- that's a good development for me. Although, I did just get to a part in this book where the   author talks about how he's not actually a good writer he's just good at marketing and selling   books so... yeah, uh, feeling really pleased that i have further lined his pocket and fallen into   that trap... thank you for asking. That feels like a bit of a weird thing to mention in the book. Greetings   loved ones, let's take a journey. Today's book is Robert T Kiyosaki's Rich Dad Poor Dad. The picture   on the cover is one of Robert Kiyosaki, but really it should be that meme of Paris Hilton where she's   like "stop being poor!!!" because that is essentially the message of this book: just stop being poor. Robert Kiyosaki's father is highly educated, has a relatively stable income, but he considers him to   be a "poor dad" which already isn't really true... he's middle-class. Whereas, the father of his childhood   best friend is not very educated but pretty well-off and his best friend's dad essentially becomes   a bit of a mentor to him, so he grows up with the conflicting advice of his "poor dad" and his best   friend's rich dad. and essentially what he unpacks and explores is the fact that, because parents   pass down wisdom and advice, the poor stay poor because they're passing down their values to their   children and the rich stay rich because they're passing down different values to their children.  This is a self-help book, but it's a finance book, and the cover actually says this is the number one   personal finance book of all time. What it talks about is investment, having assets over liabilities,   and also kind of how to avoid tax. I would say, this is just okay. Although there are some good   practical tips about investment and that kind of thing, they're not really practical tips i   can do in this video because we don't have the time or the funds for investment, so that's that   on that. And now we have one book -- one book left to go! -- and that book is this one. This is called   How to do Nothing and this is by Jenny Odell and this-- that sounds like my kind of book. Not because   i don't know how to do nothing, but because i want someone to validate that doing nothing is a good   thing. So, this is about "resisting the attention economy" and i'm very intrigued to read this one.  It is the final day of the challenge and i woke up this morning at 5am for the last time.   I exercised, i journaled, and i started reading this book. Today's book is How to do Nothing   by Jenny Odell and i had an expectation of what this book was going to be like and it was   nothing like that... nothing of the sort. And this is my own fault completely, I based this assumption   completely on the title of this book alone and I just thought this was going to be a book about   hustle culture, about toxic productivity, about this pressure that we put on ourselves to work until we   burn out... this book was not that. Instead, this is a book about geo-biology, about bird watching, about   philosophy, about being alone in nature. So i looked online and i feel significantly less stupid now   because it seems like a lot of people also made the mistake of thinking this book was something   that it's actually not. One of the reviews that i read of this book described it as "going for a walk   with your loony hippy friend who is simultaneously overeducated and also a zen crackhead" and i could   not have said it better myself. So, assumptions aside, one thing i really did enjoy about this book   is that, firstly, it's so current and up-to-date in terms of how social media is a major part   of our lives and it talks about how social media -- because it's so current and active and right now -- sort of makes us feel like we always need to share our opinion and it has to be either positive or   negative -- we can never just be neutral. This book is about the importance of sometimes just listening   and saying nothing. What made this a little bit difficult is that there's so many tangents and   philosophical discussions that it just gets a bit tedious and you kind of find yourself   skim reading. It feels a bit like intellectual snobbery, like you're not meant to understand.   It's meant to prove how clever the author is, so for me personally it wasn't my cup of tea but   for you it could be your whole kettle! So, what have i learned about self-help books this week? I think i   learned that it's very tiring trying to constantly help yourself and be productive and be perfect all   of the time, i learned that self-help books almost assume that you are already at least middle class,   and also that i don't think any one self-help book should be your bible -- you shouldn't see any of them   as a kind of scripture and follow everything it says to the line. It's better to take ideas from each of   the books that you encounter and adapt them to your personal lifestyle, for example waking up   15 minutes earlier and doing something not on my phone was good but waking up at 5am was not for   me, but the 20/20/20 formula is a good one. I would just rather do it at 7:30 not 5. I also learned   incredibly interesting tips from the 4 Hour Work Week. Do i want Timothy Ferriss' lifestyle? No.  But could i adapt parts of his lifestyle to mine? Yes, absolutely! I think the most interesting   observation of this book is that most people work their whole life so that they can have a   nice retirement whereas the new rich strive to enjoy every year and every moment of their life   so they spend the money that they're earning to make sure that today is fun and our time   does have value because it's finite. Not to be too morbid but you could die next week and you want   to make sure that every year that you lived was fun and enjoyable and not just working towards   a future that isn't even certain. Equally, parts of Rich Dad Poor Dad kind of resonated with me   because it spoke about how some people think of their careers as always working in one industry,   always working for one company, whereas other people may choose to move around and try new   things constantly and i think that's kind of how I would like to live my life and my career. So,   which ones would i recommend? Let's do snog, marry, avoid -- snog, Marie Kondo, avoid. Books i would avoid... i think this goes without saying but The Secret, this will make you completely delusional. You'd   be better just researching the law of attraction in your own time and, if you really, really want to   consume this, there is a film version on Netflix which is probably a bit better. Also, Jenny i hate   to say it but i think How to do Nothing would also be in avoid for me -- this is a book written for   the intelligentsia, i think there's a level of intellectual snobbery here, like i just don't   think this book was written for ordinary people to be able to comprehend, and i think we've all   been sort of misled by the title which isn't the author's fault. But, um, yeah it's not what you   think it will be. Books i would snog: the 5am Club i think is the one that you kiss in a nightclub and   it seems like a great idea at the time but then you regret it the next morning, but fundamentally   it's bad fiction and mediocre self-help. Another snog is going to be Rich Dad Poor Dad, this is   the person who you kiss but they're just a bit too old for you... it's a little bit dated. It mostly just   talks about why you should invest. And now we get onto books i would marry. Of course i would marry   Marie Kondo! These are tips that are a little bit wacky but they keep you on your toes and you   want to keep coming back to them because they're comforting and their heart is in the right place.  Think Like a Monk is stable, it's helpful, it makes you consider every single area of your life but i   think it's more than just a fling. And, finally, The Four-Hour Work Week. I think i would marry   this book because you've got a lot to learn from it. It's got some good advice, it will help you find   meaning in your life, but i think you would divorce it after a couple of years because it's ego   is freaking huge. I do also have some honorary mentions which i didn't read in this video but i   would recommend. In november i read Drive by Daniel H. Pink and this is a book about motivation and   how it needs to be intrinsic, it needs to come from within. It is a little bit repetitive, it could have   made the point in 50 pages but it does it in 250 instead. Atomic Habits by James Clear has retained   its title for me as the best self-help book i've ever read. It's not pretentious, it's just about how   small, tiny changes to the systems of our lives can really improve the way that we live and i thought   this was wonderful. I also bought these two books. This is Deep Work by Cal Newport and the Happiness   Advantage by Shawn Achor. I'm going to be reading these over the coming weeks so follow me on   Goodreads if you want to see my reviews of these and, for now, I guess all there is left to say is   thank you so much for watching this video, thank you so much Skillshare for sponsoring it! If you're new here you can subscribe down below and give this video a big thumbs up, the   first 1,000 people to click the link down below will get a Skillshare premium trial .. what else   can i plug? I'm on instagram, i'm on tik tok, i'm on twitter. I'll see you next time guys -- bye bye!!   [Outro] in case i don't see you good afternoon good evening and good night