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The Reason You Want to Be Better … Is the Reason That You’re Not
I’m easily annoyed by the “self-development” space, which I realize is already an incredibly broad category to begin with. And it’s also an interest that appears to be growing more fashionable every time a social media feed refreshes.
For the purposes of this article, let’s consider Self-Development to be the all-encompassing category that includes the equally extensive focus areas like personal and professional development, health and fitness programs, bio-hacking, quantified-self, stress-reduction, etc. and all of the related apps, trackers, wearables, gizmos and dodads and especially the c̶o̶a̶c̶h̶e̶s charlatans recommending them.
I’m certainly not alone in my perturbance. The title of this story is borrowed from the late author and speaker/stand-up philosopher Alan Watts who often discussed the absurdity of the hedonic treadmill and faulty affective forecasting.
“The reason you want to be better is the reason why you aren’t, shall I put it like that? We aren’t better because we want to be. Because the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Because all the do-gooders in the world whether they’re doing good for others or doing it for themselves are troublemakers: on the basis of “kindly let me help you or you will drown,” said the monkey putting the fish safely up a tree…
