DON’T READ THAT SELF-HELP BOOK
I’ll admit it: Many of the things I held to be true as a software CEO back in 2019 before the pandemic are now outdated.
After all, how could we have predicted the massive changes the COVID-19 crisis would bring? How could we have known that everything we thought we knew would be radically uprooted and tested?
For over two years, we’ve lived through grave uncertainty and fear — the kind that challenges the way you see the world. We’ve witnessed the fallout of The Great Resignation, and we’ve quickly learned to adapt to a multitude of diverse work models.
Naturally, the self-help industry has boomed. And why wouldn’t it? We’re all looking for answers — for some soft and steady ground that can provide us with a roadmap to help combat years of burnout.
The pandemic boosted the self-help book industry and accelerated virtual selfhelp offerings like webinars and courses. Worldwide, the personal development industry is worth over $43 billion and is expected to grow to $67 billion by 2030. Sounds like a positive thing, right?
In 2019, I argued that self-help books hurt productivity, and I still believe so today. In fact, I now believe more strongly than ever that professional and personal success can be achieved without following the advice of productivity evangelists. Here’s why.
Balance is more important than peak performance
Balance creates authentic self-improvement, not catchy hacks and not literature that promotes peak performance at all costs.
Acclaimed author and organizational psychologist Adam Grant hit the nail on the head when he went against most selfhelp rhetoric and suggested that time management isn’t a solution, it’s actually part of the problem.
“We live in a culture obsessed with personal productivity,” he wrote for The New York Times. “We devour books on getting things done and dream of fourhour workweeks. We worship at the altar of hustle and boast about being busy.”
Grant takes it a step further by calling out the argument that brainstorming ways to better plan out our schedules is a misguided attempt at trying to reach “productivity nirvana.”
After running my company, Jotform, for the past 16 years, I’ve arrived at the same conclusion. Rather than reading the latest self-help book, here are two simple pieces of advice I recommend.
1. Understand the difference between urgent and important.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower once said: “What is urgent is seldom important and what is important is seldom urgent.”
I often think about his words in the context of the business world.
In an article for Business Insider, Drake Baer outlines the difference between urgency and importance. Urgency, he argues, demands “your attention right now — daily deadlines, emails from your boss and the like.” Important tasks, on the other hand, “contribute to your longterm goals — staying fit, getting financially secure, advancing your career.”
Earlier this year, my friend Mary was overworking to the point that her body began breaking down. She ignored red flags like constant fatigue, migraines, insomnia and irritability in the name of productivity. Needless to say, her priorities were out of whack. She prioritized seemingly urgent tasks at the cost of one of life’s most important tasks: taking care of ourselves.
In this way, productivity culture often encourages us to limit the amount of time we spend on self-care and stops us from listening to what our bodies need. Ultimately, placing all of your attention on “urgent” tasks in the name of productivity will only set you up for major burnout and keep you from what matters most.
2. Set healthy boundaries and smart goals.
One of the best things workers can do for their careers is set healthy boundaries and smart goals.
As a CEO, it would be careless of me to say that productivity isn’t important. Productivity isn’t the problem. The problem is when we become obsessed with reaching it as a state of “nirvana,” as Grant puts it.
Many self-help books — while well intentioned — tend to glorify hustle culture as a way to reach peak productivity, and this is where self improvement can become harmful. However, setting clear expectations can help us disrupt this line of thinking. It’s important to draw clear boundaries around our work lives and our home lives in order to create balance. Balance allows us to cultivate both our creativity and our passion — two things needed in order to move forward in our businesses and careers.
Setting smart goals means being realistic and patient. Focusing on slow and steady growth instead of immediate outcomes can help us ensure that our efforts pay off in the long run.
And while “Slow and Steady” may be a boring title for a self-help expert’s book, it’s the only way to achieve true and lasting self-improvement.