To Read or Not to Read.

I had a fun childhood. Instead of reading fairy tales to my sister and me, my ambitious mum used to read Tony Robbins’ or Zig Ziglar’s books at bedtime.

So, instead of Disney tales, I used to listen to stories about success, determination to reach your goals, time planning and prioritising. And I could not even read or count yet…

But here is the thing: biographies and motivational materials – are they beneficial for personal development? On one hand, it is worth knowing a handful of success stories to stay inspired.

Do Successful People Actually Read Motivational Books?

On the other hand, what do successful people do? Do they read biographies, or go through motivational courses?

I am often watching youtube movies about motivation while working on my codes. Some of these movies involve interviews with ‘successful people.

I watched hundreds of these pieces and realised one striking thing. Among all the advice these successful people give on the media, one thing is missing. There is no mention of watching motivational materials to become successful.

This means that those successful people had their mentors in real life oooor… did not even need that. They were just born with some internal compass which tells them what to do next.

Is that the ugly truth? …that some people just have their intuition, can tell the difference between what is important and what is not? That they can predict the consequences of their decisions and dispose of time optimally?

As if they had a guardian angel who just tells them what is the best next step? In the end, I asked Google whether or not the motivational books work for real.

Notably, according to Duckworth et al. (2007), sustained perseverance predicts achievement above and beyond talent.

What Really Drives People to Succeed?

And I got to a few articles and forums. One sentence found online that I found particularly interesting, is some private comment from a user calling himself Wan Zulfikri Wan Yusoff:

‘Yes, people do become successful after reading motivational books but the thing that made them successful is the same thing that had driven them to read the motivational book in the first place – The desire to succeed.’

I couldn’t agree more.

According to Polivy and Herman (2002) in American Psychologist, this “false hope syndrome” is well documented. People repeatedly attempt self-change with unrealistic expectations about how fast and easy it will be. This itself can undermine follow-through.

What I also found, was the theory of motivation by Mel Robbins:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCHPSo79rB4&t=816s

Does Motivation Even Exist?

It is a very interesting material, as Mel’s main point is that… motivation does not exist. The human brain is wired in a way that its animalistic part is controlling emotions.

Any activity but sleeping, eating and copulating, it interprets as risky and scary – something to definitely avoid. Indeed, according to Ryan and Deci (2000), motivation that lasts comes from within rather than from external pushes.

Therefore, any desire to achieve something will always generate anxiety, no matter what rational arguments to use. Mel believes that once you have thought about doing something progressive about your life.

Or about your day, you only have five seconds to implement this idea in practice. After that time, your brain will talk you out of this.

According to Gollwitzer (1999) in American Psychologist, linking a goal to a specific, immediate action — an “implementation intention” — helps. It measurably increases the odds that people actually follow through, rather than just deliberating. 

The more time you spend deliberating the pros and cons of doing something, the worse.

I tried to behave according to what she advised, namely to become that instant doer. And I must say that this approach does work: increases the number of things that can be done during the day, and reduces fear. And I can recommend this approach.