Implementing Self-Help Strategies

This morning, I started reading a very short ebook, How to Trick Yourself into Doing Things You Hate: Use Psychology, Self-Discipline, & Neuroscience to Suffer Less by Peter Hollins. Initially, I thought to speed through this book, but I think I will write a blog post about what I’ve read over the next five days as there are only five chapters.

Hollins says that most people read self-help books and fail to implement any of the actions that they read about; I think I fall into that category at times. Recently, I read Think Smart by Dr. Restak, and recoiled at the thought of the brain exercises mentioned in the text because I don’t want to do them. So, really, I took a few things from the book (diet, exercise) and focused on them instead. While that is still helpful, I do need to work on memory and improve my cognitive reserve by doing tested exercises. I chose Hollins’ book because I’m at a stage in life where I tend to tell myself I don’t want to do hard things that can benefit me as I age.

Instead of speeding through Hollins’ book, I’ve decided to read each chapter over the next five days and incorporate what I’ve learned into a series of blog posts.

Ch. 1 – The Real Meaning of Action

Develop a Bias for Action

A bias for action means that you won’t waste time mulling over decisions. You will choose action over inaction when there is a decision to be made—even if you only have 37% of the subject matter researched. Instead of waiting for the perfect moment to start a project, you will take action by choosing direction and use resilience and creativity to overcome challenges. It is helpful to remember that decisions are largely reversible and failure yields data that helps build resilience and determines what practices or processes should be retained or tweaked.

To practice this process I can apply it to my book project on how health systems and cultures treat maternal psychosis recovery. Instead of waiting until all of my research is complete, I can research one chapter at a time and write the text for that chapter within the same week. This should help me remember what I’ve researched. At the end of the book, I can create an afterword to tie concepts together once I’ve researched and written all of the previous chapters.

Purpose as a Vector

Purpose can be thought of as a vector. You need both magnitude and direction in order to reach your goals. Motion includes activity like research, but research doesn’t write your book. Action is focused activity that yields results—writing is what results in a finished book. Knowing what the purpose of my book is to both me, and those who read it, will guide the creative process by allowing me to use both motion and action to complete a manuscript.

Setting Goals & Energy Levels

Hollins also talks about goal setting and how to work with energy levels. He prefers SMART (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, Time-bound). I tend to struggle with SMART goals for some reason. It is like I have a mental block about them due to anxiety about perfection and performance. As I have to remind myself, perfection is not the goal. Learning and adjusting to adversity is how you achieve a finished book project.

I like the idea of working around energy levels. I struggle with mental health issues and narcolepsy so making use of my productive hours is important to me. Instead of reading comments on YouTube videos for two hours this morning, I put on Snoopy jazz videos and read chapter one of Hollins book, made notes, and am writing a blog post about what I’ve learned and how I can apply it to my book project. I feel pretty good about this process and I think I will continue it for the next few days, in addition to researching for chapter one of the book I am writing.

Concluding Thoughts

While reading through Hollins’ book quickly would gain me another book towards my 2026 25-book goal, I think I will pace this one out. I do tend to read self-help books and then fail to change any of my actions to achieve goals. Instead, I’d like to implement strategies from this book and then focus on other types of nonfiction for the remainder of the year.

Do you tend to read a lot of self-help books? If so, what actions, or habits, have you changed to achieve your goals?