Ever watch/read motivational material to “hype” people into doing something positive, to only find out later most of the material is nothing but a waste of time, effort, and just to keep that person around for another day?
Outside religion, there’s some factors people need to keep in mind. Rather than repeat the same info from previous blogs, I’ll stick to newer content, as well as what’s most important.
Out of 30ish videos I watched regarding “positive motivation,” I realized most of the videos do nothing more than borrow information off each other. Obvious topics include:
“Top X reasons why you’re happy/sad”
“What to do to make Money”
“Why you’re poor?”
“What does X sign mean?”
“Watching this video will change your life”
“X methods to make it big”
“Watch X person’s motivational speech”
“How to make X money by doing these things online”
“Why reading is a waste of time”
I then read a couple of short books involving motivation, and so far I can vouch the book section is far shorter of negative feedback due to the time, publisher(s), and content.
So far, Robert Greene is currently the “go to” when it comes to self buildup and motivation; mainly because his work has lessons along with stories to help understand the why, how, and who.
Another is Sun Tzu with The Art of War. Although his book is based on warfare, the book can also be a metaphor to life in general.
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is a book based on self reflection, as well as learning perspective. Granted the language can lose the reader, the points are still there.
The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli discusses the downsides of letting people be themselves and instead wants the government to run everything. Reason I bring this book up is the government should know their boundaries, and within reason step in to keep control. Some of his lessons makes sense, however due to the difference in times I can see where there’s flaws in his theories and teachings.
1001 Arabian Nights is another good one since it’s another metaphor of how some of society is today. The premise of the story is a woman (who reads) tells of stories to stay alive to prevent execution from a King. To prevent spoilers I’ll let you read the rest, but it’s a good read to understand how some people will become storytellers to get what they want.
In short – read. Leave YouTube for people who actually know what they’re doing; making actual helpful videos instead of click-bait, and feeding off the ignorant. YouTube should be for “hey look what I accomplished” instead of “So today I’m gonna show you how to make X money per day” without actually running these on their own.
The Royal Assassin 