Why reading books doesn’t work

Fair warning – a looooong read.. and probably not worth reading for the quick-scroll instant gratification person (probably worth reading for the expansion-committed person).

You read a book.

You do the things the book says.

It’s not working.

Why? What’s the problem? You did everything that the book said (at least you think you did everything).

Action is important. Very important indeed.

But there’s something that comes before that –

Mindset (surprise, right 😉

The reason why it didn’t work regardless of you taking action is you most likely don’t have the mindset of the author (or the person the author is describing).

Honestly, if it worked by just reading the books and taking action, reading books like Richard Branson’s would then provide massive upgrades for most readers.

They don’t.

The true reason is not that the action – if taken – won’t provide the results, but that the action will not be what the author was describing – because the required mindset is not there.

What is mindset?

You ask 100 people you’ll get 100 different answers (In fact, what’s “mindset”? Let me know in the comments below. I’m interested to find out your definition.)

Here’s how I see it…

Mindset is your core beliefs – your self-belief, your universal beliefs – what you think + feel is possible for you, what you think + feel is the limit of your abilities, what you think + feel is possible for others – and generally what’s possible in the reality you are experiencing, which you call “the world”.

The reason why people are where they are in their lives is their mindset. Period.

(The reason why I am still in resistance around some things or I experience friction in some areas in my life is my mindset, not outside circumstances, events, people, things – my mindset! Period.)

Can mindset be changed?

Absolutely!

It is changing all the time for all people. It’s just… for most people it’s changing for the worse.

(“Change” is the only thing that we cannot avoid in this universe, remember?)

How can it be changed for the better then?

One way that works every time is by asking tough questions, the raw and honest answer to which provides a completely different perspective of the situation… after which you cannot not change your mindset.

Double negative, I know… The point is, you cannot unsee what you have once seen.

And, what’s even better than this is when it works once – the belief that it can work gets stronger, which makes the second time a bit easier… and so on.

The problem is most people cannot ask themselves a question that can be answered in a way that creates a mindset shift.

Someone said (can’t find the source to give proper credit): “A powerful shift occurs when a question is asked within the current paradigm, which can be answered only outside of this paradigm.”

Some of the solutions that provide outside perspective (and a new and different question) are:

1-1 coach or a group program with a coach
Therapy (NLP, Hypno, TLT, and many many others)

(I’m not going to go into why a friend won’t work for most people – that’s a different article.)

To be frank, there are other solutions that don’t require a coach for an outside perspective. They still aren’t destigmatized enough or available to the majority of the population of seekers to be recommended (ex: psychedelics, other powerful practices, such as breathwork).

There are many many… many coaches out there – many of them amazingly good.

I am (humbly) one of them – by client’s accounts, not mine.

I may be able to help with mindset upgrades, I may not.. but I may. I wouldn’t know before I find out what the current challenges are.

That’s easy to find out – all it takes is a 20-min call (I don’t charge for these calls) and we will both know if, and how, I can help.

If that’s of interest message me. If not, I trust just reading this article was a good reminder for you or it gave you some ideas for further exploration.

Cheers.