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How Self Improvement Turned Into Self Obsession
I’ve joked in the past that I could open a therapy practice with the books on my shelf. If a woman I was dating saw the passages, I’ve underlined in the books like The 48 laws of Power or The Art of Seduction, she might conclude that I’m a manipulative sociopath.
I’ve searched through books, interviewed experts, attended seminars, hired coaches all in search of “solutions” to my “problems.”
We all start the journey of self-improvement in hopes of solving some problem in our lives. We want to make more money, grow our business, etc., etc.,
For many men, it was the problem of dating that led them to the seduction community. But at the roots of Neil Strauss’s Game, Mystery’s Method, and every pickup artists prescription were deep insecurities. We created a language, a subculture, eventually living in a cult-like reality.
When we realized we were putting band-aids on bullet wounds, we unplugged from that reality and plunged into another one. Instead of the losers sitting around reading pick up bullshit, we saw ourselves as the winners reading self-help books, going to the landmark forum, attending retreats, and doing “men’s’ work.” But it was just a different version of our previous reality. In parallel, women attended meditation retreats, yoga teacher training, or insert your conscious…
