The world of self-help
Toxic Positivity in a Capitalist society
With the rise of self-help gurus and motivational speakers in the last decade. the landscape of work culture and entrepreneurship has shifted dramatically.
While entrepreneurs have been a part of history since the early stages of human history, none have had a greater impact on society as they do today. Many self-made successful entrepreneurs of the 21st century have the tendency to push young adults and youth to the breaking point with the hope that they too can achieve what their mentors have done. While the advice they give is often fluff and empty words, and sometimes common sense, their young audience is often naive and gullible enough to internalize every word that comes out of their mouth.
While many of these self-help gurus and motivational speakers come from privileged backgrounds, they often portray themselves to be average people, in order to relate to their audience.
There are some that genuinely care about their audience, my favorites being Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck as well as Chris Guillebeau, author of The Art of Non-Conformity. These authors are those that don’t necessarily push forward the idea of toxic productivity or toxic positivity, and instead encourage working towards your goal at your own pace. They encourage balance in your work and personal life, without aggressively pushing you to work around the clock in order to earn the coin.
If it weren’t for Chris Guillebeau's advice in The Art of Non- Conformity, about writing and improving at your own pace (he writes at least 2 articles a week), I wouldn’t be writing and publishing on Medium as often as I am. Regardless, the goal isn’t to push yourself to your breaking point but instead to create consistently in order to improve, at your own pace. Create a work ethic that suits your lifestyle and stick to it in order to improve.
Many self-help gurus use the determination and motivation of their audience in order to create a profit for their own businesses. Charging upwards of 2k for their conventions and talks, they provide their audience with the same repeated generic advice, adding little value to their entrepreneurial business or adding to their personal growth.
Often these self-help gurus portray negativity and negative life experiences as the energy you need to stay away from. I disagree with this narrative as negative experiences are needed in one’s life in order to improve. It is with these experiences that you’re forced to confront issues within yourself or your external factors that you may not have noticed before. Failure in any part of life is not necessarily a defeat but a part of the process, it’s a lesson on what not to do.
Instead, often self-help gurus and motivational speakers encourage staying positive at all times, which not only goes against human nature but is completely tone-deaf to the many mental illnesses and chronic illnesses that exist. While being positive may be a good thing, it has the capacity to turn into delusion, where you believe you’re in a better place than you really are, in turn running away from issues instead of facing and confronting them.
Furthermore, many self-help gurus and motivational speakers of the 21st century encourage Hustle Culture. Hustle Culture is a lifestyle that promotes overworking in order to earn respect from your peers and yourself. This lifestyle is encouraged to those willing to sacrifice their mental and physical health in order to climb the invisible corporate ladder. This lifestyle, though it may be portrayed as a positive trait often leads to depression, anxiety, and burnout.
While working hard is often encouraged from a young age and is a positive trait, hustle culture takes it one step further and makes money the sole motivator. This stems from a consumer-capitalist mindset that encourages earning in order to gain material wealth to flaunt rather than earning in order to live a decent and comfortable life. Often, motivational quotes on Instagram and Pinterest show wealthy individuals with luxury goods, fancy cars, and private jets with a quote. These are a few examples I found scrolling through Pinterest.
While these quotes may seem inspirational, I find they all have a capitalist and corporate undertone. Instead of giving yourself time to rest, they constantly encourage sacrificing your time and energy in order to earn the coin, often for larger corporate companies. This is the message often encouraged by countless self-help gurus, which comes off as inauthentic and shallow.
Instead of providing solid advice, be it business, marketing, or self-growth, encouraging accountability, self-acceptance, self-love, etc. that may help individuals, they often provide vague advice such as
“ don’t care what anyone thinks.”
“ Be smart.”
“ Just do it.”
This advice is enough for the audience to feel like they’ve walked away learning something new when in fact, they are just empty words, repeated to you by an individual you believe knows all. This advice is presented in their talks and books, often selling fast as the audience believes this guru has all the answers. In fact, they are just another human being that has learned to market themselves and found their audience.
While this is a great feat on its own, I believe it is better to look into ourselves for answers. While you may believe the gurus you turn to have all the answers, the truth is they don't. Every individual’s story is unique. Turning to them for advice is like turning to a stranger with your issues and asking them to solve your issues (business or personal) for you.
Instead, I encourage seeing a therapist or someone you trust for personal problems, talking to an expert in your field for career-related advice. Start a journal. Write down your goals. You are in charge of your life. You have some control in your life (not all). Take accountability for your actions and work on yourself, heal and grow at your own pace. Life is not a marathon. You will achieve your goals. Instead of being caught up in the chase, accept and embrace your positive and negative emotions and life experiences. Life was not meant to be easy, it has its ups and downs and that is what makes it worth living.
