When tempted to go on consuming educational content, consider this question first:

Did the creator use the same process they are recommending?

Did the creator of the course use a course to gain his skills? Did the author gain his knowledge from reading books? Did the personal trainer achieve his physique with the program he is selling? Did the business guru get rich following his own advice?

You probably get the point by now.

Someone achieves something admirable. Emboldened by their success, they set out to create content to help others follow in their footsteps.

The problem?

Their path, in all its complexity, cannot be converted to digestible content. Simplifications must be made. So what ends up happening is that they create their theoretical version of an ‘optimal’ path - a sterilized, formulaic echo of their own unpredictable journey, often peppered with speculative enhancements. What went wrong?

First issue:

In attempting to simplify, they ended up removing a lot of details. What usually gets axed first? The detours, the dead ends, the loops and bends - their mistakes and false turns. This is problematic because it assumes that faithfully following an instruction set is the same as learning from personal stumbles and misconceptions. Following a recipe might yield a perfect cake, but it won’t transform you into a master baker.

Second issue:

Assuming that personal, discovered knowledge can simply be repackaged into transferrable, receivable knowledge. There’s a chasm of difference between reading “stoves can be hot” and actually touching a hot stove. Your understanding of ‘hot’ takes on a whole new dimension after the latter.

If we are to trust the points above, why is the self-help industry booming?

Introducing the ‘how-to’ demon

As with any demon, it best operates in the dark. Most of us realize intellectually that another ‘how-to’ will do very little. Hell, most of us can barely summarize what the content we just consumed really said. Worst of all, you could probably have guessed beforehand what the video would contain. Yet some demonic force keeps us hooked. Entire industries depend on it.

Let us try to break down what is going on.

Imagine a book that opens with “I wrote this to entertain you, confirm what you already know and impart knowledge so generic it applies to no-one.” Sounds extreme, but that is what most ‘how-tos’ can hope to provide. I’ll talk about the exceptions later.

Here is the root issue:

Nobody can provide the things you seek. What does the average ‘how-to’ consumer seek? Personalized guidance and actionable wisdom tailor-made for our unique circumstances and traits. Only direct experience can provide this. Don’t believe me? Let’s explore an extreme edge case.

Let’s assume:

A content creator meticulously documented their process, would it work? Likely not. Not only because no one would painstakingly follow every single step, but because each person’s path to success is profoundly shaped by their unique traits and circumstances.

Four fundamental points to combat the ‘how-to’ demon:

1. You are fully equipped to figure out what you need to know

Whether you aspire to be a boxer, a programmer, or an author, the most effective first step is to dive in. Start sparring, coding, or writing immediately.

2. Applying knowledge takes much longer than acquiring it

You will not transform through osmosis. A single self-help video contains enough information to keep you busy for weeks.

3. No one can reliably replicate their success in another

We all have different minds, bodies, and circumstances. All three shape the path to success. This is why success cannot be replicated through formulaic approaches.

4. Understand what you really seek

Let’s use discipline as an example. Your aim isn’t to discover how anyone can become disciplined; it’s to find out how you can become disciplined. Content can give you the former, not the latter.

Some of you will think of exceptions. Here’s the thing — any exception cancels itself out. If you could attain success by gathering information, you would’ve had success by now. If a ‘how-to’ was what you needed, the first piece of content would solve the problem. And do not get me wrong — this does happen.

In a nutshell:

Someone goes through a process and manages to do/attain/achieve something admirable. They sit with many hard-earned lessons. Imagine the time they could have saved by simply following these lessons from the start! Well, not so fast. The lessons are what remain after countless false assumptions were culled away by experience. A student who only follows these lessons, without experiencing the missteps, will retain their own incorrect assumptions. And sooner or later, those untested assumptions will lead to their own pitfalls. There’s no set of lessons broad enough to shield us from the impact of our false beliefs.