Christian Ray Flores here,
On a beautiful Austin morning, and yet consistently thinking about tropical places. More about that in 2-3 months.
Today, this:
Self-improvement is a $54B a year industry.
A tiny fraction of the people who come across as “self-improvement types” actually experience actual improvement.
In this post:
How it back-fires and keeps people stuck
How I use it to massively improve my life
The most valuable people I follow and why
my latest video
You’ll want to watch this if you good at what you do, and your friends tell you that you should be doing more with what you have.
self-improvement keeps people stuck
Why is self-improvement such a massive phenomenon?
Self-improvement has always been the path of our heroes in history. The world changed at a glacial pace, education was not democratized, communication was not instant, and information was not freely available. The microscopic minority of self-starters who could overcome the limitations of their environment became the luminaries we still admire.
I hail from the 1900s and grew up in pretty isolated third world places, so I experienced a lot of what I speak of first-hand. I actually wrote letters in cursive, on paper, and waited for weeks for a response.
Self-improvement was the only way for me.
Things have changed dramatically.
Formal education is no longer the ticket to a good life.
We can reach, help and sell to anyone, anywhere, instantly.
Educational institutions can’t keep up with the pace of change through a 4 year program.
By the time you hand out a degree, it can become irrelevant. And you’re stuck with the bill.
You can learn from the best in the world at your own pace for free.
Fast moving, individualized, specialized self-improvement is naturally a massive opportunity for anyone willing to do the work.
Where does it backfire?
a. hype culture
When something becomes a cultural norm, the hype it introduces hurts people. Now they have to read the books, binge on the podcasts, and attend the live events of the right people to fit in.
Quoting influencers becomes virtue signaling, just like quoting rap or rock artists was a couple of decades ago, writers and poets before that, theologians before that, and playwrights all the way back in Ancient Greece.
The object of hype changes, human nature does not.
b. shallow consumption
Inch thick and mile wide. The hype, the massive supply of information (good and bad amplified), and the dopamine feast of doom scrolling paralyze people. We just don’t know how to pick a lane and actually self-improve with the discipline and focus required for deep change.
c. cheap motivation
Motivation provided on an industrial scale, mass produced and designed to facilitate easy consumption, will naturally produce motivation without any real path to transformation. It’s tragic because it plays with people’s dreams and hopes. It preys on their heartbreak and despair.
Motivation without implementation does not lead to transformation.
So…
How do I use self-improvement to massively improve my life?
a. know your frequency
Ignore what’s hot right now. Who are the people who speak to your soul, your very essence? As a kid wanting to fit in, I’d talk with my friends about the hot bands when secretly I loved the music my dad listened to.
Have a birthday, celebrate being your own person. Which voices resonate as a signal in the noise of what is thrown at you? Trust that and go deep with these people. Adopt them as mentors and guides.
b. learn through doing
It’s the only way to actually learn. Pick a lane, a philosophy, a practice and do it daily for a year.
Resist the shiny new thing.
In the words of Dr. Joe Dispenza, “The only way to change your personal reality is to change your personality.”
I read a book called The 5AM Club a few years ago. It’s a fictional story used as a vehicle for self-improvement. The gist is that your most creative time, literally the time that creates a different reality, is before the sun comes up. I did it for 9 months, wrote my first book and never stopped.
I still get up before the sun and create for 1-2 hours a day, every single day. It’s called the Creator’s Hour, Brahma Muhurta, a Sanskrit term in the Hindu tradition.
c. create systems
You will never improve or level up without creating systems and habits that actually help change your personality at the deepest level.
Staying with the Creator’s Hour example, it meant tiny changes from when I go to bed to what I do exactly when I get up (I have a precise system).
Today, whether I like it or not, my brain will turn on around the same time and start serving up creative, generative ideas.
In fact, this post came as what felt like a download in its entirety, which I refined as I wrote it out.
The most valuable people I follow and why
My two main angles for following someone are:
a. They are my “spirit person.” They are the signal in the noise that most resonates with my own frequency. They give me permission to be fully me.
b. They are my “stretch person.” They complement my natural inclinations with skills and insights that are not as natural for me.
Seth Godin - spirit person. He’s a giant in marketing, a bestselling author and speaker, but most importantly, he helps me treat marketing as a deeply generous and authentic discipline instead of a shallow, transactional thing.
Rick Rubin - spirit person. He’s one of the most successful music producers in history, having worked with everyone from Jay-Z to Johnny Cash and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He’s the ultimate creative guide when it comes to creating as an offering to God.
Taki Moore - stretch person. He’s the coach for coaches and is unapologetically tactical in all he does, breaking things down through diagrams and systems. If you’re to build any brand, you need systems, and he stretches me to think that way in my own business.
Alex Hormozi - stretch person. The clearest person out there on cold business facts. Alex cuts through the noise and is pure signal in business strategy. There’s a lot of noise out there, and every time I hear something of his that catches my attention, it’s valuable to me.
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