Self Help
Story Stream
The Self-Help Hit of the Decade January 10, 2025
For most of my adult life, I was a binge cleaner. I lived in small apartments in big cities where I rarely entertained anyone—not when there were countless fun places to eat out, have drinks, or catch a movie, and no need to tidy up afterward. I’d le...
The Cult of Self-Optimization August 06, 2024
If I were to put into practice just a tiny amount of the content I’ve recently viewed on social media, I would, immediately on awakening, make sure I rehydrate with water. The bottle would be steel or glass to minimise the absorption of harmful micro...
How to Be Enough April 15, 2024
Recently, psychologist Maytal Eyal has observed what she calls an “epidemic of self-hatred.” Both within her work as a therapist and in her wider community, Eyal noticed how the weight of self-criticism and self-loathing wears on people’s souls. “It’...
Diamond Dallas Page Tells America to Breathe April 02, 2024
With his grit and populist charisma, legendary wrestler Diamond Dallas Page, aka DDP, rose to the height of pop culture in 1997–1999 as he brought the wrestling world to the broader public with crossover appearances and matches with Hulk Hogan, the N...
Is Philosophy Self-Help? February 20, 2024
In the past decade or so, there’s been a flowering of philosophical self-help—books authored by academics but intended to instruct us all. You can learn How to Be a Stoic, How to Be an Epicurean or How William James Can Save Your Life; you can walk A...
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Lessons for Losers October 31, 2023
You were born in a lower provincial Austrian backwater. Your father is an unpleasant minor bureaucratic cog with a drinking problem. Your mother loves you very much. You realise you are a special boy, and that you have a powerful vision. Through the ...
David Fincher Hasn't Seen 'Fight Club' in 20 Years October 26, 2023
David Fincher has something of a reputation. It goes back to the earliest days of his movie career, to Seven—even before. He's infamously exacting, requiring his actors to perform endless takes. Sometimes well into the triple digits. Rumor has it tha...
Can Happiness Be Taught? October 23, 2023
Staring into the mirror, on a Tuesday morning, you decide that your self needs all the help it can get. But where to turn? You were reading James Clear’s “Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones” and doing well until...
George Eliot and the Marriage Question October 20, 2023
“Biographies generally are a disease of English literature,” George Eliot once wrote to a friend. “The best history of a writer is contained in his writing—these are his chief actions.” The disease would seem to be incurable. Literary biography not o...
Vital Energy in a Disenchanted World October 17, 2023
If you have been to an exercise class—or a yoga studio—or a home goods store, anytime in the past year; indeed, if you’ve ever scrolled an Instagram or TikTok feed, you’ve probably come across the ubiquitous spiritualized language of energy. You may ...
The Benign Bullshit of Arnold Schwarzenegger October 06, 2023
I’m not a fan of self-help books. Their prose ranges from dully functional to the equivalent of a hot-breathed salesman prefacing every sentence with your Christian name. Most of these books are based on the experience and expertise of their authors,...
Self-Help Has Gone Awry October 02, 2023
There is much written about younger generations — Millennials and Gen Zs — being self-centered and fragile. What’s said less often is that we Gen Xers have set the tone for this excessive self-focus amongst this younger cohort. It’s on us. It’s our f...
