Personal development is all the rage! There is no shortage of offers and methods for optimization on the market. The advertising hype is so intense that one could get the impression that there aren’t enough problems for the many solution experts. Social media is a showcase, counter, and cash register all in one.
Needs are suggestively awakened, personal problems of all kinds are solved, and potential customers’ desires for seemingly effortless growth are fulfilled. Instant personal development at a bargain price, from the comfort of your own home. Influencers drum, dance, smoke, and bombard you with information until your brain is fogged by the clouds of smoke. This leads to overconsumption of methods and a reduction in attention, as well as paralysis of your own productivity and mobilization of your own strengths.
The obsession with self-optimization and the forgotten responsibility for oneself
In the past, people simply had a bad mood. Today, they have a “dysregulated nervous system.” In the past, people went for a walk when everything became too much. Today, they first have to open an app that shows them how to breathe properly. And once they’ve mastered breathing, the next program comes along: “How to optimize your breathing technique in 10 steps to regulate your inner child.”
Welcome to the age of the spiritually styled permanent construction site. Everything is measured, evaluated, shared, analyzed. We count steps, calories, heartbeats, thoughts, dreams, and even minutes when we’re not looking at our cell phones. But the one number that really counts, how many conscious decisions we have made ourselves today, does not appear on any smartwatch. And no app, no program, no webinar, seminar, or watch in the world can help us to be internally satisfied once everything has been optimized! That’s the real reason, isn’t it?
The new national sport is personal development through self-optimization
We live in a world where personal development feels like Netflix. You zap through programs: “Mindfulness in 5 Days,” “Find Your Anger in 3 Modules,” “Inner Peace for Download.” There are online courses where you can learn to hack your subconscious while synchronizing with your “Higher Self” for only $499 early bird. And then there’s the follow-up: “How to learn to let go without losing anything.” It’s best to sign up for all the subscriptions right away.
Many people actually believe they are working on themselves, when in fact they are merely consuming. You click, listen, watch, like, share, feel inspired, and yet remain sitting in your armchair. The to-do list gets longer, the body sluggish, the ego bigger. And at some point, you confuse growth with Wi-Fi reception.
The trick of illusion
The system behind it is ingenious: we are supposed to believe that we are changing, when in fact we are just keeping ourselves busy. The self-optimization industry thrives on the fact that we still feel we are not good enough. That we believe there is a course, a retreat, or a watch out there somewhere that will finally heal us. But none of these clicks can replace one uncomfortable truth:
Change does not happen through consumption. Change happens through action
It’s easy to know what you should be doing. It’s harder to actually do it when it hurts, when it’s boring, or when there’s no applause. Over the past 20 years, many people have read, heard, and “worked through” everything the market has to offer. But the construction site remains, because it can’t be cleaned up with knowledge, only with action.
Personal responsibility, the lost muscle training
Personal responsibility is like a muscle. If you don’t use it, you lose it. And many have replaced it with a permanent vision quest. People would rather be coached, tracked, “energetically accompanied” or covered with positive affirmations than step into the ring of life themselves. That’s the subtle difference between development and occupation: with one you sweat, with the other you scroll.
Personal development doesn’t mean thinking yourself more beautiful, but feeling more honest. It means facing your shadows instead of coloring them in a pretty online workbook. And sometimes development means turning off your cell phone, lifting your head, and finally making a decision, even if it’s uncomfortable.
If you don’t move yourself, life will move you
Life doesn’t wait for your next course. It knocks on your door when you redecorate your comfort zone for the third time. Some call it a crisis, others call it a wake-up call. Real development is rarely elegant. It is chaotic, uncomfortable, honest. It happens when you move, not when you observe yourself perfectly. When you take responsibility instead of testing new tools. Your body knows when you’re slacking off. So does your soul. And at some point, it gets loud. It no longer whispers, “You should change something,” it screams, “Get moving already!” Not at the gym. In life.
Seelenboxer says: Get off the mat of self-deception
Sometimes you don’t need a new technique, but a moment of clarity. An honest moment when you ask yourself, “Do I really want to grow right now, or do I just want to stay busy?” Boxing is honest in that regard. You can’t do “fake punching.” You’re either in it or you’re out. And the same applies to your life. So stop trying to optimize yourself with programs and start designing your own training. Not perfect, but real. Not consumed, but produced. Because true transformation doesn’t start with a click, but with a movement—yours. soulboxer 🥊🙏🏼❤️