Canada
France
Australia
Serbia
Spain
What do these nations have in common?
It's not language, culture, or continents.
If we think about it, all five of these nations share very little in common. Yet one thing does connect them all—exporting NBA players to the USA.
These nations have created successful basketball programs even though basketball is not the most (or even second) popular sport for them. However, they all have designed programs that produce the most elite players outside the USA. Some who have gone on to become the best players in the NBA, like Steve Nash, Nikola Jokic, Pau Gasol, and Tony Parker. Who would have guessed these countries would be great exporters of NBA talent?
One thing that could have been guessed is the infestation of gurus on the internet. You spend 5 minutes on any social media platform, and you will be bombarded with some offer that alleges will change your life. And don't forget the limited discounts ending in 97.
I'm sure you know the signs of gurus. However, sometimes they can be very subtle. Because they offer excellent advice and, over time, we depend on them for life guidance. And these are the ones we need to be careful with.
Why?
Well, in this article, you will find three reasons:
Gurus want you to be dependent on them.
Guru's prey on your insecurity.
Their content is not nuanced.
On to the first reason!
On the internet, attention is the currency, as Mark Manson once wrote. And this is true. The most successful content producers are the ones that can garner the most attention, and from this attention can come money.
And for gurus, they know this.
So they want you and millions of others to depend on them for advice. Where they are the only ones who can help you see the proper way.
And they do this successfully by humanizing themselves, which gives their advice and message more legitimacy. They will say they were homeless, dropped out of college, etc. And then, because of some changes, they transformed their lives financially, psychologically, dating-wise, whatever.
And if you're an insecure and naive fellow like I was, it's hard not to fall for these types of messaging. But let me give you a rule of thumb with any content creator you consume from.
Ensure they are giving you content that ignites your mind, as Plutarch would say. You don't want to think of yourself as a vassal to be filled, but a mind that can be inspired and cultivate its own thoughts and opinions.
Let Plutarch tell you this thought in his own words.
'For the correct analogy for the mind is not a vessel that needs filling, but wood that needs igniting – no more – and then it motivates one towards originality and instils the desire for truth.'
You should never be dependent on any guru.
Instead, as you consume content, it should spark your mind to come to unique solutions.
However, gurus don't want that.
What they do want is to prey on your insecurity.
Reason two
If you have any area of your life that needs work, gurus will want to be your solution. This is where they get the attention and money.
But that's not even the frustrating part.
When you implement the advice of gurus and fail. You will be looked at as at fault. It can never be the guru's fault since their advice was perfect and worked for countless others.
And sadly, a lot of people believe this.
That's why people keep returning to these gurus, spending more time consuming their content. Not realizing that the advice is packaged nicely but is quite faulty.
And, besides being faulty, their advice is not nuanced.
Reason three
One thing that irks me the most about gurus is how they feel their advice is universal and bulletproof.
No advice can be universally bulletproof. Everybody has different situations. So things have to be adjusted to such things.
Honest advice has nuance.
There is no way around it. And this is why I strongly recommend therapy. Since you will come to see the nuance of yourself, life, and others around you.
Life is not black and white.
We all know this, yet very few of us understand that. So the next time you hear advice, make sure to adjust it to your life and understand the nuance of it.
However, this all sounds nice.
But what if gurus provide good content?
I'll be the first to admit that there is a lot of good content, even from the shadiest content producers. But as the great Bruce Lee once said:
'Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own.'
So take the good and leave what's bad. But what's even more important is to make your own thoughts, wisdom, and insights.
It's okay to consume good content.
But don't think that you can't create great ideas as well. Again, you should not be dependent on anyone for opinions and advice. But instead, live your life so you can learn from it by reflecting and mixing it with whatever wisdom you find.
So that it comes out as uniquely your own.
Even when you consume my content, I want it to inspire you to uniquely create your experiences and life. If you read one article or watched one video of mine and it inspired you to make a change in your life. Then I would be okay if you never consumed my content again since my job is done. But I do thank you guys who continue to consume my stuff.
Another person who is grateful for people watching his stuff but with shady intentions is Dan Lok.
I don't want to give Dan Lok any more attention.
Because I can't stand him as an internet guru. But I will admit, this guy dresses nicely and says everything right.
He even gives great advice.
And for a while, he gained a mass following and started selling his high-ticket salesman courses. Basically, he promises to turn people with no experience in sales into high-ticket salespeople.
And so many people paid for the expensive courses, putting themselves in debt and jeopardizing their financial life.
To be brutally honest, if someone wants to be a high-ticket salesperson. They should start with going into sales first. But again, Dan Lok got people to be dependent on his messages and got them to believe he could make them rich.
Had these people believed they could learn themselves by other means, they would have been better off. Now some people will be at this part and think they will be better off by shunning all gurus altogether.
Now I understand these sentiments.
But I want to repeat Bruce Lee.
'Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own.'
It's not wise to shun all gurus.
We have to be open to good advice wherever it comes from. It's just a matter of separating the advice and the person giving it. All we want is the good for us to create something even better.
I found some great advice from despicable people. And I can't help but laugh when I think about it. Yet, I would never be reliant on those people to guide me.
But let me guide you to the summary.
Summary
Reason one for not listening to gurus: they want you to depend on them since this will give them attention and money.
Reason two: Gurus prey on your insecurities, where they place themselves as the solution. And when their advice doesn't work, they blame you.
Reason three: the advice from gurus tends not to be nuanced or adjusted for numerous situations. So leaving them as not valid for most.
Much good advice comes from gurus, so learn to take the good and leave the bad. And most importantly, be able to create your thoughts and solutions.
A simple mistake to make is to shun all gurus. Again, we can take good advice from anywhere, and it's not wise to disregard all of them.
So much nuance in life.
And even though it's annoying, you will get used to it in the long run. The more you reflect and think for yourself, you will naturally see the nuances. Whether for personal development, dating, or financial advice, you will see the nuances and adjust accordingly.
You just have to minimize how much you take from gurus and trust yourself. Given the right stuff, your mind will be ignited to create unique ideas and solutions for yourself (and others too). If the NBA can trust five random countries to continually produce elite players, then you can trust yourself.
Until next time,
Bulcha
The Charismatic Nerd