Continuous Self-Improvement is Bad for You

Tuesbetter Newsletter #111

Happy Twednesday! 🎉

As you’ve seen, I’ve done a LOT of self-improvement experiments over the past six years.

And lately, I feel like I’ve hit a wall.

Always looking for a way to improve is ITSELF something to “improve.”
Meaning: you can do it too much.

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Here’s why constant self-improvement can backfire:

• It implies you're never enough.
If you’re always optimizing, it suggests something’s wrong with who you are right now. That mindset can quietly chip away at your self-worth.

• You miss the point of life.
I mean, depending on what you think the point of life is. But to me? The point is FUN.
I want to jam as much fun as possible into this time on Earth.

(Yeah, I also want to help others maximize their fun, too. I’m not a selfish monster. But I do it partly to make ME feel good, too. Because feeling like a bad person ruins fun!)

All this self-improvement? It’s supposed to help me feel good, have energy, and live long enough to maximize the amount of fun I can have.

Sometimes the self-improvement is fun.
I do, believe it or not, often enjoy going for runs. 🏃‍♂️

But… not always.
Some of the most fun stuff is considered bad for you.
(I’m looking at you: binging TV, video games, junk food, skipping leg day.)

• You burn out.
Self-improvement takes energy.
Layer too many habits, routines, or goals on top of each other, and—uh oh.
Eventually, it all collapses, and you’re worse off than before.

• You risk optimizing the wrong things.
Maybe you don’t need to lose weight, or "looksmaxx" (that’s a real thing, look it up), or “be more productive.”

Maybe the search for improvement is actually just a distraction from stuff you really need to deal with.
Like work you’re avoiding. Relationship issues. Mental health. etc etc

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So what do we do about it?!?!?!?!?!

(That’s probably too much punctuation. I’ll try to self-improve my grammar.)

Well, here’s a list I just came up with that might help:

• Just try things for a short time.
  (Month-long challenges, for example.)

• Take breaks—or stop altogether.
  You’re allowed to not optimize for a while. It’s okay.

• Identify where you actually find joy.
  Not what you should enjoy. What you really, truly do. It might be bad for you. So what. What does that even mean?!

• Stop taking in so much self-improvement content!
  …except Wheezy content.
  I’ll try to do less.

• Eliminate “Should” from your vocabulary.
  That’s a problem I’ve noticed in my own life. Whenever I use the word “should” I realize that it’s a lie!
  Who says I SHOULD exercise right now?
  Who says I SHOULD stop eating if I feel like I want it?

  There is no SHOULD!
  There’s certainly healthy things you COULD be doing, but it’s a choice.

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So those are just some thoughts I had today.
I may make this into a video because the world SHOULD hear it!
(I mean they could.)

Wink, (ding)
Craig