You’re looking for an answer.
You’ve been looking for a while, probably on the internet.
You read blogs, forums, watch Youtube videos, search Google, all trying to find… the answer.
What’s the secret to getting jacked?
How can I be more confident?
How do I find my passion and purpose in life?
What’s the trick to getting laid with a lot girls?
How do I make passive income on the internet?
How can I be more popular and get people to like me?
… and so on, for all the possible variations.
All these questions need answering. And because of the nature of the internet, the answer can always be just around the corner.
Maybe if you watch one more Youtube video, that will be the one. Maybe if you read one more blog post, or find one more blog to follow, then you’ll find what you’re looking for. Maybe this ‘success guru’ has the answer… no wait – maybe it’s this one.
Could it be in this forum thread? What about this Youtube video? How about this ebook? Or podcast?
Better look through them all.
The answer is out there somewhere. That incredible, unique piece of insight that will really make you “get it”. That one story or metaphor or anecdote that makes you go “Holy shit…that’s it!” or “Finally, now I understand!”
What’s that? You still haven’t found it? Better keep looking…
That one success guru who *actually* has it all figured out. That one perspective or piece of advice that will finally make everything “click” and unlock the door to getting… whatever it is you want out of life.
It’s out there somewhere, right?
Someone has the answer, right?
And when you find it…
That part of your life you want to sort out will be sorted out… Right?
You’ll finally be able to do that thing you’ve always wanted to do… Right?
Wrong.
Wrong, wrong, and wrong again.
I know from personal experience.
There is no one piece of pick-up advice that will get you a lot of girls.
You’ll never find the perfect thing to say, or the perfect thing to text her.
There is no video or blog post with the “secret” to make you confident.
Just like there is no workout program that contains the “one weird trick” to get you jacked.
There is no best way to make money online, and passive income is as hard as making money any other way (maybe harder).
There is no special way to get people to like you, and most of all there is no worldview that—once you adopt it—will make everything in your life “click” and work out exactly the way you want it to.
Certainly, some of these things have some answers. Good resources can be hugely impactful, life-changing even. Learning is essential and there’s nothing ever wrong with “standing on the shoulders of giants”.
But often the best resources are just confirming what you already know or giving you permission to do what you already want to do.
None of them really have the answer you’re looking for. (That’s why you keep looking.)
And while many people use searching for the answer as an excuse to not take action, that’s not the biggest problem that comes out of this.
The belief that the answer is always “just around the corner”, that’s not even the biggest problem either.
The biggest problem is believing that the key to enlightenment or success in a particular area—or in your whole life—is something that someone else can give you at all.
There is an answer to what you’re looking for, but it can’t be someone else’s answer. It has to be yours, and that’s the only one that will ever satisfy you.
That’s what I mean when I say nowhere has the answer you’re looking for. That’s because it’s inside of you.
Your action holds the truth. Your truth: the only one that is even possible for you.
If you keep searching for your answer in the experience, advice or information of others, you’ll never find it. You’ll continue to search forever and you will never be satisfied.
But if you look inside yourself, you’ll find that the answers are already there. The same ones you’ve been looking for—somewhere else—for so long.
The universe is doing something through you. Get in touch with it, listen to it and trust it, and you’ll start to find answers everywhere.
Your questions will start to answer themselves because you’ll know what you want to do. And in fact… you probably already do.
And those websites, videos, and blog posts that do have some answers? All the best resources? That’s basically what they’re telling you to do anyway.
If you liked this post, you’ll probably also like my book Self Improvement in Practice – a concise, practical and largely self-directed guide to positive, constructive personal development