Dumb Self-Help Advice 1 - Be Yourself

Dumb Self-Help Advice #1 “Be Yourself”

I hear people give the advice frequently “just be yourself”. It is dumb advice and most people would be best to ignore it.

Why?

Well, most of us are not always the same, we have “our best self”, and our “other” selves. We are many. And if you are an arsehole, being yourself is truly bad advice.

What it comes down to is that the term “self” is malleable, we can and do change. At any given time, if we choose to “be ourselves” we still have a variety of options of how to be.

Sometimes I am charming and funny. Sometimes I am prickly and sarcastic. Which of those should I be in any given situation? And I am always working to “better myself”, so perhaps I should instead be the “me I wish to become”.

Do This Instead

Next time someone says to you “be yourself”, ignore it. Instead, be the best you can manage at that time - whatever that is. Unless that means being an arsehole. Then, “be someone else, someone who is not an arsehole”.