Everyone is looking for an edge, a secret, or at least an answer to life’s challenges. I believe that answer has been hiding in plain sight the whole time: books.

Now, I get it. The “self-help” category, in particular, has recently been inundated with low-effort content from individuals seeking a quick financial gain. But dismissing the entire genre is a mistake. Sifting through the noise is worth it because, at their core, the right books offer us life’s ultimate shortcut.

Think about your own life. How many times have you thought, “If only I knew then what I know now”? That painful gap between past actions and present wisdom is the human condition. Our daily decisions are the direct result of a lifetime of accumulated experiences, both triumphs and failures. A good book is simply the super-compressed, neatly packaged version of someone else’s hard-won lessons. It allows you to learn from their scars without having to earn your own.

The Wisdom Filter: Trust but Verify

So, why the hesitancy? Our skepticism toward this kind of advice often comes from an innate and healthy sense of distrust. We feel we must prove the author’s claims for ourselves rather than taking their word at face value.

What I find most interesting is that when you read enough, you begin to notice the same core ideas recurring. These common themes, often dressed in different stories and language, point toward a set of foundational principles for living a good life. The best approach is to take the advice that resonates with you, test it in the real world, and see what works.

Internal vs. External Advice

As you read, it’s also crucial to discern between the two types of guidance the author is providing:

• Intrinsic Advice: This is guidance that improves you from the inside out. It’s focused on your internal world and your well-being as a human, think improving your sleep, learning to manage your emotions, or eating a healthier diet.
• Extrinsic Advice: This is guidance that enhances your standing within the external world or society. It focuses on navigating systems and achieving external goals, such as investing money, negotiating a raise, or building a social network.

Both are valuable, but knowing which you’re receiving helps you apply the lessons to the right area of your life.

Reading is the closest thing we have to downloading decades of experience directly into our brains. It’s a cheat code for life, and all you have to do is turn the page.

Curious about what I’ve been reading? You can find my curated collection of books that have made a real impact on my life right here: Reads Collection