Self-Help Techniques Are Just Tools

In an essay called “The Finger And The Moon,” theologian Alan Watts talks about how all religion and religious practices exist merely as crutches to help you access greater truth. Like a finger pointing at the moon, you only need to look at the finger until you understand where it’s pointing. Then you look where it’s pointing, you see the moon, and you don’t need the finger anymore. If you continue to look at the finger instead of the moon, you’re missing the point entirely.

Buddhists have an aphorism for this sentiment. They say the dharma (the teachings of the Buddha) is merely a raft. The purpose of a raft is to get you from one side of a river to another. Once you’ve crossed the river, however, you leave the raft behind. And again, if you drag your raft onto dry land and carry it around after you’ve gotten to the other side, where it’s no longer useful, you’re being a fool.

Reading this essay, it occurred to me that all self-improvement initiatives — whatever they are — are the same way. Every self-improvement technique is just a raft.

Take digital minimalism. Two years ago, I was hugely interested in digital minimalism. I wrote article after article talking about how destructive phones can be for our productivity and how to pull them out of our lives root by root. But now, I hardly mention it. Is it because phones are suddenly not a threat to productivity? No. It’s because I got across that river. My phone is no longer a threat to my productivity. For me to continue to write about it and focus on it would be to drag that raft around where it is not needed.

Some other rafts, I still need. Gratitude journaling, for instance. Meditating. Therapy. The rivers I’m using these to cross are very wide, and I’m going to need these rafts for a very long time.

I can see where this might be when a reader says to themselves “Ah, this makes sense. That’s why I don’t need x/y/z. I’ve already crossed that river.”

I caution you against that.

When I talk about the importance of digital minimalism and its profound effect on our productivity, most people tell me some variation of the following sentiment: “Well, that’s pretty cool, but my phone isn’t a problem, so I don’t need to worry.” Then they duck their head into their phone and watch YouTube for the next six hours. In other words, they’re in denial.

This is also common when it comes to therapy. There are leagues of people out there who insist they don’t need therapy when they desperately do, and there are yet more leagues of people who are peripherally aware they need it yet never make attending a priority. There are very, very few people who actually don’t need therapy.

If there’s something you’ve been meaning to do/hearing about/thinking of trying, go try it. It could be a raft. You never know unless you try.

Productivity techniques are not something you should live and die by. They aren’t what makes the difference between those who achieve their dreams and those who don’t. But they are important, the same way a raft is important to a traveler. It’s a hell of a lot harder to get where you’re going without them.

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