Advice Overdosing: You're Probably Doing It

I recently heard about this idea of 'advice overdosing' and I found it super interesting, so I shared my take on it with my #mondaymotivation newsletter subscribers. I feel like this is something we can all relate to and it’s not one of those topics that’s talked about a lot - and especially not from self-development junkies themselves (like me) So if you get my weekly newsletter you’ll have already read this, but I wanted to share it with everyone else here. Are you guilty of advice overdosing? Let me know your experience in the comments!

Advice overdosing is exactly what it sounds like, seeking out or exposing yourself to massive amounts of advice but not actually taking any of it or putting it into practice.

With self-development being all the rage most of us can relate to this on some level. Who doesn't love getting inspired by others and learning everyone's tips, tricks, and life hacks whether it's through Instagram, blogs, podcasts, YouTube videos, or books? But this means we're at an all time high of advice consumption, and sometimes too much advice can actually do the opposite of what we're hoping it will.

We want to learn, grow, and be pushed into action, but overdosing on advice can actually put us into a state of paralysis. We have SO many ideas, theories, diets, productivity hacks, morning routines, habits, and beliefs being pushed on us that we just end up doing... well, nothing. (or the same old stuff we always do)

I mean, think about it - how many podcasts have you listened to and thought, "Wow I should start doing that!" only to never do it. Or how many Instagram/Pinterest recipes and workouts have you saved only to never complete them? Girl, same.

I'm not saying that all this personal growth content is bad, I love it - in fact, that's part of what I’m trying to create and share with the world. All the 'advice' content you're consuming probably has merit and was created with good intentions to help you cultivate a better life in some way, so my point is just that we have to be more conscious of the over-consumption and under-action on our part.

If you're constantly waiting for your favorite podcast to release a new episode so you can get that inspirational high again, challenge yourself to actually DO something with the advice or tips it presents next time. Challenge yourself to put into practice some of the content you're continuously consuming. Not to say that you should try and tackle 25 new habits tomorrow (if you've been following my tips on creating habits that stick you'll know that's a really bad idea) but just choose something - even if it's just a one-time meditation, recipe, workout, or journaling exercise that you've seen on social media and wanted to try but never actually did.

The reason we're all consuming this type of content and looking to outside sources for advice is because we want to live our best lives and become a better version of ourselves. We want to absorb the knowledge of others in order to solve problems, break bad habits, and find out what works for us - but the only way that all this info is actually going to do that for us is if we UTILIZE it. So my challenge to you this week is to TAKE ACTION! Be conscious of the advice you're consuming online, in books, or through actual human beings that inspire you and just take a piece of it and try it out for yourself. See how it feels to execute on it. 

If you feel like you might be a chronic advice-overdoser check out this video from Amy Landino where she goes into more detail on the topic and outlines the many different ways it can manifest in our lives.