Why You Aren’t Getting What You Want from the Advice Industry
By: Christian Knutson
Tags: Productivity, Advice, Personal Development, Learning, Perspective

I recently finished a podcast by Joshua Sheats, owner of Radical Personal Finance. Three-quarters of the way through, he went on a short tangent, one that unlocked a thought rattling around in my mind. Something just clicked. He finished his tangent with “Do as I do, don’t do as I say”. It’s a simple phrase, but it made me reflect on the state of the industry we consider “advice media”.

We all have to start somewhere but often the start is also where it ends. Joshua’s advice and wisdom have been invaluable to me on how to build wealth and grow personal capital, but I’m simply a passive observer.

A listener.

This is an idea that I still struggle with today. A skill I’m still trying to cultivate. It's easy to be a passive listener, it’s harder to reflect on the actions of a mentor emulated that in our own life.

Over the last month alone, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard some actionable piece of guidance, and then struggled to implement it. Weeks go by and I think by consuming more and more I’ll magically change my life.

This episode was the perfect opportunity for a self-reflective moment.“Christian, are you walking the walk not just talking the talk?” I’ve spent a good number of hours over the last year investing in personal and developmental platforms. I’ve bought books, taken courses, invested in friendships, and listened to thousands of hours of podcasts/videos…at least that’s what my Spotify wrapped said.

At the end of the day though, am I actually putting into practice the “learnings” that I’m supposed to be absorbing? Or am I just hiding behind the façade of learning, so I don’t have to take a risk?

Have I done enough actual “Doing”…I’d probably say no.

The truth…I wasn’t getting rich, and you won’t either, by JUST consuming other people’s content.

I definitely don’t want to discount all the work and good-intentioned content that some of my absolute favorite creators are putting out. Like I said previously, everyone starts somewhere, and there is power in the inspiration that can be drawn from these content gurus. A fine line does exist between using that inspiration to change your own life and having it turn to envy. This is an experience I’m sure all of us have had at one point or another. Don’t let this envy stall you into inaction.

At the end of the day, that’s the gig though. These “titans” of the advice industry have built a business off the interest we have in their advice, their knowledge. They’ve found a way to take their experiences and package them into a bite-size consumable good that we can buy a tiny little slice of.

There is nothing wrong with their business model, in fact, it's ingenious. These days it’s easier than ever to learn something for little more than an investment of your time. It’s an amazing season to be an expert in a subject matter and create content. But for those of us trying to learn, nothing changes if you don’t go out and do something with that knowledge. All the books in the world won’t build your dreams.

It took me months to realize I was focusing on the wrong thing. Viewing the surface level of their content when I should have been looking at their business. Taking lessons from their failures and digging into as much of their journey as I was consuming their content. They were being entrepreneurs, they were living proof I didn’t need them to tell me how to do it. I could just look at what they had actually done.

We’ve got to read between the lines, watch between the edits if you will.