Save Yourself. Because Even The Best Doctors, Teachers, Gurus, Mentors, and Trainers Can’t

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Excerpt: Inspired by a quote from Naval Ravikant, this post is about taking responsibility for your own life and depending less on others to do the “saving” for you. Doctors won’t make you healthy. Teachers won’t make you smart. Mentors won’t make you rich. It’s all up to YOU. Save yourself.

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“Doctors won’t make you healthy. Nutritionists won’t make you slim. Teachers won’t make you smart. Gurus won’t make you calm. Mentors won’t make you rich. Trainers won’t make you fit. Ultimately, you have to take responsibility. Save yourself.”

Naval Ravikant, Medium

Doctors won’t make you healthy.

Doctors can diagnose, prescribe, and provide recommendations. They can’t make you believe the diagnosis, take the prescriptions, or follow the recommendations—those actions can only be done by you. And furthermore, doctors usually focus primarily on alleviating symptoms, not taking preventative measures or improving overall wellbeing.

One of my favorite memes in reference to that idea goes as follows: Patient: “Doctor, I don’t feel well and I’m not sure why.” Doctor: “I want you to meditate for 20 minutes, twice a day, exercise for at least 30 minutes a day, avoid processed foods, eat plenty of organic fruits and vegetables, spend more time in nature and less indoors, stop worrying about things you can’t control and ditch your TV. Come back in 3 weeks.”

The reason it’s funny is because it’s an unexpected answer from a doctor. What is usually expected is a prescription for a drug. And with that being the easier to follow option, that’s what patients expect (and usually want), too. But, it’s not the doctor’s responsibility to make you healthy—it’s yours. It’s the doctors job to make you feel better and that usually pertains most urgently to treating symptoms. Save yourself.

Nutritionists won’t make you slim.

They can diagnose deficiencies, allergies, and provide recommendations. But, as was the case above, they can’t force you to follow their nutrition plans. I’m confident that we all have a pretty intuitive understanding of what’s healthy and what’s not. And if we sat down to come up with an eating regime, I’m sure most of what I would recommend would sound common sensical. So, I’m not going to do that.

But, what I am going to remind you of is the idea that the best nutrition plan, is the one you actually follow. Assuming, of course, that said “nutrition plan” is a plan devised to improve your nutrition and not the opposite. Because if it’s only a plan that’s to be followed for a month or two—what’s the point? You’ll eventually just end back up where you are.

Better, would be to devote yourself to a long-term plan and focus on changing one avenue of your lifestyle at a time. And then repeat until your whole lifestyle is optimized and paced appropriately. Nutritionists can’t make you implement any eating plans into your life, only you can do that—especially when it comes to long-term solutions. Save yourself.

Teachers won’t make you smart.

Teachers can share with you information and opportunity that might lead you to become smarter—but that’s it. It’s your job to figure out the best ways to absorb the information shared and to capitalize on the opportunities presented. This is why, in a classroom full of students who are all presented the same information in the same way, they all retain and grade differently.

If the teacher was the primary variable for a student’s “smartness” then, in theory, all students should finish a subject course with the same cognitive improvements. But, of course, that is rarely the case. All students finish the subject course with a wide range of different comprehension levels. The real variable is the student—the curiosity, the ability to focus, the self-understanding, the question asking, the initiative, the determination, and the work ethic. The variable, is you. Save yourself.

Gurus won’t make you calm.

Anything that is external cannot touch that which is internal. The external can, however, influence what is internal—but, it cannot touch. Our internal mental and emotional state can only ever be changed or affected by our own internal workings. How else to explain why all people respond differently internally to the same exact external stimuli? The difference isn’t the external, the difference is in how everybody manages their internal.

What gurus might do is show you how you might better manage your internal. What they won’t do is offer to manage it for you (and if they do, run far, far away). How could they ever manage your internal for you? They might be able to provide a calm environment, offer some calming words of wisdom, and surround you with a calming community—but, what good is that if outside of that type of situation you’re no longer able to maintain your calm? Don’t be fooled. Calm is within your control—not your guru’s. They can guide, but they can’t save. Save yourself.

Mentors won’t make you rich.

Mentors might provide a roadmap, but they certainly won’t get into your car and drive you to the end destination like some kind of chauffeur. How backwards is that? Essentially asking a mentor to drive you? If that’s you—stop it. And if you’re subscribing to people who are offering to drive your car for you to some type of end “success” destination, challenge it intensely. Most likely, those types of “mentors” are probably using your subscription to actually drive themselves.

Most of the best mentors will give away their best roadmaps—advice—for free. And most of the best “roadmaps” are common knowledge (or is readily available with some pointed searching) anyway. The bottom line strategy to follow with any road trip that’s taking you from one destination (where you are) to another (a place you want to be) is to follow the directions, check back often to ensure you’re staying on course, and be patient/ find ways to enjoy the ride. That’s it.

There simply isn’t a way around the fact that you have to drive for long-ass periods of time—that’s what a road trip is! And that’s what the road trip to success is going to look like, too—long ass periods of time where you’re grinding away at the road in front you. Stop looking for a chauffeur or a short-cut. Grab the steering wheel and drive already. Save yourself.

Trainers won’t make you fit.

I’m sure you get the idea by now. Trainers can show you how to properly do a series of exercises, prescribe rep/ set counts, and talk to you about weight recommendations and rest time—but ain’t no weight going to lift itself! The trainer can yell into your ear, but ultimately, you are the one who has to do the lifting. Any physical help from the trainer is borrowed strength that will only lead to weakness.

Similarly to what was mentioned above for nutrition plans, the best exercise routine is the one that you actually follow. It doesn’t matter to me how intense your workout routine is or how many calories you burn in a single session—what matters to me (and any other good trainer) is the longevity of your practice.

In other words, the single most important factor for any exercise routine is how well it fits into your life and how likely you are to continue doing it for life. Because without that factor, what’s the point? You’ll soon stop the routine and be back to where you were before. Seems like a waste of time to me. Don’t count on a trainer to save you—save yourself.

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Save Yourself.

Ultimately, in my estimation, what others can offer you is, at most, 20% of the whole. Doctors can perfectly diagnose you, prescribe you the best medications, and give you the most heartfelt recommendations; Nutritionists can lay out the most beautiful nutrition plan; Teachers can present the most engaging and well thought-out class lectures; Gurus can offer you the most insightful lessons of life; Mentors can draw out the most detailed road maps; and Trainers can outline the most ideal exercise routine for you—but, it will only ever equate to 20% of what’s needed.

Knowledge is power—sure. But, knowledge without action is useless. It’s applied knowledge that changes lives. After all, what’s the difference between not knowing and knowing and not doing? There is no difference. So, while, yes—Doctors, Nutritionists, Teachers, Gurus, Mentors, and Trainers can all offer you knowledge in life—what they can’t offer you is action. Action can only ever come from within. And until you learn how to motivate yourself to action on a regular basis, you’ll continue paying for services that will only ever get you 20% of the way there. It’s up to you to put in the other 80%. Save Yourself.

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Read Next: 15 Quotes on Being Strong and How Borrowing Strength Builds Weakness.

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