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Why ‘How To’ Listicles Don’t Work For Me
It’s the doing that matters, not the how.
I love a good listicle. I click on them all the time.
Five easy ways to do this. Six simple steps to achieve that. How to do this. How to do that.
Listicles are additive. I read them and I feel good. It’s like getting a big hit of can-do-it-ness. Whatever the list happens to be about, the steps always seem doable. Achievable. They’re empowering, They’re inspirational. They make implementing life changes sound like a piece of cake.
Yet they never work for me.
I read them and then a week goes by and I realize I haven’t done any of the steps suggested by the article. Most of the time, I can’t even remember what the five easy steps were. Many times I don’t even remember reading the article at all.
Then I’ll bump up against something that reminds me of the life change I was going to make— like seeing my saggy arms in a mirror–and it triggers a memory of the article.
The thought comes up–Oh yeah, I was going to do those “5 Easy Steps to Having Killer Arms”. What were those steps again? I begin googling to try to find the list so I can reread it. It’s a crazy cycle of reading a listicle, feeling empowered, then completely forgetting about it.
