The self-help diet has been an instructive experiment.  It started sort of tongue-in-cheek, of course, but the funny thing is that I actually experienced withdrawal symptoms in the first couple days!  Mindlessly picking up books and flipping through before I became conscious of what I was doing, I found that had to become acutely aware of my behaviors to catch myself reading.  On day 3 my restlessness led me to the TV at 4 in the afternoon where I almost tuned into Oprah. That felt like cheating so I turned off the TV.

Then, like all good detox regimes, I started to feel better.  Maybe I’m kidding myself, but I’ve actually felt clearer and more focused.  It occurs to me that I’ve been hiding my creativity behind the "expert" content in the books.  My head has been stuffed so full of other people’s thoughts I could barely hear my own.  This week I’ve had more great ideas for articles and speaking topics than I’ve had in a long time!

So, I highly recommend taking a break from whatever content you’ve become addicted to.  Even something as useful as "self-help" has it’s limits.  Everything in moderation!

To consider:  What do you need to take a break from?