All Self-Help Comes Down to 12 Levers | Psychology Researcher
What if every piece of self-help advice you've been given comes down to one of just 12 moves?Spencer Greenberg wrote the book on that question. He's a mathematician who didn't want to use maths just to study maths, and he admits he's the sort of person who categorises things. That instinct is the whole book.
With psychologist Jeremy Stevenson, he combed 106 self-help books and 23 therapies for nearly 500 techniques. Every one fit under one of 12 underlying strategies: the 12 Levers. Take values. A friend was depressed and couldn't see why, because her boyfriend was a great guy. Her values and his best qualities didn't overlap at all, but her parents' values matched him almost exactly. Other levers tackle the fear that stops you talking to a stranger, or the free time you end up regretting.
His biggest takeaway from more than 100 studies is that our minds differ far more than we realise. Social norms hide it: at a wedding, nobody jumps on the table in an alligator costume. So waking at 5am for 50 push-ups is two things at once. Brilliant advice for some people. Terrible advice for everyone.
His answer to fear is the one his therapist warned he wouldn't like. For severe social anxiety, Spencer was sent to a bar every weekend to ask strangers the time, then what they were drinking, and finally to ask men he'd never met for a hug. Nothing bad happened. His anxiety fell, and stayed down.
Then Kristina asks how anyone can tell what really works from what's just nicely packaged marketing. The answer involves three weeks of lettuce and, eventually, a horse race.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Why one-size-fits-all advice fails you
1:32 Meet psychology researcher Spencer Greenberg
3:44 Why a maths PhD turned to psychology
6:48 Hunting down every self-help technique there is
8:42 The 12 levers in under three minutes
12:09 When the evidence runs out, what fills the gap?
15:00 Why forcing positive thoughts can backfire
17:06 Why science rarely tells you what to do
19:35 Temptation bundling: the gym plus your favourite show
21:32 "Love yourself"... but how, exactly?
23:04 Find your problem, then find your lever
25:05 Why "values" is a problematic word
26:37 Why you don't really value money
28:24 A great boyfriend with all the wrong values
30:00 Who decides how you should live?
32:45 Why nobody wears an alligator costume to a wedding
34:21 "It might be the third one that really changes your life"
35:23 Thousands of problems, only 12 levers
36:43 Can a book replace therapy?
38:03 The therapist who sent him to bars every weekend
41:04 Why one bad therapist shouldn't put you off
42:39 Real help or nicely packaged marketing?
45:37 Can untested techniques ever win science over?
📖 THE 12 LEVERS: THE COMPLETE PSYCHOLOGICAL TOOLKIT FOR IMPROVING YOUR LIFE
By Spencer Greenberg and Jeremy Stevenson
Get your copy: https://link.amazon/B0cvHMynW
👤 ABOUT SPENCER GREENBERG
Psychology researcher, entrepreneur and mathematician with a PhD in applied mathematics from New York University, specialising in bringing a mathematical lens to human psychology. He is the founder of ClearerThinking.org, which offers more than 80 free digital tools to help people make better decisions and improve their lives, and he hosts the Clearer Thinking podcast. He has run more than 100 studies on human psychology and co-wrote The 12 Levers with psychologist and therapist Jeremy Stevenson, PhD.
🧠 Take the Ultimate Personality Test at https://clearerthinking.org/mindvalley
Follow him: https://www.linkedin.com/in/spencergreenberg
💬 What's one thing you value purely for its own sake, not as a means to something else? Share it in the comments — we pass the best questions on to our authors.
✅ Books with Purpose brings you the 3 to 5 newest personal growth and business releases worth your time every Monday, plus a weekly Book of the Week interview with the author, hosted by Kristina Mänd-Lakhiani.
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#BooksWithPurpose #SpencerGreenberg #The12Levers #SelfImprovement Receive SMS online on sms24.me
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