Fake and Phony solutions sound so believable. That's what makes them so poisonous. When we buy a fake and phony solution we always become immobilized and are tempted to give up on ourselves.

Show Notes
Fake and Phony Solutions still exist because:
1. we all have a lot of feelings we'd rather not feel
2. we want these fake solutions to be true
3. those who sell the fake solutions are very convincing

(From 3-2-1 Thursdays by James Clear)
Writer Jorge Luis Borges on transforming every experience into a resource:

"A writer — and, I believe, generally all persons — must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art."

Source: Twenty-Four Conversations with Borges: Including a Selection of Poems

You are able to stay away from fake and phony solutions but you must
1 Create and be very clear on what it you want to create -- not what others want you to do.
2. Commit to the craft of your dream. Not for a month or year but for your whole life. Besides, what else have you got to do but get better and better at creating what you want to create?
3. Stop Comparing yourself to others. You cannot make a judgement of your own self based on what others do and who they are.