Magazines directed toward women are filled with teasers about weight loss, the “right” diet and life and body makeovers.
• Lose Every Bulge: Flat Belly, Toned Legs, Great Butt!
• Exactly What to Eat to Get Slim! Secret Weight-Loss Soup!
• Feel Amazing 24/7: Burn More Calories, Boost Brainpower, Sleep like a Baby!
Magazines tend to exploit our inner concerns that we are not inherently good enough and there is something wrong with us. Articles, adverts and celebrity endorsements can leave us filled with self-doubt.
To live up to the media’s vision of success, we would need to be at a perfect weight, have perfect skin and the body of a 20 year old. We would be totally confident, fearless and successful at work and at home.
Apart from scanning popular health magazines to keep tabs on what is happening in the health industry for my work, I choose to read magazines that empower, inspire and help me grow. (Send me an email if you would like my recommendations).
When considering self-improvement, are you starting from a baseline of “I’m a failure and there’s something wrong with me?” If that's the case, try out this statement instead: “I am powerful and there is nothing wrong with me.”
Insight Builder
• After reading a particular magazine, do you feel empowered or do you feel that you will never be enough or have enough?
• Does the magazine encourage you to achieve your own goals in your own way? Or does it promise cookie cutter quick fixes that eventually fail? If it’s the latter, perhaps the magazine is at fault … not you!
I would love to hear your view on this!