One of the things we like about the Internet is the fact that so many productivity websites have come into existence. Lately, we’ve been reading these things to the exclusion of all else — not very productive, but there we are.

However, if productivity sites have a common sin, it’s that they often tend to over-simplify things. Now, that’s not a huge problem: very often the helpful suggestions they posit come from their propriater’s own personal experiences. And, naturally, these things don’t always map to other people’s lives very smoothly.

Take, for example, this entry at Lifehack.org: 10 Tips for a Good Night’s Sleep Without Pills. As a ferocious insomniac, we were of course very interested in this piece. The thing that struck us about it, though, was the suggestion that it might be helpful to read fiction before going to bed. We’ve tried this, and it doesn’t work for us, but that’s okay — in fact, it’s great.

We know a few things about self-improvement and self-help advice, and one of those things is this: there is a process. That process usually follows a complex pattern that is highly unique for each individual. In our case it goes like this: Identify a problem (insomnia); look for solutions (stop watching TV, warm milk before bed, etc.); fail; keep looking for solutions.

Most of the advice you find are things that other people have tried that worked for them. Because that’s all anyone can do. The important thing is that as many people share their own personal “winning strategies” as possible because, given the law of averages, there’s got to be someone out there who’s enough like you that their advice will work.

The problem is when someone, who thinks that advice must be completely universal in order to be promulgated, starts freaking out over suggestions that don’t work for them. Like in the case of John Scalzi’s Unasked-For Advice to New Writers About Money. Great advice, but not applicable to everybody.

Keep that in mind when reading advice — but, please, if you’ve got something to share, then share it. Someone might find it useful.