This article was published on April 1, 2021.
If you’ve spent some time reading self-improvement blogs and websites, you’ve probably come across Mind of Steel. It’s a blog where this guy called Phil Janecic writes about what he believes is the right way to build mental strength.
In the last few years, Mind of Steel has been becoming increasingly popular. With this popularity, Phil’s ideas are reaching more and more people every day — and this is a problem.
While most self-help blogs focus on positivity, Phil writes about toxic ideas like “never accept yourself“, “how to lie“, and “stop complaining“. He often uses vulgar language and tries to make himself appear smart and knowledgeable, even though he’s not.
In this article, I am going to expose him for the fraud that he is. Hopefully, this will help you see the truth.
1. Mind of Steel makes no sense
Mind of Steel was started in 2014 when Phil started publishing articles on the topic of mental strength. He later expanded his articles on the topics of socializing, lifestyle, anxiety, and mental health. On his about page, he uses a lot of fancy words like “rational self-improvement” and “real improvement”, but if you dig a little deeper, you will see that his own philosophy doesn’t make much sense.
For example, while he claims he knows what he’s talking about and that his information is backed by “science”, everything he writes about seems to go directly against what most of the self-help industry is saying. He even says it so on his about page: “I reject pseudoscience, conspiracy theories, self-loathing or ‘just be happy’ messages.”
Is this guy for real? He says he follows science but disregards pseudoscience (I mean, it literally has the word “science” in its name!) He says he rejects “just be happy” messages because he obviously wants you to remain in a miserable state so you can keep reading his articles and buying his books.
Well, okay, maybe he’s just not a great marketer. Just because he doesn’t know how to express himself, it doesn’t mean his advice is automatically wrong. So what is his advice?
This will make you laugh. This is what he believes will “actually make you better”:
- Embrace struggle instead of chasing happiness.
- Fix your problems instead of just crying about them.
- Stand up for the right things even if nobody else does.
This is exactly how he puts it on his website. He’s not really interested in helping you live a happy and satisfied life. He doesn’t want to hear about your problems, he wants you to shut up about them. He urges you to “stand up for the right things” even though he seems to be associated with the left.
I feel like I can just stop right here. But the closer you look, the deeper the rabbit hole goes.
2. Disrespectful attitude
One of the most popular articles on his website is called “Best Motivational Article Ever“. Besides the name obviously chosen to be eye-catching and attract Internet clicks, I have to admit, this article is pretty good. He makes some good points and gives some good advice.
Until you get to the end.
You see, just when you think Phil’s not all bad, he puts this at the end of the article:
Apparently, a lot of you don’t realize this article is making fun of generic self-help bullshit. Even worse, some of you share this thinking it’s a genuine motivational article — probably because you didn’t even read the fucking thing.
Can you believe this guy? He can’t even end the article without insulting you. He probably thinks this somehow makes him edgy or funny, but it just makes him sound like a jerk. He even goes on to say:
If that’s you, I want to tell you something. Reading empty motivational articles telling you exactly what you want to hear will never get you anywhere.
You can see he has no respect for other bloggers in this niche, as he believes anything that doesn’t help you improve your life is “pointless” or “unhelpful”. The way someone treats his peers tells you a lot about a person. Speaking of which…
3. Phil sounds like a horrible person
I don’t like to judge someone I haven’t met in person, but in this case, I’m judging someone based on the things he actually says on his website. I mean, that’s about as direct of a source as you can get.
Not to sound like a pretentious asshole myself, I’ll let you decide for yourself. Here is another excerpt from his about page:
Just shine the batsignal in the sky and I’ll come from the shadows like Batman to punch you in the face and tell you: “Stop whining, we’ve got work to do.”
This part straight-up horrifies me. He’s literally talking about being violent toward somebody asking for help. Oh, and punching you in the face isn’t enough; he still has to insult you as well.
Maybe I’m just not used to his kind of humor. For example, in an article titled “Motivational Letter to You“, he writes this:
Think the world fucked you over? Good. I’m here to tell you to wipe those tears off and use them as lube to fuck the world right back.
Yeah, Phil. Because when somebody is down on their luck and feeling shitty, it makes perfect sense to talk to them about how to turn this into a fuck-session. “Ooooh, you’re already crying? Perfect! Free lube.”
When you put all of that together, he doesn’t sound like a good writer nor a good person. Be honest, does this look like someone who knows what they’re talking about? Like someone you should trust or who can help you?
If you’ve fallen for this guy’s tricks, don’t feel ashamed. There’s nothing wrong with you. Smarter and older people than you have emailed him saying: “Thanks for the advice Phil, you’ve changed my life!”
Maybe the reason you started reading Mind of Steel in the first place was that you felt like the other content in this niche was repetitive, superficial, and not particularly helpful. Maybe you were tired of everybody telling you to “just be happy” when all you can feel is intense anxiety and depression. Maybe you felt connected to Phil because he knows exactly what you’re going through, as he went through the same things himself.
But today is the day you’re going to say “no” to his twisted logic. Because underneath the niceties, he’s just an arrogant jerk trying to pass himself off as smart while insulting you in the process. He’s a liar and Mind of Steel is a garbage website filled with unhelpful advice.
Or maybe, just maybe, this is an elaborate April Fool’s joke.
What do you think?
Take care,
Phil Janecic
Founder of Mind of Steel