Self-improvement, philosophy, self-help etc (1 Viewer)

[Deadmanposting]

I'm reading Mark Manson's Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fuck

Just got through The Four Agreements and dip into stoicism quite a lot.


I am just trying to see what appeals to me and what captures my imagination. Take what you like and leave the rest, kind of thing.

Have any of the deep thinkers here come across any of this sort of thing that has resonated with them?

 

[flashback]

Stoic philosophy would be what I'd aspire to, just as a general rule.

I guess something I've learned from being repeatedly dropped into situations where there's really well informed scientists who've spent their lives focused on some small set of things is: you're often incorrect about stuff. It's your job as a scientist is to hunt down the areas you're wrong about and get rid of them as efficiently as possible, and fuck your pride.

Like, it's not a throwing your hands up and giving up and saying fuck it thing, it's a realisation that you're maybe incorrect about this detail, or don't understand that area. But you can learn it, and fix things up, by asking stupid questions and reading, and bloody mindedness.

So, zero pride, accept you're not very smart and you're wrong a lot of the time, and work extremely hard trying to stay current. Read a lot. If you don't fully understand something to the extent that you're not actually writing it, or can't easily explain it to someone else, you're going to fall behind scary quickly.

And then combine that with the idea that almost nothing is really hard. It can be uncomfortable to learn, but underneath eventually it's not hard, you just have to grind on it.

 

[flashback]

I guess the other one is death. There's been loads of people dying around the place seemingly. And I'm realising that we're actually all very close to death, maybe. We just don't know how close because we've never died.

Humans are terrible at not really understanding things until they apply to themselves directly. But, we are RIGHT on the edge of death, all the time, every day.

It's not a bad thing, we've been right on the edge of death since we arrived here. We haven't died. But because we haven't died we have this vague idea that this isn't something that applies to us at this point in time. At some later point in time it will, but not now.

But we are sitting right on the edge there. The day will come when you're not here, you won't notice obviously. But it's right there. There's a number of springs left. It's an integer. It's an exact value.

 

[egg_]

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[egg_]

I think almost all self-help books are utter shite, and actually worked on an anti-self-help book project for a while but never found anyone interested in publishing it - the above is a distillation of the first 3rd of the book. I'm due a sabattical in 2025, might finish it off then

+1 on @flashback 's comment above. I'm a smart guy, but life has taught me that I am almost always wrong.

I recently read Oliver Burkeman's book 4000 weeks, which is thoughts on how to approach life in light of its finitude. One of the very few books that I re-read as soon as I had finished it

 

[therealjohnny]

"get confident, stupid"

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[Jill Hives]

I'm reading Mark Manson's Subtle Art of Not Giving A Fuck

Just got through The Four Agreements and dip into stoicism quite a lot.


I am just trying to see what appeals to me and what captures my imagination. Take what you like and leave the rest, kind of thing.

Have any of the deep thinkers here come across any of this sort of thing that has resonated with them?

I actually really enjoyed that book. I read it maybe about 4 years ago and it actually made me ease up a bit on myself.

 

[therealjohnny]

I was given this by a friend who swears it helped him with stuff. It's been on my shelf for years, ironically I've been too lazy to pick it up and read it

How to Be Idle

Yearning for a life of leisure? In 24 chapters represen…

www.goodreads.com

 

[JohnnyRaz]

I'm somewhat allergic to the concept of self-help books. perhaps irrationally so. But i'll buy @flashback 's one when it comes out.

 

[magicbastarder]

i have no opinion on self-help books because i've never read any.
HTH.

 

[GO]

I found The Power Of Now by Eckhart Tolle to be excellent .

 

[pete]

The Bible is my self help book.

Edit: It’s not.

 

[GARYXKNIFEDX]

The Bible is my self help book.

Edit: It’s not.

https://www.chunklet.com/product/the-rock-bible/

 

[ernesto]

I understand the need for them following some trauma like grieving a loved one or major life changing event, but as a general thing I've never felt the need for one. If I need personal advice I'll ask someone I trust to either inform me or point me in the direction of someone who can.

 

[JohnnyRaz]

I understand the need for them following some trauma like grieving a loved one or major life changing event, but as a general thing I've never felt the need for one. If I need personal advice I'll ask someone I trust to either inform me or point me in the direction of someone who can.

So ask thumped basically??

 

[hydromancer]

I would tend to think of it as an American concept to a certain degree because the US is really where psychology and psychoanalysis have had some level of popularity like there is even a sitcom about radio talk show psychiatrist.
Actually Donald Trump is a good example of someone who uses "positive thinking" hence he will say he had the largest turn out in the history of any US presidential inauguration even if he really didn't. So not only does he think but also speaks of himself in almost hyper positive terms something like "yes it is me the absolute greatest and most loved of all presidents of all time" or something like that.
Mind you the book "the power of positive thinking" was first published as far back as 1952 so not exactly a new phenomenon but the general idea is to try and think in a super positive way to the point of not even using negative grammar. Maybe there is some general point to look on the bright side or not be overly pessimistic or something.
Stoicism is fairly practical I would think although maybe in the extreme could be seen as complete indifference. I have never studied it or philosophy or any of the ancient authors think I have a copy of the golden ass around somewhere which is maybe considered the oldest novel ? I have some Callimachus and usually think I should pick up a copy of the Aeneid or something by Iamblichus or even Firmicus Maternus my reading habits a completely dire though.

 

[hydromancer]

NLP or "Neuro Linguistic programming" is another thing you might encounter which is basically literature full of subliminal messages. Sort of like the three frames of a film reel that read eat popcorn which only appear for a fraction of a second but somehow registers in the brain. I think the practice was actually banned.
More similar idea would be someone who is hypnotized and then could be given suggestion.
I am not sure how prevalent it is but there are definitely books out there which are full of it and maybe not even unique to the genre of self help books. Probably they are easy enough to spot since it is difficult to create a straight forward readable text doing it. I suppose there must be an entire history of crazy ideas in the self help genre.

 

[nuke terrorist]

I find learning from mistakes (mine/others) works very well.
The downside is if when you have no experience of something.

Mad to think generation after generation does the same silly stuff.

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

Stoicism is fine and all but have you tried just being on a downer all the time?

The Conspiracy Against the Human Race - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[ann post]

I'm a huge fan of brevity of expression. My only really go-to's in life boil down to these -

with Mr Maslow here the way it was taught to me (at college) was in the context of working with people/groups. Are they rested and well fed? Do they feel comfortable and safe? great, give them some love and you might be able to work with them.
I apply this to myself mostly though. I make my lunch and pack my dinner before i have a bite of breakfast, I land to work early and I try and do a decent job. That leaves only having the craic and being creative for the rest of my time.



I also tend heavily to this one, the kaizen/continuous improvement thing. I do enjoy trying to do things a bit smarter or betterer be it work or creative or planning projects and what not - though the thing about this one is that you'll actually more likely end up starting at 'do' more often than 'plan'.. I do have a very fast brain with a lot of 3d aptitudes so i'm getting into self actualisation a bit with this too - but I get pissed off If my brain isn't made to work a bit every day. I was thinking of hitting up a lo-fi job a few years back which would give me more time creatively, but a mate told me with my brain, If I'm not using it for stuff regularly then I'm not living well. The same person also said anyone who isn't giving themself gout in the western world is wasting thier lives but I took the point anywhoo.



I read lots at work so I don't really do it recreationally but I kinda suspect self helf books are gonna have one great paragraph and enough filler to make it fit on a bookshelf.

My position on religion has shifted in recent years. From listing to lots of history stuff I've come to the conclusion that religion is invetibal in humans for a long time to come, it's not really for me largely other than being another usable language at times.

The best I feel is when I'm doing the obvious, eating, sleeping, socialing, creating and achieving well. A book might change that slightly?

I apologise for the colour scheme of this post.