weargon

weargon

Experienced
Apr 20, 2019
201
This is probably the best place to get a bunch of interesting responses on the topics. I have known a few friends in the past who were the typical yuppies who would just eat it all up and rave about self help books, quotes, websites, youtube videos.

There's some genuinely interesting and scientific stuff out there, such as Thinking Fast And Slow, but it takes forever to read/listen to and I get distracted easily. So I'm still not raving about it.

Overall I think almost all of it is bullshit, and it's kind of obvious. Everyone knows it. The people who benefit from it the most are the self help writers and motivation coaches and whatever other talentless positions they call themselves.

The one thing that kind of irks me is the amount of padding. A lot of self help books can be reduced to 10% of their content without loosing a single point.

So anyways, I'm curious to hear what your thoughts are, which ones you believe actually might help, which ones are bullshit, which ones are funny, etc. Personally I laughed my ass off at the Tony Robbins episode they did on Family Guy. That guy is pretty damn weird and cult like during his speeches though. Watching a few random clips of him interviewing people at his events really made me go wtf. But I guess if we really think about it, the oldest and worst self help con out there is religion itself.

I think the only self help or motivation I've ever gotten out of any material was watching documentaries about, or listening to lectures from extremely accomplished intelligent people. And by accomplished I don't mean someone who's rich from cashing in on so many suckers, but trully accomplished in a way that benefits society. One example was watching the documentary Internet's Own Boy. Or reading a book on Tesla's entire life. I think it boils down to what you surround yourself with, media and people. When you're around nothing but lazy and ignorant people you are more content with being lazy and not learning anything.
 
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Divine Trinity

Divine Trinity

Pugna Vigil
Mar 20, 2019
310
Think it boils down to what you surround yourself with, media and people. When you're around nothing but lazy and ignorant people you are more content with being lazy and not learning anything.

For the most part you answered your own question. I think these things are pretty intuitive to people, it's external forces that compel us to act against our own interest. These "self-help" scammers like Lopez or Peterson are just vulture-capitalist, they don't know anymore about these things than you or I. People are a product of their environment, so change the environment.
 
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Begemont

Begemont

Member
Mar 18, 2019
52
Well, you mentioned the one already which is not bullshit. Thinking fast and slow, while not exactly self-help really, is the one worth reading. Real science, real data, real research.

In general I find the whole industry despicable, you have Petersons and whatever else fuckers spouting what people want to hear, garnering huge audiences and quite possibly hurting a lot of people because they're selling snake oil.
 
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Final Escape

I’ve been here too long
Jul 8, 2018
4,348
I like Jordan Peterson but I just wish I had gotten that info when I was young. It's a little late when u are a 42 female. I feel like there's nothing to look forward to at this point. Besides continuing to barely support myself, being a single lonely old hag with cats lol!
 
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weargon

weargon

Experienced
Apr 20, 2019
201
All 3 of you basically summed it up.

Divine Trinity: Venture-capitalist is quite a fitting term! I agree. The most influence I ever got was by changing what I surround myself with.
Begemont: I need to finish listening to that audiobook or reading it. I have both lol. It is very interesting, just a bit long, but for good reasons. It is disturbing how much fraud is in the field indeed. It shares so much in common with the whole fraudulent weight loss market.
Final Escape: I feel the same way. Instead of cats it's car projects but also very little to look forward to.
 

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