I think this is an uncharitable strawman of motivational and self help materials.
Is there stuff out there that’s trying to get you to buy something that doesn’t really help? Yes. Is there also stuff out there that people find transforms theirs lives because it helps them have insights that unstick them from their problems that they couldn’t unstick themselves from? Absolutely. Evidence: me and lots of people claiming this.
What you advise might work for some, but for others suck forced action would actually make the situation worse! I know this has been the case for me at times: forcing myself to “grind” actually made the problem worse over time rather than better.
What you advise might work for some, but for others suck forced action would actually make the situation worse! I know this has been the case for me at times: forcing myself to “grind” actually made the problem worse over time rather than better.
I advised no such thing, notice the /s at the end.
Absolutely. Evidence: me and lots of people claiming this.
If anecdotal evidence was the standard to be judged by, alternative medicine would be bloody miracle cures—plenty of patients swear it works. And in the absence of empirical data, it’s your anecdotal evidence against my anecdotal evidence. I had no intention of being charitable as I think it’s a complete snake-oil industry, Tai Lopez & Co. just made it ridiculously obvious in recent years. It doesn’t even require practitioners to be consciously ill-intentioned.
Of course, if you see the emotional porn aspect as the product in itself, then there’s nothing wrong with it. But I doubt that’s what buyers were looking for.
I advised no such thing, notice the /s at the end.
I guess I’m not cool enough to know what that means. Just looks like a typo to me. 🤷
If anecdotal evidence was the standard to be judged by, alternative medicine would be bloody miracle cures—plenty of patients swear it works. And in the absence of empirical data, it’s your anecdotal against my anecdotal evidence. I had no intention of being charitable as I think it’s a complete snake-oil industry, Tai Lopez & Co. just made it ridiculously obvious in recent years imo. It doesn’t even require practitioners to be consciously ill-intentioned.
You make a claim that “[m]otivational videos, speeches and self-help books are essentially modern forms of letters of indulgence”, and seem to back it up by saying that there’s folks whose experience of self help is that it just makes you feel good and takes your money without offering anything in return. But this is just opinion and conjecture. The strongest evidence you offer is an example of “Tai Lopez & Co.”, who I’m not familiar with, that you say “made it ridiculously obvious in recent years [that’s it’s complete snake-oil]”.
Anecdotal evidence is not necessarily the standard to judge by, but anecdotal evidence is sufficient to suggest we cannot dismiss something out of hand. To your point about alternative medicine, that some people find things work means it’s worthy of study, not that it can simply be dismissed. And sometimes what looks like alternative medicine, to take your point, turns out to be real medicine or just inefficient medicine (for example, people eating molds containing antibiotics or drinking tea made with witch hazel rather than taking aspirin).
It’s fine to have your opinion that self help and motivational videos are not helpful, but my claim is that you’re not taking seriously the case for things like self help that lots of people think work, including lots of people on this site, and this lack of charity seems to be resulting in a failure to even consider evidence (which to be fair I’m not providing to you, but your position seems to be rejecting even a willingness to consider the possibility that self-help might work, which means you seem to have already written the bottom line.)
I think this is an uncharitable strawman of motivational and self help materials.
Is there stuff out there that’s trying to get you to buy something that doesn’t really help? Yes. Is there also stuff out there that people find transforms theirs lives because it helps them have insights that unstick them from their problems that they couldn’t unstick themselves from? Absolutely. Evidence: me and lots of people claiming this.
What you advise might work for some, but for others suck forced action would actually make the situation worse! I know this has been the case for me at times: forcing myself to “grind” actually made the problem worse over time rather than better.
I advised no such thing, notice the /s at the end.
If anecdotal evidence was the standard to be judged by, alternative medicine would be bloody miracle cures—plenty of patients swear it works. And in the absence of empirical data, it’s your anecdotal evidence against my anecdotal evidence. I had no intention of being charitable as I think it’s a complete snake-oil industry, Tai Lopez & Co. just made it ridiculously obvious in recent years. It doesn’t even require practitioners to be consciously ill-intentioned.
Of course, if you see the emotional porn aspect as the product in itself, then there’s nothing wrong with it. But I doubt that’s what buyers were looking for.
I guess I’m not cool enough to know what that means. Just looks like a typo to me. 🤷
You make a claim that “[m]otivational videos, speeches and self-help books are essentially modern forms of letters of indulgence”, and seem to back it up by saying that there’s folks whose experience of self help is that it just makes you feel good and takes your money without offering anything in return. But this is just opinion and conjecture. The strongest evidence you offer is an example of “Tai Lopez & Co.”, who I’m not familiar with, that you say “made it ridiculously obvious in recent years [that’s it’s complete snake-oil]”.
Anecdotal evidence is not necessarily the standard to judge by, but anecdotal evidence is sufficient to suggest we cannot dismiss something out of hand. To your point about alternative medicine, that some people find things work means it’s worthy of study, not that it can simply be dismissed. And sometimes what looks like alternative medicine, to take your point, turns out to be real medicine or just inefficient medicine (for example, people eating molds containing antibiotics or drinking tea made with witch hazel rather than taking aspirin).
It’s fine to have your opinion that self help and motivational videos are not helpful, but my claim is that you’re not taking seriously the case for things like self help that lots of people think work, including lots of people on this site, and this lack of charity seems to be resulting in a failure to even consider evidence (which to be fair I’m not providing to you, but your position seems to be rejecting even a willingness to consider the possibility that self-help might work, which means you seem to have already written the bottom line.)