Kaj_Sotala comments on What I've learned from Less Wrong - Less Wrong

79 Post author: Louie 20 November 2010 12:47PM

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Comment author: Kaj_Sotala 21 November 2010 11:59:08PM 3 points [-]

Awakening the Giant Within.

You need to apply some filtering to pick out the actual techniques out of the hype, and possibly consciously suppress instinctive reactions of "the style of this text is so horrible it can't be right", but it's great if you can do that.

I will post a summary of the most useful techniques at LW at some point - I'm still in the process of gathering long-term data, which is why I haven't done so yet. Though I blogged about the mood-improving questions some time back.

Comment author: pjeby 22 November 2010 02:33:59AM *  2 points [-]

You need to apply some filtering to pick out the actual techniques out of the hype

It's not so much hype as lack of precision. Robbins tends to specify procedures in huge "steps" like, "step 1: cultivate a great life". (I exaggerate, but not by that much.) He also seems to think that inspiring anecdotes are the best kind of evidence, which is why I had trouble taking most of ATGW seriously enough to really do much from it when I first bought it (like a decade or more ago).

Recently I re-read it, and noticed that there's actually a lot of good stuff in there, it's just stuff I never paid any attention to until I'd stumbled on similar ideas myself.

It's sort of like that saying commonly (but falsely) attributed to Mark Twain:

"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."

Tony seems to have learned a lot in the years since I started doing this sort of thing. ;-)

Comment author: Kaj_Sotala 22 November 2010 09:59:40AM 0 points [-]

It's not so much hype as lack of precision. Robbins tends to specify procedures in huge "steps" like, "step 1: cultivate a great life". (I exaggerate, but not by that much.)

That's odd - I didn't get that at all, and I found that he had a lot of advice about various concrete techniques. Off the top of my head: pattern interrupts, morning questions, evening questions, setback questions, smiling, re-imagining negative memories, gathering references, changing your mental vocabulary.

Comment author: pjeby 22 November 2010 03:21:49PM 0 points [-]

I found that he had a lot of advice about various concrete techniques.

He does, but they're mostly in the areas that I ignored on my first few readings of the book. ;-)

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