Wow, thanks for this great feedback!
First, about the testimonial: how about this one, does it work better? It's a bit longish, so we weren't sure whether to put it in.
Good point about the Soviet leader. The reason the quote was in there is to tie the sentiment of meaning and purpose to someone that the general public would be aware of, and based on my research, Mikhail Gorbachev's response was typical of other Soviet citizens. I will make that more clear in the workbook, thanks!
I think we do link to studies using CBT tools, such as this one, but perhaps you're referring to something I don't know about - I'd be glad to update my beliefs.
The linked testimonial is better in such it actually speaks about the benefit the person received. On the other hand it's quite long. You could quote from it:
"I figured out that I wanted to build a life that was centered around bettering myself and other people. I wanted to be someone who constantly was learning and growing, while at the same time, being a teacher of sorts to help those around me. Not long after reaching these conclusions, did I discover a potential career choice that I felt fit me perfectly."
...The reason the quote was in there i
We at Intentional Insights would appreciate your help with feedback on optimize a workbook that conveys rational thinking to find meaning and purpose in life for a broad audience. Last time, we asked for your feedback, and we changed our content offerings based on comments we received from fellow Less Wrongers, as you can see from the Edit to this post. We would be glad to update our beliefs again and revise the workbook based on your feedback.
For a bit of context, the workbook is part of our efforts to promote rational thinking to a broad audience and thus raise the sanity waterline. It’s based on research on how other societies besides the United States helped their citizens find meaning and purpose, such as research I did on the Soviet Union and Zuckerman did on Sweden and Denmark. It’s also based on research on the contemporary United States by psychologists such as Steger, Duffy and Dik, Seligman, and others.
The target audience is reason-minded youth and young adults, especially secular-oriented ones. The goal is to get such people to engage with academic research on how our minds work, and thus get them interested in exploring rational thinking more broadly, eventually getting them turned on to more advanced rationality, such as found on Less Wrong itself. The workbook is written in a style aimed to create cognitive ease, with narratives, personal stories, graphics, and research-based exercises.
Here is the link to the workbook draft itself. Any and all suggestions are welcomed, and thanks for taking the time to engage with this workbook and give your feedback – much appreciated!