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ChrisV

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Hmmm, found some research regarding personality and Entrepreneurial success as well:

Screen Shot 2018-10-09 at 2.24.03 PM.png
 
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Ayanle Farah

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Oh man, here we go ;D

The first thing is Intelligence.

View attachment 22087

IQ is very predictive of success.

Do you have to be smart to be rich? The impact of IQ on wealth, income and financial distress

The next is a trait called Conscientiousness, which his actually more predictive statistically of life success than IQ.

View attachment 22088

View attachment 22089

Conscientiousness is huge to success. Huge.

Conscientiousness is the personality trait of being careful, or vigilant. Conscientiousness implies a desire to do a task well, and to take obligations to others seriously. Conscientious people tend to be efficient and organized as opposed to easy-going and disorderly. They exhibit a tendency to show self-discipline, act dutifully, and aim for achievement; they display planned rather than spontaneous behavior; and they are generally dependable. It is manifested in characteristic behaviors such as being neat, and systematic; also including such elements as carefulness, thoroughness, and deliberation (the tendency to think carefully before acting.)[1] Conscientiousness is one of the five traits of both the Five Factor Model and the HEXACO model of personality and is an aspect of what has traditionally been referred to as having character. Conscientious individuals are generally hard-working, and reliable. They are also likely to be conformists.[2] When taken to an extreme, they may also be "workaholics", perfectionists, and compulsive in their behavior.[3] People who score low on conscientiousness tend to be laid back, less goal-oriented, and less driven by success; they also are more likely to engage in antisocial and criminal behavior.[4]​

Conscientiousness is characterized by self-control, organization, and goal orientation and is positively related to a number of health and professional outcomes. Thus, it is commonly suggested that conscientiousness should be related to superior executive functioning (EF) abilities, especially prepotent response inhibition. However, little empirical support for this notion has emerged, perhaps due to oversimplified and underspecified modeling of EF. The current study sought to fill this gap by testing relations between conscientiousness and three facets of EF using a nested factors latent variable approach. Participants (N = 420; Mage  = 22.5; 50% male; 91% Caucasian) completed a measure of conscientiousness and nine EF tasks designed to tap three related yet distinguishable facets of EF: working memory updating, mental set shifting, and prepotent response inhibition. Structural equation models showed that conscientiousness is positively associated with the EF facet of mental set shifting but not response inhibition or working memory updating. Despite the common notion that conscientiousness is associated with cognitive abilities related to rigid control over impulses (i.e., inhibition), the current results suggest the cognitive ability most associated with conscientiousness is characterized by flexibility and the ability to adapt to changing environmental contingencies and task demands.

Lower psychometric conscientiousness and steeper discounting of future rewards at age 14 also predicts problematic drug use at age 16, but the neural responses independently predict more variance than psychometric measures. Together, these findings suggest that diminished neural responses to anticipated rewards in novelty-seeking adolescents may increase vulnerability to future problematic drug use.​

Frontiers in Psychology - Who does well in life? Conscientious adults excel in both objective and subjective success

LOW Aggreeableness is also correlated for a couple reasons. People low on agreeableness are competitive, and also less likely to puss out on income negotiations.

So basically (in order of importance):

Hard worker, neat, smart, competitive

In technical terms:

high industriousness, high orderliness, high IQ, low agreeableness

How much you can change these traits is another topic. They’re about 50% hereditary, but there are things you can do.


Valid criticism. I generally thing Self-Help from folks in Academia is amazing. Angela Duckworth, Gabriele Oettingen, Jordan B. Peterson, Dr. Robert Sapolsky. Those authors are top-level PhDs in their respective fields. But I usually call those books “Personal Development” rather than “Self Help.” Just a personal preference.
Yeah, I was about to say, hard work is the best predictor to success. You have to be smart aswell but IQ has little to do with intelligence.
 

ChrisV

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IQ has little to do with intelligence
There’s a controversy in science regarding IQ..

honestly... i think it’s total liberal bullshit.. and this is one of my major criticisms of academia.. they put political correctness in front of facts

they claim that IQ is racist because people of certain races were found to have lower IQs then all the SJW professors started with the rabble rabble IQ is BS! nonsense

IQ is literally one of the most accurate measurements psychology has

It’s a liberal thing... liberals want everyone to believe that the only reason that people succeed or fail in life is due to “the man holdin them down,” “racism,” “sexism,” or some other “powerism” .. it really grinds my gears

more on this for anyone interested in the IQ controversy 49:00 2017 Personality 18: Biology & Traits: Openness/Intelligence/Creativity I

Also, Neuroscientist Sam Harris:

People don’t want to hear that a person's intelligence is in large measure due to his or her genes and there seems to be very little we can do environmentally to increase a person's intelligence even in childhood. It's not that the environment doesn't matter, but genes appear to be 50 to 80 percent of the story. People don't want to hear this. And they certainly don't want to hear that average IQ differs across races and ethnic groups.

Now, for better or worse, these are all facts. In fact, there is almost nothing in psychological science for which there is more evidence than these claims. About IQ, about the validity of testing for it, about its importance in the real world, about its heritability, and about its differential expression in different populations.

Again, this is what a dispassionate look at [what] decades of research suggest. Unfortunately, the controversy over The Bell Curve did not result from legitimate, good-faith criticisms of its major claims. Rather, it was the product of a politically correct moral panic that totally engulfed Murray's career and has yet to release him.

Edit oh, of course:
Screen Shot 2018-10-09 at 4.01.13 PM.png
^^
 
Last edited:

Real Deal Denver

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Yeah, I was about to say, hard work is the best predictor to success. You have to be smart aswell but IQ has little to do with intelligence.

You got it Avanle. Chris has valid points - if you like studies. Then they have studies on studies. If you delve too much into that you get paralysis by analysis.

I know SO many successful people, and the most amazing thing is that their success did not come from their superior education. It came from their stubbornness to master a particular job. And their jobs aren't sexy. Two are in construction - one does lawn care - one is in real estate - one is a plumber - one is an electrician - one is a welder - one has a restaurant. There are two things they all have in common - one, they achieved their success all on their own, and two, they are all millionaires. Damn the charts and studies - these people have things to do today!

In my own multiple careers, I have mastered every career I've ever undertaken. It's not because I'm smart. Many people that I've competed with are smarter than me, but I have triumphed when we crossed paths in business. I came out the winner - as so many of my friends do as well. Is it luck? Is it genetics? Is it my good looks? What could it be?

It's this. I take apart a market piece by piece to study it and figure out the WHY the leader of the market is successful - then I figure out the HOW, and build my business machine bigger and better. Not accounting for time restraints, ANYONE could duplicate the success I have had, or any of my friends have had, as well. It comes down to just doing it, and never staying stagnant. Keep improving day by day.

Not being "educated" is indeed a blessing for so many people I know because we don't know how hard it is to go against the odds. If only we had seen the charts and graphs. But we didn't, so we pushed on ahead anyway - despite our limitations.

It is easy to capture any market. That doesn't mean I would want to, but it could be done. I can take any business apart and figure out how to outmaneuver them - if I have the time to devote to it. It might take years or decades, but it can be done. Even the almighty Wal-Mart is fighting for market share. Even Musk came along and is teaching the car manufacturers a thing or two. Jobs reinvented technology and took it to new heights. All one man people - just one man made all the difference.

Call me delusional - call me ignorant - call me uneducated. I'm in great company. My heroes were all called the same thing at one point in time.

Great post @Ayanle Farah. I'm on your side 100%!
 
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Ayanle Farah

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There’s a controversy in science regarding IQ..

honestly... i think it’s total liberal bullshit.. and this is one of my major criticisms of academia.. they put political correctness in front of facts

they claim that IQ is racist because people of certain races were found to have lower IQs then all the SJW professors started with the rabble rabble IQ is BS! nonsense

IQ is literally one of the most accurate measurements psychology has

It’s a liberal thing... liberals want everyone to believe that the only reason that people succeed or fail in life is due to “the man holdin them down,” “racism,” “sexism,” or some other “powerism” .. it really grinds my gears

more on this for anyone interested in the IQ controversy 49:00 2017 Personality 18: Biology & Traits: Openness/Intelligence/Creativity I

Also, Neuroscientist Sam Harris:

People don’t want to hear that a person's intelligence is in large measure due to his or her genes and there seems to be very little we can do environmentally to increase a person's intelligence even in childhood. It's not that the environment doesn't matter, but genes appear to be 50 to 80 percent of the story. People don't want to hear this. And they certainly don't want to hear that average IQ differs across races and ethnic groups.

Now, for better or worse, these are all facts. In fact, there is almost nothing in psychological science for which there is more evidence than these claims. About IQ, about the validity of testing for it, about its importance in the real world, about its heritability, and about its differential expression in different populations.

Again, this is what a dispassionate look at [what] decades of research suggest. Unfortunately, the controversy over The Bell Curve did not result from legitimate, good-faith criticisms of its major claims. Rather, it was the product of a politically correct moral panic that totally engulfed Murray's career and has yet to release him.

Edit oh, of course:
View attachment 22091
^^
No, IQ is bullshit and intelligence is not fixed: https://mediarelations.uwo.ca/2012/12/19/western-university-led-research-debunks-the-iq-myth/

You got it Avanle. Chris has valid points - if you like studies. Then they have studies on studies. If you delve too much into that you get paralysis by analysis.

I know SO many successful people, and the most amazing thing is that their success did not come from their superior education. It came from their stubbornness to master a particular job. And their jobs aren't sexy. Two are in construction - one does lawn care - one is in real estate - one is a plumber - one is an electrician - one is a welder - one has a restaurant. There are two things they all have in common - one, they achieved their success all on their own, and two, they are all millionaires. Damn the charts and studies - these people have things to do today!

In my own multiple careers, I have mastered every career I've ever undertaken. It's not because I'm smart. Many people that I've competed with are smarter than me, but I have triumphed when we crossed paths in business. I came out the winner - as so many of my friends do as well. Is it luck? Is it genetics? Is it my good looks? What could it be?

It's this. I take apart a market piece by piece to study it and figure out the WHY the leader of the market is successful - then I figure out the HOW, and build my business machine bigger and better. Not accounting for time restraints, ANYONE could duplicate the success I have had, or any of my friends have had, as well. It comes down to just doing it, and never staying stagnant. Keep improving day by day.

Not being "educated" is indeed a blessing for so many people I know because we don't know how hard it is to go against the odds. If only we had seen the charts and graphs. But we didn't, so we pushed on ahead anyway - despite our limitations.

It is easy to capture any market. That doesn't mean I would want to, but it could be done. I can take any business apart and figure out how to outmaneuver them - if I have the time to devote to it. It might take years or decades, but it can be done. Even the almighty Wal-Mart is fighting for market share. Even Musk came along and is teaching the car manufacturers a thing or two. Jobs reinvented technology and took it to new heights. All one man people - just one man made all the difference.

Call me delusional - call me ignorant - call me uneducated. I'm in great company. My heroes were all called the same thing at one point in time.

Great post @Ayanle Farah. I'm on your side 100%!
Thanks @Real Deal Denver That's awesome. You and the people you mentioned are actually far more educated imo because guess what?

Scientists aren't entrepreneurs, no amount of graphs or charts can compare to real life experience. All graphs reveal are averages and even that tends to be wrong sometimes.

There is a man who walked again after severing his spine and being told it'd never happen, after "defying science", he said.

"You have to think you're the exception to be exceptional"
 

ChrisV

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no amount of graphs or charts can compare to real life experience.
Like clockwork.





Also, I’m not sure why I’m responding. It’s more for the people who want to read what I’m writing more than actually wanting to debate this crap.... I looked at the paper they cited

How the f--- do you get anything about an “IQ myth” from this. You can’t just cite a paper then pretend that it says whatever you want it to say, even when it said nothing like that.

This is the paper:

Screen Shot 2018-10-09 at 5.07.28 PM.png

This is the headline lmfao:

Screen Shot 2018-10-09 at 5.26.59 PM.png



I went back and read the article you linked and they didn’t even claim that IQ was bullshit lol.. they just said that ‘chalking it down to one number is an oversimplification"

Actually the paper argues in favor of “g” intelligence (general intelligence) ... dude, do you know how to read these papers? It doesn't even say what you think it said at all. It literally said that “g” is what all intelligences have in common, which is exactly psychologists’ claim. IQ research is so well established that you might as well be arguing for an existence for a flat earth. IQ is predictive of so many different measures of success arguing it is embarrassing.

Screen Shot 2018-10-09 at 5.17.19 PM.png Screen Shot 2018-10-09 at 5.13.36 PM.png
Screen Shot 2018-10-09 at 5.14.43 PM.png Screen Shot 2018-10-09 at 5.15.30 PM.png Screen Shot 2018-10-09 at 5.15.44 PM.png

But I’m definitely not doing this ‘the data doesn't matter cuz I was there” stuff
 

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ChrisV

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There is a man who walked again after severing his spine and being told it'd never happen, after "defying science", he said.

"You have to think you're the exception to be exceptional"
lmfao you’re in candyland
 
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ChrisV

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You got it Avanle. Chris has valid points - if you like studies. Then they have studies on studies. If you delve too much into that you get paralysis by analysis.

I know SO many successful people, and the most amazing thing is that their success did not come from their superior education. It came from their stubbornness to master a particular job. And their jobs aren't sexy. Two are in construction - one does lawn care - one is in real estate - one is a plumber - one is an electrician - one is a welder - one has a restaurant. There are two things they all have in common - one, they achieved their success all on their own, and two, they are all millionaires. Damn the charts and studies - these people have things to do today!

In my own multiple careers, I have mastered every career I've ever undertaken. It's not because I'm smart. Many people that I've competed with are smarter than me, but I have triumphed when we crossed paths in business. I came out the winner - as so many of my friends do as well. Is it luck? Is it genetics? Is it my good looks? What could it be?

It's this. I take apart a market piece by piece to study it and figure out the WHY the leader of the market is successful - then I figure out the HOW, and build my business machine bigger and better. Not accounting for time restraints, ANYONE could duplicate the success I have had, or any of my friends have had, as well. It comes down to just doing it, and never staying stagnant. Keep improving day by day.

Not being "educated" is indeed a blessing for so many people I know because we don't know how hard it is to go against the odds. If only we had seen the charts and graphs. But we didn't, so we pushed on ahead anyway - despite our limitations.

It is easy to capture any market. That doesn't mean I would want to, but it could be done. I can take any business apart and figure out how to outmaneuver them - if I have the time to devote to it. It might take years or decades, but it can be done. Even the almighty Wal-Mart is fighting for market share. Even Musk came along and is teaching the car manufacturers a thing or two. Jobs reinvented technology and took it to new heights. All one man people - just one man made all the difference.

Call me delusional - call me ignorant - call me uneducated. I'm in great company. My heroes were all called the same thing at one point in time.

Great post @Ayanle Farah. I'm on your side 100%!
Screen Shot 2018-10-09 at 5.34.01 PM.png

I thought i was going to regret this, but it wasn’t that bad.

See, you seem to have this dichotomy in your brain. A dichotomy where there are “Learners” and there are “Doers”.... and the “Doers” don’t have time for learning because they’re too busy “doing”... and I don’t know where you get the idea that they’re mutually exclusive. As if people who get educations just get educations for the sake of education and put their thumb in their a$$. You learn shit to do shit better. People don’t learn shit just so they can recite the alphabet better

It's this. I take apart a market piece by piece to study it and figure out the WHY the leader of the market is successful - then I figure out the HOW, and build my business machine bigger and better. Not accounting for time restraints, ANYONE could duplicate the success I have had, or any of my friends have had, as well. It comes down to just doing it, and never staying stagnant. Keep improving day by day.

So then rather than trolling every thread and acting like you’re superior to highly respected professors (highly respected in academia, highly respected even on this forum).. rather than than how about posting threads that are useful.

I’ve left enough breadcrumbs just in this thread alone where someone can put the pieces together and make a 6-7 figure income. Do a little research on conscientiousness and IQ and boom, you’ll make a f---n fortune.
 

YoungPadawan

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The type of person that is willing to educate themselves for the rest of their lives.
Boom, there it is. I'm a firm believer in lifelong education, but not by force-feeding non-related subjects down peoples throats. I personally am not a big fan of the modern day education system.

I went to college and I regret it. I learned waaay more on my own in the library than I ever did in actual class. Why the hell did I have to take a biology class and choir class for a business management degree? Just teach me what I need to know and be done with it.

I firmly believe the phrase, "leaders are readers." Reading gives you the ability to turbo-charge your learning and learn from the experience of others. In the time it took to read one textbook in a class, I could read 15 books.

In college, you learn as fast as the stupidest person in the class.

Rep++ @ChrisV for putting a lot of effort into your posts.
 
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ChrisV

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This is the video, I made a separate thread for it once.
I’m not debating the validity of the story

dude the guy got better because of physical therapy.. which is highly informed by medicine and science

they literally show a picture of the hospital who helped him walk

science are the ones who helped him walk.. it’s not the bad guys yelling at him that he can’t do it
 

ChrisV

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Rep++ @ChrisV For putting a lot of effort into your posts.
thanks man... i sometimes don’t want to come off as arguing.. but these debates end up bringing up a lot of good points that i think people can benefit from.. and also help me clarify my own positions

Reading gives you the ability to turbo-charge your learning and learn from the experience of others.
THIS... f---in this

Newton said “if i have seen farther it is becasue i stood on the shoulders of giants”

when you read about the successes and failures of others, you don’t have to make those mistakes yourself.. it saves a lot of time
 

Ayanle Farah

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I’m not debating the validity of the story

dude the guy got better because of physical therapy.. which is highly informed by medicine and science

they literally show a picture of the hospital who helped him walk

science are the ones who helped him walk.. it’s not the bad guys yelling at him that he can’t do it
Hell no, only he is responsible for making himself walk. He literally said they told him he'd never walk again. The hospital he stayed at gave him the support he needed while he was staying there but they didn't make him walk.

How many times do doctors and authority figures make arrogant claims about what can't be done when people defy those limitations.

Science says alot of shit that later gets disproven so I always take "facts" and studies with a grain of salt.
 
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Real Deal Denver

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See, you seem to have this dichotomy in your brain. A dichotomy where there are “Learners” and there are “Doers”.... and the “Doers” don’t have time for learning because they’re too busy “doing”... and I don’t know where you get the idea that they’re mutually exclusive. As if people who get educations just get educations for the sake of education and put their thumb in their a$$. You learn sh*t to do sh*t better. People don’t learn sh*t just so they can recite the alphabet better

You're really one rude crude lewd little dude. And you are probably proud of that. I think I know why too - so I'm not going to argue with you. You can be Mr. Big Deal. I know it's important to you.

"The word narcissism gets tossed around a lot in our selfie-obsessed, celebrity-driven culture, often to describe someone who seems excessively vain or full of themselves. But in psychological terms, narcissism doesn’t mean self-love—at least not of a genuine sort. It’s more accurate to say that people with narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) are in love with an idealized, grandiose image of themselves. And they’re in love with this inflated self-image precisely because it allows them to avoid deep feelings of insecurity. But propping up their delusions of grandeur takes a lot of work—and that’s where the dysfunctional attitudes and behaviors come in.

Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) involves a pattern of self-centered, arrogant thinking and behavior, a lack of empathy and consideration for other people, and an excessive need for admiration. Others often describe people with NPD as cocky, manipulative, selfish, patronizing, and demanding. This way of thinking and behaving can be seen in every area of the narcissist’s life: from work and friendships to family and love relationships.

People with narcissistic personality disorder are extremely resistant to changing their behavior, even when it’s causing them problems. Their tendency is to turn the blame on to others. What’s more, they are extremely sensitive and react badly to even the slightest criticisms, disagreements, or perceived slights, which they view as personal attacks."

Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Tips for Spotting and Coping with a Narcissist

narcissism.gif
 

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i usually don’t get that personal on this forum, esp not the main forum but shit

there’s a major reason i’m so scientifically-minded

this was about 7 or so years ago..

before that i went through 10+ years of Major Depression. serious, torturous stuff for ten+ years.

i thought self-help had an answer for me.. i listened to all of it... Tony Robbins, Napoleon Hill, Bob Proctor

i swore it worked. i mean i had no results, but it made so much sense.... positive thinking.. how could you argue with that? how could you possibly argue that positive thinking wasn’t the answer?

But it still wasn’t doing anything for me. i preached it from the rooftops, but i still had this constant tormentor that followed me around daily. it was an internal torture chamber.

I eventually had a "FTE" said F*ck this and dug into medical journals. I learned about chemical imbalances, and all the stuff these ‘positive thinking’ guys said was bullshit. i learned about serotonin and dopamine and endorphin and GABA.. but the positive thinking guys said that wasn’t the problem.. it was my 'negative thinking'... the doctors and scientists said otherwise. the research said otherwise. but the positive thinking guys knew better than the scientists.

What was the problem? The problem was so F*cking embarrassingly simple that i almost wish it were my ‘negative thought patterns’

The problem was, without getting into all the complex science behind this.. there’s a brain chemical called serotonin. it’s the main chemical theorized to be responsible for depression. So there’s actually dietary protein called tryptophan. when ingested your body converts it to 5-HTP then Serotonin.

serotonin-tryptophan-5-ht-synthesis@2x.png

I bought tryptophan supplements from GNC and the problem went away within a week. My problem that literally f---ing tortured me for over a decade was a f---ing deficiency in a single retarded dietary protein.

How did the positive thinking guys miss that? And furthermore, why are they spouting knowledge they simply don’t have.

But that was the first shift.... the next was how i simply became extremely skeptical. and i don’t mean skeptical in a negative sense.. i mean in the sense of demanding evidence. I don’t are about one guy saying something works... I want 1000 people saying it works. 90% o the time I’m not even going to waste my time looking into something that one person says works

in the past 7+ years i’ve started applying that philosophy to basically everything i do, and the difference it’s made is disgusting. There’s really been no goal i’ve set out to achieve that i haven’t accomplished. Sometimes it takes a bit put the pieces together.. sometimes months... but at least i know i’m not chasing ghosts


Since I made that shift from believing little anecdotes to demanding real evidence or data

and that is an idea that is pounded into you in academia. it doesn’t even have to be academia. just buy books that cite their sources for god’s sake Kevin Hogan wrote a great quote:

Read everything that matters. If it doesn’t have a bibliography, it is fiction. Fiction is for fun when time permits. Fiction is GREAT. I love fiction. And when my research is done, I go straight to Greg Iles or James Rollins or Matthew Riley or whoever…but FIRST, read material that is going to REALLY help you.​

And I agree 100%. If a book doesn’t have references, it’s fiction as far as I’m concerned. Even if it does have references, they could be shit references. That’s generally very rare though. I rarely even pick up a book unless the author has at least one or two PhDs. And that sounds shallow, and I definitely makes exceptions because there are brilliant authors without PhDs ( @MJ DeMarco obviously being one, ) but in general I find it to be much higher quality.

I am really really happy about the newfound fame of Jordan Peterson (he talks about serotonin and diet quite a bit) because he’s actually bringing science to the conversation, and i’m even more happy that people care. I’m more happy that people are buying scientific personal development materials than there is someone selling it, if that makes sense.

But yea... whatever

think-critically-and-demand-evidence-5-e1488515265882.png
 

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i usually don’t get that personal on this forum, esp not the main forum but sh*t

there’s a major reason i’m so scientifically-minded

this was about 7 or so years ago..

before that i went through 10+ years of Major Depression. serious, torturous stuff for ten+ years.

i thought self-help had an answer for me.. i listened to all of it... Tony Robbins, Napoleon Hill, Bob Proctor

i swore it worked. i mean i had no results, but it made so much sense.... positive thinking.. how could you argue with that? how could you possibly argue that positive thinking wasn’t the answer?

But it still wasn’t doing anything for me. i preached it from the rooftops, but i still had this constant tormentor that followed me around daily. it was an internal torture chamber.

I eventually had a "FTE" said f*ck this and dug into medical journals. I learned about chemical imbalances, and all the stuff these ‘positive thinking’ guys said was bullshit. i learned about serotonin and dopamine and endorphin and GABA.. but the positive thinking guys said that wasn’t the problem.. it was my 'negative thinking'... the doctors and scientists said otherwise. the research said otherwise. but the positive thinking guys knew better than the scientists.

What was the problem? The problem was so f*cking embarrassingly simple that i almost wish it were my ‘negative thought patterns’

The problem was, without getting into all the complex science behind this.. there’s a brain chemical called serotonin. it’s the main chemical theorized to be responsible for depression. So there’s actually dietary protein called tryptophan. when ingested your body converts it to 5-HTP then Serotonin.

View attachment 22106

I bought tryptophan supplements from GNC and the problem went away within a week. My problem that literally f---ing tortured me for over a decade was a f---ing deficiency in a single retarded dietary protein.

How did the positive thinking guys miss that? And furthermore, why are they spouting knowledge they simply don’t have.

But that was the first shift.... the next was how i simply became extremely skeptical. and i don’t mean skeptical in a negative sense.. i mean in the sense of demanding evidence. I don’t are about one guy saying something works... I want 1000 people saying it works. 90% o the time I’m not even going to waste my time looking into something that one person says works

in the past 7+ years i’ve started applying that philosophy to basically everything i do, and the difference it’s made is disgusting. There’s really been no goal i’ve set out to achieve that i haven’t accomplished. Sometimes it takes a bit put the pieces together.. sometimes months... but at least i know i’m not chasing ghosts


Since I made that shift from believing little anecdotes to demanding real evidence or data

and that is an idea that is pounded into you in academia. it doesn’t even have to be academia. just buy books that cite their sources for god’s sake Kevin Hogan wrote a great quote:

Read everything that matters. If it doesn’t have a bibliography, it is fiction. Fiction is for fun when time permits. Fiction is GREAT. I love fiction. And when my research is done, I go straight to Greg Iles or James Rollins or Matthew Riley or whoever…but FIRST, read material that is going to REALLY help you.​

And I agree 100%. If a book doesn’t have references, it’s fiction as far as I’m concerned. Even if it does have references, they could be sh*t references. That’s generally very rare though. I rarely even pick up a book unless the author has at least one or two PhDs. And that sounds shallow, and I definitely makes exceptions because there are brilliant authors without PhDs ( @MJ DeMarco obviously being one, ) but in general I find it to be much higher quality.

I am really really happy about the newfound fame of Jordan Peterson (he talks about serotonin and diet quite a bit) because he’s actually bringing science to the conversation, and i’m even more happy that people care. I’m more happy that people are buying scientific personal development materials than there is someone selling it, if that makes sense.

But yea... whatever

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Just skimmed through this thread, are there any other books or authors that you would recommend taking a look at?
 

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Just skimmed through this thread, are there any other books or authors that you would recommend taking a look at?
i love when people ask me that haha.. yes.. there are

this is a great one for applying scientific principles to real life. The author Richard Nisbett is an influential clinical psychologist:

Scientific and philosophical concepts can change the way we solve problems by helping us to think more effectively about our behavior and our world. Surprisingly, despite their utility, many of these tools remain unknown to most of us.

In Mindware, the world-renowned psychologist Richard E. Nisbett presents these ideas in clear and accessible detail. Nisbett has made a distinguished career of studying and teaching such powerful problem-solving concepts as the law of large numbers, statistical regression, cost-benefit analysis, sunk costs and opportunity costs, and causation and correlation, probing the best methods for teaching others how to use them effectively in their daily lives. In this groundbreaking book, Nisbett shows us how to frame common problems in such a way that these scientific and statistical principles can be applied to them. The result is an enlightening and practical guide to the most essential tools of reasoning ever developed-tools that can easily be used to make better professional, business, and personal decisions.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SSAXRCW/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

My perspective on this is that science has an amazing toolkit for distinguishing fact from fiction, so getting good at understanding it is infinitely beneficial to real life. We can be really intelligent and still delude ourselves.

But my other recommendations would depend on what you’re trying to achieve.
 
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