4 ms·

The author is making the point that our way of obsessing over self improvement is making us unhappy. You note that with a certain attitude you dont necessarily

The author is making the point that our way of obsessing over self improvement is making us unhappy. You note that with a certain attitude you dont necessarily become more unhappy from it. I dont see a conflict here. The author would most likely not disagree with you, but simply point out that most people simply dont hold the attitude that you recommend. The reasons for this is another big discussion.

wutbrodo 9y ago
We're in perfect agreement on the substance of the issue. But my point was that, from the title to the content, my perception is that the author emphasizes self-improvement as the issue per se, instead of an unhealthy attitude towards blindly plunging into instant-fix "lifehacks", etc. He's behaving as if a modest, incremental, low-judgment approach to self-improvement doesn't exist, instead of simply being harder to do. I've always had a strong drive for self improvement; in fact I'd go so far as to say it's one of my primary drives. The reason I haven't really faced the issues that the author is describing is because what I do has nothing to do with "productivity porn" or "disgusting consumerism". I buy books to learn things or use the library, I weightlift regularly in the school issued gym shorts from my high school soccer team, and everything I've learned and practiced about mindfulness cost me nothing but my time. I don't have a problem with the author's castigation of productivity porn, but rather with his lazy conflation of all efforts at self-improvement. Hell, look at the verse he chooses to quote from Fitter, Happier[1]: it's about eating well and exercising regularly. [1] incidentally, I had an OK Computer poster with this songs lyrics on my wall in college, so it's not like the complaint about productivity porn doesn't resonate with me.

4 ms·

The author is making the point that our way of obsessing over self improvement is making us unhappy. You note that with a certain attitude you dont necessarily

by pgsandstrom 9y ago

wutbrodo 9y ago
We're in perfect agreement on the substance of the issue. But my point was that, from the title to the content, my perception is that the author emphasizes self-improvement as the issue per se, instead of an unhealthy attitude towards blindly plunging into instant-fix "lifehacks", etc. He's behaving as if a modest, incremental, low-judgment approach to self-improvement doesn't exist, instead of simply being harder to do. I've always had a strong drive for self improvement; in fact I'd go so far as to say it's one of my primary drives. The reason I haven't really faced the issues that the author is describing is because what I do has nothing to do with "productivity porn" or "disgusting consumerism". I buy books to learn things or use the library, I weightlift regularly in the school issued gym shorts from my high school soccer team, and everything I've learned and practiced about mindfulness cost me nothing but my time. I don't have a problem with the author's castigation of productivity porn, but rather with his lazy conflation of all efforts at self-improvement. Hell, look at the verse he chooses to quote from Fitter, Happier[1]: it's about eating well and exercising regularly. [1] incidentally, I had an OK Computer poster with this songs lyrics on my wall in college, so it's not like the complaint about productivity porn doesn't resonate with me.