4 ms·
if you judge people for being self deprecating, you wind up self selecting people who overpromote themselves
by pitt1980 14y ago
if you judge people for being self deprecating, you wind up self selecting people who overpromote themselves
- Silhouette 14y agoThe thing is, I don't think he was really being self-deprecating at all. If he were being self-deprecating, then after admitting to being mediocre, he wouldn't have spent the rest of the opening paragraph name-dropping extremely successful people who he claims read all his articles. There were some reasonable ideas in there, but I didn't notice anything that hasn't been said before by many other people, and they probably said it using far fewer words, far more clearly, and with far, far fewer references to themselves. I wasn't a fan of the implicit sexism betrayed by comments like "enjoy the sunset with your wife on occasion" and the reference to asking every girl on the street, either. The only link between anyone female and success in that entire article is a picture of a photogenic young lady holding hands with Larry Page.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- pitt1980 14y agoI don't know what to tell you, He has a blog that I actually find pretty entertaining though if you hated this piece, maybe his writing isn't your thing recommend: http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/02/how-to-be-the-luckiest-guy-on-the-planet-in-4-easy-steps/ http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/02/how-to-be-the-luckiest-...
- aggronn 14y agoHow was that sexist again?
- victorhn 14y agoI think he/she means that the whole post assumes that the reader is a male.
- Confusion 14y agoWhich is not sexist, because it isn't a prejudice, but rather a fact about TechCrunch's readership. It is wise, from a business point of view, to let that fact influence your tone and dressing. That doesn't necessarily coincide with the 'make the world better' point of view. That doesn't make it morally reprehensible.
- nandemo 14y ago> he wouldn't have spent the rest of the opening paragraph name-dropping extremely successful people who he claims read all his articles. I'm surprised that anyone would take that part seriously. He's obviously being facetious.
- BadLogInMyAss 14y agoThere's nothing sexist there. legitimacy--
- dennisgorelik 14y agoYou are not getting it. James Altucher fills his stories with jokes. He's laughing at himself, at his readers including you and me, at Larry Page and his wife and so on.
- shock3naw 14y agoHe's not joking, he's a master at personal branding. As much as you might want to think he's a narcissist -- it's really hard not to, at times -- he's simply found a superb way to make you remember who he is.
- nostrademons 14y ago(FWIW, that "photogenic young lady" is Lucy Southworth, Larry's wife.)