
Reinventing Yourself - element_4
http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/19/the-ultimate-cheat-sheet-for-reinventing-yourself/
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FLUX-YOU
I didn't like his book and I didn't like this post, mostly because it involves
a lot of 'magic functions', black-box advice, and repeated (boring)
information. Most of this self-help stuff can be abstracted out to
"Discipline, Knowledge, Connections, Capital", plus or minus a few things
depending on the field.

Do you need an echo chamber of motivation to keep yourself motivated? That's
fine! I think there's a real and useful effect to doing that.

I'm put off by things like this in this (and other's) post, however:

\- Everything is a mentor. $METAPHORS

\- When can you say, “I do X!” where X is your new career? Today. _(Don 't lie
to yourself. Find out the requirements to get started and go do them. Painter?
Buy paint and canvas. Now you're a painter. Programmer? Install the language
and a text editor, compile a program. Now you're a programmer. Doctor? Yeah,
don't lie to yourself; you need a bit more for that. Some titles are worth the
wait and the work)_

\- Reinvention will boost every healthy chemical in your body: serotonin,
dopamine, oxytocin. _(A scientific claim. Is there data to support this? Where
is it?)_

\- What if I’m shy? Make your weaknesses your strengths. Introverts listen
better, focus better, and have ways of being more endearing. _(As I was
corrected by someone else a while ago, introversion != shyness)_

\- What if I get depressed? Sit in silence for one hour a day. You need to get
back to your core. If you think this sounds stupid then don’t do it. Stay
depressed. _(Or, get advice from someone that 's qualified to treat depression
or other mood disorders. If an hour of quiet time fixes it, it probably wasn't
depression.)_

Disclaimer: I'm not financially successful.

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mooted1
Ah, self help tripe. A world in which the experiences of one person are
assumed to be universal, and where depression can be solved by sitting in
silence for one hour.

Congratulations on your blog post/book full of platitudes and cliché. I hope
this is not the height of your accomplishment. When you're done being
dismissive of the struggles of others, I hope you can write a book about
humility.

As a generally happy and content person in the middle of a "reinvention", even
I found this post absurd.

~~~
warcher
Absurd how?

~~~
solistice
Absurd in that this Tech Crunch article reads like something out of Elite
Daily. Feelgood, relatable, information sushi which isn't even that fresh.

To people who are actually in that process, this seems like regurgitating the
obvious. Imagine if there was an article in the Scientific American that
consisted of a list of 100 items on "How to do Science", among which are "Keep
pen and paper ready, you might have to write stuff down" or "The process can
take several years, depending on what kind of science you do" or even "Don't
give up if science seems hard to you". That'd be really, really absurd.
Technically every fact is right, but really, really absurd.

If the article is to be trusted on the general timeline (yay, I'm almost
hitting year 5...so where's my cash?), at any point after year 3, it'll be
absolutely useless. After 5, you'll be wary of those who promise you pies in
the sky, through reinvention, or reincarnation, or rekindling of your chi.

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javajosh
"Take your favorite author and type your favorite story of his word for word.
Wonder to yourself why he wrote each word. He’s your mentor today."

Good idea. Unfortunately my favorite story is Lord of the Rings, which is too
long to type, but I suppose I could type out a chapter. But for now I will be
satisfied with a quote:

"If more of us valued food and cheer above hoarded gold, it would be a much
merrier world."

~~~
MarcusBrutus
Nope, that's from the Hobbit. And there's no "much" if memory serves right.

~~~
javajosh
Thank you Marcus! I was wondering when someone would catch that. Funny story:
when I wrote the comment, I really wanted the (from memory) "All they did was
eat and rest and walk among the trees, and it was enough." (Which is from the
Lothlorien chapter). However, I couldn't find the exact quote (still can't) so
I didn't want to post a wrong quote. Which meant I searched for "tolkien
quotes" and this one jumped out at me. Knowing it was from the Hobbit, I
wondered if and who would correct me.

I feel like I should mail you a beer or something.

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jotm
Right, spare time working 16 hours a day...

Also, you can't just reject your brain. It's not a tool, it is the boat in
which YOU sail. If you treat it like the enemy, like a piece of shit you hate,
_you_ will be on the losing side, you will drown. The only way is to learn how
it works and take control of it, slowly and methodically...

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spiritplumber
Fantastic if "reinvent yourself" is supposed to mean "become a doormat for
investors and VCs".

It takes five years and a studied lack of passion to fake being good enough to
make money from it. It takes a lifetime and genuine passion to be good enough
to advance the state of your art.

~~~
johnjlocke
The post could apply to any path you wish to undertake, not just the the ones
that seem obvious to us.

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john_b
Stereotypical judging of others and self-promotion does not equal a cheat
sheet for reinventing yourself.

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dylanhassinger
James Altucher is a badass

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benched
I'm as weary of motivational writing as the next person, but I thought this
was unusually full of actual good ideas. As just one example, it offers a
framework for understanding why I feel so frustrated: I'm only in year one.

