

How to be a person - Dale Carnegie and The Game - jhust
http://stuckk.net/post/113903314/how-to-be-a-person-dale-carnegie-and-the-game

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brl
> Everyone knows that you should “Call attention to people’s mistakes
> indirectly.”

Not everybody knows this. I learned it by reading the book.

~~~
jhust
point taken. it's possible the issue is more nuanced: some of the benefit
comes just from forcing people to be conscientious about how they interact w/
people, and some comes from the specific tips he provides.

~~~
brl
Yes I would agree as most of the advice in the book is more common sense than
groundbreaking. When I got to the part about not telling people "You're wrong"
and directly criticizing mistakes I didn't need to be convinced. Rather I
immediately realized that I do tend to do this often and I should probably
make an effort to do it less.

Before reading the book though, I had never once examined that aspect of my
personality and how I interact with others.

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gaius
This reminds me of vegetarians. There's nothing inherently healthier about the
vegetarian diet; you could be a vegetarian and live on nothing but pizza and
ice cream. Any health benefits there are come from having to stop and think
"can I eat this?" all the time. But anyone can do that on any diet, so long as
they form the habit.

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grandalf
most "vegetarians" are fat, as are most people who eat mostly health food
(since it's usually 50% of calories from fat).

The only healthy way to eat is vegan with no more than 10% of calories from
fat.

~~~
PieSquared
_most "vegetarians" are fat, as are most people who eat mostly health food_

As one on a lesser news site might say, pics or it didn't happen.

Or, paraphrased the HN way: Cite sources, please.

~~~
gscott
I couldn't find any studies but did find this interesting article titled
"Roman gladiators were fat vegetarians"
<http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/ancient/AncientRepublish_> 1081439.htm

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citizenparker
I don't see how the book is "mostly unoriginal" or "the way it helps isn't
what you'd expect." I REALLY don't see how this correlates to "The Game" at
all, other than they are both self-help books of some kind. Everything you
said about The Game could just as easily apply to any other book written about
personal interaction.

I'm not trying to be harsh, but if there are connections between these things,
I want to see them truly explored with claims that are substantiated (or at
least explained).

~~~
ahoyhere
A number of psychological studies have shown that _any_ kind of change in
behavior/attention direction - e.g. self-helpy type things - will promote
change for the better... for a little while.

The self-attention that all those processes require, the mindfulness, is key.
Most of them can work because all of them require attention.

It just doesn't last without dedication is all.

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jhust
i agree w/ gaius that this principle extends to other aspects of living. i'm
not sure many of the lifehacks are as universally effective/valuable as they
are claimed... i think a lot of the benefit gained from reading productivity
porn like lifehacker comes from being forced to actually evaluate how you
spend your time and energy...

