Understanding Survivorship Bias
Survivorship bias happens when we only see the successes (survivors) individuals and businesses have, which can lead to a warped perception of success rates.
Social media creates constant survivorship bias because people only share the good and successful parts of their lives in order to make themselves look better and trustworthy, naturally hiding the parts they don’t want us to see.
Most of the time, success takes a lot of effort and failure, but people on the outside don’t see behind the scenes. Don’t be fooled - continue to put in the work if you want to improve!
Is It Okay To Work Hard For Yourself?
Quitting isn’t bad - it’s an important skill to have. You can’t do everything, so you have to be okay with quitting things that you don’t enjoy or aren’t beneficial to you. Laziness, too, isn’t inherently bad. It’s a natural part of life and the cycle of productivity. You can’t always be doing something, and laziness helps us recuperate from the energy we expend. Forcing yourself to work tirelessly at all things (your day job included) doesn’t bring more productivity, satisfaction, or money - so you need to assess if it’s really worth your time. It is okay to work hard when you want to do it, especially on things that bring you happiness or make you feel proud of what you accomplished.
Why Is The Self-Improvement Industry So Full Of Scammers?
Often, the most popular “self help” books and theories are too general and vague to be really meaningful besides getting people to feel good about themselves. This is done on purpose - the more general the advice is, the more people can buy the product. The fitness industry is incorporated into a lot of the self-improvement industry because people assume that people who “look good” are happy. It’s especially easy for influencers on social media to have people believe their success because we only see pictures and snippets they want us to see, not the full story. Success and improvement at anything is a time consuming, high effort challenge that can’t be conquered with a book, set of supplements, or any single thing.
Why Is Lifting Weights Objectively More Fun?
Resistance training is the most fun and empowering way to train because strength gains are more immediate, noticeable, and can be easily tracked. Progress and results that are more nebulous and subjective do not give the same sense of accomplishment, which is why making fitness goals around something that constantly fluctuates like bodyweight is generally unsatisfying. Strength training and other skill based exercises can help people live the lives they want to, and it’s important to find what works best for your life and body.
My Perfect Morning Routine (And Why You Shouldn't Care)
Routines are a powerful strategy for automating our habits and enabling us to complete more work. At the same time, I think we’re often too reliant on caring about what celebrities and influencers claim their habits are.