Every generation gets the self-help guru it deserves | Hacker News Reader

Every generation gets the self-help guru it deserves

newyorker.com

72 pointswyclif22 comments

I swear (not having heard of Tim Ferris) I thought this article was a brilliant send-up of the self-help industry and the public's appetite for it. Towards the end of the article I was in awe of the journalist, who made it sound almost-believable while being so ridiculous - and then I saw the comment here and after a bit of googling I realised: this thing is real.

Tim is real. He is a hacker at heart. He does to time and body exactly the kind of stuff that we here celebrate doing to computers.

I like some of it, but much of it seems a lot less scientific than what we try to do to computers. Have any of these odd health remedies been empirically tested? Does organic almond butter on celery sticks actually repeatably reduce insomnia? (Also, is its organic-ness a statistically significant factor in its efficacy?) It seems to have an uncomfortably high overlap with some of the natural-medicine/new-age-remedies crowd, in terms of having (sometimes) scientifically plausible arguments for a mechanism, but not much in the way of empirical evidence validating the effect.

I bought it when it came out.

You have to understand that the entire premise of the book is that n = 1. There's nothing scientific about it. It's not billed as such, and it is silly to expect it to be so. Sure, Ferriss dips into talking about the science of the body at times, and often tries to couch his forays in it, but the reason it is interesting/amusing is that he tries out some of these ridiculous ideas to see if they actually work.

It should be viewed as a jumping-off point, not an authoritative source.

Oh, health hacks are nothing new. They actually sold snake oil in the past.

I know, I had the same response when I first heard about him.

From the title, I thought this was going to be a negative article.

Instead, it says something which should be obvious: Self-help gurus are successful because they address current issues that people are having.

... That sounds so amazingly obvious that you are now wondering why it had to be said, I'm sure. I know I am.

But after thinking for a bit, I've decided that maybe the guru doesn't fit the times... Maybe the guru would have been successful at any time, if they lived then? They have an eye for the world, how to fix it efficiently, and how to tell people how to.

Ferriss' books have been on my to-read list for a while... I guess I should get around to it.

"Addressing the issues people are having" defines finding a market - a good thing here :-)

However, I would like to question these issues in the first place.

They look a lot like an existentialist crisis to me - basically finding no purpose in one's own worth, and thus spending time doing something deemed worthwhile and in line with individualistic values : "improving" oneself.

Better abs, travel, less time spend at work - that's what's popular today, but is this the successful recipe for reaching happiness? I strongly doubt that.

What about using some of these wits to actually create some economic activity or solving different problems? You know, mastery, independence, purpose? At least there are more proofs there.

I fear this investment on the self is misguided - since it has a negative interest rate (because until we get better at cryogenics you still die in the end).

I could believe in an investment of the self if it was consistent - but besides the revasterol thing mentionned in the article (which doesn't work on primates unless you have a special gene removed IIRC), it seems very lowball.

That's how I'd sum it up - minimalist in the "minimal effective dose" sense, low risk - low gain, no passion. Mod that down if you want, but I'm sure we can do much better as a species.

I have certain issues that I know I need to fix in myself, and while I know they won't make me happy just because I did them, improving myself makes me happy.

However, I don't have time. I probably have the time to actually do the work... What I don't have time for is figuring out how to do the work efficiently.

I think that's why his '4 hour' books are so popular. He's done the work of figuring that out. (I haven't read them, so I can't be sure of this.)

Exactly. Ferris rails against what he describes as "the deferred life," or traditional work-and-retire life planning. But he swings the pendulum too far in the opposite direction, advocating living entirely in, and for, the present.

What both of these philosophies seem to miss is that the self exists to create something enduring. This can be a legacy, or a company, or children, or a work of art, or essentially anything that outlasts the expiration of one's body and mind. Neither the deferred life nor Ferris's "4 Hour Workweek" places any sort of priority on this type of long-term goal, and achieving such a goal requires a necessary degree of sacrifice. It certainly requires focus, cumulative effort directed toward a tangible outcome, and more than 4 hours a week.

Everything is an adventure for Ferris, but it's an adventure without direction or destination. It is an eternal, guilt-free spring break, bankrolled by ad hoc projects and detachment from any forms of obligation. That may indeed be an improvement over cubicle slavery for most readers. But it'll still be a fundamentally hollow existence for anyone inclined to build or seek meaning.

What both of these philosophies seem to miss is that the self exists to create something enduring.

Citation needed.

I'd dare say being with money but no purpose can be a curse.

I have no proof to offer and some heirs and trust fund kids seems to be doing just fine, but I believe part of being human includes finding or having purpose - what you call something enduring. It can be a cause, a religion, a business, children, whatever - something!

Maybe we are all different and some people are happy living a purposeless life. To me, what Ferris advocates seems a lot like waiting for death in the best shape possible, to leave a good looking cadaver behind.

We are a different crowd here - as others replied, having less free time, they enjoy the hack provided in his book to get better health. Using his advice in this way, picking up interesting tidbits, to fix self-identified issues is one thing.

But drinking the koolaid on the 4 hour work week and leaving the purpose to be defined to today's guru is totally different. IMHO, that's very close to the "lifestyle business" quite often promoted here, and it might be a reason why it's so well received.

Yet it seems very wrong on so many levels. It's basically settling for a status quo, giving up on life and hope, trying to find some meager contentment in maintaining control over a self built prison-paradise.

> "It is an eternal, guilt-free spring break, bankrolled by ad hoc projects and detachment from any forms of obligation."

I stopped reading here. Where do I sign?

> "This can be a legacy, or a company, or children, or a work of art, or essentially anything that outlasts the expiration of one's body and mind."

I disagree completely that a legacy is a necessary component of having led a fulfilled life - even though I personally seek to leave behind some legacy myself. That said, how hasn't Ferris left a legacy? He's published something that's been read by more people than just about any of us would ever achieve in our lives, and that's at age 33.

The best most of us can hope for is to influence a few people in the form of children.

In my experience, "eye on the prize" styles of living is the surest way to miss out on all the flowers along the road.

> Better abs, travel, less time spend at work - that's what's popular today, but is this the successful recipe for reaching happiness? I strongly doubt that.

I agree better abs probably isn't going to do much for your long term happiness, but better overall health and fitness might help you live longer with more overall energy to pursue enjoyment.

As for travel and less time spent at work: I completely disagree with you there. Those (potentially at least) provide enjoyable experiences/memories and time to spend with friends, family, and loved ones. There is no more likely path to reaching happiness than that.

> From the title, I thought this was going to be a negative article. Instead, it says something which should be obvious: Self-help gurus are successful because they address current issues that people are having.

I'm not sure. The article reads to me as a lot of boring details of events, half-relevant biography, and situation interspersed with some mildly amusing snarky commentary.

I wonder what the effect of the piece would have been in the hands of a master like Tom Wolfe. I expect he would have had me rolling on the floor.

i believe it is a negative article, but it's very well hidden.

  And it recommends funding all this by discovering a “muse,”
  which Ferriss defines, as Seneca did not, as “an automated vehicle
  for generating cash without consuming time.” "

There are a number of other similar jabs in the article, in various degrees of obviousness.

If anything, i'd say the author was more than kind.

It's always about the guru - never about the content. Sure, the specifics change to adapt to current needs but fundamentally you'd be better off listening to what your mother told you. However, the guru is so much more interesting and, well, not your mother.

There's something about listening to someone else confirm what you already knew about yourself deep down. If it's put into eloquent terms you'll have a name to put to your yearnings and then, maybe, you'll end up doing something about it. More likely you'll read the book and then sell it back to the Book Bin when the next guru appears.

  There's something about listening to someone else confirm
  what you already knew about yourself deep down.

Is that it? Or is it: There's something about listening to someone else confirm what you WANT TO BELIEVE about yourself deep down?

Not an either-or. Both are alluring.

Telling people what they want to hear is a valuable skill, as we are seeing.

I don't think any generation deserved L. Ron Hubbard.

Every startup could use a co-founder like Tim Ferris to make a project become mainstream.

Don't get me wrong. I read some of his books and didn't change my life. But it made me think harder about how to promote and sell my ideas and myself.

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