I want to become better than my peers in every avenue of life. Is there any reading /adv/ suggests on this subject? Motivational, anything.
Every avenue of life?
Sheesh talk about setting yourself up for failure.
Specialize on a few things bro
![vengaboys+greatest+hits[1].png](https://i.imgur.com/Gu9oXK8.png "vengaboys+greatest+hits[1].png")
>>16806606
Yeah. Don't specialize in everything. "Everything is not something you should be good at." My old boss told me that. I still think about it every day.
so if you like to party
>>16806611
Thanks now I have Shalalalala stuck in my head
>>16806606
>>16806611
I know, I don't plan on being better at EVERYTHING. I just want to TRY, and become extremely competitive and try my hardest to give everyone a run for their money. More of a lifestyle personality change, than literally being the best at everything.
Read non-fiction books such as "Wonderful Life" by Stephen Jay Gould and "The Botany of Desire" by Michael Pollan.
Then read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig.
>>16806611 and >>16806611 got it right; don't try to be great at everything, because you'll fucking fail. The jack of all trades isn't the master of none, he's the failure of everything.
Find out what you're talented at, and what you enjoy, and get good at those things. You're never going to be perfect at everything, but you can absolutely be the perfect version of yourself.
>>16806620
Pick a discipline or craft your own.
Crafting your own is harder but more fulfilling.
Picking from existing disciplines is easier but you have more experienced people to learn from.
>>16806623
>The Botany of Desire
Hmm interesting, side note: it's pretty funny that the author's last name is "Pollan" (Pollen)
>>16806606
This.
>>16806611
This.
>>16806620
Let me summarize: "Do useful shit. Don't do harmful and useful shit."
>>16806623
Why?
>Then read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig.
No.
>>16806629
>>16806627
thanks guys, I've been a musician for 15 years. But not only has it grown stale for me, but I can't put as much pride into it, seeing as it's not applicable in many facets in life aside from being a hobby.
I'l have to find other things.
>>16806632
harmful and/or useless*
>>16806633
Some books are not meant to be pleasurable. All learning experiences are unpleasant.
>>16806637
It's not useful because you aren't exceptional. Basically, the trait I am going to accuse you of is common to a lot of people, including me: It's "Get good at something, feel a sense of accomplishment, and then quit when the going gets tough and you actually compete at a stressful level that can reap real reward but is hard as shit and feels like a grind."
>>16806647
Thanks V, i'll try to start liking music again.
>>16806644
Your recommendations are useless (at least from my perspective) - I don't know why you are recommending the books and how they are different from all the other endless self-help trash out there.
For example, I could recommend that OP read "Martin Eden" by Jack London, because it's an autobiography about how he made it in life. Though again, it could be summarized in a few sentences "E.g. study and work hard at your chosen discipline, work at a job only enough to earn a living, spend the rest of your time studying. Don't hope anyone will understand or relate to you until you make it, at which point it will lose any meaning anyway."
I.e. you need to explain why you think those books are worth reading.
![61AS1JLVqqL[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/4GrOVsx.jpg "61AS1JLVqqL[1].jpg")
>>16806633
Reading is sexy. Do it in public and rub your literacy in everyone's face.
and everybody's jumpin
>>16806655
OP here. You're 100% right, half of my battle is finding a profession I find worth while and fullfilling. Music I just don't feel that, the chances of being able to provide for a family one day through music is slim to none.
>>16806655
Because information theory says that machines need to receive the same information three times to be certain that they have got it 100% correct. Humans need to hear the same information many times from many different perspectives just to form a vague notion.
The non-fiction books are about problem-solving more than anything else. It is important for OP's quest that he get better at meta-learning (learning how to learn) while trying to improve himself.
None of the books I suggest are self-help books.
>>16806600
Read his book, OP. Marcus wrote Meditations. One of the best works of stoic philosophy of all time.
It changed my life.
>>16806658
Oh, pseudo intellectual shit. At least read real classics then, though you will be disappointed once you get past the "I read, I am so smart" stage. Like shit, Aurelius has some good quotes, but you start reading "Meditations," and it's like whoah, the fuck is this shit.
>>16806662
I don't know, get a lucrative career. Right now everyone who doesn't have one is jumping to coding, though I don't know if that's going to last. The problem with that is that $60,000 and $100,000 by the time you are 35 sounds good at first, but then you realize that all it buys you is a completely average boring life, where you slave away 10 hours a day. Better than nothing of course, but the point is that it really does kill your soul.
>>16806693
Planning on getting into either marketing or accounting. Construction was okay, but it doesn't really get you that high on the social ladder
>LOLOLOL carpentry
>>16806681
Honestly didn't do shit for me. Maybe because I knew all of his good quotes beforehand, but the book itself did very little to elaborate on them.
>>16806679
>Because information theory says that machines need to receive the same information three times to be certain that they have got it 100% correct.
I don't know what this means. At most information is checked twice for most purposes. For example, a barcode will get read. Then it will generate a hash from it and check it against the hash in the barcode for verification. That's twice. Same with various web tokens, etc.
I agree that people need to hear or read the same information multiple times and then repeat it multiple times to truly remember it, but I think I think it's common knowledge.
Anyway, I will look at the books now.
>>16806705
Marketing is a joke degree unless you go into a "target" school (read "Ivy League" because marketing is a joke). Accounting is horrible and dying. I have an accounting degree, it's ten times worse than what people describe it as. It's not hard, but it's literally memorization. You will need to get a CPA or you have no earning potential - which means double majoring in accounting during undergrad. Job growth isn't great either.
tl;dr Accounting is horrible and while it sounds like it gets you set for life after 4 years, it's pretty competitive now and you have to learn a bunch of shit. And holy shit the pretend-serious culture - dressing up in suits, holding up office etiquette, etc for $40,000,which is less than garbage-men make ($70,000 after CPA).
>>16806724
aside from programming what are some other ways to make 100k a year? Im not shooting for the stars there I know, but it's a minimum i've set.
>>16806623
>>16806679
Not that you particularly care, but I looked over reviews for the books you mentioned, and it seems like the first two are just a bunch of pseudoscience, and the last is something on pay with Paulo Coehelo's The Alchemist, and other such books.
>>16806755
Medicine, most engineering fields (excluding things like civil), "data science" (math or stats phd), middle management (but that usually involves being an expert in your field or an MBA from an Ivy - MBAs from anything but top-tier schools are truly useless).
I know none of those things are what you want to hear because they aren't the most exciting things, or take a long time, but that's what there is except highly situationa things like underwater welding, air traffic controller, contracting for PMCs as former SOF medic/PJ, helicopter pilot with military flight hours, etc.
If you continue with accounting, your only chance is to transition into finance somehow and/or forecasting, which will require you to learn SAS / SQL (database management). But it's very iffy overall.
>>16806791
Pseudoscience? You mean popular science. I assure you that they are basically documentaries in book form, well researched and above reproach as science.
Pseudoscience is stuff like "aliens helped build the pyramids".
>>16806810
>science
>>16806600
reading can only do so much for you. the only thing that will truly increase skill is practice.
Your choice of picture is a bit ironic.
![VENGABOYS-01[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/hdTQWjP.jpg "VENGABOYS-01[1].jpg")
>>16806755
aim low for medicine, m8
we like to party
>>16806831
I disagree, (Although THIS explanation is ironic) A good man is a man who works hard.
>>16806846
The problem with medicine is that everyone there is either:
A. From a rich family and enjoying life knowing they are going to be a balla.
B. In for 8-12 years of hell.
Aiming higher than your peers is a nice goal but remember to stay humble.
