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The Advantage of Abundant Thinking

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Re: The Advantage of Abundant Thinking

#21

Post by jdimov9 »

mbrock wrote: post #20
allisthemoist wrote: post #13

Called Paths to Power, it emphasizes the importance of neutrality: The world is not fair or unfair. It simply is. The more you can suspend judgment, the more you can learn and grow your power. Not to be cynical about this approach, but having studied some of these concepts from a Mahayana Buddhist perspective, the idea of utilizing the perspective of Beginner's Mind to "grow your power" is a gross misappropriation an…

What if you use that power to help other beings, though?

Then you're an idiot.

Re: The Advantage of Abundant Thinking

#22

Post by awinter-py »

Famous counterexample to this is the stuff about crisis leadership from a few years ago:

http://www.salon.com/2011/08/02/first_rate_madness_interview...

This guy's thesis is that in tough times, mental illness is associated with leadership effectiveness. His examples are Lincoln and WT sherman. (the stats argument here ends up being pretty weak).

Bottom line -- it's really hard to grade heuristics unless you have enough knowledge to restrict the situations which may occur in the future (and if you do, it's no longer a heuristic).

Re: The Advantage of Abundant Thinking

#23

Post by maxxxxx »

I think the most important thing about this kind of advice is not to generalize it. For some people it works and for some people it doesn't work. There is no self-help advice that works for everybody.

Also: The advice given is not complete. The people who have success with this do the things the article describes, but they also do some important things the article doesn't describe.

Re: The Advantage of Abundant Thinking

#24

Post by gooseus »

manibatra wrote: post #9
pavel_lishin wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is for some people, and it isn't for others, which is why this kind of generic advice is amazing if it fits you exactly, and awful if it doesn't. I can function on six hours, but not well. I also can't easily take 15 minutes to meditate in the morning, because I have a two month old baby I have to help care for in the mornings. This somewhat limits my ability to meditate and exercise.

I second that! I have tried sleeping for 8 hours and I just end up feeling sluggish all day. Less than 6 hours has the same effect. 6 hours just happens to hit the sweet spot. I would suggest meditating anytime in the day. I dont believe that it specifically has to be in the morning. It could be a placebo but just sitting still for a bit does some to help.

I don't know how true this is, but it's something I've found true for myself... I've read (or heard) that your sleep cycle is 90 minutes down to deep sleep and back, so it's best to get up after some multiple of 90 minutes because that's when you'll have cycled back to the lightest sleep.

So typically I either get 6 hours or 7.5 hours of sleep a night, though if I ended up getting 3 or 4.5 one night I'll sometimes try to get 9 the next night. If I can't get at least 3 hours of sleep, I just stay up.

So it's possible the problem with 8 hours is that you're trying to wake up in the middle of a cycle and thus the sluggishness. Or maybe I'm just spreading pseudo-science.

Re: The Advantage of Abundant Thinking

#26

Post by manibatra »

gooseus wrote: post #24
manibatra wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I second that! I have tried sleeping for 8 hours and I just end up feeling sluggish all day. Less than 6 hours has the same effect. 6 hours just happens to hit the sweet spot. I would suggest meditating anytime in the day. I dont believe that it specifically has to be in the morning. It could be a placebo but just sitting still for a bit does some to help.

I don't know how true this is, but it's something I've found true for myself... I've read (or heard) that your sleep cycle is 90 minutes down to deep sleep and back, so it's best to get up after some multiple of 90 minutes because that's when you'll have cycled back to the lightest sleep. So typically I either get 6 hours or 7.5 hours of sleep a night, though if I ended up getting 3 or 4.5 one night I'll sometimes tr…

I have heard that too but never really got down to testing it out. In fact I have resigned to the fact that when it comes to sleep to each their own.

For eg I have experienced better quality of sleep after taking ZMA ( I weight train ). But I have heard anecdotes where people have said that its just a placebo.

Re: The Advantage of Abundant Thinking

#27

Post by Animats »

This looks like an attempt to monetize an evangelical Christian concept.[1]

From the article: The ideal attitude is what she calls Abundant Thinking — a mindset that gives you the creative agency and grit to reach your vision — and, on a daily basis, to design your own life. When Verresen first meets most of her clients, they’re in reactive mode. It’s like they’re in a movie, acting in their job and life without knowing the script or having perspective. Her goal is to put them in the director’s chair, with more choices, perspectives and possibilities to rewrite and upgrade the script as they go.

From an evangelical site: One way of viewing abundant life is to see when people have been changed by the power of Christ; they live different lives, which affects all aspects of their experience. In missiololgy, we call that "redemption and lift." This isn’t just true individually, but can also be on a cultural level. So, spiritual change, accompanied by better decisions, does often lead to better circumstances financially. (Sometimes it get's you arrested and martyred, so don't miss the point here.)"

[1] http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2015/march/what-d...

Re: The Advantage of Abundant Thinking

#28

Post by melvinmt »

gooseus wrote: post #24
manibatra wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I second that! I have tried sleeping for 8 hours and I just end up feeling sluggish all day. Less than 6 hours has the same effect. 6 hours just happens to hit the sweet spot. I would suggest meditating anytime in the day. I dont believe that it specifically has to be in the morning. It could be a placebo but just sitting still for a bit does some to help.

I don't know how true this is, but it's something I've found true for myself... I've read (or heard) that your sleep cycle is 90 minutes down to deep sleep and back, so it's best to get up after some multiple of 90 minutes because that's when you'll have cycled back to the lightest sleep. So typically I either get 6 hours or 7.5 hours of sleep a night, though if I ended up getting 3 or 4.5 one night I'll sometimes tr…

> I've read (or heard) that your sleep cycle is 90 minutes down to deep sleep and back, so it's best to get up after some multiple of 90 minutes because that's when you'll have cycled back to the lightest sleep.

That's basically how http://sleepyti.me works.

Re: The Advantage of Abundant Thinking

#29

Post by dang »

Animats wrote: post #27

This looks like an attempt to monetize an evangelical Christian concept.[1] From the article: The ideal attitude is what she calls Abundant Thinking — a mindset that gives you the creative agency and grit to reach your vision — and, on a daily basis, to design your own life. When Verresen first meets most of her clients, they’re in reactive mode. It’s like they’re in a movie, acting in their job and life without know…

Lest anyone dive into religious polarization around this, it's worth pointing out that such psychological doctrines have a long history, back through Norman Vincent Peale and Napoleon Hill to the New Thought movement of the late 19th-early 20th century [1] and a whole kaleidoscope of religious splinter groups. Many of these were Christian, but mostly marginally so; a famous example is [2]. Then there's the New Age wing to this (think The Secret) that goes back to the Theosophists and alchemical traditions. Then again there were more philosophical versions, like the Transcendentalists. You can find this type of thing in Emerson. The history and literature is rich. More recently it is beginning (as one would expect) to take scientific and quasi-scientific forms, including attempts to test it experimentally. Not clear yet what will come of those.

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Thought

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_a_Man_Thinketh

Re: The Advantage of Abundant Thinking

#30

Post by rcconf »

These concepts also work really well for dating and relationships. If you approach girls with a scarcity mindset, you tend to be a lot more needy, insecure and generally feel like a victim.

If you approach girls with an abundance mentality, you're much less needy, more confident and you don't really care about the outcome. You're just there to learn about her, and if she's not interested, well, there's plenty of other girls that will be.

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