---
title: Self-help
date: 2015-12-09
---

*Just some notes and reflections on what might generally be referred to
as "self-help".*

[Comment by pjeby](http://lesswrong.com/lw/2ee/unknown_knowns_why_did_you_choose_to_be_monogamous/277e) on LessWrong:

> The trap that most self-help falls into is that when somebody
> identifies the last critical node to change in their own process, they
> go straight to the man-with-hammer mode, propounding that one change
> as the Most Important Thing, when in fact it might merely be the first
> step for someone who still has problems at [other nodes in the
> process](http://lesswrong.com/lw/1yw/necessary_but_not_sufficient/).

I also like [this comment by gwern](http://lesswrong.com/lw/myo/link_the_cook_and_the_chef_musks_secret_sauce/cvx9) on the Wait But Why piece on Elon Musk:

> The whole thing reads like a fairly standard (but very disorganized)
> self-help tract trying to exhort people into being more agenty and
> strategic. Some of it maps directly onto LW self-help posts, even,
> like 'people are not automatically strategic' and existing techniques
> like COZE.
> 
> Since, for better or worse, most self-help material doesn't wind up
> helping or harming even when someone actually tries to use them, I
> don't think that this particular self-help tract will be any different
> - anyone trying to use the ideas and aspire to be a chef rather than a
> cook will wind up probably in the same place as they would before.
> People aren't going to either become billionaires or homeless just
> because they read something online; if writing could reliably have
> that sort of impact, we would live in a very different and much more
> interesting world than we do...
> 
> I agree with OP that most people do have sub-optimal levels of
> agentiness and planning and have really wacky evaluations of risk
> (consider anything to do with children, or terrorism), so if it did do
> anything, it would probably be helpful on net.