How To Hack Yourself
Break the cycle of bad self-improvement advice
How motivational gurus prey on the vulnerable
Happy 2024! If you’re planning to celebrate the new year by revving up your commitment to self-improvement, you’re not alone. But be careful where you get your advice! Here are two sources to be especially careful with, since they usually sound like your best bet but they don’t always give you good advice:
🥼 Science
✨ Role models
Science isn’t always good for you
I’m a decision scientist and statistician by training, so it might seem odd to hear me telling you to be wary of science as a source of advice. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thoroughly pro-science as long as you use it, ahem, scientifically… but that’s not what most people do. Too many people treat scientific findings as dogma and shove science where it doesn’t belong. A tragicomic way to misuse science? To assume that what applies on average also applies to all individuals.
Believing that what applies on average necessarily applies to all individuals (and therefore also to you) is unscientific.
