The Myth of Self Improvement

This video was sponsored by "Brilliant"

Music and animation by Izaak Thomas:

SOURCES

Maté, G., & Maté, D. (2022). The myth of normal: trauma, illness, & healing in a toxic culture . Avery.

Hans, B.-C. (2017) Psychopolitics : neoliberalism and new technologies of power. Verso.

Russell, B. (1930). The conquest of happiness. New York, The Book League of America.

Ehrenberg, A. (2010). The weariness of the self: Diagnosing the history of depression in the contemporary age.

Fromm, E. (1941). Escape from freedom. New York, Rinehart.

[taddaustentakel]

Great! Now that i know i can plan to be more spontainious.

[ArihanBaroliaA]

One must imagine Sisyphus self improving

[jackkirkpatrick]

Bro just posts on whatever I’m thinking about in that moment

[kamehamehey]

"Why then do we continue to endorse and embrace such a culture?"

"This video is sponsored by Brilliant."

[theafern]

I enjoy Sisyphus 55, the funny reason why I watch Sisyphus 55 is because I want to self improve.

[theskptic]

There are two thoughts of self improvement in my opinion:

“I am not my best self. I have been feeding my greatest insecurities and fears. I need to be better, for myself” and “Everyone else is pulling ahead of me in life. I’ve done nothing, I am worthless. I need to improve at something to stay in the running with everyone else”

I think the former is healthy. Making yourself better for yourself is a project you should work on your whole life. The latter is insecurity incarnate and is a standard you’ll never meet. Self improvement is either a lifestyle or an addiction.

[thavragejo]

The problem is not with self improvement, the issue is with the societal values that people are measuring themselves against. As you point out, the grind set is many peoples attempt at self improvement, but those people are optimising themselves to fulfil societies value that more money=better person, it's the nature of capitalism that only a minority of people can achieve this goal, hence the high number of people getting burnt out trying. If we held values like having a strong happy community in equally high regard, then everyone can achieve that and people wouldn't burn out trying to achieve it.

[lukasgarke]

The irony of the brilliant ad is just unbeatable.

[ryan]

if you want to go deeper into the rabbit hole, 'Unveiling Your Hidden Potential by Bruce Thornwood is a must-read

[theprecipiceofreason]

'Never be satisfied' is a bad mantra. It's the mantra of the seller, of the marketer, of the advertiser. Too many people have bought what they are selling. 'Be content and humble' is considered a death sentence to most people as it is a death sentence to the seller, the marketer, the advertiser. They would themselves be bought by their own money to be owned by the seller, the marketer, the advertiser.

[youssefnaitali]

The same beautiful message as Oliver Burkeman's 4000 Weeks: Do not do things as investments for an unknown future, constantly clawing at a never ending goal. Do things for the sake of doing the things themselves, the experience and the moment.

[calvineagar]

So you're saying that my next step in self improvement should include less self improvement, I'll add it to the list

[heyumnew]

I met a friend that completely changed my view of the world
he is a simple guy, he likes food and anime so he does exacly that, no more no less, he is content with his imperfect life.
I like food and anime but i wanted more and stopped doing the things i like, i was sad with my supposed "perfect" life
I learned to accept and become myself

[alicesimon]

Sisyphus made me realise something with the 'Myth of Normal' concept, that many people including myself are guilty of 'focusing on ourselves' or chasing goals to avoid real connection with ourselves and others and it can get especially toxic when people take on the mentality that they don't need others or that they're too busy being productive. Which only makes us all the more isolated and more focused on our goals, also makes self-improvement feel quite unfulfilling. I'm not saying that you need people to validate your actions or their permission to do what you want, that's something you give yourself, but you do need help from people other than yourself. People should make connection a goal, because that will literally fuel all aspects of your life, as you'll have circle of support, directly or indirectly also makes the whole self-improvement fun, you get to share your journey and join others' journies which is beautiful to experience and not many peole do. We're all responsible in reaching out and have choice but its not easy and you're definetly not alone.

[cbensuardisimo]

Im so happy the other side of self improvement is quickly spreading through social media... We rapidly became obsesed with bettering ourselves, with hating our own weakness and fragility... Human, all too human... But we also had the capacity to see this, the futility of making ourselves "worth it", realizing our worth lies within us, and that without seeing this, no self improvement could help

[seansettgast]

The problem with societies of any kind, whether they be more libertarianistic or totalitarianistic, collectivistic or individualistic, etc., is that societies make demands of those who live within them. One cannot exist in a society without meeting its demands. Without those demands, I might be able to argue that the idea of a society couldn't exist.

So the freeest of people (and yes, "freeest" evidently is in fact a word) are technically hermits, or anyone who deliberately puts great distance between themselves and society in general. However, one could argue that this itself is, in many ways, a prison. Because if you have needs that society can provide for, whether they be physical needs or emotional, then you yourself would be shielding yourself from having your needs met in what many would consider to be convenient ways.

In the end, I think Søren Kierkegaard thought it best: "Do it, or don't do it-- You will regret both." The only freedom we truly get in life is in the choosing of what imprisons us, and choosing our own regrets, as I believe Christopher Hitchens once said.

[iamathousandapples]

I feel like enough, i more feel like I'm trapped in a society that actively chooses not to be good and strives to be worse

[Nameorsomething.]

The timing on this upload is actually crazy

[bloohaus]

Been going to therapy for about 6 months, crazy how long ive never felt enough and the reasons behind it.

[Charles-ksht]

As someone in my middle 20s and building my career I think about that a lot. I know this will get drowned in the sea of comments, but here are my thoughts about it.

I'm unfortunately trapped in this burn out cycle, and I do realize that I'm self exploiting myself. However, I feel that this is the necessary path in today society. I want to stop improving myself and just stabilize, but I have people that rely on me financially. I'm not from a wealthy background so I need to keep working to provide safety for those that I love.

I have a clear goal that I want to reach that I defined years ago. I always keep in mind that right now I am self destructive, so that when this goal is reached I will stop. Some people might think that once a reach this objective I might just set higher goals and maintain the cycle. That is something that I fear as well. So I always try to foster this fear.

The problem is not wanting to climb the stairs, unfortunately for those from a poor background this is a necessity, and I recognize that I will destroy pieces of myself in the process. The real problem is to know when to stop climbing.