/atg/ - Autodidact General - SORT YOURSELF OUT

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SORT YOURSELF OUT
>SORT YOURSELF OUT

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1. Eat well. Limit simple carbohydrates in favor of complex carbohydrates, healthy fats with balanced omega 3, protein. Consume plenty of vegetables and some fruit.

2. Exercise daily. At least 20-30 minutes of moderate cardio to improve memory, energy, and thinking. Lifting optional for /fitlit/izens.

3. Sleep well. Establish a consistent sleeping schedule and do your best to never deviate from it. 7-8+ hours, preferably in intervals of 1.5 hours (7.5 hours, 9 hours, etc.) are optimal for adults. If you work hard and limit brightness at night, this should be no problem.

4. Establish good working habits to promote flow state. Pomodoro timers, StayFocused app, earplugs/noise-canceling headphones, discarding smartphones, going to libraries, etc., whatever it takes to concentrate and stop procrastinating.

5. Keep a journal. Start with making a simple task list in the morning and commenting about your day in the evening. Progress with more and more thoughts as you continue your habit.

6. Meditate daily. At least 5 minutes of mindfulness meditation per day in the morning and evening in order to reduce stress, improve concentration, and regulate emotions.

7. Keep order. Keep yourself clean, keep your working space reasonably ordered (after use), and ensure that everything has its place. A good organizational system pays dividends in projects with many moving parts, like when attempting to synthesize large amounts of information together.

8. Pick up a practical hobby or skill. Learn an instrument. Become a hiking expert. Learn to cook. Fix your own house. Being involved in the world is a perfect chance to apply your newfound knowledge and remain connected with reality. Immerse yourself in a foreign language. We learn to solve problems, among other things, so keep this purpose in mind.

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>>9363609
It's hilarious that this has become a meme on a forum populated by such idiots.

Reminder that the reason people go to college isn't to learn shit, it's to get something you can put on your resume (and to develop socially of course, you won't do that sitting in your room reading genre fiction)

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LEARN THE TOOLS OF THE TRADE
>LEARN THE TOOLS OF THE TRADE

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>AUTODIDACT CORE:
How to Read a Book - Mortimer J. Adler
The Trivium - Sister Miriam Joseph

>AUTODIDACT CRITICAL THINKING:
Creative and Critical Thinking: W. Edgar Moore
Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman
The Oxford Essential Guide to Writing - Thomas S. Kane

>AUTODIDACT LIBERAL ARTS:
Atlas of World History - Patrick O'Brien
The Interpretation of Cultures - Clifford Geertz
Western Philosophy: An Anthology - John Cottingham
The Story of Art - E.H. Gombrich
The Art of Fiction - David Lodge
The Bible (KJV/NKJV)
Music In Theory And Practice - Bruce Benward
Pre-Calculus - C. Stitz & J. Zeager
How to Think Like a Mathematician - Kevin Houston
<any introductory-level college textbook on fundamental natural science, either physics, chemistry, or biology>

>AUTODIDACT SOCIAL SKILLS:
Improve Your Social Skills - Daniel Wendler
No More Mister Nice Guy - Robert Glover
How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie
How to Speak, How to Listen -- Mortimer J. Adler

>AUTODIDACT SELF-IMPROVEMENT:
The Discourses - Epictetus
A Primer in Positive Psychology - Christopher Peterson

>NOTE: Not the only definitive list. Many other possible lists exist to fulfill this role.

>NOTE: If one book provides a challenge, then find something more basic and work your way to that milestone.

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Cultish behaviour.

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EXPLORE!
>EXPLORE!

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Now that you know the /autodidact/ basics, stop doubting yourself and start tackling dense material with your newfound analytical abilities. Read the entire Western Canon, or all Stoic philosophy! All in all, you now have knowledge and tools at your disposal to guarantee success in developing a well-rounded perspective. By this stage, you'll know what you want, and you should have the confidence to handle whatever is thrown in your way. Good luck!

>>9363627
This. A bit disturbing, to be honest.

>>9363609
boring thread, just read Thus spoke Zarathustra.

All I do is read. I don't know how to create anything. It all feels so pointless.

Help.

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>>9363627

I thought there were no autodidacts on /lit/. A cult needs members.

>>9363643

There's nothing wrong with wanting to improve your lifestyle and learn new things.

is this a rare sober twiggy thread? i'm pretty sure this is what she's been trying to say except in full sentences.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=z22nzBVLCto

>>9363643
At least it's an ironic cult.

>>9363651

Step 8 of SORT YOURSELF OUT:
>>9363612

Pick a hobby, a skill, an art, or a trade/profession. Apply what you've learned. Constantly challenge yourself to understand the world.

>>9363651

What the fuck do you want to create? Now stop daydreaming about the end product, and start daydreaming about working long days and nights in pursuit of your vision. Is it still worth it? Then put your back into it. Solve problems, one at a time.

>>9363653
>There's nothing wrong with wanting to improve your lifestyle and learn new things.
It doesn't feel right when you're given a list of things to do and to avoid in order to "improve your lifestyle", whatever that means.

>>9363671

Most of this shit is common sense. Take care of yourself. Figure out how you work productively. Turn it into a routine. And much of this list can be replaced by other works. This isn't a gospel, but rather a sufficient starting point.

Is it really cult-like to tell people to get their shit together if they want to learn effectively? There weren't many negative prescriptions (don't do x) in the post anyway.

>>9363671
How exactly would you improve your lifestyle without doing and avoiding certain things?

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>>9363686

Like I said before: cult-like behavior.

>>9363660
I'm trying. But I don't think it is going very well.

>>9363667
>What the fuck do you want to create?
I don't even know.

>>9363609
>>9363612
I fucking love 4chan.

>>9363719
lurk >>>/po/ don't post there because you'll shit up their beautiful board, but do a couple of the easy projects. if you start making something you might form an idea of what you really want to create. paper's cheap so it shouldn't cost you anything if you give up on life again within a week.

>>9363719

Write down 5 things you find cool. Do you want to write? To paint? To golf? etc. Then pick two.

Practice one on even days, practice the other on odd days, with the premise that you're constantly challenging yourself without letting yourself fall into stagnation. You need to apply yourself and solve problems, learning to understand how to learn and how to see the big picture. Do your best to give each thing a fair chance and persist through the initial struggles.

You'll quickly figure out what you'd want to do, or at least what you'd rather be doing. Continue ad nauseum until you've found what you've wanted to do.

>>9363731
/po/ is really the most beautiful board of 4chan

>>9363740
it's pure, calm, sexless autism and it should really be hidden so nobody touches it without folding at least a thousand cranes

>>9363732
What if I keep working at things and am just always worthless garbage?

Asking for a friend

>>9363688
Go ahead and tell me how to improve my lifestyle without telling me to do or avoid certain things.

>>9363761
yeah I've always thought the same

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>>9363767

Then take another look at your methods. Have you worked hard enough to determine this? Are you Salieri to somebody else's Mozart? You probably haven't worked hard enough to determine this. In the off chance that you've embraced a monk-like dedication to self-improvement for an extensive period of time, but STILL couldn't make important milestones, then it's time to re-evaluate what you mean by success.

Thankfully, if you have an IQ above 80, you can definitely read a few books, be proficient in a few skills, keep yourself healthy and organized, and make healthy relationships. That would put you above 95% of the population in lifestyle. You won't be able to do everything in life, but try your best to see what this life can offer to you. If Forrest Gump could do it, then so can you.

>>9363783

Notice how cult members desperately attempt to defend its asinine practices to outsiders, seeking understanding where there can be none. Go to /scientology/.

>>9363827
I'm in decent shape, I eat well, and I have a decent, if unfulfilling, job.

But I feel like I'm not making progress in my career or my hobbies, and everything I do is pointless and empty. I'm trying to learn more, but I'm not using any of that knowledge productively.

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>>9363609

>implying academia was ever an option for me
>tfw combative and ornery personality

Anyone else feel these feels? I've got an immaculate resume and fire GRE scores but I'm too disagreeable and quite honestly ultra right-wing. The genesis of my disagreeableness seems to be my unwillingness to be complicit in left-wing orthodoxy no matter what. I guess this makes me stupid in a way. Also the average grad student/person pursuing academia is so sheltered and fuccboi-esque it bothers me; I just feel like I need to relentlessly bully them for being so weak.

I've seen people dragged through the mud at these universities for saying something totally innocuous relative to my beliefs, and I'm not afraid to say whatever the fuck I think. I don't care if a whiny college kid doesn't like what I have to say and I especially hate the idea of not being allowed to say something; I will rail against that shit immediately.

It feels so liberating to not let leftist hegemony control you in a way, even though my ass is probably bound to get kicked out for not hopping on the diversity fuck white people train.

Also my research would never be funded in a million years and I'd probably be laughed out of the hiring process. I could shut my mouth for a few years and "infiltrate" until tenure but that's just not who I am.

Who here /renegadescholar/ aka private practice aka homelessness

>>9363613
Well, someone must be languishing in a hell of their own making.

>>9363767
Then you aren't doing it right.

>>9363935
If you have hobbies you aren't living life to its fullest. Everything you do should be towards a lasting end.

>>9364092
I don't understand. What lasting ends are there? How do I work towards one? Why are hobbies incompatible with this?

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>>9364047
>history lecture
>it's about Alexander
>professor implies Alexander was mentally ill, his quest for power and unbridled conquest was a sign of his mental instability
>some smug cunt raises his hand and continues, asking if it wasn't true that psychologists of today would have "diagnosed" him with various conditions
>room erupts in laughter as they call him a ravaging megalomaniacal monster with delusions of grandeur who believed he was a god because of all he had accomplished
>the reality is he was right in his actions, and beliefs, and perfectly sane considering his surroundings: he had done what the Greeks had thought impossible and curbed the Persian empire, and had been undefeated in battle whilst doing so, therefore him believing himself to either be a god or demi-god was perfectly plausible given the views of the Greek world at the time i.e. socially, culturally, religiously, e.g. the question of whether or not the gods existed wasn't even a question: of course they did
>Alexander had done the impossible so naturally he must have been more than a mere mortal man
>mfw couldn't say anything or else I'd get shunned by normies for implying he wasn't a heinous evil warlord who like literally murdered innocent people and stuff

>>9364092

Do not pass go, go directly to burnout

>>9364109
I think what he means is that if you have a clear goal of what you want to accomplish with your life then having hobbies conflicts with that since you're spending time on something which doesn't lead you closer to your goal.

>>9364148

You are stronger than me anon

I didn't get kicked out of my UG school by some miracle

Funny how modern academia is the least tolerant place there is. As soon as you deviate from their pseudo-tolerance orthodoxy you are liable to be booted out

If I fully came out as an anti-gutter punk anti degeneracy fascist I would've been booted so damn fast

>>9363627
Peterson is a cult leader. His followers give him about $30k a month

>>9364172
>You are stronger than me anon
Ironic because I dropped out a couple of months later.

>>9364148

>historical greatness is moral goodness

builders > killers

>>9364178

lel. hope you find something you enjoy

also

>history professor retroactively applying modern moral standards to ancient leaders
>current year

s h o c k e d
h
o
c
k
e
d

Is this a professor peterson thread?

I know what I must do but I won't do it, how to sory my self out?

>>9364155
I see. Well, lack of direction and goals is a problem for me.

Well I am studying in an university, but I actually have to read most of the literary canon by myself, because, you know, nowadays you can study germanistics, like I do, without ever reading Kafka or Mann.

>>9364205
But 100 years ago no one read Kafka for their studies in German literature either, my dude.

>>9364213
that's not my point

>>9364179
>one excludes the other
Compelling argument.

>>9364187
When it's convenient you should look at events in a historical context, but not if it's a meanie then you have to add in that you think the person was a meanie. Obviously it wasn't like he deliberately said Alexander was such and such and you should all take this for a fact, but it's that he casually said it with an air of matter-of-factness instead of drawing a clear line between what is actually known about him and what he personally believes. I don't know, I don't care any more, all I knew was that I couldn't deal with that sort of thing any longer.

>>9364221
But it's my point, so have to deal with it.

Existence, torture,
Vaginas with canine teeth.
Haiku poster spoons.

>>9364229
Sublime.

>>9364227
no argument there, not even in proper english; go kill yourself, faggot

>>9364235
So the point of your post was to slap yourself on the shoulder for being such a bright boy?

Best musicians, philosophers, scientists etc. came from academia, that's just a fact. And your obsessive attitude towards self-betterment doesn't look healthy at all.

autodidactism is what brainlets tell themselves they are to feel better about having no accomplishments

it's slave morality at its highest

>>9364242
no, I meant to say, that academics, and, in the end, everyone is more or less an autodidact, because learning is a personal process, that even when something is being teached to someone, he still ought to reflect on it.

>>9364226

Alexander didn't finance technological growth, help the poor, improve the law. He was obsessed, like most famous men, with beating other famous men for the celebrity and 'glory' of it.
Why do you think he was ethically admirable?

>>9364260
You can't actually be serious.

>>9364047

You sound just as sheltered as those fuccbois you're talking about. Go to BYU or another private christian school maybe? But one way or the other you're going to have to eventually learn some social skills to integrate into the workforce. How fucking hard is it to keep your views private and not shove them down others' throats? Jesus christ man. Grow the fuck up.

>>9364266

No. I genuinely think his status as a hero is a bug in traditional historiography, which mistakes power, notoriety and preening for greatness.

>>9364047
Apply to Russian uni. They keep Dugin in there, so I doubt that you can be too right-wing for them.

>>9364296

I come from a military background, a combat role to be specific, so when I got to UG and was thrust around a bunch of useless, slow, whiny, know-it-all, needs-therapy-for-bad-words pieces of human filth and garbage then yes, I feel entitled to say that they are sheltered.

When the prevailing orthodoxy is quite literally what you're swimming in, i.e. leftism, and their ideological agenda fills their every sentence, and they're comfortable in being smug around each other because no one has ever challenged them in this environment, then I'll be fucking damned if I keep my mouth shut.

You're part of the problem if you're too damn cowardly to throw your opinion out there. I refuse to keep my mouth shut so I can garner brownie points with a bunch of inferior cowards. My opinions could've legitimately got me booted from campus, and they almost have. I'm fighting the cancer on my own terms; it sounds like you're too afraid to do that and I feel sorry for you.

>>9364347
That anon wa right, you should grow up. You sound like a manchild with delirious fantasies fuelled by inferiority complex. Turn your computer off and go for a walk.

>>9364347
too many steroids huh? i guess all those stories about brain damage are true...

>>9363609
more power to you if you want to study shit for yourself, but if you have the opportunity university is really worth it (europe here so i dont know what murikans even mean with "college", i heard a third year math course in the states starts with a discussion of what a proof is LMAOOOOOOO)

>>9364347

It's funny because I was going to recommend the military as well but decided not to.

Look man I consider myself an independent centrist politically and very often I didn't agree with many people (on the left and the right) when I was at university. I certainly didn't back down from arguments because I actually enjoy debating people who have different views than my own. That said there's a way to go about that without letting your emotions take over and coming off as a douche.

Sometimes it's better to let it go or omit extreme opinions. This is a skill you will have to learn in the workforce. In many corporate environments I've worked in it's almost taboo to share your views. And that's not because people are scared little bitches afraid to voice their own opinions -- it's because it's not conducive to an efficient work environment. You're required to conduct yourself like an adult and not a autistic man-child who can't shut his fucking mouth. Sure you can pal around with politically like-minded co-workers after work but not on the job.

I feel like maybe you should consider a military college or like I said before a right wing private religious institution. I can certainly sympathize with having to suffer through that smug sense of superiority. People on both sides of the aisle are a victim of their own delusions of grandeur and morality. You fought for the right of these people to have their own opinions and the reason America is as great as it is -- is because people who have these extremely different views are able to come together to make shit happen regardless of how they feel about things.

>>9364396

I'm actually fucking loaded on tren right now and want to fight someone top kek

>>9364410

I think the "shut your mouth its good for your career" thing is bullshit. I'm never going to sacrifice my truth like a weasel so I can get along with Jenny and Steve and their haphazard, milquetoast views about society.

I don't randomly walk up to people and start pruning their psyche for shitty, retarded opinions. But if I'm around people talking about left-wing opinions, and more often than not I am when I'm on campus, then I see no problem with sharing my right-wing opinions.

Its only seen as gauche because right-wing people have been bullied into not sharing their opinions to the point that anyone who does is the odd man out. Fuck that.

>>9363609

>to make yourself as productive as possible.

¡DIOS MÍO, IDEOLOGÍA PURA!

Also

>Claims to be an autodidact
>Regurgitates the thoughts of the meme intellectuals of the month, namely le deadlifting skin-in-the-game man and Jungian Kermit

>>9363612

These are the anxious pangs of a mind that has realized its mediocrity on some level, but refuses to acknowledge the implications of it.

>>9364439


>Its only seen as gauche because right-wing people have been bullied into not sharing their opinions to the point that anyone who does is the odd man out.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shy_Tory_Factor

>>9364442
We have established that this is a thread for cultists. But I did kek at "Jungian Kermit"

>>9364439

Well then either start your own business, take up a trade, or stay in the military. I can understand having strong opinions on things based on your combat experience but you sound like a total man-child held hostage by your own opinions. Politics aren't everything and it's sad to see people's lives consumed by their own ideology. Regardless though good luck brotha.

>>9364442

Where did you see regurgitated thoughts? The only thing I saw was the "SORT YOURSELF OUT" meme, but there was nothing even remotely Jungian in the post. Seems like just practical advice.

>>9364439

You're an absolute pussy for not hiding your views so you can infiltrate academia. You're supposed to get tenure, THEN start assblasting liberals and Marxists. How are we supposed to normalize a left-right dialectic when you faggots can't even maintain outposts in academia? You're not going to influence the next generation by working at a think tank or shitposting on 4chan. If you don't want to get brainwashed, then add some /autodidact/ into your life.

>>9364558

I'm going to climb the ranks of the army after I get my MA.

Academia is too pozzed for me

>>9364564

And pozzed it will remain. Thanks for nothing.

>>9363609
Ah yes, discover the intellectual conversation by abstaining from it

>>9364576

>thinking you'll enter the conversation by regurgitating your professors at uni
>not entering the conversation by substantially engaging with critical works

Are you retarded?

>>9364576

I hope you're fighting for tenure in academia before you throw those stones

you try being in a pond of degeneracy and tell me how that goes

at least in the military I'll have meaningful clout

>>9364579
t. never-been-no-uni cretin who rationalizes his shortcomings by pretending political opinions are important in rigorous academic research

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>>9364625

t. state school pleb

And nobody said that abiding by political correctness and Marxist ideology is sufficient to be successful in academia, only that it is required in most departments lest you be attacked on all sides and snubbed by a prospective department.

>>9364782
You got keys? Damn.

>>9363624

4/10 list. Doesn't include The Ritual Process by Victor Turner and either The Origins of Consciousness by Julian Jaynes or How The Mind Works by Steven Pinker.

good thread thanks for making these fellas

>>9363609
Holy shit, thanks OP, I love this

>>9364782
Not voicing that you think Jews are responsible for world's misery on every possible occasion won't hurt you and as a previous anon said is required in any productive work environment. If you actually are interested in pursuing intellectual career, then read and think whatever you want but don't discount university as an obstacle in your "noble quest". Actual work in a field that you like or consider important requires being surrounded by competent people and not masturbating to some false, misguided fantasies of being the smartest boy on the planet.

>>9363609
>General
nononono
crawl back to whatever hellhole you've come from

Where can autodictatality get me? With academia I can at least present a shitty degree, but I highly doubt anywhere will go, "I see it says you have the skills here so welcome aboard!"

That said, I do enjoy learning by myself.

>>9364948

You can always go to university AND be an autodidact. Learn your degree, learn something on the side and get certified, and explore what genuinely makes you tick. The only thing stopping you is your ability to apply yourself.

>>9364966

I already dropped out since university wasn't for me. I don't plan on going back.

>>9364994
What do you plan on doing instead?

>>9364994
But anon, don't you want to go to the sausage factory?

>>9364994

There are plenty of fields where all you need is certification, apprenticeship, etc. Pick up a trade. Learn to program. Become a system administrator. Work for the government.

>>9364998

I don't know. I keep telling myself I want to write something and also work with my hands, but the latter would include cleaning out a shed that belongs to my grandmother (who is a hoarder) and the former would involve some motivation. For now I just read, NEET it up, and sit outside at night with my dogs just thinking or reading.

>>9365029
Asking because I'm in the same situation, two-time drop out and not any closer to figuring out what to do.

>>9364229
>Vaginas with canine teeth.
>Haiku poster spoons.

lost

>>9364576
>le intellectual conversation

Pretentious bourgeoisie garbage.

So, like, what exactly is everyone's goals in life? Or are goals and purposes just meme?

>>9365375
looks like you already know the answer