Self improvement thread

Have you reached the conclussion that the only purpose in life is to continuously strife to be greater? In that case, what are you doing to accomplish this?

>me, 19
>time to get serious and start living a decent life already
>going to the gym and dieting
>reading history and science (college level, not dumb divulgation ones) books to gain a general knowledge of the world
>studying computer science even on vacation because I love it and I'm planning on becoming a great professional
>gradually eliminating all fiction and games for my life as I consider them a waste of time, besides a few god-tier examples: top level novels and go (the board game) atm
>regularly going out with friends and gf, and trying to put me in positions where I meet new people
>trying to inspire friends to stop being lazy as fuck and pursue their dreams (for example giving them "homework": paint me a drawing like this, write me a short novel in this genre etc)

That's all for now but I'm considering a few other things, like trying to use my current skills (in programming for example) to make tools or art that me and other people may appreciate.

How bout u?

Pic unrelated: just a beautiful nara period pagoda

It's not a bad thing to do, and it's good to keep active and all when you're 19, but eventually you have to acknowledge that greatness is a meaningless concept and you have to figure out for yourself what it actually means to you - going by the judgment and values of other people is a waste of time and energy. The more time you spend doing this, the more you realize how many of 'your' values aren't actually yours. Then the fun begins. It could entail some sort of crisis but it's actually very meaningful to figure out your values in the relative absence of external social input, it gives you a lot of freedom. It could actually mean interacting with people and all, it's just a lot different than feeling pressured to do so, which I take it you're doing right now, what with all those aesthetics and dumb tier rankings. And please don't try to pressure your friends with your ideas of "inspiration" unless they really want you to.

I never said the greatness I pursue is absolute, nor defined by the expectations of other people. I just spent a long time thinking where my life was going, then simply reflected upon the qualities of people I admire, and decided I would try to be that.

To me greatness means qualities I admire in other people, and I find satisfaction in having myself. For example, I decided that it didn't make sense to me to live a full life in this world, and not gaing a pretty good idea of how it works and how it's been in the past. Hence I decided to get a general grasp of the history of pretty much the entire world (I'm starting with Japan, then I'll move on to ancient civilizations in the fertile crescent) and a pretty decent knowledge of science (physics up to relativity and quantum mechanics, don't need to be an expert to be happy but at least get a general idea of how it goes. The I'll probably move on to more specific scientific fields that I like).

I don't think all of this is "useful" or "valued" by other people especially. I just think it is great. It makes sense to know this things, or rather, it doesn't make sense not to know them. I greatly admire people who do.

You're misguided. You're making a point out of doing everything "correctly" but to what end? Explain to us why greatness is worth obtaining and why what you are doing will make you great.

Oh and give your friends a bloody break, they don't need your godly all-enlightened shepherding to live their lives.

I define "correctness" and "greatness" by what brings satisfaction to me. I by no means wanted to imply that my way of living is the only way, or even a desirable way for all people. In the end, I'm just doing what I want but with deep foresight. I guess you could call it long-term hedonism.

So my quest is to conquer my personal conception of greatness. I can't tell you why it is worth it, but you can't probably tell me why it wouldn't have to be.

Also, I'm not telling my friends to do things I desire them to do. But if I friend of mine keeps bitching about how he would love to write a novel but then the only thing he does is waste time in things he agrees are a waste of time, yet fun (videogames for example), then I will try to push them over the edge of lazyness and fear to help them accomplish greatness as well.

>>trying to inspire friends to stop being lazy as fuck and pursue their dreams (for example giving them "homework": paint me a drawing like this, write me a short novel in this genre etc)

I wasn't gonna reply but this made me laugh irl so here, bonus (You)

In my philosophy, we have friends to share our happiness, pushing then into the things they want to do is not something i can decide, because it's not something i want to do, it's something they want to do. Unless they really want help.

The only purpose in life is to be one with the Tao.

To that end, I study philosophy where I can, exercise (since a healthy body helps with a healthy mind I find), meditate, and try not to worry about life.

I have friends to gain inspiration. How they lead their lives teaches me about mine. They are somewhat of a reflection. Sometimes they make something I'm doing wrong shine and I can't ignore it anymore, I'm forced to change for the better. Sometimes they reassure me I'm in the right path.

That said, I like growing together with another person while exanging ideas and motivating each other. When a friend gets stuck, I try to help them. They respond possitively and get motivated when I tackle them up front and say: "dude, you should get a grip", but then go back to wasting time. Then they might hide it out of shame. It's like we're all addicts to being lazy and not doing crap. I feel like a great part in the role of friends is helping each other fight that addiction.

pick up a martial art and learn to take a punch in the mouth

I've been considering that. Don't know which one to pick. Most martial arts look like a pretty but useless fraud. Boxing looks better but I don't want to become dumb through repeated hits to the head. Maybe tae kwon do is a sweet middle ground.

You already made your shitty threads on /int/

I've never been to /int/ I think ^^'
If you don't like the thread and don't want to contribute why don't you just leave or something?
Maybe post a few memes on the way out.

>but I don't want to become dumb through repeated hits to the head.
not really a concern. you wear head gear, a mouthguard (get one with insurance if ur really concerned) and the gloves are padded as fuck. and u can train and not fight, most sparing sessions hold some reserve, but ull still feel it, and progress in skill all the merrier.

kickboxing might do you some damage but boxing for the most part is pic related

also cannabis will cause neuro-regenesis


if you weigh less than 100kg & are under 6'3 id definitely learn to just shut ur fucking mouth though.

also check out mozart, haydn, beethoven symphonies etc

classical eras 18 & 19th centuries

learn ur fallacies and shit - appeal to majority/democracy, most people are fucking retards, in any group or collective. /rule of thumb

>if you weigh less than 100kg & are under 6'3 id definitely learn to just shut ur fucking mouth though.
context? Do you mean in a confrontation or life in general? kek

I'm leaving the music and philosophy of past eras to when I've got a grasp of the history of that period. To fully appreciate.

I will consider boxing, didn't know they wore protection and I though the gloves were padded not to hurt the hands.

Is this a cringe thread?

I got you.

>I define "correctness" and "greatness" by what brings satisfaction to me

so... pleasure?

You seem like a normie who's trying to be a Chad.

No that's a dumb conclusion.
I strive to be greater In order to better fulfill my purpose in life.

If the thought of putting effort into leading the best life you can makes you cringe, think a bit about your life.

Doubt you're better off masturbating 7 times a day in your mom's basement, never talking to a woman, with no prospect of professional success and claiming nihilism.

And you're fat.

Forgot that last drop of ad hominem, noob mistake.

Your purpose in life is just your personal definition of greatness.
Yes, if you don't mean pleasure in the narrow, short-term, physical way, but overall long-lasting happiness in life.

Shit, man. You got me. I'll never be on the level of posting "Please tell me I'm doing a good job" threads on Veeky Forums.

:^[

that's it, good job, knew there had to be some good to the Veeky Forums userbase.

But being lazy is part of being human, sometimes you have to be lazy to do what you want and understand what you want.
I would never be who i am if i had never been lazy.

You had one detail wrong though. I only masturbate 3-4 times a day. Any more than that is pretty physically taxing.

Of course, but that's not a strong argument, is it?
You wouldn't be the same, but maybe (probably, really) you'd be better.

Of course I've been lazy, but my objective right now is to kill that lazyness (which in the end is like a subtle type of fear) to focus on a pleasure I find superior, the long-lasting satisfaction, not the junkie masturbation and binge eating kind.

You just suck at sucking, back in my dark ages I would do 5 or 6 easily. Go jerk off till your dick bleeds right now!

It's because you're only seeing the bad laziness. Cars, massagers, TV's, robots, industrial machines and a lot of other things were made because someone felt lazy to do their specific jobs, if everony never felt lazy and were 100% efficient in their jobs, there would be no reason to make these.

>self improvement
Eventually you hit a brick wall and realise if you want to become great at something you have too dedicate your life to it.

We're talking different things. I'm talking about avoiding short-term discomfort (greatly exagerated by your brain) that would grant you lifelong satisfaction and happiness. E.g. exercise, gaining professional skills, culture, interacting with other people, just look at the list in the OP.

You're talking efficiency. If one thing needs to be done, we should pursue the way that requieres the less effort.

P.s: dafuq is wrong with this capcha, told me to select the images with sandwitches, and the only things barely resembling a sandwitch were burgers. Are burgers sandwitches? I'm really confused right now.

So what? Just find out which field feels bigger to you and dedicate your life to it. What are you living for if not for accomplishing things?

Fellow computer science colleague here, keep up the good work :)

I'm currently 22 and trying out something similar. It's kind of difficult because of my robot personality (this is the first time in months I've gotten off r9k and actually looked for some normal boards). That being said, going out with friends is less of an option since I don't have a lot of them + I've been single my entire life. On the other hand, ever since I started working in my profession my life has gotten better.

I really believe that every persons purpose in life is leaving the world in better state. Since I consider myself an intellectual (or at least I strive to become one), I believe that the best way I can achieve this is acting similarly to you. Becoming a great professional, being well read, etc.

As for the eliminating fiction and games, I'm not sure how much of a good idea is that. Every game and work of fiction can be considered as art, and appreciating art is never a waste of time. Sure, there's stuff like CoD that are pure garbage, but there's so many games that are aesthetic and have awesome story writing that I could never call a waste of time. As long as you don't let it swallow you, you can afford yourself to enjoy it.

Which novels are you reading? I'm looking for recommendations.. Also, which subfield of computer science are you mostly interested in?

I would love to believe you OP, but you're posting on Veeky Forums with the rest of us.

Actually we we're talking about the same thing, but with different perspectives, doing something that makes me happy or will make me happy are laziness because i also enjoy the process of acquiring the lifelong satisfaction and hapiness, not only the final product. No matter how i see it, the only moment im not lazy is when i do something i need to do (Regardless if like it or not) however for you it's different, but i believe you're still right because i can understand your PoV.

P.s: Burguers can be considered sandwiches, because in the end they are 2 pieces of bread with "content" inside.

OP should kill himself instantly. Failure you.

Well, if the reason you have no friends and gf is social anxiety, you can get over it. I was awkward as fuck until I realised the opinion of strangers and people I barely knew wasn't worth shit to me.

Of course that was the theory, but by forcing myself to interact with other people that theory ended up hardwired into my brain and now I can talk to strangers just like if they were my best friend. I just concentrate on their words and respond was is true to me (Unless I have some reason to be in good terms with them: my boss or college teachers for example). That way, you stop being inconsequential to people; some people will hate or despise you for how you are, but the people you're sorta "intellectually compatible" with will want to be closer to you and you will make friends.

The games thing I already stated it was not a dogmatic, inflexible decision. If a game has a strong appeal besides just literally spending time on it to avoid boredom, I'll consider playing it, always low in the priority list, tho.

I was looking for god-tier sci fi novels so I started the Hyperion saga out of a friend's recommendation. Can't really judge as I'm only 50 pages through but it looks good so far.

Can't really choose a field yet inside computer science as I'm only about to start the second year of the degree, but new AI techniques look interesting as fuck.

I recently read "City of Theives" by David Benioff. It's fiction, but placed in a believable environment (Stalingrad during the Nazi siege). It's kind off short but interesting + it fits the main topic of this board, so I will use this opportunity to suggest it.

A lot of subjects in my studies use AI methods, also, since I'm doing my thesis this year, it's probably going to include AI since I'm working on location-based prediction. Anyway, good luck with that, it's a really cool field.

My God, Veeky Forums is just like /x/ but for sophists and pedants instead of paranoid weirdos.

fuck

You're making me jealous, gotta learn more, gotta read more books.

Thought of grabbing a book about AI and just getting to it but my knowledge of algorithmics is nonexistent, and that's pretty much a requirement. Once I've gone over the python language and syntax I'll probably get a good book and just go for it.

Can't wait for the college to teach me, it's way too slow. 4 years to pretty much learn only to wipe my own ass.

Don't worry about it, I learned only the basic stuff at the first year as well. Since I've never programmed before college it was useful, but now I can see how someone who has experience with programming would be bored by the HelloWorldish stuff taught at the first year. The AI only started a year and a half ago, when I was at final year of my studies for bachelors degree. Also, I know some people who started working really early, so you might want to look into that. A lot of companies don't mind mentoring students since they have a chance of keeping them after they graduate.

And so, very gradually, the board turns to greater shit, with every idiotic thread like this.

Well, be our savior and make a good thread.

OP, you don't sound like you're striving for greatness, you sound like you're leaving the basement for the first time.

there is nothing an individual can do against the onslaught of untold masses of r9k, mememasters and pollacks, I learnt that back in 2009 already, soon it will be time to abandon Veeky Forums as well.

Well, I don't consider myself to be in the basement. I was in the basement two or three years ago, but I've gone far, only not in an organised and efficient way.

Even if by some standard I were considered basement-level yet, I don't find that incompatible with striving for greatness. Why make half-assed efforts?

>for example giving them "homework": paint me a drawing like this, write me a short novel in this genre etc
Pppht.