Nate's Guide to Self Help Books that will Actually Help you Help Yourself

A lot of what people need to succeed in film overlaps with what they need to succeed in life, and this is just a collection of that. It's a huge amount of information, and I'm just leaving it here as a reference guide for people that wish to improve their foundational knowledge base, and gain a clearer perception of how logic and knowledge can empower you to make more effective decisions in film, and elsewhere. None of this is specific to filmmaking, but rather a series of compressed books on subjects such as habits, reasoning, psychology, etc.

I'd note here that none of this is my work, it's just a collection of work by nobel prize winners, bestselling authors, and the like, that collectively echoes my internal understanding of the world. I would say that these people have all done a better job than I do of giving a focused explanation of core concepts, so it makes sense to refer people to them.

There are no mood crystals, belief systems, or wish your way to success strategies here. These are the self help books that actually help you help yourself. Would you like to be a little smarter 5 hours from now? Take the time to understand the concepts in these videos, and there's a good chance that it will happen. Credit to this brilliant youtuber who compiled and redirected the videos I'm posting here. This guy is a genius.





 
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A lot of what people need to succeed in film overlaps with what they need to succeed in life, and this is just a collection of that. It's a huge amount of information, and I'm just leaving it here as a reference guide for people that wish to improve their foundational knowledge base, and gain a clearer perception of how logic and knowledge can empower you to make more effective decisions in film, and elsewhere. None of this is specific to filmmaking, but rather a series of compressed books on subjects such as habits, reasoning, psychology, etc.

I'd note here that none of this is my work, it's just a collection of work by nobel prize winners, bestselling authors, and the like, that collectively echoes my internal understanding of the world. I would say that these people have all done a better job than I do of giving a focused explanation of core concepts, so it makes sense to refer people to them.

There are no mood crystals, belief systems, or wish your way to success strategies here. These are the self help books that actually help you help yourself. Would you like to be a little smarter 5 hours from now? Take the time to understand the concepts in these videos, and there's a good chance that it will happen. Credit to this brilliant youtuber who compiled and redirected the videos I'm posting here. This guy is a genius.





What you think about the book: Thinking Fast, and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.

Why am I so intrigued to just follow the reviews to 'only' read a portion of the book instead of the whole book?

Thanks for Assessment!
 
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What you think about the book: Thinking Fast, and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.

Why am I so intrigued to just follow the reviews to 'only' read a portion of the book instead of the whole book?

Thanks for Assessment!
It's a brilliant book! Worth reading the whole thing.
 
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Guilt But Were Too Ashamed To Ask.

Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Sex But Have Been Forced to Find Out.


-- Oolon Colluphid

(Douglas Adams RIP)
 
“The Guide says there is an art to flying", said Ford, "or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”
― Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything

This is my from my number one self help trilogy, lol.

And in part, Save Point is based on the following quote from him (the main storyline, not the org)-

“There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.

There is another theory which states that this has already happened.”
― Douglas Adams, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
 
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Here is a great book that has been around since 1936 and is as relevant today as it was back then.

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Once you read the book, you'll realize how accurate the title is. The author, Dale Carnegie, walks you through all kinds of simple, almost common sense, ways to appear more likable so that you can win friends and influence people. Simple things, really. For example: when talking to a person, say their name during the talk. People like to hear their own name. Another is, ask questions about the person and things they are interested in. People love to talk about themselves and their interests. And although kind of controversial today, people like to be touched. A simple pat on the shoulder will do. These days, you'd better make sure the person will not be offended, but I pat people on the shoulder or back all the time and so far, I haven't offended anyone, and, believe it or not, people respond to me with enthusiasm (if only I could translate that to on-line relationships. LOL!). Have good eye contact. That's another one. It shows that you are paying attention. In our society, especially now, nobody wants to listen to anyone else. I think it was in the movie Fight Club, someone said about people not listening- they are just waiting for their turn to talk, so let them talk, and listen to what they say. They will remember you. This is a great book. Check it out!
 
Here is a great book that has been around since 1936 and is as relevant today as it was back then.

71vK0WVQ4rL._AC_UF894,1000_QL80_.jpg


Once you read the book, you'll realize how accurate the title is. The author, Dale Carnegie, walks you through all kinds of simple, almost common sense, ways to appear more likable so that you can win friends and influence people. Simple things, really. For example: when talking to a person, say their name during the talk. People like to hear their own name. Another is, ask questions about the person and things they are interested in. People love to talk about themselves and their interests. And although kind of controversial today, people like to be touched. A simple pat on the shoulder will do. These days, you'd better make sure the person will not be offended, but I pat people on the shoulder or back all the time and so far, I haven't offended anyone, and, believe it or not, people respond to me with enthusiasm (if only I could translate that to on-line relationships. LOL!). Have good eye contact. That's another one. It shows that you are paying attention. In our society, especially now, nobody wants to listen to anyone else. I think it was in the movie Fight Club, someone said about people not listening- they are just waiting for their turn to talk, so let them talk, and listen to what they say. They will remember you. This is a great book. Check it out!
I was going to mention this one!

Another one I really like is "The 4-Hour Work Week" by Tim Ferris. At the core, it's about lifestyle design. Some of the info isn't so great, but there's a lot of really good nuggets in it. One of my favorites is the idea to only check email at one or two times per day. I used to constantly be checking email, and every time that notification came in, or I saw the red number on my iPhone, I had to check and it was wasting so much time each day. Once I read his advice on email, I implemented it. I turned off email notifications on my phone, I started unsubscribing from all the crap I had unknowingly signed up for over the years, and started checking email twice a day. End result was that I was happier, far more productive than ever, and my inbox is cleaner, since it's not filled with junk. I think it took me a week to get rid of the garbage. Anytime junk came in, I would unsubscribe THEN delete it, rather than just trashing it like I had before.
 
That's great advice!
Along those lines, the smart phone. I don't have one. I had one over a decade ago and found myself falling into the same zombie-like behavior that is so prevalent in today's society: always looking at my phone, sending receiving dozens of meaningless texts, watching mind numbing video clips on Youtube. That lasted about a year, then I got rid of the thing. I realized it was a complete waste of time. Now I have a simple flip phone for making calls. You should see the look on people's faces when they want to send a link to my phone and I tell them I don't have a smart phone. They look at me with bewilderment, as though saying "how can you live?" My point is that I chose to live in the world around me instead of the world of cyberspace and I prefer it.
 
Awesome! I enjoy the convince of having a camera, GPS, calling and text on one device, as well as some apps I use in my film and video work, but that's about it. I don't have games or anything fun on my phone. It's about as close to a dumb phone as I can get while still having a great camera that fits in my pocket.

I do have an Instagram, but I use the computer to manage it, and I deleted my personal Facebook account three years ago. Best decision I've ever made.

This all drives my friends nuts, and if we go out to eat, I'm the only one not on my phone the entire time.
 
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