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Reframe Your Brain: The User Interface for Happiness and Success
In Reframe Your Brain, Scott Adams, the contrarian genius behind Dilbert and author of the most influential personal success book of all time�How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big—gives you the complete operating system for lasting happiness.
Are you familiar with this old saying?
“All publicity is good publicity.�
That’s a classic reframe. The quote shifts your thinking from the shame of whatever you did wrong to your probable benefit. You can’t change the past, but you can change how you feel about it.
Trained hypnotist and persuasion expert Scott Adams has packed more than 160 new, counterintuitive, and effective reframes into Reframe Your Brain. For
Usual Manage your time.
Manage your energy.
Usual Success depends on who you know.
Success depends on how many people you know.
Usual Your critics are evil monsters.
Your critics are your mascots.
Usual The universe is acting against you.
The universe owes you.
Usual Luck is random and can’t be managed.
You can go where there is more luck (more energy).
These instant perspective-shifters will help you feel better on demand and succeed at any endeavor without the usual pain or pitfalls. The reframe collection covers personal fulfillment, business and career success, mental health, social activities, and physical well-being. If only 10 percent of the reframes work for you, your life will never be the same.
Prepare to embark on a journey of transformation as Scott Adams shares his most invaluable insights and practical techniques to date, empowering you to reprogram your own reality using words alone.
Are you familiar with this old saying?
“All publicity is good publicity.�
That’s a classic reframe. The quote shifts your thinking from the shame of whatever you did wrong to your probable benefit. You can’t change the past, but you can change how you feel about it.
Trained hypnotist and persuasion expert Scott Adams has packed more than 160 new, counterintuitive, and effective reframes into Reframe Your Brain. For
Usual Manage your time.
Manage your energy.
Usual Success depends on who you know.
Success depends on how many people you know.
Usual Your critics are evil monsters.
Your critics are your mascots.
Usual The universe is acting against you.
The universe owes you.
Usual Luck is random and can’t be managed.
You can go where there is more luck (more energy).
These instant perspective-shifters will help you feel better on demand and succeed at any endeavor without the usual pain or pitfalls. The reframe collection covers personal fulfillment, business and career success, mental health, social activities, and physical well-being. If only 10 percent of the reframes work for you, your life will never be the same.
Prepare to embark on a journey of transformation as Scott Adams shares his most invaluable insights and practical techniques to date, empowering you to reprogram your own reality using words alone.
Audible Audio
Published August 24, 2023
674 people are currently reading
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About the author
Scott Adams
252books1,239followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the ŷ database with this name.
Adams was born in Windham, New York in 1957 and received his Bachelor's degree in Economics from Hartwick College in 1979.
He also studied economics and management for his 1986 MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
In recent years, Adams has been hurt with a series of debilitating health problems. Since late 2004, he has suffered from a reemergence of his focal dystonia which has affected his drawing. He can fool his brain by drawing using a graphics tablet. On December 12, 2005, Adams announced on his blog that he also suffers from spasmodic dysphonia, a condition that causes the vocal cords to behave in an abnormal manner. However, on October 24, 2006, he again blogged stating that he had recovered from this condition, although he is unsure if the recovery is permanent. He claims to have developed a method to work around the disorder and has been able to speak normally since. Also, on January 21, 2007, he posted a blog entry detailing his experiences with treatment by Dr. Morton Cooper.
Adams is also a trained hypnotist, as well as a vegetarian. (Mentioned in, "Dilbert: A Treasury of Sunday Strips 00).
He married Shelly Miles on July 22, 2006.
Adams was born in Windham, New York in 1957 and received his Bachelor's degree in Economics from Hartwick College in 1979.
He also studied economics and management for his 1986 MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
In recent years, Adams has been hurt with a series of debilitating health problems. Since late 2004, he has suffered from a reemergence of his focal dystonia which has affected his drawing. He can fool his brain by drawing using a graphics tablet. On December 12, 2005, Adams announced on his blog that he also suffers from spasmodic dysphonia, a condition that causes the vocal cords to behave in an abnormal manner. However, on October 24, 2006, he again blogged stating that he had recovered from this condition, although he is unsure if the recovery is permanent. He claims to have developed a method to work around the disorder and has been able to speak normally since. Also, on January 21, 2007, he posted a blog entry detailing his experiences with treatment by Dr. Morton Cooper.
Adams is also a trained hypnotist, as well as a vegetarian. (Mentioned in, "Dilbert: A Treasury of Sunday Strips 00).
He married Shelly Miles on July 22, 2006.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
September 21, 2023
It's an OK self help book.
If you are struggling with life and being bogged down by overly negative and pessimistic thoughts, this book has a lot of cool reframes that will allow you to just turn the seemingly negative situation into an opportunity.
This is a successful dude who, as far as I can tell, just shares with the world what his "secret" to success was. It basically boils down to a terrible childhood that motivated him to hustle more than anyone else. After that, one success just leads to another, as it always does for people who made it.
So it's a sample size of one, an entire book of "anecdotal evidence", basically a textbook example of survivorship bias.
I like the honesty and even though it is a book basically just about the author himself, it's not wasting time with elaborate descriptions of the author's personal experiences. It's just a lot of "here's what worked for me, maybe it works for you".
I didn't get much out of it. I'm somehow actually already doing most of the things mentioned in the book, as a lot of it is actually somewhat common sense.
If you are struggling with life and being bogged down by overly negative and pessimistic thoughts, this book has a lot of cool reframes that will allow you to just turn the seemingly negative situation into an opportunity.
This is a successful dude who, as far as I can tell, just shares with the world what his "secret" to success was. It basically boils down to a terrible childhood that motivated him to hustle more than anyone else. After that, one success just leads to another, as it always does for people who made it.
So it's a sample size of one, an entire book of "anecdotal evidence", basically a textbook example of survivorship bias.
I like the honesty and even though it is a book basically just about the author himself, it's not wasting time with elaborate descriptions of the author's personal experiences. It's just a lot of "here's what worked for me, maybe it works for you".
I didn't get much out of it. I'm somehow actually already doing most of the things mentioned in the book, as a lot of it is actually somewhat common sense.
October 28, 2023
Definitely a book everyone should read at least once. Such a good read and definitely one that I will be re reading soon!
July 19, 2024
A nice and simple book with some good takeaways! Of course there are things that aren't specifically relevant to everyone but I definitely learned some useful reframes that I've already kept in mind and started using
November 28, 2023
best reframes
-Seeing life as a video game/simulation. Solve your problems to get to the next level
-Manage your energy, not your time
-Embarassment is an investment
-What's the smallest thing I can do that moves me in the right direction?
-Just start. See if you can figure it out as you go
-Usual frame: Compete against yourself and try to improve over time. Reframe: Compete against others even if the other's are unaware of the competition
-Usual: I need to come up with a good idea. Reframe: I need to release my bad ideas asap
-You can improve your mood by completing meaningful tasks
-Managing is measuring
-hate and power are superpower levels of energy
-Write something bad and fix it
-history doesn't exist
-imagine even your smallest action influencing your future
-be glad your brain is pestering you to improve
-marriage is about finding love with someone who values promises
-I must answer to your future self not your current self
-twitter/YouTube/Netflix/video games are addictions
-follow the money
-you are the author of your experience
Worst reframe (WTF)
-your genes will be diluted in each generation until your contributes nears zero
-Seeing life as a video game/simulation. Solve your problems to get to the next level
-Manage your energy, not your time
-Embarassment is an investment
-What's the smallest thing I can do that moves me in the right direction?
-Just start. See if you can figure it out as you go
-Usual frame: Compete against yourself and try to improve over time. Reframe: Compete against others even if the other's are unaware of the competition
-Usual: I need to come up with a good idea. Reframe: I need to release my bad ideas asap
-You can improve your mood by completing meaningful tasks
-Managing is measuring
-hate and power are superpower levels of energy
-Write something bad and fix it
-history doesn't exist
-imagine even your smallest action influencing your future
-be glad your brain is pestering you to improve
-marriage is about finding love with someone who values promises
-I must answer to your future self not your current self
-twitter/YouTube/Netflix/video games are addictions
-follow the money
-you are the author of your experience
Worst reframe (WTF)
-your genes will be diluted in each generation until your contributes nears zero
June 2, 2024
This was interesting, practical, straightforward, and engaging. Adams uses just enough person writing and anecdotal information to make a book that's essentially a Guide to Coaching Yourself interesting and funny. He's also done the heavy lifting of taking the concept of reframing, which most people know and do although they probably don't know they do it or even do it consciously, and not only explicated it with high level, accessible examples, but divided the book into a number of easy to navigate chapters with easy to navigate subtitles so that you can zip right to what you might need at a given moment (should you keep this in your home library; I have to give it back to the public library*). He also created an appendix that's a giant list of his suggested reframes. And they are just that-- suggestions.
I am a long-time reframer and I teach people, in various capacities, to do it. Adams makes it abundantly clear that people must WANT to genuine reframe and approach the situation differently for reframing to be successful. I agree. "Look on the bright side" is the world's easiest to access, least effective reframe-- mostly because people who don't already tend toward optimism won't (or can't) and because it's imprecise to the point of being nonsensical. Adam's whole book is dedicated to desire and specificity. To which I would add, yes. Exactly. I am not a hypnotist. Just a long-time practitioner of behavioral communication and professional development coach who knows the power of Assume Positive Intent + Read Their Cues and adjust accordingly. It only takes a little effort over a relatively short amount of time to concentrate on one area of self-awareness, then self-flip the script away from what hasn't worked toward what might work. And if what might work works, well, then your body will reward you and you accepting that reward (a small dopamine hit, a good night's sleep, a compliment-- all of which will create more of themselves in a continuous reinforcement loop until acted upon by a contrary force) will confirm your reframe. A few more days or weeks of practice and voila! An incremental move toward success. Now, start stacking them.
Meanwhile, one of the very first anecdotes Adams writes is about reframing the physical act of sneezing. He and a not insignificant portion of his social media followers and fans (I am not one, generally, though somehow found this and put it on the Bigass ŷ To-Read List) have trained themselves to prevent sneezing via self-coaching and sometimes even imagining. I have been trying hard to do this via techniques described. So far, no success. I will keep trying. I am the kind of person who CAN'T sneeze most of the time. The sensation (which to me starts as an uncomfortable tingle mid-nose) will build up for days and sometimes weeks, moving from a mild tingle on one side of my nose and grow into a large, distracting tingle-throb, moving up and into my (usually right) eyeball where it can sit and sit and pound and I know if I could JUST SNEEZE I would feel better, but I can't. None of the typical stimulants work, including sunlight, a shock from light to dark, pepper, dust, tickling myself, having other people tickle me, mimicking sneezing, thinking positively about sneezing, having someone offer me money to sneeze, having someone offer me money to not sneeze, saying sneeze, any of it. So, I am interested. Imma keep trying.
* So I took pics of that whole appendix and will happily reference for you as needed. Hit me up. Your fee is helping me sneeze. Or not, as needed.
I am a long-time reframer and I teach people, in various capacities, to do it. Adams makes it abundantly clear that people must WANT to genuine reframe and approach the situation differently for reframing to be successful. I agree. "Look on the bright side" is the world's easiest to access, least effective reframe-- mostly because people who don't already tend toward optimism won't (or can't) and because it's imprecise to the point of being nonsensical. Adam's whole book is dedicated to desire and specificity. To which I would add, yes. Exactly. I am not a hypnotist. Just a long-time practitioner of behavioral communication and professional development coach who knows the power of Assume Positive Intent + Read Their Cues and adjust accordingly. It only takes a little effort over a relatively short amount of time to concentrate on one area of self-awareness, then self-flip the script away from what hasn't worked toward what might work. And if what might work works, well, then your body will reward you and you accepting that reward (a small dopamine hit, a good night's sleep, a compliment-- all of which will create more of themselves in a continuous reinforcement loop until acted upon by a contrary force) will confirm your reframe. A few more days or weeks of practice and voila! An incremental move toward success. Now, start stacking them.
Meanwhile, one of the very first anecdotes Adams writes is about reframing the physical act of sneezing. He and a not insignificant portion of his social media followers and fans (I am not one, generally, though somehow found this and put it on the Bigass ŷ To-Read List) have trained themselves to prevent sneezing via self-coaching and sometimes even imagining. I have been trying hard to do this via techniques described. So far, no success. I will keep trying. I am the kind of person who CAN'T sneeze most of the time. The sensation (which to me starts as an uncomfortable tingle mid-nose) will build up for days and sometimes weeks, moving from a mild tingle on one side of my nose and grow into a large, distracting tingle-throb, moving up and into my (usually right) eyeball where it can sit and sit and pound and I know if I could JUST SNEEZE I would feel better, but I can't. None of the typical stimulants work, including sunlight, a shock from light to dark, pepper, dust, tickling myself, having other people tickle me, mimicking sneezing, thinking positively about sneezing, having someone offer me money to sneeze, having someone offer me money to not sneeze, saying sneeze, any of it. So, I am interested. Imma keep trying.
* So I took pics of that whole appendix and will happily reference for you as needed. Hit me up. Your fee is helping me sneeze. Or not, as needed.
September 27, 2023
The technique is very simple � identify your views which dont serve you and identify new interpretations of that view which would serve you and then repeat this reframe until you internalise it. A bit wacky towards the end where Adams talks about his views on reality being a simulation , but in conjunction with everything else you certainly better understand his success and his character.
Overall its a fairly fun mix of CBT and affirmation/wish magic that even if unlikely to create major changes in your life nevertheless wont leave you worse of for having used it.
January 16, 2024
Dilbert cartoon author Scott Adams creates a series of "reframes" that turn conventional wisdom into something even better. Adams has a "talent stack" that includes economics and MBA degrees, hypnotist training, a wildly successful comic strip, an interests in health and happiness. From health, religion, habits, to use of time and energy, Adams has a way of putting a twist on everyday trains of thought and elevating the mundane to something better. The best part is that Adams is funny. He weaves his Dilbert cartoons into chapter headings and lead-ins that illustrate his perspectives. I enjoyed this take-it-or-leave-it collection of pearls of wisdom cultivated over time.
February 11, 2024
Several years ago, I read How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big. Both books are helpful, practical, and have a lovely touch of humor. To me, it boils down to asking myself if I want a better quality of life. If so, and who doesn’t, it boils down to changing my thinking, and then changing my life. So much wisdom in both books.
Here are some of my favorite quotes.
Always a Chance that Things will Improve
“Usual Frame: I can’t handle this for the rest of my life.
Reframe: I can do anything for a day.
If you can’t imagine being happy in the future, don’t spend too much time thinking about it. Instead, ask yourself if you could handle one more day of this suboptimal life if you knew for sure there was a chance of things improving. Of course you could. And there is always a chance that things will get better. I’m improving your odds right now.�
Association
"Advertisers have long known that associating their product with something or someone beloved allows some of the goodwill to rub off on the product. What is less obvious is how often this guilt-by-association (on the dark side) or love-by-association (on the good side) matters to your everyday experience. For example, if you meet a romantic interest and carelessly guide the conversation toward something tragic in the news, some of that tragedy will rub off on you and diminish your appeal even though you had nothing to do with it. So don’t bring up ugly topics when making a first impression or at any other time during the getting-to-know-each-other phase. Later, an unpleasant topic will have less impact on your appeal—after the first impression period passes. But telling tragic stories still ruins the other person’s day, so avoid doing that if you can.�
Bad News and Chaos
“If you learn to look for opportunities in chaos or in bad news of any kind, I guarantee you will spot some sooner or later. All you need to do is train yourself to look for the opportunities. I use this reframe a lot. The first thing I think when something falls apart is that an opportunity has been created. I still deal with the problem, of course, but I’ve rewired my brain via repetition to automatically look for the upside. I always find it. Similarly, I’m sure it’s not always darkest before the dawn in any real sense except that one of those things must always follow the other. But it predicts nothing about your specific situation. Nevertheless, rewiring your brain to think in that positive way can help you anticipate good news others do not see coming. It also keeps your anxiety in check when everyone else is saying the world is about to burn. It hasn’t burned yet.�
The Death Bed Reframe
“This one goes like this.
Usual Frame: My stress and anxiety are caused by events in my life.
Reframe: I won’t care about any of those events on my deathbed.
If you know something is too small to be remembered in your final days of sentient existence, what are the odds your problem is important today? We evolved to care most about what is happening to us here and now. But that frame can make your problems feel worse because ‘right now� does not include a future time in which those problems are (usually) resolved or at least diminished. When you use the deathbed reframe, you see your life as bigger than your current problems. That can make the importance of today’s problem shrink, at least in terms of how you process it in your mind.�
Enduring Bad Things
“If you have a problem you know how to fix, go ahead and do that. But life is full of suboptimal situations you can’t exactly ‘fix� for one reason or another. Or at least not quickly. You can make yourself crazy wishing things were different or replaying events in your mind as if they will change next time. That’s living half in the real world and half in a dark fantasy world of what-ifs, regret, and self-flagellation. Here’s a reframe that wants to help, but it’s so crazy it couldn’t possibly work. Could it?
Usual Frame: Why can’t my problems go away?
Reframe: Everything has a right to exist, including this problem.
I first saw this reframe on Instagram from the Adyashanti (Official) account. The bio says Adyashanti is a spiritual teacher. My first impression was that it sounded like new-age nonsense.�
Fitness
“Fitness is one of the most controllable variables for success, so control it completely. It’s like free money. Fitness has a ripple effect that benefits everything from your career to your personal life. We humans are shallow, and we automatically respond to the fitness of people we meet. Get in shape and you will see the difference in how people treat you. When you feel strong and healthy, you can take on bigger challenges, too. Last night, I accidentally got enough sleep for the first time in four decades or so. I woke up ready to conquer the world, break down any door, slay any monster. Fitness, sleep, and diet are all power boosters if you do them right. And when your personal energy is high, you feel confident you can take on bigger challenges. People will notice and want to be around you.�
Good and Bad Days
“Usual Frame: There are good days and bad.
Reframe: All days are useful in different ways. I’m exaggerating about never having a bad day, but I think you get the idea.�
Handling Criticism
“Years ago, when I co-owned a local restaurant, one of the employees decided to do a one-person picket line in front of our entrance every day during peak meal periods. I forget what his complaint was, but no one else on the staff seemed to have a problem except for their complaints about the picketer, as they believed he was driving away their future tips. Tensions were high between the staff and my co-owner, Stacey. At first, I advised them to wait it out, assuming the disgruntled worker would get tired of it after a few days. But he was feisty. He leaned into it, day after day. One day I stopped in and watched the show. It was comical because we didn’t regard his complaint as valid (whatever it was), and he was all alone putting on a show. So I decided to reframe him. I turned to Stacey and told her I liked her new mascot. She laughed. I laughed. She shared it with the servers and kitchen staff. They laughed. And just like that, our biggest critic became our mascot. We weren’t mocking him so much as reframing our experience. We could let him bother us. Or we could let him be our mascot, which we all agreed was sort of hilarious. It was an easy choice. A few days later, he gave up. I’ve had success reframing several of my most energetic critics and trolls as my mascots. I have no idea what impact that has on the critics or if they even know it happened. All I know is that the moment I mentally reframe a critic as a mascot, I feel better. Sometimes I even feel great.�
Household Chores
Humans evolved to be happier when moving and doing. Household chores satisfy that need, and with a little gamification, they can be sources of dopamine. It simply feels good to do a necessary task efficiently. I don’t think people are too different in that regard.
Usual Frame: Ugh, I hate this repetitive chore.
Reframe: I can do this chore so gracefully and efficiently it feels like a game.
Imagine even your smallest actions influencing your future
“Perhaps you had an acceptable childhood but suffered some other trauma in your personal or professional life. I’m about to weaponize that trauma for you. I hope you use your new power for good.
Usual Frame: My trauma crippled me.
Reframe: My trauma is why I can kick your ass.
Whatever hurts you also makes you different from the people around you. You might be more alert to danger, less afraid of embarrassment, wiser, more mature, angrier (in a good way), more determined, more focused, and more willing to take smart risks. You might even discover that your trauma gives you a purpose in life, such as helping others avoid similar fates. Trauma takes much from us, but it never leaves without tipping. Find the power it has given you and focus it somewhere positive.
While it can be good for your mental health to live in the now, I suspect some people are locked in the now in a way that prevents them from planning for their own futures. That’s the group who needs this reframe.
Usual Frame: Live in the now.
Reframe: Imagine even your smallest actions influencing your future.
Earlier today, I took a leisurely three-mile walk to pick up my car from a tire shop. As I walked, I imagined what my body would look like if I kept up my current exercise habits. And I realized I do that sort of mental exercise with nearly everything I do, both big and small: If I eat something, I imagine my future weight. If I exercise, I imagine my future muscle structure. If I learn something, I imagine the doors it will open. If I walk across a parking lot during the day without wearing a hat, I imagine going to my dermatologist to deal with the sun damage. You get the idea. All day long I’m judging my smallest actions for how they will influence my future, and I make that imagined future visual and specific, at least as much as my mind can conjure. I have no idea if my planning reflex is a genetic propensity or if I learned it from my parents. I have memories of my mother talking about my need to make the right moves while young to set myself up for the future.�
Judging People
“You might think that privately judging people doesn’t hurt anyone. We humans judge reflexively; it’s simply something that happens in our heads. Maybe you even share your judginess with a friend. No big deal, right? Well, there is a downside. The frame you use to judge others is likely to be the frame in which you come to see yourself, and worse, the way you imagine others see you. That can rot you from the inside. Ask any teenager. They live and die based on what they imagine others are thinking of them. The best way to talk yourself out of feeling judged by others is to stop judging others. Lose that frame. When you judge others on a subjective scale of goodness and badness, you are buying into your own destruction. The more you think of others as good and bad, the more you will suspect people are judging you because that will become your go-to frame. Once it becomes how you think of others, you will become obsessed with how they are judging you. It’s unavoidable. And toxic. To be clear, others ARE judging you. You are not imagining it. What I am suggesting is that their judgment about you isn’t important (even to them) and won’t affect you if you never buy into their frame in the first place. You’re probably good at some things. The person judging you is probably good at some things, too. If you take it further, you are inviting unnecessary pain into your life.
Usual Frame: Some people are good, and some are not.
Reframe: We’re all flawed, and we’re all good at different things.
A healthy habit for staying out of the judging mindset involves gratitude.�
“Rather than judge others by their mistakes, I recommend a different standard: Judge people by how they respond to their mistakes. That’s a standard you can hold yourself to with some chance of success.
Usual Frame: Judge people by their mistakes.
Reframe: Judge people by how they respond to their mistakes.
When you observe someone handle their mistakes with confidence and empathy, fully acknowledging any harm done, you’re seeing the best a person can do. We can’t expect people to be error-free. But we can certainly ask them to handle their mistakes with class.
When a person handles their mistakes well, you instinctively trust them. And you probably should. If you want to be trusted in your own life, that’s a great model to follow. Make your mistakes, apologize if needed, and announce your plan for avoiding the same mistake in the future. People will notice.�
Life is an Adventure
“Usual Frame: Life is about avoiding pain while pursuing happiness and meaning.
Reframe: Life is an adventure. Life is full of discomforts.
If you think your purpose is to avoid discomfort, you will be unhappy because there is no real hope of succeeding. Problems are part of life. But if you frame your life as an adventure, your temporary discomforts will feel as if they belong in the game to keep it interesting.�
Managing versus Reacting
“By managing, I mean managing any part of your life, from fitness to income to employees if you have them. It can be an illusion that you are managing things when you are making decisions (even smart ones!) in any situation in which you have no way to measure what is working and what is not. That isn’t managing. That’s guessing plus wishful thinking.
Usual Frame: Whatever managers do is managing.
Reframe: If you are not measuring, you are not managing.
In the workplace, you might be measuring profits or expenses to see how they change based on your decisions. Businesses measure everything they can measure because that gives them the most leverage over their situations.
You should do the same in your personal life.
Are you trying to maintain or lose weight? Weigh yourself every day at the same time. (Ignore the ‘experts� who tell you otherwise. If you aren’t measuring, you are not managing anything.) Are you trying to get more fit? Count the number of times you make it to the gym each week. Are you trying to meet more people? How many times did you “put yourself out there� this week? If you can measure it, you have a chance of managing it. To be fair, you also must make lots of decisions without the benefit of measurement. That’s okay so long as you are measuring the big stuff.�
Mental Shelf Space
“This next reframe is an all-star in my book. (Literally, in this book.) And by that, I mean it has the most potential for immediately improving your life. It goes like this.
Usual Frame: You need to stop thinking negative thoughts.
Reframe: You can’t subtract negative thoughts. But you can crowd them out.
I call this the mental shelf-space strategy. If something bad is happening in your life, it makes perfect sense that you think about it a lot. But there comes a time when obsessing over a negative thought becomes so corrosive you need a mental vacation. You need to get rid of the negative thoughts looping in your head. Unfortunately, you can’t subtract thoughts. Brains don’t work that way. You can, however, stay so busy that you don’t have time to ruminate on all the bad news. Over time, the memory of the bad thing will fade. You might need to create some new experiences that thrill you so much you can’t think of much else. But hey, wouldn’t that be fun anyway? Our brains evolved to solve our problems. If you have problems, your brain will pounce and—for many of us—never release. That’s what you want if your problem is one that can be solved—you want your brain to automatically attack the problem and find a solution. But reality is too messy for that. Many of our most vexing problems exist entirely in our minds, like this one: I worry that my friends stopped liking me because of that thing I said. For that kind of problem—the usually-irrational worries—your best bet is to bury it with new thoughts and experiences. Fill your shelf-space. Make yourself busy. It works. For example, as I mentioned, I have discovered that learning a musical instrument takes up so much brain power, I crowd out any competing thoughts while I practice. Compare that to walking or running, which invites stray thoughts. Pick hobbies, tasks, and social interactions that demand your full attention. If you’re only using your legs such as taking a walk, that probably isn’t good enough. You must get your mind involved. When I go to bed, I direct my thoughts toward wonderful things that happened to me recently as well as to incredible things I fantasize about happening later. You can’t prevent bad thoughts from trying to sneak in, but you can crowd them out with stronger, more addictive thoughts. The shelf-space concept differs from the mental exercises I described earlier such as imagining yourself from space, imagining your deathbed, or imagining a virtual world. Those hacks also crowd out negative thoughts, but they are entirely mental exercises. The mental shelf-space idea is more about real world actions of all kinds that keep you too busy to think about your worries.�
Self-Esteem
“Would you like a surefire way to boost your self-esteem? I have a suggestion: Make others respect you. You already know how to get that done: Take care of your health, finances, family, and be kind to others. That’s about it. If you do the basics, respect comes easily. And that’s 80 percent of what you need for a healthy sense of self. For the remaining 20 percent of your self-esteem, go ahead and beat yourself up for not being better. That’s a productive tension, which can help pull you where you want to go. We humans don’t do well when all our problems are solved. Be thankful for any useful irritation that is getting you on your feet and making you try harder. Don’t lose that.
Usual Frame: Learn to love yourself as you are.
Reframe: Be glad your brain is pestering you to improve.
Imagine the self-critical voice in your head as one part of you that is talking to the rest of you . . . and then don’t take yourself too seriously. You do your best work when you are self-critical. Attacking your own self-esteem is an example of you operating perfectly. You wouldn’t want it any other way. Self-criticism is how you power up to make the changes you want to make.�
Here are some of my favorite quotes.
Always a Chance that Things will Improve
“Usual Frame: I can’t handle this for the rest of my life.
Reframe: I can do anything for a day.
If you can’t imagine being happy in the future, don’t spend too much time thinking about it. Instead, ask yourself if you could handle one more day of this suboptimal life if you knew for sure there was a chance of things improving. Of course you could. And there is always a chance that things will get better. I’m improving your odds right now.�
Association
"Advertisers have long known that associating their product with something or someone beloved allows some of the goodwill to rub off on the product. What is less obvious is how often this guilt-by-association (on the dark side) or love-by-association (on the good side) matters to your everyday experience. For example, if you meet a romantic interest and carelessly guide the conversation toward something tragic in the news, some of that tragedy will rub off on you and diminish your appeal even though you had nothing to do with it. So don’t bring up ugly topics when making a first impression or at any other time during the getting-to-know-each-other phase. Later, an unpleasant topic will have less impact on your appeal—after the first impression period passes. But telling tragic stories still ruins the other person’s day, so avoid doing that if you can.�
Bad News and Chaos
“If you learn to look for opportunities in chaos or in bad news of any kind, I guarantee you will spot some sooner or later. All you need to do is train yourself to look for the opportunities. I use this reframe a lot. The first thing I think when something falls apart is that an opportunity has been created. I still deal with the problem, of course, but I’ve rewired my brain via repetition to automatically look for the upside. I always find it. Similarly, I’m sure it’s not always darkest before the dawn in any real sense except that one of those things must always follow the other. But it predicts nothing about your specific situation. Nevertheless, rewiring your brain to think in that positive way can help you anticipate good news others do not see coming. It also keeps your anxiety in check when everyone else is saying the world is about to burn. It hasn’t burned yet.�
The Death Bed Reframe
“This one goes like this.
Usual Frame: My stress and anxiety are caused by events in my life.
Reframe: I won’t care about any of those events on my deathbed.
If you know something is too small to be remembered in your final days of sentient existence, what are the odds your problem is important today? We evolved to care most about what is happening to us here and now. But that frame can make your problems feel worse because ‘right now� does not include a future time in which those problems are (usually) resolved or at least diminished. When you use the deathbed reframe, you see your life as bigger than your current problems. That can make the importance of today’s problem shrink, at least in terms of how you process it in your mind.�
Enduring Bad Things
“If you have a problem you know how to fix, go ahead and do that. But life is full of suboptimal situations you can’t exactly ‘fix� for one reason or another. Or at least not quickly. You can make yourself crazy wishing things were different or replaying events in your mind as if they will change next time. That’s living half in the real world and half in a dark fantasy world of what-ifs, regret, and self-flagellation. Here’s a reframe that wants to help, but it’s so crazy it couldn’t possibly work. Could it?
Usual Frame: Why can’t my problems go away?
Reframe: Everything has a right to exist, including this problem.
I first saw this reframe on Instagram from the Adyashanti (Official) account. The bio says Adyashanti is a spiritual teacher. My first impression was that it sounded like new-age nonsense.�
Fitness
“Fitness is one of the most controllable variables for success, so control it completely. It’s like free money. Fitness has a ripple effect that benefits everything from your career to your personal life. We humans are shallow, and we automatically respond to the fitness of people we meet. Get in shape and you will see the difference in how people treat you. When you feel strong and healthy, you can take on bigger challenges, too. Last night, I accidentally got enough sleep for the first time in four decades or so. I woke up ready to conquer the world, break down any door, slay any monster. Fitness, sleep, and diet are all power boosters if you do them right. And when your personal energy is high, you feel confident you can take on bigger challenges. People will notice and want to be around you.�
Good and Bad Days
“Usual Frame: There are good days and bad.
Reframe: All days are useful in different ways. I’m exaggerating about never having a bad day, but I think you get the idea.�
Handling Criticism
“Years ago, when I co-owned a local restaurant, one of the employees decided to do a one-person picket line in front of our entrance every day during peak meal periods. I forget what his complaint was, but no one else on the staff seemed to have a problem except for their complaints about the picketer, as they believed he was driving away their future tips. Tensions were high between the staff and my co-owner, Stacey. At first, I advised them to wait it out, assuming the disgruntled worker would get tired of it after a few days. But he was feisty. He leaned into it, day after day. One day I stopped in and watched the show. It was comical because we didn’t regard his complaint as valid (whatever it was), and he was all alone putting on a show. So I decided to reframe him. I turned to Stacey and told her I liked her new mascot. She laughed. I laughed. She shared it with the servers and kitchen staff. They laughed. And just like that, our biggest critic became our mascot. We weren’t mocking him so much as reframing our experience. We could let him bother us. Or we could let him be our mascot, which we all agreed was sort of hilarious. It was an easy choice. A few days later, he gave up. I’ve had success reframing several of my most energetic critics and trolls as my mascots. I have no idea what impact that has on the critics or if they even know it happened. All I know is that the moment I mentally reframe a critic as a mascot, I feel better. Sometimes I even feel great.�
Household Chores
Humans evolved to be happier when moving and doing. Household chores satisfy that need, and with a little gamification, they can be sources of dopamine. It simply feels good to do a necessary task efficiently. I don’t think people are too different in that regard.
Usual Frame: Ugh, I hate this repetitive chore.
Reframe: I can do this chore so gracefully and efficiently it feels like a game.
Imagine even your smallest actions influencing your future
“Perhaps you had an acceptable childhood but suffered some other trauma in your personal or professional life. I’m about to weaponize that trauma for you. I hope you use your new power for good.
Usual Frame: My trauma crippled me.
Reframe: My trauma is why I can kick your ass.
Whatever hurts you also makes you different from the people around you. You might be more alert to danger, less afraid of embarrassment, wiser, more mature, angrier (in a good way), more determined, more focused, and more willing to take smart risks. You might even discover that your trauma gives you a purpose in life, such as helping others avoid similar fates. Trauma takes much from us, but it never leaves without tipping. Find the power it has given you and focus it somewhere positive.
While it can be good for your mental health to live in the now, I suspect some people are locked in the now in a way that prevents them from planning for their own futures. That’s the group who needs this reframe.
Usual Frame: Live in the now.
Reframe: Imagine even your smallest actions influencing your future.
Earlier today, I took a leisurely three-mile walk to pick up my car from a tire shop. As I walked, I imagined what my body would look like if I kept up my current exercise habits. And I realized I do that sort of mental exercise with nearly everything I do, both big and small: If I eat something, I imagine my future weight. If I exercise, I imagine my future muscle structure. If I learn something, I imagine the doors it will open. If I walk across a parking lot during the day without wearing a hat, I imagine going to my dermatologist to deal with the sun damage. You get the idea. All day long I’m judging my smallest actions for how they will influence my future, and I make that imagined future visual and specific, at least as much as my mind can conjure. I have no idea if my planning reflex is a genetic propensity or if I learned it from my parents. I have memories of my mother talking about my need to make the right moves while young to set myself up for the future.�
Judging People
“You might think that privately judging people doesn’t hurt anyone. We humans judge reflexively; it’s simply something that happens in our heads. Maybe you even share your judginess with a friend. No big deal, right? Well, there is a downside. The frame you use to judge others is likely to be the frame in which you come to see yourself, and worse, the way you imagine others see you. That can rot you from the inside. Ask any teenager. They live and die based on what they imagine others are thinking of them. The best way to talk yourself out of feeling judged by others is to stop judging others. Lose that frame. When you judge others on a subjective scale of goodness and badness, you are buying into your own destruction. The more you think of others as good and bad, the more you will suspect people are judging you because that will become your go-to frame. Once it becomes how you think of others, you will become obsessed with how they are judging you. It’s unavoidable. And toxic. To be clear, others ARE judging you. You are not imagining it. What I am suggesting is that their judgment about you isn’t important (even to them) and won’t affect you if you never buy into their frame in the first place. You’re probably good at some things. The person judging you is probably good at some things, too. If you take it further, you are inviting unnecessary pain into your life.
Usual Frame: Some people are good, and some are not.
Reframe: We’re all flawed, and we’re all good at different things.
A healthy habit for staying out of the judging mindset involves gratitude.�
“Rather than judge others by their mistakes, I recommend a different standard: Judge people by how they respond to their mistakes. That’s a standard you can hold yourself to with some chance of success.
Usual Frame: Judge people by their mistakes.
Reframe: Judge people by how they respond to their mistakes.
When you observe someone handle their mistakes with confidence and empathy, fully acknowledging any harm done, you’re seeing the best a person can do. We can’t expect people to be error-free. But we can certainly ask them to handle their mistakes with class.
When a person handles their mistakes well, you instinctively trust them. And you probably should. If you want to be trusted in your own life, that’s a great model to follow. Make your mistakes, apologize if needed, and announce your plan for avoiding the same mistake in the future. People will notice.�
Life is an Adventure
“Usual Frame: Life is about avoiding pain while pursuing happiness and meaning.
Reframe: Life is an adventure. Life is full of discomforts.
If you think your purpose is to avoid discomfort, you will be unhappy because there is no real hope of succeeding. Problems are part of life. But if you frame your life as an adventure, your temporary discomforts will feel as if they belong in the game to keep it interesting.�
Managing versus Reacting
“By managing, I mean managing any part of your life, from fitness to income to employees if you have them. It can be an illusion that you are managing things when you are making decisions (even smart ones!) in any situation in which you have no way to measure what is working and what is not. That isn’t managing. That’s guessing plus wishful thinking.
Usual Frame: Whatever managers do is managing.
Reframe: If you are not measuring, you are not managing.
In the workplace, you might be measuring profits or expenses to see how they change based on your decisions. Businesses measure everything they can measure because that gives them the most leverage over their situations.
You should do the same in your personal life.
Are you trying to maintain or lose weight? Weigh yourself every day at the same time. (Ignore the ‘experts� who tell you otherwise. If you aren’t measuring, you are not managing anything.) Are you trying to get more fit? Count the number of times you make it to the gym each week. Are you trying to meet more people? How many times did you “put yourself out there� this week? If you can measure it, you have a chance of managing it. To be fair, you also must make lots of decisions without the benefit of measurement. That’s okay so long as you are measuring the big stuff.�
Mental Shelf Space
“This next reframe is an all-star in my book. (Literally, in this book.) And by that, I mean it has the most potential for immediately improving your life. It goes like this.
Usual Frame: You need to stop thinking negative thoughts.
Reframe: You can’t subtract negative thoughts. But you can crowd them out.
I call this the mental shelf-space strategy. If something bad is happening in your life, it makes perfect sense that you think about it a lot. But there comes a time when obsessing over a negative thought becomes so corrosive you need a mental vacation. You need to get rid of the negative thoughts looping in your head. Unfortunately, you can’t subtract thoughts. Brains don’t work that way. You can, however, stay so busy that you don’t have time to ruminate on all the bad news. Over time, the memory of the bad thing will fade. You might need to create some new experiences that thrill you so much you can’t think of much else. But hey, wouldn’t that be fun anyway? Our brains evolved to solve our problems. If you have problems, your brain will pounce and—for many of us—never release. That’s what you want if your problem is one that can be solved—you want your brain to automatically attack the problem and find a solution. But reality is too messy for that. Many of our most vexing problems exist entirely in our minds, like this one: I worry that my friends stopped liking me because of that thing I said. For that kind of problem—the usually-irrational worries—your best bet is to bury it with new thoughts and experiences. Fill your shelf-space. Make yourself busy. It works. For example, as I mentioned, I have discovered that learning a musical instrument takes up so much brain power, I crowd out any competing thoughts while I practice. Compare that to walking or running, which invites stray thoughts. Pick hobbies, tasks, and social interactions that demand your full attention. If you’re only using your legs such as taking a walk, that probably isn’t good enough. You must get your mind involved. When I go to bed, I direct my thoughts toward wonderful things that happened to me recently as well as to incredible things I fantasize about happening later. You can’t prevent bad thoughts from trying to sneak in, but you can crowd them out with stronger, more addictive thoughts. The shelf-space concept differs from the mental exercises I described earlier such as imagining yourself from space, imagining your deathbed, or imagining a virtual world. Those hacks also crowd out negative thoughts, but they are entirely mental exercises. The mental shelf-space idea is more about real world actions of all kinds that keep you too busy to think about your worries.�
Self-Esteem
“Would you like a surefire way to boost your self-esteem? I have a suggestion: Make others respect you. You already know how to get that done: Take care of your health, finances, family, and be kind to others. That’s about it. If you do the basics, respect comes easily. And that’s 80 percent of what you need for a healthy sense of self. For the remaining 20 percent of your self-esteem, go ahead and beat yourself up for not being better. That’s a productive tension, which can help pull you where you want to go. We humans don’t do well when all our problems are solved. Be thankful for any useful irritation that is getting you on your feet and making you try harder. Don’t lose that.
Usual Frame: Learn to love yourself as you are.
Reframe: Be glad your brain is pestering you to improve.
Imagine the self-critical voice in your head as one part of you that is talking to the rest of you . . . and then don’t take yourself too seriously. You do your best work when you are self-critical. Attacking your own self-esteem is an example of you operating perfectly. You wouldn’t want it any other way. Self-criticism is how you power up to make the changes you want to make.�
August 18, 2023
Good book, bargain price.
Another great series of super effective life lessons from Scott Adams.
Plus, an absolute steal for $10.00 Cdn, less than most pundits charge for a monthly subscription (or Twitter Blue).
Another great series of super effective life lessons from Scott Adams.
Plus, an absolute steal for $10.00 Cdn, less than most pundits charge for a monthly subscription (or Twitter Blue).
July 11, 2024
I found this book interesting and helpful with thinking loops that can cause undue stress. I liked the book so much, I bought a few copies for my family's informal book club. Lots of discussion has ensued.
Recommended/
Recommended/
September 1, 2023
I feel like I'm cheating a little because Adam's book "How to Fail At Almost Everything And Still Win Big" is one of my top five non-fiction books ever, so I knew I would love this. But it was still better than I expected, and my expectations were high . . .
In this book, Adams offers several 're-frames' about how to live, eat, communicate, and much more. One example, which he called the least helpful in the book but I really liked, was the reframe of disciplining your kids. Instead of looking at it and explaining it as you against them, reframe it as you and their 'future self' vs. their current self. The idea is to help them realize that one day in the future your kids will realize that you were serving them well . . . even though it prevented them from doing something in the moment, you are helping them maximize their enjoyment over a longer time horizon.
I found several re-frames really helpful, and you will find 3 or 4 that could change your life for good. Here are a few quotes from the book, but remember what I found helpful might not be what you find valuable. Highly Recommended, you won't regret reading this.
Embarrassment is an investment. In the short run, embarrassment can sting. In the long run, you will be tougher for the experience, and you might have a funny story to tell. You almost always come out ahead when you take a hard shot to your ego and survive to play again. And some of those potential embarrassments turn into life-changing victories that couldn’t have happened without putting yourself out there. So the next time you see an opportunity to embarrass yourself, repeat “cha-ching� (the cash register sound) in your mind instead of “oh-no.� Learning to laugh at your own embarrassments is one of the most useful skills a person can develop. It can help you financially, socially, and mentally, as the next reframe explains, by helping you better understand reality and deal with it more successfully.
What's the smallest thing I can do that moves me in the right direction?
The only bad writing is no writing at all. Everything else is either good or under-edited. And editing is easier than writing, so putting something on a page moves you to an easier phase of work.
The Past Is Imaginary I’ve already talked about the past being imaginary, so I will skip the details here. The quick explanation is that you can decide you popped into existence today and need to navigate a life you just took over. This reframe helps me let go of the past. I think it can work for you, too. Take a breath and look around the room. Imagine you just popped into existence as if in a video game, and the game just started. All prior games have been deleted. Go.
Here’s a reframe that blew my mind. It’s a classic I hadn’t heard until recently. It belongs to Lao Tzu and goes like this: If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you live in the future. But if you are at peace, you are in the present.
Withholding a compliment is almost immoral. Life can be challenging for even the luckiest among us. One unexpected compliment can turn someone’s day around. And it costs you nothing to deliver your little verbal bouquet of niceness. If you have a positive thought about someone, let it out.
In this book, Adams offers several 're-frames' about how to live, eat, communicate, and much more. One example, which he called the least helpful in the book but I really liked, was the reframe of disciplining your kids. Instead of looking at it and explaining it as you against them, reframe it as you and their 'future self' vs. their current self. The idea is to help them realize that one day in the future your kids will realize that you were serving them well . . . even though it prevented them from doing something in the moment, you are helping them maximize their enjoyment over a longer time horizon.
I found several re-frames really helpful, and you will find 3 or 4 that could change your life for good. Here are a few quotes from the book, but remember what I found helpful might not be what you find valuable. Highly Recommended, you won't regret reading this.
Embarrassment is an investment. In the short run, embarrassment can sting. In the long run, you will be tougher for the experience, and you might have a funny story to tell. You almost always come out ahead when you take a hard shot to your ego and survive to play again. And some of those potential embarrassments turn into life-changing victories that couldn’t have happened without putting yourself out there. So the next time you see an opportunity to embarrass yourself, repeat “cha-ching� (the cash register sound) in your mind instead of “oh-no.� Learning to laugh at your own embarrassments is one of the most useful skills a person can develop. It can help you financially, socially, and mentally, as the next reframe explains, by helping you better understand reality and deal with it more successfully.
What's the smallest thing I can do that moves me in the right direction?
The only bad writing is no writing at all. Everything else is either good or under-edited. And editing is easier than writing, so putting something on a page moves you to an easier phase of work.
The Past Is Imaginary I’ve already talked about the past being imaginary, so I will skip the details here. The quick explanation is that you can decide you popped into existence today and need to navigate a life you just took over. This reframe helps me let go of the past. I think it can work for you, too. Take a breath and look around the room. Imagine you just popped into existence as if in a video game, and the game just started. All prior games have been deleted. Go.
Here’s a reframe that blew my mind. It’s a classic I hadn’t heard until recently. It belongs to Lao Tzu and goes like this: If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you live in the future. But if you are at peace, you are in the present.
Withholding a compliment is almost immoral. Life can be challenging for even the luckiest among us. One unexpected compliment can turn someone’s day around. And it costs you nothing to deliver your little verbal bouquet of niceness. If you have a positive thought about someone, let it out.
August 31, 2023
книгата е добро резюме на останалите книги на Скот, но Как да се провалим, и загубеняшко мислене са по-добри.
Реално щях да дам дори 3 звезди, но понеже го канселираха давам макс. реално Скот Адамс има един огромен проблем. Той е функционален стар хомосексуалист. Да той е хетеро, но като се има предвид начинът по който живее, и двата му развода, Скот, съжалявам да го кажа, защото е любим мой автор, но е отрепка.
пуши коз, невярващ агностик е, мастурбира и оргазмира даже се е хвалил в подкаста си не веднъж... и ето това са плодовете на това - два развода.
и не казвам, че заради това са го зарязали жените му, а заради това куумърско симпско поведение си е хванал жени, които после да го разведат, вероятно и за да му вземат част от парите.
Скот Адамс и преди съм писал има нужда от християнство.
да повечето му други съвети са истина и работят.
но тва с брака, любовта и връзките е пълно ОГРЕ.
Огре е и щото Скот не осъзнава къде е грешката и къде бърка, а даже вкарва още булшит и заблуждава останалите. първо, че той практически е куумър, тва се вижда и от цялостните съвети, че мисли (точно хомосексуашистически по Хоппе) супер краткосрочно . Да не говорим, че това, че бяга от всякакво споменаване, филми и пр за злото, като някакво дете, да не би да се депресира, като цяло има лек Питър Пан синдром.
и коментира брака и изобщо не се замисля, че може би трябва да престане да е куумър и да прочете инструкциите за брака.
айде първия път хуу, но предвид, че брака до голяма степен е християнско нещое напълно нормално да не се получава, когато не следваш инструкциите.
интересно е дали коя да е от двете му БИВШИ жени биха се навили да се оженят ако се следваше принципа без секс преди брак, и без секс с презервативи, и че секса е преди всичко за правене на деца и чак после за удоволствие.
и най-най-най лошото нещо за тазки книга, което е просто скандално, непростимо и лично аз на негово място бих се срамувал:
корицата на книгата е с БЯЛ ЦВЯТ.
всяка книга с бяла корица получава поне 1 ако ли не 2 звезди надолу автоматично, дори да е най-добрата класика.
иначе имаше добри съвети. някои от съветите ще си ги изкарам на листче да си ги напомням отвреме на време.
например това че студа те калява е добро.
имаше и поне още 5.
останалите или вече ги правя заради него, или съм ги справил и преди да го срещна като автор.
моля се Скот да попадне на вярващи и да го евангелиират, щото с тва куумърсъво и явно когато му пиуне алармата, се напушва за да я спре...
тревата и куумът просто убиват мъжете.
Реално щях да дам дори 3 звезди, но понеже го канселираха давам макс. реално Скот Адамс има един огромен проблем. Той е функционален стар хомосексуалист. Да той е хетеро, но като се има предвид начинът по който живее, и двата му развода, Скот, съжалявам да го кажа, защото е любим мой автор, но е отрепка.
пуши коз, невярващ агностик е, мастурбира и оргазмира даже се е хвалил в подкаста си не веднъж... и ето това са плодовете на това - два развода.
и не казвам, че заради това са го зарязали жените му, а заради това куумърско симпско поведение си е хванал жени, които после да го разведат, вероятно и за да му вземат част от парите.
Скот Адамс и преди съм писал има нужда от християнство.
да повечето му други съвети са истина и работят.
но тва с брака, любовта и връзките е пълно ОГРЕ.
Огре е и щото Скот не осъзнава къде е грешката и къде бърка, а даже вкарва още булшит и заблуждава останалите. първо, че той практически е куумър, тва се вижда и от цялостните съвети, че мисли (точно хомосексуашистически по Хоппе) супер краткосрочно . Да не говорим, че това, че бяга от всякакво споменаване, филми и пр за злото, като някакво дете, да не би да се депресира, като цяло има лек Питър Пан синдром.
и коментира брака и изобщо не се замисля, че може би трябва да престане да е куумър и да прочете инструкциите за брака.
айде първия път хуу, но предвид, че брака до голяма степен е християнско нещое напълно нормално да не се получава, когато не следваш инструкциите.
интересно е дали коя да е от двете му БИВШИ жени биха се навили да се оженят ако се следваше принципа без секс преди брак, и без секс с презервативи, и че секса е преди всичко за правене на деца и чак после за удоволствие.
и най-най-най лошото нещо за тазки книга, което е просто скандално, непростимо и лично аз на негово място бих се срамувал:
корицата на книгата е с БЯЛ ЦВЯТ.
всяка книга с бяла корица получава поне 1 ако ли не 2 звезди надолу автоматично, дори да е най-добрата класика.
иначе имаше добри съвети. някои от съветите ще си ги изкарам на листче да си ги напомням отвреме на време.
например това че студа те калява е добро.
имаше и поне още 5.
останалите или вече ги правя заради него, или съм ги справил и преди да го срещна като автор.
моля се Скот да попадне на вярващи и да го евангелиират, щото с тва куумърсъво и явно когато му пиуне алармата, се напушва за да я спре...
тревата и куумът просто убиват мъжете.
October 28, 2023
"Reframe Your Brain" by Scott Adams focuses on the concept of reframing, which involves viewing situations from a different perspective to foster a more positive or advantageous outlook. The book emphasizes the notion that one's perception or "frame" dictates their behaviour and responses to situations in life. By altering this frame, individuals can change their reactions and outcomes to be more beneficial for their future selves�1�.
Here are some core points and examples of reframing from the book:
Understanding Reframes: Adams elucidates the concept of a frame, explaining that life is acted out through various frames which can be good, bad, serious, funny, or insulting. The frame one operates in can significantly influence their behaviour, sometimes unconsciously. For instance, if someone known doesn't greet you, you might assume they're rude or alternatively, consider they might be having a bad day or didn't recognize you. The latter frame leads to a more positive interaction, showcasing the power of a reframe�.
Examples of Reframes:
Innocence and Guilt: Traditionally, individuals are considered innocent until proven guilty, but a reframe suggests that corporations and governments should be presumed guilty until proven innocent.
Giving: While the usual frame suggests not to give something for nothing, a reframe posits that giving triggers reciprocity.
Networking: Instead of believing success depends on who you know, consider that success depends on how many people you know.
Universal Interaction: Rather than thinking the universe is against you, reframe to believe the universe owes you.
Self-Perception: If you think everyone is noticing you, reframe to realize you're only a bit player in their movie.
Social Media: Instead of viewing social media as entertainment, recognize it as an addiction.
Health: Instead of fearing germs, reframe to believe germs make you stronger�.
Purpose: The book aims to provide readers with a "complete operating system for lasting happiness" by teaching them how to reframe situations in a way that's more advantageous to their future selves�.
The book's practical and philosophical advice on reframing, combined with relatable examples, provides readers with tools to alter their perceptions and improve their responses to various situations in life. By doing so, individuals can work towards achieving lasting happiness and success, as per Scott Adams' guidance.
Here are some core points and examples of reframing from the book:
Understanding Reframes: Adams elucidates the concept of a frame, explaining that life is acted out through various frames which can be good, bad, serious, funny, or insulting. The frame one operates in can significantly influence their behaviour, sometimes unconsciously. For instance, if someone known doesn't greet you, you might assume they're rude or alternatively, consider they might be having a bad day or didn't recognize you. The latter frame leads to a more positive interaction, showcasing the power of a reframe�.
Examples of Reframes:
Innocence and Guilt: Traditionally, individuals are considered innocent until proven guilty, but a reframe suggests that corporations and governments should be presumed guilty until proven innocent.
Giving: While the usual frame suggests not to give something for nothing, a reframe posits that giving triggers reciprocity.
Networking: Instead of believing success depends on who you know, consider that success depends on how many people you know.
Universal Interaction: Rather than thinking the universe is against you, reframe to believe the universe owes you.
Self-Perception: If you think everyone is noticing you, reframe to realize you're only a bit player in their movie.
Social Media: Instead of viewing social media as entertainment, recognize it as an addiction.
Health: Instead of fearing germs, reframe to believe germs make you stronger�.
Purpose: The book aims to provide readers with a "complete operating system for lasting happiness" by teaching them how to reframe situations in a way that's more advantageous to their future selves�.
The book's practical and philosophical advice on reframing, combined with relatable examples, provides readers with tools to alter their perceptions and improve their responses to various situations in life. By doing so, individuals can work towards achieving lasting happiness and success, as per Scott Adams' guidance.
September 25, 2023
I read this because my husband is a subscriber to Scott Adams' locals community and became a fan of Adams' "reframing" technique long before the book came out. Then he read the book and insisted I read it too. Once I got over the implied "you need to improve yourself" (this is a joke; it wasn't at all implied) (JOKE AGAIN) I was eager to add this one to my listening queue.
The idea behind reframes is that they are a sort of brain hack to change how you perceive events in your life or how you think about personal issues. For example, one of the earliest ones in the book involves Adams talking about how frustrated and bored he always was when having to wait in line for anything. His reframe involved his interest in proper breathing technique. Rather than thinking "I'm wasting my time," he reframed the situation by thinking instead "This is a perfect opportunity to practice correct breathing." Ever since then, he hasn't been frustrated by waiting in line.
There are really two aspects to this book. One is the list of reframes Adams has come up with, either through experience or in talking to others. The other is the concept of reframes that allows anyone to invent new ones that suit themselves. There was one that struck me in particular--Adams states that studying for exams is boring and no one likes doing it. I objected immediately, because I enjoyed studying in high school and college. But then he presented his reframe--treat it like it's a competition--and I had to back down because that's exactly how I always approached studying! So there are some reframes you'll discover you're already doing. That helped convince me of the potential benefit of others.
I'm not convinced he's right about everything. His argument about the utility of marriage was weak in my opinion, and he gets into his personal beliefs about "the simulation" that were interesting in an abstract way, but not convincing. But in general I found the book useful, and I don't think you need to agree with him about everything to benefit from it.
Adams repeats frequently that not all of the reframes in the book will help each reader. Some don't apply because the reader doesn't have a given problem; others just don't suit an individual. But I found enough useful reframes to be really glad I read the book, and I hope to get better at creating my own.
The idea behind reframes is that they are a sort of brain hack to change how you perceive events in your life or how you think about personal issues. For example, one of the earliest ones in the book involves Adams talking about how frustrated and bored he always was when having to wait in line for anything. His reframe involved his interest in proper breathing technique. Rather than thinking "I'm wasting my time," he reframed the situation by thinking instead "This is a perfect opportunity to practice correct breathing." Ever since then, he hasn't been frustrated by waiting in line.
There are really two aspects to this book. One is the list of reframes Adams has come up with, either through experience or in talking to others. The other is the concept of reframes that allows anyone to invent new ones that suit themselves. There was one that struck me in particular--Adams states that studying for exams is boring and no one likes doing it. I objected immediately, because I enjoyed studying in high school and college. But then he presented his reframe--treat it like it's a competition--and I had to back down because that's exactly how I always approached studying! So there are some reframes you'll discover you're already doing. That helped convince me of the potential benefit of others.
I'm not convinced he's right about everything. His argument about the utility of marriage was weak in my opinion, and he gets into his personal beliefs about "the simulation" that were interesting in an abstract way, but not convincing. But in general I found the book useful, and I don't think you need to agree with him about everything to benefit from it.
Adams repeats frequently that not all of the reframes in the book will help each reader. Some don't apply because the reader doesn't have a given problem; others just don't suit an individual. But I found enough useful reframes to be really glad I read the book, and I hope to get better at creating my own.
November 18, 2023
I had to pick a professional development goal this year so I wrote down I would read a business book and do a book report on it. I picked this one to read, hoping to find something both amusing and helpful. The central concept of this book is that brains are easily reprogramed. Which is totally different than the usual concept of everyone just being what biology and experience have created. Adams claims that we can control our brains using reframes. Like the reframe above, brains can be easily programmed.
The book is divided into general categories with relevant reframes in each. Areas, like social life, business life, health, and others. Each section is well grouped and contains enough reframes to make sense. The way they are presented is a premise is set up, a reframe offered, and possibly a story about using that particular reframe.
Adams is very self assured, and the tone could be read as arrogant, but I think he was honestly just trying to help regardless of how others receive his presentation. The most interesting part of the book was the end where he describes the potential "operating systems" for brains. The one he recommends is the reciprocity system. That is when you are willing to do extra for others regardless if they will return the favor or not. The point of the OS is that if you do good you will get good in return so that over a time period it will work out to your benefit as people respond to the trust and friendship they feel because of your willingness to help others.
I like that a lot, it fits well with the business training of create a reason for your teams at work to trust you, and sets a great example leading to a team culture of reciprocity. Adams also argues that this method creates a useful filter on life. Instead of becoming a victim of circumstance or capricious leadership you are able to enjoy the results of your own willingness to be better.
So what reframes will I try? There are a few that I intend to try right away. The one about sneezing is interesting to me since I sneeze a lot. Can't say it's changed anything but I'll try it for a while. I was half tempted to start one of his diet ones, because I should loose a few pounds but I'm struggling with the fact that I just love food. Not sure that one will take.
The book is divided into general categories with relevant reframes in each. Areas, like social life, business life, health, and others. Each section is well grouped and contains enough reframes to make sense. The way they are presented is a premise is set up, a reframe offered, and possibly a story about using that particular reframe.
Adams is very self assured, and the tone could be read as arrogant, but I think he was honestly just trying to help regardless of how others receive his presentation. The most interesting part of the book was the end where he describes the potential "operating systems" for brains. The one he recommends is the reciprocity system. That is when you are willing to do extra for others regardless if they will return the favor or not. The point of the OS is that if you do good you will get good in return so that over a time period it will work out to your benefit as people respond to the trust and friendship they feel because of your willingness to help others.
I like that a lot, it fits well with the business training of create a reason for your teams at work to trust you, and sets a great example leading to a team culture of reciprocity. Adams also argues that this method creates a useful filter on life. Instead of becoming a victim of circumstance or capricious leadership you are able to enjoy the results of your own willingness to be better.
So what reframes will I try? There are a few that I intend to try right away. The one about sneezing is interesting to me since I sneeze a lot. Can't say it's changed anything but I'll try it for a while. I was half tempted to start one of his diet ones, because I should loose a few pounds but I'm struggling with the fact that I just love food. Not sure that one will take.
September 7, 2023
Dilbert creator (and recent persona non grata) Scott Adams presents his next self-help book; prior works include How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big (4/5 stars), Win Bigly (4/5 stars), and Loserthink (5/5 stars). Mr. Adams’s training as a hypnotist is central to Reframe Your Brain’s thesis: attitude and perspective are everything. (To quote a more famous line, “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.�) In other words, expectations determine experience. Some examples of Mr. Scott’s own reframes which have been effective for his audience: instead of ‘I need to drink less�, use ‘Alcohol is poison�; instead of ‘I am cold and uncomfortable�, use ‘Cold exposure is conducive to robust health�; instead of ‘It’s who you know�, use ‘It’s how many people you know.� The bigger lesson here is that we are the authors of our lives, emotions, and experiences. What some might find outlandish is the idea that we are living in a simulation, and by planning, preparation, and visualizing outcomes we control our respective destinies. However, the concept of living in simulation does not differ much from more popular notions such as the power of positive thinking or the law of attraction. Toward the end of Reframe Your Brain Mr. Adams revisits the topic of persuasion, with the following advices resonating: (i) humans are receptive to stories, visualization, and patterns*; (ii) fear is among the strongest of motivators; (iii) repetition can make an obvious falsehood sound true (which is why propaganda and commercials are effective); and (iv) human beings are bad at digesting too much detail, and so once the minimum effective dose threshold is met, additional details become deleterious.
*This is why we gravitate towards charts and graphs, even if they are misleading.
*This is why we gravitate towards charts and graphs, even if they are misleading.
August 25, 2023
This is a book of word-tricks for happiness and success. Tricks aimed at yourself for happiness, and aimed at others for success.
Aimed at others, these tricks only work with occupations based on communications like advertising or public relations...these tricks will not help you produce REAL products and services. These tricks will NOT help you design a better battery, or build a hotel, farm a crop of vegetables, or be a great stone mason.
Aimed at yourself, these tricks will only fool yourself into apparent personal happiness...that will not last anymore than a few days. Real happiness is primarily based on physical fitness, strength and flexibility...as Scott has already discovered in his own life. Dont rely on tricks or shortcuts for anything in life.
Aimed at others, these tricks only work with occupations based on communications like advertising or public relations...these tricks will not help you produce REAL products and services. These tricks will NOT help you design a better battery, or build a hotel, farm a crop of vegetables, or be a great stone mason.
Aimed at yourself, these tricks will only fool yourself into apparent personal happiness...that will not last anymore than a few days. Real happiness is primarily based on physical fitness, strength and flexibility...as Scott has already discovered in his own life. Dont rely on tricks or shortcuts for anything in life.
October 26, 2023
Scott Adams has referred to human being as moist robots, he doesn’t do so here but he has done in the past. Scott is the Dilbert guy and is also a trained hypnotist. He is an authority in the field of persuasion and has some idea how easily manipulated and reprogrammable humans can be.
His other books deal with the subject of persuasion but this one is the most focussed on self-help. I do prefer Loserthink and Win Bigly as they blow my mind a lot more. Though I am familiar with his Podcast and his other works there is value here. If nothing else it’s good to have all the reframes he talks about in one place.
The production quality isn’t as good as his other books if that is a concern.
A recommend.
His other books deal with the subject of persuasion but this one is the most focussed on self-help. I do prefer Loserthink and Win Bigly as they blow my mind a lot more. Though I am familiar with his Podcast and his other works there is value here. If nothing else it’s good to have all the reframes he talks about in one place.
The production quality isn’t as good as his other books if that is a concern.
A recommend.
November 16, 2023
If you're like me, you generally loathe the entire genre of "self-help" books. I'm sure I've opined on that topic elsewhere on this site, so I won't belabor it.
That said, this book has utility. It is a book of brain-hacks encompassing a broad swathe of life situations. Adams doesn't claim all of the 100+ hacks will work for every reader (they won't), or even that many of them will. But SOME will, and that makes the book worthwhile.
I'm confident that even if you ARE the type of person who wastes precious time reading one self-help book after another, this book will enable you to clear up a lot of valuable shelf-space and file your decomposing self-help collection where it belongs - the trash.
That said, this book has utility. It is a book of brain-hacks encompassing a broad swathe of life situations. Adams doesn't claim all of the 100+ hacks will work for every reader (they won't), or even that many of them will. But SOME will, and that makes the book worthwhile.
I'm confident that even if you ARE the type of person who wastes precious time reading one self-help book after another, this book will enable you to clear up a lot of valuable shelf-space and file your decomposing self-help collection where it belongs - the trash.
July 28, 2024
As always, Scott comes across as quite reasonable and revolutionary at the same time. Many of his reframes are classic wisdom but more power to them. With the first read through, the ones that resonated the most with me are "manage energy and not time" and friction and incentives always work" test them. I have been working on his advice from previous books to be immune to embarrassment. Not easy.
A book that is easy to consume in bite size chunks. You can read a few pages, set it down and then come back to it again. I like that he did a listing of all the reframes in the back of the book as well � very useful. Most of all I like that he kept the whole thing under 200 pages � thank you Scott for being clear and to the point. No bloviating!
A book that is easy to consume in bite size chunks. You can read a few pages, set it down and then come back to it again. I like that he did a listing of all the reframes in the back of the book as well � very useful. Most of all I like that he kept the whole thing under 200 pages � thank you Scott for being clear and to the point. No bloviating!
September 7, 2024
An easy read wherein Scott Adams provides a multitude of examples of how to reframe and recast everyday narratives in our head.
San Antonio's our anxieties or limitations come from how we perceive reality. If we can use the English language to reframe the issues before us we will react in more positive ways which over the course of time will lead to more positive habits and better outcomes.
The book is replete with countless examples. If anything after the first hundred pages or so you kind of get the point and you don't necessarily need the multitude of specific examples to carry forth the lessons.
San Antonio's our anxieties or limitations come from how we perceive reality. If we can use the English language to reframe the issues before us we will react in more positive ways which over the course of time will lead to more positive habits and better outcomes.
The book is replete with countless examples. If anything after the first hundred pages or so you kind of get the point and you don't necessarily need the multitude of specific examples to carry forth the lessons.
December 28, 2024
Some thoughts about "Reframe Your Brain: The User Interface for Happiness and Success" by Scott Adams?
It looks like a very simple book. I will try not to give you spoilers (can you actually provide spoilers to a business and personal development book?), but things look simple on the surface.
Going deeper, I think it could be a life-changing book.
I enjoyed it, and plan to reread it, one of the best books I've read. It might actually be the best book I've read.
Of course, it's not for the literary style, but for the practical advantages of changing your brain.
I highly recommend it!
It looks like a very simple book. I will try not to give you spoilers (can you actually provide spoilers to a business and personal development book?), but things look simple on the surface.
Going deeper, I think it could be a life-changing book.
I enjoyed it, and plan to reread it, one of the best books I've read. It might actually be the best book I've read.
Of course, it's not for the literary style, but for the practical advantages of changing your brain.
I highly recommend it!
October 9, 2023
First, I took an embarrassing amount of time reading this direct and well-written book. I usually read a book within days or a week, and yet I ended up spending nearly a month with this one. I like to think I spent the requisite time necessary to reprogram my operating system.
Second, do not read this book for others. Do not begin highlighting frames for your adult child and then have to choose another color for yourself. Save yourself the time and experience the reframe for yourself! The best advantage and better benefit comes from a selfish read.
Third, this book was an adventure!
Second, do not read this book for others. Do not begin highlighting frames for your adult child and then have to choose another color for yourself. Save yourself the time and experience the reframe for yourself! The best advantage and better benefit comes from a selfish read.
Third, this book was an adventure!
November 29, 2023
Interesting read. I know the author as the creator of the Dilbert comic, so I was curious to read this book. He basically talks about what works for him rather than presenting it as a universal value.
Also, I am a big fan of reframing myself, and I can say it really does wonders in life.
The book was a bit dull in the 3rd quarter—especially the part where the author talked about how to network. You can say he is a bit robotic in nature.
Overall, nice read, and I recommend it to anyone who has never had the opportunity to use reframing in life before.
Also, I am a big fan of reframing myself, and I can say it really does wonders in life.
The book was a bit dull in the 3rd quarter—especially the part where the author talked about how to network. You can say he is a bit robotic in nature.
Overall, nice read, and I recommend it to anyone who has never had the opportunity to use reframing in life before.
September 6, 2023
Reframe is right!
Learning to do reframes can be applied to many situations beyond the authors example. This book is an excellent education in thinking. You don't have to buy the authors philosophy to take advantage of his work.
Working to remove any ad hominem comments from my speech would fall under the category of reframe. I hope I can speak clearly without causing undue offense going forward.
Learning to do reframes can be applied to many situations beyond the authors example. This book is an excellent education in thinking. You don't have to buy the authors philosophy to take advantage of his work.
Working to remove any ad hominem comments from my speech would fall under the category of reframe. I hope I can speak clearly without causing undue offense going forward.
September 10, 2023
Old and Renewed
Like "7 Habits of Highly Effective People," this book doesn't tell you things that are new, per se. But there's a robust pungency about the sequnce and forcible means in which Scott Adams describes them.
This book should be read in concert with his "How To Fail" book, and also his section on affirmations from "The Dilbert Future."
All three of these books are a Grand Slam where you knock yourself out of the ballpark
Like "7 Habits of Highly Effective People," this book doesn't tell you things that are new, per se. But there's a robust pungency about the sequnce and forcible means in which Scott Adams describes them.
This book should be read in concert with his "How To Fail" book, and also his section on affirmations from "The Dilbert Future."
All three of these books are a Grand Slam where you knock yourself out of the ballpark
October 31, 2023
One of the most useful books I've ever enjoyed.
Wow, what a mind-jarring, out-of-the-box tour of subjective reality, with a thousand beneficial software patches for improving your effectiveness and understanding of existence.
There is absolutely no politics in this remarkable little book about self-brain hacks to improve one's experience and functionality and well-being.
One of the most useful books I've ever enjoyed.
I predict you'll enjoy the experience. 😀
Wow, what a mind-jarring, out-of-the-box tour of subjective reality, with a thousand beneficial software patches for improving your effectiveness and understanding of existence.
There is absolutely no politics in this remarkable little book about self-brain hacks to improve one's experience and functionality and well-being.
One of the most useful books I've ever enjoyed.
I predict you'll enjoy the experience. 😀
November 22, 2023
All of Scott's books are thought provoking and useful. I found some of the reframes useful, but more so enjoyed thinking more deeply about deliberate reframes as a way to not only live a better life, but reshape perspectives on all things that aren't conducive to a positive life.
I realized I use a lot of reframes already, not deliberating, but many of these proved to be useful.
Recommended read to most people interested in the idea of reframing your brain to live a better life.
I realized I use a lot of reframes already, not deliberating, but many of these proved to be useful.
Recommended read to most people interested in the idea of reframing your brain to live a better life.
January 11, 2024
Although I liked his other books better so far, I think this was probably the most useful of everything he's written (that I've read so far). It was very practice for the most part, and wildly informative. The content wasn't as exciting necessarily, but absolutely loved listening to this book (really wish he read the audiobook, but the voice actor did a very good job from what I could tell, but what do I know?).
March 28, 2024
All of Scott's books are thought provoking and useful. I'm a big fan of his hypnotism based philosophy. This book is functional, like a desk reference for his previous books�-� and then some. Many of the re-frames are bite sized pieces from larger concepts he's previously covered in depth. If you haven't been exposed to his ideas, this is a great place to start. You will find at least 3 or 4 re-frames that'll change your life for the better. Attitude and perspective are everything.
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