I don’t think Vyvanse can fully explain the changes I described in the above because 1) I’ve been taking it since I was 15, before the changes occurred, and 2) a lot of what has improved has been the result of new beliefs and attitudes rather than just having more brute willpower at my disposal to act on them. Bryan convinced me, for example, that it just doesn’t make sense to become prideful and defend yourself aggressively whenever something doesn’t go your way; instead you should “pick your battles” and frequently appease people, calculating about whether the conflict is worth pursuing based upon a rational assessment of the likely outcome. If criticizing someone won’t change their behavior, why bother? I now live at peace with everyone in my life, including with my family, whereas weekly nuclear brinskmanship screaming matches used to be the norm. That’s a big change!
Unlearning depressive cognitions is another one that doesn’t obviously reduce to my use of Vyvanse. Hundreds of conversations with Bryan and his sons have reprogrammed my brain so that I’m more likely at any given time to default to grateful, positive, hopeful, non-self-pitying thinking.
One big insight I didn’t mention in the email featured in Bryan’s post is this: Bryan has urged me at several critical junctures in my academic and professional career to turn to “friendship/relationship optimization” whenever I encounter motivational blocks. If it’s hard to care about something, surround yourself with people who do, and the millions of years of evolution programming status seeking into your brain will activate resources you never knew you had within you. This has made a big difference in terms of my becoming more likely to exercise, diet, and radically accept the responsibilities of adult life. I used to have a grotesquely childish attitude about responsibility and work; I found it degrading, stressful, etc., but now because of Bryan and being around his ambitious articulate sons, I am more likely to genuinely crave challenges, interpret stress as constructive stimulation, and see the inevitable failures as opportunities to learn something invaluable.
More important today than ever now that the zeitgeist is apparently "If you can't handle me at my worst..." and victimhood has become social currency in so many high places. It's only made worse by self-help guruship being nearly monopolized by the oft-toxic red pill bros of YouTube and TikTok, partly as a reaction to the professional victimhood movement. To have nerds and academics like Bryan jumping in with more measured and more helpful guidance on these - things like character and virtue and all that's downstream; the kinds of matters that schools have become fearful to touch anymore, lest they step on latter-day parents' toes or introduce something "problematic" - is crucial to cut through the toxic BS on either side, which is to say there is a path besides either victim or abuser. Agency is like the meta-skill, as Jonah seems to have illustrated quite well.
Impressive collections of self-help tips and books. Thank you. Looks like I’ve missed out on a lot of good advice from Bryan. I feel more confident in my previous characterization of him as “somewhat of a self-help guru.”
Lol, yeah… it’s probably the Vyvanse.
I don’t think Vyvanse can fully explain the changes I described in the above because 1) I’ve been taking it since I was 15, before the changes occurred, and 2) a lot of what has improved has been the result of new beliefs and attitudes rather than just having more brute willpower at my disposal to act on them. Bryan convinced me, for example, that it just doesn’t make sense to become prideful and defend yourself aggressively whenever something doesn’t go your way; instead you should “pick your battles” and frequently appease people, calculating about whether the conflict is worth pursuing based upon a rational assessment of the likely outcome. If criticizing someone won’t change their behavior, why bother? I now live at peace with everyone in my life, including with my family, whereas weekly nuclear brinskmanship screaming matches used to be the norm. That’s a big change!
Unlearning depressive cognitions is another one that doesn’t obviously reduce to my use of Vyvanse. Hundreds of conversations with Bryan and his sons have reprogrammed my brain so that I’m more likely at any given time to default to grateful, positive, hopeful, non-self-pitying thinking.
One big insight I didn’t mention in the email featured in Bryan’s post is this: Bryan has urged me at several critical junctures in my academic and professional career to turn to “friendship/relationship optimization” whenever I encounter motivational blocks. If it’s hard to care about something, surround yourself with people who do, and the millions of years of evolution programming status seeking into your brain will activate resources you never knew you had within you. This has made a big difference in terms of my becoming more likely to exercise, diet, and radically accept the responsibilities of adult life. I used to have a grotesquely childish attitude about responsibility and work; I found it degrading, stressful, etc., but now because of Bryan and being around his ambitious articulate sons, I am more likely to genuinely crave challenges, interpret stress as constructive stimulation, and see the inevitable failures as opportunities to learn something invaluable.
I was referring to your weight loss. Glad your mindset has improved as well though! 😉
lol
More important today than ever now that the zeitgeist is apparently "If you can't handle me at my worst..." and victimhood has become social currency in so many high places. It's only made worse by self-help guruship being nearly monopolized by the oft-toxic red pill bros of YouTube and TikTok, partly as a reaction to the professional victimhood movement. To have nerds and academics like Bryan jumping in with more measured and more helpful guidance on these - things like character and virtue and all that's downstream; the kinds of matters that schools have become fearful to touch anymore, lest they step on latter-day parents' toes or introduce something "problematic" - is crucial to cut through the toxic BS on either side, which is to say there is a path besides either victim or abuser. Agency is like the meta-skill, as Jonah seems to have illustrated quite well.
Mr. Franks,
Impressive collections of self-help tips and books. Thank you. Looks like I’ve missed out on a lot of good advice from Bryan. I feel more confident in my previous characterization of him as “somewhat of a self-help guru.”
https://scottgibb.substack.com/p/q-and-a-with-bryan-caplan
Jonah’s great!
I'd also enjoy self-help style books/podcasts from Bryan