When I first started reading it I thought "Brilliant! Someone else who doesn't dream of running their own business!" So I was disappointed when I realised it was some bizarre attempt at reverse psychology.
I'm totally happy being a good Dad, husband, son, grandson, Christian, citizen, whatever. What I do to put money in the bank account and food on the table is just not that big a deal for me.
I really DO NOT want to be an entrepreneur. I've realised that now. But I'm currently jobless and have no intention of getting one soon. Sort of like a sabbatical. So I'm dabbling with writing and basically, experimenting for now.
You come across to me as a nice, honest guy. However, I believe that making statements like this, then asking people to fund [0] your unemployment whilst you pursue hobbies will rub many people the wrong way.
I think it's that genuine side that makes it OK to post the link. I also thought the piece was quite an elegant piece of literature. I'd go so far as to say it bordered on art. This writing deserves a leg-up, just to see where it can go. Of course if the author can support it through his own endeavours, yet still release it to the commons, all the better. But no harm in putting the request and support structures out there just in case it really resonates with some.
The Patreon thing is totally an experiment. I find it funny putting it in there myself since for now I have nothing to show for except the book I plan to publish. But, I do dream of writing interesting articles, a lot of science fiction, and other interesting things. So, it's just an experiment for now. I definitely do not expect ANYONE to support me as of now.
> For $50 a month, you'll get to download my new e-book "Waves and Wavelengths" (www.onescientist.com) for FREE. You will also get to download all my upcoming e-books that I'm currently working on for FREE
Gave me a giggle anyway. For $50/month I get all this free stuff!
Have you considered having some lower levels on Patreon?
I liked the sound of your book so went over to your page, but $30 per month minimum isn't something I would want to pay. I suspect others will feel the same.
I feel overwhelming gratitude already. Thank you! I will surely be experimenting more with Patreon and the pledges as I go along. Starting with the lower levels on Patreon! :) I've now now included a $1 pledge to set the ball rolling.
I don't understand why this article seems to offend many of you in the comments. In my opinion the author doesn't claim to have done and mastered all the careers he talks about. Yes, he's promoting his book - so what? You won't find many articles on here that have no business interest behind it.
The post is joking, but its actually good advice to not do things if you don't "feel" enough for them. There is an epidemic of middle class neurotic fear of "missing out". E.g. the author has a very varied bio, but i've never heard of him, probably because he does none of those things excellently.
Agreed, a typical Jack of all, master of none. The main problem has been sticking with one thing or one career for long. I tend to get extremely distracted by newer ideas and projects even before completing the one at hand.
Not even close and it probably IS a shitty book. But I did spend 6 jobless months to think about it and write about it! :) I wrote it for myself. And I'm hoping it might help someone as well. Hell, since you've mentioned it, I will give the book away for free. I'd rather people read it than make me rich.
Hey, you had me going for about four paragraphs, before I figured out that you were joking :)
There's this standard advice about making time for relationships, and not being such a bloody workaholic. About psychological deathbed agony, wishing that one had spent more time with family and friends. But for me, I suspect that the agony will be more about all the time that I wasted keeping people happy.
I think you're entitled to derive some monetary benefit from your writing. However I support the decision to make the book creative commons. Perhaps offer paid versions in some form (audio, epub etc.) or use it as a platform to build your list (which I see you're keen on doing) and seek out speaking opportunities.
Oh, and it probably isn't shitty, based on the strength of this article. I'm assuming there will be some light-cringing involved if engineers read it, but I may be wrong, and I'm sure there's a huge audience for this out there. I know self-help stuff gets a bad rep. Completely understandable most of the time. But there's probably a reason it's so popular - i.e. the good stuff is good!
Thank you for all advice and support. If it means people would read it, I'd definitely opt for creative commons. I haven't really figured out how to do it, but Google should help with that.. :)
I completely agree, this type of snake oil entrepreneurship is really getting on my nerves. It seems that peddling pseudo science is a very lucrative business opportunity and as such there is no small amount of people willing to jump on it.
Another thing that truly gets me annoyed is the listing out of all these "things" that an author has been, none of them the reader would know if they have actually been any good at it. I could list a myriad of things "I have been" and make me look like a renaissance man except half of them I have been not even average at.
I knew some people who took the DnD ability score classification seriously, and had trouble accepting anything different (some other tabletop RPGs who dared to have different list of abilities...) because they were not "real".
There do seem to be patterns in personality, and I have found MB to be very helpful in getting a high-level overview of another person's general approach to the world. Reading the descriptions and discussing it with people led to a lot of "you think that way?" sort of moments from both sides. Very informative.
I've found almost no helpful science on personality categorization (Big 5 is minimally helpful), so until there is I find this a useful starting tool.
As a side note: The most misunderstood aspect of MBTI is that it's purely a system for categorizing high-level approach toward action and information in life. It's not what you must do, will do, can do, can't do, etc. It's only about certain aspects of outlook on life.
I wouldn't really call it pseudo-science. For long I really did think there was something wrong with me for not being able to choose what I wanted to do in life, since I enjoyed doing a lot of things. It would also be a major cause of depression for me. But it's only when I took the test that I figured out that there are so many out there who are facing similar day-to-day challenges like I am. There's comfort in knowing that. I'm also a part of the closed community ENFP group on Facebook and people really do have the same problem. Multiple careers, lack of clarity and focus.
The fact that these personality profiles can help people realise both that there are others like them and that different people may have different motivations and challenges is enormously useful and a valid insight. That does not mean that the profile itself is not pseudoscience though.
I am sorry but there is no reason to believe how a particular trait which troubles almost everyone can be based on a certain personality type. There are lots of take-an-interest-in-everything people out there who can't decide what they want to do, even though being particularly good at lots of things. I am not denying why this question might trouble you, it has troubled me for a long time myself but being a so called INTJ-type, I can't say if the personality-bucketing is the reason you should nail it down to.
> I am sorry but there is no reason to believe how a particular trait which troubles almost everyone can be based on a certain personality type.
Not everyone struggles with this, though. Given that it isn't an evenly-distributed problem, there is possibly a pattern between those who do struggle with it.
ENFP or not, INTJ or not. The biggest comforting aspect for me from that test was to know that I'm not the only one who feels this way or has the same problem. I've spent many years feeling totally aimless after having dabbled in one two many careers.
I am pretty happy that I am a generalist. I have been passionate about lots of things from front-end development, linux kernel internals to online marketing (although, I am pretty bad at that) and I believe, that's the reason I can suggest ideas to marketing people who don't know enough technology and to programmers who don't know enough marketing.
However, I have learnt to separate facts from knowledge. Reading books about marketing will mostly give you facts without context but if you to talk to people who do marketing or try to raise a blog to several thousand subscribers, you will gain a lot of knowledge.
Doing a lot of things, in my experience will give you more perspective and experience than anything else and frankly, there is enough time in the world to do that.
It's not pseudo-science. It has been validated, and has good test-retest reliability by psychological standards (numbers off the top of my head but it's something like 80% immediately, and something like 65% after five years) - so it's measuring something, and that something is reasonably stable.
What is true is that there's no bimodality in the distribution - each factor is a bell curve - and so talking about E/I is similar to talking about above-average IQ/below-average IQ rather than talking about the numbers. But it's not pseudo-science.
How has it been validated? Vox did an article on how it is based on unproven theories [1]. A proper validation in my impression would be if people are misattributed their personalities, will their psychological reaction to the result be different? Frankly, I don't think anyone should be excited by any test that says something positive about you. The big test is when it says negative things. For me, seeing all the personalities description, I can vaguely relate to all of them - a perfect showcase of Barnum effect [2].
Rhetorical question: is eye color scientific? Do you believe in eye colors?
Saying that MB is "not scientific" is laughable. It is a measure. Probably more scientific than deriving a measure called QI from 20 random questions
You can of course question if conclusions based on each MB type are scientific.
The personality descriptions for the most part are just concluded from the measure (which of course have some variance between people, it's not a cookie cutter approach) and of course some people have a different measure in each axis.
If the descriptions fit you you're probably in the middle, because some of them certainly don't fit me
From the link you quoted: "The characteristics measured by the test have almost no predictive power on how happy you'll be in a situation, how you'll perform at your job, or how happy you'll be in your marriage."
Apart from the 1st measure, I wholeheartedly agree. But that's not how it should be used
"Actual data tells psychologists that these traits do not have a bimodal distribution. Tracking a group of people's interactions with others, for instance, shows that as Jung noted, there aren't really pure extroverts and introverts, but mostly people who fall somewhere in between."
Correct. And people may be more introverted or extroverted in some situations.
But it still measures if a certain person is more introverted than extroverted
Now the warning about taking it as a clear-cut indicator of performance in a certain job or position is definitely correct
> Saying that MB is "not scientific" is laughable. It is a measure.
One problem is that the thing being measured can decide how it wants to be measured. It's easy for me to select a type from MBTI.
The claim "you have one of 16 personality types" is not falsifiable. Why does it have to be one of those types?
The things that MBTI purports to measure - E/I, S/N, F/T, J/P are just based on Carl Jung's made up theories about how the mind works.
The questions on the MBTI are supposed to correlate precisely to Jung's scales, but what if they don't? Language is awfully malleable. Do I prefer abstract or concrete? Give me a break. (Yes, I get it, abstract is N, concrete is S.) Would I rather stay home and read a book or go to the party? Can I have a book reading party at home? Can I bring a book to the party? Can I read a book about a party? What if I don't like books or parties?
> One problem is that the thing being measured can decide how it wants to be measured.
This is a problem in psychology regardless of the type of test. If it's a person asking questions they might be able to detect if someone is skewing the answers
> The claim "you have one of 16 personality types" is not falsifiable. Why does it have to be one of those types?
You have 4 variables, X0 to X4, and a measure of each (let's say between -1 and 1). Then you divide this space in 2 regions per variable. That's how you get 16 (2 ^ 4) types. You might pick 3 regions per variable and have 81 types, harder to work with though)
> The questions on the MBTI are supposed to correlate precisely to Jung's scales
I agree with this, but when measuring something with lots of variables you always have a certain dimensionality reduction (and noise).
And of course it varies with age and situation, but you will be hard pressed to have a INFP as a football coach
> The claim "you have one of 16 personality types" is not falsifiable. Why does it have to be one of those types?
We define there to be those types when we're measuring - that's like saying the claim "an object has a temperature that's a number" is not falsifiable. We can test the same object multiple times with multiple thermometers and get the same results (while getting different results for different objects). That's the part that's falsifiable - test-retest reliability. If we have that then we can be confident that our measure measures something. (Then the next step is seeing whether the measure is useful by seeing if it correlates with other things).
I find it ironic that people keep citing sites as the "Vox" and the popular in this place "Vice" as some kind of reliable sources when the former have repeatedly promoted in the recent past blatantly racist theories such as the "Whiteness"
So you are saying that when Google or any other MegaCorp would know your MBTI type, they would know nothing about your personality? Or in other words, that MBTI type has zero correlation to personality traits? Sorry, but that does not make sense.
Another way to look at it is the following. I'm not a machine learning expert but I suppose MBTI is simply a way to cluster maximum correlation vectors into a compact representation. This representation happens to contain 4 bits of information (since there are 16 MBTI types).
I won't say there is nothing that can be concluded but the classification itself is problematic since there is definitely some spillage over common traits of the personalities. I can have more belief if the assertion is more alone the lines that you are xx% "abc" type.
People also don't want to be born in poverty in third-world countries, without access to decent healthcare or education. You are extremely fortunate (read lucky, certainly through no merit of your own) to have had the opportunities that others never will. This kind of self-entitled crap is especially unpleasant to read, but hey maybe it will sell your book.
You are right, I've been blessed, in the sense that I have no responsibilities or children or old parents to take care of and I feel even more lucky that my parents have always been extremely supportive in whatever career or profession I chose to take. But I do take solace in the fact that I've never been dependent on anyone financially or otherwise, since I've saved up quite a bit all these years.
Consumerism! lol.. But honestly though, I seem to be in an eternal state of confusion on this one. But I do seem to enjoy writing a lot and I'd probably end up writing more! :)
Since we're talking life and pseudo science, here's my pseudo scientific take on life:
Everything everyone does in life is aimed at getting two things, love in all its degenerate cases, and knowledge. Love from ourselves to ourselves, love from others, and love, now or in some future, from our deities. That, and knowing what this whole life and universe thing is all about.
To hanyoddha: consider drawing comics, even if it's just as a side-hobby. You have a signature style that looks fresh. And some people actually make a lot of money doing that.
Thanks! I do love creating comics. Just not been very consistent. I'll probably be more inclined to create an entire Graphic Novel. I do have a few planned. Hopefully, I will complete it!
I honestly can't tell if this is real. My dislike started strong, but his reference to useless MBTI crap and peddling of his book in some annoying non-ironic form turns me even more towards disliking, nearing hatred, to him and those like him. It's nonsense on top of nonsense all the way down.
If it's real - then he's a self loathing twat who doesn't know how to push his own boundaries. If he can do arts and do any job and essentially anything wants, all because of his look-at-me-I'm-an-ENTP qualities, then he's not obviously pushing his own boundaries and is only acting as a detriment to everybody. Do something to improve others' lives. Don't tell anybody you did it. It's difficult yet possible, time consuming yet financially awful, and gloriless yet commendable. Just do it, asshole. It'll make you feel good about yourself and what you do. Sheesh louise.....
That's not particularly fair. The vitriol is palpable and unjustified. He's just thinking out loud. Yes, there is ego and yes, there is entitlement, but in the end we all face similar problems.
You probably clicked through to find some relevance to your own life (excuse the assumption - I did, at least). I'd imagine you got annoyed round about when you found out there was a book for sale, eroding any potential value the post may have had.
But did it? If his writing made you think, made you upset, made you question anything, it was 'interesting' in the HN sense and, to my mind, at least, stands alone as a clever piece of literature. Art, essentially.
Yes, a lot of that vitriolic anger is, in fact, because he's trying to sell a book.
Thing is, I agreed with the message very strongly. It's a message that I hold dear and it's something I try to live my life by on a day to day basis. But the reason this strikes anger in me is because the message he's pushing sells himself, his potential and many others like him incredibly short. It's a flat idea that could be so much more, but it's not. And it's used to sell a book. Fuck that.
You know you're probably right. I haven't pushed my own boundaries. Part of the big reason has been that I've enjoyed starting things but have been terrible at finishing them and it has always bothered me. Even upset me to great extent. But I agree, having the ability and taking action are two different things and there is serious lacking on the "taking action" department for me.
“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
― Calvin Coolidge
Interestingly enough, he also reportedly said: “Don't you know that four fifths of all our troubles in this life would disappear if we would just sit down and keep still?”
I don't mean to come off too harshly. Yes, I'm frustrated, but I think it's justified. From personal experience and from tons of psychology research, talking how you're talking in that post and what I'm assuming your book is about, is how you mentally settle to a point that limits what you can do. You put yourself in a closed box by thinking this way, and you should do your damnedest to avoid it.
It took a hard breakup, a motorcycle accident, getting fired and a long due out-of-continent vacation within a two month period of time to get me to realize it. And also a similarly angry person.
A year ago, I considered myself a completely useless pile of shit. Last week, for the first time, somebody called me their 'hero' for acting to help others using passion and persistence, rather than just talking about it. It's a strange and almost overwhelming thing to hear. If I'd settled, I wouldn't have been able to get to where I am now.
Strangely co-incidental. I'm currently going through a divorce myself. Add to that a voluntary sabbatical from work that I quit last year because I hated getting into the comfort zone. Since then I've been spending a lot of time alone, trying to do different things, and of course writing what made sense to me. This book was not even planned for when I first started writing to be honest and yes, I strongly agree on not putting any limits on who we can or want to be because of a certain personality type or a test.
I just believed that the reason I wasn't able to choose "one" thing to pursue in life was because I shied away from making that commitment to excelling in one thing. In my book, I'm only trying to convey that it's important to understand the pros and cons of our choices in life on who we want to be, since it's easy to get carried away by the lure of Entrepreneurship or life-hacking. I did try both and I hated it. I now know that I would never enjoy pursuing either of those paths and would be happier by simply writing and following my curiosity.
Fair enough! It sounds like you're definitely on an awesome track in the right direction and very similar to the one I'm going down. It's... uh.. dynamic, eh?
And again.. sorry if I sounded too harsh there. My gears get ground up pretty easily on this subject considering it's something that hits so close to home.
So it's not serious, or what? I can totally relate to all this, I really don't want to do anything. Too much hassle.