Catalog (/improve/)

Discord improvement chat

For over a year we've had an improvement community on Skype that now moved onto Discord. The purpose of the group is to support each other along our improvement journey. New members are always encouraged to join, because the more people that join, the more ideas everyone is exposed to.

There are pros and cons of joining.

Pros:

>Exposed to new improvement ideas

>Exposed to a new perspective on an issue you're struggling with

>Exposed to improvement resources that you weren't aware of before

>Advice and support for an issue you are struggling with

>Birds of a feather flock together, surrounded by people who want to improve just as much as you

>Positive environment

Cons:

>Potential to be a massive time sink

>Potential for shitposting or other cancer to occasionally pop up

>Not always improvement tier conversations

>/pol/ tier conversations and views [Although there is a specific channel for this, so you may avoid it entirely]

>May provide no benefit to you whatsoever

If you've read the above pros and cons, and still want to join, here's the link:

https://discord.gg/0g3Wk6IMl2m0sKT2

It is highly and I mean highly recommended you introduce yourself when you join. Although there's nothing wrong with just lurking, it would be preferable if you talked. If you comment and noone responds or your comment gets lost in the void, try again later. If I'm online, I will always engage in conversation.

Keep in mind, a community and its standards are built by the people in it. If you want it to be more improvement focused, then start improvement conversations, lead by example. If everyone does this, then the above potential cons may get eliminated one by one.

Recovering NEET general

Currently back in college. Trying to fix my life and move away from parents soon. Post good helpful advice to help out those trying to step out of their shell. Stuff like:

>how to get first gf in your 20s-30s

>how to handle adult life

>how to get a good job

>college tips

>etc..

Have you ever wondered why so many people have vision problems? When you look at how many people are essentially blind without prescription glasses, it makes you think that something is very amiss with our environment. There's no way that humans in ancient times could survive with the crappy vision that they now have.This got me worried when I was thinking about it in conjunction with doomsday predictions, so I looked it up.

The scientific consensus seems to be that nearsightedness is caused by too much close work, in other words reading and computer screen use. Another suspected cause was lack of outdoor play.

So hopefully this may provide you guys some impetus to get outside and do physical activity. Bad vision is a very noticeable negative effect of sedentary lifestyle, at least if you wear glasses. So it can serve as a constant reminder of the need for physical activity.

Do you guys feel greatly less depressed when you have run or ridden a bike outside? When I do something like that my body just seems to get 50% better. I even seem to get stronger erections. It only lasts a day though. You have to do it continually.

Video games - Life plan - How fucked am I?

Tell me what you think of my plan /improve/, I'm in serious need of some constructive criticism, please tell me what I could do to improve this plan.

Phase 1:

Instead of going to college, I want to save up enough money at whatever shitty job I am working at.

>This phase ends when I have enough money to be a NEET for at least 6 months.

Phase 2:

Why be a NEET for 6 months? Because I will spend the time to full-time improving my art and drawing skills and building a portfolio.

>This phase ends when I am satisfied with myself as an artist.

These first two phases are just something I actually want to do for fun and what I always wanted to do but couldn't because of work. These next phases are when things get serious.

Phase 3:

During or at the end of those 6 months I will look for a full-time, stable job as an artist or graphics designer for some company. I will also be doing art gigs here and there which will be a source of extra cash.

If that doesn't work then I will be doing whatever shitty job I can find that can allow me to save up enough money.

>This phase ends when I save up enough money for phase 4

Phase 4:

What am I saving cash again for? I need enough to be able to hire a programmer and maybe a few other team members and pay them salaries for 6 months or whatever amount of time is necessary so that they could work with me to produce a small video game or two.

>This phase ends when the video games we made are profitable enough to at least pay my bills and the salaries of my employees, if they aren't then I go back to phase 3 until I save up enough cash to try phase 4 again.

==Phase 5:

Continue making video games. Hire more guys. Expand game studio. Make cooler games. Live the dream…

So that's it. Am I insane or what? I know it will take a while to do this, but I am willing to give it a go. My family wants me to be a doctor or a lawyer or something, I can imagine I will be utterly depressed if I work at jobs like that so I can't do it. I always wanted to make video games and I came up with a plan like this to start. I also understand that there are a lot of shitty indie developers out there making shitty indie games, well… maybe we will be an indie company for a while but I certainly will not be making shitty, generic, indie flash games, no thanks.

So please tell me what you think, sorry if the post is too long.

Invitation to join /mentat/

Hello /improve/, I would like to invite you to join an offshoot board- >>>/mentat/, inspired by my thread on this board.

A mentat is a human capable of great feats of mathematics, memory, analytics and logic. /mentat/ is for those of use trying to achieve such goals.

I have a few plans for the board, such as a weekly documentary stream, courses taken together as a board and use the board as the discussion forum, books the board is reading and discussing. Training update threads.

I made it recently, so I'm going to be really putting in the work for it soon. Please stop by and check us out, we're also on irc on rizon at #mentat.

>>>/mentat/

>>>/mentat/

>>>/mentat/

meditate

Neckbeard Challenge

I haven't seen this here yet. Anyone interested in doing this together, maybe posting the results?

Dice is in the "show post options and limits" section

I'm 19 and I still have fucking acne, how do I get rid of this shit?

Height, anons ! Let's talk about height , growing methods and the like .

Self improvement with gamification

Looking into eyes

NoFap General

Been more than one week since I last ejaculated. My balls literally feel like they're full (but not uncomfortably so) and there's a tingly feeling in my pelvis, perhaps around where the prostate should be. At this point I feel I can keep this up with little effort.

Have I finally slain the beast? Will it get better or worse? Tips on how to avoid getting back in the routine?

Get if off your chest

As the saying goes, “a problem shared is a problem lessened.”

What's bothering you? Get it off your chest.

Polyphasic Sleep

Has anyone here tried polyphasic sleep?

I did some reading after seeing an infographic detailing different sleep schedules. The idea is that the body only enters REM sleep a few times during the standard 8-hour sleep cycle, leaving the remaining time as "wasted" non-REM sleep. Apparently, the REM sleep is when your body repairs tissue and catalogs memories. When the body gets less sleep than normal, it cuts out the non-REM sleep periods to ensure enough REM sleep is achieved.

I've read many different accounts from both believers and doubters. Believers claim that you need to push through the adaptation period (when you're body hasn't gotten used to a lowered amount of sleep yet) in order to get to the benefits. Doubters claim that will never happen or that there are negative side effects like decreased creativity and energy; believers counter by saying this only focuses on the adaptation period. Steve Pavlina is a notable example of someone who succeeded in using polyphasic sleep to work efficiently on 2 hrs of sleep a day; but he's just one example.

I get off from uni for a month tomorrow and I figure that's plenty of time to get through an adaptation phase, particularly if I start with a less extreme sleep cycle (current plan is 4.5 hrs core w/ 2 30-min naps spaced during waking hours, then down to 3 hr core w/ 3 20-min naps if things go well).

Any personal stories /improve/? Any tips or thoughts?

QTDDTOT

starting the thread with one, figured this board would be an apt venue to ask

quickest route to a bachelors degree?

i'd imagine what with CLEP and CC you could acquire one in three semesters or so. to any of you with relevant experience or methods heard repeated please chime in

Why some of us lack social skills

So, I don't think I'm retarded but a lot of times I ask/answer/do retarded things. I think I have some thought on why sometimes I'm socially retarded. When exploring the reasons why you have poor social skills

1. You're just slow and like to take it easy

When some people get impressions and it takes you some more time to 'get' what's going on and what would be an appropriate response. Ofc most of the time you're just quiet and try to find something to say but can't.

2. You didn't socialize for a period of time

Sometimes you forgot how to interact with people lot's of time this can be because of bullying or because other reasons where you get ignored by the majority of people. You also lose how to distinguish talk towards friends, family members, acquaintances, etc.. The extremest case like this is Christopher Knight, a man who lived +- 25 years in the woods. He used to read a lot of books while in the woods and talks like people do in books. The same applies to some guy who played WoW/runescape for years and most of his socialization came from here.

3. You frequent a lot of online forums

The same as with games, if a big part of your social skills come from forums. Forums may resemble most of the time to real life social skills, but they aren't. One big part is that most people don't really form any relationship with any of the users. So any retardation you say, has no big implications in your actual life and is quickly forgotten (when I used to frequent reddit there was a joke that a real life week equals an internet year). In real life you cannot have many retarded moments or people will shun you and you'll live more and more solitary.

I like to believe I'm a combination of all I have listed here, if you know any other reason what might cause low social skills please tell me.

Part 2 will cover my ideas how to 'force' my self to be more socially and thus improve my social skills.

Improvement pitfalls

This is a thread dedicated to pointing out improvement misconceptions and traps. The goal is to inform people so they can avoid stalling their progress and have as smooth a ride as possible to the gates of success. We all make mistakes and the experience from that is good, but sometimes it's best to read and learn from other people's mistakes so you don't have to waste the time of having to learn it yourself from experience.

How to stop worrying

Hello, kind anons. I have a question for the more anxious of you out there.

How can one stop worrying at every step? No matter how much I try to rationalize things, I just end up over-thinking and getting more things to worry about. I find myself completely overwhelmed by all these small things that I have to check and fix and make sure they are ok, and if I can't, I'll worry about it until I can see the actual outcome. Sometimes this nitpicking helps, since it stops me from accidentally overlooking essential details, but most of the times it's just pure mental stress that will not let me enjoy anything.

I suppose I should just "let go" or "stop trying to be in control", but how?

Pic related is mfw all i want to do is sleep when these moments hit me hard.

Do you guys actively log your /improve/ment progress and if so, how do you do it? Diaries? Spreadsheets? Calendars?

shy bladder hopelessness

Anyone here overcome shy bladder? This shit is a curse and it's fucking with my life. I'm always hesitant about traveling because I know I will be away from home for hours and will need to piss at some point. School is annoying because I have to go from floor to floor until I find an empty bathroom.

I have to use stalls and have to sit down which is both disgusting and humiliating.

How do I deal with this shit?

Learning Buddies

Hi, /improve/.

Like many of us here my main problem is motivation. I've wanted to learn programming for ages now but I never manage to stick to it and have had to re-do the beginning stages of various online courses a few times now.

This time I really want to do it but I thought this task might be easier with a partner.

I'm not dead set on a specific language but I have tried and can recommend several python courses and have been told that it's a decent language for beginners.

My idea would've been to just predetermine how much work we want to do each day and use skype or some other means to discuss how we did the problems or help each other out in case someone got stuck with something.

I am a person who very much cares about what others think about him but I have little regard for myself so I need this extra pressure.

I'm 22, from germany and easy to talk to. If anyone has an idea how to go about this differently I'd also be interested.

How to improve my physical appearance?

This is me, what are some tips?

Mentat Training

The mind is a terrible thing to waste, and a wonderful thing to enhance to the peak of its abilities.

A mentat is a human computer capable of great feats of memory, analytics, mathematics and logic.

http://www.ludism.org/mentat/HomePage

I have recently begun my training to become a mentat. My current regimen consists of exercise, meditation, some kind of independent study (typically reading or doing coursera work), and then training/study/practice of memory (using anki to memorize all country flags of the world), a new language (studying spanish right now), music (learning piano) and mental math.

I take 100mg of caffeine (and will be ordering some L-Theanine tomorrow) in the morning before this, and soon will be adding more to my nootropic stack. And during it I'm drinking coffee and listening to classical music with binaural beats. Currently my exercise is just doing the Couch-to-5k program, but I intend to start doing more than that.

I have lofty goals for my mentat training. Who else has similar goals for their self-improvement?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTuEvnfgQcY

Personality type

What is your personality type, /improve/?

http://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test

I never really tried going into these therapy threads, the last time I asked for advice was on half-chan but I got a bunch of 'you're just being a bitch' 'stop making excuses' which made me angry and more depressed.

Hell, this place can be a troll board where people secretly laugh at other people's problems.

but I don't care, my life is beyond fucked now so there's really no point.

Anyway I came here to ask for help. I'm at my parents house for being severly depressed. I've been living with them for a few years.

How I got this way was from bullying back in highschool. It's mostly psychological with words rather than being punched (I guess it was because it was girl on girl so). I feel pathetic I get worked up over words but that's how weak I am. After graduating, I thought college will bring a new light like everyone says but I got deceived by similar events. The final knock-out punch was when I lost my friend since childhood. I lost her because she thought I wasn't 'cool' anymore. Whatever maybe because she's a female, maybe because she's bothered I'm half-retarded.

After my college therapist saw me staying in my dorm all day and not going to my classes, she suggested I go back home for 'a break'. It's been a few years though and nothing has happened. I still go to therapy. It's been ups and downs, sometimes I would feel positive and productive for a week then I would feel depressed and do useless shit like play videogames. Whenever I expressed my hopelessness to my therapist, she would tell me to just change my medication and contact my psychologist.

Right now I'm at that low point.

I don't know, maybe I'm just venting tonight and I would feel all better tomorrow morning like nothing happened or have the energy to try to not think about it until dusk where I tend to get depressed. I don't want to die because there's things I want to do but still I feel like I should kill myself.

Also another thing making me depressed is that I wanted to do art since I was a kid. Also writing to some extent. I thought to myself after high school 'I'll show them! I'll become a good artist and writer and make wonderful stories with inspiring illustrations!'. Now I'm just scared and don't want to do it anymore because of how intimidating it is.

Everything seems so depressing to me.

Sorry for rambling like a psycho but I really am just that. I don't know what to do anymore. I just want to be happy and alive I guess.

Growing up

I think many anons who lurk chans could learn from this, so I hope experienced people out there contribute.

How does one go about growing up after due time? It seems to be a natural process to most people. Getting a girlfriend, a job, having sex, doing adult stuff in general. It comes a time when the fruit matures and it just falls down from the tree, naturally.

However, I haven't done that. My profile is undoubtedly similar to many anons. I'm 23, kissless virgin, have never had a job and still struggling with school (at least I don't have to pay for it, it's a public university where I live), only learned to drive last year.

Having decided to do it, how does one go about actually doing it? I have missed the right time and now I am clueless.

How do i improve my posture?

I injured my neck at a young age and basically stand like this guy now.

Inferiority complex

I hate myself. I'm in law school at a good university but I feel fucking worthless.

You see, although in my country law is not an oversaturated field I still feel worthless. Why? Because I don't build/make/invent anything concrete. Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be an engineer or a doctor or a chemist. But I am a retard with numbers. I didn't memorize basic multiplication (4x4, 8x9 etc) until 4th grade. I cheated my way through middle and high school math.

I don't have to work immediately after college. Hell, I could take 2 more bachelor degrees after I finish law take that 'muricans. But should I? And anyways I'm still horrible at math. I could be a lawyer/engineer and build both legal and literal frameworks IF I could actually into math. But I can't even do 1st year highschool math. Getting a job in law is not a problem after college for me.

When I was in high school I planted a small plot of land with cassava. They're dirt cheap and you could buy them, but when I harvested them I felt pride and joy from the feeling that my effort has materialized into something concrete. I was more proud at this than when I won a debate competition at the same year.

Sorry for the tl;dr. Thanks if you read it.

Good advice for high school anons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjYYvl2379g

Cold showers

I read Marie Kondo's book, and will post the executive summary in hopes of giving people some inspiration.

What's the best way to build attention and focus?

Reaction Time

How can I improve my reaction speed?

I can't help but drop my spaghetti when I try to start a conversation, unlike with guys where It's much easier to make a comment about their shirt and get their facebook. When I talk to chicks I just feel like they know I'm trying to get with them (which is true) and feel like I'm coming off as creepy.

What do I do? How do I initiate a conversation with woman? Is it as easy as commenting on the crappy weather?

I fucking hate nostalgia. If you are still in love with the past then you will never truly improve.

>try to be productive writing essay/schoolwork

>finish a few words

>get bored and browse chans/fb/youtube/etc…

>4 hours later

>nothing gets done

How do you actually focus and be productive on shit that is boring? How do you not get distracted? It's almost like my brain has some kind of workphobia or something.

I want to eat in a more civilised manner. To foster a more natural relationship with my food. Has anyone here done something like this?

Anyone have any rules the follow or family/local customs in this regard?

Trying to stop FEELING WORTHLESS EMOTIONS

Anybody done this? I'm not talking about being a stoic.

Examples of worthless emotions: worry, guilt, remorse, anger, envy, self-pity

How much extra energy and time would you have if you didn’t spend energy and time on worthless emotions? Any emotions focused on the past are worthless, as the past can't be changed. Envy is worthless as it does nothing for you apart from make you feel bad. Self-pity, also, is worthless as it does nothing for you.

The only good emotions are those which help you in some way.

I woke up this morning thinking about how easy it would be to kill myself. I don't truly want to kill myself, but this is the sort of mentality I've built in my years as a NEET. There is a strong resistance to any sort of challenge and boy there are a lot of challenges coming up this year. To me it looks like a looming cloud carrying a storm coming nearer and nearer.

Things have changed though, I stopped avoiding these challenges, I've stopped fleeing. I'm going to jump head first into this storm and I am going to smile while the rain and hail batters me. I'm not crazy, I just know that this scurge that I've been battling for over a decade is dying. I can feel it dying, I can feel its power weathering and I know this last upcoming storm is its last strongest offense. After this, it's done. It'll throw stuff at me occasionally but not like before, it won't have control over me or my actions. The scale will be tipped and I will be commandeering this ship from that point on. I will sail it through uncharted territory I once feared and there won't be a single thing the storm can do to break my resolve. Once I'm free, it won't be me on the defensive, it will be it. And for each stretch of sea that I cover, I wreck its puny resistance, and I'll push it back and back until it'll be dead. And at that point I will be at the highest point in my life I've ever been.

The journey won't end there, I will change my course and go straight into a new storm, because although these years have been painful, they've turned a boy into a man. There's strength in discomfort, and I will make it my cause to pursue it. This unexpected uncomfortable path I went on changed the course of my life, I'm no longer doomed to a life of mediocrity or dirt, I aim to become somebody great and there's no storm, monster or God that can possibly stop me.

How do you normie/social/life? I'm starting to put some pieces of my life together. I'm back in college and finally passing my classes and shit. And before you ask, going for STEM degree so I should be making some dank bux after college.Only trouble is,

>nomoney cuz all my money has to go towards college

>nojob until summer because work+college at the same time is hell

>stuck living with my parents because of the above two things

>friends moved away and suffered 4 years of NEETDOM

What do?

Depression, the Secret We Share | Andrew Solomon | TED Talks

"The opposite of depression is not happiness, but vitality, and it was vitality that seemed to seep away from me in that moment." In a talk equal parts eloquent and devastating, writer Andrew Solomon takes you to the darkest corners of his mind during the years he battled depression. That led him to an eye-opening journey across the world to interview others with depression – only to discover that, to his surprise, the more he talked, the more people wanted to tell their own stories. (Filmed at TEDxMet.)

http://socialpronow.com/outgoing I think this is the best self help material out there. It gives ready to use solutions that sound good. And it's free. What do you think about it? Can it turn anon into chad?

artfag here

how do I into jobs around my field

I'm going to say straight up that I've been living in this bubble of oblivion by having some tumblr blog (minus the political shit, I don't care about that) and drawing crappy pictures and posting them occasionally.

I mean, I kind of gotten a grip this year by actually studying art but still

>21

I don't know how I'm going to live

I don't know jack shit about money and I hear trying to live with an art career is hard

I just don't know what the hell to do really or what the right thing to do is

Chewing Gum?

Does anyone chew on some chewing gum to help them think?

What's everyone's thoughts on chewing gum/chewing on other chewy things?

/improve/ literature

What books helped you improve your condition the most? Which ones would you say are a must read?

I will start with hagakure, also known as the secret book of the samurai. Great advice on how to be a man from some of the baddest dudes in history.

Infographic thread.

Post your infographics here, for improvement and general life bro-tips. I'll start dumping some.

Does anyone have this?

52 books in 52 weeks reading challenege

Just made a blog

After a long time I made a small but real positive change in my life. I just started a blog to chronicle my attempts at self improvement. I did this mainly to increase my motivation by giving me another reason to continue with self improvement. I am posting here mainly because I planning to have my first real post (not just an introduction) done on Friday and by posting here I can remind myself to keep on that.

With this blog my goal is to experiment with different techniques on solving different issues in my life and having a record of that so I can look back on what I have accomplished.

Here is the link if anyone cares http://criticaliving.blogspot.com/

Shoulder Width

Howdy /improve/.

I'm 5'8 and want to improve my shoulder width. Naturally (as in, having done very little targeted exercise) I'm at 17.5 inches.

What are some good exercises for increasing shoulder length and how much of a potential increase could I get?

I have no expectations, any kind of improvement is a-okay by me.

Conquering My Mind

I recently destroyed a relationship with two very great people because of jealously and selfishness. It's over between me and them I can't go back and fix things I just made the situation worse and worse never thought to much about what I was doing to them. Realization of what I did comes into full view now I'm a compulsive liar, manipulator and have hurt multiple people in the past just to get my way. I thought I might have been able to change but I could not in time it comes back in full swing usually I can't keep doing this forever. This keeps happening through out my life I have episodes where I nearly destroy or actually destroy someone's life because of how my emotions get to me. I'm seeing a psychiatrist only went to the first appointment so far not much has been done yet now next appointment will be on the 6th I hope he can help me but in the mean time how can I work on this myself.

I've improved several aspects of my life, I have enough money to move somewhere nice now and out of this dead place I live in, I finally got my license, getting a car soon and I have a steady job but I no longer want feelings of lust, jealously, selfishness, wrath and greed to rule my life.

2015 Summary Reports

Lads and Lasses let us toast to our successes here and failures(yes those too) as it can only get better from here!

>kicked the gaming habit early on in the summer

>got myself back into school had nothing but A's this fall

>survived massive layoffs

>no signs of anxiety

>completed a few career milestones

>managed to lay a foundation for direction for at least 2 more years

>dozens of small goals too small to list here

This year was tremendous for my own personal growth. The little successes I've had have transformed my outlook from I CAN'T into I FUCKING CAN with solid proof to back my "usually" empty words of bravado!

Alas, not all is well in paradise

>still no gf

>savings has been depleted

>weight/health still a problem

>social life is nonexistent

Nevertheless brothers and sisters, I am ready for the the negatives. I have repaired, refuelled and rearmed and I have new goals and things to try out and plan to roll them out ASAP Q1 of 2016. I hope you do to so please share. I hate to think we've given up already!

Whether they succeed or fail, it matters not because if we tried then we /improve/d!

social potato off and online here

I want to feel less ashamed of my hobbies and engage with communities of those hobbies, or don't have to feel the need to commit online sepukku temporarily whenever I fuck up.

I've tried in the past to engage myself with a community but I ended up running away because I spilled my spaghetti there.

I don't know, I had a history of bullying and it got me phobic with interacting with people. I just don't want to experience the pain again. I know life is full of pain but still I just naturally avoid it.

I want to go back to the community or engage with others and not be ashamed of what I like, but I'm afraid of judgements from others outside or someone calling me and my group a fag.

I just want to be free from this teenage bullshit or learn how to deal with it, maybe this is the key for me to be able to feel alive.

decorating room

hey /improve/ so i decided to decorate my room , i was thinking of sticking a bunch of random pictures i like on the wall but i figured that would be kind of pointless

now i'm planning to print some famous figures for motivation , like scientists, people that appear in history school book, and people like gates or steve jobs , the one i know of course, but that is not enough to cover the wall , any suggestion comes mind? im on my 1st semester in computer science degree if that helps

also i'm making a list of my goals within the next few months with the dates on each goals and im also sticking this to my wall

this is some picture of my room, it's kind of a dorm but and unofficial one, like an apartment but only a room

Is there any book/guide on how to talk to people and know what to say without spilling spaghetti? A guide to how not to be a social retard if you will.

I get depressed whenever I get home

Right now I have a wageslave job that takes up most of my free time (factoring in the time it takes to get ready and drive to and from work, as well as the shift itself, I'm left with anywhere from 1-2 hours of free time on a regular weekday). Obviously that in itself is annoying, but what's more is that I can't even utilize this free time to my own benefit. When I'm at work, I can dream. I can actually feel motivation to achieve shit. I think about saving up money and learning skills now that will help build a better future for myself instead of working in a goddamn factory and living with my family.

The only problem is, when I get home, I get depressed, anxious, etc. I become suddenly afraid of /improving/, and too lethargic to even attempt it. I've felt like this for months and while I don't know what actually causes it, it seems to only happen when I'm at home, in my bedroom. Even through the weekends, I still feel the same exhaustion that I did coming home from work.

What do you guys suggest I do? There's no way that I just can't go home (not like there's anything to do here in Bumfuck, North Dakota anyway).

Community college woes

Right now I`m in college obtaining a degree that I don`t really want at the behest of my parents. It just so happens that the career that I`m pursing does not require a degree and it all just seems pointless. I`d rather work while waiting for a response from the Police department.

How do I motivate myself to do my coursework and try to enjoy going to my local community college more?

do you know some web where i can lean some martial arts free?

Thats it

I don't know if anyone will reply to this TL:DR but here it is

I am a waste. I've spent the last 5 years of my life tied to my laptop, gaming.The Sims 3, stronghold crusader, whatever, gaming.

The sad thing about that is what I was before that. I was a smart student, hardworking, I read AT LEAST one novel a week. Fuck, I read Oliver Twist and Phantom of the Opera unabridged when I was in 5th grade. I ENJOYED learning.

Fast forward to now. I'm 18 and in college. I don't know how I managed to get in high school or college, I understood NONE of the math in high school, I've only finished 4 novels in the last 5 years. I barely go out to do anything anymore, the onlything that will dislodge me from my laptop is a power outage, and I mean that.

I hate myself. I hate how I'm enslaved to a machine. I hate how I gamed high school away. I wanted to become a fucking doctor or engineer for fucks sake, but now I'm in law school destined to jew for corporations for a living.

Sorry for the rant. I just had to get it out.

/SIG/

Jaw Discussion

Hello, i wanted to ask you guys what i could do about my jaw. I saw some old pictures of me and it wasn't always like this.As far as i can tell, i used to have a normal jaw as a kid.When i was younger i fell and landed straight on my chin and i can remember that there was a lot of blood but i can't remember exactly what happened.I also have 2 bones sticking out of either side of the chin, but i'm not sure if it was caused by the fall.

What do you recommend, outside seeing a doctor?If i go to a doctor, what kind of treatment should i expect?

Can't Work Around Others

Hey /improve/, I have had an issue my whole life, but it has been exacerbated recently since I've moved into a dorm and now have a roommate. I find it very difficult to work when other people are around or could be watching me. I think I don't want anyone to see me as having a problem with my life or in anything I do. It's as if I want to maintain this chalant persona of having everything perfect and under control and if I was improving it would show that something is not going the way I want it to

I also think it's because I know they'll ask me questions, and they might raise their expectations that I'll then have to live up to. So there is a lot of work that I have not done and a lot of improving that I have not done because of this. I have googled around and I haven't found anything relevant or useful. Does anyone else have this problem or know how to solve it? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Motivational stories, good feels and general motivational videos and images thread

Lemme improve this board

What is your greatest weakness?

Self-Consciousness is a pain in the arse

I'm looking at starting a small business and want some advice from other people. I don't want to give my exact details but I want to start a loot crate knock off for a niche hobby that has a lot of people who have a lot of expendable cash. They're known for buying expensive stuff and there is a wide range of products focused at them which would fit well in a box.

I have 20 years experience in this hobby and I'm in the world's central point for it. So I think it's viable to set up a loot crate knock off for it here and because I'm already contacting the distros, I can have an ebay store on the side selling the entire range of products.

Has any one else tried this or would they have any advice? I'm currently on neet bucks due to disability, I want to get off them and this seems like a potential path for me.

How to effectively form habits?

so I'm not very good at art but I wanna be better

so I decided to spend a hour drawing every day at the same time to get more practice and artwork done

stopped after only two days or so

how does one create, and keep to a good habit?

how do I properly go about forcing myself to do things?

Quitting the devils Lettuce

Anyone here had experience stopping smoking weed after a long period of time?

How did it go? What worked and what didn't work?

I'm struggling to break the habits I've formed using it, any advice or ideas much appreciated.

Future of the board

This board has been on the verge of being completely inactive since its creation. I think it's time for me to start putting some work in to try to expand the number of people that visit here. The quality of posts has always been high but the board is just too slow at the moment.

If you have any advice or tips on how we would go about doing this along with improving the general quality of the board, feel free to share your ideas below.

Here are a number of things I want to work on:

>A new background

The CSS of the board needs to change.

>An /improve/ sticky

The current plans for the sticky will just be a guide on how to productive. Once this is done more topics will be added.

>/improve/ banners

I'm going to be making some but if you make some too, I'll gladly put them up too

If you want to help with any of these, post your skype username below and I'll make a new group for this project

let's start again from scratches, shall we? i'm pretty sure we can build something of useful from ourselves, but with ease because we have a log journey ahead

Anyone know how to deal with hair loss? The front of my head is thinning fast. I wake up with tons of hairs on my pillow and I can't brush my hair without a ton falling out. Yes I have had a shitty diet and didnt exercise until lately. I just hope it's not too late for me. Will post a pic tomorrow

A short story about life

Dear Anon,

I have just come back home from running. During my exercise, something happened that I wish to share with you, and also with others.

First, I need to show you a sketch of the area where I run. The sketch is relevant to the story, so give it some attention.

>pic related

The dark grey represents the road (asphalt), the light grey is the "sidewalk" area, where I run. The little green dots are either posts or trees. The red area represents the roofs of nearby houses. The center area around the track is dirt and some bushes.

So, now that you have the scenario pictured, I can tell the story.

Acne

Kratom

Kratom could probably help a lot of you guys. I know it has helped me so much. I can answer most questions you have about it but I'll wait and see if anyone cares first before writing a wall-o-text.

This might be obvious, but it's become increasingly evident that momentum is essential in creating change for yourself. That's not to say you have to be on a roll 100% of the time all the time to succeed, but the more you slow down the harder it is to get up and going again. An issue for me is when I fail substantially in some regard, it leads me to give up for a small period of time and it's as if everything gets reset. I lose any feeling of achievement that I've gained and instead feel even worse off than before I began. Binging on those toxic pleasures on days where you feel like a failure and just want a simple dopamine hit just aren't worth it. It's not easy to ignore these cravings when you have a really shitty day either, but in doing so you will set yourself apart from everyone else.

Check in thread

Check in thread. How are you doing, lads? Keeping up on your daily habits and routine? Weekly routine? Monthly routine?

Still doing yoga?

Meditation?

Programming?

Art?

Reading?

I finally have a goal

Second year of college and I just decided what I want to do major in/ what field of work I want to go into. Though it I fear it might be too late, as this whole year I have been ultra depressed and had absolutely no motivation to do anything, as a result my grades have dropped significantly.

But now that I have something tangible that I want to work for, I feel able to turn everything around.

However, I am scared that this motivation, like all others I have experienced, will fade in a week at most and I'll be right back were I was.

How can I force myself to develop good study habits? How can I be sure to keep up these habits once my motivation leaves me? How can I increase my willpower? Because I have literally none I've been attempting nofap for 2+ years and my highest streak was 20 days

Internet addiction rant

Skip all the way to the last paragraph + green text if you don't want to read wall of text also sorry for my bad english

Ok I finally accepted I've got internet addiction when it's the third day in a row i've been the whole time on the internet.

Some facts about me: 20 year old, learning economic engineer, doing my second first year at uni, still living with parents because cheaper and uni is 15 min away with bike.

My parents went for their annual week trip and left me and my brother home alone and I've done nothing except watching fucking hour long DBZ battles on youtube, watched like half of south park and big bang episodes checked every thread on this board, /pol/ (also 4chan), /his/ on 4chan and sometimes /b/ and on 4chan. Hell even jsut know as i'm writing this I opened a fucking tab on a fucking minigolf game ive been playing and i'm wasting at least some hours a day on stupid simulation game on kongregate.com

The thing is I always knew I had an addiction on computers and tried to limit myself, i even used leechblock to block some websites but I can't control my fucking urges to fuckign restart all of mozilla.

I take my laptop everywhere I go even to the fucking bathroom and every time I open it I tell myself im gonna study summirize the audio of my past lecture, i'm gonna write that essay down which is due in a week.

Anyway my parents went away and before that I somewhat learned 1 hour a day because i felt bad cuz i was wasting their money. Now that they are gone for the week I simply do not care. So much I didn't even fucking shower for over a day and a half and didn't went to uni since my parents left .

I'm going to do a white night where i'm gonna finish the shit I had for the past days and let my brother change the code of wifi

Does anybody on this board fought/fights against internet addiction and please share some tricks on how to battle this fucking addiction?

>I have tried leechblock, worked out for a day until I disabled it.

>Tried only going on the internet with the intention of doing what I need to do, did not work

>gave during exams my laptop to my dad so i wouldn't be on it to much, i failed after some days and haven't given my laptop back

I was browsing Sacha Chua's excellent blog and came across this:

http://sachachua.com/blog/2011/07/planning-for-summer/

What do you think of this "rubrics"? It seems fun, I might try it out.

Pic semi-related: it's some visual notes she made.

drowsiness/need for sleep

>stopped being depressed

>started doing shit

>drowsy af

All the time I'm tired and have the desire to go sleep, it's creeping into my routine too, with me thinking "after finishing X I'll go take a nap" and then waking up all groggy and angry for no reason, or even worse using it as a justification to procrastinate.

Taking cold showers seemed to help for a while, but it's getting cold, and I've gotten sick several times (probably because of them).

So far, most logical theories would be:

>not enough sleep

I can sleep 12 hours straight, and still feel tired.

>sleep at the wrong time

I adjusted my sleeping habits several times, going to sleep at a reasonable hour (11-12 pm) doesn't seem to fix it.

>lack of exercise/fresh air

go out most of the time, either for [things] or just to use my legs.

>lack of proper vitamins

which ones?

>brain cancer

RIP

What are your favorite/ best blogs?

Hey guys I was making an list of the best blogs I have found on the internet. Alot of the blogs I used to follow either stopped being posted on, or the guys were shady.

The only critieria for the blogs/websites is that they must be

> Informative

> Mind-expanding

> Have depth to them

Here are some of my favorite blogs.

markmanson.com

refinethemind.com

goodlookingloser.com

collegetopia.com

kratosguide.com

I need more sites to add to my feedly list, so I can kick back and get quality information instead of digging. Lets help each other out.

What's your daily routine like, guys? Do you follow any set guideline of activities?

I exercise for one hour, practice something for one hour, and study something for one hour, and make sure I have a healthy meal prepared before 7.

My day usually looks like this:

3 AM - Get up, log my dreams in my notebook (going for lucidity!) and take a cold shower. Then I stretch and get ready to ift, and kind of think about my day. Usually to wake up I play starcraft 2 or read and listen to an album I haven't heard before.

5:30am - This is when I lift. It's the only time my gym in town is open.

7:30am Practice keyboard (would be piano if I had room/ money)

8:30am Study my LINUX book, I'm trying to understand /tech/, lol.

Then I start my day. I work from 10-4, once I'm off I take a 20 minute nap and a warm cozy shower, and cook. Then I get ready to do it again the next day..

Do you guys do anything similar? I know that writing out my routine in detail really helps me, and getting it all done first thing in the morning gives me a huge boost to the rest of the day (I also find if I don't do it immediately upon waking, it gets pushed off far too often). Admittedly, every day does not look like this, I usually aim to take only saturdays off, but more often then not there are a few days a week where I'm sleeping in.. I'm trying to improve too :)

Should I drop out of college since I can't make friends?

What's the point of this experience if I have no one to share it with? Been here over a year now and haven't found a group of close friends like everyone else has. I've always been a very social person and being alone all the time is not fun. Almost not worth continuing.

I'm even thinking my lack of social ability will prevent me from being able to network and get a job.

What's everyone's take on this?

don't get boners

So I've got erectile dysfunction pretty mmuch. I've been an alcoholic for the last 8 years but I quit. I've smoked for the past 13 years buy I quit. I'm excersizing and I stretch. I need help. I'm sure other anons need help in increasing libido as well.

Can we get someone to clean up the skype chat please? We have 2 shitposters spamming it.

does someone know how to make my voice deeper with permanent efects?

>dimebag unrelated

Instant motivation thread

Let's create a thread with short, snappy motivational videos/quotes/encouragement.

I'll start by posting this video of a homeless man giving an incredibly encouraging speech.

how to stop being an effeminate beta loser

Ok guys, this is a board dedicated to self improvement so here I am exposing this problem.

I have a hungry skeleton physique, my personality resembles that of a girl's (like being worried with if's, I suppose this is a girl's thing), I am kissless virgin, I feel insecure all the time, my voice is weak and I stutter, I'm not comfortable with touching other people and people touching me in a friendly way. Despite all this, I'm not a faggot in the way that I'm simply not. I'm not attracted to dudes, I watch porn sometimes and it's straight porn (although I'm avoiding it now because it's not healthy and can turn into a bad addiction.) I think you get the gist.

So I have to make personality adjustments (or better said, big changes) and leave the betaness behind. I need to create a new me. How can I change myself?

You're welcome to suggest any good books that can help.

Drinking

1 year off and now I'm back to drinking.

How do I stop myself from drinking soda?

Not fat or diabetic, I'm skinny as I can be without being anorexic, but how do I stop?

I have NEVER tried smoking, drugs, drinking or gambling. Soda is my last obstacle to pure, unhindered teetotalism

Abstaining from masturbation and pornography

Why is there not educational resources stickied here? Why does this board not have the worlds greatest polymath, Da Vinci, as it's icon or model of inspiration?

Come Visit /hope/!

Hello anons of /improve/. I'm the board owner of >>>/hope/, and I'd like to extend an invitation for you to visit our board. I see you're having troubles with board activity; perhaps we can help each other out.

>>>/hope/ was created in part to help anons improve themselves, so we share similar goals. We admire your efforts here and hope that our boards can be friends.

If you have any questions, ask them in our Q&A thread: http://8ch.net/mod.php?/hope/res/97.html

Also read our mission statement: http://8ch.net/hope/mission.html

Keep on /improv/ing, anons!

Anyone else cant even into fashion here?

I'm in my second year of college and still wearing clothes from my freshman year of highschool. Most of them don't fit very well and they are all just plain solid color T shirts thats it.

I've been trying to improve my wardrobe but I realized that I don't understand fashion at all and I have no clue what to get, also I don't have a lot of money to spend on clothes, so I've come up with a plan, please tell me if this is retarded or not

Would it be weird if just bought a cool looking jacket and just wore that everyday with a pair of jeans instead of what I'm doing now?

My reason for this is:

1) it would probably be cheaper to buy one nice jacket rather than an assortment of other clothes

2) I won't have to stress about what to wear each day, I just put on my jacket and go

In terms of what jacket to get I was thinking along the lines of something like one of these:

http://www.amazon.com/King-Ma-Leather-Motorcycle-Outerwear/dp/B014NEMAKG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1445266657&sr=8-1&keywords=punk+jacket+men

http://www.amazon.com/Froomer-Leather-Jacket-Motorcycle-Collar/dp/B00Q8I70H4/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1445266657&sr=8-6&keywords=punk+jacket+men

http://www.amazon.com/TH000-Classic-Leather-Hooded-Jackets/dp/B00JL9OJBM/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1445266657&sr=8-10&keywords=punk+jacket+men

http://www.amazon.com/Egelbel-Casual-Motorcycle-Leather-Detachable/dp/B00XJHTF3Y/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1445266657&sr=8-11&keywords=punk+jacket+men

http://www.amazon.com/Dreamall-Zipper-Adjustable-Leather-Jacket/dp/B013UFG7JY/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1445266657&sr=8-8&keywords=punk+jacket+men

Video Games

I decided I would make a brief return to video games for MGSV. I'm reminded why I quit them.

Video games build dependance. Their early levels are meant to lay a framework that idicates there will be great reward later on. As the game adds complexity, it adds more things for you to have to worry about. Whether it's wanting to come back and beat a level or to wanting to grind until you complete the game, these things are not actually worth the tradeoff in your time. Even realizing this, the time you've already invested keeps you coming back. That time invested does not go away. Eventually a game becomes a series, and a series becomes a genre, and a genre becomes every game that comes out. Then years of your life are gone.

Meta gaming can be enjoyable. Watching people take out an entire base with an anime cardboard box is hilarious. However, to get to the level of play and creativity to maintain gameplay like this consistently takes even greater time. This applies to building skill and familiarity in any particular game or games as a whole.

If you're still at a point in your life when games are new and exciting and you find joy in them, please continue your hobby to its completion. However, if you're feeling sluggish and find yourself wondering why you're still playing games, or you're thinking of going back, don't play games. Just leave them be.

Is meditation useful for losers?

My apologies if I sound like a retard.

I've been lurking self-help communities for a while, and I've seen constantly the advice that meditation is really helpful for depression, social anxiety, etc. That we should liberate ourselves from our egos in order to be one with the world, relax, do the things, you know the drill.

But isn't that the problem? My ego is squeezable as a berry, I have a horrible self-esteem, and I'm always rambling in my mind like an autist, to the point sometimes I don’t even notice anything around me. Why would I want those things if I already have them?

What I see is that this entire ‘chillout’ practice is really being targeted for extraverted people who are already confident with themselves, are impulsive as fuck and as a result they have stress problems.

But when it comes to us it seems to me like a very different process, how are we supposed to liberate our ego if we don't have one to begin with? For us, all these relaxing stuff seems like accepting defeat to me. If we want to overcome this shouldn’t we do the exact opposite? Like turning into alpha-mode, being egoistic, proud, getting mad and so on?

Am I missing something? Maybe there is something I'm not seeing. What do you guys think?

What are the best hobbies for self improvement?

Ok, ok, before autists come in say "it's subjective!" and "whatever you find most fun!", let me just say that the purpose the thread is classify and find the hobbies with the most benefits, physically, mentally and finicallly with the least downsides.

Before you try to master anything, I believe you should focus on; building up the mind, increasing your memory, visualization, subconscious processing, thoughtform networks, etc. to achieve a superior level of intelligence.

Me prior to mind-building / training: Took me ages to read and it still barely made an impression in my mind.

Me today after so much work on fixing up my mind and diet: Can read through a book and remember it all and cite parts of it, can process large volumes of new information intelligently and apply it, can learn new skills and develop in anything I do much faster now.

I'll start the thread out with a simple tier-list I whipped up.

The best hobbies, imo, are

>reading+writing+art (obviously. art is a very broad topic including things like sewing, knitting, pottery, graffiti, drawing, painting, etc)

>cooking, nutrition, fishing and gardening (or at least some understanding of the processes involved)

>music (singing, musical instruments)

>technology

>science

>programming

>bodybuilding

>some sports

And some fun, but, pretty useless hobbies

>origami

>juggling

>puzzles

>calligraphy

Mundane-tier crap

>most collecting-based hobbies (muh cards, muh rocks)

>99% of video games

ITT we mention who we are and our goals

Okay this is gonna sound ridiculous but I'm addicted to masturbating.

I've wanked 2-3 times every single day for the last 6 years of my life and I'm only 20

It's even reached the point where I've lost my sex drive and that obviously needs to change.

After coming here a few days ago I saw a few posts explaining that cutting down will make a difference.

If I can, would cutting down to once or twice a week really help me?

What sort of changes would I see in my body after cutting down to that many?

Is stopping completely a good idea? I've tried going for a week and 3 days in I'm really really struggling…

Hey guys.

Is there a board in 8chan for - I don't wanna say pickup - women advice? I tried /dir/ but I found nothing. Thanks

I have a week off work and want to sort of start fresh and feel better then when I left.

I got a gym membership and am working on my car but other then that I have no plans and 9 beers.

I don't know if I want too quit drinking but I'm going to slow down.

tl;dr if any of you cats have any ideas for me too do during my days off swing them at me:)

Look at how far you have already come.

I bet most people here feel like failures - I mean, why would you be on a self improvement imageboard if you were already self-improving at the level you wanted?

We come here because we feel like we're not achieving what we want to. But the truth is, many here are already doing great.

Even just by posting here and keeping 'self improvement' at the forefront of your mind, you are doing far more than the average person.

I've tried to quit junk food, take gym seriously, and gain perfect discipline for many years now, and every time I have ultimately given up and gone back to my degenerate ways… but one thing still gives me strength.

Every time I try, and fail, I get a bit further, and do a bit better than the last. Every time I try to become my ultimate self, I get closer.

If that isn't motivating, I don't know what is.

Look at the person you were, and appreciate how far you have already come.

Every failure is just another opportunity for success.

Every day is a new day.

Ideal amount of fapping

I've only been fapping once every 7 days for the past few months and I can definitely recommend it as just the right amount for me.

Apparently your testosterone increases by 145% of the baseline on day 7. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12659241) I've noticed this and have benefited from the boost. Abstaining any further than seven days yields no more testosterone boosts, not to say longer abstinence has no benefits.

Also I don't feel like shit anymore after I finish

you should try it

Coffee and caffeine

What does /improve/ think about caffeine?

I've never really been a coffee drinker, but today I had 3 strong coffees and I felt noticeably more motivated and energized.

I didn't realize the effect caffeine has was so noticeable. No wonder people drink coffee all day while working.

Going to try drinking tons of coffee every day this week and see if I get more done.

Hey /improve/,

Is there a general consensus for browserless (for lack of knowledge of a better term) streaming? More specifically, if I want to use mpv to view twitch streams among others, am I better off going with youtube-dl, livestreamer, an alternative not mentioned?

Relatively new to linux, brand new to arch (I'm taking the antergos baby-steps route), and i feel like the browser is one of those things that keeps me from the productive procrastinations, like learning about my system.

Finding a balance

So I've had a tough time getting shit done practically my whole life and actually tried some stuff suggest here on this board, with some working better than others. For example, f.lux really fixed my sleeping schedule but HabitRPG gave me no more incentive to do anything.

Anyways, I had wondered for the longest time just what it is that makes me have so much trouble with doing stuff other folks can accomplish no problem, when out of nowhere one of my friends said something that stuck with me

>you come off as an overthinker who beats himself into submission from doubt

My response to him was that "I overthink because if I don't then I always end up forgetting a "small" detail that completely ruins what I set out to do". For example, I'll study hard for an upcoming test but forget to bring the essay that was due on the same day, or I'll leave on time to meet up with my friends and make sure I look presentable but forget to feed the dog before I leave, or I'll do basic tasks with my clients at work but forget to ask them about the new thing we implemented.

>underthink something and I miss a crucial element, which fucks me over in both the short term and long term

>overthink something and I get hung up on miniscule things, which in turn stresses me out and affects my physical/mental health negatively

Damned if I do, damned if I don't. What can I do to reach a happy medium, guys? I've done stuff like bring a notepad to work and use a calendar for important events, but what can I do to improve myself on the mental plane?

Book Recommendation thread

new school

i feel like an ignorant dumb fuck, I saw a physiologist and she treats me like an animal with no dignity, tests are run on me as if i was retarded, i got a report and they basically called me mentally slow. I was bullied in primary (elementary) i was excluded and called names pushed around now i'm just ignored looked upon as dirt.Teachers make fun about me and joke about me as an anxious wreck, my mom is considering moving me to a huge school (called St Flannans) they have 300+ students in one year (grade) look at the picture it scares me, im 14 keep in mind its strikes genuine fear into my heart.

What are some strategies for maintaining work output while keeping up personal appearance and wellbeing? It seems like I can't do these both at once. The obvious answer is to take on less at a time, but the appearance and wellbeing habits I'm trying to form are basic, like showering, but I can't just stop school and lucrative projects to work on myself either.

New beginning. Green

I was a failure all my life. I had bad grades in school and even worse in uni. I made hundreds of bad decisions and missed every opportunity to make my life better. And now I'm in lowest point in my life: I spent almost two years sitting at home after I graduated uni and I don't have any work for more than a year. I'm 24, I live with my parents and I have nothing to loose at this point. And I feel like this is time to change my life to the better. Two months ago died my little brother and this fact was very painful to me and after grieving some time I decided to fight my lazy self and make my life better. Of course this is not a first time I'm doing it, but this time I serious as I never was. And I already have some achievements.

- I started to do bodyweight workout and running/biking regularly. And already incorporated it in my life.

- After some time I realized that I have porn (I found that I like some shit that disgust myself) and fap addiction, so I started nofap and currently completed 24 days and looking forward.

- I realized that I need some work, so I started to search for one. I have some knowledge about programming, so I started looking for work. I created resume and already failed 3 interview (in 4 weeks). But I hope that if I gain some knowledge I will find some work.

- I realized that for many years I consumed products of modern culture that polluted my mind, corrupted my morality and clouded my perception of beauty. So I decided abandon my prevous habits and start building my new self from scratch. Films, tv, sports, imagebords (halfchan and some boards here), they all spread all this new corrupted culture in my mind. So I blocked most sites on which I wasted my time before. I downloaded anime from Studio Ghibli and I'm currently watching it on evenings, I feel like its sincerity and kindness liberates my mind. I also started to listen many classic music, especially baroque.

- I developed sleeping pattern (which I'm violating now, writing this after time I usually go to bed).

- I developed more kind attitude toward people around me, and found that many of them is better then I thought about them.

- I keep my room clean, I shave every second day.

- I found interesting courses on coursera and added them to my studying of programming.

I realized that I love nature for her beauty and I realized with shame that I ugly. That with my failures I bring sorrow to people around me I love. Death of my brother made me question myself about my qualities and my future and I found that I shitty person and if I don't change something now then rest of my life I will waste as first part. In this time I had very good days and bad days (after each interview I feel myself helpless for example), but my life overall is significantly better than before. But on bad days I can lay on my bad full day looking on the wall and fearing future. After trying some other things I decided to make this thread in which I would post my achievements and hope that when I see it on my bad days it gives me power to continue my work.

Also, I want say thanks to you all guys here, I found many tips in threads here and some of them really helped me.

if anyone has any hypnosis MP3s, or some kind of guided meditation to that effect, I'd much appreciate if you could post them.

ITT: Resources

>noexcuselist.com

Has /improve/ ever been to/made use of this site? What are your thoughts? I feel like it's a decent start, but I think we can do better. Let's see if we can get a collection of online resources like this.

Rules:

>Must be free (paid content allowed as long as the bulk of the website is accessible free)

>Must be accessible by anyone with an internet connection

>Must help learn/build a worthwhile skill, or otherwise provide something valuable for improving oneself

Preferably all sites will assume the user has zero knowledge in their given subject. Sites that require a certain level of expertise are allowed, but only if there is already a link in the thread that can help reach that level. Lets start from the ground up here.

Examples of the kind of skills we're talking about:

>Cooking

>Playing an instrument

>Learning a language

>Looking good (fashion, grooming, etc.)

If anyone has requests for specific skills they'd like to build, feel free to ask, but try to keep it to a minimum, and make sure you attempt a search for yourself first. If you find anything helpful, post it!

Lets see what /improve/ can do.

Reposting my advice from /kind/. Remember, I'm not any professional but those ideas seem to work for me. Take everything I say with a grain of salt.

Forget your goal.

Yes, I'm serious about that. I know that you definitely have some goal in mind when you're trying to self improve, but it's necessary only to begin the process. Later on, it actually might be harming to you. If you constantly keep reminding yourself of your goal, you will become impatient. Visualising yourself completing the goal, or keeping your goal in mind makes you want to accomplish it in this very second, so you're less likely to work for it. I think that a better way to view self-improvement is doing things you're supposed to do as something completely normal like eating breakfast or brushing your teeth.

For example: You start exercising to get less fat, but after you begin doing it, you should forget about that and try to exercise everyday without thinking about it. I prefer to think about a workout just as a part of my schedule, or something I do because I want to, not something that I do to accomplish some specific goal. If you view it as a part of your normal routine, it will eventually become a habit.

>Don't rely on motivation

No, don't do it. Motivation makes you feel better about the things you do, but only a short amount of time. It's an emotion, it will fade away after some time. You won't feel it everyday.

Instead, try to train your self-control. Your motivation might make things easier for you, but it won't help you in the long run. By training self-control, it will be YOU who will learn to take care of hard tasks easier. And the best part? If you train your self-control, not only will you be able to get better at the subject you're training, but it will be far easier for you to pick up, and get better at other things a well.

>Keep a schedule

Remember to work with some kind of a schedule, but try to make it so that it will be easy for you to start doing, whatever you want to do. If you're a NEET, or have a lot of free times, you should probably start right away when you wake up, if you're still in school, starting right after school is also a good idea, if you're working, start after work.

>Don't push yourself too hard, try to start with smaller tasks, but do them everyday.

It will be hard for you to take do harder feats at the start. Instead of learning for two hours every day, try learning for only a half, but be sure to do it. After some time, you will be able to carry on with the harder stuff.

>Don't let anything break your schedule.

If you stop with your routine for one day, it might be hard for you to get back in it the next day. Keep that in mind.

>If you want to exercise, check your health first.

I'm serious, that can make you break your routine very easily.

>Don't give yourself strict time constraints.

They are hard to follow, especially at first. Think in lines of "morning", "afternoon", "evening" and set your schedule according to that.

>Be prepared to fail

You are not likely to succeed at first, self-improvement is hard work! You will definitely make mistakes, get bored, tired and unable to go further. BUT

>Most importantly, never give up.

You might fail, you won't succeed at first, but every time you do, you will become slightly stronger. You will be able to control yourself better, and the next try might go further than before. Withstanding even a few days, and then coming back for more is a feat in itself! You should be proud of even the fact that you tried again don't get the pride get to you too much though, if you do you'll stop trying. It's better to fail and then try again, than to succeed and never build upon that success.

I would wish you good luck in improving, but you don't need it. You're perfectly capable of doing this on your own. Believe in yourself anon!

Dealing with Regret

How do you guys deal with regret or overcome past mistakes? I'm able to live my life relatively normally but I have days when I still kick myself over idiotic decisions I made, especially girlwise.

Free Online Course about Public Speaking

Stop being an autist. Its not cool.

https://www.coursera.org/learn/public-speaking/

I can't stand myself.

First of all, im sorry about my bad grammer. English is not my native language so i'm sorry in advance.

——-

I broke up with my girlfriend two/three months ago, after we broke up I realized that I was the worst boyfriend ever, I didn't shower, didn't care for her at all becuase I was depressed from the Military and I tought I got "BIGGER" problems in that time. We were togther for a year and a month. and I didn't see something wrong with me at all. Now, after two months its came to me like thunder. I realized I'm not the person I want to be. I want to be difrrent. I cannot stand myself!

I want you guys to help me. I don't got any friends (during the time I was with her I hanged up my relationships with my friends from High School. I was depressed and nobody couldn't stand me, I was suprised that my gf could. and thats why Im still lover her but she doesn't love me anymore.

I came here to start MY big change.

Here is a list with the things I want to achive in my further future -

1. Learning languages like - English (for start - from the ground up) Arabic, French, Italian and Spanish.

2. Learn how to Program - C, C++, ASM, Delphi and LISP.

3. Psychology and the Art of Speaking right.

4. Chess and other hobbies like Sports.

and thats it for now.

How do I get started with a normal person routine ? Where I can learn how to dress well.

Thanks in advance!

Internet Addiction

No doubt most of us here have suffered or are suffering from computer and internet addiction. Daily 8+ hour stints just staring at screens.

I've been working on this a lot lately but the trouble I'm having is that although I can get myself off of the screens and stay away from them, I have NO idea what to do with all the time afterward. In the end I just kinda drift around my place.

The best way to break a bad habit is to replace it with a good one, but I haven't found a good habit that's compatible with this. Working out, meditation, reading, etc - they're not something you can do for 12 hour stretches.

Has anyone found a good way to deal with this

Guide to productivity

Lets make a guide on how to get your shit together, tailored towards the typical my shit is absolutely fucked 4channer/8channer. The difference between this guide and something like "The Well Cultured Anonymous" is that this one will focus mostly on how to become productive and stay productive, this one will be the gateway drug to something like TWCA. I say this because it's pretty hard to make a transition from doing absolutely nothing all day to one day doing everything you've always wanted to do. This guide will hopefully make transition as simple as possible.

This guide will assume you are:

>Browsing image boards all day

>It assumes you have no skills

>It assumes you are a NEET

>It assumes you have no friends

>It assumes you are depressed/have social anxiety

>It assumes you are overweight/underweight/not active

Something like this will take a long time to do but if anyone wants to help out with this, just say so below. If you think there is anything else that should be taken into account or anything that should be covered, say so as well.

Also, criticism is important and highly recommended here since I want to be able to cover all perspectives with this guide. Although I've experienced a lot of the above, I can't say I've experienced it all and thus advice that would work for me may not necessarily work for everyone. I want to avoid this as much as possible.

For the fuck's sake, i'm legit tired of not be in control of my life.

No more "tomorrow i'll do that", the day and time is now.

I have started no fap (5th day), i'm attending a gym (1st week and my muscles hurts like hell), following the tips in the TWEA and assimilating them in me, went to a medic and taken a good diet program compatible with the gym, i'll study as hard as i can for the uni and will not fail any others exams, i will not allow myself to fall in vices anymore outside the saturday night (limited to alcohol in little measures), i'll not bow to others letting my pride be stepped on, i'll retake my life in my hands.

I'm a fucking human being dammit, my race have built wonders, went to the space, conquered the earth, sea and sky, i have nothing less than anyone on this rock floating in the space.

Mark my words /improve/, in a year from today i'll show you what a tired man can and will accomplish, i'll make myself the man i always wished to be.

This is my will, so it will be reality.

aren't you tired too, anon?

The way you think can make a huge difference

If you are one of those unlucky souls who are plagued with negative thoughts all the time, you should try to be more in tune with your emotions. When you feel a certain way, try to understand what exactly made that emotion come on. You may have to stop right in your place and try to figure out why you felt the emotion.

When you feel sad, try to understand what caused it. If it is you being self-conscious about something, you now know something that you need to try to fix. They are not always easy, but as long as you're putting forth an effort you are doing what is necessary to make your life better. Being happy is all that truly matters. We all know in our mind that most truly positive fixes are not quick. Unfortunately we know it, but do not realize it for our own problems. Most truly good fixes are lifestyle changes, people put too much emphasis on how it will make them seem to those around them instead of how it will benefit them. Imagine your family member was extremely obese. You see them working their butt off trying to lose weight, they are down because it is a slow process. As they feel down, you think they're a champion. Why is it that we feel that way for others but not ourselves? I think it is that we all have this role model in our head of who we want to be, and who we want everyone to see us as. Most media pushes negative role models, so we should look twice at the role model in our head. Is it what we truly want, or what we think is popular? Try to find the things in life that you feel are important.

Negative Visualization

[The Stoics] recommended that we spend time imagining that we have lost the things we value—that our wife has left us, our car was stolen, or we lost our job. Doing this, the Stoics thought, will make us value our wife, our car, and our job more than we otherwise would. This technique—let us refer to it as negative visualization—was employed by the Stoics at least as far back as Chrysippus. It is, I think, the single most valuable technique in the Stoics' psychological tool kit.

A very thing to note is trying to recall things that made you happy each day. Try to learn one thing each day, no matter how small and recall what it was at the end of the day. I suggest having a piece of paper until you reach the point where it becomes a habit. This has had made my life much more positive. It sounds so simple that you would not believe it works, but I assure you it does. Aim for at least three things that made you happy, smile, or laugh every single day. Try to find something you learned each day too, no matter how small. For example, one day at work we were tasked to rake around the entire building before we could leave. We filled over 50 trash bags, it took a very long time. One of our higher ranking individuals showed me a trick, he owned a landscaping business and showed us a way to rake even faster than we thought. That may sound stupid to you all, but it was a pretty big turning point in my life. At that moment I realized everyone has a little bit of something they really know. Someone has at least one little thing they can teach you. For instance, I had a roommate who was so stupid that he didn't even know how to register an online account because he didn't know that they don't let you skip the e-mail section. He spent twenty minutes asking me why it wouldn't let him go before I looked and saw the problem. He asked me "how do I go to irs.com" as a serious question. He ended up trying to teach me how to track stuff in the wilderness, I am an idiot when it comes to that. You can learn something from everyone, try to keep that in mind when you are writing people off left and right(I too still have a few problems remembering this all the time)

I had more in my mind, but I am too tired and forgot it for now. Hopefully someone takes something away from this, perception is everything.

You can get better, today

I don't know who you are, or what you are working on. But I do know one thing: you can get better.

You can get better at what you are working on. You can get closer to your goals and dreams. You can do it today.

Do one thing. One small, 1% tiny little thing today to get better. A walk. A couple push-ups. A drawing. Anything. 5 minutes! Get started!

This is how momentum builds, with one little step in the right direction.

Encouragement videos

Does anyone have anything like embedded? Encouragement videos from females.

English or simple Japanese would be best.

how to grow hair extremely fast?

Can we declare /improve/ dead now?

I am absolute garbage at motivating myself to do things. I want to be able to make a small video game of any kind, just to get my feet off the ground with C++ or even Python at this point. I can't find a good starting point for C++ for an idiot like me and I feel stuck.

Does anyone have any good strategies for staying motivated with programming, and any materials or guides to getting started with C++?

how do I build endurance/not get tired easily?

I'm doing art, drawing and painting.

I started out doing a whole lot and practicing to the point of being mediocre. Then I just I dunno lost my way I guess. I don't know where to go next. I'm spending my time drawing from imagination for 3 hours then I stop. Also finishing things is troublesome for me, I can't even get to the value and end up with a sketch.

what I do

pic unrelated of course

The problem with self improvement

I've been interested in self-improvement since 2008.

I also had one of the major self-improvement sites in my country and language (I don't update it anymore, and you'll soon understand why).

I really saw a lot and know a lot about this topic. And in all this year nothing ever changed.

There is one big problem with self-improvement.

I can see it in the goals people give themselves. In the way they describe their ideal day or life. In the activities suggested.

The problem is that there are no other people. No socialization.

You do things alone.

If there are other people they are often just an objective (see pua or job networking).

It is truly sick. The world is full of people and activities you can do with other people that will make you a lot happier.

A beer grabbed with a friend will make you feel better than the best workout ever.

I've seen it in me and in all the people I followed in the years I had that site. I still see it.

You can't build great things alone. You can't expect to follow a routine or reach an important goal if you don't consider positive and sincere interactions with other people in it.

Stop going towards things that make you lonely and reach out other people. You'll see how good it is.

organizer software

Hello /improve/, i've been trying to kill my neckbeard attitudes for a while now, and doe i'm failing misserably in the most social aspects, i've learnt a few new skills, specially programming, which have even got me 400usd for just 16hs of work in the last weeks. So im feeling good.

Given i want to follow this new route, i'm trying to finish an old project of mine. I want to make a "personal assitant" that helps me to not fall out of the flow and keep progressing in my improvement, without the usual "2 weeks of work-1 month of anime watching in my bed" situation.

However, i've been failing in this project for at least 2 years, as i can never think about the whole scope of it

What i want to make, is basically a sort of software that does the following things

1)a) scraps the 4chin boards i like for the threads with >100 replies (or certain threads i want to log) and shows them to me as they appear.

b) scraps the 8chan slow boards i like and notify me when new threads are created/ responses in marked threads are done

c) scraps the international news and notify me when big news (shared among different venues) happen

d) follows youtube accounts and such subscribing websites and notify me of new uploads/ notify-remind me of new anime/tv episodes // new cd/mixes from the bands i like

(basically follow shit along a whole spectrum of websites i don't want to check everyday nor can i remember the different dates im supposed to be waiting for)

2) reminds me to clean my home/bathroom,take baths, excercise, groom myself

3) makes a log of my progress along different projects/study areas

4) reminds me to keep reading the books i've started

5) helps me to log and take care of my personal finnances

6) helps me to remember to buy food, toothbrushes, take the cat to the vet, etc

7) helps me to keep a fucking balanced diet

8) reminds me to socialize, looks for things to do at weekends, tells me when bands i like are going to play near me, and such shit

9) helps me manage my time among all this different things

All this shit is easy to program, however i can't find the right way to blend them all into a one thing, and i don't know where to take good information for such things as balanced diets or excercising routines, and im also pretty sure im missing out REAL IMPORTANT SHIT i would want it to do

Basically, i want to make a virtual mom, a second-brain for spergs like you and i

For what i've read here, im sure you would also benefit from sth like this, so please, if you can think of something, or would like to collaborate, post here, im open to suggestions and project m8s

how do you start your day?

morning routine is important

starting your day can feel like pushing a 20t truck sometimes. what do you do to get the wheels turning and momentum building?

>cold water to the face or shower

>shave/grooming with music playing

>make coffee (siphon pot)

>take care of animals

>sit outside and finish coffee (weather permittting)

>then get dressed and get to what I have planned for the day

>sometimes with headphones and a podcast or audiobook playing

'Difficult, improvement questions with no obvious answer' thread

Lying

How do I git gud at lying?

Simply saying something is incorrect is easy enough, but cooking up a story -especially on the spot- is difficult to get away with and something I've never been good at. The biggest block is when one finds themself talking about something they do not fully understand yet the goy does, which leads to awkward explaining.

In particular, what are some good ways of lying to potential employers?

hello

http://5444.cf/

Breaking away from nihilism

I need to know how to break out of my nihilistic view of life. I don't like thinking that everything is pointless. Whenever somebody talks about what is "good for the future of humanity" or whatever, I just think they are being silly due to how little human life, or even existence as a whole, matters in the end.

These thoughts or feelings could possibly be a percentage of the reasons I am so miserable with my own existence. I am fed up with feeling this way, so if anybody knows of a way to change this, I would be much obliged.

I'm not trying to come across as an edgy faggot, I would just like some advice. Who knows, maybe it could help out a few other passing anons as well?

Adventure Thread

Does/did anyone have thanatophobia here? Is there a way to overcome it without being religious? Suggested books or other materials? I just don't want to die anons.

This and nihilism are really fucking my life now.

ITT: Post the most motivating thing you've ever seen

Pic related, my favorite.

Pullies

Just a quick reminder that if you can't do at least 10 pullies you ain't worth shit.

Mentally sorting out goal importance

Theory: There are three stages of how your brain sorts out how motivated you are with your goals

>Goals you don't think or worry about, that you can safely ignore without getting worried about not completing it right now

>Goals you obsess or get anxious over not completing, that cause you distress when you don't complete them

>Goals you obsess or get anxious over that are easy to jump in and work on, perhaps even passively

Not sure where I'm going with this, but I think the key is setting a goal to make one of your anxious goals easier to work on passively, for example, if your goal is to stop browsing chans, you can set a goal to only browse /improve/ so at least you accomplishing something.

The worst place for ressentiment is on the internet. It's absolutely raging. The intensified communication factor. The more you learn of those above you, the more it hurts.

A man alone in a cave in the middle of nowhere would have no ressentiment — not the mental kind at any rate. This explains why so many people on online communities fall into delusions such as inferiority or superiority complex. How can you not when you see so many people who are objectively superior to you in almost every single way?

Success generates, not only money, but also resentment, resentment which must be somehow dealt with. In the old days, ressentiment was dealt with by brute violence, plain and simple. Slaves were envious of their masters' prosperity, and so when this envy flared up and threatened the civic order, the masters would bring out their clubs and start the beatings.

The masters LITERALLY BLED on a regular basis in order to be able to enjoy their prosperity and success. And is it any different with the modern masters, 50% or more of whose output is being regularly taken by the state to be redistributed, in one way or another, to the modern-day slaves so that they'll keep the peace?

Whether you bleed literally or figuratively, ressentiment will have its portion, and the only thing you can do about it is man the fuck up and pay up, all the while (hopefully) realizing that it is you who are responsible for its occurrence, and that that is the price you have to pay for your success.

Resources must be somehow taken from the successful and redistributed to the failures to keep the economy from coming to a standstill in waves of strikes and violent protests, and the society from exploding in all-out civil war. This is why ten kids being killed is news, but millions of kids finishing high school, winning sports championships, learning new languages, etc. is not. If reporting were really representative, even the subhuman would realize that the "bad" things are a drop in the bucket and barely even deserve to be mentioned.

But good news aggravate the subhuman's ressentiment. Who among them wants to learn of the countless privileged youths who are earning Masters and PhDs, going on skiing trips to the Alps or surfing holidays in Hawaii, etc.? It's the same psychology at bottom that sees tabloid rags running ugly pictures of celebrities to assuage the raging envy of the rabble that reads them. That is how this general impression of chaos and decline is created for a civilization which, in all the essentials, is so obviously flourishing.

No motivation

I have like no motivation to improve myself. Like at all. Could anyone please give me a helping hand?

Do you ever consider leaving 4chan / all internet time wasting to fulfill your patrician potential? I waste so much time here it's unreal.

Do you guys have any resources on time management?

I'll take advice too. I want to curbstomp procrastination.

Failure

How does one cope with failure?

For example, I keep failing to stick to the routine I've designed for myself. When I fail, I feel very worthless and it discourages me from trying to achieve again. A particular instance of failure usually isn't so bad, but repeated failures tend to defeat me psychologically. This is a problem I and many others have had for many years, but it's only recently have I begun to identify it as a major obstacle in my life. This anxiety about failure also goes hand in hand with feelings of inadequacy and self-loathing which leads to depression and apathy. It's a toxic concoction of emotions that inhibits my will to change, but I still don't know how to really deal with it.

/adv/

BO of >>>/adv/ here

Is it possible to get our boards to feature each other? Considering our similarity, I think this would be a good idea.

Health problems

Hi /improve/, I have a big problem of slightly different nature. You see, I'm fat, and decided that I will start exercising to lose weight. And I did, I started exercising every day, and I've already lost some weight. The problem is, that I've been sick for almost half a year and am still using medication. I can train regularly for three or four days, but after that, I start heavily coughing and get really sick. It doesn't matter what I do, I get sweaty and start coughing uncontrollably the next day. I don't have any problems going back to my routine of working out after that break, but then the sickness comes again. I try to keep a diet and I've already stopped eating sweets and junk food, but I fear that with my appetite, even when eating healthy food, I will still get more fat without exercising. But I can't exercise because of my health problems and weak immunity.

What should I do /improve/? Is there any way for me not to get sick after exercising?

Vitamins/Supplements

Anyone here tried taking vitamin tablets or supplements such as Zinc/Iron?

I'm curious whether there's actually a noticeable benefit or whether they're just for lazy twats who don't exercise or eat properly. They always seem horrendously over-priced too. That said, i know a few people who swear by them

I guarantee that every single person here suffers from at least one of these mental distortions.

http://www.apsu.edu/sites/apsu.edu/files/counseling/COGNITIVE_0.pdf

Voice

As an adult I just realised that my voice still sounds like a cringeful teenager, you know the whole "can't listen to your own voice in recordings" shtick.

We all know that how you sound does change how people (and you yourself) perceive you, and there are a fuckload of books/internet guides/audiocourses for sounding more like the Big Guy of your dreams, let's talk about this.

Is there any way to capitalize on the faggot voice? I'm not a homosexual of any sort, but the pervert in me sees the pleasant gains in sounding like an anime girl once in a while

Unconventional and relatively cheap ways to looksmax?

I've done all the shit that almost everybody with a brain does

1. Brush, floss teeth

2. Moisturize face, sunscreen when needed

3. Condition hair, shampoo when needed

4. Healthy diet

5. Lift weights, cardio

6. Whiten teeth

7. Mewing, chewing gum

8. Good clothes, good haircut, good posture

9. Lots of sleep

Anything else brahs? (apart from retarded shit like booster shoes and roids)

By relatively cheap, I mean things things that normal people can afford and are worth the dosh. I'm not a richcel, not going to pay thousands for a surgery like Nicki Minaj.

Motivational Work-out Music

how do I talk to people?

What do you guys think of MOOCs?

What's a good way to generate some basic income, working preferably from home and as long as you want\when you want?

Beeminder

Hey. Does anyone use Beeminder? I've just started using it and it seems like it has a lot of potential. Basically you make a quantifiable goal and pledge money towards it, then you report your progress towards that goal and if you neglect it you have to pay up. I've set up a goal for 20 minutes of meditation per day and I'm waiting to see how effective this is.

https://www.beeminder.com/

Self Improv 2 months

I have 2 months of leisure time in about a week (college). I'm going to bulk, get ripped and going to correct my back (hollow back). I'm mostly social awkward. What can i do to improve my self in these 2 months with plenty of time available without going insane of that much freetime?

Let's help each other, /improve/

Hello, /improve/. I just wanted to let you know that I'm the new board owner of >>>/kind/, and I'd appreciate it if you'd take the time to drop in and say hello. It's not really devoted to the discussion of topics pertaining to self improvement, but I think kindness is or should be a virtue valued by all, irrespective of our interests or hobbies!

Check out this thread >>>/kind/134 and tell us about your day.

I also wanted to know if the Owner of this board would be interested in an crossboard advertising agreement between our two boards?

what are good haircuts for people with large foreheads? cause my forehead looks like Sam from supernatural crossed with a crack addict surfer. so any help works well thanks guys.

Has anyone worked on becoming independent?

I would like some advice. As a college student, I can't seem to find time to work, and I would love to live on my own so I can be closer to my school. What steps should I take to earn my financial independence?

Hey guys, I want to change myself from top to bottom, starting from within. How do I gain things like discipline, self-confidence and inner strength? What's the most effective way to change my personality?

Dancing

Sup guys.

I'm usually stiff as a brick and I'd like to pick up dancing as a way to loosen up and express certain things about myself through body language.

Now, shich style do you think I should learn?

Volunteering

The place I intern at for school is a facility that helps out the poor to receive food and clothing. My experience here and at another organization has shown that there multiple advantages to actually going out and volunteering

>makes it easier to transition back into workforce after a period of NEET/semi-NEET lifestyle, since taking time out of YOUR own "busy" schedule allows you to essentially set your own hours to what you want and because its much easier to start volunteering than it is to land a job these days

>looks good on a resume, or at least better than having a giant chronological crater where you did nothing, and can help you gain more buzzword skills for said resume

>helping out the less fortunate and making the world a better/less shitty place does wonders for your self esteem, unless you're selfish of course

>different places often need help with different things, meaning you could ask to do more or less of a certain type of work, such as working more "in the back" if you struggle a lot in social settings or doing things less physically straining if you have medical issues

>can meet new people if that's something you'd like to do (I once heard an anon tell me about how he got his dick wet with this one chick at an animal shelter, though there's really nothing I can do on my end to verify that)

>can leave at pretty much any time with little to no consequences if you use the excuse that your new job/school stuff is "taking up too much time" and that you'd "love to come back and volunteer more if you can find the time"

I'm at a place that gives out food and clothing to families facing emergency situations, but there are also other charitable organizations such as animal shelters or fundraisers if those are more your fancy.

So here's where the discussion aspect comes in. What are the ~best~ places to volunteer at for /improve/ related reasons? For those who have volunteered before, what are your comments on the matter?

>inb4 "he does it 4 FREE!" jokes

Fashion advice

Does this go well?

Corduroy trousers with the polyester Blazer?

how to get my hair to look like the blonde faggot?

Just accept that you need to be in bed by 9pm at the latest every night. This means that you will actually be asleep by 10pm at the latest. Therefore if you sleep for 9 hours you'll be up at 7am. 9 hours is more than enough for anyone, including an athlete. IF you don't need 9 hours, then woop you're up at 5, go work out, have an awesome breakfast, and prepare for a day of being a badass.

Something that has really helped me is to keep my room very tidy and clutter free, and to make the effort to clean my bedsheets at least once a week. Take all your clutter into the trash or another room. If you find your room constantly with clothes everywhere, either downsize OR buy a bigger clothes cupboard.

I know it's hard, but it's just a habit. Change is always hard. Once your mind and body get accustomed to it though, it will feel completely natural. Also you MUST BE CONSISTENT if you want the habit to set and for it to become easy. That means no 3am party nights sadly, or else it will just fuck up your next night and the cycle continues.

Follow this way of life so when you are awake you will always have the energy to truly seize your day and get all your stuff done. Be it working out, socializing, work, study, or a mixture.

Have you ever considered the idea of adopting a uniform that you could wear everyday for the rest of your life?

I have, but I'm still in the creation stage of my uniform. When I say uniform I'm talking about a set of clothes that you'll wear everyday, everywhere and at all times. I've been struggling with clothing for a while. When I was very young my family wasn't as economically stable as they are today. I used to wear the same clothes many times during a week and almost never changed. I was frustrated about it /EndOfBlogPost.

I've been thinking about the reasons as to why and, frankly, it's just a time saver. The morning can be very frustrating when you have to look for what to wear everyday. You think about how many times you wore a certain shirt and how maybe you should start wearing this one or the other one: "no, I wore that hoodie yesterday. I'll put my blue navy jacket on today".

I'm not taking any of that shit anymore

Open your wardrobe and just take what's in front of you.

Gotta go shopping? Just go to the same store and take what you need without looking. Actually, you can just ask someone to buy some for you because they'll know what the right size and style is without any doubt while they're on their way to the shopping mall.

Has anyone else considered this?

Personal enlightnemnt stories.

I think I've figured out one of the main reasons as to why I can't focus (besides the fact that I'm a lazy sod.)

My obsession of constantly monitoring the time passed during activities (reading and programming) is delaying my personal expansion and my desire to learn.

A few examples that I ask myself mid-way through a task:

>How long have I been reading for?

>How long to go until the chapter ends?

>How long have I been programming for?

These questions are not beneficial. On the contrary, they are highly detrimental to concentration and motivation. The sense of flow that I experience is halted by these thoughts, which jerks my mind back into reality. I then have to go through the whole process of trying to concentrate again. This happens numerous times throughout an activity.

To put it into an analogy: Try starting a generator with a cable (pulling it), letting it run for a few moments and then switching it off only to attempt to turn it on again the exact same way moments later. It's tiring, inefficient and thus kills the desire to learn.

Have any of you had moments of enlightenment that gives you the opportunity to remove your brain fog? It's like finding a bug in your code, now it's a matter of fixing it.

Motivation and Purpose

How can one be motivated without goals?

Motivation can be defined as follows:

"the act or process of giving someone a reason for doing something"/"a force or influence that causes someone to do something" - Merriam Webster

"Internal and external factors that stimulate desire and energy in people to be continually interested and committed to a job, role or subject, or to make an effort to attain a goal." - Business Dictionary

"the act or an instance of motivating, or providing with a reason to act in a certain way"/"the state or condition of being motivated or having a strong reason to act or accomplish something" - Dictionary.com

"The reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way" - Oxford Dictionary.

The aspect that all of those definitions have in common is the presence of a goal or topic of interest.

Most quotes and motivational images seem to reinforce the idea that "you can do it", that you "can't quit", or that you will "find a way". The problem is arises when one does not know what "it" is. If you are not in the middle of a process there can be no "quitting" or "continuing". When you don't have a destination there cannot be "a way".

And what is a goal? Those same sources define it as "that which one is trying to achieve", it is a reason to do something. And reasons are the bases or motives for actions.

The fundamental question is how to define a goal when one does not have any. This is usually solved with a series of questions, the answers of which one is supposed to reflect upon: "What do you want to achieve?", "where would you like to be in x years?", "what would you enjoy that it happened to you?", all of these being based on personal desires or wants. Some are capable of setting a goal that is seen as "noble", such as inventing an affordable artificial heart, or solving a specific social issue, but this generally isn't defined as a goal because of a rational decision, but because the individual feels bad about the current situation, and ultimately they don't want to feel bad. I'm deviating from the point.

Now that I have stated my views (which are mostly backed by facts) about motivation and goal-setting, I would like yo ask you something.

How can I define a medium or long-term goal?

I do not enjoy any activity, I do not feel a desire to do anything, I do not see an important point in any action. My only real goal is survival, and even that is quickly loosing its appeal. Maslow's hierarchy of needs supposedly states that an unmet need motivates the individual to take action that will fulfill it. Well, currently I'm sitting on the "Safety" level and see no reason to try going up.

Can any of you think of something?

I'll be posting this on /mental/ too because I want as many different opinions as possible

Okay, so I'm improving myself by doing more and more reading, getting myself organised with journals and stuff like that, although it's hard and I'd really like to see some stuff online to both inspire and motivate me, the problem is with stuff like booklr, booktube, and any sort of organisational things on youtube, it's always women. Not that I have a problem with watching women, but I just can't seem to find any male influence on this, females tend to talk about these young adult fiction books, put that stupid patterned tape and stuff into organisers and that's nice, but does anyone have any suggestions for the stuff I'm looking fro done by dudes?

How to be better at math, logical thinking and thinking out of the box?

Also visualization and such

If anyone interested, there's now a Voat subverse about improving.

https://voat.co/v/improve

Sleeping Pattern

Running

I have started to go out in the mornings for a quick hour, no less of an hour out there, to bring me closer to the physical world and to my own body and get me out of my mental cage.

This morning was the second day.

Do you want to join me? Do you think I will fail in a second? Don't hold it back, anon! POST IN THIS THREAD NOW.

>>>/4chonr9k/1729

Dealing with loss of motivation

So a few months ago I was on a really positive path to self improvement. I was going to the gym, eating healthily, and generally optimistic about the future.

But the excitement of self improvement I had gradually wore off as soon as it became a grind. After a week of being bedridden with a bad flu I pretty much lost all interest in self improving.

That was over a month ago, and I haven't even gone to the gym since (still paying membership though)

I'm pretty much spending all my time just working and browsing /pol/ and Reddit - and getting more and more depressed with how fucked up the world is.

I keep putting off work commitments and now it looks like a promotion I was pretty much guaranteed is going to go to someone else because of how fucking useless I've become.

It was all going so well and now everything has turned to shit.

How do I get back on the horse? How do I feel that same burning motivation I had when I first started self improving?

Stress Coping

what hair on my body will grow back quicker if it's shaved

pic unrelated

Used to write when young, don't know if good, but the inspiration was there.

Over time, it's died and became something else, now each time I attempt creative writing (of any kind) something within me stops me and amplifies the self consciousness.

It's not a matter of being good or bad, it's just this fear of expressing myself, even if nobody reads it.

It's gotten to the point where I'm even ashamed of attempting to daydream properly.

Will probably order some psychedelics from the danknet to break this crap habit off.

Fixing my life,

Hey /improve/, I'm trying to fix my life. Many people say, don't go to college unless you need to. Well I'm not smart enough for a STEM job. I feel I can do something more skill based. The issue is I do know a lot of trade schools try and fuck you over. I looked up a few already and found 70-100 negative reviews.

Anyone here go to any type of trade school know what to look for and how to not get fucked? I already know I'll make much less than pretty much everyone I know, never hitting 80k-100k, but I want to move to the mid-west (US) anyway, so I'm hoping that won't matter too much.

I'm turning 24 this year and I've been looking into CNC programing or something like that. I can't think of many other skills I can do. If I'm too stupid to do this then I guess I'll learn to deal with being poor.

>this is it, once I'm done with this I can relax for awhile and coast

>well, in the meantime maybe I can start on that…

>once i'm done with this THEN i'll be set

what sucks about being goal oriented is that it seems nothing can satisfy you. once you're done, you're on to the next thing.

Unconvential and relatively cheap ways to looksmax

I've done all the shit that almost everybody with a brain does

1. Brush, floss teeth

2. Moisturize face, sunscreen when needed

3. Condition hair, shampoo when needed

4. Healthy diet

5. Lift weights, cardio

6. Whiten teeth

7. Mewing, chewing gum

8. Good clothes, good haircut, good posture

9. Lots of sleep

Anything else brahs? (apart from retarded shit like booster shoes and roids)

By relatively cheap, I mean things things that normal people can afford and are worth the dosh. I'm not a richcel, not going to pay thousands for a surgery like Nicki Minaj.

sup /improve/ are there any way to get rid of your sexual desires? does meditating helps?

Social anxiety / awkward personality

What happened? Did your motivations drop off?

Realize life is about balancing short term and long term rewards. Everyday do things that promote future reward (i.e eat healthy, exercise, study, read) but also do short term rewards (socializing, playing games, masturbate) that help you to keep going and so you can live in the moment too.

Do not pursue short term rewards at the expense of long term. Don't avoid things like hygiene because it will negatively affect future rewards. Balance both of them. They are both equally important.

If you have anxiety and social awkwardness. This is about fixing your mental thought habits to be more normal and not trigger anxious or scared feelings. You can 100% stop being scared of socializing and people but you have to change your habits.

Instead of dwelling on your anxiety which only makes it worse, instead fill your life with things to do that take your focus off of yourself and start developing non anxious thought patterns. You are anxious most of the time because you keep reinforcing those anxious circuits you developed. You have to do new things to get new neuron circuits that stop leading to anxiety.

Engross yourself in activities and stop focusing on your anxiety and it will go away. This will make you a calmer less insecure person and you will find it easier to socialize. You are bad at socializing because anxiety is retarding your brain from normal thinking.

Oh and looks are everything so if you don't look like attached pics, get surgery ASAP.

Share your tips and advice.

Improving reflexes and athleticism

Hey, /improve/. I'm wondering if there is any way to /improve/ my reflexes and athletic performance. I'm in alright shape physically (trying to become more /fit/ though), despite spending most of my childhood and teenage years staring at various screens. The problem is twofold. Firstly, I have terrible reflexes. I can barley catch or throw a ball, I'm clumsy as hell, and I have terrible balance (I can barley ride a bike in a straight line). Secondly, I have terrible form when I run (I run kind of hunched forward), swim etc. Is there any way to solve these problems or at the very least reduce their affects?

Is bates method true?

Also vision improvement.

Getting a better calligraphy

Sup /improve/, I've had horrible calligraphy since a young age.

It literally looks worse than a third grader's and I'd like to get better.

How do I fix this? Got any tips besides lots of practice?

What are decent ideas for getting paid online?

Heard mechanical turk isn't a bad idea, but then I heard something of social security numbers.

I could find a job….if it wasn't nearly impossible due to my city's high unemployment rate.

How do i read more, /improve/?

About 6 months ago i was reading a lot and writing some shit that when i read now i don't even believe it was me who wrote.

I have this shitty dream of being a good writer, and i don't think i can achieve that if i don't read a lot. Well, long story short, because of this dream life punched me in the face six months ago and i stopped writing and reading. In this time i didn't read or write nothing and when i try to do it now i can't concentrate or even open the book or whatsoever.

Last book i've tried was Notes from underground by Dostoevsky. I've felt so related to the protagonist that i suffered a lot reading that, and i just couldn't keep the reading without mental digressions.

Whats a good quantity of pages to read a day?

How do i plan my reading sessions? I'm out of uni right now and until August i have 100% free time (which is TERRIBLE to me, i'm wasting my time doing absolutely NOTHING).

What should i do to increase my concentration? without taking drugs that'll turn me into a fucking alien

I've never really seen this topic here so let's see if we can enlighten each other.

At what point should you consider moving out of your parents? What are your thoughts on this? Should you enjoy it for as long as possible or leave as soon as you are able? What would you take? How much money would you like to have(realistically) saved?

What would your ideal conditions be vs the minimum for leaving? What would be the most you would want to have accomplished vs the least before you decided you were secure and ready to move out? School, travel, etc?

What would be your first go to place to call home? Studio Apartment, rent house, crash at relatives on the other side of the country?

And for the roleplay, if you were to have to move out within a week(if in school pretend you can't pay tuition this fall) what would you do?

And finally, do you have a real plan to move out? Did you at one point have one but scrapped it entirely due to life? If you're already on your own how did you fare? What was your thought process and what were the things that surprised you that you didn't prepare for?

I have a weird interest cycle.

>Start being interested in A (hobby.)

>Start doing A for a little bit (around a week.)

>Suddenly get bored.

>Find B.

>Interested in B for a week, yet still have a minor interest in A but I just can't bring myself to do it.

>Get bored of B.

>Go back to A and start from the beginning.

It's a never ending fluctuation of interest and boredom. I get nothing done. I never finish a project or finish reading a book… It's tormenting. When I'm doing it I'm super interested but my brain just suddenly rejects it. Does anybody else know that feel?

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsMikuC8dzs

>Solid on the surface as I crumble within

>But legends are made out of vulnerable men

>So on the brink of death I still manage livin life

>Cause so rarely in this world are these chances given twice

Do you ever feel like you're pretty much just fighting against your own nature and nurture constantly? I doubt I can become the type of person I want to be with the nurture I have.

I may not be a well adjusted person, but this could be corrected by having some discipline. However, no discipline was instilled in me when I was growing. This could be fixed by some amount of responsibility, which I also never learned. That could be fixed with focus endurance and determination, which I also don't have. Some amount of that could be obtained through memory skills or good decision making, which I also don't have.

I've made a lot of progress. I got on the dean's list (could only get into community college), I've learned a lot of skills. I'm occasionally more organized. However, I'm still tethered to my support network. I have tried to disconnect myself before and I know what it takes. I don't have it. Every time I make some progress, something else suffers. Some days, even some months, I'm just my old ineffectual lazy self. I feel like the pool of virtues I'm drawing from is just too shallow and I'll never be independant and happy.

a few questions

I'm really bad at math. STEM jobs was never an option. What can I do that will make me more than 30k a year. I looked into machining, but unless you're good at math, you won't make shit. I don't have many skills. Any ideas? I'm trying to get my shit together and fix the thoughtless mistakes I made since high school. I'm 23.

Too much feel good bullshit on here lately. How many doses of reality have you gotten lately?

>remember why i quit night school last time, it's so exhausting

>summer course was cancelled because it was "made by mistake", session already started

>realized that work isn't going to pick up as I thought. im going to be hurtin for money for awhile.

>realized that i will not meet requirements for a work cert that i wanted to get and that I need more relevant experience in the tune of 4-5 years and a career change

worst of all, I've realized that I've stagnated at my job and I'm too pussy to leave. hell, i should go on the dole and just do school for awhile.

I have come to the conclusion that living with my parents is toxic to my well being and so I've decided to move out. Although I'm not going to jump ship ASAP, I have given myself a timeframe of 3 years to do it. I have 3 big questions:

What should be my main concern in order that I can move out and not have to come back with my tail behind my legs?

What kind of money pool should I aim for? As in, what's the minimum amount to realistically move out and hold me over?

How should I start prepping?

I have ideas for all these questions but would like your input.

what made you /improve/

share your epiphany/moment of clarity/situation that made you turn around.

what made you want to start working on yourself?

How to use a dog to pick up girls

So I'm dog sitting for a married friend. Being the cool guy that he is, he told me where to walk him to meet girls. He said the fluffy dog "is thing a damn chick magnet". Which makes perfectly good sense. So, lets say I'm walking the dog and a girl says "what a cute dog!", what do I do?

Some background on me: I'm 21, I'm a swim coach, I don't drink or smoke, I look like a chad, but act like a m'lady neckbeard. I have nice long hair pulled back exactly like a soccer player and I swim ten times a week, lift five, and actively compete in swim meets. I can talk to girls fine, but I just act as if they are a dude; I don't flirt. Even though I know it's not true, I subconsciously believe that flirting with a girl is just an attempt to trick her into sex. I've had sex once, she hit on me relentlessly, so I'd figure why not hit it? That is all my experience intimacy…

Does anyone know of any good apps that you can use to learn stuff/develop your mind while on the go? Preferably Android. I'd like not to waste those few minutes you get in the day.

How can I find a good hair stylist and get a good haircut?

Free Educational Resources

A motivational message from your friends at /th/

Let me explain a concept to you, /improve/.

There is a thing called Longevity Escape Velocity. To wit, at some point in the (hopefully near) future, life expectancies will increase faster than people age. More causes of age-related death will be cured; by the time you're old enough to suffer from a thing, that thing will have a treatment.

However- and this is the big however- it's not clear exactly what the longevity technologies of the future will involve or when they will be available.

You may live long enough to be able to improve yourself through direct means- assuming that you don't die due to unhealthy lifestyles first.

You're responsible for your own, potentially indefinite, lives, /improve/. Act like it!

This board must die

If we are to ever achieve true self-actualization, we have to follow our own light, our own drive. To feel the utter lack of meaning of our existence, and in this very light, carve our own meaning into it.

Every single one of us has their own path to walk, and to be "helped" by anyone else is just a ploy in which we forfeit our own drive to someone else. It is betraying the only person who will be with you from start to finish. You betray yourself.

>but muh guidance

Any message posted in this board won't guide you for more than a week. The very fact that you are here is a solid statement about yourself: you'd rather talk about self-improvement than go out and carry it out.

You want some fucking guidance? OK: stop browsing this imageboard, anon. You are your own person, and your past or current circumstances will limit you as much as you let them. You wanna become a better person? Go out and do something about it.

Oh, you are scared of failure? You are scared of not being able to do it? You are scared because you've been "trying" so hard and you've gotten not so far?

If you can't go ahead and do something for real, you are just lazy. Apathetic. Merely wasting your time so you can one day die and not feel the burden of life on your shoulders.

Life is struggle. From beginning to end. You've forsaken life for so long… and yet it is on your hands to take it all back.

Sigh…

I will never say I used to be a regular poster here, I will never even say I used to be addicted to imageboards. I will start anew. So should you.

Help me IMPROVE

I'm gonna be blunt just ask this question.

There's this you tube blogger or whatever i've seen that lives close by, no views pretty much.

I messaged her saying I like her videos and she should do some videos like (the suggestion)

She replied back a day later saying

Thanks, that means a lot and yeah ill try do some more videos thanks for suggesting me an idea :)

How can i reply to this? I was thinking something like "cool looking forward to it" but i feel as if the convo would end there..

please give me insight

I come here because I have nothing better to do with my life.

Experiments have been done with rats addicted to drugs (imageboards being the drug in this analogy). Keep the rat cooped up in that tiny testing cage, and yeah it's gonna stay a druggie until it dies. But build it a rat paradise–a huge romping ground filled with toys and fun stuff and varieties of foods and sexy girl rats–and the addiction starts to die down, even if you keep offering it the drug.

The conclusion being that addiction is not a disease, but a symptom. I come back here because my life outside of the internet is lacking in something. Perhaps social activity, perhaps a job that I'm passionate about, perhaps a city that I don't hate living in. Whatever it is, imageboards takes my mind off of that void, however temporarily, by distracting me with shitposts and petty flamewars that I can't help but pay attention to.

Be a better human with music!

beating your issues isn't a new phase of life

I used to think that in the future I would be a totally different person, and all my problems would be solved and I would be a cartoon example of a boy grown into a man. This is bullshit, who you are now is who you are going to be for a while, you are still going to jack off, you are still going to browse chans, you are still going to play video games, and you are still going to think disgusting thoughts.

It's not that you failed at changing yourself, life just sorta rolls on, there's no day that you suddenly woke up and got your shit together, it's a gradual process that you won't even see coming. Most of my problems that I had for myself weren't even problems. I discovered my sole problem was that I didn't have enough friends, and I didn't talk to enough people. Everything else was just bullshit I created for myself because I lacked social interaction, unsolvable puzzles made so I be occupied while alone.

I don't know what your main problem is, but the only advice I can give you is to make realistic goals. Realistic goals are very very different than unrealistic. Let me give you some unrealistic goals:

>all of that the world is your oyster bullshit, start a revolution, etc.

>fuck every girl you meet

>become a navy seal

>become a drug dealer

These are bullshit goals said by guys who don't leave there houses and watch too much fucking movies. I'm too lazy to list real goals, but you understand me, don't do things like run 20 miles in 10 minutes, get a titjob by Angela Merkel, read 20 books in one week. Keep things realistic.

Enneagram

Hi, /improve/.

Recently, I discovered a body of study of the personality on the more mystic side of psychology called "The Enneagram". It is ripe with all sorts of unscientific images, and in more than a way it seems like bullshit, but looking past the "alternative" stuff, it worked pretty well at describing me, my shortcomings, and my proposed "growth path", which is nothing more than therapy in order to become a better person.

In my scientific interpretation of the system, the Enneagram divides people on nine subgroups which all develop similar personal motivations and drives because of a common crippling fear. I suspect this could be because of this primal fear being the predominant one in the early childhood, and thus your psyche being shaped around dealing with this source of emotional unease. It bears saying that even within the same type, people can also be classified by which instinctual needs are sought for the most, this distinction splitting people of the same type between Self-Preservation, Social and Sexual individuals.

After some soul searching, and plenty of cross-referencing, I found out that fit most closely with the Sexual Five subtype.

As I looked even further, I found out that the fifth type of the Enneagram could very well envelop most of the chan users that I know of. As far as I can tell, most chan users tend to be intellectual-focused underachievers, who although have very strong emotions, can and do contain them, to only release them in situations where they know their person won't be judged for feeling "wrongly" (this safe environment is what makes chans so attractive to Fives). Most of us are not very social by nature, we overthink stuff way too much, and have plenty of problems to break out of our heads and start taking action. We break stuff down to the simpler pieces in an attempt to understand through most of stuff, and thus are not easily manipulated, resorting frequently to detachment as a defense mechanism.

If you are not described by the preceeding paragraph, I encourage you to research a bit on your own and try to find which number you are. I would be thrilled to discuss it.

What is most important about the enneagram to me isn't that it explains psyche through primal fears and instincts, but that it lays down the groundwork to counter one's mental pitfalls.

What other good self improvement communities are there?

I've checked out reddit.com/r/selfimprovement but yea, it's pretty fucking terrible.

I was always told as a child to only spend money if it means you'll make more money. Right now I have 100 dollars on my desk. What could I do with that money that will teach me a skill that I can use to make money? I was thinking buy some books on web design, learn that, and sell my service to random businesses in my area. Any other ideas /improve/

Pic related it's my TL;DR

I just realised. I have no idea what I want to do with my life–and that's okay. It's okay for me to not have a perfect plan. I can pursue Financial Independence instead and use that time to "discover myself" so to speak. I can travel, study what I want, when I want and indulge in my animu and vidya as I please.

What does /improve/ think of financial independence? It makes complete sense for someone like myself.

Your progress so far?

So, I'm curious how and what you people have been doing with your project.

As for me, here are my current achievements:

T+0: stopped smoking, switched to vaping

T+3 months: changed eating habits, started losing weight and feeling much better

T+4 months: started running once or twice a day, lost more weight

T+6 months: picked up lifting, reading, ditched most forms of escapism including fapping

Soon I will also start boxing and finally get a better job, but for now it's good. What about you guys?

What's the best way to cut a sugar addiction?

I used to down five of pic related a day. Now, I'll down one or two, maybe three, plus a mountain dew, which is just as bad. I've been trying like fuck to quit, but I just can't.

Recommended Reading Thread

What sort of hobbies do you guys have?

I'm looking to pick something up that I haven't done before and I'm struggling to find anything that really excites me. I already build model kits, play vidya and I'm learning the Kalimba. I'd like to find something else that's working with my hands but I'm unsure what.

What sort of hobbies would you recommend or are you considering picking up?

Trades

Alright imps, what have you been working on this week?

I finally got going on the excel exposure website and the learn python the hard way tutorial

Much easier once you've started. I don't expect to be a god at this shit, but it's nice to know what's under the surface of excel and programming.

What say you?

Educational Video about domination

Dumping this because I find it useful.Watch this video carfully and don't miss details.I'm pretty sure you guys will learn something new.

Beard or no beard?

/improve/ Quasi-Class

Sup /improve/

I am tasked with transforming somewhere from 2-30 adolescents from lazy, selfish and apathetic to men of character and worth.

I want your input.

What should I teach/focus on?

What should they know?

What makes a grown man/woman?

Thoughts, Ideas, and Feedback please.

I'm starting to convert anxiety into rage. I have a feeling this could end badly. What do.

Is there any truth to that "10,000 Hours spent on one skill leads to mastery" thing? What do you guys think?

investing

So guys I now just started wage slaving. But I want to invest my money into something so it can grow. What do you think I should start investing in? And why? I'm looking to see what you guys think is a good idea before I make a decision.

The first step to improve my situation and obtain a good life is money after all

My reflexes are going to shit

My memory is going to shit

My concentration is going to shit

My creativity (if I ever had it) is going to shit

My awareness is going to shit

My motivation is going to shit

What's your personal methodology guys? I'm curious.

Do you follow your gut? Take the safe route? Do you do tons of research and go for something or do you do things as you feel them when you feel them?

I question myself all the time and constantly come into conflict with myself due this. It seems I have multiple personalities vying for control using their own form of logic.

But, there is one thing that although may not be a methodology exactly it is something that I at least observe. That is, whenever something becomes popular or the masses flock to it, turn the other way and run. I don't know if it's worked or not but I'm not a total fuckup so there's that.

Memory

OK /improve/ is a great source of knowledge but i'm the kind of Guy who can't remeber the stuff i ate 2 days ago, how can i improve my memory ? Anyone has any good books that gives legit exercices and goes in depth ?

Height

23yo male. 5'7 and would naturally like to be a bit taller.

What options do I have to increase my height and how much do I potentially stand to gain?

Hey /improve/, /greenland/ here

The organisation which will be funded by the Greenlandic government to develop the land is almost complete, for updates, to promote the organisation and to get involved, go to >>>/greenland/

Don't forget to like here:

https://www.facebook.com/wildlifedevelopment

—————————

>"What is this?"

A project similar to /nambia/, except that you don't have to risk getting overwhelmed by swarms of niggers. We are going to colonize Greenland.

>"Which boards are participating?"

The board is more concentrated on making Greenland their own country, so obviously /pol/ and its derivatives are going to come as well. We are also looking to get /int/, /argentina/, /k/ and /tech/ into this, along with many more.

>"What is in it for me?"

If we manage to get it done, then you could end up with a small country of your own, the laws of which you could have a part in. We are not inventing our own country, so insane shit is likely not going to fly, but I am sure you have some things you may be interested in.

>"Why us?"

I know it sounds like escapism to run off to another country, but we could use some people. People willing to improve themselves

>"When?"

Now

I can feel it. It's the same cycle every single fucking time.

Over the last few weeks I've been obsessed with programming. I was motivated and driven for the first time in a long time. I was even making plans for maybe studying CS and stuff.

But now I feel my interest slipping away slowly. I have not lost interest yet, but I can feel how I'm starting to get annoyed very easily and browsing imageboards more again.

This is as far as I can go. In a few days all my motivation will be gone and I'm back to being a directionless zombie. I know this because it has happened before.

The only thing I can do is hope that the next surge of motivation will come soon and that maybe it will be enough to reach a certain momentum to keep me going. For now I already know that I'm going to fail…again.

I swear to G-d, I'm going to be alone till the end. There's nothing left to get but get rich.

So I'm going back to finish my school since I fucked up the first time by being a retard who didn't know any better but I'm not going to lie I am pretty downtrodden about it. Here's the tentative time frames and prices. I'm currently 22.

23-24, AAS, $6000(currently working on, can finish by 23 if work I work myself to the bone)

24-25? (about a year while I get all the prerequisites/gpa for the BS in order)

30, BS, $30000(possibly work as a contractor instead of employee in my field for flexibility)

32, MS, ~$3-40000???(3000 a class roughly for 14 classes, possibly quit)

The MS is extremely tentative since prices are a bit sketchy and I'm really in unfamiliar ground but the undergrad is much clearer and I already have some classes out of the way. It's still going to be expensive. Although to be honest I'm not counting on any financial aid whatsoever, maybe some loans.

This is fucking daunting. Jesus, I could barely make it in CC the first time around. This time I'm doing a bit better but I'm fucking nervous as a motherfucker looking at the long term plan. For the AAS the classes are all at night and will be easy to get at. To be honest, what I'm really doing is test trialing myself to see if I can even cut it for the BS. If not, at least it's a nice consolation price.

I plan on working through the BS but hopefully have enough saved to quit and go at the MS full time. Unless I have saved up maybe 100k by then (possible but will be extremely hard) I'll probably get loans to survive. It's still ways out there and the closer I get the more I can fine tune my plans but this shit is scary man. The only thing that gives me hope at this point is that at one point the AAS seemed impossible but I'm moving along at a good pace. Much better that I expected.

Can anyone give me some advice or share some experiences about their college days? Does this seem even realistic or close? Am I missing something? I never really planned on returning and the first stint I can barely remember what happened.

I finally have a job now.

So how do I make friends?

http://www.zompist.com/whylang.html

This is an excellent article about learning languages and why we fail. The gist of it is, that if you're not in a situation where you MUST use the language, chances are you won't learn it.

It has some good tips all throughout with some sobering realizations. The last paragraph was a sucker punch for me.

>If a language is used only at home, be aware that the children will learn only an impoverished form of it– possibly to their surprise, if they go to college and take courses in it, expecting an easy A. A high-school friend of mine was German but grew up in the States; returning to Germany, she was embarrassed to find that her written German was terrible. Similarly, my wife, who was educated in Peru, is always distressed at the low quality of the Spanish produced by Hispanics who've grown up here. (I know a linguist whose reaction was, "But they're still native speakers." Sure, but they have a lousy command of the written standard.)

So much for my ego. In light of this, I'm going to try to perfect my spanish. I can speak it natively but my reading and writing of it is borderline illiterate. I think for me this would be the smartest choice as I rather know a second language well that 3-4 languages mediocre 2 of which I may never use IRL. Plus, I get access to spanish imageboards, shit's p nice.

So what about you, what do you think about languages?

If you live in the US though, I honestly think learning programming or bettering your math is much better to know.

Managing Mental Health

Anon with severe clinical depression here. Can we get a mental health & illness thread going? Seems like a good thing to talk about.

Some Topic Points:

- Are you diagnosed or just ailing?

- What combinations of things do you do to treat it?

- What has been especially hard?

- What has been helpful?

- Do you have a support base or do you deal with it alone?

Guidelines:

- Try to be clear about what's up so there's no confusion over whether you're diagnosed with something

- Don't assume you know an anon's full story

- Aim to share and learn rather than argue or critique

- It's not all in your head. Be gentle with yourself.

Spinach-God tier food

Reminder to consume copious amounts of spinach. Especially if you have acne.

I aim to eat a good portion every day, i'm not sure if the internet is correct but i've definitely noticed a massive difference in health, both physical and mental.

Adderall and other Study Drugs

Earning money for underageb&ds

L-Theanine for Anxiety

Sticky in-progress

Failed Experiments

Mental exhaustion

What can I do when I start feeling mental exhaustion? Is there something I can do to alleviate this quickly? Is there some way I should be spending this time? How can I increase the time it takes working for me to become mentally exhausted? I've been working hard for a year and I still hit that wall pretty quickly.

How should I get my shit together?

I thought about my life, and due to some recent academic hardships (more like not studying), I've realized that this is not the first time I've failed to meet expectations, and maybe it's time I do something about it.

My "Failures":

I don't have a driver's license

I haven't had any formal work in over 2 years

I've never been in a relationship

I'm either close to or failing a bunch of classes at uni, which might force me to change my major(Comp Sci)

I'm not even sure I want to be in uni

I'm easily distracted when trying to get work done.

If I don't have class, I'll sleep in past noon.

I have little motivation to do things anymore.

I was a remarkably high-achiever in HS. Was in a the Technology Student Association, bands, chess club, AP classes, great grades, etc. Then I hit college and my life went to shit.

I was the guy everybody thought was going to do great things. But here I am, not really doing anything.

I thought I'd have more time to myself and be able to do all the things I'd wanted to do - but I never had to study in HS at all. I learned very passively. Here at Uni, I have to learn more actively, and since I never got any practice at it, I end up studying much longer than my peers for below-average grades. Now I'm left with even less free time than I had before, and I'm so overloaded with work that I have no motivation to work on the skills I want to improve outside of school.

I'm gonna try to focus on some of the things I want to do over the summer, and I'm (re)taking a math course online, because I failed it but I still want the freedom to do a bit of traveling.

I probably should stick around, even if it means changing my major (probably to SE, less hard electives, and less theory), but part of me wants to take a year or so, and learn CS on my own terms (I've amassed quite a few books I want to work through), and try to start my career as a programmer after that.

My issue here is student debt. I'm planning to stay enrolled for now, but if I can land a decent-paying job(at least enough to cover debt payments + any necessities) that I enjoy, I might try and take some time off.

Is this wise?

Would I still be able to get where I want to be?

Standing instead of sitting

Don't want to wait

Everyday will test me

tfw kebab

Shooting for the Stars

What did you do today to improve yourself?

I WANT OUT!!!

Boring

Request to BO

Self improvement music

GOALS

Masturbating cause hair loss?

What's the best way to self improve with $10,000?

Trying to re-sensitize my brain so I can enjoy pornography/women again

Improve yourself by eating a better diet

Board Improvement

Self improvement through drug use

100% Army Fitness

Scientific self improvement

Feeling stagnant

Motivation and Inspiration

Body Language and Posture Thread

Time Management Issues

Improvement

Body, Mind and Spirit

Project Zyzz

/am/ine

Self improvement blogs

Self-cultivation

No PC March

request

Pavlok

My ultimate personal challenge

life on a schedule may save my life

Motivation

Advice?

Superiority Thread

Further improvements.

Wisdom thread

How can I make my semen taste amazing?

I'm a fat ass. Tell me what excercizes to do right now.

Public Speaking & Toastmasters

Self improvement books (Mostly non political)

noFap, noPorn for health?