Agreed, the author attacks a strawman and then prescribes the most trite cliche in all of self-help: "do you what you love and the rest will take care of itself". Its anti-advice.
I've had essentially the same goals and dreams for over a decade, and still grow more deeply fascinated by the month. But I'm not getting any younger, old enough that I can no longer expect that things will naturally fall into place. That I too often find myself compulsively reading HN at 3pm and ahem navel-gazing at 3am, instead of "moving my feet" down the path of progress, is not due to a lack of love or inherent drive. Rather, its the steep learning curve against a background of distraction which disrupts "flow". Has for years.
I wish I hadn't thought so cynically of self-help when I was younger. But its only recently that I've found insightful any particular resources. "The Willpower Instinct" audiobook is readily available and highly recommended, and BJ Fogg's free program at tinyhabits.com complements it well. The lift.do app complements both (daily dont's can track your will-not-power). Also, the Pomodoro Technique is a good no-nonsense alternative to GTD and other complex productivity systems.
One last thing I read somewhere and keep in mind, was a study which showed that focusing on the positive outcomes of not doing [bad habit/thing] is more effective at changing behavior than fearing the anxiety and guilt felt after doing [bad habit/thing] (which was actually found to be counter-productive as a preventive technique).
I've had essentially the same goals and dreams for over a decade, and still grow more deeply fascinated by the month. But I'm not getting any younger, old enough that I can no longer expect that things will naturally fall into place. That I too often find myself compulsively reading HN at 3pm and ahem navel-gazing at 3am, instead of "moving my feet" down the path of progress, is not due to a lack of love or inherent drive. Rather, its the steep learning curve against a background of distraction which disrupts "flow". Has for years.
I wish I hadn't thought so cynically of self-help when I was younger. But its only recently that I've found insightful any particular resources. "The Willpower Instinct" audiobook is readily available and highly recommended, and BJ Fogg's free program at tinyhabits.com complements it well. The lift.do app complements both (daily dont's can track your will-not-power). Also, the Pomodoro Technique is a good no-nonsense alternative to GTD and other complex productivity systems.
One last thing I read somewhere and keep in mind, was a study which showed that focusing on the positive outcomes of not doing [bad habit/thing] is more effective at changing behavior than fearing the anxiety and guilt felt after doing [bad habit/thing] (which was actually found to be counter-productive as a preventive technique).