❀ the cult of: ➥motivational speakers ➥life coaches ➥personal growth gurus ➥new-age charlatans ➥AWESOMENESS FEST

also old people

glad I finally get to see iatee posting about cars

the value of many of these actual products is just as dubious as quantum jumping

xxxpost sort of! if everyone else is out there saying "i exist!" and you go quiet, people very quickly forget that you exist. and then your tv spots look more like this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKL254Y_jtc

and yeah iatee dayo may be right here. like, very few (if any!) consumer decisions are wholly rational, so if by "subconscious" you mean "whether we know it or not we are more likely to select products we've heard of or seen advertised" then yes of course. just, if you mean this in some Hidden Persuaders way or like I'm going to buy Fancy Feast just because I see it advertised whether I have a cat or not, then no.

this is of course where the conversation turns around to why all of those mind movies look exactly the same. because while virtually all ads are innocent ("please just like me!") and the ones that aren't don't work nearly as well as they diabolical geniuses who came up with them would like to think, the net effect of all that chatter is absolutely pernicious. and we start mistaking other people's fantasies for our own, or mixing up basic desires for e.g. safety and security and love with astons and private jets and six pack abs and our own personal charity for grateful starving children and a multimillion dollar internet business and a pony.

george saunders' "brain dead megaphone" is pretty good on this iirc.

btw kundalini yoga is kooky but ultimately less culty than crossfit afaik

desire makes the world go round

ugh, finally got around to reading this thread, so sad and distressing

wait "please just like me" is like the exact opposite of innocent!

crossfit!!

also hi forks

thanks rog

i think it's really disingenuous to say that "please just like me" is blameless on its own, it's only when there's SO MUCH OF IT and it's SO CONFUSING that it's suddenly bad.

yeah, I can see the similarities iatee... probably something fundamental about a society built around consumerism. but there's a difference in bargaining power I think in these scenarios that makes the marketing here different and can sell a different type of product to a different type of person.

iPad is a cool, glitzy object ... totally useless in the grand scheme of things, but it at least adds a little value to your life, even just as an amusing distraction from the pain of existence.

compare this to Astral Breathing 4 $$$Million$$$ which will solve your problems with your bills, your wife, your kids, and finally let you live your dreams. anyone with an ounce of common sense would laugh at that shit, but if you're in a hard place in life or prone to deception, you're going to fork over cash for basically false promises.

solve your problems with your bills, your wife, your kids, and finally let you live your dreams.

iirc the ipad 3 will do this

but really, how far are these people from people who are gonna sleep outside the apple store for that ipad 3

no but the ipad is revolutionary why dont u see

this is a paper from 2009(?) that gives a little more background on Mindvalley and def makes them sound more like a six sigma thing:

http://www.slideshare.net/fedeeli/agileentrepreneurship

― ⚓ (gr8080), Friday, February 3, 2012 4:25 PM

So this is a really interesting document. Not six sigma, and not very good presentation/slide design, but a totally legit summary/synthesis of a lot of "current" management/entrepreneurship chatter. Says a lot about the "why," remains hilariously/admirably vague on the "what."

but really, how far are these people from people who are gonna sleep outside the apple store for that ipad 3

― iatee, Friday, February 3, 2012 8:31 PM (4 minutes ago)

hmmm... maybe difference is intent in getting a specific response. iPad 3 marketing is designed to make the average consumer want it. if people freak out about it and lose 4 days work to buy it, that could be their own personal idiosyncrasy. compare it to marketing designed specifically to take advantage of easily duped people by selling snake oil. now I'm getting into lolaw mode.

the thing with crossfit is a lot of people want to be in crazy awesome shape for whatever reason, and doing crossfit on the reg will do that. the basic exercises are pretty solid. it's less culty than ab machines on that count.

yeah snake oil is in the eye of the culture and you'll have a hard time making absolute value judgments one way or the other.

well, snake oil here is ... iPad 3 that works v. an iPad that's actually a cut-up pizza box spray painted silver. can't imagine any evidence coming out showing that the Silva Method really works.

i've wanted to try crossfit but the group thing scares me off. also $. i like intensity in exercise but the culture around it not so much. same with yoga tbh.

I thought crosscut was over and people do p90x now, or is it vice versa?

theyre both popular, v similar, crossfit is more community grassroots style px90 is all corporate and pro

ive never done crossfit but the people seem v supportive and not that bad

the only thing I know about crossfit is that one of my gf's grad school friends does it and she is in very good shape

yah it seems like a p good system for getting ripped

the idea of working out w/other ppl is weirder than quantum jumping to me

p90x is like the do-it-at-home call-this-900-number version of crossfit. it's a "program", crossfit is a "brand" with gym affiliates and certified trainers.

i maybe give px90 the slight edge cause they employ the incredible phrase muscle confusion

just to be clear itt crossfit gets culty about eatin' paleo and whatnot but is not actually a cult.

ive never done crossfit but the people seem v supportive and not that bad

― lag∞n, Friday, February 3, 2012 5:49 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yep this is what i've heard too

i did eat paleo for a while and it was p amazing

my old roommate tried to get me into paleo pretty reg. didn't seem that bad, just can't get into a diet with a name.

i wanted to say something about the language that advertising deploys and how its kinda a root language for all this mindvalley/mgmt theory/optimize yr lyfe stuff where content and tone get separated but now all its all i can do to go on and on abt my theories of how best to exercise

the idea of working out w/other ppl is weirder than quantum jumping to me

― RYVITA® (Lamp), Friday, February 3, 2012 5:52 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes, this^ basically

it makes working out much easier is all

i paid for a personal trainer for a few months and i felt as ashamed w/ myself for paying someone to make me exercise as i prob would attending a quantum jumping seminar, but damn it if i wasn't in better shape than i'd been in years :\

I don't think there's anything weirder about having a personal trainer than having a shrink, nobody's got perfect inner drive for achieving their fitness goals or whatever and if paying someone to help you helps, why not

by nobody I mean nobody on ilx

hmmmmm

a personal trainer is good if you're willing/able to go at their pace -- if they're in tremendously great shape, they might forget that you need to go a little slower for a while. i saw a trainer berating a young woman on the treadmill, being all "go faster! faster!" and the woman was like "this is as fast as i go, dude." jillian michaels style trainers = DUD.

pushin u 2 ur limit

well I mean it depends on the context, there's a chance she wasn't 'pushing herself' and there's a chance he was just a dick

MIND OVER MATTER

ugh

mindvalley over matterhorn

haha

mind valley ranch

mind over hills and valleys

pain is weakness quantum jumping out of your body

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC21NByERgg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVJsW8Pqb-I&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1SYRyprzMI&feature=related

scott seward joins us at last

Katie Darling explains how we get bugs on our windshields and need wipers AND a chisel to clear our pain-bodies.