dadmonson

I can't make full sense of this quote but I like it for some reason...  I'm looking for an interpretation that would sound rational even if it wasn't intended to be that way
Tupac says,
"Though things change, the future's still inside of me"
What could he mean by, "The future's still inside of me"?
Here is the context of the quote:
In this game, the lesson's in your eyes to see
Though things change, the future's still inside of me
We must remember that tomorrow comes after the dark
So you will always be in my heart, with unconditional love
In this game, the lesson's in your eyes to see
Though things change, the future's still inside of me
We must remember that tomorrow comes after the dark
 
Again, I'm looking for an interpretation that would sound rational even if it wasn't intended to be that way
 
Radiohead also said something similar:  "The future is inside us
It's not somewhere else"

She changed the direction of thinking in many ways:
1. It was worth it to pay attention to what I wanted since an anxiety develops when no one is watching out for me. (altruism sucks)
2. When I was called selfish I was able to respond with "Yes, I am, What is it that you want?", instead of guilt paralysis. 
3. Rather than trying to look great, work on being great. (made the goal much clearer and simpler)
4. Knowing that my emotions have a direct relationship with my thoughts. (now common knowledge with cognitive behavior therapy)
   as in any fear that I have has a thought behind it.
5. Ethics is not a secret of priests or saints, it can be figured out.
6. Once introduced to her, I stopped trying to find answers through Abrahamic religions.
There is probably more, but that is all I can gather right now.
 

I find "A is A" helpful as a way of reminding myself to always accept reality, even if it's unpleasant. It helps me get past the feeling of "I wish things weren't this way" and focus on dealing with whatever problem I'm currently having.
Good thread, it should be interesting to see people's responses.

For example,
Sometimes I repeat the phrase, "To Say I love you one must first know how to say the I" to remind myself to be assertive with other people..
How about you?
 

The word "art" is used in different senses. For me, the top Google prompts, for instance...  "the art of...war", "the art of...shaving", "the art of manliness", "the art of the deal"

Benjamin Franklin wanted to achieve moral perfection so he wrote in a journal and marked in his journal everytime he violated one of his virtues... I believe this is one of the reasons he achieved such great success.  I want to do something similar but with the Objectivist virtues and instead of using a journal I will be using Habitica.com.
I need more examples of instances in which I can mark when I have practiced a virtue and instances I can mark when I have violated a virtue... Can you think of anymore?
Here is the list I have so far:
Productivity/Purposefulness
Doing items on my to-do list
Going to work
Going to work on time
Violations of Productivity/Purposefulness
Spending more than 30 minutes pottering around when I have better things to do
Not working on a project for more than 3 days in a row because it didn't excite me as much as it did at the beginning.
Honesty
Telling the truth when it's hard
Violations of Honesty
Lying
Justice
Listening to people who deserve it
Apologizing when I have done someone wrong in some way
Disagreeing with someone who disparages views that I agree with
Violations of Justice
Remaining silent when someone disparages my views
Independence
Paying my bills
Looking at my bank account
Violations of independence
Buying something I can't afford
__________________________________________
I can't think of any unique example for rationality and integrity, since rationality and integrity  encompasses every example I just listed.  Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Benjamin Franklin wanted to achieve moral perfection so he wrote in a journal and marked in his journal everytime he violated one of his virtues... I believe this is one of the reasons he achieved such great success.  I want to do something similar but with the Objectivist virtues and instead of using a journal I will be using Habitica.com.
I need more examples of instances in which I can mark when I have practiced a virtue and instances I can mark when I have violated a virtue... Can you think of anymore?
Here is the list I have so far:
Productivity/Purposefulness
Doing items on my to-do list
Going to work
Going to work on time
Violations of Productivity/Purposefulness
Spending more than 30 minutes pottering around when I have better things to do
Not working on a project for more than 3 days in a row because it didn't excite me as much as it did at the beginning.
Honesty
Telling the truth when it's hard
Violations of Honesty
Lying
Justice
Listening to people who deserve it
Apologizing when I have done someone wrong in some way
Disagreeing with someone who disparages views that I agree with
Violations of Justice
Remaining silent when someone disparages my views
Independence
Paying my bills
Looking at my bank account
Violations of independence
Buying something I can't afford
__________________________________________
I can't think of any unique example for rationality and integrity, since rationality and integrity  encompasses every example I just listed.  Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Share your tips on how to beat do-nothingism:
I'll start off...  Here is a remarkably simple way to stop procrastinating...  I can see a lot of folks here saying that it would never work but don't knock it until you try it'!  http://zenhabits.net/leggo/

Here is a post that fits this topics: http://deadstate.org/hashtag-designed-to-bash-millennials-get-hijacked-by-millennials-and-spits-truth/
I don't get the optimism some people have of the millenials, it seems that the millenials are just going to doom the economy even more... Remember "The Student Rebellion" essay in CTUI? Those kids had the same views as the kids today... they could've been even more left leaning...  Every generation knows that something went wrong with the previous generations  but they always turn around and blame the wrong people in those previous generations.  To fix the problems they just have the same anti-liberty solutions that the previous generations had. The millenials, most likely, are only going to exacerbate the problem for the next generation and then the cycle of blame will continue...  

No, I don't agree with that. You will get a lot more women by being a douchebag and treating them like dirt. Especially the really good looking ones.
That doesn't mean you should be a douchebag. It just means you should never think that being nice is a good way to get a woman to like you, more than as a friend.
Everyone can be nice. It's easy. Even cows are nice. It doesn't really mean anything, until you put in context of a strong and confident person.
First off, be proud of who you are. Learn to not give a shit what others think. As long as you're happy with yourself, that's all that matters.
Don't ever lie, cheat, hide or apologize for who you are. Be open and honest - let them take it or leave it.
Should you approach every random girl you find attractive? Well, would you want to? Personally, I wouldn't have time for much else than chasing girls I find attractive. However, it's good to have the balls to do it when you really want to approach someone.
What to say? See, this is really difficult to teach. You need to find things that are true to who you are. Look around for tips and pick out a few that you like, just outside your comfort zone, and go for it. With time you'll learn to wing it.
Personally I just say any stupid thing that comes to mind, try to crash and burn and then somehow make it work. While someone else might get slapped I get them to laugh.

I think "pickup artists" are just guys who are naturally charming and have a lot of experience with women, trying to sell snake oil to guys who aren't. But, the fact is, 99% of people aren't supremely charming and experienced...and yet, most of them manage to find partners. Just look at your friends and acquaintances, who have partners: what percentage of them would you say are "pickup artists", who can pick up a girl pretty much at will? I doubt you know more than one guy like that. Everyone else does it without any special skills.
So I think what you should worry about isn't how the pickup artists do it, it's how these other people do it. There are only a couple of things that ACTUALLY WORK, in my experience:
1. Choose who you like: like women you know, and who have similar interests and values to yours...and are therefor more likely to like you back. Don't bother chasing after someone who isn't interested, or is out of your league (for whatever reason).
2. Experience interacting with women. I don't just mean romantic experience, although that is very important: and the only way to really become experienced is to actively seek experience (in other words, don't fixate on one girl you like, but rather "play the field"; I'm not suggesting that you should be with anyone, no matter who they are, but don't say no to women unless you have a good reason to: and "you're not my ideal woman" shouldn't count as a good reason).
However, romantic experience aside, just making female friends is very important. People (including women) hate uncomfortable social interactions, and they will pass up a lot of potentially good things, just to avoid them. When a woman sees someone who is either by themselves, or surrounded by other guys, the main fear they have about talking to that person is that "this is going to be uncomfortable". And, unless you're really, really charming and confident, you're not going to change their mind about it: it's going to end up a self fulfilling prophecy. They're going to avoid being alone with you, at all cost...not because they hate you, but because they don't trust you to be able to avoid uncomfortable moments.
On the other hand, if they see you surrounded by female friends, who are comfortable talking to you, they will not have that fear: they will be open to interacting with you. At that point, you don't need any special skills, you just need to talk to them, same way you would talk to anyone else.

I didn't know any black movies or actors that should replace the current nominees that is why I didn't answer your question outright. It made me think more about the issue, that is why I said that it was a good question...  You could say that I should've thought about it more before I asked the question on here but I didn't.
I don't care if people dislike me on here because I ask questions such as this... my emotional knee-jerk response when I heard Jada Smith complaining was something like: "She's just whining and pulling the race card!" but I can't form a good opinion on an issue based on just a knee-jerk emotional response such as that.
Playing a devil's advocate of sorts have served me well and I'm going to continue to do it.
From Ayn Rand Answers
The Best of Her Q & A
 
Is there any validity to the technique of the devil’s advocate?
 
AR: Yes, it’s very valuable. Playing devil's advocate means assuming a role opposite to your own conviction; advocating ideas the "devil" would throw at you. This technique trains you to answer every objection to your position. It's a good way to test your ideas, because if you encounter an objection you can't answer, you better find the answer or correct your thinking. (pgs. 178-179)

In addition to this, I've adopted the following mantra: "If I want to become a great person then I have to reach my goals everyday."
I'm a disciple of causation!

I've read all of Ayn Rand's non-fiction and fiction but I'm not too bright, plus I have adhd.  Can someone please explain to me, like you would to a high schooler who knows nothing of Objectivism, why capitalism has a propensity to lead an individual to high self esteem and communism facilitates low self esteem?
 
From what I've read and understand, capitalism leaves you free to act therefore leaves you free to gain confidence in the use of your own mind.  Confidence in the use of your own mind and confidence in your ability to deal with reality is by definition self esteem.  Under communism this isn't possible because you depend on others for things.  You can never gain confidence in your ability to deal with reality because you are dealing with reality through other people.
 
 
I know there is a lot to add to that and the way I put it isn't that eloquent and I doubt it would convince anybody who knows nothing of Objectivism to look into it any further, so can you please answer my question?

IMO one of the keys to success in work, school, hobbies, sports etc is doing your work before you play. To help you do this try to get an accountability partner(somebody outside your household) and make it a goal to not get on the internet or watch TV or whatever else until you've completed your other goals for that day. Meet or talk with your accountability partner often. I talk to mine Sundays through Thursdays. I use Fridays and Saturdays as rest days.
I highly recommend trying it to see if it works for you. It has reduced the amount of time I spend procrastinating GREATLY... and I have yet to not meet a day's goals.

If you want you could also bet something like your fav. shirt or money that you have to give up on the 2nd day in a week that you didn't meet a day's goals.

If you can't find an accountability partner give these guys a shot: http://www.personalcheckin.com

Voters are responsible and most (present company excluded) get the government they deserve. CNN had given a group of "undecided" voters dials to record their real-time approval. When the candidates promised a goodie, you could see the approval graph rising. The candidates merely know their audience.