Be Less of a Loser, with Scott Adams

Okay, you aren\’t a loser to begin with, but you may be suffering from what Scott Adams calls Loserthink:Do you or someone you love express any of the following symptoms?

• Believing or acting like you know what someone else is thinking
• Labelling a person or group \”evil\” and the cause of everything wrong with society
• Still believing what your history teachers \”taught\” you?
• Jumping to conclusions
• Staying in your lane

Then you may suffer from \”Loserthink\”, Scott Adams\’s catch-all term for lazy thinking. Seek help immediately.This book is hilarious and stings – maybe like an annoying bee sting, or maybe like rubbing alcohol. It\’s mostly about the American political discussion on social media and the news, and Adams is clearly riled up. If you\’re also politically self-righteous and or hate Kanye, the book will rile you up too. However, I read it for its strength: it enables the reader to take responsibility for their own destructive thinking habits, and start practicing better ones. Loserthink can be a step towards breaking out of your mental prison if you let it.Check out my notes and quotes from the book:

\”Being absolutely right and being spectacularly wrong feel the exact same\”\”People who have good arguments use them. People who do not have good arguments try to win by labeling\”Get good at asking questions\”Continually remind yourself that the most likely explanation for many – if not most – situations in life is something that you didn\’t imagine\”\”We can\’t always tell the difference between the people who are far smarter than us and the people who are dumber. Both groups make choices we can\’t understand\”\”When you expect to be fooled, you can be on the lookout for it. But if you expect the opposite – that you will be wise, correct and sexy in most situations – you are primed to be fooled\”\”Everything is a slippery slope until it isn\’t\”\”If experts are routinely skeptical of other [past] experts, shouldn\’t you be skeptical of past experts too?\”\”Things usually end up wherever there is the least complaining\”\”Nature doesn\’t seem to care whether we are smart. In terms of our survival as a species, it only matters that some people, in some places, get things right some of the time\”\”Change what you do to change what you think\”