Benjamin Hardy

Looking at all the positive reviews I can't help but wonder if Benjamin Hardy fans have invaded all the early reviews.

This is a blog post masquerading as a bad book. The entire message can be summed up into: "Your environment influences the person you are, so structure an environment that helps you be a person you want to be." There, I just saved you from reading a mind-numbing 200 pages in which the author repeats this idea ad-nauseum, never aware that this is not the least bit show more controversial.

Mr. Hardy wrote another cliched self-help book that uses misapplied science (jumping fleas!) and poor analogies to hammer a simplistic message. Its as if he did all his research watching TED talks, wrote a blog post, leveraged that into a book and filled it with hot air. show less

This short book provided some helpful ideas on how to measure goals and reduce negativity. In essence, the authors recommend measuring progress backwards (i.e. compare today to where you were 1 year ago - look at the GAIN you have achieved). It is a great idea! In addition, the book also proposes the practice of recording daily wins. This is a positive habit that I see much value in.

In reading this book in audio book format, it was fun to listen to the authors record an "after chapter" show more discussion. Adding podcast style discussions into the book reminded me of the Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins audio book which also used this style. These post-chapter discussions added some further insights to the audio book experience.

My primary critique of the book is the "all or nothing" examples provided by the authors in a few cases. For example, Sullivan mentions he previously enjoyed wine a bit too much. His solution? Completely eliminate wine. Completely removing wine is one way to go, yet I found it strange that moderation was seemingly not considered. Likewise, Hardy reflects on his past excessive enjoyment of video games like World of Warcraft. It appears that Hardy may have also completely given this up. These two examples bothered me. I think it would be fascinating to see the authors discuss their ideas with Gretchen Rubin who has a different perspective (e.g. some people are abstainers, some are moderators etc). show less

I am sure the author is a very nice person but this is self-help fascism in the sense that what he offers is not a dorection to self actualisation but some sort of militaristic struggle to achieve with a capital A.

Commit to make 10x the money you made! This is the prime example of idiocy, firstly what if you made very very little then this is automatically achievable, secondly what if you made a huge amount because you are in a high paying job, is it even possible to earn 10x? And in any show more case how does that relate to self actualisation?

Some information is valuable, many of the experiments he recounts are inspiring but the overall philosophy of life seems sick to me. show less

An interesting point of view on productivity and success strategies grounded in relatively recent research in psychology. I found Hardy's perspective inspiring, especially during the dark days of the 2020 pandemic. I've already bought his second book and look forward to reading that as well.