I once had a manager who decided to "optimize the team" by making us take an MBTI test. So I looked up what personality type was listed as the best suited for my job and just lied on the test. The whole experience made me uncomfortable. The idea that my financial security hinged not on my performance, but if I passed a literal vibe test was upsetting and a bit insulting.
I heard they use those tests to discriminate because personality is not legally protected. When they do it out of the blue, they're probably looking to fire someone.
It’s also the richest (5X the catholic church, they keep it hush to stay small bean). And I would argue most powerful/covertly influential. I think Most American ties with Scientology.
I used to work at a mega church and part of my disillusionment with Christianity came from the churches obsession with leadership conferences, entrepreneurship, and business self help books.
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make MERCHANDISE of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. Hosea 12:7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales- they love to cheat. NLT
And down south, ive seem so many church folk focused on wearing fancy clothing, when their God focuses more on the beauty of their heart, not their bank accounts
You know i developed long ago this analogy that basically capitalist propaganda was a secularized version of religious dogmatism, replacing a perfect god with a perfect market, saints with enterpreneurs, the bible with econ101 textbooks etc. I did not expect my analogy to be THIS literal lmao
Have you seen the Fallout show? "Reclamation Day" is basically the prophetic vision of the Vault Tec corporate family. And it's not far off that a Futuristic America would have literal corporations as factions. Much like how Demolition Man and Idiocracy predicted.
Surely you can do the same comparison gymnastics with whatever marxist system you'd prefer our economic system to run in bud Is the capitalism in the room with you?
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make MERCHANDISE of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. Hosea 12:7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales- they love to cheat. NLT
@@naomistarlight6178 there's definitely some language and attitudes that are the same across the board but there's definitely specific approaches that Mormons take in their practices. Also idk if polygamy is really a normal thing in mainstream US Christianity but perhaps I know nothing about it 🤷
Okay, but “don’t be evil” is a good business policy. I wish more companies followed it. Like even one company. Like the one company that had that as its motto.
Ex-evangelical who has been uncomfy w/self help since deconverting but i could never articulate why, all i could say was it "felt like preaching". Only to learn that they WERE preaching all along! Thank you so much for putting this video together!
Speaking as a Buddhist, the form of mindfulness pushed by corporations and such has frustratingly little to do with the actual Buddha-dharma and seems to be entirely secular. This is a pretty common feature among Buddhist practices and concepts that are separated from the Buddhist framework by outside parties. I kinda wish it actually was propaganda lol
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make MERCHANDISE of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. Hosea 12:7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales- they love to cheat. NLT
Yes, everything has been stripped of its spirituality. Mindfulness is supposed to get people to think about the eternal path of the spirit. It's about recognizing the flow of time and the inevitability of change. I couldn't imagine separating it as a practice from the beliefs of dharma, reincarnation, and liberation (nirvana). Plus, it means these mostly white "gurus" are taking credit for the work of Eastern Buddhists.
Agreed. I don't know much about the specifics of Buddhism and the different variations, I always saw that the corporate use of mindfulness was to try to keep their workforce calm enough that they don't see just how shitty the corporate overlords treat them. It's a fancy sedation tactic.
@@joshipokemongiveaways5084 a good start might be reading Buddhist influenced literature. Good examples might be the Chinese classic novels Journey to the west or the dream of the red chamber.
OMGs! I just finished Robin Sharma's 5am Club. What absolute crap! There were no scientific references, just vague mentions. I have a degree in neuroscience, and there was so much inacuracy. I raged while I read. It was really just protestant work ethic virtue signalling. What about the 11pm club? Those of us who do our best work after everyone else has gone to bed? The 5am club was asleep 3 hours ago. Lightweights.
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make MERCHANDISE of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. Hosea 12:7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales- they love to cheat. NLT
I have always been this way, I really become alert, motivated, and focused after 3PM. I can't seem to change it, despite long periods of living and working at various schedules. I just love sitting down around sunset, focusing on something, and working without interruption into the night and early morning.
There's something I intensely dislike about such genres of self-help that's also in line with Christianity as it manifests in the US. There's this theme of trying to fit yourself into a certain lifestyle and worldview and disregarding yourself without even first examining them. A title like "the seven habits of ..." already has that premise in its title. Whereas realistically what it seems gives you more utility would be to pay more attention to yourself and the nature of the material environment you are in that you have influence over and from there build toward something that actually works for you in a way some remote book author can never do.
Just commenting 5 minutes in, so I'm not sure if you'll also touch on this, but this also reminds me of the "Love Languages", which was a book also written by a Christian man with really no basis in scientific research whatsoever, and which has also made its way into pop psychology. For anyone interested in Mormonism I would recommend Alyssa Grenfell's channel and for Evangelical Christianity in general (and its lasting effects on US politics) I would highly recommend Fundie Fridays. And of course, Knowing Better's video on Mormonism too. This was such an interesting video, thank you!!
Funnily enough, it comes up at the end! Love Languages was one of the original books that got me down this rabbit hole. But since I'm an "economist" for a living, it didn't fit as well into the overall narrative of what I felt qualified to gripe about.
@larissabrglum3856 oh my gosh yes, like "to train up a child" by the Pearls which just straight up advocates for child abuse. It's horrific. And then you have cases such as the Remnant Church with Gwen Shamblin-Lara's parenting advice AlLeDgEdLy leading to the death of a young child. It's heart breaking
Commenting again to say: I think this interestcs well with the widespread MLM "business opportunities" that run particularly rampant in Utah, and seem to in other religious communities too. The prosperity gospel and its iterations run DEEP in that space. It's interesting to me that most of these religious self help writers seem to be men, and most MLM "huns" are women, especially when considering the gender roles encouraged in most traditional Christian communities.
Was gonna say, I came across most of these "business"-type books/authors through Amway, so I think you're 100% right about the MLM connection. (Got out of that pretty quick, it definitely had the preachy vibes!)
"Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” - Matthew 19:24 It seems that all these Prosperity Gospel preachers have carefully erased this quotation from their own Gospel.
I love using this verse to push back against this kind of mindset, but unfortunately a lot of people work their way around this verse by saying that the Eye of the Needle was a well-known gate to some city that camels notoriously had trouble getting through, so they had to duck to squeeze through. I don't know how accurate that is though
@@budbutterson9577 It's completely made up. There was no such gate. That said, the verse needs to be read in its context. Just two verses later Jesus explains his point by saying "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
@@BM_100That's a verse that is almost always used out of context. Somebody has just used a really expensive jar of perfume to anoint Jesus' feet. Judas Iscariot (who, according to John's version of the story, has been stealing from the disciples' communal money bag) says that it could have been sold to help the poor. And Jesus is simply pointing out that this act is something that can only be done in a limited window of time, whilst helping the poor isn't as time critical.
17:47 You should look into those Utah numbers. The reason they're "doing so good" is because the index used is skewed towards lower (or no) taxes and against (or no) worker rights. Specifically, Utah is first cause it holds no.1 position in "NO Estate / Inheritance Tax Levied", Low "State Minimum Wage" and for being strongly anti-labor-union. The index is designed by American Legislative Exchange Council - a conservative lobbying organization, bringing together "conservative state legislators and private sector representatives who draft and share model legislation for distribution among state governments in the United States"... and in the rest of the world. THEY ARE VERY VERY BAD! Also, evil.
To be fair, he did say "Like, Utah hasn't maintained the strongest economy in America for 17 years straight by caring for individual people" so I feel like he's aware of where the numbers come from...
I had to read a Lencioni book at work. I clocked it for the nonsense it was straight away, while most of my colleagues thought it was great. I am non religious, and they were all Christian to varying levels. This now makes sense, as it comes from a common place.
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make MERCHANDISE of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. Hosea 12:7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales- they love to cheat. NLT
We were required to do a whole class on 7 habits and I always thought there was something off about it. I never liked self-help esque books like this because they never felt grounded in reality and seemed to always have an agenda that I didn't conform to.
I'm glad you mention Dr K. I feel like his work is honest, but also, he makes it a clear when something is his opinion, or when something is supoorted by studies. He also makes it clear when something is his experience or his experience with patients versus what the scientific consensus at odds. He gives so much free content, actual helpful content, not just long-form ads like other "free content, buy my course" creators. He's also honest at how has advantages, and how he tries to help, understanding that some people have such deep traumas, that a few videos won't always work. He also has a healthy community that tries to curb cult-like behavior even though there's plenty of jokes about it. His own community started pressing him about certain claims and he's always been transparent when something was widely criticized about him. Overall, he's one of very few "content creators" (He's actually got a medical degree) that I respect and financially supoort.
I feel like push back is warranted here just cause the flavor is different doesn't mean it's not the same thing. Doctor K has literally said he wants to be the next depak chropra. That's like saying you want to be the next alternative health guru. Even if you're up front about whether ideology you're pushing. It's still bad/pseudoscientific information he's pushing. Especially when he tries to "demonstrate" diagnosing people with aravedic medicine (the Indian alt health thing he pushes that doesn't work).
There is a fine line between "here's a possibly useful way of thinking" and pseudoscience. I haven't seen much of Dr. K's work, but from what I've looked at he at least tries to be transparent about stuff and does not oppose science.
The racism , classism and sexism in Mormonism is exhibited when you see that the “Highly Effective “ books talk nothing of any discrimination that the highly effective worker might encounter that affect this job prospects. Also nothing about collective action like unions or questioning anything about corporations.
Eh not really mormonism specifically. All self help books gloss over these external things “bc it’s all about your mindset”. Then you can’t complain their book/course didn’t help you, because they can just say you didn’t do enough
@ my company had a long standing tradition of only promoting top performing sales candidates to managerial positions, until in the wake of the summer of 2020 they suspended this practice and chose diversity (skin color, and sex not any other form) as not only a criteria, but the most influential criteria. Suddenly sales people who were average and in a few cases a tick below average were being given managerial positions. This is racism. Anyone who supports this is a racist. The color of one’s skin is not a legitimate reason to promote one person over another nor is it an acceptable tie breaker. Again this is racism and those who justify it are racists.
@ my company had a long standing policy of promoting sales managers from a pool of sales people who met a minimum threshold of success. Since 2021 this has been suspended in favor of hiring/promoting people who check 2 specific boxes (woman/ not white). This is racism. Determining who gets what job based on skin color or sex is bigoted and immoral. People who support this are racists and bigots.
I learned about Covey because he was mormon. I was Mormon in northern California by the way. I thought it was kind of common knowledge, mormons like to claim their own for celebrities.
As a Christian I 100 percent agree with your video. My sister and I have had this conversation before. What I realized is a lot of these self help business people have so much in common with a lot of mega church pastors, it’s almost become this religious experience. From the way they speak, their “conference’s”, retreats etc… It’s so bizarre. I think of Grant Cardone, who I didn’t know was a Scientologist until recently but if you watch him and Steven Furtick or even TD Jakes, idk who started it first honestly. It’s like asking what came first the chicken or the egg. They’re almost one in the same.
I remember reading Outliers for high school and being the only one who didn’t like it. I thought it was strange how it spent so much time talking about how “outliers” are a product of circumstance only to end with a very long rant about how his mother persevered through poverty and worked hard for her success and that I should do the same. It felt confused, but I found explaining that notion to my classmates difficult 😅 I love the insight that this contradiction derives directly from the same interpretation of Calvinistic pre-determinism that I was taught in high school history classes. The pervasiveness of these ideas kind of explains why my objections induced vacant, confused expressions from my classmates and how so many people read these books and manage to learn so little from them
Same here. And don't get me wrong, a lot of self-improvement advice IS solid. I don't want to fall into the academia trap of thinking that something isn't valuable just because it's not peer-reviewed or universally replicable. But I did a lot of work on the economics of religious movements in the past. So I started to notice patterns where a lot of my business books were being financed by overtly religious organizations that were making millions off converting the success of books into selling courses. Which isn't INHERENTLY bad, but definitely started to feel sleezy to me the more I looked into it.
@@UrgentlyFiring I think you have the causes and consequence reversed. It is because of their influence in religious groups that they become best sellers, then the cycle reinforces itself. A lot of these religious movements also have influence in things like Amway, which also feed into book sales. An example is the "rich dad" guy whose sales come mainly from network marketing groups, many of them starting from religious groups.
I was Mormon when I attended a Catholic high school in Canada. We read “The 7 Habits of Highly-Effective Teens” and there was this whole curriculum that went with it. 🙃 So I was like 7 layers deep into cults.
I see great similarity in modern "selfie-style" advertisements and Mormon testimonies of faith. Listening to a Hello Fresh ad reminds me of Fast and Testimony meetings.
@ajbXYZcool if you think about someone offering a cookie-cutter testimony, their sentences usually end in downward inflections. The last word is usually a lower pitch than the rest of the sentence. That is specifically what I notice most.
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make MERCHANDISE of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. Hosea 12:7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales- they love to cheat. NLT
once i was doing a field sales job and my boss made everyone read this book that was called something like "rhino energy" or something like that, and i was listening to it on audiobook on my bike ride to the office in the morning, and at one point literally out of nowhere this mf drops pascal's wager like it's legit helpful life advice i literally turned around, biked home, and never talked to them again
@@cevcena6692 no, i quit my job over the combination of 1. already not having a good time and 2. they were proselytizing to me in required reading, and not even with good arguments.
I listened to a bunch of guru management bs books. Awful. If Sun Tzu is like "try being sneaky." Every management book is like "make workers want to do a lot of work without paying them more 👍 "
They made me take a class called "Leadership 101" which was basically giving us a score based on how well we internalized "7 habits" and "Paradigms & Principles". It was for kids that had fully disengaged with school and it only made things worse 😂
you shocked me by quoting that Utah had one of the best economic outlooks. I had to go look up where the rating came from: ALEC, a ridiculously biased organization.
I'm going to coin the term "blueshirting": When you enroll your *gifted* children in kindergarten as early as possible based on the assumption that they will never develop good study and work habits unless they have the handicap of being younger than all of their peers.
My high school gave us all copies of the "7 Highly Effective Habits" and while there was definitely some helpful ideas in there, it wasn't worth whatever they charged my underfunded public school for it.
I work in a library and I love videos like this, since I'll never get the chance to do my own deep dive into the types of books I see every day. I always thought these types of books were wacky and tended to overgeneralize a lot of complicated concepts, but I certainly did not expect them to be so deeply rooted in religion. Good video!
they made us read 7 Habits in rehab. i hated it so much. i never realized it was actually Christian but I'm not shocked. it's even funnier because this rehab was "secular" and "private" despite pushing this stuff and taking public funds.
I just wish authors did not pick one study from 50 years ago to support their thought and call it science. Also I would not be opposed to being send on a free trip for whatever reason....
Haha Younger adult me felt the same! But now that I have a job where I travel 6+ weeks out of the year just for work, I'm mostly looking to stay home any chance I get.
I don't think these things are scientific, but I do think there's a thing with self-help books and the way humans tend to work, where the actual book doesn't need to be proven--it can do good if it just gets you in the right headspace to get stuff done, right? But then all the books that are out there are written by people I don't want to support, with undertones that are extremely unfriendly to people like me on multiple levels. So... who do those of us who are in those groups look to for that same motivation? I wonder a lot about whether particularly the queer/trans community is doing worse economically because we're so systematically excluded from these spaces. Like when we get disheartened and burned out, the resources out there don't feel like they're for marginalized poeple. It makes the world feel so exhausting in a way that able cishet white male colleagues never seem to have to deal with. I would so much *rather* this was astrology-based, at least that feels less like a setup that is specifically intended to advantage a particular kind of person who was already systemically privileged.
4 Minutes in -- then you do the intro? I'm genuinely impressed that you captivated my attention for that long and kinda surprised you have under a million subs. One quick thing though, maybe also cite your sources in the description. Some of the Mormon stuff is so wacky, I need proof they actually believe that or at least for the quantitive info like how much things cost and where you got that. Can't wait to see more!
Of all the studies and info he cites you need him to cite the religious stuff..? The clear citation will be in their bible lol…that’s like needing a citation every time you say christians believe in Adam & Eve. You could just look it up…I guarantee there’s nothing too wacky 😅 he cited well.
nothing too wacky *for them to believe! not that they’re normal…didn’t come across correctly. They also believe black and brown people were cursed with darkness and they turn white in heaven as a reward ;)
@@samaraisnt I am atheist, and I find it amusing, so yeah. A lot of times beliefs get misrepresented. An all knowing invisible man in the sky is strange to believe in the first place, but let's say "72 virgins in heaven" rumor for muslims that ended up being a rumor that came out of nowhere as an example. A distinction between xenophobic depictions and actual beliefs. I could "look it up"-- but you can find confirmations for basically anything. If you make a claim, then citing a credible source is reasonable. The author already did the research, and it would be nice to see the sources, plus I also asked statistics sources too. Nothing personal, but a guy on youtube can make a video about anything.
here'a a quick reference from an LDS president. "As man now is, God once was: As God now is, man may be". Lorenzo Snow. The issue with the LDS church specifically is they love to claim their views are being misrepresented when they actually aren't. It keeps people deeply entrenched in the cult when they can manipulate whats seen as "actual beliefs". As a former member, i love how straightforward it is. Youll get a lot of members quick to say "no thats not what we teach" when yes it was/is. I agree he couldve provided a source like my quote but i also appreciate how blatant he was personally.
I don’t understand how redshirting would help your child excel academically. Whether they are 4 or 5 they are still being taught the same thing in kindergarten. They might grasp the concepts faster but they aren’t unlocking extra information. Sports I could see an advantage but also why do you want your kid demolishing a bunch of younger children lol
It's easy to write off all these gurus as charlatans who are solely in it for the grift, but I'm sure many of them believe in God and believe they're doing the right thing.
Anyone who can, in good faith, reconcile profiteering with their idea of God doesn't actually believe in God, but some other being not worthy of the name.
He's not (i think, thiugh hea very hard to find an answer from so i could be wrong), and I don't think he has been. He actually kind of does the opposite, which is try package his psychology and sociology into a christian-ish appearance so thay he can continue to appeal to the religious right wing.
He says he doesn't go to church. So I'm not sure how religious he is. But he definitely doesn't admit his very conservative and sexist bordering on misogynistic biases. He very often pushes his agenda and claims credibility and authority from saying "studies show" and knows no one will question him because HARVARD CLINICAL ACADEMIC PSYCHOLOGY PROFESSOR. He often just uses his credentials to get people to assume what he says is true and science based - when it isn't and he knows people will take his word for it. Most people - which is enough.
I’m curious how mindfulness is the same as astrology. Isn’t it just the idea of being aware of your internal motivations, or making an effort to be present in what you’re doing?
there are a lot of grifters and others using the term in more specific ways, but yeah that is one definition. here he's describing these books and what they're presenting and they often use terms like 'mindfulness' but even if they define them properly, it's in this correlation to that larger picture the books hold. so it's not necessarily just any individual term or idea (though some of the ideas can be p bad) but the framework and context around them and how they are arranged to lead to certain perspectives.
It is, basically it originally was meant as a way to help people shed earthly bs, so thay could more easily focus on spiritual/philosophical pursuits. You can also use it to help you with a lot of other things. The people preaching it as a "productivity" hack don't really understand what it is or why it works, so most of the people learning it from them will come to the conclusion that it is vapid nonsense.
It's a muddled argument but then the way the term is used is also muddled. Mindfulness as therapy has a solid evidence based for some conditions and - speaking as a Buddhist - is almost entirely shorn of its spiritual dimension, to the extent that the religious practice and secular are different practices. What the hell mindfulness is business means I've no idea but it is definitely a grifter term. While the term derives from Buddhist practices there's a fundamental difference between someone trying to push Mormonism via 7 Habits and someone lifting a trendy term from the psych literature. No one is trying to sneak Buddhism into corporate America by the back door, the two frames are a total odds.
Mindfulness in business is used to make employees internalize their displeasure/dissatisfaction by making it company culture to appear serene/at peace. The goal is to make any grievances a you problem.
@@camillesemaan7325 which is SO frustrating, because as a therapy technique, mindfulness is all about EXTERNALIZING. The purpose is to be able to separate yourself from your immediate thoughts and feelings, feel present and observe while letting yourself feel all kinds of emotions, and change the way you do things so you are making intentional choices. It's about letting your emotions and sensations flow over you, but not being overwhelmed or taking on responsibility or guilt that doesn't need to exist. And yet so many of these self help books sell it as something you do to SWALLOW your negative feelings and hide them away. They are quite literally using therapy speak to make people less mentally well. Kills me
If you like this video, you will really like the podcast If Books Could Kill. They have very much the same vibe, humor, topics, and insightful critiques, but cover more than business books.
Well the algorithm did good this time. Great video and glad I found it. ETA: Here in Florida we're seeing social sciences classes and departments under serious threat in our state schools, and this video is a case study in why those courses are so important and vital in a complete education.
I had to read Lencioni for an interview once. I spent 30 minutes explaining why it was bullshit business AND writing. I didn't get the job, but have no regrets.
2:53 Reminds me of a chapter. Think it was Abinidai, something like that. He taught a king of God, by explaining that He was the "great spirit" the king thought Abinidai was.
I taught at a Leader in Me Lighthouse school for 10 years . Your video justified my feelings that the program had religious principles but at the time couldn’t put my finger on it. Everything you said about LIM was on point!
We were trained to teach the materials that were presented. I found nothing objectionable about the material, there were good life skills taught. I didn’t know Covey’s religious background but looking back I can see that influence.
I love the irony of getting rich off of religion and yet Christ and His disciples didn't even always have a place to stay. The love of money is the roots of all kinds of evil. That being said, I could understand why many think Mormonism and Christianity are the same, but it's radically different. To call them Christian is like saying a Buddhist is Hindu because he meditates 😅 really well made and informational video nonetheless
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make MERCHANDISE of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. Hosea 12:7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales- they love to cheat. NLT
I absolutely agree. Not to mention that, at one point in the Bible, Jesus sees money lenders doing business in the Temple, and he literally (and very angrily) chases them out with a whip, lmao.
Christian here, thanks for this video. I read my fair share of business books and I often get the sense that the author might be Christian based on analogies and things they say. In some cases, they out themselves at the end of the book, which I think is good practice. I do agree that it's not a smart move to upfront say hey I'm Christian if your target market is the general public. If what needs to be shared can be generally applied to anyone, why make it hard for yourself? That said as an insider I do think some Christian authors will hope that through the book readers might dig deeper and through the author come to Jesus - it's not forced though. If the book doesn't help people, that plan kinda fails. Anyway really appreciated the video and looks like you have some other interesting topics so you earned yourself a new subscriber!
I'm a teacher at a Leader In Me/Lighthouse school (ugh) and I basically wrote the whole 7 Habits section of this video in the back of my '7 Habits' work-mandated workbook. I believe we spent 63 thousand dollars on the LIM curriculum.
never been into self-help stuff. it can obviously be quite helpful; it’s the packaged, self-assured nature of a lot of these books that puts me off. this is especially exacerbated when one sees how it is used to push management strategies or employee expectations. wisdom is fantastic. sharing said wisdom with others is imperative for a decent society. this type of self-help is fine by me. the rest, all that which tries to be the next big thing, that tries to revolutionize corporate culture and all that noise, can pound sand.
I'm an exchristian whose christian dad has always been obsessed with reading these business self-help books. I think I was 10 or 11 when I first read The 7 Habits... Nice to stumble upon this video!
I had a ego-maniac supervisor in the military who was a MBTI enthusiast. He used it to run his “social” experiments on my team. During the time I didn’t see it but looking back, yeah weird AF.
lol. In the army I found that every platoon had a compulsive liar. I would arrange to have two liars from two platoons share a vehicle and see what happens. Results were hilarious. Lol
NO WAY I JUST GOT AN AD FOR HEADWAY IN THIS VIDEO! I legit thought for a moment that you’d taken a clip from a Headway ad and were going to spin off that to offer a critique of their self-improvement book summaries
i'm only partway through this, but hearing about these books made me think about The Artist's Way, where everyone was ranting about it at one point and then I found out when actually looking into it that it's religious in nature and got sad about it because it felt a little sneaky.
Edit: I found the book we actually read by the same guy. "7 Habits of Hightly Effective Teens" was the book. As I remember the cover too damn well. It took me a bit but I found it. That moment when I realized my Catholic Middle School was duped to having us reading Mormon Prondagana as a summer reading thing... The 7 Habits of Hightly effective people was one we literally read (I thought there was a kid one for us middle schoolers but I can't seem to find it, and it wasn't the family one) for the summer and we had to write down what we learned. It haunted me for years after because I'm like "how the hell are we even going to apply these" and then the words started to haunt me even in the work place and internet.... Now learning that it was Mormon.... makes it all the more sense on why it perminated.
This big issue is that people in wealth truly believe that they earned it, even Taylor Swift, my most favorite billionaire in the world thinks she “masterminded” her way to the top but truly, wealth is a social lottery, anyone can get it (it helps when you’re born into it) but there is no way you become a millionaire if you follow any step by step program, you’re either lucky or you’re not. You’re not chosen, you’re just lucky
Having BPD the main treatment I do for it, DBT has mindfulness and is based of Buddhism and Hindu ideologies. Having Buddhism religious trauma it was and is a hard thing for me to separate my therapy from my religious trauma.
An interesting video, and as a fan of the 7 Habits (although haven’t read any of Covey’s other works), one I’ll need to sit with for a while. My immediate reaction is I don’t think of 7 Habits as a work in a scientific base (or even necessarily a business base), but instead of a work of philosophy. And like all philosophy texts, I find it best to think of it as attempting to get close to the truth and not the truth itself. Religion, as opposed to philosophy, claims to be the truth itself.
I was in an MLM once and this is exactly what it was like. Constantly pushing books, conferences, training and motivational materials that do little to nothing to teach about actual business.
I worked at a place where the management decided to do a "growth" seminar. It was called "The umpteen of " as they all are, it seems! The hangup I had was with the weird quotes that popped up in the course book marginalia. I think I noticed a quote I knew the author had misattributed, and a lot of quotes from people I'd never heard of. So I googled the people who were unknown to me, and most of them were elders of the LDS church. There was no explicit indication of this linkage in the course. I felt a *little bit* resentful about being forced to attend a course that back doors a lot of religious mumbo jumbo at my workplace, and it was quite sloppy with the accuracy of its attributions. In my opinion, this is unethical. It also made me realise that attribution serves not one, but at least two purposes: - giving original authors credit for their ideas (our usual understanding of its purpose), and - giving the reader a break crumb trail to, or fair warning about, the source of the ideas they're taking in. Example: say you see in a book that Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Success is the only earthly judge of right and wrong." Ok, fine, pragmatic advice, right? Pretty uncontroversial, right? Except that is a quote from an author whose name rhymes with "Schmadolf Schmidtler". Kind of changes the complexion of it, doesn't it! Summary: I totally hear ya! The self help to whacko religion pipeline is alive and well.
Yes because "Business" its self has become an ideology / religion thats thinks its $hitting in the air, sky food & medicine isnt a problem for humanity & we should all be grateful for people helping advances its stopped for sake of profits. You too can become a King/billionaire if you exploit like what we do...the only thing stopping you is regulation/morals.
This is one of the best videos about this topic I've seen, I only wish it had been longer and delved into deeper explanations! One thought about how this stuff has been so successful with Hindu populations over the past few decades: the concept of dharma is central to most strains of Hinduism and shares a lot in common with the Calvinist idea of predestination. I genuinely believe this similarity has had a significant effect on business practices within the Indian subcontinent and growing evangelical tendencies within hindu cultural groups. Might be worth another deep dive!
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make MERCHANDISE of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. Hosea 12:7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales- they love to cheat. NLT
Am I just dense or do other people feel The Gambler vibes when reading The Seven Habits? Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. Sounds deep, tells you nothing.
Very insightful, though I think most psychology is basically borderline crossing over into religion anyway. It’s really hard to address the mind without addressing the impact of beliefs. Still, I think this is underhanded. Business success isn’t a function of mental health. It’s about market strategies, legal stuff, and numbers. The mental health stuff is how much you can enjoy your life, business is about how much misery you can stomach to get ahead, how much mental health destruction you’ve willing to take. There’s no way around that reality.
They’re mostly about Protestant, Lazzie-faire business practices. Hardly imposing on morality, nor do the books really describe how a proper Christian should conduct themselves with capital.
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make MERCHANDISE of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. Hosea 12:7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales- they love to cheat. NLT
The whole deceitful aspect of it is so disgusting. Like you said, it’s to make money. If they truly stood behind their beliefs, they wouldn’t try to cloak their stuff. Thanks for this video.
A perfect encapsulation of the danger of idealism over materialism. The metaphysicians have always been wrong. Engels was writing about this more than a hundred and fifty years ago!
5:50 dude that guy stole that idea off of Star Trek Leadership audiobook I listened to like 20+ years ago (I can remember what it was called, but it was read by the guy who plays Quark)
This channel is going to blow up can I be an early investor? Lol. Great video do you edit these videos yourself? And how long does it take you to make a video?
lol Thank you for the kind comment! I do edit these videos myself, and it's currently taking me about 6 hours to put one together. I have a pretty time-intensive day job, but I shoot for spending 3-4 hours each week on the videos.
I had to stop listening to Brian Tracy because it was just "Success == Godliness" and "Good People are Successful, so Successful People must be Good"...
Wow. Great video. I always felt something was off about so many business and self help books and that there’s a culture of perpetuating certain ideas which may not be backed up by hard data, but never made the connection to religious origins. This makes so much sense and I’ve seen it so often.
I have not watched this video, however I have read both of the books in the thumbnail, and they both suck. They are 300+ pages of fluff and waste. you could boil all that they are down to a single pamphlet and get the same message across. Modern "business" or "self-help" books are hot ass. Stick to the classics
Free market fundamentalist capitalism is its own religion. Most Americans have complete faith in the Capitalist system, even though they understand that the economy sucks.
I was definitely not expecting this to be about actual religions, but that the business world is its own religion. I knew all of this stuff was absolute garbage, but I thought it was because it was too rooted in the fundamental tenets of the "business religion", aka "Fake it till you make it".
7:49 even though this is an American phenomenon, it has had a huge influence on countries around the world via the spread of evangelical Christianity + it syncretising [to various degrees] with whatever existing indigenous philosophies around wealth/abundance/resources
Good video. Liked it. Did get bad vibes from those self help books, but I wanted a specific example, especially in 7 habits, of “Here is what the book says, here is what is in between the lines/the message it wants you to take”, other than that though I liked it
As someone who has been Christian, then atheist, then Christian again, I am not convinced that the conclusions of a given religion are useful or even believable when divorced from the fundamentals and community aspect of that religion. For example, given how crappy the world and people often are, it is hard for me to believe that the universe if fundamentally good without believing in a benevolent creator, or that "crime doesn't pay" without believing in divine judgement. I wonder if that applies to other religions and daily life advice derived from them.
The universe just exists. Good/evil is a human construct relative to current beliefs. We used to think human sacrifice was good. Btw, crime absolutely pays, often better than legal work.
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make MERCHANDISE of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. Hosea 12:7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales- they love to cheat. NLT
Crime doesn't pay because secular authorities are there to make sure it doesn't? Doesn't have anything to do with religion. The state authority in "godless" China or North Korea also makes it so that crime doesn't pay there. You'll eventually get caught and face consequences based on what society you're in. That's true of all humans regardless of religion or lack thereof. People generally don't want theft or violence and work to prevent and punish it collectively.
@@naomistarlight6178 True, and I wonder if a lack of religion means that more government (laws, police, taxes, regulations) will be required because fewer people willingly choose to refrain from bad behavior due to religious reasons. There are costs and benefits to everything, and I'm not sure that "I'll do anything I can get away with" is a good ethos to build a society upon.
@@rockrocks66 But was anybody actually choosing to refrain from bad behavior due to religious reasons? Like I think if you look at the history of the church, you did have one population of people for whom this was true. But then you had another population of people who saw the lack of actual regulation and then did the thing *because* everybody else assumed it wasn't going to happen. Churches have been hotbeds of sexual abuse for a reason. But beyond that, dear god a lot of churches have had problems with members financially grifting each other, men beating their wives, parents neglecting their children, you name it. Lots of people have exploited the trust of those systems to do massive amounts of harm. And atheists also... mostly don't avoid hurting people because of consequences? People *collectively* avoid harming each other because we have social bonds, not because of religion. Do you actually go around thinking that you'd love to murder people if only God didn't say it was bad? Of course not. But the exceptions are something that religion can't deal with, because by and large those people don't care about God any more than they care about you. That's why we do, in fact, need laws for all this stuff.
"5 Love Languages" was a useful enough book imho. Although, there's many ways to express love and of course it's not as simple as just 5 categories. But it's true that different people have different preferences when it comes to what expressions of love they're more likely to want/recognize as love. It's like the song "Do You Love Me?" in Fiddler on the Roof. They'd never talked about love because it wasn't important in their culture, marriage was a duty, not a romantic whim. But Golde did have her own way of showing her husband love.
Hm is it useful though, or is it a way to tell couples that men need sex and that women need gifts or some "help" with the household. I've got an example from the book paraphrased by another website: An example of this is Chapman’s story about a woman named Ann, who has a husband described as extremely emotionally abusive. Their conversation starts with Ann asking Chapman if it is possible to love someone you hate (girl, RUN). Chapman responds by making Ann read bible passages about loving your enemies. After learning that Ann’s husband’s love language is sexual physical touch, Chapman tells the poor woman that to save her marriage, she has to sleep with her horrible husband twice a week. Ann replies that she finds it “hard to be sexually responsive” to someone who “ignores her”-to which Chapman responds that many women feel that way, and she must simply rely on her Christian faith to get through it. Chapman wraps up this lovely anecdote by saying that Ann took his advice and that there was a tremendous change in her husband’s attitude, with the husband swearing to his friends that Chapman is a miracle worker. We don’t hear how Ann felt about it.
In the 90s my employer became indoctrinated with Covey, complete with the MBTI test and pressuring. It was one of the reasons I left. It's as though no one ever had common sense until Covey existed. They're all rackets.
I definitely agree with most of this, but mindfulness, while it has taken its roots from other places, has science behind it. Having gratitude and being present in the moment is an exercise in grounding. It's hard to let anxiety thrive when you are tuned in to your senses. From a medical standpoint, it helps me not have panic attacks, and thus not have seizures when I get them. That's part of what makes these movements so frustrating. Lowered blood pressure, increased happiness, better sleep quality, and feeling less shame because you don't realize you're just letting life happen to you? Of course that's good! But these people who co-opt the clinical applications are incredibly frustrating.
When he says they're the exact same thing, he means they're both spiritual woo disguised as science, not that mindfulness also assumes your personality based on when you were born. It's like you weren't paying attention to what he was saying at all.
I remember the hoopla about this book when it was released. I was initially interested but when I learned of Covey's LDS background and motives I shunned it.
It would have been nice to see some actual examples. Maybe this video was made more for people who are familiar with the books you talked about, but just *saying* that the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People were first outlined in The Divine Center without actually showing it, going through what those habits are, and showing how they're the same, isn't enough to convince me. I almost feel like a missed a portion of the video, since it's structured like you did talk about it, or at least assume that the viewer knows what you're talking about.
I have to say, this is an extremely insightful video and I was shocked to see you subscriber and view count because this deserves so much more attention. As you can probably tell by my profile pic, I'm an author, to be specific I write about goal setting and creativity for young and neurodivergent people, but ofc I haven't reached the level of influence of the people you cover in the video, I'm just a small town 18 yo dude in rural Spain. As I read a lot, I've come across some of the books you mention, and their tone always rubbed me the wrong way, it seemed too... preachy? I now know why that word fits so well. I might be prejudiced, but when someone mentions their religious beliefs (ANY religion, I dislike them all the same), I tend to take their advice less seriously, because I feel like they are trying to convert readers. Of course, you don't have to be religious to push an agenda, and there are religious people who are able to separate their faith from their work and who don't take every occasion as an opportunity to preach. You've put into words what I've been thinking for a long time, so thank you! I'm eager to see more of what you do.
I'll say it now and I'll say it again Religion ruins everything Also thank you very much for calling this phenomenon out so people can know about it and put an end to this
So the concept of being honest that Yahweh's knowledge of everything means he specifically made certain people to roast forever? At least Calvinism doesn't try to shove in "free will" as an excuse. They just replace it with "you can't know if you are saved or damned, so act like you're saved."
I kept being recommended think and grow rich I was reading it until it said “work for free until you’ve gained their trust” I come from a southern Baptist family And they believed the same thing until my dad broke his back and they didn’t pay for the hospital bill I went and told the person who gave it to me ,”this book tells you to work for free in it ,absolutely not .” And I don’t speak to my family because they are prosperity preahers I study earth Magik,and other things older than earth magic.😅
I once had a manager who decided to "optimize the team" by making us take an MBTI test. So I looked up what personality type was listed as the best suited for my job and just lied on the test.
The whole experience made me uncomfortable. The idea that my financial security hinged not on my performance, but if I passed a literal vibe test was upsetting and a bit insulting.
THIS
I did the same once I was required to participate on these BS activities organized by HR.
Bahaha that’s great, glad you played a different game than what they wanted you to play
I heard they use those tests to discriminate because personality is not legally protected. When they do it out of the blue, they're probably looking to fire someone.
Why would you want to work with idiots who believe in business astrology, full stop?!
most Americans aren't Mormon, but Mormonism is the most American religion
It’s also the richest (5X the catholic church, they keep it hush to stay small bean). And I would argue most powerful/covertly influential. I think Most American ties with Scientology.
I thought that was capitalism
@@NohandleenteredSame thing
Hahaha great comment
@@Nohandleenteredthe Mormon church is a capitalist empire, all you’ve gotta do is look into the trouble they’re getting into with the SEC
I used to work at a mega church and part of my disillusionment with Christianity came from the churches obsession with leadership conferences, entrepreneurship, and business self help books.
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make MERCHANDISE of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
Hosea 12:7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales- they love to cheat. NLT
@@jefcaine None of that is Christianity but secular people pretending to be Christian.
Now that makes sense
@@haruhisuzumiya6650yeah that's kinda part and parcel of mega churches lol
And down south, ive seem so many church folk focused on wearing fancy clothing, when their God focuses more on the beauty of their heart, not their bank accounts
You know i developed long ago this analogy that basically capitalist propaganda was a secularized version of religious dogmatism, replacing a perfect god with a perfect market, saints with enterpreneurs, the bible with econ101 textbooks etc. I did not expect my analogy to be THIS literal lmao
What did you think the invisible hand of the market was attached to? That's right, you're pal JC.
Have you seen the Fallout show?
"Reclamation Day" is basically the prophetic vision of the Vault Tec corporate family.
And it's not far off that a Futuristic America would have literal corporations as factions. Much like how Demolition Man and Idiocracy predicted.
@@sauerkrautlanguage Reject the simulacre of Capitalism, embrace religious tradition.
Surely you can do the same comparison gymnastics with whatever marxist system you'd prefer our economic system to run in bud
Is the capitalism in the room with you?
@@arempy5836I've been saying for years that believing the "invisible hand" will solve everything is awfully similar to magical thinking
Damn i thought it was gonna be puritan work ethic stuff not more mormon propaganda
So naive of me
lmao
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make MERCHANDISE of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
Hosea 12:7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales- they love to cheat. NLT
The more I learn about it, the less Mormonism seems that different from mainstream US Christianity (which is what I grew up in).
@@naomistarlight6178 there's definitely some language and attitudes that are the same across the board but there's definitely specific approaches that Mormons take in their practices. Also idk if polygamy is really a normal thing in mainstream US Christianity but perhaps I know nothing about it 🤷
Protestant ethic
Okay, but “don’t be evil” is a good business policy. I wish more companies followed it. Like even one company. Like the one company that had that as its motto.
Unfortunately, a lot of suits don't have any real human values, and couldn't tell you what defines the term 'evil'.
Define "Evil" if you could
"don't be evil" is meaningless without context and utterly worthless in the context of capitalism.
There’s no space for ethics in a competitive market
Arizona Tea is the only major company I can think of that I can comfortably say isn't just flat out evil.
Ex-evangelical who has been uncomfy w/self help since deconverting but i could never articulate why, all i could say was it "felt like preaching". Only to learn that they WERE preaching all along! Thank you so much for putting this video together!
Speaking as a Buddhist, the form of mindfulness pushed by corporations and such has frustratingly little to do with the actual Buddha-dharma and seems to be entirely secular. This is a pretty common feature among Buddhist practices and concepts that are separated from the Buddhist framework by outside parties. I kinda wish it actually was propaganda lol
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make MERCHANDISE of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
Hosea 12:7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales- they love to cheat. NLT
Yes, everything has been stripped of its spirituality. Mindfulness is supposed to get people to think about the eternal path of the spirit. It's about recognizing the flow of time and the inevitability of change. I couldn't imagine separating it as a practice from the beliefs of dharma, reincarnation, and liberation (nirvana).
Plus, it means these mostly white "gurus" are taking credit for the work of Eastern Buddhists.
yo im a white stoner hippy whos hypnotised by capitalist propaganda, where would u recommend i start on the actual stuff?
Agreed. I don't know much about the specifics of Buddhism and the different variations, I always saw that the corporate use of mindfulness was to try to keep their workforce calm enough that they don't see just how shitty the corporate overlords treat them. It's a fancy sedation tactic.
@@joshipokemongiveaways5084 a good start might be reading Buddhist influenced literature. Good examples might be the Chinese classic novels Journey to the west or the dream of the red chamber.
OMGs! I just finished Robin Sharma's 5am Club. What absolute crap! There were no scientific references, just vague mentions. I have a degree in neuroscience, and there was so much inacuracy. I raged while I read. It was really just protestant work ethic virtue signalling. What about the 11pm club? Those of us who do our best work after everyone else has gone to bed? The 5am club was asleep 3 hours ago. Lightweights.
🤣🤣🤣👍🏽
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make MERCHANDISE of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
Hosea 12:7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales- they love to cheat. NLT
I have always been this way, I really become alert, motivated, and focused after 3PM. I can't seem to change it, despite long periods of living and working at various schedules. I just love sitting down around sunset, focusing on something, and working without interruption into the night and early morning.
There's something I intensely dislike about such genres of self-help that's also in line with Christianity as it manifests in the US. There's this theme of trying to fit yourself into a certain lifestyle and worldview and disregarding yourself without even first examining them. A title like "the seven habits of ..." already has that premise in its title. Whereas realistically what it seems gives you more utility would be to pay more attention to yourself and the nature of the material environment you are in that you have influence over and from there build toward something that actually works for you in a way some remote book author can never do.
So write this book
I share the same feeling. I can't believe I found this video
Thank you for articulating it so brilliantly
Just commenting 5 minutes in, so I'm not sure if you'll also touch on this, but this also reminds me of the "Love Languages", which was a book also written by a Christian man with really no basis in scientific research whatsoever, and which has also made its way into pop psychology.
For anyone interested in Mormonism I would recommend Alyssa Grenfell's channel and for Evangelical Christianity in general (and its lasting effects on US politics) I would highly recommend Fundie Fridays. And of course, Knowing Better's video on Mormonism too. This was such an interesting video, thank you!!
Funnily enough, it comes up at the end! Love Languages was one of the original books that got me down this rabbit hole. But since I'm an "economist" for a living, it didn't fit as well into the overall narrative of what I felt qualified to gripe about.
I've heard that there's a similar phenomenon with parenting books
@larissabrglum3856 oh my gosh yes, like "to train up a child" by the Pearls which just straight up advocates for child abuse. It's horrific. And then you have cases such as the Remnant Church with Gwen Shamblin-Lara's parenting advice AlLeDgEdLy leading to the death of a young child. It's heart breaking
Fundie Fridays and Alyssa Grenfell are great! I second the recommendation!
Very interesting!
Commenting again to say: I think this interestcs well with the widespread MLM "business opportunities" that run particularly rampant in Utah, and seem to in other religious communities too. The prosperity gospel and its iterations run DEEP in that space. It's interesting to me that most of these religious self help writers seem to be men, and most MLM "huns" are women, especially when considering the gender roles encouraged in most traditional Christian communities.
Yep
Was gonna say, I came across most of these "business"-type books/authors through Amway, so I think you're 100% right about the MLM connection. (Got out of that pretty quick, it definitely had the preachy vibes!)
Correct. I have a family member in deep with mlms and business networking who hoards these books
"Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” - Matthew 19:24
It seems that all these Prosperity Gospel preachers have carefully erased this quotation from their own Gospel.
"The poor will be with you always"
-Jesus
I love using this verse to push back against this kind of mindset, but unfortunately a lot of people work their way around this verse by saying that the Eye of the Needle was a well-known gate to some city that camels notoriously had trouble getting through, so they had to duck to squeeze through.
I don't know how accurate that is though
@@budbutterson9577 It's completely made up. There was no such gate. That said, the verse needs to be read in its context. Just two verses later Jesus explains his point by saying "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."
@@BM_100That's a verse that is almost always used out of context. Somebody has just used a really expensive jar of perfume to anoint Jesus' feet. Judas Iscariot (who, according to John's version of the story, has been stealing from the disciples' communal money bag) says that it could have been sold to help the poor. And Jesus is simply pointing out that this act is something that can only be done in a limited window of time, whilst helping the poor isn't as time critical.
17:47 You should look into those Utah numbers. The reason they're "doing so good" is because the index used is skewed towards lower (or no) taxes and against (or no) worker rights.
Specifically, Utah is first cause it holds no.1 position in "NO Estate / Inheritance Tax Levied", Low "State Minimum Wage" and for being strongly anti-labor-union.
The index is designed by American Legislative Exchange Council - a conservative lobbying organization, bringing together "conservative state legislators and private sector representatives who draft and share model legislation for distribution among state governments in the United States"... and in the rest of the world. THEY ARE VERY VERY BAD! Also, evil.
To be fair, he did say "Like, Utah hasn't maintained the strongest economy in America for 17 years straight by caring for individual people" so I feel like he's aware of where the numbers come from...
I had to read a Lencioni book at work. I clocked it for the nonsense it was straight away, while most of my colleagues thought it was great. I am non religious, and they were all Christian to varying levels. This now makes sense, as it comes from a common place.
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make MERCHANDISE of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
Hosea 12:7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales- they love to cheat. NLT
We were required to do a whole class on 7 habits and I always thought there was something off about it.
I never liked self-help esque books like this because they never felt grounded in reality and seemed to always have an agenda that I didn't conform to.
I'm glad you mention Dr K. I feel like his work is honest, but also, he makes it a clear when something is his opinion, or when something is supoorted by studies. He also makes it clear when something is his experience or his experience with patients versus what the scientific consensus at odds.
He gives so much free content, actual helpful content, not just long-form ads like other "free content, buy my course" creators.
He's also honest at how has advantages, and how he tries to help, understanding that some people have such deep traumas, that a few videos won't always work.
He also has a healthy community that tries to curb cult-like behavior even though there's plenty of jokes about it. His own community started pressing him about certain claims and he's always been transparent when something was widely criticized about him. Overall, he's one of very few "content creators" (He's actually got a medical degree) that I respect and financially supoort.
I feel like push back is warranted here just cause the flavor is different doesn't mean it's not the same thing. Doctor K has literally said he wants to be the next depak chropra. That's like saying you want to be the next alternative health guru. Even if you're up front about whether ideology you're pushing. It's still bad/pseudoscientific information he's pushing. Especially when he tries to "demonstrate" diagnosing people with aravedic medicine (the Indian alt health thing he pushes that doesn't work).
There is a fine line between "here's a possibly useful way of thinking" and pseudoscience. I haven't seen much of Dr. K's work, but from what I've looked at he at least tries to be transparent about stuff and does not oppose science.
What I get from dr K is that mental health and personality are very very very complex. And not to blindly believe in any one guide.
The racism , classism and sexism in Mormonism is exhibited when you see that the “Highly Effective “ books talk nothing of any discrimination that the highly effective worker might encounter that affect this job prospects. Also nothing about collective action like unions or questioning anything about corporations.
Eh not really mormonism specifically. All self help books gloss over these external things “bc it’s all about your mindset”. Then you can’t complain their book/course didn’t help you, because they can just say you didn’t do enough
DEI is a form of discrimination and racism I have faced
@@JohnM-sw4sc how, what happened?
@ my company had a long standing tradition of only promoting top performing sales candidates to managerial positions, until in the wake of the summer of 2020 they suspended this practice and chose diversity (skin color, and sex not any other form) as not only a criteria, but the most influential criteria. Suddenly sales people who were average and in a few cases a tick below average were being given managerial positions.
This is racism. Anyone who supports this is a racist. The color of one’s skin is not a legitimate reason to promote one person over another nor is it an acceptable tie breaker. Again this is racism and those who justify it are racists.
@ my company had a long standing policy of promoting sales managers from a pool of sales people who met a minimum threshold of success. Since 2021 this has been suspended in favor of hiring/promoting people who check 2 specific boxes (woman/ not white). This is racism. Determining who gets what job based on skin color or sex is bigoted and immoral. People who support this are racists and bigots.
I was mormon for 20 years and yes, this is all correct. Also I dunno how I went that long without knowing Covey was a Mormon too
I learned about Covey because he was mormon.
I was Mormon in northern California by the way.
I thought it was kind of common knowledge, mormons like to claim their own for celebrities.
As a Christian I 100 percent agree with your video. My sister and I have had this conversation before. What I realized is a lot of these self help business people have so much in common with a lot of mega church pastors, it’s almost become this religious experience. From the way they speak, their “conference’s”, retreats etc… It’s so bizarre. I think of Grant Cardone, who I didn’t know was a Scientologist until recently but if you watch him and Steven Furtick or even TD Jakes, idk who started it first honestly. It’s like asking what came first the chicken or the egg. They’re almost one in the same.
I remember reading Outliers for high school and being the only one who didn’t like it. I thought it was strange how it spent so much time talking about how “outliers” are a product of circumstance only to end with a very long rant about how his mother persevered through poverty and worked hard for her success and that I should do the same. It felt confused, but I found explaining that notion to my classmates difficult 😅
I love the insight that this contradiction derives directly from the same interpretation of Calvinistic pre-determinism that I was taught in high school history classes. The pervasiveness of these ideas kind of explains why my objections induced vacant, confused expressions from my classmates and how so many people read these books and manage to learn so little from them
I never realized about this before. I have read tons of 'self-improvement' books, I thought the authors were legit. But, man.. Thanks for the insight.
Same here. And don't get me wrong, a lot of self-improvement advice IS solid. I don't want to fall into the academia trap of thinking that something isn't valuable just because it's not peer-reviewed or universally replicable.
But I did a lot of work on the economics of religious movements in the past. So I started to notice patterns where a lot of my business books were being financed by overtly religious organizations that were making millions off converting the success of books into selling courses.
Which isn't INHERENTLY bad, but definitely started to feel sleezy to me the more I looked into it.
*How to Win Friends And Influence People* is a recipe book for Psychopathy. Charles Manson used the book to create his cult.
@@UrgentlyFiring I think you have the causes and consequence reversed. It is because of their influence in religious groups that they become best sellers, then the cycle reinforces itself. A lot of these religious movements also have influence in things like Amway, which also feed into book sales. An example is the "rich dad" guy whose sales come mainly from network marketing groups, many of them starting from religious groups.
@@Dante-ki4ol it's in my shelf for a long time, now I'm gonna read it.
@@Dante-ki4ol Wow i was needing a book to help me create my cult! thanks for the recommendation!!!
I was Mormon when I attended a Catholic high school in Canada. We read “The 7 Habits of Highly-Effective Teens” and there was this whole curriculum that went with it. 🙃 So I was like 7 layers deep into cults.
I see great similarity in modern "selfie-style" advertisements and Mormon testimonies of faith. Listening to a Hello Fresh ad reminds me of Fast and Testimony meetings.
Huh! I'm a member, and I never considered there being any similarities between the two. Certainly something to think about.
@ajbXYZcool if you think about someone offering a cookie-cutter testimony, their sentences usually end in downward inflections. The last word is usually a lower pitch than the rest of the sentence. That is specifically what I notice most.
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make MERCHANDISE of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
Hosea 12:7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales- they love to cheat. NLT
@@trentlytle7289Now that you mention it, I think you're right
once i was doing a field sales job and my boss made everyone read this book that was called something like "rhino energy" or something like that, and i was listening to it on audiobook on my bike ride to the office in the morning, and at one point literally out of nowhere this mf drops pascal's wager like it's legit helpful life advice
i literally turned around, biked home, and never talked to them again
Field sales is kinda like that from what I remember, lmao
@@NetherDescend exactly one of the reasons i was so glad to gtfo
You quit your job over Pascal's wager?
@@cevcena6692 no, i quit my job over the combination of 1. already not having a good time and 2. they were proselytizing to me in required reading, and not even with good arguments.
@@cevcena6692It was either that or have a 50/50 chance of having a normal job or a really bad job
These books are mostly american, and America seems to monetise everything, so no surprise really.
I listened to a bunch of guru management bs books. Awful. If Sun Tzu is like "try being sneaky." Every management book is like "make workers want to do a lot of work without paying them more 👍 "
They made me take a class called "Leadership 101" which was basically giving us a score based on how well we internalized "7 habits" and "Paradigms & Principles". It was for kids that had fully disengaged with school and it only made things worse 😂
Oh shit lol I forgot I had that class too, I vandalized the desks lol
The honest but shameless rent-seeking with affliliate links had me in tears. xD
you shocked me by quoting that Utah had one of the best economic outlooks. I had to go look up where the rating came from: ALEC, a ridiculously biased organization.
I'm going to coin the term "blueshirting":
When you enroll your *gifted* children in kindergarten as early as possible based on the assumption that they will never develop good study and work habits unless they have the handicap of being younger than all of their peers.
My high school gave us all copies of the "7 Highly Effective Habits" and while there was definitely some helpful ideas in there, it wasn't worth whatever they charged my underfunded public school for it.
I work in a library and I love videos like this, since I'll never get the chance to do my own deep dive into the types of books I see every day. I always thought these types of books were wacky and tended to overgeneralize a lot of complicated concepts, but I certainly did not expect them to be so deeply rooted in religion. Good video!
Another way to do this is to listen to the podcast "If Books Could Kill".
they made us read 7 Habits in rehab. i hated it so much. i never realized it was actually Christian but I'm not shocked. it's even funnier because this rehab was "secular" and "private" despite pushing this stuff and taking public funds.
Okay the tittle and the thesis hooked me. Gots to see this through my boy
For real bro
I just wish authors did not pick one study from 50 years ago to support their thought and call it science.
Also I would not be opposed to being send on a free trip for whatever reason....
Haha Younger adult me felt the same! But now that I have a job where I travel 6+ weeks out of the year just for work, I'm mostly looking to stay home any chance I get.
I don't think these things are scientific, but I do think there's a thing with self-help books and the way humans tend to work, where the actual book doesn't need to be proven--it can do good if it just gets you in the right headspace to get stuff done, right? But then all the books that are out there are written by people I don't want to support, with undertones that are extremely unfriendly to people like me on multiple levels. So... who do those of us who are in those groups look to for that same motivation?
I wonder a lot about whether particularly the queer/trans community is doing worse economically because we're so systematically excluded from these spaces. Like when we get disheartened and burned out, the resources out there don't feel like they're for marginalized poeple. It makes the world feel so exhausting in a way that able cishet white male colleagues never seem to have to deal with. I would so much *rather* this was astrology-based, at least that feels less like a setup that is specifically intended to advantage a particular kind of person who was already systemically privileged.
4 Minutes in -- then you do the intro? I'm genuinely impressed that you captivated my attention for that long and kinda surprised you have under a million subs. One quick thing though, maybe also cite your sources in the description. Some of the Mormon stuff is so wacky, I need proof they actually believe that or at least for the quantitive info like how much things cost and where you got that.
Can't wait to see more!
Yeah, this channel is really under rated. I found him when his channel was brand new.
Of all the studies and info he cites you need him to cite the religious stuff..? The clear citation will be in their bible lol…that’s like needing a citation every time you say christians believe in Adam & Eve. You could just look it up…I guarantee there’s nothing too wacky 😅 he cited well.
nothing too wacky *for them to believe! not that they’re normal…didn’t come across correctly. They also believe black and brown people were cursed with darkness and they turn white in heaven as a reward ;)
@@samaraisnt I am atheist, and I find it amusing, so yeah. A lot of times beliefs get misrepresented. An all knowing invisible man in the sky is strange to believe in the first place, but let's say "72 virgins in heaven" rumor for muslims that ended up being a rumor that came out of nowhere as an example. A distinction between xenophobic depictions and actual beliefs.
I could "look it up"-- but you can find confirmations for basically anything. If you make a claim, then citing a credible source is reasonable. The author already did the research, and it would be nice to see the sources, plus I also asked statistics sources too. Nothing personal, but a guy on youtube can make a video about anything.
here'a a quick reference from an LDS president. "As man now is, God once was: As God now is, man may be". Lorenzo Snow. The issue with the LDS church specifically is they love to claim their views are being misrepresented when they actually aren't. It keeps people deeply entrenched in the cult when they can manipulate whats seen as "actual beliefs". As a former member, i love how straightforward it is. Youll get a lot of members quick to say "no thats not what we teach" when yes it was/is. I agree he couldve provided a source like my quote but i also appreciate how blatant he was personally.
10:30 As a Trekkie "red-shirting" your kids sounds really bad
I don’t understand how redshirting would help your child excel academically. Whether they are 4 or 5 they are still being taught the same thing in kindergarten. They might grasp the concepts faster but they aren’t unlocking extra information. Sports I could see an advantage but also why do you want your kid demolishing a bunch of younger children lol
It's easy to write off all these gurus as charlatans who are solely in it for the grift, but I'm sure many of them believe in God and believe they're doing the right thing.
I 100% agree!
They may believe, but are charlatans.
Anyone who can, in good faith, reconcile profiteering with their idea of God doesn't actually believe in God, but some other being not worthy of the name.
You would starting seething if someone told you who really owned these companies. Not Christians. lol
Being religious requires dishonesty automatically.
i'm unsure if he is still a practicing christian, but jordan peterson is very guilty of this. drives me up the wall
He's not (i think, thiugh hea very hard to find an answer from so i could be wrong), and I don't think he has been. He actually kind of does the opposite, which is try package his psychology and sociology into a christian-ish appearance so thay he can continue to appeal to the religious right wing.
He says he doesn't go to church. So I'm not sure how religious he is. But he definitely doesn't admit his very conservative and sexist bordering on misogynistic biases.
He very often pushes his agenda and claims credibility and authority from saying "studies show" and knows no one will question him because HARVARD CLINICAL ACADEMIC PSYCHOLOGY PROFESSOR. He often just uses his credentials to get people to assume what he says is true and science based - when it isn't and he knows people will take his word for it. Most people - which is enough.
I’m curious how mindfulness is the same as astrology. Isn’t it just the idea of being aware of your internal motivations, or making an effort to be present in what you’re doing?
there are a lot of grifters and others using the term in more specific ways, but yeah that is one definition. here he's describing these books and what they're presenting and they often use terms like 'mindfulness' but even if they define them properly, it's in this correlation to that larger picture the books hold. so it's not necessarily just any individual term or idea (though some of the ideas can be p bad) but the framework and context around them and how they are arranged to lead to certain perspectives.
It is, basically it originally was meant as a way to help people shed earthly bs, so thay could more easily focus on spiritual/philosophical pursuits. You can also use it to help you with a lot of other things. The people preaching it as a "productivity" hack don't really understand what it is or why it works, so most of the people learning it from them will come to the conclusion that it is vapid nonsense.
It's a muddled argument but then the way the term is used is also muddled. Mindfulness as therapy has a solid evidence based for some conditions and - speaking as a Buddhist - is almost entirely shorn of its spiritual dimension, to the extent that the religious practice and secular are different practices. What the hell mindfulness is business means I've no idea but it is definitely a grifter term. While the term derives from Buddhist practices there's a fundamental difference between someone trying to push Mormonism via 7 Habits and someone lifting a trendy term from the psych literature. No one is trying to sneak Buddhism into corporate America by the back door, the two frames are a total odds.
Mindfulness in business is used to make employees internalize their displeasure/dissatisfaction by making it company culture to appear serene/at peace. The goal is to make any grievances a you problem.
@@camillesemaan7325 which is SO frustrating, because as a therapy technique, mindfulness is all about EXTERNALIZING. The purpose is to be able to separate yourself from your immediate thoughts and feelings, feel present and observe while letting yourself feel all kinds of emotions, and change the way you do things so you are making intentional choices. It's about letting your emotions and sensations flow over you, but not being overwhelmed or taking on responsibility or guilt that doesn't need to exist. And yet so many of these self help books sell it as something you do to SWALLOW your negative feelings and hide them away. They are quite literally using therapy speak to make people less mentally well. Kills me
I had to read "the 6 most important decisions you'll ever make" in middle school and ive harbored so much anger toward stephen covey ever since
I always knew these "7 habits" were BS, but now I know why.
It is not. You have to be an idiot to think it is
If you like this video, you will really like the podcast If Books Could Kill. They have very much the same vibe, humor, topics, and insightful critiques, but cover more than business books.
This is a great video and I don't understand how can it be so underrated.
Well the algorithm did good this time. Great video and glad I found it.
ETA: Here in Florida we're seeing social sciences classes and departments under serious threat in our state schools, and this video is a case study in why those courses are so important and vital in a complete education.
I had to read Lencioni for an interview once. I spent 30 minutes explaining why it was bullshit business AND writing. I didn't get the job, but have no regrets.
2:53 Reminds me of a chapter. Think it was Abinidai, something like that. He taught a king of God, by explaining that He was the "great spirit" the king thought Abinidai was.
I taught at a Leader in Me Lighthouse school for 10 years . Your video justified my feelings that the program had religious principles but at the time couldn’t put my finger on it. Everything you said about LIM was on point!
How did you teach something for ten years we without knowing the basis of what you we are teaching?
We were trained to teach the materials that were presented. I found nothing objectionable about the material, there were good life skills taught. I didn’t know Covey’s religious background but looking back I can see that influence.
@Tonia682 Thank you for your response. Makes sense.
I love the irony of getting rich off of religion and yet Christ and His disciples didn't even always have a place to stay. The love of money is the roots of all kinds of evil. That being said, I could understand why many think Mormonism and Christianity are the same, but it's radically different. To call them Christian is like saying a Buddhist is Hindu because he meditates 😅 really well made and informational video nonetheless
Religion itself is a lie, with all claims of morality immediately eliminated by that lie.
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make MERCHANDISE of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
Hosea 12:7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales- they love to cheat. NLT
I absolutely agree. Not to mention that, at one point in the Bible, Jesus sees money lenders doing business in the Temple, and he literally (and very angrily) chases them out with a whip, lmao.
Christian here, thanks for this video. I read my fair share of business books and I often get the sense that the author might be Christian based on analogies and things they say. In some cases, they out themselves at the end of the book, which I think is good practice.
I do agree that it's not a smart move to upfront say hey I'm Christian if your target market is the general public. If what needs to be shared can be generally applied to anyone, why make it hard for yourself?
That said as an insider I do think some Christian authors will hope that through the book readers might dig deeper and through the author come to Jesus - it's not forced though.
If the book doesn't help people, that plan kinda fails.
Anyway really appreciated the video and looks like you have some other interesting topics so you earned yourself a new subscriber!
Thank you so much for watching and the thoughtful response! I really do appreciate it.
I'm a teacher at a Leader In Me/Lighthouse school (ugh) and I basically wrote the whole 7 Habits section of this video in the back of my '7 Habits' work-mandated workbook. I believe we spent 63 thousand dollars on the LIM curriculum.
never been into self-help stuff. it can obviously be quite helpful; it’s the packaged, self-assured nature of a lot of these books that puts me off. this is especially exacerbated when one sees how it is used to push management strategies or employee expectations.
wisdom is fantastic. sharing said wisdom with others is imperative for a decent society. this type of self-help is fine by me. the rest, all that which tries to be the next big thing, that tries to revolutionize corporate culture and all that noise, can pound sand.
I'm an exchristian whose christian dad has always been obsessed with reading these business self-help books. I think I was 10 or 11 when I first read The 7 Habits... Nice to stumble upon this video!
I had a ego-maniac supervisor in the military who was a MBTI enthusiast. He used it to run his “social” experiments on my team. During the time I didn’t see it but looking back, yeah weird AF.
What would he do?
lol. In the army I found that every platoon had a compulsive liar. I would arrange to have two liars from two platoons share a vehicle and see what happens. Results were hilarious. Lol
You are smashing it bro. Rare to find a still small channel with this high quality of content
Thank you so much!
NO WAY I JUST GOT AN AD FOR HEADWAY IN THIS VIDEO! I legit thought for a moment that you’d taken a clip from a Headway ad and were going to spin off that to offer a critique of their self-improvement book summaries
i'm only partway through this, but hearing about these books made me think about The Artist's Way, where everyone was ranting about it at one point and then I found out when actually looking into it that it's religious in nature and got sad about it because it felt a little sneaky.
Edit: I found the book we actually read by the same guy. "7 Habits of Hightly Effective Teens" was the book. As I remember the cover too damn well. It took me a bit but I found it.
That moment when I realized my Catholic Middle School was duped to having us reading Mormon Prondagana as a summer reading thing... The 7 Habits of Hightly effective people was one we literally read (I thought there was a kid one for us middle schoolers but I can't seem to find it, and it wasn't the family one) for the summer and we had to write down what we learned. It haunted me for years after because I'm like "how the hell are we even going to apply these" and then the words started to haunt me even in the work place and internet....
Now learning that it was Mormon.... makes it all the more sense on why it perminated.
This big issue is that people in wealth truly believe that they earned it, even Taylor Swift, my most favorite billionaire in the world thinks she “masterminded” her way to the top but truly, wealth is a social lottery, anyone can get it (it helps when you’re born into it) but there is no way you become a millionaire if you follow any step by step program, you’re either lucky or you’re not. You’re not chosen, you’re just lucky
First video ever where I found myself reaching for the Like / Upvote button several times. Excellent work and delivery! Thank you!
Having BPD the main treatment I do for it, DBT has mindfulness and is based of Buddhism and Hindu ideologies. Having Buddhism religious trauma it was and is a hard thing for me to separate my therapy from my religious trauma.
An interesting video, and as a fan of the 7 Habits (although haven’t read any of Covey’s other works), one I’ll need to sit with for a while. My immediate reaction is I don’t think of 7 Habits as a work in a scientific base (or even necessarily a business base), but instead of a work of philosophy. And like all philosophy texts, I find it best to think of it as attempting to get close to the truth and not the truth itself. Religion, as opposed to philosophy, claims to be the truth itself.
I was in an MLM once and this is exactly what it was like. Constantly pushing books, conferences, training and motivational materials that do little to nothing to teach about actual business.
As a fellow aries, it is so funny to watch people try to twist my quiet, shy personality into the mold they expect 😂
I worked at a place where the management decided to do a "growth" seminar. It was called "The umpteen of " as they all are, it seems! The hangup I had was with the weird quotes that popped up in the course book marginalia. I think I noticed a quote I knew the author had misattributed, and a lot of quotes from people I'd never heard of.
So I googled the people who were unknown to me, and most of them were elders of the LDS church. There was no explicit indication of this linkage in the course. I felt a *little bit* resentful about being forced to attend a course that back doors a lot of religious mumbo jumbo at my workplace, and it was quite sloppy with the accuracy of its attributions. In my opinion, this is unethical.
It also made me realise that attribution serves not one, but at least two purposes:
- giving original authors credit for their ideas (our usual understanding of its purpose), and
- giving the reader a break crumb trail to, or fair warning about, the source of the ideas they're taking in.
Example: say you see in a book that Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Success is the only earthly judge of right and wrong." Ok, fine, pragmatic advice, right? Pretty uncontroversial, right? Except that is a quote from an author whose name rhymes with "Schmadolf Schmidtler". Kind of changes the complexion of it, doesn't it!
Summary: I totally hear ya! The self help to whacko religion pipeline is alive and well.
Yes because "Business" its self has become an ideology / religion thats thinks its $hitting in the air, sky food & medicine isnt a problem for humanity & we should all be grateful for people helping advances its stopped for sake of profits. You too can become a King/billionaire if you exploit like what we do...the only thing stopping you is regulation/morals.
This is one of the best videos about this topic I've seen, I only wish it had been longer and delved into deeper explanations! One thought about how this stuff has been so successful with Hindu populations over the past few decades: the concept of dharma is central to most strains of Hinduism and shares a lot in common with the Calvinist idea of predestination. I genuinely believe this similarity has had a significant effect on business practices within the Indian subcontinent and growing evangelical tendencies within hindu cultural groups. Might be worth another deep dive!
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make MERCHANDISE of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
Hosea 12:7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales- they love to cheat. NLT
Am I just dense or do other people feel The Gambler vibes when reading The Seven Habits? Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em. Sounds deep, tells you nothing.
Very insightful, though I think most psychology is basically borderline crossing over into religion anyway. It’s really hard to address the mind without addressing the impact of beliefs.
Still, I think this is underhanded. Business success isn’t a function of mental health. It’s about market strategies, legal stuff, and numbers. The mental health stuff is how much you can enjoy your life, business is about how much misery you can stomach to get ahead, how much mental health destruction you’ve willing to take. There’s no way around that reality.
They’re mostly about Protestant, Lazzie-faire business practices. Hardly imposing on morality, nor do the books really describe how a proper Christian should conduct themselves with capital.
Refer to Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum for the true Christian way of economics, It’s beautiful in practice.
No, and also it's "laissez-faire"
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make MERCHANDISE of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
Hosea 12:7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales- they love to cheat. NLT
@@stoppit9 No to what?
Hello, based department? Yeah, you’re gonna need to check a video out for me, it even calls out Gladwell as a hack.
The whole deceitful aspect of it is so disgusting.
Like you said, it’s to make money. If they truly stood behind their beliefs, they wouldn’t try to cloak their stuff.
Thanks for this video.
A perfect encapsulation of the danger of idealism over materialism. The metaphysicians have always been wrong. Engels was writing about this more than a hundred and fifty years ago!
5:50 dude that guy stole that idea off of Star Trek Leadership audiobook I listened to like 20+ years ago (I can remember what it was called, but it was read by the guy who plays Quark)
This channel is going to blow up can I be an early investor? Lol.
Great video do you edit these videos yourself? And how long does it take you to make a video?
lol Thank you for the kind comment! I do edit these videos myself, and it's currently taking me about 6 hours to put one together. I have a pretty time-intensive day job, but I shoot for spending 3-4 hours each week on the videos.
I had to stop listening to Brian Tracy because it was just "Success == Godliness" and "Good People are Successful, so Successful People must be Good"...
5:20 the altar of Neoliberalism
frfr
Wow. Great video. I always felt something was off about so many business and self help books and that there’s a culture of perpetuating certain ideas which may not be backed up by hard data, but never made the connection to religious origins. This makes so much sense and I’ve seen it so often.
I have not watched this video, however I have read both of the books in the thumbnail, and they both suck. They are 300+ pages of fluff and waste. you could boil all that they are down to a single pamphlet and get the same message across. Modern "business" or "self-help" books are hot ass. Stick to the classics
I was expecting a point-by-point takedown like the “If Books Could Kill” podcast. That might be a good place to take this. 😁
Free market fundamentalist capitalism is its own religion.
Most Americans have complete faith in the Capitalist system, even though they understand that the economy sucks.
I was definitely not expecting this to be about actual religions, but that the business world is its own religion. I knew all of this stuff was absolute garbage, but I thought it was because it was too rooted in the fundamental tenets of the "business religion", aka "Fake it till you make it".
7:49 even though this is an American phenomenon, it has had a huge influence on countries around the world via the spread of evangelical Christianity + it syncretising [to various degrees] with whatever existing indigenous philosophies around wealth/abundance/resources
Good video. Liked it. Did get bad vibes from those self help books, but I wanted a specific example, especially in 7 habits, of “Here is what the book says, here is what is in between the lines/the message it wants you to take”, other than that though I liked it
As someone who has been Christian, then atheist, then Christian again, I am not convinced that the conclusions of a given religion are useful or even believable when divorced from the fundamentals and community aspect of that religion. For example, given how crappy the world and people often are, it is hard for me to believe that the universe if fundamentally good without believing in a benevolent creator, or that "crime doesn't pay" without believing in divine judgement. I wonder if that applies to other religions and daily life advice derived from them.
The universe just exists. Good/evil is a human construct relative to current beliefs. We used to think human sacrifice was good.
Btw, crime absolutely pays, often better than legal work.
2 Peter 2:3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make MERCHANDISE of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
Hosea 12:7 But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales- they love to cheat. NLT
Crime doesn't pay because secular authorities are there to make sure it doesn't? Doesn't have anything to do with religion. The state authority in "godless" China or North Korea also makes it so that crime doesn't pay there. You'll eventually get caught and face consequences based on what society you're in. That's true of all humans regardless of religion or lack thereof. People generally don't want theft or violence and work to prevent and punish it collectively.
@@naomistarlight6178 True, and I wonder if a lack of religion means that more government (laws, police, taxes, regulations) will be required because fewer people willingly choose to refrain from bad behavior due to religious reasons. There are costs and benefits to everything, and I'm not sure that "I'll do anything I can get away with" is a good ethos to build a society upon.
@@rockrocks66 But was anybody actually choosing to refrain from bad behavior due to religious reasons? Like I think if you look at the history of the church, you did have one population of people for whom this was true. But then you had another population of people who saw the lack of actual regulation and then did the thing *because* everybody else assumed it wasn't going to happen. Churches have been hotbeds of sexual abuse for a reason. But beyond that, dear god a lot of churches have had problems with members financially grifting each other, men beating their wives, parents neglecting their children, you name it.
Lots of people have exploited the trust of those systems to do massive amounts of harm. And atheists also... mostly don't avoid hurting people because of consequences? People *collectively* avoid harming each other because we have social bonds, not because of religion. Do you actually go around thinking that you'd love to murder people if only God didn't say it was bad? Of course not. But the exceptions are something that religion can't deal with, because by and large those people don't care about God any more than they care about you. That's why we do, in fact, need laws for all this stuff.
"5 Love Languages" was a useful enough book imho. Although, there's many ways to express love and of course it's not as simple as just 5 categories. But it's true that different people have different preferences when it comes to what expressions of love they're more likely to want/recognize as love.
It's like the song "Do You Love Me?" in Fiddler on the Roof. They'd never talked about love because it wasn't important in their culture, marriage was a duty, not a romantic whim. But Golde did have her own way of showing her husband love.
Hm is it useful though, or is it a way to tell couples that men need sex and that women need gifts or some "help" with the household. I've got an example from the book paraphrased by another website:
An example of this is Chapman’s story about a woman named Ann, who has a husband described as extremely emotionally abusive. Their conversation starts with Ann asking Chapman if it is possible to love someone you hate (girl, RUN). Chapman responds by making Ann read bible passages about loving your enemies. After learning that Ann’s husband’s love language is sexual physical touch, Chapman tells the poor woman that to save her marriage, she has to sleep with her horrible husband twice a week. Ann replies that she finds it “hard to be sexually responsive” to someone who “ignores her”-to which Chapman responds that many women feel that way, and she must simply rely on her Christian faith to get through it. Chapman wraps up this lovely anecdote by saying that Ann took his advice and that there was a tremendous change in her husband’s attitude, with the husband swearing to his friends that Chapman is a miracle worker. We don’t hear how Ann felt about it.
In the 90s my employer became indoctrinated with Covey, complete with the MBTI test and pressuring. It was one of the reasons I left. It's as though no one ever had common sense until Covey existed. They're all rackets.
I definitely agree with most of this, but mindfulness, while it has taken its roots from other places, has science behind it. Having gratitude and being present in the moment is an exercise in grounding. It's hard to let anxiety thrive when you are tuned in to your senses. From a medical standpoint, it helps me not have panic attacks, and thus not have seizures when I get them. That's part of what makes these movements so frustrating. Lowered blood pressure, increased happiness, better sleep quality, and feeling less shame because you don't realize you're just letting life happen to you? Of course that's good! But these people who co-opt the clinical applications are incredibly frustrating.
judgmentcallpodcast covers this. Business books are religious propaganda.
I don’t think I’ve ever followed someone faster! Resume is so great. And I’m so stoked to see you connect so much of the societal trends I’ve watched
15:35 mindfulness doesn’t pretend to know who you are based on what month you were born
Yeah, I see his overall point but I really think some of the things he's talking about exist at pretty different points on the nonsense spectrum
When he says they're the exact same thing, he means they're both spiritual woo disguised as science, not that mindfulness also assumes your personality based on when you were born. It's like you weren't paying attention to what he was saying at all.
@@zenleeparadise or its a tongue in cheek way of lumping both of them, its like you weren't paying attention at all.
I remember the hoopla about this book when it was released. I was initially interested but when I learned of Covey's LDS background and motives I shunned it.
It would have been nice to see some actual examples. Maybe this video was made more for people who are familiar with the books you talked about, but just *saying* that the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People were first outlined in The Divine Center without actually showing it, going through what those habits are, and showing how they're the same, isn't enough to convince me.
I almost feel like a missed a portion of the video, since it's structured like you did talk about it, or at least assume that the viewer knows what you're talking about.
I have to say, this is an extremely insightful video and I was shocked to see you subscriber and view count because this deserves so much more attention. As you can probably tell by my profile pic, I'm an author, to be specific I write about goal setting and creativity for young and neurodivergent people, but ofc I haven't reached the level of influence of the people you cover in the video, I'm just a small town 18 yo dude in rural Spain. As I read a lot, I've come across some of the books you mention, and their tone always rubbed me the wrong way, it seemed too... preachy? I now know why that word fits so well. I might be prejudiced, but when someone mentions their religious beliefs (ANY religion, I dislike them all the same), I tend to take their advice less seriously, because I feel like they are trying to convert readers. Of course, you don't have to be religious to push an agenda, and there are religious people who are able to separate their faith from their work and who don't take every occasion as an opportunity to preach. You've put into words what I've been thinking for a long time, so thank you! I'm eager to see more of what you do.
I'll say it now and I'll say it again
Religion ruins everything
Also thank you very much for calling this phenomenon out so people can know about it and put an end to this
As a Calvinist myself, it frustrates me to see how American culture essentially took its concepts, cut off its head, and let it wildly run around.
So the concept of being honest that Yahweh's knowledge of everything means he specifically made certain people to roast forever? At least Calvinism doesn't try to shove in "free will" as an excuse. They just replace it with "you can't know if you are saved or damned, so act like you're saved."
I kept being recommended think and grow rich
I was reading it until it said “work for free until you’ve gained their trust”
I come from a southern Baptist family
And they believed the same thing until my dad broke his back and they didn’t pay for the hospital bill
I went and told the person who gave it to me ,”this book tells you to work for free in it ,absolutely not .”
And I don’t speak to my family because they are prosperity preahers
I study earth Magik,and other things older than earth magic.😅