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The 7 Habits of Highly Miserable People

CGP Grey

7M subscribers • 6 videos on Rounds

YouTube
  • Recommended by 11 people, in Hacker News, across 8 different months.

For anyone, no background needed. Education, not medical advice.

14M views9 years ago11 recommendations

Mental healthDepression and anxietyStress

CGP Grey uses reverse psychology to illustrate behaviors and habits that maximize personal misery and depression.

Adapted from How to Be Miserable by Randy J. Paterson PhD: amazon.com/How-Be-Miserable-Strategies-Already/dp/1626254060… VERY IMPORTANT FOOTNOTE: youtube.com/watch?v=8qGCAE1jte8 Special Thanks: Randy J. Paterson PhD randypaterson.com/ Patreons: Mark Govea, Thomas J Miller Jr MD, Bob Kunz, John Buchan, Andres Villacres, Nevin Spoljaric, Christian Cooper, Michael Little, Ripta Pasay, Tony DiLascio, Richard Jenkins, Chris Chapin, Saki Comandao, Tod Kurt, Jason Lewandowski, Michael Mrozek, Phil Gardner, سليمان العقل, Jordan Melville, Martin , Steven Grimm, rictic , Ian , Faust Fairbrook, Chris Woodall, Kozo Ota, Colin Millions, Guillermo , Timothy Basanov, Chris Harshman, ChoiceMechanicalDenver.com , Donal Botkin, David Michaels, Ron Bowes, Tómas Árni Jónasson, Mikko , Derek Bonner, Derek Jackson, Orbit_Junkie , Alistair Forbes, Robert Grünke (trainfart), Veronica Peshterianu, Paul Tomblin, Travis Wichert, chrysilis , Ryan E Manning, Erik Parasiuk, Rhys Parry, Maarten van der Blij, Kevin Anderson, Ryan Nielsen, Esteban Santana Santana, Dag Viggo Lokøen, Tristan Watts-Willis, John Rogers, Edward Adams, Leon , ken mcfarlane, Brandon Callender, Timothy Moran, Peter Lomax, Emil , Tijmen van Dien, ShiroiYami , Alex Schuldberg, Bear , Jacob Ostling, Solon Carter, Rescla , Andrew Proue, Tor Henrik Lehne, David Palomares, Cas Eliëns, Freddi Hørlyck, Ernesto Jimenez, Osric Lord-Williams, Maxime Zielony, Lachlan Holmes , John Bevan, John Lee, Ian N Riopel, AUFFRAY Clement, David , Alex Morales, Alexander Kosenkov, Elizabeth Keathley, Kevin , Pierre Perrott, Tadeo Kondrak, James Bissonette, Jahmal O'Neil, Naturally Curious, Nantiwat , Tianyu Ge, Kevin Jeun, Jason Ruel, JoJo Chehebar, Danny Lunianga Xavier, Jeremy Peng, Jennifer Richardson, Rustam Anvarov Music by: davidreesmusic.com

Why it's here

11 people recommend this

What people say. Recommended as a helpful, rational, and humorous guide to identifying and avoiding depressive behaviors.

bitsodain Hacker News • Recommends

On “Training Your Brain to Be (and Stay) Happy”

CGP Grey recently posted a great video titled "7 Ways to Maximize Misery". It's worth checking out. link to this video

rajangdavisin Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ask HN: Do you plan your next day ahead?”

I have most recently been trying to plan out at least 6 months ahead. How I am approaching this was inspired by some life events and some videos I had seen on Youtube. I really liked this video by Scott Hanselmann ( link ) about scaling yourself and I liked this video that came out recently ( link to this video ) about behaviours that maximize your misery. What I took from these two videos is that goals are important and in order to reach these goals, you need to find a way to keep yourself accountable without creating goals that are vague or unattainable. I have just started writing a bunch of to-do lists on Google Keep and then I try to group various tasks and assign 3 per day. The goal is to focus…

hencqin Hacker News • Recommends

On “The Equifax breach may be the worst leak of personal info ever”

There are a lot. I thought this one was really funny 0. This one I found very interesting 1. Somewhat different, is the Hello Internet 2 podcast, which is by Grey and Brady Haran who you might know from the Numberphile youtube channel 3. It's basically the 2 of them chatting about random stuff, but I find it very entertaining. 0 link to this video 1 link 2 link 3 link

cjenin Hacker News • Recommends

On “Habits of Highly Miserable People”

CGP Grey made a great video 0 pretty similar to this, it has a bunch of points about physical things (changing sleep schedule, staying indoors) and keeps the same sarcastic tone. 0 link to this video

foxhillin Hacker News • Recommends

On “Habits of Highly Miserable People”

having been, for want of a better term, ‘highly miserable’ in the past, the entirety of this article comes across as insidiously toxic and detrimental to the mental well-being of those who are suffering. there is a.. loosely similar CGP Grey video, which approaches the matter in a much more rational context 1 for anyone suffering, i emplore you to not read this and watch this instead; 1 - link to this video

jgrowlin Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ask HN: What are the best hacks to fight depression?”

Sometimes it's more illustrative to look at what you can do to ensure you'll be depressed. 7 Ways to Maximize Misery: link to this video

Jetroidin Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ask HN: How are you holding up?”

I'm doing well. Ironically I think I'm doing better now than I would have been if the pandemic didn't happen; but still not in a particularly good position. Optimistic, though! If you're struggling, it's probably because the systems that you put in place at the start of the pandemic have broken down. (Kinda like how we eventually forget/give up on New Years Resolutions...) I'd recommend these1 two2 videos from CGP Grey to help. The first talks about the kind of things that you might be doing that are making you miserable, and the second about specific ways in which we can cope with the pandemic (and specifically a lockdown, if you are still in one). Brief notes: Avoid doing any of these…

cosmojgin Hacker News • Recommends

On “Setting goals for 2021 – A brief guide about personal goal setting”

CGP Grey has an excellent video on this exact kind of goal setting: link to this video And another on New Year's resolutions more generally: link

madmadsin Hacker News • Recommends

On “Suppose I wanted to kill a lot of pilots”

There is a good book employing the TRIZ mindset for self-improvement called "How to Be Miserable: 40 Strategies You Already Use"0. Although some of the outcomes the book lead you to can seem banal, if you approach them from the perspective of how to optimize misery, it can give you a new perspective. It certainly did for me in some areas. CGP Grey also made a video based on the book, called "7 Ways to Maximize Misery"1 that may be easier to digest. 0 link 1 link to this video

spurguin Hacker News • Recommends

On “Ask HN: Please Give Me Advice”

Here's a great video going over the same concepts but in a humorous way. 7 ways to maximize misery: link to this video

extraduder_irein Hacker News • Recommends

On “How to burnout a software engineer, in 3 easy steps”

I really like this format of telling people how to do the thing they don't want. Works way better, and is more memorable than doing the more common thing of telling people how to avoid the thing they don't want. CGP grey did a video like this that's still my favourite example of the format: link to this video

lj3in Hacker News • Mentions

On “Ask HN: What habits make a programmer great?”

…ing sugar. If you want to get things done, strive for a steady blood sugar level. It's hard to work when your blood sugar drops and you fall asleep at your desk. 5. Sleep during the hours of 10pm and 2am1. That's when your body makes most of the hormones you need every day. 6. Do the opposite of this video: 7 ways to maximize misery by CGP Grey: link to this video 0: link 1: link…

JBlue42in Hacker News • Mentions

On “Ask HN: I just got fired”

Hang in there. There are some great replies here that I hope you take to heart, especially the psychological side of it. It sounds like you haven't been through this before (it still sucks regardless of how many times it happens). Some practical questions: 1) Were you fired or laid off? There is a difference and it especially makes a difference when you apply for unemployment. How did HR or your manager frame it? 2) UI. I see you already applied which is great. The process is different in every state (assuming you're American here so correct me if I'm wrong). In CA, it takes about 2-3 weeks after you apply to get your first check. 3) Follow what the others said about confirming what they are…

cassepipein Hacker News • Mentions

On “Funds for Open Source”

True. But you also need empty space not to feel trapped in a cage or else you'll catch that cabin fever. You can always go the park provided you got into that discipline, that you there is a park less than ten minutes away or that it's not too cold/raining/snowing: Not ideal. And it might a shitty square surrounded by cars. Mentally, it is also very helpful to have separate spaces for different aspects of your life. When your room is also your office and your kitchen, it doesn't make for good sleep, good work or good cooking. Relevant videos : link to this video link

andredzin Hacker News • Mentions

On “How to Become a Bad Developer”

The way of presenting reminded me of this video: link to this video (7 Ways to Maximize Misery) and also reminded me of the 10 commandments.

Joel_Mckayin Hacker News • Mentions

On “Psilocybin decreases depression and anxiety in cancer patients (2016)”

I have a buddy that ended up in a ward, and still phones from time to time. The 3rd generation medications keep his cycles under control fairly well. Note, prior to being processed by our medical system. These same a--hole sycophantic dealers would target vulnerable people with BS treatments all the time. Talk with your doctor, get out for a walk every morning, and try out cognitive behavioral therapy when you are ready. =3 A funny post about what not to do: link to this video