"Hi askTRP, I'm having some trouble {sticking to my diet/motivating myself to lift/avoiding oneitis/motivating myself to approach/whatever}. {Here are my specific circumstances.} Any tricks or tips for overcoming my specific problem?"
"UUuuggggh! Me Gronk! Gronk! is strong, like Siberian bear! Gronk! not have problem! Every morning, before lift weights, Gronk! stick fork in eye, to make harder. Because Gronk! have strong willpower! You need have strong willpower, like Gronk! You no be pussy man. You have willpower. That solve problem."
"Oh, and, just to remind.... Gronk! very strong!"
Well, that's nice, Gronk. I'm glad your life is going well. Now kindly shut the fuck up.
Gronk! is a special sort of RedPill 'sperg that I see more and more of as TRP gets larger. He's read the sidebar. He's lurked for a long time, then asked pertinent questions. He's practiced the material in his life and started to get some success. But, like, most 'spergs, he overgeneralizes.
He's now treating TRP itself as a shit test. He has stopped seeing TRP as a place to learn about masculinity and success, and started seeing it as a masculinity contest. Gronk! is now determined to prove he is the biggest swingin' dick in TRP, or at least a bigger one than whoever he is responding to.
Gronk! is no longer speaking straighttalk (literal language about the subject under discussion, communicative language).
In fact, it's worse than that. Gronk! thinks he's speaking powertalk (language designed to manipulate the emotional state of others, goal oriented language), but he's not. He's speaking babytalk (language designed to manipulate one's own emotional state, masturbatory language).
Gronk! wins no real prize for AMOGing people on the internet. Gronk! may have "strong will" to resist eating doughnuts or skipping his workout, but he does not have "strong" enough "will" to resist the temptation to put his energy into getting cheap emotional highs that give him no long-term benefit.
Gronking feels good, but it makes you weaker. Kind of like doughnuts.
By endlessly singing the praises of "strong willpower" and a good "work ethic", which one either has or has not, Gronk! deprives himself and everyone around him of the opportunity to learn and systematically develop the right behaviour. Gronk!'s efforts to white-knuckle his way through life, and persuade everyone else to do so, deprive him and others of the opportunity to look on motivation as one more resource that can be built by understanding it, and using the right strategy.
Deciding to have more willpower is like deciding to be smarter, or to have more money. Like everything else, willpower (really motivation) is a finite resource that can be spent foolishly, spent wisely, developed, or squandered.
Gronk! builds an image of strength to project to others, pretending he was born with it, has an infinite amount of it, has always had it, and always will. Gronk! knows he must to this to women (women believe male strength is born, not made), but he has begun doing it to everyone, including himself. By lying to himself, he cheats himself of chances to strategically improve his weaknesses. By boasting to other men instead of helping them, he cheats himself of the chance to make allies, and learn by teaching.
Don't be Gronk!
Think carefully about when to project an image of strength, and when to talk plainly. Don't boast or AMOG just to make yourself feel good with cheap admiration highs. Instead, focus on your long-term goals, and your emotional state will take care of itself.
Whisper
If you liked this article, please don't buy me any more Reddit Gold. I have enough to last years, and Spez and Ellen Pao don't need more soy lattes. Instead, the completely optional "Buy Whisper More Steroids and Send Reddit to Chapter 11 Fund" can be found at the following Bitcoin address: 1DChc2Azt3zGHbZcwBwPG42jL9B8SuktdD
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