A skeptical dive into the weird, sketchy, occasionally life-changing world
of self-improvement.

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  • Day 28: I am getting an early night and you should too

    Day 28: I am getting an early night and you should too

    tworuru

    ,

    Something I saw some time ago: “Depleted brains seek distraction.” I wish I could attribute it, but I was tired, and scrolling, and now I’ve forgotten without any possibility of recall who said it. But it certainly seems abundantly true; the more tired I am the more likely I am to seek distraction, whether it’s

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  • Wake up (wake up)

    tworuru

    ,

    Every day, the first thing I do is wake up. In my experience, that’s the best way to start a successful day, and I haven’t missed one yet. It is, of course, 3 AM, the time all…

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  • We’re updating our pricing – here’s why

    tworuru

    ,

    Gidday [CYNIC NAME HERE], We hope you’re enjoying all the cynicism and self-improvement the Cynic’s Guide to Self-Improvement has to offer. We’re updating our our prices to bring you more great entertainment. This update will allow us…

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  • The 7 most effective self-improvement subject lines

    tworuru

    ,

    Gidday Cynics, You’ll be pleased to know I have been extremely productive in nearly every facet of my life except writing this newsletter. Subscribe As far as writing goes, I’ve been busy. On top of a fairly…

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  • Self-Improvement In Spite Of The Legend of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom

    tworuru

    ,

    Gidday Cynics, Important news: There is a new video game out called The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, it is the best video game I’ve played in years, possibly ever, and it is ruining my…

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  • Fellas, are you OK?

    tworuru

    ,

    Gidday Cynics, We’re a few months in to this project now and I’ve noticed something interesting: the most engaged subscribers here aren’t men. Subscribe There’s nothing wrong with this. But it’s definitely not what I expected. I…

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  • Always read the comments?

    tworuru

    ,

    Gidday Cynics, It has been a Week. The day job Matrix has me, and while this is definitely cause for celebration — having a job is an increasingly rare privilege these days, plus I actually like what…

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  • The life-altering magic of “meh”

    tworuru

    ,

    Gidday Cynics, I hope you like my new idea, which is to give every newsletter a title that looks like it’s straight from a self-help book. Readers should be able to pick which one I’m riffing on.…

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  • An Actual Neuroscientist’s Guide for Adults Who Can’t Science Good

    tworuru

    ,

    Gidday Cynics, First, a warm welcome to the new readers who’ve signed up after reading my Webworm guest post “An Insult To Life Itself” on AI. It was… interesting to write. AI is complicated and confusing, but…

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  • A Scientist’s Guide To Self-Improvement Science (For Non-Scientists)

    tworuru

    ,

    Gidday Cynics, Thanks for waiting for this newsletter. There’s a lot of info here, so I wanted to take extra time to make sure it was as solid as possible. Subscribe This one has been brewing for…

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  • Noot me on Noots

    tworuru

    ,

    Hello, Cynics. If you subscribe to one or more Substack newsletters, you are now likely drowning in requests to join Notes, the noo feature Substack just launched. Obviously, you should ignore all those other emails, and pay…

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