Narrative Arcs

My plan is basically to try and crack the code of human happiness, and this includes attempting to solve problems in psychology commonly considered to be impossible. I'm naively confident that I will discover answers where others have not. However, I'm far less confident about the direct impact I'll be able to make on the world with this knowledge. As much as I love theory crafting, testing out ideas and making them happen in real life are also essential parts of any mastermind plan. I'm trying my best, but I'm really hoping to find collaborators, maybe even recruit a partner in crime (or two) to supercharge this grand project!

Endgame: evil master plan to make people happier

Current arc: rebuilding from scratch

You know those movie moments where a character suffers a crushing defeat at the height of their success, only to realize the beliefs that fueled their rise were fundamentally flawed? It’s devastating—they end up withdrawing for a while, having lost their confidence in how to participate in life, until they eventually figure out a way to live more authentically. Symbolically, that’s where I am. I’m recovering from severe burnout, having learned the hard way that much of the wisdom I faithfully practiced from therapy and conventional productivity is as unsustainable as living on energy drinks. It worked—until it doesn’t.

Character Lore

I'm in a 6 month phase of trying out a new career as a happiness and fulfillment coach, specializing in working with neurodivergent and gifted adults. During this time, I'm offering free coaching packages, so feel free to get in touch if you're interested in working with me.

Notable skills

Lessons learned & spicy takes

• "Fully healing" from trauma doesn't exist and isn't the goal.

• People who over-identify as being highly logical/rational are typically just unaware that they're ticking trauma time-bombs.

• Therapy is slow and not cost-effective for increasing happiness and life satisfaction because it isn't designed to do so.

• A lot of ideas on self-help are generally B.S. because the real goal is to know ourselves, not to improve ourselves.

• The whole sum of truly good advice on general productivity that exists could fit on a single piece of paper.

• Almost all success stories are largely rooted in privilege.

• Experts are frequently wrong.

Current specialization

• [Legendary] Apply a beginner's mindset in almost any context.

• [Epic] Break down nuanced concepts into simple and concise parts.

• [Super Rare] Traverse knowledge/belief structures efficiently.

• [Rare] Brainstorm creative ideas without specialized knowledge.

• [Uncommon] Learn to mimic expert subject knowledge in 72 hours.

• [Common] Moderate default preference for logical thinking.

What I'm working on

Here's a big picture sample of things I'm working on. Some of these projects are stepping stones, while others are much longer-term.

Self-care skill tree

I'm working on mapping therapies, interventions, and resources onto a "self-care skill tree", which provide a practical framework for efficient personal growth.

This framework also explains why many mainstream practices such as CBT can be harmful rather than helpful.

Debunking popular self-help

This talk series examines all sorts of popular self-help ideas, exploring common red flags and how to tell good sources of ideas from bad ones based on didactic clues (spoiler: all of these popular books are objectively bad sources of robust advice).

I'm incredibly proud of my original memes. It may seem simple, but this might actually be some of my best work.

Neurodivergent memes

I'm brainstorming a YouTube series that explains differences between neurotypical and neurodivergent communication norms and how this plays out in everyday interactions. I suspect this could be quite helpful for a significant audience.

Translating neurotypical behaviors

The impossible problem

Is it possible to help people who are "happily unhappy" become unhappy but willing to fight for their happiness? The textbook answer is no, but I'm not ready to accept that. I'm gradually collecting pieces of the puzzle that could point to a framework for addressing this problem.

Another impossible problem

If someone discovered an infallible cure for mental health problems, I'm convinced that only a small minority of the population would be willing to try it, based on current cultural attitudes. How can we systemically shift global attitudes? Is there a way to effect change faster?