Rational Resolutions: Special CFAR Mini-workshop SATURDAY
post by LoganStrohl (BrienneYudkowsky) · 2014-01-02T20:32:26.931Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 15 commentsThis Saturday, Michael Valentine and I are taking the most fun and potent habit-formation material from CFAR's previous four-day workshops, and focusing that material towards making rational New Year's resolutions - and then actually keeping them.
If you're in the Bay Area and interested in resolutions, or in seeing CFAR's habit-formation material distilled, this workshop is for you.
We'll meet at the CFAR office in Berkeley from 11AM to 5PM PST on Saturday, Jan. 4th. You can register here - as of this posting, there are still several spots left!
Normally an event like this would cost about $400, but we want to make this workshop more accessible. So, this time the event costs $195. And we’re confident enough in the value of this material that we offer a no-hassle full money-back guarantee: If, after attending this workshop, you decide you didn’t get your money’s worth, ask to have it returned and it’s yours. (We do recommend you try the techniques out for a week or two first. Some of them are likely to surprise you!)
15 comments
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comment by shminux · 2014-01-02T21:52:24.787Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
From the link:
A potent, well-researched tool for causing long-term behavior change in one hour
This pattern-matches too well to the multitude of get-rich/skinny-quick scams out there, consider rewording.
Replies from: Unnamed, JoshuaFox, NancyLebovitz↑ comment by Unnamed · 2014-01-03T00:47:02.897Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
How about this?
One "weird" trick discovered by a psychology professor which can increase your behavior change by 0.6 standard deviations, according to a recent meta-analysis. Scientists who compete with him for grants hate him!
(Dan from CFAR)
Replies from: JoshuaFox↑ comment by NancyLebovitz · 2014-01-02T22:41:20.490Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Is there any way to phrase the concept which wouldn't set off those alarms?
Replies from: Metus↑ comment by Metus · 2014-01-02T23:09:08.723Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
"Over the span of an hour the use of a well-researched tool that, consistently applied, can help facilitate long-term behavior change"
The key is to not convey the impression that you will get unrealistically high benefit for next to none investment in either time or effort. What trips shminux is the form "With this one simple trick you can change your life! For only an hour you can make all your resolutions stick. Psychologists hate us!" I doubt that the one hour cited is about actually applying the technique but about learning its use. The formulation on the other hand implies that simply sitting there for the 60 minutes should be enough.
Replies from: shminux↑ comment by shminux · 2014-01-02T23:57:32.218Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
"With this one simple trick you can change your life! For only an hour you can make all your resolutions stick. Psychologists hate us!"
Right, that's about it. Another red flag is keeping the suspense going until the punter pays up. Not sure if this is intentional or not.
comment by cursed · 2014-01-03T05:40:20.257Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
"from 11PM to 5PM PST on Saturday, Jan. 4th."
Guessing you meant 11AM. -Edit: The Eventbrite link says 11AM to 7PM. What is it?
I wasn't convinced about testimonials from CFAR camps (also as a student, the price deterred me), but with a money back guarantee it seems like the opportunity cost of spending 6 hours at CFAR outweighs whatever else I would do. Tempted to go.
comment by brazil84 · 2014-01-03T11:56:42.602Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Here's a suggestion:
Put your ideas into a video so that thousands of people can watch instead of just a handful. Suggest that people make a donation if they find the video helpful, like leaving a tip at a restaurant. Even if 90% of people stiff you, you are still better off. Besides which you've helped a lot more people.
Replies from: ESRogs↑ comment by ESRogs · 2014-01-03T19:42:19.881Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Even if 90% of people stiff you
Even if makes it sound like 10% is a conservative estimate for the number of people who would tip. I'd guess it'd be much lower than that. Not necessarily a bad suggestion otherwise though :)
Replies from: brazil84↑ comment by brazil84 · 2014-01-04T10:19:13.201Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Even if makes it sound like 10% is a conservative estimate for the number of people who would tip. I'd guess it'd be much lower than that.
Now that I think about it, you are probably right. I tried to look up what percentage of people pay for free software but could not find anything. I imagine it would be the same order of magnitude.
Not necessarily a bad suggestion otherwise though :)
Thank you.