See my last blog, where I (and most people) are driven mostly by fear of loss, are anxious all the time, and actually need anxiety to perform at optimal levels, some more than others. This is my notes from last couple chapters from his book
In the book , Dutton outlined "7 Deadly winds" of psychopaths:
1) Ruthlessness
2) Charm
3) Focus
4) Mental Toughness
5) Fearlessness
6) Mindfulness
7) Action
People spend too much time thinking about what might go wrong, that they don't really live in the present moment. Living in the past or too much in the future makes the present decisions sub-optimal. E.g. people were faced with 20 coin flips where the payouts were -$1 and +$1.5. Normal people stopped taking flips most of the time at some point to "preserve winnings". Psychopaths took all 20 flips, and didn't have issues with e.g. killing one person to save 3 others etc.
He argues that psychopathy is very useful in the stressful modern world, more so in professions like: Surgeon, Lawyer, Stock Broker, Poker player...
The key is becoming a Method Psychopath Capable of stepping into these qualities when required, but still being capable of restraint so you don't end up chopping random virgins into pieces yet can navigate in the stressful modern world.
He draws the parallel with sports psychology and flow, where top golfers state e.g.
| | Play like it is nothing when it means everything. Let go of mistakes in your head, even good shots, just focus on the next one. And forget about consequences as well
That's why athletes set e.g. process goals - it forces them to focus on the present moment and forget about the distractions of the past and the future.
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Psychopaths have a natural talent for such things. For example, when they are faced with an extreme situation their heart rate goes DOWN slightly, and so do other tests - they are gearing themselves up to the challenge. They also solely focus on the task at hand, not even seeing the threats they could be fearful of - they are not courageous as they have nothing to fear, they just see the things needed to do in order to get what they want.
THE FULL CIRCLE
So what does Dutton Recommend you do in order to be capable to act more as a psychopath?
Yep. It's pretty much the first mental game material I came across, and what tons of nosebleed players are doing According to Ike Haxton - mindfulness and meditation.
| | The practice of right mindfullness constitutes the sevenths step of the noble path, one of the teachings of Buddha written some 2500 years ago.
The Mind is deliberately capped at the level of bare attention, a detached observation of what is happening within us and around us in the present moment. In the practice of right mindfulness the mind is trained to remained in the present, open, quiet and alert contemplating the present event. All judgments and interpretations have to be suspended, or if they occur, just registered and dropped. Such training consistently applied eventually leads to the arising of insight and the qualities of dispassion, non-clinging and release. Psychopaths possess such qualities naturally.
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Mindfulness based intervention has been shown to be a particularly effective meta-cognitive strategy when dealing with the symptoms of anxiety and depression, two conditions that psychopaths are singularly immune to. The therapy uses Buddhist teachings, but adds a kind-of Naive child like inquisitiveness which is strongly reminiscent of the core "openness to Experience" factor of the big 5 personality structure of which psychopaths score very high on. Anchor the thoughts entirely in the present, screen out the chatter of the past and the elusive future and anxiety begins to subside, perception begins to sharpen, and the question becomes one of utility, what we do with this NOW, this enormous, emphatic present, once we have it. Do we savor the moment like a saint or seize it like a psychopath. Do we reflect on the nature of experience or do we focus our focus entirely on ourselves, the the pursuit of instant gratification.
See Wh00zel' quote here:
| | On September 03 2015 03:56 thewh00sel wrote:
Agree with approaching like an 8 year old. Be excited and intrigued at every option in every street of poker like a video game with no consequences except that if you die you reset your 100bb or w/e and start again. I definitely have all my best sessions with this mindset. |
A study was mentioned of an emotional response test, where they simulated an explosion next to you. There was a reaction in every person, but hardcore Buddhist monks performing one of their meditation techniques - they were able to observe the thought, even notice it more clearly than others, but the measured reaction was miles lower than anyone else.
So the solution to be able to acquire the positive qualities of psychopaths seems to be mindfulness, living in the present moment - being aware of your emotions but merely observing them I see it now where I got hit by the largest 1 week downswing ever since I remember, clocking at some 24buy ins. The biggest effect is in that has is that it throws me off the focus on the present moment, on playing my hand as well as I can with distracting thoughts of past and projecting fear into the future - something a psychopath or a skilled Buddhist monk would never do. And it's the same when interacting with people, (chicks especially - In a podcast a PUA from "The Game" itself recommended meditation leading to aware situational openers as a way to go) Failing that, the last piece of advice came from a psychopath in a mental institution: The trick is mindfulness, or ,failing that, abusing your imagination into "What if I didn't feel this fearful way" and do the right thing anyway.
notes and little bits from the book as I typed them in my phone:
+ Show Spoiler +
wisdom
sad people rember more
surgeons are psychopaths. in alternative universe murderer can be a surgeon or world leadee
disorders can be helpful - nash psychotic
women were physically weaker- evolutionary thet had to develop emotional radar to recognise dangerous ppl like psychopats.
they unedrstand and recognise emotion, but dont feel it.
utalitarian(stuart mill, bentham) people - psychopaths. fat guy train dillema
inhaling sweat from 1st time skydivers made fear part of brain 40pct more active in testee ppl uner rmri scanner. psychopaths are unaffected. they dont have anxiety and are unaffected by what others think.
buddhist monks might be psychopaths -unaffected by others, only filled with compassion.
emotion by numbers
full longboat wreck- ps. decidef fast.
herding - animals when threatened huddled up together, so do ppl. stock - go "irrationally" vs the herd
bond - psychopath
self disclosure meets reciprocity.
distracting quickly will make the person forget they told us stuff
psychopaths are driven by reward, learn slower when threaten by punishment than normal people, (reverse of behavioral value function curve?!!). dopamine reward 4x higher induced by promise of reward. true psychopaths seek reward at any cost, with intense focus.
psychopaths have talent at recognising emotion. they know what it is not what it's like. they dont feel anxiety.
moderate psychopathic traits most succesfull
extreme persuasion radio show
give rejection the finge and rejection gives it back - pickup, racking up rejection.
mental toughness - what if you dont need courage as you dont have fear. courage is just emotional blood doping.
people spend too much time thinking about what might go wrong, that they don't really live in the present moment.
the trick is mindfullness, or use imagination " what if I didnt feel this fearful way, and do it anyways".
living in the past makes present sub optimal - e.g. the plus ev coimflip where people preserve winnings instead of maxing ev
paychopaths never procrastinate as they don't project fear of future
7deadly winds:
1) ruthlessneas
2) charm
3) focus
4)mental toughness
5)fearlessness
6)mindfullness
7)action
Method psychopath- capable of stepping into these qualities as needed.
st paul psychopath- changing to jews, law, outlaws,poor...
stoicism is coveted under pressure
play like it is nothing when it means everything. let go of mistakes or good shots just focus on the next one. forget about consequences.
process goals force athlete to focus and forget about other things.
they focus on task, not seeing a threat. ropes, focused on climbing, ignored fear.
P.S. I'm glad I finished this thing. It was a great listen, but there's loads of moral dilemmas like "would you strangle your own infant if it's crying, you and other jews are in a basement and if you don't the Nazi's are sure to found you out and kill the whole group" and I'm all about trying to feed my mind with constructive and positive thoughts, and it was pretty draining.
Just to mention: I got the tip from the book from this podcast on confidence and Anxiety, that changed my approach towards life to a very large degree:
http://www.menprovement.com/mpp024/
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