Jesse Taplin: ‘George Carlin On Roosters, Self- Help and Motivation’

Source:Jesse Taplin- comedian George Carlin on what pisses him off.

Source:The Daily Times

“George carlin clips from (2001) George Carlin – Complaints and Grievances”

From Jesse Taplin 

As far as self-help: I’m always in favor of people who try to improve themselves (except when I have to compete with them) just as long as they’re doing it to improve themselves and not just to say: “Hey, I’m reading this book right now.” Just to say that they’re reading it and can claim that they’re in step with whatever the current hot, pop culture offer is. But I think the best self-help is always someone’s very own mirror and they bother to look at it. If you want to improve yourself, look at yourself first and do it honestly. And every honest and intelligent person, especially anyone who is honest and intelligent about themself, will figure out what works for them and what doesn’t. If you want outside help, hopefully you have honest, intelligent people in your life who give a damn about them and listen to them.

Brian Billick who use to coach the Baltimore Ravens had a theory of coaching about what to do when a player screws up and he said: “You can put it gently and say you know what that’s not what I was looking for on that play and hopefully you’ll do better in the future. Or you can tell them: “God dammit, you fucked up buddy”. Just put it on the line and let them know exactly how they messed up: “And this is not what I’m looking for and you’re going to have to be better in the future”. But then tell them how they screwed up and show them what you want done instead. And if they continue to screw up, find a replacement for them. 

When you reward failure, you just get more of it. But if you teach and reward success, you get more of that as well. It’s the tough love approach to life that I prefer. Lay it out on the line so you know where you are and then you can adjust.

Self-esteem is only worth as much as its worth, if you have reason to have high self-esteem, then you should have that. But if you’re not doing very well, then you need to know that or have someone show you where you are lacking. So you can figure out what the problem is and improve yourself. And not get overconfident and think you are better than you are. Because that’s how we let ourselves down.