 We all had our favorite superheroes when we were young. One would enjoy Batman, the other would go for Spider-Man, while others would go for something more niche like Ant-Man or Freakazoid. But now that we have evolved out of our childlike minds, we are oftentimes going online trying to find a new role model, a new version of that particular favorite superhero. And we do that by reading their books or blogs or watching their videos and overall consuming content from creators we really like and possibly want to emulate in the background. And here comes in the self-improvement slash productivity content creators. You love them, you hate them, you view their videos and content as life-changing or complete trash. But one thing is certain, you have hard time trying not to click on their latest stuff. And by taking a closer look at my personal experience, I would say that I learned quite a bit from consuming self-improvement content overall. Over the years, I've been watching a lot of their videos trying to follow their advice, filter some of it out and also enhance it and make it my own. But who are they? Well, if you're watching this video, you're probably well accustomed to a few of them. They are sharing their ideas and personal experiences on the internet. Their content is digestible, clean on point, and again, in the long run can be life-changing. And this is why I thought about constructing a small analogy-based game, a game where I'm trying to find similarities between superheroes and self-improvement content creators while also outlining my personal thoughts on each one. And I know that reasoning by analogy is oftentimes the wrong model, but I'll get on that towards the end of this video. At first, I want to talk about one of my favorite content creators, an everlasting titan in the realms of the digital world. And that is Thomas Frank, aka the College Info Geek. This guy is a legend. He started his online journey from his college dorm room, working his way up, fighting the YouTube metagame, showing great compassion for productivity overall, always keeping himself up to date with the latest pieces of software and methods and sharing his ideas through his blog and YouTube channel and podcast. And he also has the sidekick I really like as well, but the superhero I associate him with, and again, please consider that I will be biased when speaking this one, as I'm only using my personal filtering systems and past experiences. But again, the superhero I associate him with the most is Captain America. And there are a few points I want to highlight that will hopefully support my analogy. Well, first, he's old, and I'm not necessarily talking about age here, but he's all on the internet. Again, Thomas started in college, gradually building an infrastructure for himself, trying, failing, and learning from his past mistakes, and getting back on the saddle once again. He has a very tactical approach to life, always taking notes during his process, always keeping himself up to date. And even though he might be genetically enhanced like Captain America, he still keeps his routine going. He keeps learning, he oftentimes wears a shirt saying, Never stop learning, and he's well aware of his flaws, trying to fix them with each piece of content he's about to release. He's oftentimes the one pulling all the creators up together. And again, this might simply be my personal type of confirmation bias, which is a tendency to search for and recall information in a way that confirms and supports one of my prior beliefs or values. And I recently learned that people associate him with Oliver Queen from The Arrow Show. I haven't watched that one in a while, but I do agree that he has the same look, haircut, Zeke, and OCD. Although Thomas is more funny, so my analogy remains distantly stable. Moving on to our next superhero, this one is quite an interesting character. Not only because he's also a doctor, but mostly thanks to the fact that he is well known for using digital trickery to get things done as efficiently as possible. And this one is Ali Abdaal, a now ex-Kembridge doctor who is pretty much well known for juggling multiple balls at the same time, like producing high quality instructional YouTube videos on how to study more effectively and be more productive 3-4 times per week, having a blog, a newsletter, a podcast, a company, and also, again, being a doctor, even though he stopped like one month ago. And I believe Ali is a great inspiration not only because he doesn't care what other people think, but also thanks to his inherited high IQ. And but it is not only about genetics, it also puts in hours and hours of work and you can pretty much see that in his initial videos and study sessions. But he became better and started the automation process of his surroundings, making the environment work for him. And this is why for one part I associate him with Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, and for the other part with Doctor Strange. Also because he's a doctor and it kind of helped me make my point here. But when I say Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, I am oftentimes thinking about his passion for efficiency and technology. Like Stark building his suits, devices, and contraptions. Ali also built a whole system to keep his content factory going, while also running a company and again, being a doctor at the same time. He is also a tech YouTuber promoting his favorite gadgets and tools of the trade. And he is also pretty much very well known for using the speed of delivery, always preaching things like why you should increase your typing speed. Thus aiming to look for and be inclined to finding shortcuts. He also enjoys learning and he's pretty good at doing that as well. As a matter of fact, this is how he kickstarted his channel. And also again, he doesn't care what people think of him, thus the Iron Man. He is always preaching why you should put yourself out there and why you should not be afraid of sharing the obvious. And he's also rich and initially arrogant like Tony Stark, so this adds one more thing on our plate. You were born rich, super rich, rich family, coming from a pretty rich family. Uh, yes, I am rich. In terms of why do I associate him with Doctor Strange? First, because he's a doctor duh and he enjoys music as well and he started as an arrogant prick, only to stay on his path to becoming a wiser, more humble individual. And again, my biases are at full speed here. While he might not have the full traits of the Iron Man or Doctor Strange, he certainly somehow fits the macro profile. Moving on to next superhero slash content creator, I want to give some quick thoughts on Nathaniel Drew. I discovered him about a year ago and I initially thought of a rip-off Machiavella. And then I had to remind myself that, you know, nothing is original and ideas are built on ideas. But in the past couple of months, I've radically changed my mind about him. I enjoy his views on the world, he seems like an old soul sharing wisdom, and he's also into aesthetics and simplicity. Now the superhero I associate him with the most is Vision. Not only because of his politeness and soft voice, but again, thanks to his old soul trapped in a weird body. And I know that most of us will say Harry Potter here, but I'm not sure if that fits the bill. And his content is refreshing and reassuring, much like Vision's appearance in The Avengers. And if we want to go DC, maybe Vision has somehow liked the Martian in terms of speech and attitude towards the group. But again, I do not have too much content on board, so this analogy might be subject to change. Moving on to Mattiavella. Matt was a hard one to figure out. I've been following his content for a few years now, and even though he is a minimalist, I wasn't sure where I could place him. In minimalism, we got a chance to... And usually I don't like to place people in a certain type of box, sort of labeling them and everything they do, but I am not sure why Matt reminds me of Thor. Maybe because of his biceps, maybe as a combination of humor and seriousness. Because your biceps aren't very minimalist. Or possibly thanks to Matt. But really, he kind of has a little bit of everything. And he's not as impulsive as Thor is, and again, I'm pulling my data here based on the content I consume. I do not know the guy in real life. Last but not least is Captain Simba. And he is the guy who essentially kickstarted this whole idea. I've been following his channel for a while now, and he's doing comedy type of videos such as Watches Jordan Peterson Wands War, Does One Dopamine Detox Wands. And he also combines it with self-improvement and productivity content, which is a pretty good strategy as well. Now I believe he's sort of like the ant man of the group. What are you doing here? First off, I'm a big fan. Or maybe The Flash if you want to go with DC stuff. He's funny, doesn't take himself too seriously, and when there's something important he wants to deliver and convey, he definitely sues up and shows his true powers. And I know that I'm kind of using the recency bias to construct my analogies here, and this is again a cognitive bias that favors recent events, and this is why I'm showing Avengers and DC-related footage. Mostly because it fits the bill, but also because the movies are pretty recent, and I suppose we all kind of heard some things about him. And reasoning by analogies oftentimes the wrong model. And too much of our thinking and reasoning gets done by using analogy as it is oftentimes a mental shortcut that will ease our process. But one productive thing that reasoning by analogy does for us is, kind of makes us see the patterns, makes the patterns come to life. And as you may know, patterns can be found everywhere around us. And again, we humans are very fond of mental shortcuts, as our brain doesn't always want to put in the work. And reasoning by analogy sometimes makes us think that we are really, really smart, which makes it kind of dangerous as well, because you will not oftentimes stop and think about, you know, if the analogy truly applies and truly makes sense. It is also very easy to be biased and subjective, as your interpretation of the analogy is highly dependent on your filters, the way you view the world and others around you. And they can also lead you into some sort of a rabbit hole. When your mind becomes obsessed with anything, you will filter everything else out and find that thing everywhere. And again, the reason I'm using an analogy to construct my argument here is because it kind of enhances my ability to spot patterns, even though some of the patterns might not be right. And again, reasoning by analogy might not be the proper way to view the world in some situation, but it is one model that fuels and fires up our human mind thinking and creativity. So what I'm doing, I'm pulling up distinct pieces and doing it in a way that requires minimum effective doses of brain power, and I'm indeed biased when doing so. But then I will kind of like filter out the fluff and the pieces that are not suited for my particular puzzle. And getting back to our superheroes here, you might want to ask, who is my favorite? And I honestly can say I cannot pick one. I also do enjoy other creators I haven't had a chance to feature in this video, like, you know, Team Ferris or Jaco Willing, Bro Jogan. But for this particular brand of superheroes, I sort of like the combination of everyone. I like the tactical approach of Captain America and his sidekick, the speed and mental agility of the Iron Man, the calm and wisdom of vision and the simplicity of Thor's view on life. Monday biceps, Tuesday biceps, Wednesday biceps. Okay, I'm just kidding. And also the grit and funniness of the Ant-Man or the Flash. But this is kind of it for now. I found that reasoning by analogy and finding common patterns and connecting the dots from the content I am consuming now with the dots from the content I was consuming when I was a toddler, a pretty entertaining exercise to try out and convey in a visual format. And please let me know in the comment section below if and why my analogies might be wrong based on your subjective model of thinking and experience. But other than that, thank you for watching and I will see you in the next one.