Self-improvement labor is hidden by framing it as uncovering one’s true self.

Evidence

To Ferriss, like Vaynerchuk, the self is also an “it,” an attainable fantasy of life. The labor of self-improvement is made invisible by framing it as excavating a newer, better self. — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 458

Categorization

• DEFINE: A crisp articulation of the self-branding ideology: the self as a reified object (‘it’) and improvement as excavation rather than construction.
• XREF: connects to: Showing oneself as a self online begins the manufacturing of the self as commodity — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory: A Marxist…, 61; Public selves require constant self-monitoring and self-editing labor — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 633

Broader Connections

• Showing oneself as a self online begins the manufacturing of the self as commodity #corroborates (0.80) — Grant Bollmer, Katherine Guinness, The Influencer Factory, 61
• Public selves require constant self-monitoring and self-editing labor #expands (0.78) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 633