Today on something you should know a look back at some of the most interesting moments from the past year, including how to make yourself smarter, there's a fairly straightforward formula to being smarter and that formula involves developing smarter habit. Then, if you believe in superstitions, they may actually work in research showing that people who thought they were using a lucky golf ball duncan thirty, five percent more golf club, also social media marketing, may not be all it's cracked up to be. The overwhelming amount of word of mouth that takes place is still in the real world offline faith to faith, and why daydreaming and being unfocused may be the best way to solve a problem when you are unfocused, it actually help give you a focus three and a red pill that when it's time to focus, you can focus optimally as well. All this today on something you should know.

Something you should now fascinating, entail the world's top experts and practical advice you can use in your life today, something you should make her rather ass. I very christmas happy holidays and hello, twenty seventeen draws to a close and because of a holiday, I thought this week would be a good time to reach Some of the the fascinating intel, but we ve uncovered in this programme during the past year, so this episode and the next one will contain highlights in those real juicy nuggets from shows during the past year, beginning with how to become smarter, this is from episode. Forty six dr art markman he's a phd professor of psychology and marketing at the university of texas at austin, an author of the book. Smart thinking and

explains how and why some people are smarter than others and how we can all be smarter definitely characteristics that people have that in for them to acquire good knowledge, so there are certain people that we think of his being inherently curious and those people who will go out of their way to read more on some story that they have just heard about or to ask a lot of questions of people, but even if your natural tendency isn't to go out of your way to pick up knowledge like this. These are skills that you can develop, and habits that you can acquire The advantage to being able to

do smart thinking is what it is. You're able to solve problems better what I mean, what what's the advantage to being smarter is as obvious a question as that may seem: well, there are a number of advantages to to being smarter. The fact is that we are often in situations in which the that the answers to problems that we ve tried in the past don't work for us, and so people in in business are constantly trying to innovate. That's the huge buzz word, and yet innovation requires doing things differently than they ve been done in the past, and and that really requires this kind of smart thinking. But this filters all the way down to anyone who has a problem to solve. If you're trying to fix your car, then need to know something about the way your car works and if you don't understand the way the car works, your sunk, so it is there a path. two smarter thinking.

Absolutely. What one of the things that I talk about in the book is that there is a fairly straightforward formula to two being smarter and that formula involves developing smarter habits and those but are too to learn more effectively or to create what I call high quality knowledge and then to develop strategies to use that knowledge. When you need it and quality. Knowledge means knowledge that you have, that active, tells you how the world works. That essentially knowledge that allows you to answer the question: why and using that knowledge, when you need it means being able to describe the problem that you are facing by billy, finding the essence of that problem. is looking at the problem you're trying to solve, and not just trying to solve the way that everyone has in the past, but rob

really looking deeply into it and trying to understand what is the nature of the problem at its core. Can you give me an example, absolutely, sir, One of the examples I use right, the front end of the book is, is james, dyson who, It is in that I came seventies that when he vacuumed that the vacuum Nor would a would the bag would claude it would lose suction and all Everyone who played around with vacuums but before that would try to fix the bag, would try and make it more effective bag that wouldn't clogs as much and what dyson it was to say what is the essence of the problem that a vacuum is trying to solve. The essence of the problem isn't just trying to build a better bag. It's trying to take the combination of dirt and air that get sucked into the vacuum and separate the

from the air? And there are lots of ways of separating things that don't involve bags, and then he happened to know about the way that saw mills work saw mills, use, an industrial site clung it doesn't have a bag in it. Instead, here comes in to a law. Cone a cyclone gets created and the and the dust gets pushed to the side of the cylinder and then falls down into a receptacle and he created a miniature industrial cyclone and stuck it in a vacuum cleaner, and that was a pretty smart solution, So how can I, Become smarter shirt The first thing that you need to do to be to get smarter is too is to work daily to improve the quality of your knowledge. So that means that

Whenever you encounter something new, you need to understand the way it works and the best way to make sure that you understand the way it works is to try and explain it to yourself as you go along. So if you hear somebody give a really good explanation, try and repeat it back or or write it down or carry one of those little digital recorders and just say out loud the explanation to something you just encountered and if you do that insistently, you will improve the knowledge that you have and then the second thing that you can do is to spend time really looking at the problems that surround you and try, figure out whether there are other ways of describing at problem that might I provide a a another essence to that problem and suggest a different path or different knowledge that you might have that might help you to solve it.

but even that, doesn't necessarily insure success. It's just another way to solve a problem at night might not be a better way. It might just be another way, that's right, but in fact, if you look carefully at lots of the things that we think of as being smart thinking, they involve finding alternate ways of doing things that had been done in the same way for a long time Fortunately, if you look at our education system, we spend a lot of time trying to teach people that there is a correct answer to problem Is in some sense we draw bad analogy from math. Most math problems really do have a single answer and your job is to find it. But in all every other walk of life there isn't one answer to a problem. There are many, and each answer is likely to have some strength and some weaknesses and the better your ability to find a multiple or multiple sources of solutions and, and

uses solutions in a new situation, the more likely you are in the long run, to do things that other people look at and think were smart, and maybe I'm up and build a matter build a better mousetrap. Absolutely. and maybe make a billion dollars doing if he built it As they say, if you build the better mouse chop, the world will be to pass through your door mat is professor art marksmen from the university of texas- it Austin. He is author of the book, smart thinking and if you'd like to hear the entire interview you this go to our website, something you should know dot net and all the episodes or their their numbered. An episode number forty six is the one hour workmen was in a discussion I enjoyed a lot was it was the one about magical thinking, I guess I always thought. Maybe I was the only one that did it but turns out a lot of, people engage in magical thinking? You know it's

psych knocking on wood or having a lucky charm or a lucky sweater Matthew. Hudson has studied this phenomenon of magical thinking and he wrote a book called the seven laws of magical thinking in and was my guest in episode. Fifty one where he discussed exactly. What magical thinking is that What definition that I give is the to be sure of mental properties, to non mental phenomena and vice versa. So, for instance, believing that natural events have a purpose to them. or believing that your thoughts have some sort of force over the world of the magical again would include belief in luck or destiny or karma or his or mine over matter that sort of thing, or even just good luck, charms, exactly yeah all kinds of if its belief in which does

everybody and does every culture engage in this somehow yet as far as I know, every every culture Certain magical, n and religious ritual than beliefs and tradition and every individual person has a tendency to believe in these sorts of things, if they deny it, even if you call yourself a sceptic you'll still find yourself doing little lucky ritual there feeling like something happens for a reason. Is there any reason to think it works like I dont believe? in real magic. So I dont think these things were the way that people sometimes they do. But magical thinking can provide a sense of control economic and it can make you feel lucky. For instance, if you perform a little ritual, they can increase the self confidence and then

that might lead to better performance and actual actual luck, which will then feel like the the rachel or the lucky time had some effect and there search showing that people who thought they were using a lucky. Golf ball, sunk, thirty, five percent, more gulf pets and people who thought they were using a normal golf ball. Now, that's fascinated how could that be well researcher propose that it increases self efficacy. So if you think that you, you got a lucky golf ball, then you expect perform well and then it relaxes you and then you actually do perform better. the people who don't necessarily believe it sort of believe that the argument here. A lot of magical thinking is is sub cod

So, even if you don't think that you believe in these things, expectations can have sort of subtle sub just the fact that your behaviour does, talking about it like this ruin it. I think there there hasn't been a lot of research on whether talk about cognitive, biased can actually reduce them. possible that if your defences are up and you're aware of certain illusions- and you realize that their illusions than you left, acceptable to them. On the other hand, possible that even If you know about them and you're on, look look out for them still play a role in your life. Has anyone Maybe you have or anyone done the research where you ass people who who ed that they believe in it too, so extent where they have lucky numbers, or they have a ritual or they have a good luck, charm and then

ask him: do you really think it works and what's the difference in the in the answers, I think, A lot of people will say. I dont believe that this little thing that I do works? I don't believe that its magic, I think that's that's all bs, but I do it anyway. Just in case and personally I I gone. Would I know that it probably has no physical effect on on anything but it still give me peace of mind. So I do it anyway, because now no harm and if this stuff, crosses, cultures and n as you say it s, probably in every culture? There are a lot of places where this doesn't happen. What does that say? Is it human nature to need this seems that it is human nature magical the game, either as a result of very basic

It is biased these very basic mechanisms and habits of mind and at all oh is influenced by very basic human motivation. The desire to feel some sort of control over your environment to feel Life is meaningful and that there is a purpose. Pierre pure existence, so both. Habits of thinking that leads about but thinking emma desire to believe in magic, those are universal talk, though I mean it, it is more than just the You know I've got lucky numbers and maybe they'll wind kind of thing. I mean you talk about John lennon piano in the book about I mean it kind of magical thinking attaches value to a piano or any other example? You want to use that. that's real dollars. Yes, you're thinking does have very wheel.

now make implications the whole industry of liberty memorabilia. Paying a lot of money for something that a movie star or a rock star owned or touched so yeah You can see how you can put it down. fine on how strongly people believe in this sort of thing here, because you know, let's talk about John linens piano- mean the value of that piano just as a piano wasn't, particularly spectacular in the piano had no special history. If it were not John Lennon's piano or if people didn't know that it was John Lennon's piano, it would Be irregular old piano with something that no one would care, but the fact that it had this ray of being at the piano that the fund imagine was written on. It did so fur couple million dollars ended if people a lot of inspiration when they when around it and they get to touch It- so believing it makes it. So, in a sense I mean, if you believe this stuff,

whether you admitted or not believing in it may it so and since it is so, its power of who we are a lot of this is a self fulfilling Obviously, if you believe that something will increase year performance in a certain situation, there, your beliefs play out in your own behaviour and so your expectations and have become real and that's from episode fifty one, my conversation with matthew, hudson author of the seven laws of magical thinking. You can hear the whole interview. In episode. Fifty one

my wife and I just signed up for hello fresh and it has changed the way we eat in our house. Let me tell you what happened when we got started. This box got delivered to my front door with all the ingredients for several meals. All I did was pick a meal and get started. I picked sizzling south western chicken with bell peppers and fettered crumble. That may sound daunting, but the recipe card was easy to follow a chop. Some beautiful, fresh produce roasted the chicken chop, the herbs put it all together and thirty minutes later I had a delicious restaurant quality meal. Everyone loved all for about ten dollars a meal.

and here's something you should know. Hallo fresh, makes everything simple inconvenient. You choose the delivery date, all the ingredients come pre measured and there are three plans to choose from the classic vegetarian or family plan. These are really high quality, nutritious meals, the taste amazing. You have got to try hello, fresh it'll change, the way you eat and you get thirty dollars off your first week- just go to hello, fresh dot com and use the promo code, something thirty. That's hello, fresh dot, com, promo code, something thirty or thirty dollars off your first week. In episode, sixty five, I had an eye opening conversation about social media because you know there's so much hype about social media and how, if you want to reach people, especially young people, that social media is how you reach them. Well,

not so fast marketing consultant. Ed Keller has done a lot of research on this. In fact, he wrote a book called the face to face book and explains how social media does and doesn't work. Our basic premise is that there is an enormously powerful oh sure, wave taking place across the country and, in fact, around the world where consumers increasingly to each other for advice, and recommendations. We trust our friends. We trust our family. We trust people, we know I'm with you personal connections, The overwhelming amount of word of mouth that takes place is still in the real world off line face to face and while online social media is getting a lot of attention now, plays a role. It is a small action of the total volume of work and what we try to do is encourage brands.

Media and their agencies dan and take a total social perspective. Stan all the places where consumers engaging conversation and think about marketing strategies and marketing, education from the perspective of how when and where those conversations take place, and they still take place predominantly offline. And most powerfully face to face But I would imagine that this applies not only to brands in corporations and agencies, but but two people to adapt absolutely apply the people as well and very interesting when we, when we give talks about about war. mouth and we tell people that most conversation still take place. The base, An immediate reaction from many of you know that so interesting, because if I think about my own life, that's how I lived my life, but I just see so much in the press about bout

the various online social networking sites, whether its facebook, whether its twitter, whatever the newest technologies, the come along- and I begin to think that. Well maybe that's how the rest of the world operates, and so they find comforting Pineau that that that that the research that we ve done consistent with with their own lives and their own personal experiences. and I think everybody kind of knows that on some level that that in their own life. That face to face is better but Email and texting is kind of an easy way out in a lot of cases where the- If technology is there to be used, and it certainly is a it's a convenience for many people, but I also think if you want to be persuasive in your personal life in your business life, then the best way to to persuade people is to do it face to face You not only then get the communicate words as you can through email or through.

two or three other online tools, but you get to you, get to communicate all sorts of emotions that are best expressed face to face with each other there's non verbal cues that that people pick up there's the opportunity, for you, know the raised eyebrow for the real passion to come through. All of these things are are enabled through face to face communication in a way that they can't be through online tools alone. And how do you know this and that you're just not stuck in the past somewhere, that you know we should just all be talking to each other? I mean how do you know We know about the predominance of offline face to face communications, because every single week, out of the year year in and year out, since the middle of two thousand and six we

conducting ongoing research, where we asked people to keep track of conversations that they are a part of during a twenty four hour period, and we we s and it too, to keep track of whether those conversations take place face to face over the phone. Were you ye mailing with people texting with them participating in online social networking sites. So we have to think about the the offline as well as the online and after the one day in which they keep track of all this on a small diary that we ask them to keep. They may then participate in a survey without using that diary based information, as well as the basis for their their report back to us, and we saw in two thousand and six- and we continue to see today that about ninety plus per cent of their conversations take place offline, predominantly face to face a little under ten percent, take place. Online and that online component is broke. Up into emailing

texting with each other. Social media through the social media piece which many people think has now come to to dominate as a communications tool is actually just about to. sign of our. conversation. So so that's how we know- and I guess our message in the face. The facebook is we want readers to realise that the that the original meanings of what it means to be social and what it means to have somebody is a friend, isn't just the quaint vestige of a of a bygone era, but its critically important for the way that People continue to live their lives today and so should things change should they change or will they change? But both are good questions well in terms of whether they they will change. I think it's almost inevitable that there will be a continuing rise in technology driven conversation, but I think it's going to be decades and decades, if ever before that

to replace faces. Communication is just start. Such a large gap, now should a change in all its it it's hard to say. I guess a lot of it has to do with what people are or or me, comfortable with, but I think the The underlying message is: there is a and an emotion that can be caught. indicated through offline word of mouth suggests will never be replaced buy online

conversation and there's some academics who have done a lot of research about this and when they look at the the things that motivate people to communicate, in particular, to push things through online social media. What they found is that the number one thing the drives people is social signalling. It says something about themselves, so there the first to try a new product there attending a very cool event than they want to post something about it. And so it's it's it's as much about them as it is about the people with whom their communicating. When we turn to the things that motivate people to talk offline. Emotional drivers turn out to be the number one thing that the drive people to communicate

line, so excitement about something all about something. A fabulous experience that you ve just been a part of, or maybe something that year, that you're angry about all of those are emotions, and those emotional things are, are the things that were really focused on in our offline communication. So if for people in this, I think it has a lot to do with thinking about. What's the message If you want to communicate, and if it's around emotional attachment to your brand, then that's best done offline face to face if it is, if you're a brand that is new and cool and you've got something that you want to to get out there and you've got a series of experiences that you're enabling people to have. Then then online. You know particularly social networking. Sites may well play a role and a very powerful role in in those instances. So it's it's. Not either- or we do think it's about both end, but we also think it's important to know confuse the amount of, attention being given to facebook

and all the other social networking tools and technologies and to think more broadly and holy thickly when you're, when thinking about how when and why people engage in conversation So when you talk about face to face, I mean I've never had a face to face conversation with anybody from Google or coca cola and I don't suppose most of their customers ever do it. bout talking to that. people at google, or to the people had coca cola its people having conversations with each other about those. Ends and that's what we're that's what work. Talking about here, we've estimated in fact, you bring up coca cola, coca cola is the most talked about brand can we not just talk about people saying I would like to have a coke, please. It's people actually having a conversation about coke product, its people having enough a conversation about co

and maybe some of it it's promotional activities, its people having a conversation about new code, hands that might be becoming out. These are all things that people that people talk about and fell from a marketers perspective while it in time Thank you think. I'm gonna have a face page, I'm going to have millions of fans on facebook and that's how I'm going to increasingly hope that my that my brand is going to move product in the marketplace. For me, it turns out that not only do are there are there multiples more conversations that people have offline about those brands, but it also turns out that that all sorts of media and marketing activity DR those conversations half the time. The people talk about brands with each other they're talking about some thing.

in the form of media or marketing that become part of that conversation so adds that they feel something that they ve seen in a retail environment, maybe something that they seen on the product packaging or on the brands website. So it can be media that that that brand by it can be so called owned media. package. The bran website. These are all media that the Brandon themselves. Those are all It helped her to spark conversation in and so is not just about a social media. It's about all media. Haven't you. petunia d to help drive social engagement with the brand marketing consultant ed keller, author of the face to face book and if you'd like to hear the complete interview to something you should know website, which is something you should know dot net and you will find episode, sixty five or you can just search if you just go to the search thing and just put in the number sixty five it all operate up and you can hear the complete interview

You know I've always suspected that sitting down and trying to do your best work, doesn't always work that sometimes it at least for me, I know my best ideas and my best work. Some come at times when I'm distracted, doing something else or or not, thinking about anything in particular so. I was delighted to find it there's some real science by this, Pursued sixty six, I spoke with psychiatrist. Sweeney. Paulet he's author of the book tinker, dabble doodle, try unlock the power of the unfocused mine. where he talks about what the power of not trying so hard, how concentrating and focusing can produce great results for a long time. People believed that focus will be most important faculty and what we have now found is that unfocused.

Maybe at least as important, if not more important than focus, because in the brain, thereabout focus and unfocused circuit and they need to work together for optimal productivity and creativity. Any, and yet the things that you recommend that people do to unfocused are exactly the kind of things that people think of when they think of someone who is not, Getting the job done. That's who is not whose lazy, what they mean like that, but they're, not exactly the same. For give you an example, though I am definitely not prescribing just distraction, because, think distraction and daydreaming by itself is not necessarily helpful and there are three kinds of daydreaming that have been studied. Jerome singer, who studied the since the nineteen fifties has pointed out that flipping hu, a daydream, warlike falling off a cliff and having from guilty.

Rehashing of something it's also not helpful. But what is helpful is positive, constructive daydreaming and what's different about this is number one you can build it into your day. number two you initiated with some kind of playful or wishful imagery and number three? It is best done with some kind of law he activity like knitting or gardening. Rather than doing doing it. When you are completely wiped out, and these three things willow, Oh you did then, would draw your attention from what's outside reorient your attention to what's inside and what studies are showing is that it activates the unfocused circuit in the brain, which then does what seems like something quite magic. The moment you start to redirect your attention using positive, constructive daydreaming, which can be abbreviated of pcb you actually

and the way the brain operates, and to make the simpler. If you think about the brain like like a silver with that of metaphor. Equally, when focuses on your brain acts like a fork, it is essentially picks up the solid piece of your identity. However, when unfocused has invited to the table, it then by a bunch of other silverware, there's a spoon for picking up the delicious milan of flavors of your identity. There are chopsticks which make connections across the brain. There are also things like marrow spoons, which go into the new some countries of your brain to find a piece Information that focus would never be able to find, and so with a new set of aware that the unfocused circuit will actually bring to the fore. You have a much fuller sense of self and with the full offensive felt, You can have a greater sense of motivation feel more energized and also or creative, and that's exactly what the studies show well and now I'm hungry from your

so we said something a moment ago, though, that that these this works better, if you're doing something like knitting, rather than just lying there being wiped out? Am I correct that so the whole idea about this unfocused socrates and actually uses twenty percent of the body, the energy, so the brains of occupies two percent of the bodies volume and at risk it uses twenty percent of the energy to perform what's needed, meaning different things that I just described. An effort just adds on another five per cent. If you have no energy left, then doing this petition. Kind of activity is not can actually be helpful because brain needs that energy in order to do something. So Is it kind of like beer distracting yourself from from something that the brain is kind of free to do what the brain does, because if you tried to think about it too much

You can't really get it. If absolutely, in fact, reality that most experts would agree that between ninety two ninety eight percent of mental activity, unconscious and I think we ve been a lot of time. I think in learning at school and organizations focusing under the two percent, conscious learning, Essentially what I'm describing this book is: how do you actually get into ninety two. Ninety eight percent of what's happening, under the radar and begin to develop those circuits and because the brain, most of its intelligent work under the radar. We really, need to be able to work with those suckers to get the result that we want you know this kind of reminds me of a new. You tell me if this is a reasonable analogy. Is you know those those pictures? Those computer generated three d pictures that if you try, too hard. You can't see it, but if you kind of let your vision unfocused all of a sudden, you get it. That's exactly right. You know it's exactly right. Think of that kind of metaphor. That applies. You know like using lobby

in high beams you basically need both in order to navigate any terrain or, if you're, on a stage, you need a spotlight on. and you need floodlights think what allow people. Do they operate in one or the other mode, either super focused or very distracted, not recognising that when you are unfocused, it actually helps give your focus brain a rift so that, when it's time to focus, you can focus optimally as well. When you talked about doing things like knitting and gardening in that kind of thing. But the title of your book makes it sound as if we have to specifically have a hobby. You can just doodle and just anything else to kind of take your mind somewhere else up, that's correct. In fact, doodling has been shown To increase retention of information, twenty nine, but then more than not dueling, for there was a study by Jackie Andreotti that actually looked too The people, while they were listening to a table, had to remember names and places

were actually mentioned during that take, and what she found was that the group that dude old remember twenty nine percent more than the group that did not and in part in all. I think that a balance between focus and unfocused you're, not so focused that you're going after everything and anxiously forgetting but you're, not completely off tat because your minds on the page and to your mind it somewhere in the vicinity, grasping, information and that integrating this, in fact, one the main function of the unfocused circuit in the brain is to actually pick up memories and to integrate So even when you're doing something like doodling, that's helpful and I think, with dabbling lot of examples of dabbling where people have doubled. Different fields and actually happen the discovery so, for example, a albert einstein dab in the mathematics upon cautery and by using what we call possibility thinking he extended pancras theories to actually

developed at theory of relativity concurring developed his theory based on what he could see them. With no more evidence. He stopped elba albert einstein said what, if so, he after possibility question and by just dabbling in mathematics, was able to me the connection with his own in physics and similarly put picasso by adding and dabbling in the mathematics One country was also able to think the fourth dimension and started the cuba's movement in hot. So, even though the the primary modes of interest. Simply by dabbling they were to make connections in their own field and feed only imaginations to move their own fields forward, though you have, it if a thoroughly involved daydreaming. The whole idea is that if we remain fixed in our interest, and if we remain fixed in the way we think about things were likely to get anywhere fast and into further point in question would have been a lot of. Talk about grit recently and

now been a meadow analysis that looked at grit and good have two components to it, one is consistency of interest which, if they had what you do never leave it, and the other is persevere, which is try hard. and what the meadow analyses have shown of more than sixty thousand people is that good only have we correlation with success and, in particular the peace that have to do with consistency, has no correlation with success. And so what I want to do in this book is encourage people to follow their interests too. The measure that meandering to find in which they can meander? That can help the unfocused brains get them exactly what they want to? That's from episode. Sixty six, its psychiatrist, actor, sweeney, paulet and his book is called tinker, dabble, doodle, try you can hear the complete interview by going to episode sixty six on something you should know website

That brings us to the end of this best of episode of the something you should know programme some of the highlights from this past year and I'll have another best of episode later this week. I like her brothers thanks for listening to something you should know stacking benjamin's with Joe and his good friend. Oji. Not only has great financial insight, its lay back with humour to the le pen's, oh say much survey I wanted to know: was it really cheaper to around bag it every day or was it cheaper to go through these school lunch? The most expensive sandwich of all forty six percent increase is the first time a sandwiches ever touched five bucks before anybody gags on at them. It's a great sandwich find out more by searching the stacking benjamin's pie cast wherever you listen