The Ability to Rethink and Unlearn

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I like this concept that if you focus on IQ or raw intelligence, there's always a new guru popping up. I want to talk about this ability to rethink and how under stress we tend to default back to the things that are the most solidly burnt into our neural systems. And it's difficult to develop this metacognitive skill of overriding that reaction to things.

How to manage procrastination according to Margaret Atwood, how to work around your first-instinct fallacy, the upsides of imposter syndrome, the best way to avoid falling prey to the Dunning-Kruger effect, how to avoid thinking like a preacher, prosecutor, or politician so you can think like a scientist instead – and that’s just the beginning of the conversation in this episode with psychologist, podcast host, and author Adam Grant.

In the show, we discuss both his new book – Think Again: The Power of Knowing What you Don’t Know – and his TED Original Podcast, WorkLife, in which he interviewed Margaret Atwood, the author of The Handmaid’s Tale, to learn how she deals with the constant allure of social media and streaming videos in a future where giving in to procrastination is easier than it has ever been.

In the show, you’ll hear portions of that interview followed by a lengthy interview with Grant about his new book in this all-over-the-place, extensive exploration of how to rethink your own thinking.

Previous Episodes

Adam Grant’s Website

Adam Grant on Twitter

Think Again

How Minds Change

David McRaney’s Twitter