The Importance of Listening to Ideas That Make You Think Hard

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In scientists mode, you want to surround yourself with people who challenge your thought process. And I have to tell you that this has been such an eye opening way for me to interact with people who disagree with me. As soon as it feels like you have grazed against their identity, or they feel like they have to get into a defensive stance, that's all the conversation will be about after that point. Now the facts of the matter become irrelevant to, I just need to maintain my reputation. You can almost see the moment that it flips to the other way of talking to people.

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.

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Think Again

How Minds Change

David McRaney’s Twitter