Learn how you can change your thinking to keep up with today’s fast-paced world, with some help from author Leonard Mlodinow. Plus: learn about the two criteria people use to judge you, and how you can measure your relationship with time. In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes: According to a Harvard Psychologist, People Judge You Based on Two Criteria — https://curiosity.im/2DhYT8B This Psychology Quiz Will Explain Your Relationship With Time — https://curiosity.im/2Dgc2ip Resources and publications from Leonard Mlodinow: Follow @lmlodinow on Twitter — https://twitter.com/lmlodinow “Elastic: Flexible Thinking in a Time of Change” — https://amazon.com Elastic by Leonard Mlodinow review via The Guardian — https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/apr/18/elastic-flexible-thinking-leonard-mlodinow Leonard’s Wikipedia page — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Mlodinow “Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior” — https://amazon.com “The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives” — https://amazon.com “The Upright Thinkers: The Human Journey From Living in Trees to Understanding the Cosmos” — https://amazon.com “The Grand Design” by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow — https://amazon.com If you love our show and you're interested in hearing full-length interviews, then please consider supporting us on Patreon. You'll get exclusive episodes and access to our archives as soon as you become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/curiositydotcom Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Learn how you can change your thinking to keep up with today’s fast-paced world, with some help from author Leonard Mlodinow. Plus: learn about the two criteria people use to judge you, and how you can measure your relationship with time.
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes:
Resources and publications from Leonard Mlodinow:
If you love our show and you're interested in hearing full-length interviews, then please consider supporting us on Patreon. You'll get exclusive episodes and access to our archives as soon as you become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/curiositydotcom
Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/elastic-thinking-w-leonard-mlodinow-how-people-judge-you-and-your-time-perspective
CODY: Hi! We’re here from curiosity-dot-com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn how you can change your thinking to keep up with today’s fast-paced world, with some help from a special guest, author Leonard Mlodinow [Muh-LAW-d’now]. You’ll also learn about the two criteria people use to judge you, and how you can measure your relationship with time.
CODY: Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
Leonard Mlodinow clip (Elastic author) (Cody)
CODY: Are you worried the pace of the modern world is going to leave you behind? Do you ever feel like if you receive one more email, your head might explode? Well one man has some suggestions for survival. Leonard Mlodinow [Muh-LOD-in-now] is a theoretical physicist, screenwriter, and bestselling author. And he wrote a book called “Elastic: Unlocking Your Brains’ Ability to Embrace Change.” I asked him how we can adapt to a world where technology is changing faster than we’re sometimes able to keep up with, and here’s what he told me.
[CLIP 3:23]
CODY: You can hear the rest of my uncut conversation with Leonard on our Patreon page FOR FREE right now. Just visit patreon-dot-com-slash-curiosity-dot-com, all spelled out. You can follow Leonard on Twitter at L-muh-LOD-in-now; that’s L-M-L, O-D-I, N-O-W. And you can check today’s show notes to find those and links to buy Leonard’s book “Elastic,” along with some of his other bestselling publications.
According to a Harvard Psychologist, People Judge You Based on Two Criteria — https://curiosity.im/2DhYT8B (Ashley)
According to a Harvard psychologist, people judge you based on two criteria, and it might not be the criteria you think. Are you making your best impression? [ad lib]
ASHLEY: This idea comes from Harvard Business School professor Amy Cuddy. In her best-selling book "Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges," Cuddy spells out two questions you'll immediately ask yourself — and answer — when you meet someone new. They are: Can I trust this person? And can I respect this person? According to Cuddy, people usually think competence is the more important factor, especially in a workplace setting. But according to her, it's better to nail the warmth before the business acumen. She says that from an evolutionary perspective, it’s more important for our survival to know whether a person deserves our trust. Think about a coworker who’s great at his job but cold as ice around the office. That's off-putting, right? Cuddy writes, quote, "If someone you're trying to influence doesn't trust you, you're not going to get very far; in fact, you might even elicit suspicion because you come across as manipulative. A warm, trustworthy person who is also strong elicits admiration, but only after you've established trust does your strength become a gift rather than a threat,” unquote. So smile and be nice before you start dropping random trivia facts you learned about on Curiosity Daily. We know we make you feel smart, but first things first.
This Psychology Quiz Will Explain Your Relationship With Time — https://curiosity.im/2Dgc2ip (Cody)
Not everyone has the same relationship with time. Seriously. There’s a thing called time perspective that says human relationships with time are quantifiable but multifaceted. It comes from Philip G Zimbardo, the psychology professor most famous for the Stanford Prison Experiment. He said that time is the currency of our lives, and the way you view it influences every choice you make. And he actually designed a thing called the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory. It’s a 56-item assessment that can help you measure your relationship with time on five axes. You can find a link to take the assessment in our full write-up on curiosity-dot-com and on our free Curiosity app for Android and iOS, but first let’s talk about what those five axes are that describe your relationsip with time. They are: future orientation, past-negative orientation, past-positive orientation, present-hedonistic orientation, and present-fatalistic orientation. That’s one future orientation, two present orientations, and two past orientations. Let’s break ‘em down. First: the future orientation. The future-oriented person cares more about the consequences of their actions than their comfort in the present. As in, you’re more likely to save for retirement, floss, and drive safely. But you have a harder time enjoying the present moment or dealing with unpredictable situations. Next is past orientation, which comes in two flavors. A past-oriented person is more loyal than the typical person to commitments they’ve made in the past, and more prone to guilt when they ahve to break them. They also tend to do things they way they’ve always done them. This past orientation can be positive or negative. A positive past orientation means a lot of the time you’re nostalgic for your past glory days; a negative past orientation means you might dwell on past problems, even in pleasant moments. And finally, there’s present orientation, which also comes in two flavors. The present-oriented person is most interested in what IS, not what WAS or what MIGHT BE. They tend to think in more concrete terms instead of abstract terms, and they give in easily to temptation and take a lot of risks, since they don’t focus as much on the consequences. These are people prone to procrastination and risky driving. Now, present orientation can be either hedonistic or fatalistic. If you have a present-hedonistic orientation, you focus on pleasures right now instead of future consequences. You enjoy living in the moment. If you have a present-fatalistic orientation, then you feel like your life is beyond your control. This means you believe in luck, but rarely make plans or work hard — because why bother? What will be will be. Take the assessment if you want to see where you fall and what it means!
ASHLEY: Read about today’s stories and more on curiosity-dot-com!
CODY: Join us again tomorrow for the award-winning Curiosity Daily and learn something new in just a few minutes. I’m [NAME] and I’m [NAME]. Stay curious!