Creating a collective action is essential when you want to make social or environmental changes, for example, reducing pollution and waste or getting more scientists to share their data with others. But collective action can come at a personal cost. If you cooperate, you are taking a chance as others might not put in an effort and instead opt to free-load while still benefitting from the potential cooperative actions of others. To deal with such problems, cooperation and communication are key.

Encouraging cooperation

Research shows that participants were more likely to cooperate under specific circumstances. <ul><li>When people said things that helped the group reach a consensus, they acted cooperatively.</li><li>Participants are more likely to contribute when they are explicit and specific with the promises they make about their contribution.</li><li>Speaking in a way that signals solidarity and authority will strengthen the group’s collective identity and establish a norm for cooperation.</li></ul>

The influence of communication on cooperative behaviour

Communication helps group members to size up the intentions of the others.

communication

Communication

teamwork

Teamwork

How to express yourself if you want others to cooperate with you – new research

Dialing in a perfectly flavored cup begins even before brewing—in the careful consideration of roast degree. A light-roasted coffee will taste fruity, tea-like even, as its sugars don’t get inordinately caramelized during roast.Dark roasted beans are, as you might imagine, aggressively toasted—which might comes across as cozy in a hot cup, but just tastes bitter, acrid on ice. Any of the nuanced flavors that once existed in the coffee are muddied.

The Beans: Go For Medium Or Light

1. Grind.Grind your beans for your preferred brewing method (powder-fine for espresso, medium-fine for pourover, medium for drip, coarse for French press).2. Fill Your Brewing Carafe With Ice.Remember, ice is iced coffee’s necessary evil; work with, not against, its dilutive powers. For pourover and drip, fill your brewing carafe halfway with ice; the brewed coffee will be chilled immediately upon drip.3. Halve The Water. That's simple.4. Brew On Ice.Brew the coffee using your chosen method—right over the ice with pourover and drip, or as usual with espresso and French press.

How To Make Iced Coffee

1. Coarse-Grind Your Beans.Given the extended brew time, a coarse grind is fine enough to allow extraction, but not so fine that the cold brew emerges unpleasantly bitter. For cold brew, Abella estimates 1 cup grounds to 7 cups room temperature water.  2. Combine & Let Sit.Combine the ground coffee and water in a large sealable jar or French press and stir well. Let sit for anywhere between 12-24 hours before fine-straining or plunging. (Any longer, and you risk an overextracted, bitter brew; any shorter, and it will be weak and flavorless.) Drink straight, on ice, or with a splash of milk.

How To Make Cold Brew

food

Food

health

Health

How to Make Iced Coffee

People often want to know if they should do a detox or cleanse, hoping it will remove toxins from their bodies. Dr Jen Gunter says that isn't going to happen.

The value of a detox

The idea of cleansing has been around for thousands of years. For centuries, there was a lot of focus on ridding the body of impurities and sickness. Bloodletting, purging and fasting were all well-guarded treatments.  Today's wellness industry picked up on our desire to get rid of things. The word "detox" is a medical treatment for people with drug and alcohol addictions, yet the wellness industry uses it to make it sound like getting rid of all the dirty stuff. It sounds right to us because of our lack of understanding of how our liver works.

The idea of cleansing is age-old

The liver is about the size of an American football and weighs three pounds. It does many jobs to keep our bodies running, from helping the immune system to creating proteins for blood clotting.  The liver also deals with harmful substances, almost like a factory. It takes nutrients from the food and drinks we consume and breaks them down to be packaged in a usable way while removing the waste in the bile or via the kidneys, usually in the form of urine.

Understanding how the liver works

A popular cleanse is the cayenne pepper and lemon juice drink to "help your liver flush toxins."  You drink it, and it gets digested. Nutrients get absorbed in the blood and arrive at the liver. But the liver processes these nutrients the same as everything else. It packages what's useful and disseminates it throughout the body. What it can't use becomes waste. So there's nothing exceptional about mixing cayenne and lemon. It doesn't "clean the pipes." You might lose a few pounds at best because you aren't eating much. At worst, you could go into starvation mode.

Popular cleanse myth

The best things you can do:<ul><li>Don't smoke</li><li>Eat a balanced diet</li><li>Exercise regularly</li><li>Get enough sleep</li><li>Don't consume too much alcohol as it can cause problems over time, such as fatty liver disease, cirrhosis of the liver or liver cancer.</li><li>Some medications can damage your liver.</li><li>Be careful with supplements and herbs.</li></ul>

A healthy liver is extremely important

Put down the cayenne-lemon water and step away from the herbal tea. Cleanses and detox products like these don't remove toxins, says Dr. Jen Gunter, and some of them may even be hurting your health. Learn how your body rids itself of harmful substances and what you can do to keep this system running smoothly. Think you know how your body works? Think again! Dr. Jen Gunter is here to shake up everything you thought you knew -- from how much water you need to drink to how often you need to poop and everything in between. This TED original series will tell you the truth about what's *really* going on inside you. Want to hear more from Dr. Jen Gunter? Follow Body Stuff on Apple Podcasts: https://link.chtbl.com/BodyStuffYT Visit http://TED.com to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more. The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You're welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know. Become a TED Member: http://ted.com/membership Follow TED on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TEDTalks Like TED on Facebook: http://facebook.com/TED Subscribe to our channel: http://youtube.com/TED TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization/our-policies-terms/ted-talks-usage-policy). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com

videos

Videos

scienceandnature

Science & Nature

Put down the cayenne-lemon water and step away from the herbal tea. Cleanses and detox products like these don't remove toxins, says Dr. Jen Gunter, and some of them may even be hurting your health. Learn how your body rids itself of harmful substances and what you can do to keep this system running smoothly. 

Think you know how your body works? Think again! Dr. Jen Gunter is here to shake up everything you thought you knew -- from how much water you need to drink to how often you need to poop and everything in between. This TED original series will tell you the truth about what's *really* going on inside you. 

Want to hear more from Dr. Jen Gunter? Follow Body Stuff on Apple Podcasts: https://link.chtbl.com/BodyStuffYT

Visit http://TED.com to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more.

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You're welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know. 

Become a TED Member: http://ted.com/membership
Follow TED on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TEDTalks
Like TED on Facebook: http://facebook.com/TED
Subscribe to our channel: http://youtube.com/TED

TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization/our-policies-terms/ted-talks-usage-policy). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You're welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know.

TED's videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy: https://www.ted.com/about/our-organization/our-policies-terms/ted-talks-usage-policy. For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at https://media-requests.ted.com

A cleanse won't detox your body -- but here's what will | Body Stuff with Dr. Jen Gunter

To create a movement, you need 3 things:<ol><li>An expert or guide</li><li>A new opportunity</li><li>A future-based cause that unites the tribe</li></ol>The expert offers someone a new opportunity and then guides them to a result with a future-based cause.

Creating Your Movement

The 5 phases to become an expert:1. The Dreamer: Fascination + Mastery = Passion2. Reporter: learn everything about your topic from multiple points of view3. Framework Creator: identify patterns for success and build your own frameworks to help facilitate that success for others. Your product is likely just a piece of that framework4. Servant: test your framework on yourself first and then on others to perfect it and ensure it produces the same (or better) results5. Expert Guide: start leading others to their destination. Your results are your certification

Finding Your Voice

1. Create your framework hypothesis: make a bullet list that you would want to teach yourself before you began this journey. Organize it into an outline in an order that makes sense2. Test your framework hypothesis on yourself3. Give your framework a proprietary name: give it an easy name so people can remember the process by the name itself4. Create a description: “(Framework name) My X-step framework/system/process) for (result).”

How to Create Frameworks

People will do anything for those who encourage their dreams, justify their failures, allay their fears, confirm their suspicions, and help them throw rocks at their enemies.

Step #0—Introduce the frameworkTell the audience the name and description of your frameworkStep #1—Share how you either learned it (your knowledge) or earned it (through your experiences) Step #2—Share the strategy (the what you do) Give the outline of the framework.Step #3—Teach the tactics (the how you do it)This is where most of the content is taught.   Step #4—Show them how it works for othersShowing them that it didn’t just work for you, but it also worked for people just like them, is the key to getting them to believe in your framework.

Teaching Your Frameworks

The 3 core markets or desires that every product is marketed through:<ul><li>Health</li><li>Wealth</li><li>Relationships</li></ul>When people purchase a product or service, they’re hoping to get a certain result in one of these three areas of their lives.Many products can be marketed toward getting a result in more than one desire, but your marketing message can focus only on one of them.

The Three Core Markets or Desires

<ul><li>“The Diehard” is in love with the current product. Switching a Diehard to a new product requires a major identity shift.</li><li>“The Satisfied” uses the product they bought but isn’t in love with it. Switching the Satisfied to a new product requires a significant price or value benefit.</li><li>“The Frustrated” also use the product they bought, but they hate it. They’re actively seeking a better product that can fit their desires. Switching a Frustrated person to a new product requires finding them, gaining their trust, and giving them a small amount of education.</li></ul>

The 3 Core Groups of People in Each Marketplace

<ol><li>Rather than trying to improve on someone else’s product or service, create your own new opportunity to set yourself apart from the competition.</li><li>If you want people to buy, you have to show them how your product or service will increase their status.</li><li>When marketing, focus on as many status increases as you can that apply to your product or service.</li><li>Your goal is to load up the status-increase side and minimize the status-decrease side.</li></ol>Factors that elevate status:<ul><li>Appearance of intelligence</li><li>Appearance of wealth, power, or happiness</li><li>Physical appearance</li><li>Style</li></ul>

The New Opportunity

Step #1: What is the result your dream customers are trying to achieve?Create a new way for your dream customers to achieve their desired results Step #2: What is the“vehicle” they are currently using to try to get that result?Write down all the other vehicles that your dream customers have been using (without success).Step #3—The Opportunity SwitchProvide an entirely new vehicle for your dream customers to get to their desired result Step #4—The Opportunity StackYou should offer only one opportunity switch (new opportunity).

How to Create a New Opportunity

Our job as an expert and guide for our audience is to help cast a vision for what is possible and bring our people to higher ground, to move them from where they are to where they want to be.Your job as the expert is to guide your dream customers on a journey of both achievement and transformation.Step #1: Launch Your “Platform” to Be Your Dream Customer’s Guide to the ResultStep #2: Give Them an Identity ShiftStep #3: Create Milestone Awards (Journey of Achievement)﻿Step #4: Unite with a Social Mission (Journey of Transformation)

The Future-Based Cause

Your goal isn’t to try to sell anyone anything. Your goal is to guide them to their own decision.Epiphany Bridge: a story that takes people through the emotional experience that got you excited about the new opportunity you’re presenting. Your epiphany is the aha moment when you learned about your new opportunityYou have to step away from the technobabble, meet your dream customers where they are, and help them feel the emotion you felt when you had your epiphany so they can move with you.

Creating Belief: The Epiphany Bridge

<ol><li>Oversimplification: speak at about a third-grade level</li><li>“Kinda like” bridge: if you need to teach a concept that’s past a third-grade level, say It’s kinda like…” and relate it to something customers already know</li><li>Making them feel: add feelings and emotions. Your customer needs to be in the same state that you were in when you received your aha moment</li></ol>

Effective Storytelling

The plot of every good story has three simple elements:<ul><li>Character</li><li>Desire</li><li>Conflict</li></ul>In order for the character to go on a journey to achieve his desire, he has to separate from his ordinary world.During this separation, it’s essential that the storyteller gets the audience to care about the hero. We do this through two things:<ol><li>Build rapport with the hero</li><li>Introduce the desire</li></ol>

The Hero’s Two Journeys

We build rapport with the hero by giving our hero at least two of the following things:A victim of some outside force, so we want to root for them<ul><li>In jeopardy, so we worry about them</li><li>Likable, so we want to be with them</li><li>Funny, so we connect with them</li><li>Powerful, so we want to be like them</li></ul>

Build Rapport with The Hero

Every story is about a journey either toward pleasure or away from pain.There are four core desires that drive most heroes:<ul><li>Win: the heart of someone they love, or fame, money, a competition, or prestige.</li><li>Retrieve: wants to obtain something and bring it back.</li><li>Escape: desires to get away from something that’s upsetting or causing pain.</li><li>Stop: bad things from happening.</li></ul>

Introduce the Desire

The villain’s role in the story helps us root for the hero to achieve his desire.The villain can be a person, or it could also be a false belief system. Our job is to vilify the belief system and defeat it so we can give our audience the truth.We are all rooting for the hero to accomplish this journey. While this journey is what drives the story forward, it’s the second journey that matters the most. In fact, in many stories, the hero never actually achieves their end desire.Or if they do, they give it up for the real transformational journey that they’ve been on throughout the story.

The Journey, the Conflict, and the Villain

<ul><li>During the journey, the hero meets a mentor or guide to help them along the way.</li><li>For our purposes with storytelling, the guide is the person who gives us the epiphany and the frameworks.</li><li>The journey then becomes the hero using the plans/framework they receive from the guide to defeat the villain and achieve their desire.</li></ul>

The Mentor/Expert/Guide

As the hero finally ends their journey, they’re transformed into a new person.Sometimes heroes get what they have been trying to achieve throughout the story, and oftentimes they don’t.This is the hero’s second journey. Who have they become and how have they evolved? This journey is the death of their old identity and their rebirth as a new person. This invisible journey is the real journey that our hero has been on the whole time.

The Achievement

Our only real goal in any of our marketing is to identify the false beliefs and false stories our customers are telling themselves—the ones that are keeping them from success—and to rewrite these stories inside their minds.The 4 core stories to break false beliefs:1. Your origin story with the new opportunity. This is the Epiphany Bridge story that tells how you discovered your new opportunity2. Vehicle framework story (how you learned or earned it).3. Internal beliefs story.4. External beliefs story.

The Four Core Stories

1. Chains of false belief. List all the false beliefs your customers might have related to your new opportunity, followed by the vehicle frameworks, their internal false beliefs, and their external false beliefs2. Experiences. Next to each false belief that you listed, write out what type of experience they may have gone through that gave them that false belief3. Stories. Next to each experience, write down the story that the experience created in their mind4. New Epiphany Bridges. Think about your own Epiphany Bridge story for each of these false beliefs

Building a story inventory

<ol><li>“I don’t believe this vehicle (your new opportunity) is the right vehicle for me.” What tangible thing can you create to help them change their belief? </li><li>“I believe this is the right vehicle for some people, but I don’t think that I could be successful with it.” They don’t believe in themselves. So you need to create something specific to help them overcome these false beliefs about themselves.</li><li>“I believe that I could have success, but I have an external force holding me back from success.” Create something to help eliminate or minimize each excuse.</li></ol>

The 3 Reasons (False Beliefs) Why People Don’t Buy from You

Understand your customer, and build your marketing framework.

Expert Secrets helps people find their message and then create a mass movement of people who will pay them for that advice.

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

motivationandinspiration

Motivation & Inspiration

books

Books

"Best book ever for marketing your business. And not just for online marketing. This book goes into so much detail and is perfect for any business. How to tell stories to make sales. How to be the EXPERT in your Niche." -- J. Paterson, Amazon Customer "Jam packed with step by step advice to create a sales webinar, generate more leads, and close high ticket coaching clients. " -- JulzB, Amazon Customer "This book is incredible for Marketers, Sales people, Entrepreneurs and Online Influencers." -- Luca Nuñez, Amazon Customer "I lost $$thousands more running ads trying to figure out what I was missing... until I came across this book." -- Nicole, Amazon Customer Find Your Message, Build A Tribe, And Change The World... Founder of Click Funnels, Russell Brunson shares how he's sold close to $400 million by building a mass movement of entrepreneurs who paid to hear his message. It doesn't matter what message, product, or service you are selling online, if you don't build a mass movement of people who will pay to hear your mes- sage, it's unlikely you will achieve success. Expert Secrets Will Help You Too <li>Find your voice and give you the confidence to become a leader...</li> <li>Build a mass movement of people whose lives you can affect... <li>Make this calling a career, where people will pay you for your advice... Your message has the ability to change someone's life. The impact that the right message can have on someone at the right time in their life is immeasurable. It could help to save marriages, repair families, change someone's health, grow a company or more... But only if you know how to get it into the hands of the people whose lives you have been called to change. Expert Secrets will put your message into the hands of people who need it. Russell Brunson is a serial entrepreneur who started his first online company while he was wrestling at Boise State University. Within a year of graduating he had sold over a million dollars worth of his own products and services from his basement! For over 10 years now Russell has been starting and scaling companies online. He owns a software company, a supplement company, a coaching company, and is one of the top super affiliates in the world. Expert Secrets was created to help entrepreneurs around the world to start, promote and grow their companies online.

Russell Brunson

Expert Secrets

The proponents of apple cider vinegar say that if you regularly use the vinegar "with the mother" - the cloudy combination of bacteria and yeast - you have a cure-all, whether it is a better skin or a more efficient metabolism. Some studies suggest a beneficial impact on glucose metabolism and weight loss, while other studies have found no effect compared to a placebo. Drinking ACV may do more harm than good. It's been linked to tooth enamel erosion, gastrointestinal issues such as reflux, and reduced potassium levels.

Apple cider vinegar

The practise of swishing oil around in your mouth for 15 - 20 minutes a day is an Ayurvedic folk remedy and said to be a miraculous way to cleanse the body of toxins. Advocates say that it can whiten teeth, freshen breath, prevent cavities, and cleanse your body of various toxins. However, the detoxifying effect is yet to be shown in clinical trials. There is some evidence that oil pulling can help with oral hygiene, but mainstream dentists don't see it as a good substitute for toothpaste. There are few documented harms that can come from this practice.

Oil pulling

The massage technique involves a light touch to activate the lymph nodes (the tiny trash scavengers vital to your immune system). The method was developed to help people with oedema and to combat inflammation. There's no evidence to show that lymphatic massage can make you lose weight, change the shape of your face, improve your general health, or cure cancer. Lymphatic massage is relaxing and safe for most people but not recommended if you have circulation problems, congestive heart failure, or certain kidney issues.

Lymphatic massage

Sauna sech can benefit your body. Dry saunas raise the pulse and increase circulation, mimicking the effects of physical exercise. In addition, regular sauna sessions are linked to pain reduction in patients with rheumatic diseases like fibromyalgia. However, those with existing heart problems should check with their doctor before using saunas. Time in a sauna doesn't cause permanent weight loss. However, it can make you dangerously hydrated, making it essential to drink lots of water before and after a session.

Saunas

Some supposed detoxes are harmless, but a few of them carry real health risks—and don't actually do any good. Here's what you should do instead.

The truth about oil pulling, apple cider vinegar, and other trendy cleanses

<ul><li>Remote work utopia is freedom over time</li><li>Empower employees to function in their personal best environment that remote work allows. Focusing on productivity as the priority, regardless of strategy.</li><li>Remote working cultures gain a lot of advantages from asynchronous working conditions</li><li>Executives and management are optimizing for themselves, not for their team when it comes to remote environments</li><li>Leadership often wants to maintain their in-office micromanagement strategies remotely; however, this leads to unnecessary inefficiencies</li></ul>

The Remote Workspace

<ul><li>Design your work-from-home space for comfort</li><li>Even though there is a looming unknown about what a hybrid working environment will look like, investing in a comfortable and productive WFH setup will be beneficial</li><li>Don’t manage your time, manage your energy</li><li>Constantly reevaluate if your meetings boost or drain your energy; optimize your meetings to be productive, valuable, and inspiring, or don’t schedule them at all</li></ul>

The Work From Home Design

Optimum problem-solving starts with ‘what is the current and desired state and what changes need to be met’ rather than starting with ‘why and how’Good managers identify the problem, reevaluate expectations, and trust that they have a team of experts to solve the problem

Problem Solving

“Never mix the conversation of strategy and the conversation of execution”

<ul><li>Don’t manage your time, manage your energy.  </li><li>If you dread or hate meetings, you’re not reevaluating the desired effects from your meetings</li><li>If your energy feels depleted after a meeting, it’s highly likely everyone else does too</li><li>Don’t let anyone else manage your time; scheduling assistants put your peers/colleagues time at risk</li><li>The small buffer time that it takes for an assistant to communicate a meeting change is wasting the other meeting attendants’ time. For that small buffer time, the two parties have different expectations of how the upcoming time will be spent.</li></ul>

Remote Meetings

Focus on ‘what is the current and desired state and what changes need to be met’ before any discussion of ‘why and how’<ul><li>The meetings with your engineers should be very quick. Identify the problem, reevaluate expectations, and trust that they are the experts.</li><li>You’ll never be able to identify all the problems you may encounter, don’t let the probability of a problem discount the goal</li></ul>

Problem Solving: The Effective Approach

<ul><li>Good communication in remote environments don’t start with a question, they start with the question and potential options of a solution</li><li>People work when they want to work while still meeting all expectations</li><li>People got a taste of the flexibility to optimize their family time (or other priorities) and don’t want to give it up. And shouldn’t have to if they maintain work standards.</li><li>Most jobs that can work remotely don’t really have the strict time boundaries that have existed in office settings for decades</li></ul>

Remote Work: Utopia

Asynchronous Remote Work allows people to be working all across the world, all urgent things can be covered in appropriate standard work hours in the given location.Recreating an office environment remotely is absurd.

Asynchronous Remote Work

<ul><li>Lack of clarity in communication is leading to numerous issues; employees just want an answer of what the working model will be and evidence of pro/con for that model</li><li>Employees have the power to negotiate their position more than ever now. If employees don’t see the value of being in the office, they will find a company that matches their values</li><li>Constantly moving the goal post is more cost-inefficient than companies even realize</li></ul>

Remote Work Dystopia

Many managers value power construct over productivity‘Update meetings’ are extremely unproductive and usually just waste time and fulfil the manager’s micromanagement itch.

Update Meetings

<ul><li>Tools are overrated, contextual and thoughtful written content is more valuable than the tool</li><li>Many employees are experiencing Zoom fatigue</li><li>Having your video on on Zoom or Google Meet  is usually unnecessary, having it off can greatly reduce fatigue</li><li>Slack should not be overused, otherwise, it turns into water-cooler environments or the micromanagement of your colleagues/peers</li></ul>

Tools Of The Remote Workspace

My favorite thing about being a founder is the ability to make your own decisions and have to live with them, and thus have to learn from them. I am constantly introspective about my thoughts: What am I thinking? Where did it come from?  The desire to be “liked” is probably the most selfish thing in the world. You want to be really mindful of the problems you are creating, when things that were working stop working and being able to identify those things much earlier when running a business.

remotework

Remote Work

career

Career

problemsolving

podcasts

Podcasts

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

Host James Beshara is an angel investor, advisor, founder, & general startup-helper in Los Angeles, CA. He has started three companies, sold one (Tilt; acq by Airbnb), and invested in multiple billion-dollar startups in his career. Now he's talking openly and honestly with others about what's going on "below the line" — the 90% of the story you don't read about or hear about anywhere else.  Below the Line has evolved into a powerful weekly show that consistently takes a deep dive into the real journeys, the unspoken perspectives, and the psychological side of creating, founding, and learning.

Below the Line with James Beshara

#16 — Hiten Shah — Knowledge Bombs

DeepDive on The Remote Workspace Utopia

We naturally accept that curiosity in the workplace is a good thing. When people are interested in questioning and learning, they can discover better ways of doing things, invent new products, or find solutions to problems. However, the assumptions we make about what sparks curiosity is often incorrect. Therefore, rethinking them and encouraging some curiosity-related habits may help in developing this attribute.

Curiosity in the workplace

Curiosity can be considered in terms of variations that exist within individuals, moment to moment. These variations depend on the interest in and knowledge of a subject. Curiosity is unlikely when you know nothing about a topic or are very sure about a particular topic. However, you may be most curious about subjects that fall into a middle ground, where you know just enough to find it interesting, but not too much that it becomes boring.

Work in your curiosity zone

Your brain loves certainty. So, it may be more challenging to stay curious during times of stress or upheaval. If you are in a state of uncertainty, it is helpful to move into a self-management approach with two key questions:<ul><li>What can I control or influence?</li><li>What is not in my control or influence?</li></ul> The insight is that we control far less than we think and influence far more than we realise. When you stop trying to manage what you can't change, your anxiety will lessen, leaving more space for curiosity.

Manage uncertainty

In some cases, such as facing a collective problem or shared interest, you may be more curious when in a group. A group is curious when they face the same kind of problem or question. It creates a space for thinking in new ways.

People are curious together

Curiosity can be contagious under the right conditions. For example, when dancers make a mistake, instead of saying, "That's not the right way to do it," they would say, "that was interesting." Then they take a moment to play with it.

Embrace a collaborative approach

When you're in the middle of asking questions to satisfy your curiosity, you may be tempted to give advice instead of finding out why someone is asking.  When you engage with team members, instead of giving answers, ask, "what's the real challenge here for you?"

Avoid the "advice trap"

You can become more curious over time if you make a habit of exploring new subjects. You will become interested in other related things, understanding there's a relationship between what you know and could know.

Stick with it

Being curious can be an enormous asset, especially in the workplace. 


productivity

Productivity

How (and why) to train your brain to be more curious at work

Thinking that ethics is subjective creates bad arguments.
People use the word subjective - and objective - in ways that lead to confusion, misguided conclusions, and failed attempts to convince someone that ethics matters. Thinking carefully about distinctions and words and concepts enables us to see the world more clearly, enabling us to draw better conclusions and decisions.

Ethics is not subjective

An objective person will make a judgment independently of their personal interest. If they aren't distant from the judgment, they're subjective or biased. <ul><li>Being biased comes in degrees. Some may have too much interest in the issue.</li><li>The process by which one forms the judgment might be biased if one was inappropriately, unfairly, or irrationally influenced.</li></ul> If by saying "ethics is subjective", you mean everyone's ethical judgments are always biased, it may be false.

Objective vs subjective judgments

<ul><li>Some things, like the existence of earth or water, are objective because their existence does not depend on anyone's beliefs or judgments.</li><li>Other things depend for their existence on people's beliefs or judgments, such as the Supreme Court, art, or currency.</li></ul> Ethics is subjective if it depends on our beliefs. What is more controversial is to consider if the existence of ethics itself - what is right, wrong, good, bad, etc. depend on our beliefs.

Objective vs subjective existence

There are many issues one can debate. In some of those debates, the correct answer is objective and in other issues, it's subjective. Or put another way, some issues are factual and others issues are non-factual. When the issue being debated is factual, people can be wrong or incorrect. However, people can't be wrong when non-factual issues are debated, e.g. whether chocolate is better than vanilla.

Objective vs subjective issues

When people say, "how you see the world is subjective," they mean "how you see the world depends on your experiences." This statement is about the basis or cause of a judgement/belief and not about the judgment itself nor what the judgment is about. There are many other ways to have ethical beliefs:<ul><li>Some judgments/beliefs are grounded in testimony. E.g. if my friend tells me it's raining outside. I believe it even though I didn't experience it.</li><li>Other judgments/beliefs are grounded in other things, such as empirical evidence.</li></ul> Our experiences only inform our judgments, for better or worse.

Objective vs subjective ground for judgment

Consider this question: "How can I make ethically objective judgments when judgments are, by definition, subjective?" <ul><li>Does the statement mean judgments are biased? Yet, not all judgments are biased.</li><li>If "judgements are subjective" mean judgments are made by you, it does not mean that they are problematic or biased or unreliable.</li><li>If "judgments are subjective" means your judgments are not factual, it is a subjective statement, as the fact that you're making a judgment about what's right/wrong doesn't imply that you're judging a non-factual issue.</li></ul>

Consider the subtle distinctions

“Ethics is subjective.” I hear it all the time.

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

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Philosophy

Think Ethics is Subjective? Think Again. And Again, and Again…

Many people have stories of achieving something great because someone had high expectations of them. The concept of the Pygmalion Effect is that expectations will influence performance and become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
The term "Pygmalion effect" comes from studies done in the 1960s on the effect of teacher's expectations on students' IQ. If teachers had high expectations, would pupils live up to them? Although the conclusion was that the effects were negligible, the idea is widespread.

The Pygmalion Effect

The Pygmalion effect suggests that other people's expectations can influence how we think, how we act, how we view our capabilities, and what we achieve.
In Pygmalion in Management, J. Sterling Livingston writes that managers have the ability to lower or increase the performance of their subordinates by how they treat them. If their expectations are low, productivity is likely to suffer. If managers expectations are high, productivity is likely to be excellent.

Proving Others Right

"The visions we offer our children shape the future. It matters what those visions are. Often they become self-fulfilling prophecies. Dreams are maps".

The expectations people have of us affect us in many hidden ways. Their expectations can dictate the opportunities we are offered, how we are spoken to, and the praise and criticism that comes to us. These nudges might influence our success in life.
The Pygmalion effect can then serve as a reminder to be aware of the potential influence of our expectations.

Check Your Assumptions

The Pygmalion Effect is a powerful secret weapon. Without even realizing it, we can nudge others towards success. In this article, discover how expectations can influence performance for better or worse.

The Pygmalion Effect: Proving Them Right

A common motivation dip is the performance plateau, when the quick and easy gains are over and done with, and slowly the momentum to keep your motivation diminishes. This feels like you have reached some sort of limit, and most people take it as a cue to settle down, and consequently stop improving.
Going beyond the plateau of contentment is crucial to hitting big goals.

The Inevitable Stage In Growth: Plateau

<ol>
<li>Lean Into The Challenge: We normally avoid discomfort and like to get settled into our zone, avoiding challenges as we think we may fail and ruin our carefully cultivated reputation. One needs to identify any challenge that is being avoided and take it head-on.</li>
<li>Push The Limits: We need to challenge our brain and/or the body in new ways, just like bodybuilders do, by changing the type, style or frequency of the ‘training program’ of challenges.</li>
<li>Tactical Improvement: Find out what is the main weakness holding you back and focus your energy and time on it. It requires discipline and works to build up your confidence, as you complete your MIT (most important task).</li>
</ol>

Three Techniques To Break The Plateau

A popular training program among newbies at the gym is the ‘starting strength’, where the routine and techniques change every few days or weeks, in order to avoid plateaus and maximize strength gains. 
It helps to switch and mix up the exercise and uses the theory of constraints to avoid any particular muscle group becoming a bottleneck.

The Starting Strength Program

<ol>
<li>Identify a challenge that is being avoided and focus your energy on it.</li>
<li>Mix up all the methods and the systems and habits to stress every part of the skill.</li>
<li>Attempt new challenges to find out the main weakness.</li>
<li>Develop deliberate practice procedures to improve the weak part.</li>
<li>Repeat when the next plateau happens.</li>
</ol>

A Checklist To Break Through Your Plateau

Any time not spent improving the weakest part of your skill is a waste. When you see you’re stuck, start improving the weakest part of your skillset.

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