Many people look at life as a competition.  In a true competition, the measure of success, the rule of the competition, and the opponent are all clearly defined.  In life, however, the criteria are less defined and we often frame things as competition when they really aren’t. On this episode of Think Significantly, we will explore the concept of Zero-Sum Thinking and how it colors our perception of success and the success of others. We challenge the notion that success is a limited resource. Does someone else’s success limit ours? Who is our real competition? Is it a competition at all? How we answer these questions is critical to how satisfied we are with our life and surely influences our relationships with others. Follow us on Social Media:

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We’re all bombarded regularly by the cacophony of sounds that make up our environment.  Car horns, barking dogs, construction, phone alerts - there is an endless list of noises that make it to our brain to process daily.  Despite all the practice we get at hearing, we really usually aren’t very good at listening.  This week Melissa and Pete take on the difference between hearing and listening, why we tend to struggle so much with the latter, and what we can do to be better listeners.  After all, as composer and philosopher John Cage said, “We only hear what we listen for.”

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Few words carry a more negative connotation than the word “gossip” and yet we all find ourselves engaged in it a surprising amount of time.  People can’t seem to help themselves but to talk about others, but is gossip as malicious as high school dramas would have you believe?  What is it that drives us to share information about others? Is there a hidden benefit to this behavior?  In this episode, we’re going to talk about celebrities, politicians, your neighbors, and YOU!  Come sip the tea while we spill it.

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There is no trait that we value in society in quite the same way that we value intelligence.  Schools go to great lengths to identify children with intelligence. The tutoring industry is built on increasing intelligence. There are even social clubs where being a member means you have to have a certain level of intelligence!  In each of these instances a person’s intelligence is being measured by their IQ score, but is that an accurate reflection of their intelligence?  Given that IQ is affected by various factors outside of our control, is IQ an accurate measure of a person’s intelligence, or a measure of their situation?  Is it possible that intelligence, measured or real, has to do more with the way we think than what we know?  This week’s discussion is about intelligence--how we measure it, how we value it, and to think differently about the concept.

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Many people have fond memories of their childhood: favorite cartoons, beloved stories, classic movie lines. But, what if those recollections aren’t exactly accurate?  The human brain has an amazing ability for creativity and storytelling, and sometimes it uses those skills to change parts of our memories.  When enough of us have the same falsely constructed memory, we call this the Mandela Effect.  Listen to our discussion to learn how our brains create these inaccurate narratives and what this might have to do with alternate dimensions.

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As Ferris Bueller famously said, “life comes at you fast.”  It seems as it we’ve got more to do than ever before, and less time to get them done.  How do we make sure that we’re focusing on the right things?  In this episode, Pete and Melissa take you on a journey of different ways to approach tasks--big and small-- and they use a lot of food metaphors to do it!

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It’s tempting to think we know everything.  In a world where confidence is seen as an asset, admitting that we don’t know something feels uncomfortable.  Will others think less of us if we admit that we aren’t masters in that area?  This is one of the influences that cause the Dunning-Kruger effect, a phenomenon where people with generally little knowledge of a subject or a task, think that they are an expert.  Pete and Melissa dive in headfirst and have a thought provoking conversation about what pressures help steer people into this way of thinking, and who is immune to it (the answer may surprise you!).

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Throughout history humans have had to cooperate with each other to share resources.  As populations have grown, resources have gotten more scarce and cooperation has become increasingly rare.  This week, Pete and Melissa discuss the Tragedy of the Commons, a phenomenon explaining how acting in self interest might earn someone a short-term benefit, but ultimately hurts everyone.  From water in public aquifers to industrial fishing to……shopping carts?  Find out how all these resources have been affected and how humanity can work together to ensure that this particular tragedy can be avoided.

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Laughter is universal, but it’s got many more functions than being an external manifestation of when something strikes us as funny. Humans use humor for several reasons, and on this week’s episode Melissa and Pete will try to explain all of them.  From stress relief to team building to establishing identity and even coping with tragedy – this week’s conversation will touch on all of these and more.

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