601 - WHY Strategic Thinking is So Valuable (& how to do it) with Maria Konnikova

Maria Konnikova is a psychologist who studied her way into becoming a poker champion. She told me all the steps. And how this made her think better and more strategically about everything in life. She studied from scratch with one of the greatest poker players in history. Then she wrote a book about the experience, “The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win." But the book isn't just about poker. It's about chance, decision-making, measuring the likelihood of certain outcomes, cutting your losses, and more.  And the game even taught her how to ask (and answer) some of life's big questions: "How do we figure out what we can control? How do we figure out what we can’t control? How do we learn the difference?"

Here's a list of topics we cover:

How to find the right mentor in life

How to get good at decision-making

How to master the skill of learning

How to leverage what you already know

Why it's more important to be curious than certain (and how to practice this daily)

The importance of removing your ego 

How to always be one step ahead and think through outcomes

And more. 

I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltucher.com/podcast.

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