7 Steps To Thinking Like A Freak
The best thing you can do to improve your productivity, your rationality and your creativity is learn how to Think Like a Freak.
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Steven D. Levitt and Stephen Dubner, The New York Times bestselling authors of Freakonomics plainly see the world like no one else.
In their book series, which includes Freakonomics, SuperFreakonomics, Think Like a Freak and When to Rob a Bank, the two mix smart thinking and great storytelling like no one else, whether investigating a solution to global warming or explaining why the price of oral sex has fallen so drastically. By examining how people respond to incentives, they show the world for what it really is—good, bad, ugly, and ultimately…super freaky.
Freak up your thinking
“The fact is that solving problems is hard. If a given problem still exists, you can bet that a lot of people have already come along and failed to solve it. Easy problems evaporate; it is the hard ones that linger. Furthermore, it takes a lot of time to track down, organize and analyze the data to answer even one small question well.
So rather than trying and probably failing to answer most of the questions sent our way, we wondered if it might be better to write a book that can teach anyone to think like a Freak. ” Steven D. Levitt and Stephen Dubner, Think Like a Freak
Levitt and Dubner want to teach us all to think a bit more productively, more creatively, more rationally—to think, that is, like a Freak.
Thinking like a freak offers a blueprint for an entirely new way to solve problems, whether your interest lies in minor life-hacks or major global reforms. They cover topics ranging from business to philanthropy to sports to politics, from the wild to the wacky (the secrets of a Japanese hot-dog-eating champion, the reason an Australian doctor swallowed a batch of dangerous bacteria, and why Nigerian e-mail scammers make a point of saying they’re from Nigeri) all with the goal of retraining your brain.
How to think like a freak
- Put away your moral compass
It’s hard to see a problem clearly if you’ve already decided what to do about it.
2. Learn to say “I don’t know”
Until you can admit what you don’t yet know, it’s virtually impossible to learn what you need to.
3. Think like a child
You’ll come up with better ideas and ask better questions.
4. Find the root cause of a problem
Attacking the symptoms, as often happens, rarely fixes the underlying issue.
5. Take a master class in incentives
For better or worse, incentives rule our world.
6. Persuade people who don’t want to be persuaded
Being right is rarely enough to carry the day.
7. Learn to appreciate the upside of quitting
You can’t solve tomorrow’s problem if you aren’t willing to abandon today’s dud.
There is nothing magical about this way of thinking. It usually traffics in the obvious and places a huge premium on common sense.
But there’s good news too: thinking like a Freak is simple enough that anyone can do it. What’s perplexing is that so few do Steven D. Levitt and Stephen Dubner, Think Like a Freak
Go on…give it a go!
Stephen J. Dubner, journalist, radio and TV personality and co-author of the critically acclaimed “Freakonomics” books will keynote at JAGGAER’s REV2018. The event takes place in Las Vegas on 24th- 26th April and there’s still time to register!
