70 - Normal

Full transcript here 👋 11 Sites and Apps for Watching Documentaries Free Online Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening. This is your life. This is your chance. Listen. The word for today is normal, and we’re going to have to chisel this one down to a useful size [chisel sound]. This word is tricky only because we humans are so subjective in our thinking that we believe our norms should apply to everyone else. Have you ever said, “Kids these days are so different.”? Every older generation thinks that kids should do what they did, but why is your childhood the baseline for normal? Kahneman and Tversky’s availability heuristic explains why we think our life experience is the definition of normal; normality is just whatever memories jump to mind. That’s your normal. Today’s concrete challenge is to experience someone else’s normal. Documentaries provide a great way to see and hear other peoples’ lives. I recently watched a film about the Hadza people of East Africa, and it helped me appreciate their perspective and way of life. The trick of normality is to realize that other people’s strange life could just as easily be yours if you were born into their group. If you want to commit, say the following phrase: “I will find one documentary to watch today, or I’ll set a time to watch it.” I’ll keep the music playing while you get it done, and don’t miss the soundtrack at the end of this episode. Before you go, repeat the following soundtrack, “I am the kind of person who knows that my normal is not everyone’s normal.” Let me know if this made a difference in your day by leaving a comment in your podcast app or at concrete.win/today. Check back tomorrow for a new challenge. Until then. References: Availability heuristic The Hadza: Last of the First (2014) "Rock_Hammer_Chisel_01.wav" by dheming