In This Episode: A news story going around on social media sounds too amazing to be true. So I’m going to dig into the idea that the smartphone was invented in 1953. The back story is even more impressive: it nicely demonstrates that you don’t need a college education to have Uncommon Sense.
Podcasts
053: Leveraging Uncommon Sense
In This Episode: Sometimes people are forced into thinking up solutions because of an emergency. But when they practice Uncommon Sense, they can leverage their thinking into, once in awhile, saving millions of lives. This is the story of a married couple who did just that.
052: Uncommon Sense the Easy Way
In This Episode: Can you quit a bad habit with willpower? Allen Carr thought that was the hard way, but he had insight into what he called the “Easy Way” that would work better, and saved perhaps millions of lives by quitting his day job to help teach others how. It’s a great story of Uncommon Sense at work.
051: Out of Thin Air
In This Episode: Now here’s a fun example of Uncommon Sense in action — in the adult beverage category…?! You could call it another concept for “neutral spirits,” and it ties in with a very interesting early episode.
050: The Mother of All Demos
In This Episode: One person with Uncommon Sense can have a profound effect on the world. Wait until you hear the story of Doug Engelbart: he’s the visionary behind many of the technologies you use most every day.
049: Mind Triggers
In This Episode: Here’s another tool in what I call the Thinking Toolbox: a way to learn how to think better, unlike most of the people in This is True’s stories. Or, if you’re already an accomplished thinker, a way to help others learn how to think better because trust me: most people need the help.
048: A Competitive Advantage
In This Episode: We’ve been hearing about “diversity” in the workplace for years now, but many companies are doing something so radically different on the diversity front, it’s very surprising for a lot of people. Yet what it really comes down to is Uncommon Sense.
047: Standing in Line
In This Episode: How does a man use his years of experience working for IBM as they introduced computers to business, leverage that experience to invent a worldwide phenomenon that you have used many, many times? He uses Uncommon Sense.
046: ‘An Ethic of Compassion’
In This Episode: It’s a conundrum in the business world, but this idea really is about living in general. And that is, how can businesses encourage their employees to be more productive, healthier, and provide better customer service? University researchers applied some Uncommon Sense to this age-old question, and came to some surprising conclusions.
045: Right Place, Right Time
In This Episode: Sure, being in the right place at the right time helps. But it often takes Uncommon Sense to step back to consider the bigger picture, and what the implications of a profound event might be. This is the story of how someone I knew as a young man did just that, but rather than take advantage and get rich, he leveraged his luck to help millions. It’s an amazing story.
044: The Rants Get Serious
In This Episode: Do you want to know what TRUE is really about? Then listen to this one if you can — don’t read the transcript. You’ll hear the true passion behind one of my written rants, because now it’s literally in my voice. If you don’t have a podcast player, you can stream it from the Show Page.
043: The $100 Education
In This Episode: Warren Buffett says the biggest impact on his massive success was one particular class he took. But it wasn’t part of his college or graduate school education. I’ll tell you what it is, for free.
042: Pushing the Uncommon Sense Envelope
In This Episode: Uncommon Sense facilitates some pretty out-of-the-box thinking that not only improves the thinker’s life, but sometimes improves or even saves countless other lives. Doug Lindsay’s story pushed the envelope pretty far — there really is no limit to Uncommon Sense, as you’re about to hear for yourself.
041: What is Thinking?
In This Episode: The question is harder to answer than you …think! But really, what IS thinking? Plus, if you use the “Dunning-Kruger Effect” to judge other peoples’ thinking, you’re doing it wrong — says Dr. Dunning.
040: Undaunted
In This Episode: Can anything be done to stem the decline in bookstores from Amazon’s relentless domination? Yes: Uncommon Sense is already reversing the trend, and in a surprising way.
039: Failure is Not Optional
In This Episode: Humans don’t like to fail. Sure, sometimes failure has catastrophic results, so surgeons work hard to ensure their operations are successful. But when we don’t allow ourselves, or our children, or our employees to fail, they can’t reach their full potential. Here’s why you should actually embrace failure.
038: The Giant Leap for Mankind
In This Episode: I’m recording this episode the evening of July 20th: the 50th anniversary of the first humans landing on the moon. If you think it maybe took Uncommon Sense to get there, you’re right: it took an extraordinary amount, and this episode talks about some of the details that you may not have heard about before.
037: You Were Never Created to Fit In
In This Episode: Uncommon Sense can be found in very unusual places. In this story, a janitor at one of the plants at a multinational corporation had the cojones to call the CEO with an idea. And the CEO was smart enough to listen.
036: The Stakes are High
In This Episode: In This is True, I rail about obliviocy, using real people and their stories as examples. Uncommon Sense talks about the opposite: the cure for obliviocy …using real people and their stories as examples. The two sides are actually at war, so let’s define our terms — and think about what the stakes are. It really is worth 6-1/2 minutes to talk about it.
035: To Boldly Go
In This Episode: To Boldly Go? No, this isn’t about Star Trek, but rather something even better: real life. This is the story of a 9-year-old with Uncommon Sense who was inspired to reach for the stars — and years later inspired a bunch of other kids growing up behind him.