Monday Video: The Journey Across the High Wire

Start your week off with with some meaningful and thought-provoking stimulus.

Philippe Petit's Journey from card tricks to high-roping between the Twin Towers. 

     As early as the age of six, Philippe Petit was performing. He started off by learning card tricks. Not just any old card tricks however, Philippe found himself inspired to master the hardest card trick manipulation in the book (literally, it was the hardest trick in a book of card tricks he was given for Christmas). After years of practice, he was able to perform the trick perfectly, completely hiding the card in under one second. Philippe goes over the trick in minute 2:25 of the video below.

Long story short, after stints with street juggling and years of practice as a tight-rope walker, nobody would hire him. So what did he do? He starting putting tight ropes wherever he saw fit, walking across monuments such as Notre Dame and the Twin Towers, tightrope walking himself to international fame.

Set aside 20 minutes and watch the inspiring video below, where Philippe describes his journey and the aspects that drove him to success and happiness. (The aspects are highlighted below).

Original Video URL: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3zZVQPaKKQ&feature=iv&src_vid=xYemnKEKx0c&annotation_id=annotation_927634)

Aspects that drove Philippe to success and happiness, in his eyes:

Passion: "Passion is the motto of all my actions."

Tenacity: "How I kept at it against all odds."

Intuition: "A tool essential in my life...instead of listening to the teachers I am my own teacher."

Faith: "Faith is what replaces doubt in my dictionary."

Improvisation: "Improvisation is empowering because it welcomes the unknown."

Inspiration: "By inspiring ourselves we inspire others." 

Monday Video: Avoiding the Catch 22 of self-control (and why it's important!)

Start your week off with with some meaningful and thought-provoking stimulus.

     Self-control is important, no doubt about it. You've probably heard about the importance of self-control a million times. Or, you haven't figured out its' importance yet and that's why you might be holding yourself back without knowing it. However, ask most parents and teaching their kids self-control is probably high on their list of parenting priorities. (Or teaching some form of self-control, such as trying to restrict the number of hours spent watching TV or teaching them to resist certain degenerative temptations like eating too much candy).

But don't take it from what you've heard about self-control thus far, take it from the research. Angela Duckworth et al. surveyed middle school students on self-control and IQ and found that while IQ was a factor in final GPA, levels of self-control had a bigger effect on grades. Look at the graph below. IQ alone can get you to the 90's level, but self-control pushes you beyond.

Duckworth et al. 

Cool study, but i'm not in middle school.

Now, you might be thinking "so what if this worked on middle schooler's, it doesn't apply to me", and you have a fair point. However, self control has been found to be a significant factor in adulthood as well.

The Duniden Longitudinal study (Moffitt et al.) measured self-control in 1,037 young children born in 1972-73 from the same region in New Zealand (Duniden) and have been following them for the rest of their lives. So far the findings have been remarkable. Researchers pitted self-control against IQ and socio-economic status. Throughout the participants adulthood the researchers looked at wealth and financial decision-making, crime, age of becoming a parent, and long-term physical health. The researchers found that self control was just as, or in many cases more important to wealth, crime, health, etc... than IQ and socio-economic status during childhood. (Just imagine the same results graph like the one above, but instead of Final GPA on the side it is Wealth).

So how can I develop self-control?

Self-control is tricky because as Angela Duckworth puts it, there is a catch 22 involved. A lot of the strategies we are taught for self-control require self-control to implement. Example: "Slowing down and taking a deep breath." If you find yourself easily ticked off, then it is unlikely that remembering to slow down and take a breath will work, because by the time you remember you have already blown a gasket.

Have no fear though, that's where this Mondays' video comes in: Go to minute 8:20 in the video below to learn about the five most-effective strategies of self-control. The best part? You don't need a good level of self-control to implement them. (Note: Following the video can get a little tricky, so below the video I have included a short definition of each strategy).

(Here's the video link: https://vimeo.com/96079124)


Summary of the 5 strategies of self-control:

Situation Selection: Sitting in the front rows in class or meeting, selecting the right social situation. (Parents/teachers/bosses: Can't make people sit in the front or make them choose their friends, because it's not self-control. Instead, make them aware of how situation selection boosts self-control and its' benefits).

Situation Modification: Seeing vs. not seeing the reward. Study showed that secretaries are much more likely to eat candy on their desk if it is in a clear jar vs. in a jar they can't see through or reach easily.

Selective Attention: Where you look matters. Catch yourself if you are off-task and eliminate distractions to help you stay more disciplined with a task.

Cognitive re-appraisal: Think of yourself in the third person as you imagine yourself doing things versus in the first person to help regulate negative emotions. (Imagine yourself getting angry with someone from the point of view of a bystander).

Response Modulation: Direct suppression of impulses (willpower). Not as reliable as the other strategies, but if all else fails, try summoning the willpower for self-control. (The more you do the better you will get).

Interesting nugget of knowledge: Self-control is correlated with Grit and vice-versa. Duckworth found that if someone has a high level of self-control, they are likely to have a high level of Grit. However, keep in mind that having a high level in one aspect doesn't guarantee a high level in the other, it's just a correlation.

Further resources:

Duckworth Study: Self-control in school-age children: http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic1296633.files/Self-Control%20in%20School-Age%20Children%20072513.pdf

Duniden Longitudinal Study: http://www.pnas.org/content/108/7/2693.full.pdf

Monday Video: Keys to solving the U.S. education crisis.

This marks the first post in the Monday Video series. The purpose is to help you guys start your week off with with some meaningful and thought-provoking stimulus.

Where the U.S. education system has failed us and what to do about it. 

Whether the term "education crisis" is appropriate or not, the data is clear. US teens rank among the bottom of developed countries on performance on the PISA. (Program for international student assessment). The percentage of kids from low-income families who graduate from college is 9%. 

What's the solution?

It's not about higher spending per pupil, smaller class sizes, or more teachers with masters degrees says Seth Andrew, the founder of Democracy Prep Charter School, the highest performing school in the City of New York consistently over the past five years. The answer according to Seth lies in the elements of South Korea's culture shift. (South Korea has the best educated population in the world). Here's a snippet of South Korea's transformation in the words of Seth Andrew:

"...they went from being Afghanistan to richer than the EU, from a OECD and UN aid recipient to a donor, from an agricultural economy to the leading knowledge economy in the world... They went from an autocratic system to having the head of the UN, IMF, a female president, all through democratic transition, from the 200th largest economy in the world to the 12th largest economy in the world with no natural resources, with no oil, no, you know, special trick. They did it through Grit." 

The three factors that Seth outlines for South Korea's successful shift? 

1. Grit -- overcoming adversity

2. Growth mindset. A deeply rooted, fundamental belief in their culture that hard work directly correlates with success, and that intelligence is not fixed but can be increased through effort. This mindset takes effect in the form of their "hagwan", private spending on supplemental education services like tutoring. South Korea has one of the highest spending rates on supplemental education services in the world. 

3. Korea has great teachers. Respect for teachers is rooted in their language and culture. The word for "Teacher" in Korean means "honored one"and "nation builder". It's like the equivalent of having the title of "Doctor" in the US. 

Skip to minute 6:50 in the video for Seth's explanation of each factor and how he implemented the South Korean model into Democracy Prep Charter School.  

If you are having trouble viewing the video, here is the original video link: https://vimeo.com/96055664