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Summary of Think Like a Freak 

4.4 . 3280 reviews

What’s inside

Forget what you learned and discover thinking like a total Freak. Find strategies to help you look at old issues from a new perspective and solve them.

You’ll learn

  • How thinking like a Freak helps tackle problems
  • Why thinking small is the best
  • The power of saying “I don’t know”
  • How to motivate people to do what you need
  • Why giving up isn’t that bad

Table of content

  • Summary of Think Like a Freak
  • About the author
  • What is Think Like a Freak about?
  • Who should read Think Like a Freak
  • Topics in Think Like a Freak
first key point

The modern world demands that we think like a freak

Listen the first key point
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Imagine you are a football player at the brink of taking your country to World Cup glory. All that is left is to score a penalty kick.
Humans have a tendency to take the least risky path in life.
According to the odds, a penalty kick aimed at the center of the goal is more likely to result in a goal, but why do players only aim 17% of spot-kicks there? Why so few? For one, aiming your spot-kick seems like a terrible idea. You could be kicking it straight at the goalkeeper. It seems unnatural and a violation of common sense — but that was the same way preventing diseases with the same microbe causing it was viewed.

This makes you reconsider.

If you aim, your penalty kicks the traditional way, aiming it toward a corner. If the goalkeeper guesses the right corner and keeps the ball out, you have been thwarted by a valiant effort, an effort more valiant than yours.

If you decide to follow this less risky path, protecting your reputation by not doing something foolish, you will likely put the ball to one corner. Sometimes in life, the boldest move of all is going straight up the middle.

Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner wrote this guide to answer questions like this. They found that people have developed an idea that there is a right way and wrong way to think about solving a problem in recent years, but that's not necessarily the correct approach.

We must learn to be open and flexible because many problems will demand out-of-the-box solutions. This summary will expose you to proven ways of solving modern problems. You will learn the importance of thinking small, rather than big, when dealing with challenges. Toward the end of the summary, we will also talk about persuasion and how to use it to your advantage. This summary is loaded, so no need to waste time here. Flip to the next chapter let's get started.
second key point

When you want to solve problems, pay attention to feedback

There is another explanation for why many of us think we know more than we do. It is about something inherent within us that we carry everywhere we go, even though we do not consciously think about it: it is a moral compass.
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third key point

Do not allow the noisy part of a problem distract you from its cause

fourth key point

When it comes to solving problems, channel your inner child by thinking small

fifth key point

How to persuade people who don’t want to be persuaded

sixth key point

Nobody likes to fail or be seen failing, but failure is not necessarily a terrible thing

seventh key point

Conclusion

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What is Think Like a Freak about?

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Do you find yourself staring at your computer for long minutes, unaware of time slipping by? Do you enter a room and suddenly cannot remember why you stepped in the first place? Is it a herculean task for you to sit through ten pages of a book without reaching for your phone? If yes, your focus needs some work and fast.

Actually, yours is not a unique situation. Many adults like you have issues concentrating on a given task. However, in this fast-paced world of ours, you can’t afford to be not focused at all times. Thankfully, this article comes to your rescue! With the tips and tricks from Hyperfocus by Chris Bailey, you will get in the top percent of folks who have mastered the art of concentration.