The Learning Pill

     "Wanna know how I got these scars? My father was…a drinker. And a fiend. And one night he goes off crazier than usual. Mommy gets the kitchen knife to defend herself. He doesn’t like that. Not one bit. So—me watching—he takes the knife to her, laughing while he does it! Turns to me, and he says, “Why so serious, son?” Comes at me with the knife...“ Why so serious?”  He sticks the blade in my mouth… “Let’s put a smile on that face!” All of us enjoyed and adored the 2008 Christopher Nolan's masterpiece- The Dark Knight. Though the protagonist and hero of the movie was Batman, the character that caught our eyes was the psychopathic clown, i.e., the Joker. Joker is one of those villains we know we should hate but instead seem to sympathize with him. But why? Because even though his actions are criminal and heinous, his purpose is logical, well-defined, and consistent with reality.   So, let's dive in and understand this Nolan's fictional legend aka the JOK...

Source:  Search Engine Journal Today, 3.96 billion people worldwide use social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc. More than 50000 posts are posted on Facebook, and more than 740000 messages are sent on WhatsApp per second. With such mind-boggling numbers, social media is slowly evolving into a new world in itself, which many people term as the "Digital World."   Since an average user spends more than two hours on social media, it's a no-brainer that social media influences what we like and what we buy. Social media's presence is so colossal that fields like marketing and psychology have had to introduce entirely new branches dedicated to understanding people's behavior on social media.   So, let's explore the different ways in which social media impacts our behavior and buying patterns. Transformation of Marketing When was the last time you saw a newspaper ad? Probably a few days ago. Now, when was the last time you saw an online ad on you...

Introduction  We all live in a fast-paced world with hectic lives. Therefore, we seldom have enough time to follow through with all of our commitments. And hence, learning to say "NO!" to less-important things becomes vital.  It's fascinating because when we were young, we were taught to say YES to every opportunity that comes our way. After all, every opportunity can teach us valuable lessons about ourselves and the world. But as we grow older, we soon realize that there is an upper limit to the things we can do in a day or a week. And to succeed in our goals and endeavors, prioritization becomes crucial. And saying NO to proposals/activities is implicit of prioritization. Analysis Now, we all know this stuff (at a basic level, at least). But we all find it hard to say No to people. We feel like we are defying the other person's trust and doing something illegal by refusing their proposal. One reason for this behavior is our childhood learnings wherein we were taught...

Source:  Thrive Global   Thanks to our developed Pre-Frontal Cortex (PFC) and enhanced cognitive ability,  overthinking  has become one of the most common mental health issues worldwide. Unlike us, dogs, cats, or chimps don't think about why they got rejected by a fellow animal or why their aunt didn't gift them on their birthday. Overthinking is a very human-specific problem that needs to be addressed to improve one's mental health and overall lifestyle. Sources of overthinking While thinking, as a trait, has not only helped us increase our survival chances but also pushed us to the top of the food chain; it may disrupt our day-to-day life if left uncontrolled. Think of our thinking ability like a nuclear reaction, which can be extremely helpful to meet our needs, but it can lead to destruction if it goes out of control. Let's dive into exploring the sources of overthinking. Too many options:  One common source of overthinking that economists and sociologists ...

Source:  The Creativity Post Are you sure that you are smart? Can you be accurate when estimating your competency in a particular skill or field? Maybe NOT. This uncertainty is due to a cognitive bias, namely, the  Dunning-Kruger effect . What is the Dunning-Kruger effect? It is a cognitive bias according to which less-skilled individuals tend to overestimate their skill level. In contrast, the highly skilled ones tend to underestimate their competency.  In other words, a person who has little knowledge about a field tends to think that he might be close to an expert in the field or might consider himself to be above-average in the least. While in reality, he might be among the bottom 10 to 20 percentile of the folks in the field. On the other hand, a person with a post-graduate degree in that field might feel that he would probably lie in the 70 percentile range. Although, he might be better than 90% of people out there. This underestimate is not because he doubts his sk...

Source: 1mg What do you go to work for? What do you plan your tomorrow for? What is the end goal we all are trying to achieve?  Well, most common answer to those questions is: TO BE HAPPY, OBVIOUSLY! And that is what this blog is going to be about: HAPPINESS. Prologue We will be discussing various philosophical and scientific definitions and theories of happiness. We will then be moving to techniques that can help achieve a state of happiness in real life. Theories related to Happiness Aristotle  was one of the first people to theorize the concept of happiness. According to his theory, happiness is composed of two major aspects: Hedonia: which refers to the concept that happiness is the outcome of the pursuit of pleasure over pain. This addresses the more short-term and immediate type of happiness like the immediate gratification you get by eating your favourite ice-cream or having your favourite pizza.  Eudemonia: which refers to a feeling that life is well-lived. Acco...