Episode 34 – 3 essential learnings the education system misses out (6 min)
“The highest education is that which does not merely give us information but makes our life in harmony with all existence.”
Rabindranath Tagore
What is wrong with our education system?
This is one topic that every adult has strong opinions on. And I think most of those opinions come from a place of genuine concern and good intention.
Growing up, the issues we faced – we do not want our children to bear the same burden, or rather, to be more aware of the burdens they are about to bear.
To improve the education system, while an endless process, is still one of the most critical pieces to solve for us as a community. In this episode of The Unlearning Playground Podcast, I am talking about 3 things that every education system should teach to everyone.
The points I cover here are not limited to any age. I definitely think all adults should know, understand and internalise these concepts, but I also think that everyone in today’s age should be aware of what I talk about here. Let me put it this way – everyone, whether they are gen z, millennials, gen x or boomers, all of them would benefit in one way or the other by internalising the 3 points that I cover here.
Additionally, I would love to hear from you on this topic. Hit me up in the comments section on YouTube and let me know what all do you think the education system, in your country or in general, must teach to everyone. Or should at least try to.
I’ll see you in the playground. Until next time. Peace out.
“I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”
Jim Carrey
A few days back, a 24-year-old software engineer from Bengaluru took to Grapevine and penned down a note on how despite earning a hefty salary of 58 lakhs per annum, he is unhappy with his life.
The note has since then gone viral, having amassed a bunch of shares and comments from people talking about it from various different perspectives.
As someone who has been working in the Bengaluru software engineering industry for close to 10 years now, and as someone who went through and outgrew a similar phase in his own life, I think I have an understanding about this problem that most people tend to lack.
So, in this episode, I aim to provide a wholly different perspective on the problem this young man is facing (quite possibly along with a lot many others who simply haven’t asked the internet for a solution yet)
Episode 32 – God, truth, understanding & utility – In collab with The Most Serious Podcast (1h 5min)
Utility is not the test of truth.
SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
Ripudaman Bhardwaj from The Most Serious Podcast is one guy who knows how to hold an honest and engaging conversation. I was recently a guest on his show, and the conversation was so deep and stimulating that I asked him to share it on my network too.
We talked about the truth about God, different perspectives of looking at Life, what it means to differentiate between utility & truth, and so much more.
I genuinely feel this is one of the best online conversations I have been a part of so far.
Do check it out and let me know your honest feedback as always. Until next time. Peace out.
Episode 31 – The most common question that comes up in therapy, counselling & life coaching (9 min)
We do not lack ability. We just lack courage. It all comes down to courage.
Ichiro Kishimi (The Courage to Be Disliked)
In this episode of The Unlearning Playground Podcast, I talk about the most common theme surrounding the questions that usually get asked in therapy, counselling and life coaching sessions.
Now I understand that there are no one-size-fits-all remedies, but what I talk about here is a powerful realisation that might land if you’re ready to receive it.
Big claims? I know. Do I do them any justice? Only one way to find out. Dig right in.
I’ll see you in the playground. Until next time. Peace out.
Episode 30 – Self awareness & spirituality, and their relationship to self improvement in the modern world (17 min)
All spirituality is the discipline to eliminate the unnecessary.
ACHARYA PRASHANT
In this episode of The Unlearning Playground podcast, we sit together for a good & powerful meditation on the topic of spirituality.
I talk about what I find to be the heart of spirituality, what a modern human must unlearn about it, how it actually enhances a person’s self awareness & what is the relation all of this holds to that topic which attracts almost of us (at least the sane ones) – self improvement.
This is a slightly more poetic episode than the usual episodes I have been recording and sharing lately, and as we find out in the video – that has got more to do with the colour of the t-shirt I’m wearing in it!
Let’s dig right in.
I’ll see you in the playground.
Until next time.
Peace out.
<OUTLINE>
00:00
My t-shirt, the wife & the topic for today’s episode
02:21
Spirituality & voodoo rituals
05:14
What really is spirituality?
07:31
Spirituality & self improvement in the modern world
For a lot of us modern humans, the topic of spirituality is introduced to us from the point of view of rituals, and most of them being voodoo ones to be honest.
And what that does is place us somewhere along this spectrum:
On one side, some tend to become so overwhelmed and attached to these rituals that they start to define almost all of their identity, and especially what it means to be truly spiritual.
On the other side, some tend to become so repelled by all the “voodoo” stuff that they start to reject all of spirituality as being just that – the voodoo.
Both of them have a story in their minds. And both are incomplete. And both should check out this episode to get a clearer idea of what spirituality is all about.
As usual, in this episode, I do not provide an argument from authority. I merely try to point my listeners towards the limitations of the usual biased narratives they might be holding, and in doing so, direct them towards what’s objectively true – not true for me or true for someone else – but true objectively.
That, for me, is one of the cornerstones of my work here.
That said, I also did something different in this episode. Like I mentioned before, this ended being a slightly more poetic episode than my usual ones, and I ended it with a poem titled ‘To be spiritual …’
Allow me the pleasure of sharing it here with you.
To be spiritual means to be exploring oneself.
To be spiritual means to unlearn all those aspects of Life that you thought to be true, but realised later that aren't true really, even if your whole identity depends on them.
To be spiritual means to understand that all of Life occurs in the present moment - the past & the future are also arising now.
To be spiritual means to go beyond the realm of thoughts - detach from the whirlwind of thoughts that occupy all of our waking lives almost normally.
To be spiritual means to see beyond your own biases, opinions and delusions.
To be spiritual means to see that a life led only for self-centred pursuits is a limited one.
To be spiritual means to love - to love life and to love Life.
Episode 29 – Understanding free will with Dumbledore & Sachin Tendulkar (4 min)
Man can do what he wills but he cannot will what he wills.
Arthur Schopenhauer
Do we humans have free will? Can we really choose to act? Do our choices matter eventually? Is there an easy-to-understand answer to these questions?
I delve into these questions in this short and meaningful episode via a quote that, for me, defines the legacy of Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter movies.
I also take the example of an interview that Harsha Bhogle did on Sachin Tendulkar a while back.
I think this is a very moving intersection of two seemingly dissimilar topics to drive home a point about free will that I find to be very important in our day and age.
Do I do all of this any justice? Only one way to find out. I’ll see you in the playground. Until next time. Peace out.
Episode 28 – The halo effect & 3 ways to overcome it | Cognitive biases #8 (9 min)
To look clearly is to look without an image, without any symbol or any word.
JIDDU KRISHNAMURTI
The halo effect, without a shadow of doubt, is one of the most important cognitive biases every adult in the room must be aware of.
It is extremely important because it directly influences the way you think about people and in doing so, has a direct impact on the way you navigate your interpersonal relationships – both personal as well as professional.
Join me in this episode as I walk through how this bias affects our everyday thinking and also discuss 3 key ways to avoid falling prey to it.
We humans are designed, in part of course, to be able to think quickly whenever a situation demands. But like a lot of mechanisms of our own thinking, this can come back to bite us in the most unexpected of ways.
How the halo effect works, is a not-so-comfortable example of this latter kind.
It particularly comes into question when we are dealing with people. Because the halo effect, in essence, is an extension of how we form stories in our minds about the different people in our lives. These could be people you’re in a direct relationship with – personal, professional or otherwise. These could also be people you know from a distance – a public figure, a celebrity, a politician, etc.
As most of us already know, uncomfortably so, it’s not uncommon to have very strong feelings/opinions about things we hardly know anything about. The extent to which we are able to believe in and then subsequently act on these opinions is dependent on a whole bunch of factors, but primarily on how coherent is the story in our mind about the particular situation in question.
And this is especially relevant to the opinions we form about people, and that is precisely where the halo effect kicks in.
Even if we do not realise it consciously at times, most of our lives are about relationships – personal, professional, casual, distant, close and maybe a host of others. And cognitive biases such as the halo effect encompass our decisions, our thoughts, our judgements and our actions across all of these relationships.
Which is precisely why I find them particularly important for everyone to understand and wrap their heads around, especially anyone wanting to be one of the adults in the room – which is most of us at some point in our lives.
If this kind of learning, or unlearning, resonates with you, you can check out our playlist on cognitive biases and logical fallacies from the link down below. I have dedicated a section of my podcast purely to enable my listeners to be better aware of these subtle yet important phenomena of the inner workings of our minds.
If you’ve reached this part of this page, I’d like to invite you to dive into the episode on the halo effect here.
All the other episodes are available on this website itself, organised into playlists by the core topics they’re aiming to address – spirituality, cognitive biases, money, everyday-life advice, etc.
If this calls out to you, dive into the podcast from the link down below.
As always, I’ll see you in the playground. Let’s have a good game! Until next time. Peace out.
Episode 27 – 1 powerful tip to improve your people skills | Regression to the mean (18 min)
“Data is the sword of the 21st century, those who wield it well, the Samurai.”
Jonathan Rosenberg
Let’s talk about people skills. And let’s use stats in this episode to improve them.
Has it ever happened with you that people tend to quite often disappoint you right after you’ve just appreciated them?
Either it has, or you don’t appreciate the people in your life often enough. 🙂
In this episode of The Unlearning Playground Podcast, I talk about one powerful tip on better understanding this dynamic of dealing with people using a statistical fact that goes by the name regression to the mean.
Stay with me till the end of this episode to actually improve upon your people skills multifold.
Do I deliver on the promises? Only one way to find out. Dig right in.
People skills are an important part of any job we humans do.
Now that’s another advantage our brand new toys, the AI bots, would have over us.
For the time being, of course.
People skills, in fact, play a fundamental role in all aspects of our lives, not just our jobs.
Being a good parent, a worthy partner, a dear friend, a reachable relative, a loving sibling, a caring child – we get better at all of these and many more roles we play in our everyday lives if we are good at our people skills.
And one thing I usually find fundamentally lacking in a lot of people is the ability to understand other people around them and also to understand the bigger picture concerning the situation around them.
This was the key motivation to stitch together this particular episode of The Unlearning Playground podcast.
It was a difficult episode to design, because I wanted to cover a rather tough concept in a manner that’s easy to understand and at the same time, I wanted to be a bit esoteric too so as to help put forward a contrarian point of view, something that I consider to be a hallmark of my content.
The thread I pull on, in this episode, is of understanding and reading our expectations from people around us better.
And to build on it, I use the concept of “regression to the mean”
Regression to the mean is a well known statistical fact. Well known of course only in circles that study and/or use mathematics regularly. And well understood only in circles that love it. Each of these circles only keeps getting smaller and smaller.
I personally think that it is one of those facts of nature that can be used to explain a whole lot of things not concerning maths per se, but concerning our everyday lives in general.
It helps to explain why, even though rewarding people for improved performance works better than punishing them for not doing so well, we lack the motivation to appreciate when people around us do good but never need an external push to voice our disappointments.
It helps to provide a better and a more practical explanation for stuff like jinxes or that hindi version of them – “nazar lag gai“.
I think it’s time you get going to the playground. This is easily one of the most impactful episodes I have done on the podcast so far, and I know there are better ones coming.
You can catch up on all the episodes from our playlist here.
Episode 26 – 2 types of prayers | What should you pray for? (7 min)
Your perspective can be your prison or your power.
UNKNOWN
In some way, shape or form, we are surrounded by prayers.
Join me in this episode as I talk about the two primary types of prayers that we humans perform in our everyday lives, and let’s discuss whether there is enough motivation for switching from one kind to the other.
This can be a touchy subject for some people, so please take it with a pinch of salt.
And like I always say, if something doesn’t resonate with you, that’s when you need honesty the most.
Most opinions we form in our lives have at least some connection (in some cases a lot of connection) to what we saw in our formative years.
The way you see your parents treat others lingers on in your subconscious when it’s your chance to act out.
The way you see your neighbours talk to each other influences what you consider to be right or wrong.
And so on…
Quite similarly, how you see religion, God, spirituality, etc depends to a great degree on what you learnt from your close ones in all the years they had a real chance to actually teach you.
And that impacts how you view prayers as well.
Now even though our individual, subjective experiences must have been quite different growing up, there are various common threads that can be weaved across them. That is exactly what I try to do in this episode, focussing of course on the topic of prayers.
The obvious superficial similarities can be seen quite clearly by everyone. For eg – The words we use in our prayers, the tone in which we say them, the rituals we follow while saying them, etc – all of these nuances are picked up in our formative years from the ones around us.
There are some deep seated similarities which, though extremely important, can easily missed out unless triggered externally. This episode aims to be one such trigger.
Let me offer a few examples:
The stance you take towards the idea of prayers itself – whether the entire idea is rubbish or whether it is the single most important thing one must do daily or somewhere in between.
What you pray to – a God, which one of the Gods, the universe, etc.
What you pray for.
What you expect from your prayers.
Where your prayers come from.
In this episode, I aim to tackle these questions from the point of view of two different kinds of prayers that may not look very different on the outside, but are very different from the point of view of the actor(s) involved.
As I said in the very beginning of this page, our perspective matters a lot. And it can be a subtle change of perspective that can make a prison out of something powerful, or something powerful out of an apparent prison. That is exactly the stance we are taking in this episode.
If the content you consumed here moved you, you might be interested in the section of my work that I dedicate to true spirituality and philosophy. The key narrative I build there is one of understanding, and not just believing. This is something I find particularly lacking in the religious community in the modern era.
If this resonates with you, check out my episode playlist dedicated to this topic here.
I aim to build more on this topic exclusively in the months and years to come.
Episode 25 – 3 ways to understand, identify and overcome confirmation bias | Cognitive biases #7 (10 min)
“Ever since I learned about confirmation bias I’ve been seeing it everywhere.”
JON RONSON
In this episode, I, Chetan Narang, walk you through the confirmation bias, which I believe is one of the most tricky cognitive biases primarily because of its ability to hide in plain sight even for the most self aware person.
I talk about where we can see this bias in our day-to-day lives.
I talk about some direct indicators for spotting it in our own thinking.
I talk about how we can guard ourselves against it.
And, I talk about why all of this is especially relevant in the modern day and age.
Plus, I throw in a funny anecdote or two because, why not?
We humans are designed, in part of course, to be able to think quickly whenever a situation demands. But like a lot of mechanisms of our own thinking, this can come back to bite us in the most unexpected of ways.
How the confirmation bias works in our minds, is a brutal example of this latter kind.
The ability to think and react quickly can be quite handy in a lot of situations.
Picture a scenario where you’re attacked by a predatory animal for example. You’d hardly have time to analyse whether the animal means you harm or whether you’re projecting your own fear on its intentions. It could very well be game-over before that decision is made in your mind.
Or a simpler scenario where, let’s say, your car is making some noise. If you’ve been driving for sufficient time now, you may be able to intuitively (and very quickly I might add) gauge whether it’s a harmless commotion or a damn pandemonium that needs to be attended immediately. Labelling this aspect of our quick thinking as a bias isn’t necessarily the most fruitful one.
Not all quick thinking should be termed as biased.
However, there are a host of situations where a quick answer is not only not the best one, but is often the wrong one. And confirmation bias plays a vital role in such scenarios.
If you aren’t aware of how your own preconceived notions cloud what you interpret from a new piece of information, you are in for a treat in this episode of my podcast.
I talk about some examples from our day-to-day lives where the confirmation bias messes up our game.
Like most nuances of our minds, it is easier to see in others as compared to our own thinking. So, I also talk about some indicators on how to correctly spot it in both these scenarios.
And all said and done, I think this is one extremely tricky cognitive bias – one that we are never really ever rid of. In this episode, I also talk about some potent advice from my own experience that has helped me not fall prey to it in my everyday life situations.
If you sit and dwell on the content in this short 10-min episode, and I highly recommend that you do, you’d see how it is extremely relevant to a host of real situations we face almost on a daily basis – in our homes, in our offices, in our schools, in all of our relationships (personal, professional, casual, etc.).
So, without further ado, I recommend you get to the episode and digest it, and as always, do let me know if you have any feedbacks for me. I’m always looking forward to more of those – especially the honest kind.
![Episode 33 – 24-year-old Bengaluru engineer earning 58 lakhs shares viral note on unhappiness [3-step guide] (18 min)](https://chetannarang.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/ep-33-podcast-cover.webp)
