Ep 180: Can Shortcuts Lead Teens to Success?

Marcus Du Sautoy, mathematician and author of Thinking Better,
shares how laziness and the wish for a shortcut can actually push
our teens to come up with creative and time-saving innovations.


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Full show notes
Hard work is essential to success…right? If we want teens to
thrive they have to hustle, grind and work laboriously to achieve
perfect SAT scores or a spot on the basketball team. We condemn
teen laziness, hoping that kids will understand the value of
blood sweat and tears. For goodness sake, how will they ever get
anywhere in life if they’re not spending hours with their
chemistry textbooks or practicing their free throws all
afternoon?



But maybe it doesn’t have to be that way. Perhaps there’s some
merit to taking the easy way out–so long as it’s clever! If teens
can find ways to get to the same result without all the effort,
they might just stumble upon a great discovery. This week, we’re
talking all about shortcuts and laziness, and why these things
may not be as bad as we assume! Sometimes, figuring out a way
around hard work can lead to some seriously innovative thinking.



Joining us this week is Marcus Du Sautoy, author of Thinking
Better: The Art of the Shortcut in Math and Life. Marcus is a
brilliant mathematician and the Simonyi Professor for the Public
Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford. His books
and regular media appearances have done wonders to spark public
interest in science and mathematics!



This week, Marcus and I are talking all about shortcuts–and how
they can make our teens lives’ easier. We’re also discussing why
laziness is underrated, and how collaboration might just save the
future of the human race.



The Power of Shortcuts


We tend to encourage teens to avoid cutting corners. We hope that
if they struggle and toil and do it the hard way, they’ll learn
to be disciplined, and they’ll realize that nothing in life comes
easy. And while Marcus agrees that hard work is often necessary
to achieve great things, sometimes shortcuts can help. If we come
up with clever ways around problems, we can save ourselves
time–or even make exciting new discoveries.



Marcus explains that finding a shortcut starts with identifying
promising patterns. He uses the inventors of Google as an
example. The patterns they saw in computer data allowed them to
create a shortcut for searching the entire web! Great musicians
are able to discover patterns within music–to the point where
they don’t even need to read the notes on the paper to create
good tunes. If teens can take a close look at the data of their
workout routine or college applications, they might be able to
find a shortcut that maximizes results.



Sometimes, however, it feels like a shortcut defeats the
point!  When you step out of the house to take a hike,
you’re in it for the journey, not the destination. Marcus
explains that this kind of hard work is defined as “praxis”, or
work done simply for the enjoyment of the process. We can still
often benefit from shortcuts in these pursuits though, Marcus
explains. When we’re ready to take that hike, it’s nice to still
be able to drive up to the trailhead! In the episode, Marcus and
I talk more about finding shortcuts, and where teens can apply
them to make their lives easier.



We might see shortcuts as a teen’s excuse to be lazy…but Marcus
believes laziness isn’t so bad either! 



Is Laziness Good For Teens?


As a species, humans have always condemned laziness, even
including it among the seven deadly sins! But Marcus thinks there
might be some benefits to being lazy every once in a while.
Taking some time to lie around can often allow us to ponder our
surroundings and come up with outside-the-box ideas. Laziness can
also push us to find new and interesting shortcuts. Babe Ruth
famously hated running around the bases…and learned to hit home
runs so that he wouldn’t have to.



Marcus and I discuss how being lazy for the long haul might
actually take some work up front. If teens want to figure out
ways to make their lives easier, they may have to spend some time
building something. For example, outlining an essay may seem like
an effortful extra step, but can make writing the paper much
faster–so teens can relax sooner! In the episode, Marcus explains
how the construction of a tunnel through the alps took nearly
seventeen years, but now only takes seventeen minutes to travel
through.



In our interview, Marcus and I discuss some fascinatingly
relevant research about chess players. When chess champions
underwent brain scans, the results were surprising. The
researchers expected that scans of their brains would light up,
showing these players using their brain to the max. Instead,
these players used less of their brain to play chess, instead
relying on intuitive ways of thinking to figure out each move.
Sometimes, less is more…and we don’t always have to be fighting
laziness, says Marcus.



To find shortcuts that make life easier, we’ve often got to apply
a different perspective. Marcus and I discuss how these new
perspectives can come from working with people who are totally
different from us!



Collaboration is Critical



Have you ever found yourself at a loss for solving a problem,
until a friend provides you with a wise new solution that you
never would have thought of yourself? In our interview, Marcus
explains his vision for a world that thrives off this kind of
collaboration. In this world, people from different backgrounds
with different experiences and perspectives come together to find
solutions for humanity’s most complicated problems. Taking the
language of another discipline like music or English and applying
it to math is one of the ways Marcus has come across remarkable
mathematical discoveries!



Some problems, like climate change, suffer from having only one
set of people behind the solution, says Marcus. Climate
scientists need the help of psychologists, politicians, and
marketers to help people change their behavior and move towards
sustainable practices. Biologists, chemists, and health care
experts need to weigh in and assess the true results of this
gigantic threat. With the help of engineers and financiers, we
can create and assemble technology that can slow the tide of
global warming. Without all these perspectives, we would be
hopeless against the challenge!



To Marcus, this lack of cross-collaboration is one of the biggest
issues with our schools today. We compartmentalize science,
English, math and history in schools, leading teens to believe
these things are totally separate. The reality is that the
intersections between these subjects is where some of the most
interesting learning happens! If we want kids to be excited about
academics–especially science and math–showing them interesting
and different applications of each subject is a good place to
start.



In the Episode…


Marcus’s brilliant mathematical mind makes for a richly
informative and entertaining episode this week! On top of the
topics discussed above we also cover:


How math and music are connected

Why perfectionism is a “killer of success”

How teens can find a college major they love

Why practice is essential in math and life



I was struck with a new-found love and respect for shortcuts
after speaking wit...