Assertion Supported
Pasricha: 10 Weeks of Weekly Gratitude Practice Improves Happiness and Physical Health
“Emmons and McCullough, 10 weeks of five gratitudes a week makes you not only happier, but physically healthier after 10 weeks, so we know it's a powerful punch to your brain to do that”
Insight
Pasricha: Distinguish objective facts from subjective emotional narratives
“Like, these stories become fact, and part of the language that you have to learn is learning to see the story. I failed biology is a lot different than I failed my parents. First one's a fact. Second one's a story. I'm an alcoholic is a lot different than no o…”
Insight
Pasricha: Being in a small pond boosts self-concept for a decade
“If you put yourself in a small pond,
Then your academic self-concept or how you think of yourself goes up for up to 10 years after you leave the pond.
So you think you're great for way longer than you're in that position.
And it stays with you.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pasricha: Disconnected 'untouchable days' boosted writing output 10x to 5,000 words
“Instead of writing 500 words through bits and spurts on a normal day, I wrote 5000 words. Like 10 days worth of writing in one day. A 10 X increase in my production.”
Insight
Pasricha: Checking email twice daily maintains perceived responsiveness while preserving focus
“If you just check email from nine a.m. To 10 a.m. And four to five p.m., well, I've done this study, that gives everyone the perception that you're always on, yet you've created a 10 a.m. To four p.m. Oasis of blankness, even though you're, like, still answeri…”
Insight
Pasricha: Gratitude journaling is ineffective unless entries are specific
“This is the practice of gratitude. We know from the research it's super powerful. Just write a few simple, specific things. We didn't talk about that, but they have to be specific. You can't just write family and friends. That doesn't do anything.”
Assertion Supported
Pasricha: Wired Founder Kevin Kelly Uses Desktop Lifespan Countdown Clock
“Kevin Kelly, founder of Wired Magazine keeps a clock on his desktop that has expected lifespan, subtracts his current age, measured in days. So, if the average lifespan, which it is, in North America is 30,000 days, and he happens to have lived 21,500 of them,…”
Assertion Partly supported
Pasricha: US suicide rate is 14 per 100k, double the murder rate
“The CDC is now saying that suicide rates are around 14 per a 100,000. Just to compare, murder rates are around six per a 100,000, so we are two to three times more dangerous to ourselves than anybody else is to us.”
Disclosure
Pasricha: Writing one chapter per month produced 10 books in 10 years
“The reason I've written 10 books and journals in the last 10 years is because every month I'm trying to write one chapter, so on a monthly basis it doesn't seem like much, but it adds up over time to, like, whole, full books, right?”
Disclosure
Pasricha: Threshold rules eliminated his urge to time ETF investments
“When I changed it to a rule-based approach, i.e., if X, if the number of dollars in checking account was over X, Move to Y, the savings account. The number of dollars in savings account is over Z. Move it to the investment. Those simple two rules avoided me fr…”
Assertion Supported
Pasricha: Inhaling tree phytoncides reduces cortisol and anxiety
“There, it turns out that there's a chemical that trees release, Shane, called phytoncides. Have you heard of this? P-H-Y-T-O-N-C-I-D-E-S. Phytoncides. When you're out in nature, Not when you're on a treadmill looking at a picture of the Muir Trail. I'm talking…”
Assertion Contradicted
Pasricha: 57% of Americans read zero books last year
“57% of Americans read zero books last year.”
Assertion Contradicted
Pasricha: 95% of people charge phones within arm's reach while sleeping
“95% of people right now are plugging in with an arm's reach of themselves.”
Assertion Supported
Pasricha: Living humans represent a 1-in-15 fraction of all who ever lived
“There are a hundred and fifteen billion people, Shane, who have ever lived in the world. If you're watching or listening to this right now, you're one of the eight billion people who are alive today, which means by de facto, a hundred and seven billion of the …”
Insight
Pasricha: Adding 'yet' to personal limitations reframes them into learnable skills
“The idea that you can add a yet to any sentence you can't do in your life, and you can learn to do it later.”
Assertion Contradicted
Pasricha: McKinsey finds 31% of the day is spent task-switching
“McKinsey says, 31% of our days are now spent bookmarking, prioritizing, and switching between tasks.”
Disclosure
Pasricha: Date one year before moving in, another before marriage
“I need to be dating someone for one year, a full year, before minimum, Before we live together. I need to be living together with someone for one year minimum before we get married.”
Assertion Supported
Pasricha: Anorexia study shows patients rotate sideways through doorways
“They studied anorexics, ok, and they asked people who had anorexia and people who did not A very simple, non-challenging question to answer, but something that mentally distracted them while they walked through a doorway. So they were not paying attention to t…”
Disclosure
Pasricha starts every morning with three specific journaling prompts
“Every single day I wake up in the morning and I write down three things. I write down I will let go of, I am grateful for, and I will focus on.”
Assertion Supported
Pasricha: 18% of people and one-third of college students report anxiety
“I believe it's 18% of people will say that they have a form of anxiety. I mentioned in college students it's even higher, one in three.”
Disclosure
Pasricha caps travel at 40 nights yearly with mandatory monthly family days
“We say, okay, Neil, you can go away four nights per month, four nights away from the house, four nights maximum for 10 months of the year. July, August for me is blacked out. That's 40 nights away from my house, about 10% of the year maximum. Then we have to h…”
Assertion Supported
Pasricha: Nolan Ryan and Cy Young hold records for wins and losses
“The guy that had the most strikeouts, Nolan Ryan, was also the guy that had the most walks. You know, like, ok. The guy that had the most wins, Cy Young was also the guy that had the most losses.”
Disclosure
Pasricha instructs his team to withhold his podcast analytics passwords
“Don't give me the password to Libsyn, right? That's where the stats are held. Don't give me the, if I ask you for it, don't tell me. I don't want to know the password, right?”
Assertion Contradicted
Pasricha: North American Life Expectancy Is 30,000 Days Versus 25,000 Globally
“Right now, life expectancy is 30,000 days. That's North American life expectancy. It's 25,000 days globally, by the way, which is 68, 30,000 days from North America, which is 83.”
Neil Pasricha