WEBVTT - Ask for stories, not advice

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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<v Speaker 1>This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>tip is to ask experts for stories, not advice. People

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<v Speaker 1>often can't articulate exactly how they do what they do,

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<v Speaker 1>but they can tell you what they did, and often

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<v Speaker 1>that is more helpful. Today's tip, like a few others

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<v Speaker 1>this week, comes from Scott H. Young's new book, Get

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<v Speaker 1>Better at Anything. This book shares strategies for how people

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<v Speaker 1>actually learn and improve. Young notes that one of the

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<v Speaker 1>best ways to figure out what experts know is to

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<v Speaker 1>talk with them. But not every expert is a natural

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<v Speaker 1>or even a particularly skilled teacher, have a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>difficulty reporting on their own cognitive processes. They skip steps

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<v Speaker 1>in the retelling because it seems obvious to them. But

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<v Speaker 1>the nature of being an expert is that what seems

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<v Speaker 1>obvious to you may not be obvious to everyone else.

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<v Speaker 1>One way around this is not to ask for advice.

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<v Speaker 1>Ask for advice and you might get a sermon. Young

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<v Speaker 1>rites when what you want to hear is the knowledge

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<v Speaker 1>they think is too obvious to be worth mentioning. So

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<v Speaker 1>instead ask for stories. Ask an expert to recount a

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<v Speaker 1>particularly challenging incident. Telling stories focuses on the concrete details

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<v Speaker 1>of when decisions occurred, how they were made, and what

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<v Speaker 1>the consequences were in ways that asking for generic advice

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<v Speaker 1>or routines often omits. Young says. Young said just that

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<v Speaker 1>a good protocol is to act like a journalist preparing

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<v Speaker 1>for a story, focus on gathering facts, establishing a timeline,

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<v Speaker 1>and walking through the decisions step by step. This provides

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<v Speaker 1>the raw material for asking follow up questions to investigate

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<v Speaker 1>why the expert made certain choices. A focus on the

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<v Speaker 1>facts tends to highlight details of a story that may

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<v Speaker 1>be obscured when simply asking for the broader lessons from

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<v Speaker 1>the experience. The good news is that people in general

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<v Speaker 1>like to tell stories, especially when prompted. If you get

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<v Speaker 1>a chance to talk with an expert and you happen

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<v Speaker 1>to know that person was involved in something particularly significant,

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<v Speaker 1>ask for that story. They probably like to tell it.

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<v Speaker 1>Tell me how you planned that recovery mission, or landed

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<v Speaker 1>that plane, or did that tricky surgery, or made that

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<v Speaker 1>scientific discuss what was happening that day, who was with you,

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<v Speaker 1>what did you guys do first? And so on. The

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<v Speaker 1>person may not be able to explain in the abstract

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<v Speaker 1>what to do in a tough situation, but they know

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<v Speaker 1>what they did in a tough situation, and often that

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<v Speaker 1>can be helpful in its own right. In the meantime,

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<v Speaker 1>this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

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<v Speaker 1>the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.

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<v Speaker 1>If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach

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<v Speaker 1>me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,

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<v Speaker 1>please visit iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

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