Transcriber: Karla Cisneros Reviewer: Emma Gon
If you had to choose between living in in a beautiful 3000 square foot house
or living in a 300 square foot bus, what would you choose?
In fact, think about it in your brain make a decision right now.
You can choose to live in a 3000 square foot house or a 300 square foot bus.
And now that you've made your choice,
is there any chance that I could change your mind?
So you hear a question like, do you want to live in a house or a bus?
Our initial response is probably to say this is a no brainer.
I don't even need to think about it.
But even though you might say it’s a no brainer,
a lot just happen inside your head.
It's possible that a picture of a home you once lived in came to your mind.
Maybe you thought about somebody you know in a decision that they made
or a story you’ve been told in the split second
your brain processed all of this information
and then attempted to predict the future.
Specifically, you made an assumption
about what your life might be like if you chose
to live in a house or a bus.
But what if the information that you processed
and the assumptions that you made were wrong?
For the past 18 years, I've made a living as an illusionist, a magician.
I love to study how the brain works,
how we process information and assumptions that we make about the world around us.
Then, through the art of illusion,
I do my best to help people see that things are not always as they appear.
Maybe even change the way you think about what's real and what's possible.
Along the way, I’m also reminded
that sometimes I need to look at things differently.
When I was first asked the house or bus question, I was convinced,
like most of you, that the house was definitely the best choice.
However, my wife and I, along with our four kids and Chocolate Lab,
have at least for this season of life, chosen to live in a bus.
Now this decision required me to change my focus.
As an illusionist there’s a concept referred to as misdirection.
This is similar to a cognitive psychology called selective attention
and what that means is that at any given moment,
we are surrounded by numerous things that we can see, hear,
smell and even physically feel.
But there’s so much information around us it would overload your brain
to actually try to process every single detail.
So instead, your brain is constantly trying to filter out
the things that it perceives to be unimportant,
so you can focus on the things that matter most.
Unfortunately,
we sometimes give our attention to what we think is most important
only to discover that our focus was in the wrong place.
In fact, we don't just focus on the wrong things.
Our brains actually create illusions of what we're experiencing.
In 2019, neuroscientists from MIT found
that our beliefs and experiences effect our brain behavior
by warping the representation of sensory events in the brain.
What that means is that when you are unsure
of what’s happening or what’s about to happen,
your brain just makes an assumption
and inserts what it thinks you're experiencing or are going to experience.
For example, if you were about to play an instrument,
take a test, play a sport, maybe give a presentation,
you begin to anticipate how you might do.
These assumptions, which are often subconscious,
might give you a feeling of confidence.
They may also leave you feeling anxiety and self-doubt.
In fact, it’s completely possible that we can possess the knowledge,
expertise and experience that we need to succeed
and our brains still tell us we are going to fail.
These illusions of failure can keep us from trying new things,
having important conversations
and even make us unable to do things that normally come easy for us.
These are illusions we can learn to stop.
Let’s try an experiment.
I want you to grab a coin out of your pocket or your bag.
it doesn’t have to be a coin but make it an object small enough
that you could put it in the palm of your hand, close it and nobody can see it.
In a moment, I want you to choose to hide that object in one of your hands.
Fair warning. I am going to do my best to influence this decision.
Here’s how this will happen in a moment
You’ll stand to your feet, place your hands behind your back.
Once you’re here, place the coin in a hand that feels right
and bring your hands out in front of you
At this point, one of your hands will have the coin inside
the hand that's left will be empty. Simple enough? Go ahead.
Stand to your feet. Place your hands behind your back.
Now, place your coin or object In the hand that feels right
leaving your hand that's left empty and bring your hands back out in front.
Now, a moment ago, I told you I was going to attempt to influence this decision.
Once I said that, you all began to pay much more close attention
to everything I said and did.
You likely realize that I was over emphasizing the word right?
When I said left, it was in the context of saying
the hand that’s left will be empty.
I’m sure you probably noticed these subtleties, some of you,
which led you to believe I was likely trying to influence you
to put the coin in your right hand,
which means some of you instead put it in your left hand.
If your coin or object is in your left hand, raise their hand up in the air.
Awesome. You may all now have a seat. You're part of the experiment is over.
Everybody who’s left standing does have the coin in their right hand
or they’re lying.
Either way, we’ll do it again. Place your hands behind your back
choose between right and left hand, bring it back out front.
At this point, it’s pretty obvious there are only two choices right or left.
Typically when the odds are 50-50
your brain would tell you that whatever you did last time
should lead you to do the opposite this time.
Meaning if last time the right hand was a safe choice,
this time it should be left hand.
However, because of the nature of this game,
you also think that I might think you’re thinking what you’re thinking,
which could lead you to overthink this choice of basically no consequence
so much you end up standing there, frozen in indecision,
do nothing and just keep the coin in your right hand.
If the coin’s still in right hand raise the hand in the air.
Yeah, you are all now out. Have a seat.
After two questions, we are down to three people.
Wow. Four.
Those of you still standing are the champions.
Let’s give them a round of applause, please.
Now, except for this gentleman right here, what’s your name?
Jimi, would you mind leave what you have there,
come and join me on the stage please, Jimi,
are you willing to do that?
You had a wrapper or something like that?
A wrapper in your hand? We’re gonna get fancier than that If that’s OK.
So stand over here, could you please give Jimmy a round of applause?
So, Jimi, just a moment ago,
you were still standing after both rounds
when I said, if it’s in your left, you had it in your right.
When I said, if it’s still in your right, you moved it to your left.
That’s good because it tells me a couple of things.
Number one, Jimi, you tend to think differently than a lot of other people.
That also makes the next part of this experiment more challenging,
because Jimi, we’re going to play the game again.
instead of a wrapper you get an official quarter
but everything else will be the same.
You’ll put your hands behind your back.
Choose one of your hands and bring it back out in front.
Jimi, go ahead and take the quarter
You can take half a step that way and choose your right or left hand
when you’re ready bring your hands back out in front of you
Jimi, turn and face me because here’s how this is going to work
You’re up two to zero, but now that we’re close,
I tend to be pretty good at guessing.
In fact, if I mess up even one time, Jimi, I will give you $20.
My assumption right now is that I can guess which hand you hit
the coin in four times in a row.
If I guess wrong, just once you get the $20. Fair enough. Right, Jimi.
Jimi, I have a couple of questions for you
Number one, are you right handed or are you left handed?
You're right handed.
That's good because Jimi, you are not expecting to come up on the stage today.
Now, typically, if somebody is put in a situation
and they’re not really expecting it, they don’t know what to do,
we gravitate toward what we’re most confident in.
Meaning most people, Jimi,
if they were right handed, would come up and put the coin in the right hand.
But you already showed you don’t do what everyone else has done,
you may not put it in the hand you’re most confident
you might start with your left hand,
put this hand down by your side, turn that one over.
My guess is it’s right here.
Open it up. There it is, inside your left hand.
Now that's one guess it could just be lucky, but Jimi, I'm going for four.
Take that again. Place it behind your back.
Jimi quickly choose between your right and left hand.
Bring your hands back out in front.
Now at this point, Jimi
your mind is starting to look back to the pattern
that was established when you were in the audience.
When you were in the audience,
the correct thing to do the second time was to switch the coin to the other hand.
So now you're starting to wonder,
should I still switch it or should I keep it in my left hand?
I think that what you’d do is
instead of switching because that’s what worked last time,
again, your brain’d say odds are 50-50 I should do the opposite.
Put the hand down. I think it’s still in this one.
Turn it over. Open it up. There it is.
Two out of two.
Jimi, this is where it gets interesting,
we're about to venture into unchartered territory,
so one more time go ahead and take that, place it behind your back.
And when you’re ready, bring your hands out in front.
Now, Jimi, a pattern has started to be established so far.
You have not chosen your right hand at all.
Maybe now you’re gonna choose the right hand or are you gonna move it to the left?
But quite honestly, Jimi, at this point,
I’m not exactly sure what you might do. You could have it in your right,
you can have it in your left.
But Jimi, I want you to turn and face the audience
because I’m not really looking for those patterns, I’m looking at something else.
Normally, if somebody was on the stage
and we had something we wanted as many people as possible to see
we would hold it is high in the air as we could.
if we had something to hide, we would subconsciously lower it.
Jimi, when you turned around,
you were holding your left fist slightly lower than your right,
which tells me you might be hiding something there. Most likely the coin
Place this hand down, turn that one over.
Yes, there it is. One more time.
Three out of three.
But Jimmy, you only need to fool me this last time.
And I’ll tell you, this is not an exact science, I really can mess this up.
So just one time you have to fool me, Jimi, and the $20 is yours.
I’m not telling what I’m looking for this time.
just bring your hands out when ready.
So, Jimi, up until now, you have yet to place the coin in your right hands.
Are you going to continue with that pattern
or have you finally moved it to your left hand?
Jimmy, I’m going to give you the chance to mess with my brain.
I’m going to ask you a question.
You get the chance to tell the truth or lie.
I’m going to say, is the coin in your right hand?
You can say yes or no, no matter if it’s there or not.
I’ll then say, is it in your left hand? one more time, yes or no?
You get to tell the truth or lie. It's totally up to you.
Jimmy, is the coin in your right hand?
Jimmy, is the coin in your left hand? No.
(Laughs)
The first time there was a little twinkle in the eye that told me you were lying.
Put that one down. Turn this one over. It’s there.
There it is, right there. Inside your hands.
You didn’t fool me, but you were still a fantastic sport.
The $20 is still yours to keep. Thanks for being a great volunteer.
A big round of applause for Jimmy.
(Applause)
In that experiment, you were asked to make a decision,
but ultimately there was no way to know what the right choice was.
It was a game of chance.
There are, however, times in life where our success is not based on a lucky guess.
When my wife, my kids and I made the decision to live in a bus,
of everyone in my family,
I was the most hesitant
because I expected that living in a bus
would be challenging, frustrating, difficult and dirty.
I was right.
But my family helped me realize
it was an illusion to think that those were the only possible outcomes.
I could choose to focus on the illusions of all that might go wrong
or stop focusing on the illusions
and instead see the possibility of an amazing adventure.
The chance to have meaningful time with my family.
To slow down and take in these moments that I know will become lifelong memories.
You see your best decision probably isn’t at all about a real bus.
But I wonder, is there an illusion in your life?
An assumption that you have made
that has kept you from doing something you know you should do.
You might be hesitant to pursue fixing a broken relationship
that you assume can never be restored.
It could be a degree that you think you’ll never finish.
Maybe it’s as simple as speaking out or standing up
for something you believe in.
Or maybe there’s that dream you’ve always wanted to chase,
but you can still hear whispering your name.
You might be missing out on your own incredible adventure
because you’re so focused on the illusions of what might go wrong.
Stop the illusions.
Instead, choose to see the good that could come from making a difficult
or unusual decision.
Don’t look back on your life one day and wonder where did the time go?
What just happened?
Instead, choose to be intentional about what happens next.
Thank you.
(Applause)