Irvine Valley College Freakonomics Tailwinds and Headwinds Episode Discussion

Listen to the following Freakonomics episode: 

http://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-is-my-life-so-hard/ (????????)

After listening to the episode discuss and answer the following questions:

What are your initial thoughts about what was discussed in the Freakonomics episode in relation to headwinds and tailwinds?

What are your “invisibles” (tailwinds you take for granted)?

What headwinds do you often find yourself complaining about or overestimating? 

What can you do in the future to not undervalue or take for granted your tailwinds and overestimate your headwinds?

Comment on the two students’ discussion:

1. What are your initial thoughts about what was discussed in the Freakonomics episode in relation to headwinds and tailwinds?
   Headwinds and tailwinds are a valuable way to externalize the idea of circumstance and fortune, negative and positive, in order to better analyze and reflect on life events. This relates to Gilovich’s research of hedonic studies of happiness, well-being, and gratitude. Related psychological research of Gilovich describes the spotlight effect, the idea that whenever we do something people are attending to what we do; the hothand fallacy, which observation that the feeling of being ‘hot’ does not improve performance; and the bias blindspot, which describes how it is easier to see bias in others. The headwinds/tailwinds asymmetry paper by Gilovich discusses the importance of gratitude. It describes “invisibles,” the things assumed to be normal, that we sometimes forget to be grateful for. The “Hedonic treadmill” describes the adaptation to a new pleasure normal, which requires a new goalpost for additional pleasure. Availability bias is a psychological term that describes overemphasizing things in our immediate attention – such as tailwinds – which make it is easier to summon emotions that are the contrary to gratitude.
2. What are your “invisibles” (tailwinds you take for granted)?
   There are many “invisibles” to daily life that are often forgotten, that life would not be the same without. Running water, clear and drinkable, is a luxury. If you wake at night, and drink from the tap, you are unlikely to fall ill. This something that would be difficult to imagine in some parts of the world for various reasons of economics and infrastructure and location; it is an essential for life, satisfied at the flick of a wrist, and something that the availability bias that attends to the headwinds, which are often matters at less fundamental levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, would forget to be grateful for. Another invisible is the access to chocolate and bananas and chocolate bananas. Imagine trying to get a banana during most of history, in any place where bananas didn’t grow. Or divining the secrets of processing beans into chocolate, even if you lived in a place with cacao beans. All the opportunity and availability that have gathered over the collective effort of centuries of applied knowledge are invisibles.
3. What headwinds do you often find yourself complaining about or overestimating?
   I try not to complain. I have yet to see a situation improved by it, and have seen many worsened because of it. I mean of course “complaining” that lacks of proactive component, protesting as a collective effort to improve some social wrong, or flagging down a waiter who has abandoned your group in patio seating for more than half an hour is not the “complaining” I refer to. Many headwinds affect me subconsciously, even if I avoid dwelling on them. Most of the headwinds are incredibly mundane and I’m embarrassed to mention them: I’d like to be smarter and taller and better endowed in all the ways a person can be endowed. I read too slowly, get tired to quickly, and wish I didn’t have to worry about a number of medical issues and family responsibilities that others may not need to attend to (though I know many people have their own to worry about). I overestimate (hopefully) the importance of making the right decisions early in life, or being born in a lucky environment where talents are rigorously trained, and sometimes feel that my efforts will all be wasted because I possessed neither the focus or robustness to contribute anything of meaning or value to the world. For a person who claims he tries not to complain, I’ve managed to ramble for quite a while – little to no self-awareness will need to be added to the headwind list.
4. What can you do in the future to not undervalue or take for granted your tailwinds and overestimate your headwinds?
   In the future, one could try to keep in mind the availability bias and focus more on tailwinds than headwinds. Gilovich’s research suggests the shift in awareness itself can have positive effects, in a way similar to Dweck’s research surrounding growth mindset vs. fixed mindset. Understanding and perspective may radically alter performance and consistency.

1. Headwinds and tailwinds as a concept initially makes a lot of sense to me. Everyone has at some point or another felt like life has been tougher on them than others, and the specific examples relating to siblings as well as political parties also really adds up. Headwinds make us feel like we struggle more than others and tailwinds make us undervalue our support which makes us ungrateful.

2. My invisible tailwinds are my family support in the support of decent rent and a generally very pleasant environment, and the people I have met through social events that have continued to connect me to opportunities that have furthered my career. It is exactly like was said in the podcast – I was grateful for about a minute then forgot, then remembered, and forgot again. I should find a way to return the favor and not just say thank you to the important people in my life.

3. I often find myself complaining a lot about small headwinds that add up in my mind some days. Some examples of this are the bad drivers in my area and how they only seem to get worse, or the strange visitors that loiter in and around some apartment complexes here. It feels like things have fallen from grace in my town and that makes me angry with the cost of the rent here. I try my best to ignore a lot of it but it’s a pretty strained process when pretending to

4. What can you do in the future to not undervalue or take for granted your tailwinds and overestimate your headwinds? What I can do in the future to not take my tailwinds for granted is to keep a journal of things I am grateful for and also by using guided imagery to relieve some stresses that might impede my thought process. When keeping a journal of things I’ve been grateful for in the past, it helped me view my struggles in a much more positive light. I need to take a little more time every day to think about how others are struggling the same way as me, and that no matter what happens, we all have different struggles. Nobody is immune no matter who they are.