The Harsh Reality of Problem Solving: What to Do When Nothing Works

Summary

The video script discusses the concept of 'positive deviance,' a strategy for personal improvement that focuses on replicating successful behaviors rather than fixing failures. It suggests that by identifying and understanding the factors that led to past successes, individuals can create sustainable change in their lives. The script uses the example of two physicians in Vietnam who discovered that malnourished children could be helped by adopting the behaviors of healthier children in the same environment. The speaker encourages viewers to analyze their own positive experiences and apply the same principles to improve various aspects of their lives, such as studying, exercising, or forming healthy habits.

Takeaways

• 🤔 The script discusses the common issue of feeling overwhelmed by the multitude of solutions available and the struggle of finding what works for an individual.
• 🧬 It highlights the challenge of applying scientific research to personal situations, given that studies are based on populations and not tailored to individual genetics or experiences.
• 🔍 The concept of 'positive deviance' is introduced, which is the idea of identifying and replicating successful behaviors within a group rather than focusing on problems.
• 🇻🇳 A story from Vietnam illustrates positive deviance, where doctors discovered that some families were avoiding malnutrition by incorporating small nutritious elements into their diet, which others ignored.
• 📚 The script suggests that instead of trying to fix problems, individuals should study their own successful behaviors and attempt to replicate the conditions that led to those successes.
• 🤷‍♂️ It emphasizes the importance of not just looking at what one does wrong but understanding the factors that contribute to doing things right.
• 🏋️‍♂️ An example is given about studying for a test, where focusing on the right mindset and conditions that led to correct answers is more beneficial than just reviewing missed questions.
• 🛑 The script encourages a shift in focus from problem-solving to success-duplicating, by identifying and understanding the factors that lead to personal successes.
• 📝 It suggests a methodical approach to positive deviance, which includes conducting a qualitative analysis of successful instances, generating hypotheses, and testing them.
• 🔄 The process of positive deviance is described as iterative, where one should continually analyze successes, generate new hypotheses, and adjust behaviors accordingly.
• 🌟 The overall message is that individuals have the power to improve their lives by focusing on and replicating their own successes rather than seeking external solutions.

Q & A

What is the main issue discussed in the video script about solutions not working?

The main issue discussed is the challenge people face when they have tried numerous solutions and none seem to work for their unique case, especially when dealing with a vast amount of information and potential solutions available in various fields like medicine and self-improvement.

How does the speaker describe the problem of information overload in the context of scientific research?

The speaker illustrates the problem by pointing out that with 1.8 million research articles published every year, it becomes increasingly difficult for individuals to determine which ones are relevant and effective for their personal needs.

What is the concept of 'positive deviance' as introduced in the script?

Positive deviance is a concept where instead of focusing on the problem, one should identify and replicate the behaviors or conditions that led to success in similar situations, even if those successes are rare.

Why did the physicians in Vietnam focus on malnourished children?

The physicians were contracted to address the issue of malnourishment in rural Vietnam, where over 50% of children were affected, to improve public health by finding a solution to this critical issue.

How did the physicians in Vietnam approach the problem of malnourishment without food aid?

The physicians shifted their focus from the problem to the successful cases, observing and identifying the behaviors of parents whose children were not malnourished, and then encouraging the adoption of these behaviors to combat malnourishment.

What is the significance of the physicians' discovery about the malnourished children in Vietnam?

Their discovery highlighted the principle of positive deviance, showing that by observing and replicating the behaviors of those who are successful in a particular area, one can solve problems without external aid or resources.

How does the speaker relate the concept of positive deviance to personal improvement?

The speaker suggests applying positive deviance to personal improvement by focusing on the factors that led to success in one's life, rather than trying to fix the problems or failures.

What is the speaker's advice for someone who is struggling with a problem and has tried many solutions without success?

The speaker advises to identify the instances when the problem was not present or was successfully managed, analyze the factors contributing to that success, and then replicate those conditions.

How can the principle of positive deviance be applied to studying habits?

By identifying the days when studying was successful, understanding the conditions that led to that success, and then trying to replicate those conditions, such as sleep patterns, diet, and stress levels, to improve study habits.

What does the speaker suggest as an alternative to seeking external solutions for personal problems?

The speaker suggests looking inward and focusing on the individual's own successes, analyzing the factors that contributed to those successes, and then working to replicate those conditions as a way to address personal problems.

How does the concept of positive deviance differ from traditional problem-solving approaches?

Unlike traditional problem-solving approaches that focus on addressing the problem directly, positive deviance emphasizes identifying and replicating the successful behaviors or conditions that have already led to a solution in similar situations.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 Overcoming Solution Fatigue

The speaker addresses the frustration of trying numerous solutions without success, a common issue in various fields including medicine. With 1.8 million research articles published annually, it's challenging to discern which treatments or approaches will work for an individual. The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding that scientific studies often show average results, which may not apply to everyone. They introduce the concept of seeking help from clinicians who can tailor solutions to an individual's unique circumstances and hint at a technique that has helped them overcome this challenge.

05:00

🌟 Discovering Positive Deviance

This paragraph delves into the story of two physicians in Vietnam who were tasked with addressing malnourishment among children. Despite the lack of promised resources, they discovered a group of well-nourished children among the poor and identified specific behaviors that set these children apart. The concept of 'positive deviance' is introduced, which is the idea of looking at successful outliers within a group to understand and replicate their behaviors. The speaker then relates this concept to personal development, suggesting that instead of focusing on what doesn't work, one should identify and replicate the factors that led to past successes.

10:02

🚀 Applying Positive Deviance to Personal Growth

The speaker explains the practical application of positive deviance in personal life. They suggest focusing on the instances where one has succeeded rather than on the failures. By identifying and understanding the factors that contributed to those successes, one can develop a hypothesis and work on replicating those conditions. The speaker provides an example of studying habits and how focusing on the days when one was successful can lead to discovering the right mindset or environment for effective studying. The emphasis is on an iterative process of analysis, hypothesis, and replication to improve one's life.

15:03

📝 Embracing Success and Iterative Improvement

In the final paragraph, the speaker encourages continuous attention to one's successes and the factors that led to them. They advocate for an active approach to understanding and replicating the conditions that foster success, rather than focusing on failures. The speaker highlights the iterative nature of this process, where one can continually refine their understanding and application of positive deviance. The goal is to make the seemingly unsolvable problems easier to tackle by building on past successes and learning from them.

Keywords

💡Solutions

In the context of the video, 'solutions' refers to the various methods or strategies people employ to address problems or improve their lives. The script discusses the frustration of individuals who have tried multiple solutions, such as therapy, supplements, and coaching, without achieving the desired results. It highlights the challenge of finding effective solutions amidst a sea of options.

💡Positive Deviance

Positive Deviance is a concept introduced in the video that suggests looking at successful behaviors within a group to solve problems. It originated from the story of two physicians in Vietnam who discovered that some malnourished children were getting better because their families were doing certain things differently. In the video, it is used as a technique to improve one's life by replicating behaviors that have led to success in the past, rather than focusing on failures.

💡Malnourishment

Malnourishment is a state of poor nutrition, which is the central issue in the story of the two physicians in Vietnam. The term is used in the script to illustrate the problem the physicians were trying to solve and how they discovered that certain behaviors, not additional resources, were the key to addressing malnourishment in the community.

💡Research Articles

The term 'research articles' is used in the video to highlight the overwhelming amount of scientific information available, with 1.8 million published each year. The script points out the difficulty in discerning which research is applicable to one's personal situation, emphasizing the challenge of applying scientific findings to individual needs.

💡Science

In the video, 'science' is discussed in terms of its limitations when applied to individual cases. The script explains that scientific studies are based on populations and averages, which may not always translate to individual experiences. This concept is used to underscore the importance of personalizing solutions based on one's own successful experiences rather than relying solely on general scientific findings.

💡Clinicians

Clinicians are healthcare professionals mentioned in the script as individuals who can tailor scientific findings to a person's specific needs. They are important in the context of the video because they can help apply general scientific knowledge to individual cases, taking into account a person's unique genetics, upbringing, and physiology.

💡Behavioral Changes

Behavioral changes are actions or modifications in a person's habits or routines that can lead to improvements in their life. The video uses the example of the Vietnamese families who made certain behavioral changes, such as collecting shrimps from the rice paddies and eating nutritious weeds, which led to the resolution of malnourishment without additional food aid.

💡Success

Success, in the context of the video, refers to the moments or instances where an individual has overcome a challenge or achieved a goal. The script encourages viewers to analyze these moments to understand what factors contributed to their success, with the aim of replicating those conditions to achieve more consistent results.

💡Iteration

Iteration is the process of repeating a process with the aim of improving upon it. In the video, the concept of iteration is applied to the process of identifying and replicating successful behaviors. It suggests that by continuously analyzing successes and refining one's approach, an individual can incrementally improve their outcomes.

💡Hypothesis

A hypothesis is a proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation. In the video, the speaker advises viewers to develop hypotheses about the factors that contributed to their past successes and then test these hypotheses by attempting to replicate those conditions.

💡Focus

Focus is the act of concentrating one's attention on a particular object or activity. The video emphasizes the importance of shifting one's focus from problems and failures to successes and the behaviors that led to them. By doing so, individuals can better understand and replicate the conditions that促成rate positive outcomes.

Highlights

The challenge of finding effective solutions when traditional methods fail is a common problem, especially with the overwhelming amount of information and research available.

Science is based on populations, which means that what works for the average may not work for the individual.

The concept of 'positive deviance' is introduced as a technique to identify and replicate successful behaviors within a community.

A case study from Vietnam demonstrates how positive deviance was used to solve malnourishment without additional food aid.

The importance of focusing on individual successes rather than failures to understand what leads to effective outcomes.

The speaker's personal experience applying positive deviance to improve test scores by focusing on what led to correct answers.

The idea that solutions to problems may already exist within one's own successful experiences and behaviors.

Practical steps to apply positive deviance by analyzing the factors that led to past successes.

The significance of not just identifying positive behaviors but also understanding the context and conditions that support them.

The iterative process of applying positive deviance involves generating hypotheses, testing them, and refining based on outcomes.

The potential for positive deviance to make seemingly unsolvable problems easier to address by building on past successes.

The role of clinicians in tailoring scientific solutions to individual needs, highlighting the importance of personalized approaches.

The speaker's initiative, HG, which aims to help people create sustainable change by integrating understanding of motivation and behavior.

The emphasis on paying attention to and noting the details of one's successes as a way to replicate them in the future.

The transformative power of positive deviance in shifting targets from fixing problems to duplicating successes.

The speaker's encouragement for viewers to implement positive deviance by being mindful of successes and the circumstances that led to them.

Transcripts

today I want to talk to you all about

what to do if Solutions don't seem to

work

and I've worked with a lot of

a lot of being inside I've tried

everything and nothing seems to work

I've tried supplements I've tried

therapy I've tried to exercise I've

tried dating coaches everything that I

do doesn't seem to work and I'm truly a

unique case and there are a lot of

people out there who are always looking

to try something new because there's a

lot of good stuff out there to try right

if we kind of look at scientific

research people are researching new

compounds and they're like podcasts and

life hacking and biohacking and even

people like myself who are like oh hey

you should try this new thing and so we

have so many solutions out there and

it's getting to the point where even if

you tried a bunch of them there's a real

problem of okay like what do I try next

and if you look at it statistically

there are 1.8 million research articles

published every year and that number is

growing how are you supposed to know

which ones work for you and so this is a

very serious problem that a lot of

people have and is becoming increasingly

important even in the field of medicine

so as we have more and more treatments

and more and more research articles how

do you know what's going to work for you

and this is the challenge with science

in general which is that if you look at

science science is based on populations

right so if you look at a study on let's

say

omega-3 or fat you know fish oil on

let's say depression what they'll do is

they'll take a thousand people half of

them

omega-3 and half of them nothing a

control right and then what they'll

discover is that okay like there was a

15 Improvement but of the 500 people who

took the supplement it's not that every

single person improved by 15 it's that a

third of them improved by 70 percent a

third of them improved by 30 percent and

then a third of them improved by zero

percent didn't improve at all and this

is what science does so science is about

the law of averages and so then

individuals are left with a serious

problem is how do I know which science

is going to work for me and this is

precisely why we have clinicians because

sometimes you need another human being

to tailor science to your particular

perspective right to your particular

genetics your particular upbringing your

particular physiology and so then the

question kind of becomes how do we

navigate this problem and so what I'm

going to love what I'd love to do today

is share with you all a particular

technique that is very very effective if

Solutions haven't worked for you so far

hey there thanks for watching and I'm

glad these videos have been helpful a

lot of times I'll read the comments and

see people asking well what do I

actually do about it which is such a

great question and unfortunately my

experience has been that the resources

out there aren't actually that good at

helping people create sustainable change

which is why I started HG in the first

place he coaches are trained on a

curriculum that integrates all of my

understanding into what is motivation

what paralyzes Us and how to create

lasting behavioral change so if you're

ready to take the next step he coaches

are ready to build the life that you

want they've helped people build careers

find relationships build networks of

friends discover what their passions are

and pursue their Hobbies so if this

sounds like something that you'd be

interested it and check out the link in

the description below and so what I'd

love to do is share with you all the

technique that I kind of stumbled into

that day but I think is actually better

Illustrated

um through the people who sort of

discovered it more formally so there's

this tested shift to take to get into

med school called The Medical College

admissions test at least in the United

States and when I was studying for it

I'd sort of hit a plateau I was kind of

in the top 20 to 25 percent and I kept

on trying to figure out okay what am I

doing wrong what am I doing wrong what

am I doing wrong and despite the fact

that I kept on looking at my problems

and trying to find Solutions trying to

find Solutions it just wasn't working

and then I kind of had this really

bizarre idea that seemed a little bit

unusual and I kind of leaned into that

and I found that surprisingly once I

employed this technique or this

methodology I actually bumped up quite a

bit so in order to understand this

technique I'm actually going to go to

the original researchers who really sort

of fleshed out this technique and this

story actually starts in France with two

Physicians so these Physicians were

focused on public health specifically

malnourishment and they'd been

contracted by the country of Vietnam to

improve malnourished children in rural

Vietnam and they had a huge

malnourishment problem over 50 percent

of kids in this rural section of Vietnam

were malnourished and weren't getting

enough food so these Physicians did what

any good Physicians do who are out there

to save the world right they said okay

well like we will comment we will come

nourish your children because how do you

fix malnourishment right so what do you

do if kids are malnourished you feed

them it's not that complicated so they

show up in Vietnam and the government

has promised them all kinds of stuff

yeah we're going to give you this amount

of food Aid We're going to give you this

amount of money things like that so they

show up there they've taken actually a

one-year break from their day jobs to

come and solve world hunger in this

rural corner of Vietnam and the

government actually tells them you know

what we're incredibly sorry but um all

that stuff we promised you none of it's

here maybe corruption maybe we over

promised who knows what happened here's

what we can give you we can give you a

translator a van and some accommodation

please fix the problem and so these two

doctors are like well how are we

supposed to solve malnourishment without

any food and the government was like

please please please try do what you can

you've come all this way and then the

doctors were like well we've like

dedicated a year to this project and now

all the food Aid is going let's see what

we can do so they went and they they

took their van and they took their

driver and they kind of drove around for

a while and they started exploring this

part of Vietnam and then one of them

kind of had a really interesting

Revelation which is well hold on a

second like all these people are poor

right they're all like rice Farmers

that's what like most of them do for

their job and it's not like some of them

are super rich or have access to great

food they're actually all in the same

situation they're all rice farmers and

so one of the the docs basically asked

this question why isn't the

malnourishment 100 right why doesn't why

doesn't everyone have malnourished kids

everyone's poor everyone's a rice farmer

but half of the kids are not

malnourished and so they started looking

into not the problem they looked into

the people who don't have the problem

and what they essentially discovered was

something really interesting that of the

the the parents of the children who were

healthy had a couple of behaviors which

the other parents didn't one is anytime

they were out weeding in the rice field

they would see some kinds of like

Crustaceans like little shrimps clams

things like that right because it's like

rice paddies there's lots of water so

there's like little crustacean shrimps

and stuff growing in there they have an

apron literally this is their solution

and anytime they saw shrimp they'd scoop

it up and stick it in the apron so they

saw a clam or muscle or of any kind they

just scoop it up and stick it in the

apron the other thing that those parents

did is that there are certain weeds so

weeds from a rice field perspective

which are actually very nutritious but

are considered Poor People's food so a

good example of this in the United

States is something like mustard greens

if y'all are familiar with that so these

vegetables are really really cheap

really good for you taste a little bit

maybe not as tasty not as sweet whatever

and they're generally eaten by people

who are of low socioeconomic status so

mustard greens which and collard greens

are another good example are very like

fibrous right so collard greens taste

delicious if you make them right but

they were traditionally eaten by

Africans and slaves so they're

considered poor people food so similarly

there were some greens that were viewed

as poor people food which half of the

families would not eat they just weed

and throw away but the other half

realized oh these are edible and

nutritious I'm actually going to eat

them and and we're going to cook them

and what these researchers essentially

discovered is that the reason that half

these people are are not malnourished is

because they do these two things and so

they stumbled on something that they

called positive deviance which is this

idea that when there's a problem you

don't actually have to go looking for a

solution a solution already exists and

all you have to do is duplicate it and

so this was kind of a radical and

revolutionary idea because what they

actually ended up doing is implementing

some behavioral changes and they

actually fixed the problem of

malnourishment without a single dollar

worth of food Aid and so even going back

to when I was studying what I sort of

discovered was I started to ask myself

hold on a second I keep on focusing on

the problems that I got wrong but I'm

not asking the questions why do I get

most of these questions right what is

going on in my mind that leads to the

right answer as opposed to just focusing

on what leads to the wrong answer and

what I actually discovered was something

really interesting which is that when I

when I took the test depending on my

frame of mind depending on whether I was

paying attention in a particular way

that's what led to the right answers

with hard questions sometimes and

instead of focusing on studying physics

or biology or chemistry like over and

over and over again oh I missed this

question that must mean that I need to

go back and read the chapter on

chemistry instead what I did is sort of

Applied positive deviance and that's uh

situation of studying and I kind of like

actually boosted my score a ton so we're

going to talk a little bit more about

positive deviance and basically what

positive deviance suggests is that you

actually don't need any solutions and

the right way to improve your life is to

not fix your problems and this is

something that is especially ineffective

for people who have tried a lot of stuff

to fix their problems and I know it

sounds kind of bizarre but how can I

improve my life if I don't fix my

problems it's it's a subtlety but it's

actually really important which is that

what you need to do is apply positive

deviance to your own life and

practically what that means is don't

focus on the days that you screw up try

to duplicate or understand the days that

you did really well and so I'll give you

all just an example of like people come

to me and say hey I have trouble

studying right please evaluate me for

ADHD give me medication and then I'll

ask them a simple question I'll ask them

okay so like do you can you never study

and the answer is never no yes I can

never study I cannot study a single day

the answer that I always get is yeah

like maybe like one day out of 15 I do a

good job studying and if you're

listening to this video you know that's

true too you know that there are times

in your life where you actually do a

really good job and then you ask

yourself why can't I be like this every

day right there's one day that you're

super focused you get everything done on

time you wake up in the morning you

study for three hours you do all your

work for the day and then you're free

for the rest of the day it feels

deliberating feels so good and then the

next day you stumble you get distracted

and then you ask yourself okay how do I

stop this distraction how do I fix that

problem and what positive deviance

essentially does is it doesn't focus on

the problems it focuses on the solutions

so what positive deviance is all about

is take that one day that you did do a

good job and as ask yourself what are

the factors that lead to this success

instead of focusing on all the stuff

that knocks you off your game try to

duplicate that which puts you on your

game so practically how do you do that

it starts with this so if you have a

problem start by asking yourself okay

what is one case in which this problem

was not applicable right so start don't

worry about the problem itself ask

yourself okay what's like one good what

what's one situation where I was able to

study what's one situation where I did

make a friend what's one situation where

I was able to set a boundary with

someone right you can be whatever you

what's one day that I was able to

exercise what's one day that I was able

to eat healthy what's one day that I ate

a sandwich instead of fried chicken or a

salad instead of a sandwich because each

and every human being has some successes

in their life and what positive deviance

then does is the problem is that you can

get a generic answer from an expert

who's a scientist or look at research

study but the Apple application of that

research study isn't going to be a

hundred percent because they weren't

researching you all the scientific

literature out there is not about you

it's about the average person and so

when you translate stuff from the

average person to an individual there is

something that's lost in efficiency so

how do you get that efficiency back you

look at your life and you look at your

Solutions you look at your successes

this is the principle of positive

deviance so more practically start by

looking at the days that you actually

did really well and don't worry that

it's only one percent of the time or two

percent of the time or three percent of

the time because what we're going to do

is duplicate the successes instead of

trying to fix the failures that's the

the key of positive deviance so the

second question you should ask yourself

is okay what was going on in the 24

hours prior to this success so if you

whatever your target is let's take

exercise for example oh I woke up one

morning and I exercised right and then

what everyone tries to fix is oh I'm

lazy how do I stop being lazy forget

about being lazy how are you not lazy

that morning right because this is what

positive deviance suggests is that the

answer is already there you don't need

to come up with a solution that already

exists and just like the these people

who were trying to solve nourishment in

Vietnam they were trying to fix the

problem with 50 of the kids and instead

of what they discovered is hey 50 of

people are doing it right we just need

to duplicate that and so as you look at

the success that you have let's say you

exercised one morning look at when did

you go to bed the night before what did

you eat the day before you know what was

on your mind were you stressed out did

you play video games and look at all of

the factors that led to that success so

usually what we want to do is a

qualitative analysis on our positive

deviance so there's the average and then

there's the deviation that's negative

which is below average and there's the

deviation that's above average that's

what we want to focus on then we want to

ask ourselves why and so try to look at

as many factors as you can so stressors

sleep diet you know what you did the day

before and see what led to that success

then what we want to do is develop a

hypothesis and try to duplicate those

things again so instead of focusing on

okay I need to exercise in the morning

that's not the Target that you need to

shoot for what you need to shoot for is

I need to make sure that I do not talk

to my friends and log on to Discord

after 8 pm at night that's the actual

thing that I need to focus on because if

I can do that then I'll wake up the next

day I'll feel really good and then I

will actually be able to exercise so it

shifts our Target and then you may say

but okay but how do I but that's really

hard for me or like going to bed on the

night before is really hard then you can

do a positive deviant study on that too

what are the times when you've gone to

bed on time what were the factors that

allowed you to go to bed on time so you

want to do a qualitative analysis

develop a hypothesis and then ideally

shift your Target and focus on that

and what you'll discover if you kind of

do this process it's it's an iterative

process so you try it you see how it

goes maybe it improves your success a

little bit more and if it improves your

success a little bit more then you ask

yourself the question okay how was I

able to be successful this time what

else did I miss if you get something

wrong you kind of go back to the drawing

board and you can do a second

qualitative analysis you ask yourself

okay what could I be missing or you just

continue living your life and this is

the other big part of positive deviance

is that it's not just about fixing a

particular problem now what I want you

all to do if you really want to

implement positive deviance in your life

is pay attention going forward this is

really important right so as you go

about your day you will naturally have

some successes and this time though as

you have some successes instead of just

thinking man I wish I could do this

every single day and getting frustrated

with yourself by having a failure

tomorrow you're going to pay attention

to every aspect of the success take

notes generate hypotheses think about

what actually worked for you because

what positive deviance actually tells us

is that if you want to fix your problem

you shouldn't focus on finding a

solution to the problem you should

actually duplicate those few times that

you actually did do a good job and then

as you start to implement those changes

you'll discover something very very

interesting which is that fixing the

problems that feel unsolvable are

actually way easier than you ever

anticipated and you don't need to ask

anyone else for help because you've

actually fixed them in the past there

have been some successes in the past and

all you need to do is duplicate them

foreign