Lone Iguana

Category: Mental Tricks

  • Crowdsourced Mind Tricks From Reddit

    The brilliant folks on Reddit have these suggestions for mind hacks: It’s much harder to access memories if you’re not allowed to break eye contact. Liars usually easily keep eye contact because they’re not remembering anything. Tell new salespeople to speak assumptively, ending each sentence with ‘ok’. This will change how they form sentences, and…

  • Hack Your Memory With the Method of Loci

    In this New York Times Magazine article, writer Joshua Foer recounts his year-long journey from having an average memory to becoming a U.S. record holder at the U.S.A Memory Championship. Foer and other mental athletes use techniques such as the Method of Loci or “memory palace” based on the Rhetorica ad Herennium, a Latin rhetoric…

  • Tips From a Professional Liar

    We’ve touched on how to detect a liar, and now here’s a look into the deceptive practices of former “professional liar” Clancy Martin. He shares a couple of tips in this kottke.org blog post from his experience in the luxury jewelry business, where a lie could often mean a little additional profit. According to Martin,…

  • How to Detect a Liar

    Being able to identify a lie is a useful skill to have under your belt, and can work to your advantage in countless situations.  This article at The Art of Manliness introduces the art of detecting a liar. It’s an interesting read, but I’d like to point out that none of these techniques are foolproof.…

  • 8 Unconventional Ways to Relieve Stress

    Staying cool under extreme circumstances can be key to your survival. This list from Zen Habits contains some rather surprising tricks for relieving daily stress and tension, so that you can stay composed and levelheaded when things get out of hand. As we move through our daily routines we are often faced with obstacles and…

  • The Mythical Tricks of Magic Meet Psychology

    Scientific American Mind recently came out with a wonderful article on the use of magic in psychology. In it, they break down some tricks magicians and con artists use to manipulate your mind. One of my favorite things learned was something I’ll coin TTTNTTSBT. Or, the thing that’s not there that should be there. Basically,…

  • Unlock an Airplane Bathroom Door from the Outside and More Evil Tricks…

    As part of their “Evil Week” series of posts, Lifehacker shares this surprisingly simple trick to unlocking one type of airplane lavatory door. Simply lift the little “Lavatory” sign above the lock, then slide the now exposed lock open. Hit the links for pictures. Step 1: Approach locked lavatory Step 2: Lift “LAVATORY” sign Step…

  • Six Tricks for Conquering Fear

    Everyone has to deal with fear and uncertainty at times. This post contains six simple techniques to conquer fear and use it to your advantage. Fear isn’t your enemy; it is through fear and hardship that we grow the most. When you think about it, if your life was free from any challenges, it would…

  • How To Effectively Lie [Art of Deception]

    Tell a simple story. The more complex, the more you have to remember. Stay as close to the truth as possible. Try to keep eye contact, but not too much. Humans naturally look away to access real memories. Believe the lie. Envision the lie. Paint the story in your head. Read Paul Ekman’s book, Telling…

  • Another Uncrackable Code [Story Time]

    Another tale of an uncrackable code. The former Air Force sergeant wore a backpack on his bearish 6′5″ frame; a sawed-off shovel handle stuck out of the top as he made his way along soft creek beds, avoiding hiking trails. Inside the pack was a night-vision monocle and a pile of classified material he had…