What happens when your confidence outruns your competence? Brené and Adam start with freestyle skiing champ Eileen Gu’s extraordinary Olympic press conference and use it to explore metacognition—how to notice your thinking, question it, and change it on purpose. They dig into the Dunning–Kruger effect, calibration, journaling, and feedback, discuss why we’re so bad at estimating timelines, and consider how “I’ve got this” energy can quietly wreck projects, relationships, and learning. From pickleball and ping pong to therapy and team meetings, this episode is about building the inner game of better thinking without losing your nerve along the way.
You can find the Curiosity Shop on YouTube and Instagram (@thecuriosityshop).
Chapters:
0:00 - Introductions
3:45 - Eileen Gu’s Metacognition
12:22 - What is Metacognition?
25:10 - What is Dunning-Kruger?
38:14 - Time Estimation and The Planning Fallacy
44:36 - Metacognition and Dunning-Kruger Final Thoughts
58:17 - Wrap up
Shownotes:
I hate minimalism - Hank Green, TikTok
Strong Ground: The Lessons of Daring Leadership, the Tenacity of Paradox, and the Wisdom of the Human Spirit - Brené Brown, 2025, Book
Metacognition and Cognitive Monitoring: A New Area of Cognitive-Developmental Inquiry - Flavell, 1979
Explaining the Dunning-Kruger effect and overcoming overconfidence with David Dunning - Adam Grant, 2024, Worklife with Adam Grant
Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know - Adam Grant, 2021, Book
Intuitive Prediction: Biases and Corrective Procedures - Kahneman & Tversky, 1979, Office of Naval Research
Daniel Kahneman Doesn't Trust Your Intuition - Adam Grant, 2023, Re:Thinking with Adam Grant
The Story Rumble Process: A Guide for Groups and Teams - Brené Brown, Dare to Lead, 2018
The learning benefits of teaching: A retrieval practice hypothesis - Koh, 2018
Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things - Adam Grant, 2023, Book
Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments - Kruger & Dunning, 1999, Cornell University
The Inner Game of Tennis - The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance - Timothy Gallwey, 1974, Book
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