Derek Thompson

So 1950s, Kurt Richter has a very simple question.

How long can a rat swim in water?

So he takes a rat, puts them in a cylinder of water, and he stands there with a stopwatch and counts down how long the rat can survive swimming in the cylinder of water.

Turns out 15 minutes.

At about 15 minutes, the rat doesn't seem exhausted.

The rat just kind of gives up and sinks under the water and dies.

Now he has another question.

Can he increase how long the rat is swimming for?

So he takes another group of wild rats.

He puts a rat in one of these cylinders.

At the 15 minute mark, when the rat is starting to struggle, he reaches in, takes out the rat, dries it off, lets it catch its breath, and then plunk back inside the cylinder it goes.

And this time, he wants to see how much longer the rat can swim for.

And he does this a few times, this intervention.

And you read the book already, so you know the end result of the study.

But when I ask most people, hey, how much longer do you think the rat could swim for?

They say, oh, maybe double.

Maybe it went from 15 minutes to 30 minutes.

Or some people say, no, maybe it went from 15 minutes to 60 minutes, which would be amazing.

That would be remarkable if you had some kind of intervention that could increase your motivation, increase your persistence four times longer.

That would be amazing, right?