Practice #8 - When Being Interrogated Give Them a Great Story

1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,720 Today I learned a very valuable lesson. So to start things off, I want to let you know that 2 00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:14,080 pretty much for the past two, three years, I've been really focusing on improving my habits, 3 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:21,280 improving my lifestyle, and just improving myself in general. I started working out, eating healthy, 4 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:29,440 increasing my discipline, all these things, and I don't really like to tell people about 5 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:35,200 that part of my life. I don't really like to talk about it in public. Excuse me. 6 00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:44,880 And it makes sense because I am, by the way, this video, I'm going to be practicing making eye contact 7 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:52,800 with the camera, and so I might lose focus a little bit. And so with this, with this mindset of not 8 00:00:52,800 --> 00:01:01,280 telling people what my plans are, it really helped me because I realized that I didn't want to tell 9 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:07,360 people what I'm doing at the moment because then I might lose motivation to do it because then I'd 10 00:01:07,360 --> 00:01:14,400 be relying on their positive feedback to do it. And once that feedback ends, I won't do it anymore. 11 00:01:15,120 --> 00:01:22,960 Or even worse, if I tell them about a plan, like a goal that I plan on achieving before I've even 12 00:01:22,960 --> 00:01:28,800 worked towards it, then I tell them and then I receive positive feedback. Well, then I've already 13 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:35,520 received the positive feedback from that goal, so then there's no point in actually achieving it. 14 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:42,400 So that's why I don't like to tell people what I'm doing. And today, I actually failed at that. 15 00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:52,480 I was just sitting in my sports lit class and I was sitting in the back and I was just somehow 16 00:01:52,480 --> 00:02:01,040 the topic of me not having my phone with me came up, which I've talked about that before in the 17 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:05,440 class just because people are like, oh, can you check something on your phone or something? I'm 18 00:02:05,440 --> 00:02:11,280 like, oh, I don't have it. So my friend knew that I didn't bring my phone with me to school. 19 00:02:11,920 --> 00:02:19,120 Those things I'm okay telling because those little habits have already become habits. So 20 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:27,280 it's not going to mess me up if I don't, if I tell people that. But I still avoid telling people 21 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:35,520 unless they like directly ask because people get really confused and they get shocked and 22 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:42,480 really surprised. And it's just, it starts a whole conversation and then they start interrogating you. 23 00:02:43,280 --> 00:02:47,520 And it's just not something that I really want to deal with on a day-to-day basis. So I just 24 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:55,920 keep my mouth shut. But today was different. I, in my sports lit class, I've kind of hinted at 25 00:02:55,920 --> 00:03:03,360 certain things that I do that are out of the ordinary. For example, I have told people straight 26 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:10,640 up that I'm taking a gap year. Now, again, I don't tell people directly. I only tell people if they 27 00:03:10,640 --> 00:03:16,880 ask. So people say, I'm like, what college are you going to? And then I say, I'm taking a gap year. 28 00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:22,720 And that's actually a lie. I'm not taking a gap year, but I tell them that because I don't want to 29 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:31,040 have to deal with the not criticism, but shock that comes with you telling people that you're 30 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:37,600 not going to college. Because in my town, going to college is the normal thing to do. And it is 31 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:44,240 extremely out of the ordinary if you don't go to college. And so that's why I like to just say, 32 00:03:44,240 --> 00:03:51,280 I'm taking a gap year because it has a grain of truth. I like, I could be taking a gap year. Like, 33 00:03:51,280 --> 00:03:56,640 I could decide in one year from now that I want to go to college and then I could go and then I'd 34 00:03:56,640 --> 00:04:02,160 be telling the truth. And I'd still be telling the truth if I didn't go to college because 35 00:04:02,800 --> 00:04:08,720 a gap year is where you decide if you want to go or not. But I am not going. Like right now, 36 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:15,600 I have the decision that I'm not going. Could change, but I honestly can't, I don't see it changing. 37 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:22,880 So that's one thing that I've said in the past. And then this one guy that I'm somewhat acquainted 38 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:28,640 with, I don't even know what that word means, but I just said it. I've seen around, I've seen this guy 39 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:36,800 around and we're familiar with each other. I could tell that over the months of us being in this 40 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:44,320 class together, he's taken up an interest in kind of what I'm doing and what my future plans are 41 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:50,160 and all this stuff because every single time the college situations gets brought up, he's always 42 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:57,440 just watching me and just looking at me, which it's fine. Like I do that too when I just watch 43 00:04:57,440 --> 00:05:01,440 and pay attention to other people. But he, and then he's like, so what are you going to do? 44 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:08,240 Like he always like asks me, which is fine. Like that's curiosity. I'm curious also. And I find 45 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:15,200 myself asking people that as well. But this guy in particular, he keeps on like asking me. So 46 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:22,640 that is, I always kind of try to divert. Like I always try and divert the situation. Like I try to 47 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:30,160 talk about, like I just say, I'm working on entrepreneurship, which in the beginning of 48 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:36,240 this semester, I did not even speak on entrepreneurship, but now I'm starting to say 49 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:42,160 entrepreneurship. And then what I'm really doing is working on a YouTube channel. But instead, 50 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:46,240 I say I'm working on entrepreneurship. And then they're like, well, what kind of business are 51 00:05:46,240 --> 00:05:49,680 you going to make? Like what are you going to do? And they like interrogate you on all that stuff. 52 00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:56,720 And I always just say, well, that's why I'm taking the gap year. Like I kind of have made an art out 53 00:05:56,720 --> 00:06:04,080 of this. Like I've made an art out of avoiding these interrogations because I've had so much 54 00:06:04,080 --> 00:06:10,400 practice at it. I've had so much practice at people interrogating me. And I've had a lot of 55 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:15,840 practice like deferring the situation. If I don't even know what that word means, but I used it 56 00:06:15,840 --> 00:06:22,480 again. And so today in particular, we're talking about how I wasn't using the phone. 57 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:30,240 And then people like heard that and they looked back. And at this point, I had caught like 58 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:36,160 three or four people, people's attention. Like originally it was just a conversation between 59 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:44,160 me and my friend. And then we caught like three or four different people's attention. And then 60 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:50,480 that is where the interrogation begins. That's where they say, oh, what do you do all day then? 61 00:06:50,480 --> 00:06:56,080 Or like you just don't use your phone at all. Do you listen to music? Like the interrogation begins. 62 00:06:56,080 --> 00:07:07,520 And usually I'm very kind of good at like getting rid of this conversation. But for some reason today, 63 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:13,840 I think that I was asleep. I was definitely asleep. Not like I was consciously asleep and I wasn't 64 00:07:13,840 --> 00:07:19,200 really thinking properly. And so today I ended up just answering all the questions. And then they're 65 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:26,800 like, you know what? Like someone just said, here walk us through a day in your life. And so ever 66 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:32,160 and then everyone loved that question. So everyone's like, yeah, tell us, tell us a day in your life. 67 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:39,280 And so at that point, I was already in too deep. So I had to start talking. And at that point, 68 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:46,480 I kind of had the understanding that I didn't really want to like reveal too much. Or I didn't 69 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:55,360 really, the one thing that I really cared not to reveal was the fact that I'm a YouTuber. And the 70 00:07:55,360 --> 00:08:01,920 thing is that I think it was yesterday or two days ago, I recorded an episode saying that I was 71 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:09,680 ashamed of being a YouTuber. And that moving forward, I should talk about how I am a YouTuber. 72 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:18,720 Which I still feel like I, it's a really tricky situation because on the one hand, I do think 73 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:27,040 that I have not fully accepted it into my identity, obviously, because I'm too ashamed or embarrassed 74 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:34,320 to talk about it to other people. But on the other hand, I know that I know the exact outcome that 75 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:42,000 will happen if I say, oh, I'm a YouTuber or oh, I work on recording videos after school. 76 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:49,840 If I say that, then the exact thing that will happen is they will go right away during the 77 00:08:49,840 --> 00:08:55,280 class right in front of me, they would search up my YouTube channel, and then they would start 78 00:08:55,280 --> 00:09:02,880 watching the videos. And it doesn't matter if it's positive feedback or negative feedback, 79 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:08,560 more than likely it'll be positive feedback because I surround myself with friends that are 80 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:20,560 not negative. The friends around me are not completely toxic. So they would probably support 81 00:09:20,560 --> 00:09:28,320 the channel. But it's just the fact of all the attention. Maybe it's just, 82 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:35,600 like, my, maybe it's just the fact that right now I'm dealing with social anxiety and introvertedness. 83 00:09:38,000 --> 00:09:42,960 Maybe it's that and I don't like being the center of attention or I don't know. It's a pretty 84 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:54,400 complicated area of, like, it's just a complicated topic. And so I basically walk through my entire 85 00:09:54,400 --> 00:10:04,800 daily routine. And so I actually decided to be extremely, extremely exact and extremely detailed 86 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:12,480 with my daily routine because I don't know if I was just in a mood to entertain or if I just wanted 87 00:10:12,480 --> 00:10:20,480 to stall and waste time so that I didn't have to get into the fact that towards the end of my day, 88 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:27,600 I record and I practice being a YouTuber. I don't know if it was either or. I know for sure that I 89 00:10:27,600 --> 00:10:36,240 didn't consciously choose or consciously think of either or. But I was definitely explaining in 90 00:10:36,240 --> 00:10:43,920 great detail and it was very entertaining to them. For example, I literally just started with saying, 91 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:53,120 like, extreme detail. Like, I said that, well, my day starts at 3.55 on most days because I have a 92 00:10:53,120 --> 00:11:02,480 sunlight alarm. And when I wake up at three or my alarm starts at 3.30 and then it starts at a 93 00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:08,560 dim red tone and then it gets brighter and brighter and changes colors to yellow towards 94 00:11:08,560 --> 00:11:17,600 the end of the alarm cycle at four o'clock. And on most days, I wake up at 3.55 because I 95 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:27,920 naturally wake up to that specific light brightness of the alarm. But on other days that I go to bed 96 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:34,960 a couple minutes late, I wake up to the alarm at four o'clock. Like, that's the amount of detail I 97 00:11:34,960 --> 00:11:43,200 went into and people were very entertained by it. And they were like, they very much liked it. And 98 00:11:44,240 --> 00:11:49,840 then right after I explained that, I say, well, the first thing I do is I put my blankets in the 99 00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:57,200 closet because and then they were very confused by that. And it's because they did not know that I 100 00:11:57,200 --> 00:12:04,880 sleep on the floor. They didn't know I slept on the floor. And so, but I didn't tell them that I slept 101 00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:09,040 on the floor. They were just very confused at the fact that I put my blankets in the closet. And so, 102 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:14,960 again, the interrogation began and they're like, wait, why do you do that? And then I had to come 103 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:24,800 up with some explanation that would satisfy their curiosity. And so I basically just said, well, 104 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:29,760 you make your bed every morning, right? And then they're like, yeah. And I'm like, well, that's what 105 00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:36,240 I do. I make my bed and it's just easier just to throw my blankets in the closet, which is the 106 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:43,760 truth. But it's just, I think it's funny. And then that's like they, they really, and then after I 107 00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:49,520 told them that I basically said, and then after I put my blankets in the closet, I do a handstand, 108 00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:58,640 which is true, but it's just some random, it's just some random thing that they did not expect. 109 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:04,480 And they all just started laughing. And then because they knew it was four in the morning, 110 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:12,160 I'm in my room doing a handstand. And so that is like, that's one lesson I learned that's very 111 00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:18,640 important. When you're in the middle of an interrogation like I was, I realized, and I didn't 112 00:13:18,640 --> 00:13:26,000 realize this until literally like one minute before I started recording this video, because I was 113 00:13:26,000 --> 00:13:36,160 trying to come up with an idea to record. Usually I, I just a pick an idea that I brainstormed 114 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:43,920 in the morning to record of today's like the daily video on, but all those ideas are written down 115 00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:49,840 on my notebook and that notebook is upstairs in my room. And so I was thinking like, I don't, 116 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:54,880 I didn't really want to run upstairs just to see it find an idea to talk about and then come back 117 00:13:54,880 --> 00:14:00,400 down. I just wanted to come up with an idea on the spot. And I came up with a great idea. And 118 00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:07,680 it was the two lessons that I learned or no. Okay, so it was the one, it was the lesson that I 119 00:14:07,680 --> 00:14:16,320 learned from today's encounter or today's interrogation. And it's the fact that instead of 120 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:25,520 completely diverting and not satisfying their curiosity, like all, like I said, all my life, 121 00:14:25,520 --> 00:14:30,080 or at least for the past two years, ever since I started improving myself massively, 122 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:37,680 and I get interrogated, I always just try and divert the situation. And it works in the short term. 123 00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:43,920 People just realize that I don't want to talk about it. But eventually it comes back up and it 124 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:49,040 comes back up and it comes back up. Like it comes back up every other day or every other week. It 125 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:54,640 doesn't matter when, but it will come back up if you divert in that method. Like usually I would 126 00:14:54,640 --> 00:15:00,080 just say, I don't know what I'm going to do. But people know that that's a lie for some reason. 127 00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:07,920 And they're not satisfied with that. And so they ask again the next time the topic gets brought up. 128 00:15:08,480 --> 00:15:15,920 And what I realized today, after telling the stories in great detail and telling entertaining 129 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:24,400 stories, figure the lesson to learn is when you're getting interrogated, figure out the best way to 130 00:15:25,280 --> 00:15:33,920 satisfy their curiosity and entertain them with very good stories without exposing too much of 131 00:15:33,920 --> 00:15:40,800 the truth. You just have to satisfy them without giving them too much. Because when you satisfy 132 00:15:40,800 --> 00:15:45,760 them, they won't ask again, because they'll be satisfied with the answer. So they'll realize, 133 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:52,480 oh, that's what he does. So now I know. And you don't give them too much to where you reveal your 134 00:15:52,480 --> 00:16:01,040 real intentions or habits or plans or goals. So that is the lesson that I learned today. And 135 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:07,840 when I was writing down, that idea popped up into my head and I right away wrote it down. I wrote 136 00:16:07,840 --> 00:16:15,600 down, don't tell people your habits, plans or goals, instead tell them entertaining connected 137 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:25,840 stories to divert. So for example, what I should have done today is instead of going into, okay, 138 00:16:25,840 --> 00:16:36,400 let me rewind. So going back to the story I told how I wake up at 3.55 and then I go throw my 139 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:43,760 blankets in the closet and then I do a handstand. That should have been, that stuff is good to say. 140 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:50,240 The handstand part, the throw on the blankets in the closet, those are random, that's true stuff. 141 00:16:50,800 --> 00:16:58,880 But it's like the unimportant things. So doing the handstand is unimportant, 142 00:16:58,880 --> 00:17:05,040 but it's a random thing to throw in there that gets people entertained. They're not looking, 143 00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:10,400 like people don't actually care about what you're doing. They don't actually care about that stuff. 144 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:18,800 But what they want from you is to be entertained. Like they just want to, they notice that you're 145 00:17:18,800 --> 00:17:24,480 out of the ordinary. So you might hold some crazy stories that will entertain them. That's all they 146 00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:30,800 want. They want a story. So give them what they want. And I'm really glad I came to this epiphany 147 00:17:30,800 --> 00:17:37,440 because this is going to help me a lot in the future. And the thing is that it's not only going to 148 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:43,040 help me get out of interrogations, it's also going to help me practice my storytelling skills. 149 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:53,360 And that is a massive skill to have. That is an amazing skill to have. And so that will greatly 150 00:17:53,360 --> 00:18:00,160 affect, positively affect my future. So I just wanted to tell you guys about that lesson that I 151 00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:02,160 learned today.