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  • This episode is supported by Skillshare.

  • Do you ever wonder how you stack up to others?

  • For example, in North America, if you are a male

  • who is taller than 5'9 or women taller than 5'3

  • then you're above average.

  • And if you weigh less than 88.3 kg and 74.7 kg

  • then you're below average.

  • Worldwide, however, humans actually weigh 62 kg on average.

  • If you read less than 12 books a year,

  • you're below average.

  • But avid readers like likely inflate this number

  • with 4 books per year being the most common number reported.

  • And if you can read faster than 300 words per minute,

  • you're above average.

  • Type more than 40 words per minute

  • and you're also faster than the majority.

  • If you finish a bachelor's degree or higher,

  • you're above average.

  • But if you don't finish high school

  • and you're from industrialized nation,

  • you're far below average with only about 10% not finishing.

  • If you're a man who can benchpress more than 135 lbs,

  • you're stronger than many.

  • And if you're a woman who can run a mile

  • in less than 7 to 10 minutes,

  • you're faster than the others.

  • If that tires you out and you sleep more than 6.8 hrs,

  • you're getting more than majority.

  • And if to wake up you're drinking less than 3 cups of coffee per day,

  • you're below average.

  • Still thirsty? Most people drink 3 to 4 cups of water a day.

  • Too much fluid make you pee?

  • If you're urinating less than 6 times a day, you're below average.

  • And if you have more than one bowel movement today,

  • you're probably above average based on surveys.

  • But these are not necessarily reasons for concern.

  • The average person farts around 14 times a day

  • which is around 500 to 1500 ml

  • Have a family?

  • If you end up having more than two kids in your lifetime in most Europe and North America,

  • you're above average.

  • But if you have less than 6 children in Niger,

  • you're below average.

  • And if you're watching more than 5 hours and 4 mins of TV each day,

  • that's more than most.

  • That's the same amount of time the average spends on their mobile service.

  • But if you're a teen and spending less than 9 hours on media,

  • you're actually under the average.

  • The average person also simply touches their phone over 2000 times a day.

  • Think you're smarter than the average person or better at driving?

  • How about having better health, memory or being a better friend than the average person.

  • Turns out the vast majority of people also think they're better than average

  • in a phenomenon called Illusory Superiority.

  • It's a cognitive bias where people overestimate their own abilities and qualities

  • with one study revealing

  • 87% of students at a university surveyed

  • rated their academic performance above the median.

  • Interestingly, people with lower IQs tend to overestimate their IQ,

  • while who actually have above-average IQs tend to underestimate them.

  • Men are also more likely to overestimate their IQ by 5 points,

  • while women underestimate theirs.

  • Perhaps most shocking is that in cognitive test,

  • even the lowest scoring groups predict they're above average

  • showing a strong illusion.

  • And researchers believe it because those worst at the test

  • are also worse at understanding the skills required to do it well.

  • This paper actually won a Nobel Prize in 2000.

  • In the words of Charles Bukowski,

  • "The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence".

  • If you'd like to be above average,

  • check out Skillshare who has supported this video

  • and is giving away a two-month free trial to the first 500 of our followers that sign up.

  • Skillshare is a online learning community for creators

  • with more than 15000 classes in design, photo and more.

  • Everyone can take a class,

  • try a project and even teach a class themselves.

  • With Premium Membership as low as $10 for unlimited access.

  • Just head to the link: skl.sh/asapscience

  • And use the Promo Code ASAPSCIENCE

  • to sign up and learn even on mobile app or while you're offline.

  • And subscribe for more weekly science videos every Thursday.

This episode is supported by Skillshare.

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