Unfairly Powerful Skills You Can Learn in a Weekend

Nine Skills You Can Practice in a Weekend

The video presents nine skills it claims can be picked up with a weekend of practice. Some claims—especially those about reading people from facial expressions or body language—are presented with more certainty than the evidence warrants. Treat these cues as possibilities, not proof.

1. Mental arithmetic

   • Multiply a two-digit number by 11 by adding its digits and placing the sum between them.
   • Square a number ending in 5 by multiplying the leading part by the next integer, then appending 25.
   • Swap the numbers in a percentage calculation: 18% of 50 is the same as 50% of 18.
   • To multiply numbers close to 100, use each number’s distance from 100.

2. Reducing your digital footprint

   • Search for your name alongside your city and phone number to find exposed personal information.
   • Submit removal requests to people-search sites or use a removal service.
   • Check whether your email appears in known data breaches. Change any reused or exposed passwords, use a password manager, and consider keeping a separate email address for online registrations.

3. Using a strategic pause

   • Wait briefly—about one to three seconds—after a question before answering. The video suggests this can make a response seem considered and composed.
   • Practice in casual conversations, and avoid conspicuously long silences.

4. Noticing facial expressions

   • The video discusses seven commonly recognized emotions: fear, anger, disgust, contempt, sadness, surprise, and joy.
   • It suggests watching for brief movements, particularly around the eyebrows and mouth, and practicing with interviews on mute.
   • Facial expressions may offer clues, but they cannot reliably reveal someone’s thoughts or truthfulness on their own.

5. Blending into a setting

   • Dress appropriately for the situation, move with a clear purpose, and keep your gaze natural.
   • Minimize attention-grabbing noises, such as jangling keys or a loud phone.

6. Cold reading

   • Mentalists and scammers may use broadly applicable statements, describe both sides of a personality trait, or draw tentative conclusions from someone’s appearance and posture.
   • They may also make vague guesses and ask questions that invite people to supply details.
   • These methods rely on inference and performance, not psychic ability.

7. Checking whether you’re being followed

   • Notice repeated encounters, use reflections to observe your surroundings, and change your route to see whether someone continues to appear.
   • If concerned, avoid confrontation and go somewhere public.

8. Reading group dynamics

   • Notice whom people look toward when they laugh, whose approval others seem to seek, and the direction people’s feet point.
   • These behaviors may offer clues about social ties, influence, or interest, but they are not definitive indicators.

9. Learning about locks

   • The video gives a high-level explanation of pin-tumbler locks and describes practicing lock manipulation with basic tools.
   • It recommends starting with a simple padlock and mentions a lock-picking community. Practice only on locks you own or have explicit permission to open.

Names, Sites, and Products Mentioned

Paul Ekman; Spokeo; WhitePages; DeleteMe; Canary; Have I Been Pwned; Bitwarden; YouTube; Reddit’s r/lockpicking; Master Lock; and Kwikset (rendered as “Quickset” in the subtitles).