Today is the last day of Brain Awareness Week, but only Day 7 of our BrainWays 30-day brain health challenge.
For those of you who are playing along, how did you do this week?
Take a look at your brain activities list. http://www.sandismith.com/brainchallenge.html
How many can you check off and say you did this week? Congratulations!
Let's keep doing great things for our brains! Your brain is grateful.
It's time to plan for next week. Choose your healthy brain tips wisely, update your calendar, and then do it!
I'll check up on you again next week to see how you're doing. In the meantime, let me know if you have any questions.
Thanks for making Brain Awareness Week fun.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
The closest thing your brain has to superpowers – part 2
Gladwell talks about the 10,000 hour rule, the amount of time experts put in to hone their craft and reach the pinnacle of their field. His book Outliers is brilliantly written, smooth as top self tequila, and highly entertaining. He also missed a golden opportunity to go deeper, where the real human performance payback is.
Gladwell may have gotten the idea for the book title in K. Anders Ericsson’s and Neil Charness’s August 1994 article, “Expert Performance: Its Structure and Acquisition,” published in American Psychologist, where the word “outlier” is italicized on page 731.[i]
The research on expert performance is nothing new; it dates back to the 1950s. I am delighted that it is being illuminated now; it’s my mission to get these pearls out of the research labs and into the workplace so we can all experience a higher quality of life.
But wait: just put your 10,000 hours in and you should be successful, right?
There are people who have put their 10,000 hours in and are not at the top of their field. For example, you can teach for 20 years and still be a bad teacher. What I didn’t hear from Gladwell loudly enough is that the key to excelling is not simply practice, it’s a special kind of practice.
The superpower takeaway is that the top performers studied by K. Anders Ericsson practice differently. They engage in a “constant innovation” feedback loop that gives them a chance to change and improve their performance by revising their practice methods.
Let’s take the mediocre teacher mentioned above. If she records herself and listens to her lectures, makes adjustments to the boring parts, hires coaches for an outside view, evaluates her performance based on her student’s progress, asks the students what they think she should do to improve, and puts her 10,000 hours in, she is far more likely to improve her performance to an expert level.
There has to be a feedback loop. The best kind of practice is what Ericsson calls deliberate practice in which the feedback loop is an integral component.[ii]
Dr. Ericsson has studied chess masters, Scrabble players, medical professionals involved with diagnoses and surgical procedures, musicians, writers, painters, ballet dancers, athletes in numerous sports, and individuals considered savants with exceptional memory.[iii] I design and teach deliberate practice in my high performance coaching and training classes with transformational results.
The research has seen very little limits. This is where the superpowers really come in. Ericsson and Charness write “Savants who can name the day of the week of an arbitrary date ( e.g., November 5, 1923) generate their answers using instructable methods that allow their performance to be reproduced by a college student after a month of training.”[iv] You too, can display superpowers with a little work. Cool.
As a function of this deliberate and extended training, the brain and body actually change and adapt in functional and anatomical ways.[v] A great example of this is Lance Armstrong. He is widely known for having larger lung capacity than other cyclists and especially other individuals. Many people believe he was born with this extraordinary capability; however, Dr. Ericsson’s research demonstrates that Armstrong’s intense training modified his physiology by pushing his body beyond its limits. Therefore one could argue for the case that the great cyclist was made, not born, even those expanded lungs of his.
Tiger Woods is another example of an individual who others feel is “gifted.” Having started working at his expert domain at the age of three, being supported by an extraordinary father and perfect environment for achieving excellence, and using deliberate practice are three “secrets” to Woods’s success in golf that are much more significant than any innate talent.
To excel in your field, seek out training situations that give you immediate valid feedback so that you can constantly innovate your expertise and improve your performance. Ericsson cites the example of the radiologist who studies and makes diagnoses of hundreds of old X-rays that can then be compared to the documented outcome from surgery or other medical history in the file.[vi]
Gladwell is highly popular, a brilliant thinker, and a great idea guy. To go deeper in the field of expert performance, the body of work to pour over for high payback superpower pearls is K. Anders Ericsson’s at Florida State University http://www.psy.fsu.edu/faculty/ericsson.dp.html.
What miracles can deliberate practice enable in your brain? Send us your questions, comments, or workplace stories.
[i] K. Anders Ericsson and Neil Charness. (1994). “Expert Performance: Its Structure and Acquisition,” American Psychologist, 49:8, 725-747.
[ii] Christopher Percy Collier interviewing K. Anders Ericsson. (2006). “The Expert on Experts.” Fast Company, Issue 110, November 2006.
[iii] Ericsson, K. Anders and Ward, Paul. (2007). “Capturing the Naturally Occurring Superior Performance of Experts in the Laboratory,” Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16:9, 346-350.
[iv] K. Anders Ericsson and Neil Charness. (1994). “Expert Performance: Its Structure and Acquisition,” American Psychologist, 49:8, 725-747.
[v] Ericsson, K.A. (2007). “Deliberate practice and the modifiability of body and mind: Toward a science of the structure and acquisition of expert and elite performance.” International Journal of Sport Psychology, 38, 4-34.
[vi] Ericsson, K. Anders and Ward, Paul. (2007). “Capturing the Naturally Occurring Superior Performance of Experts in the Laboratory,” Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16:9, 346-350.
Gladwell may have gotten the idea for the book title in K. Anders Ericsson’s and Neil Charness’s August 1994 article, “Expert Performance: Its Structure and Acquisition,” published in American Psychologist, where the word “outlier” is italicized on page 731.[i]
The research on expert performance is nothing new; it dates back to the 1950s. I am delighted that it is being illuminated now; it’s my mission to get these pearls out of the research labs and into the workplace so we can all experience a higher quality of life.
But wait: just put your 10,000 hours in and you should be successful, right?
There are people who have put their 10,000 hours in and are not at the top of their field. For example, you can teach for 20 years and still be a bad teacher. What I didn’t hear from Gladwell loudly enough is that the key to excelling is not simply practice, it’s a special kind of practice.
The superpower takeaway is that the top performers studied by K. Anders Ericsson practice differently. They engage in a “constant innovation” feedback loop that gives them a chance to change and improve their performance by revising their practice methods.
Let’s take the mediocre teacher mentioned above. If she records herself and listens to her lectures, makes adjustments to the boring parts, hires coaches for an outside view, evaluates her performance based on her student’s progress, asks the students what they think she should do to improve, and puts her 10,000 hours in, she is far more likely to improve her performance to an expert level.
There has to be a feedback loop. The best kind of practice is what Ericsson calls deliberate practice in which the feedback loop is an integral component.[ii]
Dr. Ericsson has studied chess masters, Scrabble players, medical professionals involved with diagnoses and surgical procedures, musicians, writers, painters, ballet dancers, athletes in numerous sports, and individuals considered savants with exceptional memory.[iii] I design and teach deliberate practice in my high performance coaching and training classes with transformational results.
The research has seen very little limits. This is where the superpowers really come in. Ericsson and Charness write “Savants who can name the day of the week of an arbitrary date ( e.g., November 5, 1923) generate their answers using instructable methods that allow their performance to be reproduced by a college student after a month of training.”[iv] You too, can display superpowers with a little work. Cool.
As a function of this deliberate and extended training, the brain and body actually change and adapt in functional and anatomical ways.[v] A great example of this is Lance Armstrong. He is widely known for having larger lung capacity than other cyclists and especially other individuals. Many people believe he was born with this extraordinary capability; however, Dr. Ericsson’s research demonstrates that Armstrong’s intense training modified his physiology by pushing his body beyond its limits. Therefore one could argue for the case that the great cyclist was made, not born, even those expanded lungs of his.
Tiger Woods is another example of an individual who others feel is “gifted.” Having started working at his expert domain at the age of three, being supported by an extraordinary father and perfect environment for achieving excellence, and using deliberate practice are three “secrets” to Woods’s success in golf that are much more significant than any innate talent.
To excel in your field, seek out training situations that give you immediate valid feedback so that you can constantly innovate your expertise and improve your performance. Ericsson cites the example of the radiologist who studies and makes diagnoses of hundreds of old X-rays that can then be compared to the documented outcome from surgery or other medical history in the file.[vi]
Gladwell is highly popular, a brilliant thinker, and a great idea guy. To go deeper in the field of expert performance, the body of work to pour over for high payback superpower pearls is K. Anders Ericsson’s at Florida State University http://www.psy.fsu.edu/faculty/ericsson.dp.html.
What miracles can deliberate practice enable in your brain? Send us your questions, comments, or workplace stories.
[i] K. Anders Ericsson and Neil Charness. (1994). “Expert Performance: Its Structure and Acquisition,” American Psychologist, 49:8, 725-747.
[ii] Christopher Percy Collier interviewing K. Anders Ericsson. (2006). “The Expert on Experts.” Fast Company, Issue 110, November 2006.
[iii] Ericsson, K. Anders and Ward, Paul. (2007). “Capturing the Naturally Occurring Superior Performance of Experts in the Laboratory,” Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16:9, 346-350.
[iv] K. Anders Ericsson and Neil Charness. (1994). “Expert Performance: Its Structure and Acquisition,” American Psychologist, 49:8, 725-747.
[v] Ericsson, K.A. (2007). “Deliberate practice and the modifiability of body and mind: Toward a science of the structure and acquisition of expert and elite performance.” International Journal of Sport Psychology, 38, 4-34.
[vi] Ericsson, K. Anders and Ward, Paul. (2007). “Capturing the Naturally Occurring Superior Performance of Experts in the Laboratory,” Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16:9, 346-350.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
How you can raise your intelligence. Really.
It’s easier than you might think and totally within the realm of possibility. Luckily, science has shown us we’re not stuck with what we’re born with. There are many ways we can improve our brainpower, and some of them are amazingly fun.
Get out of your rut and learn something new
One of the top ways to grow new brain cells (a good thing, fights aging) is to learn something brand new. Play a musical instrument for the first time, learn a new language, take a college course on something that interests you, visit a new place, or start a new hobby. All of these activities build new pathways in your brain and that’s a good thing.
This is especially important right now as many people have hunkered down, stayed home, and perhaps even shut down a little as a result of the economy. Please … for your brain’s sake … turn off the TV, and find a new activity that you can get immersed in and that gives you pleasure.
You might sense your brain struggling a little when you feed it something new. That’s normal; you’re just feeling the extra resources it takes to build these new pathways, and your brain is designed to resist this. That’s why you don’t like change (no one does).
Do the new thing anyway.
Don’t give up.
Working your working memory
Your working memory is the part of your brain you use when you need to remember a phone number. It only lasts a few seconds, and most people have a capacity to remember 2-3 things (common myth is that we can remember 7 things, but this has been debunked).
It makes sense when you think about it that your working memory is pretty much the bottleneck of your whole thinking/learning process. So if we can expand this bottleneck, then we end up expanding our intelligence.
How do we do that? There are many ways. One of the best ways is to play chess, believe it or not. The act of memorizing all of your piece’s positions and planning out your moves several chess boards in advance is excellent brain food.
Another tip is to get your working memory and your long term memory working together in concert so that your working memory acts like it’s expanded to remembering far more than a few things. What’s really happening is you’re tapping into your long term memory and leveraging what you already know while learning new things.
For more memory tips, try out my product, The Top Twelve Tips to Strengthen Your Memory at Any Age, http://www.sandismith.com/memoryaudio.html
Stop stressing
There are many activities you can pursue to improve your intelligence, and there are also lots of things we need to stop doing that kills brain cells. I probably don’t need to mention obvious ones like alcohol, and drugs. Stress may be a non-obvious one. The chemicals created by stress actually kill brain cells, so it makes sense to work on lowering your stress level as much as possible.
Learn to relax (biofeedback is great for learning if you don’t know how), take yoga, do meditation, exercise, and sleep. All of these things will help you to lower your stress.
Coming into focus
One last area that can yield amazing brain benefits is to learn how to manage those random, crazy thoughts that run through your mind. Buddhists call this the monkey mind. If you have negative thoughts running rampant through your mind all day, one of the best ways to quiet the thoughts is by practicing meditation.
Start with the easiest form which gets you to focus on your breathing. Let go of any thoughts that come into your mind and gently keep putting your focus back on the breath. Just like exercise, it takes constant practice, and just like exercise, you will begin to see beneficial changes in a matter of weeks.
Try some of these ideas for not only great brain health but to experience increased brainpower and intelligence.
Get out of your rut and learn something new
One of the top ways to grow new brain cells (a good thing, fights aging) is to learn something brand new. Play a musical instrument for the first time, learn a new language, take a college course on something that interests you, visit a new place, or start a new hobby. All of these activities build new pathways in your brain and that’s a good thing.
This is especially important right now as many people have hunkered down, stayed home, and perhaps even shut down a little as a result of the economy. Please … for your brain’s sake … turn off the TV, and find a new activity that you can get immersed in and that gives you pleasure.
You might sense your brain struggling a little when you feed it something new. That’s normal; you’re just feeling the extra resources it takes to build these new pathways, and your brain is designed to resist this. That’s why you don’t like change (no one does).
Do the new thing anyway.
Don’t give up.
Working your working memory
Your working memory is the part of your brain you use when you need to remember a phone number. It only lasts a few seconds, and most people have a capacity to remember 2-3 things (common myth is that we can remember 7 things, but this has been debunked).
It makes sense when you think about it that your working memory is pretty much the bottleneck of your whole thinking/learning process. So if we can expand this bottleneck, then we end up expanding our intelligence.
How do we do that? There are many ways. One of the best ways is to play chess, believe it or not. The act of memorizing all of your piece’s positions and planning out your moves several chess boards in advance is excellent brain food.
Another tip is to get your working memory and your long term memory working together in concert so that your working memory acts like it’s expanded to remembering far more than a few things. What’s really happening is you’re tapping into your long term memory and leveraging what you already know while learning new things.
For more memory tips, try out my product, The Top Twelve Tips to Strengthen Your Memory at Any Age, http://www.sandismith.com/memoryaudio.html
Stop stressing
There are many activities you can pursue to improve your intelligence, and there are also lots of things we need to stop doing that kills brain cells. I probably don’t need to mention obvious ones like alcohol, and drugs. Stress may be a non-obvious one. The chemicals created by stress actually kill brain cells, so it makes sense to work on lowering your stress level as much as possible.
Learn to relax (biofeedback is great for learning if you don’t know how), take yoga, do meditation, exercise, and sleep. All of these things will help you to lower your stress.
Coming into focus
One last area that can yield amazing brain benefits is to learn how to manage those random, crazy thoughts that run through your mind. Buddhists call this the monkey mind. If you have negative thoughts running rampant through your mind all day, one of the best ways to quiet the thoughts is by practicing meditation.
Start with the easiest form which gets you to focus on your breathing. Let go of any thoughts that come into your mind and gently keep putting your focus back on the breath. Just like exercise, it takes constant practice, and just like exercise, you will begin to see beneficial changes in a matter of weeks.
Try some of these ideas for not only great brain health but to experience increased brainpower and intelligence.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The Closest Thing Your Brain Has to Super Powers – Part 1
Brain research on a topic called motor imagery (MI) reads like something that could happen at Hogwarts.
What it is
MI is defined as an intentional thought about moving your body without actually moving[i]. MI is imagining movement and actions, but not actually performing the actions.
Here’s the cool part: when you simply think about exercising (without moving), you get stronger. It works because the part of your brain that plans movements is highly interconnected with the part of your brain that executes movements.
MI has been shown to increase autonomic nervous system responses, such as breathing, heart rate, skin conductance (perspiration), and blood pressure.
Sports is a natural application of MI. The Olympic Gold medal winners I know use MI as part of their practice. So do Lance, Tiger, and others who at the very top of their game.
Olympic gold medal winner Peter Vidmar spent years visualizing the same scenario every morning. He would imagine himself walking into the gymnasium, performing his routine, hearing the crowd cheer, seeing his judge’s score, and accepting the gold medal. It happened as he imagined it.
I’ve seen wizardly results when MI has been applied to work activities, so let’s see how we can apply this to our lives beyond sports. But first, I think it’s important to look at the research results.
Imaginary exercise can strengthen muscles
Researchers have demonstrated that mental practice can actually make a person stronger. Yue and Cole had one group of subjects perform finger exercises and another group perform mental imagery only. The first group increased strength 30 percent, while the second group increased strength 22 percent.[ii] Strength increases can be achieved without muscle activation and appear to result from practice effects on central motor commands[iii] (Yue, Wilson, and Cole, 1996). This means that motor imagery and motor action share some of the same brain correlates.
Alvaro Pascal-Leone set up an imagining experiment on beginning piano players. One group imagined playing piano and hearing themselves play two hours a day for five days. A second group physically played, practicing the same amount of time. Both groups learned to play and showed similar brain changes throughout the process. The imagining players were as accurate after two hours of practice as the practicing ones were at the end of the five days.[iv]
At Duke University, Miguel Nicolelis and John Chapin learned how to read the thoughts of a rat pressing a bar to get water.[v] Machines that can read animals’ and people’s thoughts have helped paralyzed individuals become more independent.
Jean Decety and associates[vi] had subjects imagine running on a treadmill at speeds of 5, 8, and 10 kilometers per hour. Both heart rate and breathing rate went up relative to the imagined speed, powerful evidence that imagery alone can engage the autonomic nervous system.
In summary, mentally practicing a motor skill:
Influences performance[vii]
Can make a person stronger[viii]
WIIFM (What's in it for me) – Using MI to excel at work
Although there is no research on using MI to improve certain workplace skills, there’s no reason why we can’t be creative and try it. My coaching clients have had tremendous success with MI. Here’s one story:
Michael’s boss had quite a reputation of being hard to please. Michael’s subordinate Kris, had just been yelled at and was developing a fear of him. She was assigned to make a presentation to him and was scared.
Michael learned about motor imagery a few days before Kris was to give her speech. He asked Kris to visualize every detail about the way she wanted the meeting to go: walking in, preparing the computer, explaining each slide, watching the pleased look on her bosses’ bosses’ face, listening to his praise about how well she did during the meeting, and walking out with a smile on her face. She imagined this mental rehearsal in her mind over and over again the night before the presentation.
On the day of the presentation, Kris nailed it. Michael’s boss melted and felt Kris did an outstanding job, increasing his confidence in her and her credibility in his eyes. Kris felt competent and gained confidence as well. Michael was very pleased that the whole thing worked out so well for all.
Different from visualization
Notice the difference between MI and visualization. MI is imagining and thinking through the detailed steps on a specific task. Visualization is imagining a scene or future outcome. Where visualization is like seeing a painting, MI is like being in an entire movie.
Let us know how you use MI. Post your story here.
[i] Guillot, A. and Collet, C. (2005). Contribution from neurophysiological and psychological methods to the study of motor imagery. Brain Research Reviews , 50, 387-397.
[ii] Yue, G. and Cole, K.J. (1992). Strength increases from the motor program: Comparison of training with maximal voluntary and imagined muscle contractions. Journal of Neurophysiology, 67, 1114-1123.
[iii] Yue, G.H., Wilson, S.L., Cole, K..J. Darling, W.G., and Yuh, W.T.C. (1996) “Imagined muscle contraction training increases voluntary neural drive to muscle,” Journal of Psychophysiology, 10(3), 198-208.
[iv] Norman Doidge. (2007). The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science. Viking, New York, 201-207.
[v] Norman Doidge. (2007). The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science. Viking, New York, 201-207.
[vi] Decety, J., Jeannerod, M., Germain, M., and Pastene, J. (1991). Vegetative response during imagined movement is proportional to mental effort. Behavioral Brain Research, 42, 1-5.
[vii] Feltz, D.L. and Landers, D.M. (1983). The effects of mental practice on motor skill learning and performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Sport Psychology,5, 25-27.
[viii] Yue, G. and Cole, K.J. (1992). Strength increases from the motor program: Comparison of training with maximal voluntary and imagined muscle contractions. Journal of Neurophysiology, 67, 1114-1123.
What it is
MI is defined as an intentional thought about moving your body without actually moving[i]. MI is imagining movement and actions, but not actually performing the actions.
Here’s the cool part: when you simply think about exercising (without moving), you get stronger. It works because the part of your brain that plans movements is highly interconnected with the part of your brain that executes movements.
MI has been shown to increase autonomic nervous system responses, such as breathing, heart rate, skin conductance (perspiration), and blood pressure.
Sports is a natural application of MI. The Olympic Gold medal winners I know use MI as part of their practice. So do Lance, Tiger, and others who at the very top of their game.
Olympic gold medal winner Peter Vidmar spent years visualizing the same scenario every morning. He would imagine himself walking into the gymnasium, performing his routine, hearing the crowd cheer, seeing his judge’s score, and accepting the gold medal. It happened as he imagined it.
I’ve seen wizardly results when MI has been applied to work activities, so let’s see how we can apply this to our lives beyond sports. But first, I think it’s important to look at the research results.
Imaginary exercise can strengthen muscles
Researchers have demonstrated that mental practice can actually make a person stronger. Yue and Cole had one group of subjects perform finger exercises and another group perform mental imagery only. The first group increased strength 30 percent, while the second group increased strength 22 percent.[ii] Strength increases can be achieved without muscle activation and appear to result from practice effects on central motor commands[iii] (Yue, Wilson, and Cole, 1996). This means that motor imagery and motor action share some of the same brain correlates.
Alvaro Pascal-Leone set up an imagining experiment on beginning piano players. One group imagined playing piano and hearing themselves play two hours a day for five days. A second group physically played, practicing the same amount of time. Both groups learned to play and showed similar brain changes throughout the process. The imagining players were as accurate after two hours of practice as the practicing ones were at the end of the five days.[iv]
At Duke University, Miguel Nicolelis and John Chapin learned how to read the thoughts of a rat pressing a bar to get water.[v] Machines that can read animals’ and people’s thoughts have helped paralyzed individuals become more independent.
Jean Decety and associates[vi] had subjects imagine running on a treadmill at speeds of 5, 8, and 10 kilometers per hour. Both heart rate and breathing rate went up relative to the imagined speed, powerful evidence that imagery alone can engage the autonomic nervous system.
In summary, mentally practicing a motor skill:
Influences performance[vii]
Can make a person stronger[viii]
WIIFM (What's in it for me) – Using MI to excel at work
Although there is no research on using MI to improve certain workplace skills, there’s no reason why we can’t be creative and try it. My coaching clients have had tremendous success with MI. Here’s one story:
Michael’s boss had quite a reputation of being hard to please. Michael’s subordinate Kris, had just been yelled at and was developing a fear of him. She was assigned to make a presentation to him and was scared.
Michael learned about motor imagery a few days before Kris was to give her speech. He asked Kris to visualize every detail about the way she wanted the meeting to go: walking in, preparing the computer, explaining each slide, watching the pleased look on her bosses’ bosses’ face, listening to his praise about how well she did during the meeting, and walking out with a smile on her face. She imagined this mental rehearsal in her mind over and over again the night before the presentation.
On the day of the presentation, Kris nailed it. Michael’s boss melted and felt Kris did an outstanding job, increasing his confidence in her and her credibility in his eyes. Kris felt competent and gained confidence as well. Michael was very pleased that the whole thing worked out so well for all.
Different from visualization
Notice the difference between MI and visualization. MI is imagining and thinking through the detailed steps on a specific task. Visualization is imagining a scene or future outcome. Where visualization is like seeing a painting, MI is like being in an entire movie.
Let us know how you use MI. Post your story here.
[i] Guillot, A. and Collet, C. (2005). Contribution from neurophysiological and psychological methods to the study of motor imagery. Brain Research Reviews , 50, 387-397.
[ii] Yue, G. and Cole, K.J. (1992). Strength increases from the motor program: Comparison of training with maximal voluntary and imagined muscle contractions. Journal of Neurophysiology, 67, 1114-1123.
[iii] Yue, G.H., Wilson, S.L., Cole, K..J. Darling, W.G., and Yuh, W.T.C. (1996) “Imagined muscle contraction training increases voluntary neural drive to muscle,” Journal of Psychophysiology, 10(3), 198-208.
[iv] Norman Doidge. (2007). The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science. Viking, New York, 201-207.
[v] Norman Doidge. (2007). The Brain that Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science. Viking, New York, 201-207.
[vi] Decety, J., Jeannerod, M., Germain, M., and Pastene, J. (1991). Vegetative response during imagined movement is proportional to mental effort. Behavioral Brain Research, 42, 1-5.
[vii] Feltz, D.L. and Landers, D.M. (1983). The effects of mental practice on motor skill learning and performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Sport Psychology,5, 25-27.
[viii] Yue, G. and Cole, K.J. (1992). Strength increases from the motor program: Comparison of training with maximal voluntary and imagined muscle contractions. Journal of Neurophysiology, 67, 1114-1123.
Monday, March 16, 2009
It’s Brain Awareness Week!
Why not do something good for your brain? How about the BrainWays 30-day Brain Health Challenge? http://www.sandismith.com/brainchallenge.html
It's really easy and requires very few IQ points (after all, it is Monday.)
Pick an item on the list, and do it. For the first one, go easy on yourself and pick a fun or yummy one!
Tonight, plan what you’re going to do for the rest of the week. Write right on your calendar an item from our challenge list. And then do it!
Your brain will thank you.
Why not do something good for your brain? How about the BrainWays 30-day Brain Health Challenge? http://www.sandismith.com/brainchallenge.html
It's really easy and requires very few IQ points (after all, it is Monday.)
Pick an item on the list, and do it. For the first one, go easy on yourself and pick a fun or yummy one!
Tonight, plan what you’re going to do for the rest of the week. Write right on your calendar an item from our challenge list. And then do it!
Your brain will thank you.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Job-seekers: take some time to seek happiness
The last boss I had in the corporate sector was born the same day as Hitler. So maybe it wasn't so bad when I got laid off 15 or so years ago. That's when I started my own business.
Finding yourself unemployed can be serious business. Do take extra measures during this time to stay happy. Here are my top happiness tips for today's job seekers:
1. Surround yourself with supportive friends and family. Plan time for socializing and avoid isolating yourself. Get a best friend if you don’t have one and hang with them.
2. Set new goals for yourself. Plan your job search, update your resume, and let your friends and acquaintances know what you’re looking for and what you have to offer. Accomplish something toward your goal every day.
3. Make a gratitude list to help lift your spirits. Do you have your health? The support of friends and family? A set of marketable skills? A comfortable home to live in? Food on the table three times a day? Keep it going, and create a practice for yourself daily to remind yourself of what you have.
4. Educate yourself on which industries are hiring and which jobs are in demand: nursing, physicians, accountants, green energy, oil and gas, health care managers, and IT jobs are in demand. Is there a way you can easily retool? For example, if you are in construction, how can you retool yourself for green construction where the jobs are?
5. Surround yourself with positive activities and avoid negative ones. Listen to uplifting music and turn off the economic news. Watch comedies instead of tearjerkers. Meet with hopeful friends and avoid negative people.
6. If you need to, scale down. Eat at Subway instead of Morton’s. Turn the thermostat lower in winter and higher in summer. Postpone purchases. Meet people at coffee places instead of lunch places. Trade with people instead of paying cash.
7. To counter #4, have fun that’s free. Go to the library to check out books, see a $1 movie, take a walk in the park, or have friends come over to chat.
8. Volunteer to help someone who is more in need than you. This is important to keep your perspective and your spirits up.
9. When you’re ready, debrief your layoff and try to be realistic. If you lack a skill most companies need or have a behavior problem that has gotten in the way, fix it. Get schooling or coaching or both.
10. Participate in stress-reducing activities such as exercise, sports, meditation (but not if you’re clinically depressed), and yoga.
11. Listen carefully to the people you trust for advice right now.
12. If you do find yourself slipping into a depression, get professional help. Find a psychologist, psychiatrist, or ask your family doctor for help. In many cases, drug therapy and cognitive-based therapy together make the most potent recovery.
Finding yourself unemployed can be serious business. Do take extra measures during this time to stay happy. Here are my top happiness tips for today's job seekers:
1. Surround yourself with supportive friends and family. Plan time for socializing and avoid isolating yourself. Get a best friend if you don’t have one and hang with them.
2. Set new goals for yourself. Plan your job search, update your resume, and let your friends and acquaintances know what you’re looking for and what you have to offer. Accomplish something toward your goal every day.
3. Make a gratitude list to help lift your spirits. Do you have your health? The support of friends and family? A set of marketable skills? A comfortable home to live in? Food on the table three times a day? Keep it going, and create a practice for yourself daily to remind yourself of what you have.
4. Educate yourself on which industries are hiring and which jobs are in demand: nursing, physicians, accountants, green energy, oil and gas, health care managers, and IT jobs are in demand. Is there a way you can easily retool? For example, if you are in construction, how can you retool yourself for green construction where the jobs are?
5. Surround yourself with positive activities and avoid negative ones. Listen to uplifting music and turn off the economic news. Watch comedies instead of tearjerkers. Meet with hopeful friends and avoid negative people.
6. If you need to, scale down. Eat at Subway instead of Morton’s. Turn the thermostat lower in winter and higher in summer. Postpone purchases. Meet people at coffee places instead of lunch places. Trade with people instead of paying cash.
7. To counter #4, have fun that’s free. Go to the library to check out books, see a $1 movie, take a walk in the park, or have friends come over to chat.
8. Volunteer to help someone who is more in need than you. This is important to keep your perspective and your spirits up.
9. When you’re ready, debrief your layoff and try to be realistic. If you lack a skill most companies need or have a behavior problem that has gotten in the way, fix it. Get schooling or coaching or both.
10. Participate in stress-reducing activities such as exercise, sports, meditation (but not if you’re clinically depressed), and yoga.
11. Listen carefully to the people you trust for advice right now.
12. If you do find yourself slipping into a depression, get professional help. Find a psychologist, psychiatrist, or ask your family doctor for help. In many cases, drug therapy and cognitive-based therapy together make the most potent recovery.
Do you believe you can raise your intelligence?
About half of the population believes their intelligence is fixed from genetics. Luckily, that is only half the story, and the weak half at that.
Science has shown that when you are talking about cognitive intelligence measured by IQ tests, there is a correlation between parents and their children. But that’s only the beginning of the story.
Science has also shown the brain exhibits plasticity every day of our lives until the second we die. Plasticity means two things: The brain grows brand new brain cells, and the brain constantly grows and discontinues new connections with other cells. On a simplified level, these cells represent new memories and that translates into the fact that we have learned something new.
You can raise your intelligence. Some professionals have written about multiple intelligences: artistic, sports, social, and other forms of intelligence. It doesn’t matter what type of intelligence you’re speaking of; all of them can be increased.
Are you in the half of the population who believes that your intelligence can be raised? Or are you in the half that thinks you are stuck with what you were born with?
Studies show people who believe, as science proves, that we can increase our intelligence are much more successful. Which type of believer are you? Is in your workplace? Teaches your children? Did you marry? Is your boss?
I challenge you this week to really think through your beliefs on intelligence. Every neuroscientist I have ever read continues to be amazed by the brain’s seemingly infinite capabilities.
K. Anders Ericsson is a psychology professor who has spent his career studying how experts work. He says, “With the exception of some sports, no characteristic of the brain or body constrains an individual from reaching an expert level.”[i]
Attention expert Michael Posner says, “We have found no ceiling for abilities such as attention, including among adults. The more training, even with normal people, the higher the results.”[ii]
Imagine a world where half of the population broke free of their perceived limits and began performing at a level they never before imagined. The world’s intelligence would be significantly increased.
The potential and the power starts with you. What do you believe?
In the next day or two, I will blog on how you can raise your intelligence.
[i] Christopher Percy Collier interviewing K. Anders Ericsson. (2006). “The Expert on Experts.” Fast Company, Issue 110, November 2006.
[ii] Alvaro Fernandez interview with Michael Posner. (2008). “Training Attention and Emotional Self-Regulation.” SharpBrains.com Blog, October 18, 2008.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
BrainWays 30-Day Brain Health Challenge
In celebration of Brain Awareness Week, commit to doing something good for your brain every day for 30 days. Most of these take only a few minutes each day. Start on March 16, 2009 and end on April 14, 2009. From the tasks below, put together your own 30-day brain agenda and tape it to your refrigerator door. It's OK to repeat any of the tasks; the brain loves practice.
- Enjoy a dish of fresh blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Full of brain-loving anti-oxidants.
- Meditate on your breath for 15 minutes.
- Take a run or brisk walk for 20 minutes. Aerobic exercise is the best kind for the brain.
- Get so involved in a work task or hobby that you lose track of time. Good for concentration.
- Go dancing. Great for the brain.
- Play a round of chess. One of the best activities for building deep thinking and planning skills.
- Eat fish today. Wild salmon or whitefish is best. Avoid swordfish and others with too much mercury.
- Learn to play a musical instrument.
- Socialize with friends. Yep, getting together with friends is great for the brain.
- Shut your office door, turn off the phones and email, and enjoy the quiet for 15 minutes.
- Read a book.
- Fully observe your surroundings. What do you see, hear, smell, taste, feel?
- Give a friend a sincere compliment.
- Swim a couple of laps in the nearby pool.
- Eat a healthy portion of spinach, broccoli, or carrots.
- Memorize a passage from a book or several of your friends' phone numbers. This will give your working memory a workout.
- Drink a cup of green tea, loaded with anti-oxidants.
- Take a yoga class. Good for the body as well as stress-reduction.
- Ride your bike for 30 minutes. You can also try the stationary bike at the gym.
- Eat a liberal portion of tomatoes.
- Meditate on an object for at least fifteen minutes.
- Think of three things you are grateful for in your life.
- Play Scrabble, work crossword puzzles, or try another word game, but only if you haven't done it before. New activity is the best for building strong brains.
- Enjoy nature through gardening or a walk in a park.
- Listen to relaxing music to unwind after a stressful day.
- Add garlic to your meal.
- Spend 20 minutes on the stair machine at the gym.
- Keep your mood positive.
- Work a math problem in your head.
- Be mindful and fully present while doing a task.
Addicted to Distractions
Workers feel pressured to get so much done during the day that they often multi-task. When you adopt this hurry-up mindset, you can get addicted to it without realizing it is happening. How often have you checked your email (or Twitter or Facebook or etc.) 5 seconds since the last time you checked it? You end up getting less done than ever before when distractions become the habit instead of the exception.
One of the biggest time-wasters on the planet is a feature in Microsoft Outlook where you can set the software to automatically send and receive email every 15 minutes or an increment of your choosing. I believe this is a default setting.
Imagine adding up the cost of this distraction of every employee in your company. Let's say you have 100 employees. An 8-hour day has 32 15-minute increments. Your employee is wasting at least 32 minutes per day when that feature is set at its default level. Let's say you pay a modest average of $20.00 per hour. Tack on a 30% benefits rate, and your 100 employees are wasting $325,000 per year just from that one Outlook feature.
When you consider that it takes an employee 25 minutes (according to one study) to get back to work after being distracted, this figure goes up. When you add in cell phones, the land line, faxes, instant messaging, other email accounts, the Internet, appointments, cubicle visitors, social media, and meetings, no wonder everyone is time-challenged.
First, turn off as many of these interruption features as you can. Second, give yourself a place to go to get your head back together when you need to.
White space
Companies are beginning to see the costs of a distracted performance and are responding to this need with a variety of solutions:
If you or your employer has implemented a program to squash distractions, I'd love for you to drop me a line about it. I will write up those I receive into case studies and will post them on my web site.
If your employer hasn't set up a program, interrupt them (!) and send them a copy of this article. Hopefully you will benefit from a future program.
One of the biggest time-wasters on the planet is a feature in Microsoft Outlook where you can set the software to automatically send and receive email every 15 minutes or an increment of your choosing. I believe this is a default setting.
Imagine adding up the cost of this distraction of every employee in your company. Let's say you have 100 employees. An 8-hour day has 32 15-minute increments. Your employee is wasting at least 32 minutes per day when that feature is set at its default level. Let's say you pay a modest average of $20.00 per hour. Tack on a 30% benefits rate, and your 100 employees are wasting $325,000 per year just from that one Outlook feature.
When you consider that it takes an employee 25 minutes (according to one study) to get back to work after being distracted, this figure goes up. When you add in cell phones, the land line, faxes, instant messaging, other email accounts, the Internet, appointments, cubicle visitors, social media, and meetings, no wonder everyone is time-challenged.
First, turn off as many of these interruption features as you can. Second, give yourself a place to go to get your head back together when you need to.
White space
Companies are beginning to see the costs of a distracted performance and are responding to this need with a variety of solutions:
- Creating quiet rooms where employees can think and brainstorm creatively without interruption.
- Adding meditation practice to its list of benefits.
- Adding mindfulness training for employees.
- Setting days where no meetings are allowed all day or hours where no one can interrupt anyone else.
If you or your employer has implemented a program to squash distractions, I'd love for you to drop me a line about it. I will write up those I receive into case studies and will post them on my web site.
If your employer hasn't set up a program, interrupt them (!) and send them a copy of this article. Hopefully you will benefit from a future program.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
