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Sales Tweet #187

by Rick Baker
On Apr 5, 2011
Sales Tweet #187 You can do better than minding your own business. You can Put Your Best Brain Forward.
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
Isn’t this an interesting Harry Houdini quote: “My brain is the key that sets my mind free.” Is the opposite also true? ... “My mind is the key that sets my brain free.” Our LinkedIn group – Put Your Best Brain Forward.

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Put Your Best Brain Forward | Thought Tweets

The Power Of and the Problem With Thinking

by Rick Baker
On Mar 9, 2011
Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.
Napoleon Hill, W. Clement Stone
 
Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.
Marcus Aurelius
 
No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.
Voltaire
 
Clear thinking requires courage rather than intelligence.
Thomas Szasz
 
You must continue to gain expertise, but avoid thinking like an expert.
Denis Waitley
 
A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.
William James
 
Let our advance worrying become advance thinking and planning.
Winston Churchill
 
Thinking is easy, acting is difficult, and to put one's thoughts into action is the most difficult thing in the world.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 
Most of us are consumed with our own thoughts and desires and are not always thinking about what other people may want. This is not necessarily being egocentric; it is just being human.
Bo Bennett
 
The reason why so few people are agreeable in conversation is that each is thinking more about what he intends to say than others are saying.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld
 
Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
 
Most of one's life is one prolonged effort to prevent oneself thinking.
Aldous Huxley
 
Don't think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It's self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can't try to do things. You simply must do things.
Ray Bradbury
 
Our thinking and our behaviour are always in anticipation of a response. It is therefore fear-based.
Deepak Chopra
 
Misery is almost always the result of thinking.
Joseph Joubert

Stress & emotional resilience – Part 1

by Rick Baker
On Mar 8, 2011
For a while now I have wanted to write a paper about workplace stress.
 
I decided, rather than wait to complete it I would write out some preliminary thoughts…this Thought Post is an introduction.
 
First, here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia:
 
Stress is a term in psychology and biology, first coined in the biological context in the 1930s, which has in more recent decades become commonly used in popular parlance. It refers to the consequence of the failure of an organism – human or animal – to respond appropriately to emotional or physical threats, whether actual or imagined.[1]
 
Signs of stress may be cognitive, emotional, physical or behavioral. Signs include poor judgment, a general negative outlook[citation needed], excessive worrying, moodiness, irritability, agitation, inability to relax, feeling lonely, isolated or depressed, aches and pains, diarrhea or constipation, nausea, dizziness, chest pain, rapid heartbeat, eating too much or not enough, sleeping too much or not enough, social withdrawal, procrastination or neglect of responsibilities, increased alcohol, nicotine or drug consumption, and nervous habits such as pacing about, nail-biting and neck pains.”
 
Next, here’s some information provided in David J. Lieberman books:
 
What causes stress and how do people react to it?
 
Stress happens:
  • When we have doubts
  • When we are not Confident
  • When we do not feel in control of the situation
5 different kinds of stress:
  1. Acute & short-lived
    • Example – many people are stressed when they must give a speech
  2. Acute with a sequence of challenge of some duration
    • Example – the 911 tragedy
  3. Chronic demands, pervasive and personal
    • Example – taking care of an ailing relative
  4. Lingering
    • Example – child abuse
  5. Background stressors
    • Examples – traffic, loud music
People react to stress 3 ways:
  1. Avoidance
  2. Problem-focused coping, when the stressor/situation can be changed
  3. Emotion-focused coping...change the way we feel
…to be continued

Our Brains: from Good to Great – Part 1

by Rick Baker
On Feb 28, 2011
With all the research and recent breakthroughs concerning the human brain, how are we to know fact from fiction?
 
For example, for at least a couple of generations most people accepted the following to be a fact – a human being only uses 10% of his or her brain. Today, most experts are saying that is Hogwash…we use much more than 10% of our brains. On the other hand, we do not use all our brain at once.
 
Some experts claim our brain consumes 20% of the oxygen and 20% of the calories burned by the human body. I suppose that can be estimated with some accuracy. As a small piece of proof, consider the thermal pictures showing lots of heat emanating from the head. Something is causing our heads to generate much more heat than the other parts of our bodies.
 
Since the brain consumes so much fuel…I wonder…what would happen if all of a sudden every neuron in our brain fired? Would there be enough blood flow to fire all our [give-or-take] 1000-trillion neurons? Would we pass out from lack of oxygen?
 
Over the last generation certain authors have tended to classify some people left-brained while classifying other people right-brained. I don’t believe that ever meant to imply people only use one side of their brains. It meant one side of the brain dominated. If the left-brain dominated then the person tended to be logical. If the right-brain dominated then the person tended to be empathetic and creative.
 
Recently, much texture has been added to these sorts of views. Brain tests such as SPECT [single photon emission computed tomography] and FMRI [functional magnetic resonance imaging] have confirmed neurons ‘fire’ in specific parts of the brain, depending on the stimulus. That doesn’t mean neurons only fire in one place at one time. It seems we use bits and pieces of our brain when we experience certain stimuli. And, the process is far from random.
 
Here is another aspect of our brains that is debated: when you get older you lose your memory. The blogosphere seems to favour – that’s fiction – we are not destined to lose memory as we age. On the other hand, it is a hard to ignore Alzheimer’s Disease.
 
Here is something I feel good about…Dr. Daniel Amen says our brain requires 3 things: oxygen, glucose, and stimuli. I like this because it is simple and because it provides us a way to think about improving the operation of our brains.
 
I especially like the last one – stimuli. If the brain needs stimuli to thrive then let’s choose as much of that stimuli as possible.
 
Whether 10% or 100% of the brain is used, whether we tend to be left-brained or right-brained or neither, whether we would pass out from using too much of our brain at one time or not, whether we will lose some memory with age or not…I like the idea – we can choose to provide stimuli to our brains.
 
We can choose stimuli. We can choose behaviour.
 
We can choose Good Habits.
 
And, our brain will respond positively.
 
It seems to me carefully-chosen behaviour and stimuli will help us use more of our brains…and carefully-chosen behaviour and stimuli will help us develop and improve the parts of our brains best suited to perform the chosen brain-work.
 
…to be continued

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Habits: Good Habits, Bad Habits, & New Things | Put Your Best Brain Forward

Put Your Best Brain Forward

by Rick Baker
On Feb 19, 2011

Put Your Best Brain Forward

Our LinkedIn Group - Profile

The unicorn is the only mythological creature not created with fear in mind.

That unicorn trait impresses us.

We have called this LinkedIn group ‘Put Your Best Brain Forward’ because the people in this group have a particular interest in understanding the human brain. We are thinkers who are interested in how brains work.

We want to get the most out of our brains…we want to understand how we can help our brains help us perform better. When others are interested we want to help others understand what we have learned about the human brain.

The people in our group are curious. We enjoy self-education. We are life-long learners. And, many of us enjoy teaching.

We also enjoy exchanging thoughts and ideas with one another: that’s a key method we use to expand and solidify our thoughts.

Who should join this group?

• People who think the human brain is important enough to study and talk about
• People who want to keep up to date with what is known about the human brain
• People who want to read about the brain
• People who want to write about the brain
• People who want to improve their brains so they can perform better, particularly at their ‘work role’
• People who have a sense of humour/humor
• Creative people

Restrictions?

• Our group has committed to meet and surpass all LinkedIn requirements and rules, so a request to join our group will signal your agreement to help us excel in this area.
• We encourage creative thought and hearty debate….and ‘fair play’.

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Put Your Best Brain Forward

Stephen Covey - The 8th Habit

by Rick Baker
On Jan 5, 2011
Here is a table I created after reading Stephen R. Covey’s The 8th Habit.
 
The 8th HABIT - Stephen Covey
 
WHOLE PERSON
4 NEEDS
4 INTELLEGENCES / CAPACITIES
4 ATTRIBUTES
VOICE
VALUES / MANIFESTATIONS
MIND
To learn
Mental Intelligence (IQ)
Vision
Talent (Disciplined Focus)
desire, dreams, hopes, goals, plans, imagination... sense of self, destiny, mission, role in life, purpose and meaning
BODY
To live
Physical Intelligence (PQ)
Discipline
Need ("See" Meeting Needs)
define and accept reality, subordinating today's pleasure for a greater longer-term good
HEART
To Love
Emotional Intelligence (EQ)
Passion
Passion (Love To Do)
optimism, excitement, emotional connections, determination
SPIRIT
To Leave a Legacy
Spiritual Intelligence (SQ)
Conscience
Conscience (Do What's Right)
fairness, honesty, respect, contribution
 
Footnote:

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Beyond Business | Emotions & Feelings @ Work | Put Your Best Brain Forward

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