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by Rick Baker
On Dec 8, 2010
Who is your biggest critic?
Who consumes a huge chunk of your time…day after day after day?
If you are like the vast majority of us then the answer is…
- that nagging, incessant voice of dissatisfaction in your head
- that little voice which, for most of us, sounds like our own voice and seems to talk at us from a place just inside our heads behind the base of our nose
That little voice keeps rehashing our past errors and reminds us of past difficulties. That little voice repeats and repeats would’a’, could’a’, should’a’ and that little voice never runs out of topics to talk about.
That little voice keeps telling us we must worry about future problems.
That little voice talks on with unwavering insistence in its ability to predict the future…I mean, predicting the negatives that will visit us in the future: the problems, the difficulties and the what ifs.
We listen to that negative-chatterbox voice…it is so tough to ignore it.
We let it mess up our concentration during the daytime.
We let it mess up our sleep at night.
We let that little voice consume huge amounts of our time.
To the extent you can quiet that little voice you will be more successful and you will have more time.
by Rick Baker
On Sep 30, 2010
And, this introduction to Chapter 3 follows:
“ At the end of this chapter, you'll know and be able to use the following:
- Key ways to engage the primal part of the human brain
- Core mechanisms the brain uses to determine whether to pay attention to your message
- The three ways in which the brain can be frustrated, and how to avoid them in your marketing
- The four triggers the brain loves and how to use them in marketing”
When I first saw this book on the shelf at Chapters I couldn't believe my good fortune...it was like Made to Stick[1] meets Executive BrainSmarts[2] or like Jeffrey Gitomer, Napoleon Hill, and Sigmund Freud might be having a little get-together.
Anyhow, Chapter 3 continues with 'Caveman In A Wired World'. And, that reminded me of the message I was trying to communicate when I wrote about the cave-people in Stories & Questions[3].
Dr. Pradeep ends Chapter 3 with a summary of what we learned. Here is some of that summary:
- Honor the brain's precious resources - its limited processing ability, and its restricted, focused attention
- Be interesting. The brain loves puzzles and humor
- Use emotion to reach out to consumers, especially women
- Clear your message of clutter
- Use active, direct verbs to guide the brain swiftly and directly to its goal
- Indulge the brain in messaging, images, displays, and environments that celebrate sensuality and deep pleasure
- Celebrate the multi-tasking wizardry of your female consumers in images and copy
- Provide networking opportunities through your brand, product, or environment for female consumers
Dr. Pradeep has written a very interesting book.
by Rick Baker
On Jul 13, 2010
Lorie Saxby, PhD is the co-author of Secrets from the BRAIN and she is President of Working Brain Associates Inc. www.loriesaxby.com
Lorie delivers workshops and training to people seeking to improve work performance by tapping into brain science. Based on the many questions asked at the end of Lorie’s talk it is clear her insight will benefit not just business people but also their relatives and friends: for example, consider anxiety around public speaking.
In an earlier blog, I wrote about Executive BrainSmarts, the 7 key frontal lobe executive cognitive functions identified by Lorie Saxby: Focus, Initiate, Plan, Organize, Shift, Monitor, and Regulate.
In this blog, I will summarize the feedback loop Lorie described during her presentation…and please refer to pages 26-29 of Secrets from the BRAIN …an excerpt from Page 28:
“While the Executive BrainSmarts are interrelated, they fall into a continuous and ongoing feedback loop that allows us to gauge our progress and revise action plans accordingly.”
The Executive BrainSmarts Feedback Loop consists of 3 phases:
Prepare: to begin our work tasks we use our Focus & Initiate Executive BrainSmarts
Perform: to perform our work tasks we use our Plan, Organize, & Shift Executive BrainSmarts
Check: to check the impact our actions and emotions have on ourselves and others we use our Monitor & Regulate Executive BrainSmarts
More about Executive BrainSmarts in future blogs…
by Rick Baker
On Apr 15, 2010
I had the pleasure of visiting with Dr. Lorie Saxby last week.
Lorie co-authored Secrets from the BRAIN – Sharpen Your Thinking, Power Your Performance, (2010).
Lorie provided an autographed copy of her book, which now has a place in my little but growing library of author-signed books.
Secrets from the BRAIN – Sharpen Your Thinking, Power Your Performance provides a fresh new way to think about the behaviour and performance we experience in our workplaces.
The book has a top-notch design. It provides reader-friendly explanations of the brain and how our brains, specifically the frontal lobes of our brains, operate and influence our behaviour. Many examples of both good and not-so-good behaviour - ie, the real-life things we are all familiar with – are provided. The straightforward examples allow us to quickly grasp the authors’ points. And, I appreciated the balance between good behaviour and not-so-good behaviour.
Of most importance, Secrets from the BRAIN – Sharpen Your Thinking, Power Your Performance provides help for those who want to perform better and/or help other people perform better.
And, isn’t that exactly what business leaders want to do!
The authors created Executive BrainSmarts. In summary, Executive BrainSmarts is a tool to help us understand and improve behaviour.
Here is an excerpt from the book…
“To this end, we have identified seven key frontal lobe executive cognitive
functions that are particularly relevant to optimal work performance and
productivity. We call these 'Executive BrainSmarts.'”
While I will list the 7 functions – focus, initiate, plan, organize, shift, monitor, and regulate - I recommend reading the entire book to understand the relationship between these functions…all of which is summarized in an excellent way in Figure 3: Executive BrainSmarts Paradigm.
I found Figure 3 so helpful I photocopied and enlarged it so I can post a copy in my office and carry a copy in my notebook.
More on Good Habits, Bad Habits, & New Things in future blogs…
by Rick Baker
On Feb 9, 2010
Physiology and Change For The Better: Change Your Brain, Change Your Life
This is the 7th blog in a 10-blog series about Habits, doing New Things, and Change.
In the last 3 blogs, I presented introductions to Ideas about change, the Psychology around change, and Tools for change…and Habits, which are intimately linked to Change and whether or not it happens.
Blog 4: 5 Ideas about Change [John Oesch's ideas]
Blog 5: Psychology related to Change [Maxwell Maltz on self-image, habits, and change]
Blog 6: A Tool to aid Change [the MotivAider]
My goal in those blogs was to introduce the diversity of the facets - some of the pieces of the puzzle - of human behavior, habits, and Change. We need to understand these and other puzzle pieces if we are to optimize Change For The Better. More-specifically, we need to understand how to overcome resistance to Change.
Here are two more important facts about Change:
Some people cannot Change.
Some other people need targeted, professional help to Change.
Daniel Amen was very clear about this in his bestseller Change Your Brain, Change Your Life. When I read his book, I came away with the opinion he categorized people into 3 groups: (1) people who could not change regardless of their desire or anyone else's, (2) people who had major problems but could change if they uncovered the right 'remedy' or mix of 'remedies', and (3) normal folks who struggled with certain problems and could , without help from others, change themselves to alleviate or remove their own problems.
- People who can not Change: Brain damage, through birth defect or head injury or stroke [etc], can alter the brain to the point remedies will have limited or no success. Some people brains are 'wired' or become 'wired' in a manner that defies remedy.
- People who need help to Change: Our knowledge of how brains work has escalated over recent decades. Dr Amen is emphatic when he draws a line between the psychology of the brain [like Maxwell Maltz studied] and the physiology of the brain…such as can be understood by SPECT tests [single photon emission computerized tomography]. Physiological problems can lead to anxiety, depression, inability to concentrate, and other problems. All of these problems can wreak havoc with one's life…including one's worklife and one's ability break habits and Change For The Better. Dr Amen recommends professionals consider 4 remedies to target the problems: medication, behavioural change techniques, nutrition, and exercise.
- People who can Change on their own: Most people, from time to time, suffer from 'brain problems'. A good example is anxiety around public speaking. Another common one is inability to concentrate. These people do not need medication. The other 3 remedies can be used to create Change For The Better.
Amen 'remedies' can be used for self-improvement whether or not there is major dysfunction.
The next blog in this series will contain an idea about when not to make Change…because it will not be For Better.
by Rick Baker
On Feb 4, 2010
MotivAider…A Tool for Change For The Better
This is the 6th blog in a 10-blog series about Habits, doing New Things, and Change.
This is one example of a New Thing, a tool, one could use to remove a Bad Habit and create a Good Habit…
I bought one of these tools to learn what caused these folks to create the product and to see how it works. In the instruction manual, the MotivAider folks explain their thinking in straightforward words. They have concluded the human brain gets in our way when we try to change ourselves [let alone try to help others change].
The MotivAider people say,
What's wrong with the mind is that it has absolutely no built-in
mechanism for keeping good intentions on "the front burner."
So, they created a tool - the MotivAider - to ensure good intentions are repeatedly brought to the 'front burner'.
They describe how the MotivAider can be used to help a business person change his posture for the better…to help achieve the person's career goals. They also talk about other business applications such as improving customer relations. The MotivAider can also be used to help children develop Good Habits.
Another application: the MotivAider can be used to help people to stop biting their nails.
Speaking of nail biting, here's a quote from Anderson Cooper:
I suppose if you've never bitten your nails, there isn't any way to explain the habit. It's
not enjoyable, really, but there is a certain satisfaction - pride in a job well done.
We all have good intentions that are quickly forgotten or replaced by other thoughts during the heat of our workday action. For example, we all want to have positive attitudes and be optimistic…yet, often during the heat of 'battle' we revert to far-less-productive Bad Habits. That's the main reason I created P=2S+O©.
In the next blog I will take a look at what Dr Daniel Amen [author of Change Your Brain, Change Your Life] has to say about Habits…and the realities about whether or not and how people may Change For The Better.
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