Blog: Is Your Brain Ready To Be Stretched?
In my years of study, research and curriculum development, focusing on enhancing human performance and implementing dynamic interpersonal communication, I have found that most people are reluctant to take in information that is inconsistent with what they have already concluded. In addition, I have witnessed that many people make poor decisions because they are so certain that they’re right. Radically open-minded people know that coming up with the right questions, and asking other smart and creative people what they think, is as important as having all the answers.
By transforming the way individuals think, process information and their feelings, and identify triggering events, we can literally reprogram their neurology, which then creates a shift in action, belief and their ability to relate to and interact with the world around them. Placed into a team ecology, they can then adapt to changing environments and situations with flexibility and a solution-orientation to issues. This benefits the individual and their personal experience of growth and value while enhancing the team objectives and results. This typically results in team stability, the emerging of tribal leadership and sustained accountability and retention.
So how do we sustain this level of neurological evolution?
WE STRETCH YOUR BRAIN
That’s right, we train the brain daily through a series of brain exercises and suggestions so that it leaves the comfort of what is familiar, and enters into the realm of quantum science.
1. SHIFT YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO TIME. We used to think we had it nailed: time was the tick-tock of a clock somewhere outside the universe against which all processes within it could be measured. This appealing, intuitive idea of an absolute time underpins things like Newton’s classical laws of motion, and even the distinctly non-intuitive workings of quantum equations, our best description of the nitty-gritty of reality. Einstein’s theories of relativity blew away the whole idea. Einstein showed that space and time are relative. Both are part of a unified space-time that is warped by both gravity and motion so that no two observers can ever fully agree on what happened when. The discrepancies are imperceptible to us because we live our whole lives in roughly the same gravitational field, and at roughly the same low speeds. In order to fully wrap your brain around time you might just consider it from multiple perspectives.
2. PROVE YOURSELF WRONG. Your brain lies to you sometimes. So when it tells you that you can't possibly get a promotion, or that you'll never be able to lose 10 pounds, look at it as a challenge. Force yourself to take one more step after you think you're too exhausted to keep going. Or challenge yourself to keep applying for promotions despite your brain's insistence you won't land a new position. Each time you successfully prove your negative predictions wrong, you'll train your brain to see yourself in a different light. Over time, your brain will start to view your limitations, as well as your capabilities, more accurately.
3. CHANGE YOUR INNER DIALOGUE. The conversations you have with yourself have a direct impact on how you feel and how you behave. If your self-talk is filled with doubt, harsh criticism, and catastrophic predictions, you'll struggle to reach your goals. But you don't have to let a pessimistic outlook or foreboding inner monologue hold you back. You can train your brain to think differently.
4. PICK ONE NEW ACTIVITY. Devote your time and attention to only one new activity, so you won't be tempted by other interests. Continuously challenge your brain in order for it to grow. This is why choosing a new activity is so beneficial. It engages your brain to learn something new and offers the impetus to improve.
