Ever been in a department store and wonder how they stay in business
with such useless help? You expect more from a highly paid management team of a major corporation.
In some Fortune 1,000 companies it appears to an outsider the CEO is on sabbatical, while the executives are occupying themselves watching the New York Stock Exchange results on CNBC. But we challenge our own thoughts, refusing to believe statistics citing up to 80% of executives consistently disengaged from their profession.
Gallup Study
In 2004 Gallup release a major U.S. study indicating only 26% of a work
force is dedicated to quality and company growth. The other 74% are
unmotivated and not energized about producing a positive daily result.
Fear of dismissal does not seem to threaten employees in the Knowledge
Economy, they commonly land on their feet with improved benefits and a raise. Gallup does not offer solutions, only conclusions.
Another Gallup survey of employees in Great Britain in 2003 reported 19% as fully engaged in their occupation, and 81% floating in the cosmos of on-the-job game playing.
An Engaged Brain
If you want to live into your 80s without Alzheimer disease or other forms of
dementia, Robert S. Wilson, of Rush Memory and Aging Project in Chicago,
strongly suggests using your noodle for learning new skills and information processing.
Rush University Medical Center spent 5 years annually testing the same 700 folks over the age of 80, for signs of Alzheimer disease. The results indicate those who
were cognitively active and mentally alert, reading, and writing, beat the odds of old age dementia by 50%.
Research your hobbies at the public library, visit the latest Metropolitan museum exhibit, and discover the uniqueness of visiting foreign cities. These activities help keep your brain alert and active. Some believe it extends longevity up to an additional ten years.
The experts conclude it is what you do past retirement to keep your mind active,
that produces the firewall against dementia. Watch Jeopardy, play Bridge, travel,
and most of all be aware of the axiom, use it or lose it.
Consider your brain a muscle requiring daily exercise, or be prepared to face amnesia and its degrading symptoms. This report appeared June 28, 2007, so consider it the latest scientific research.
Directed Mental Effort
Woody Allen said, My brain is my second favorite organ. The author suggests the #1 mind attribute is the ability to choose to pay attention. When you use your volition,
the power of choice, to focus your attention away from negative behaviors toward
positive ones consistently, you create a new mental habit.
According to Jeffrey M. Schwartz of UCLA School of Medicine, you have the power
to shape your brain, and therefore your destiny. Use your attention, (with strong feeling and positive expectation) to move your mind to autopilot; it helps you reach your personal objectives. Focused attention is the secret of successful executives.
Dr. Schwartz goes on to say, choosing what you pay attention to determines the activity of your brain. It is a fact that attention suppresses (inhibits) distractions
that undermine your skills and learning abilities.
A good example is paying attention to a specific conversation, causes a dozen others to fade from your mind as distractions.
It is DME (Directed Mental Effort) that permits you to overcome negative personal
behaviors. Most folks quit paying attention too soon; persistence and determination
give birth to new positive habits of behavior. It is your mind that chooses, not the environment or your brain.
See his book, The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental
force.
Labeling Your Feeling
When you give a name to your feeling, (I am sad, depressed or angry) you put the brakes on structures in the brain controlling your emotions. Just putting your feelings into words, inhibits your escalating impulsive behaviors.
Dr. Mathew Lieberman, UCLA, had his work published in the journal, Psychological Science. It is the amygdala, the brain structure controlling
fear, panic and powerful feelings, that is suppressed by labeling your emotions.
It dampens down the ongoing emotional circuits, instead of letting your temper
excite you to a higher level of anger, depression or panic. What happens is your
amygdala is inhibited, while your ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (for impulse
control) takes over. It is stomping on the brake instead of the accelerator
to stop at the Red Light. Dr. Lieberman used fMRIs to prove his research.
It is labeling our feelings, not searching for Freudian insights, nor discovering
the meaning of life; it is not learning your purpose in the cosmos that counts,
just labeling your emotion with a name.
Do it and you improve how you feel. It is your prefrontal contex
that confronts the amygdala and shuts it down.
Endwords
Consider how important your attention and volition is in controlling your life.
Who is the Boss of you? You have the responsibility to choose your behaviors.
How important is learning to read three books, articles and reports in the time
it take you now to hardly finish one? Is the ability to double your memory for
future learning going to help prevent Alzheimer disease?
Learning creates a firewall around your brain, use it or lose it.
Ask us how.
See ya,
copyright 2007
H. Bernard Wechsler
hbw@speedlearning.org
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