Brain Audit

Sir Robert Winston has done more research on the human body and brain than your cousin.

Yet most of us believe our cousins, our friends, or others who know close to nothing about their brains.
In an ongoing study of the human brain, Sir Winston studies children.

Children and creativity

You may find this brief report interesting.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/parenting/tv_and_radio/child_of_our_time/progguide_series7prog3.shtml

Bird’s eye view or ground level to learn a new skill?

There’s little doubt that layering is critical for learning.

But how does one go about layering?

Should you learn small chapters of information and keep repeating them several times?
Or should you go through an entire body of knowledge and then repeat it several times?
Should you take in a birdy’s view? Or get to ground level?

There’s no easy answer to the question.
Because layering may be caused at one level, by learning everything from one end to the other. And layering may be caused by repeating one action over and over.

Let me give you an example:
I go for badminton, and am coached to improve my game. And for the entire hour of coaching, I hit one shot over and over again. So I’ll hit the same shot maybe 300 times or more in an hour. Or a variation of the same shot with subtle improvements.

But then I go and play 6-8 games in a row. And then I have to play a whole variety of shots, and deal with a variety of opponents. Some who are so good, they drive you up the wall. And some who are so bad, they drive you up the wall.

The good ones, because they make you think and move quickly.
The bad ones, because you have to force yourself to concentrate despite the silly errors that slow the momentum. So the layering happens at various levels. Both through intense repetition. And then through actual duration of play.

And at both levels, there’s a distinct improvement. So not only does the next coaching session improve as a result of the game, but the next game improves as a result of the coaching practice.

And this brings us to an understanding of what’s happening in the brain
At first the brain is all flustered. What it needs is a matter of stability. Some people get that stability by reading the entire material and then digging through the specifics. Some people need to focus on the specifics to move ahead.

So how do you decide?
You can’t.
You have to do long periods of repetition (as I do in my coaching sessions).
And short bursts of multiple learning (and I do in the game).

Alternating between the two allows your brain to learn and apply at different levels.
And speed up learning like never before.

See that bridge. That’s a ‘bridge of pain’ or ‘no-pain.’ Find out how your brain deals with creating permanent pain.

I play a lot of badminton these days.
And after running on the courts for two hours, I’m fine.
But the next day, my knees are sore.
I find it difficult to bend my knees. And have to use some sort of pain-relieving balm.

So I decided to use my brain as a balm instead
And drive resources from my brain to make sure my knees are not sore any more.
So all I did was focus on my knees not being sore.
And believe me, I’m no magician.

Incredibly, they’re not sore any more.
Now this sounds bizarre, doesn’t it?
Probably as bizarre as learning a new skill.

When you learn a new skill you’re in extreme pain.
And of course, you have all those naysayers saying, “You’re not talented.”
So there’s a lot more than mere extreme pain. There’s discouragement too.

But the brain can rise above all of this pain to create permanent success.
You see the brain works on the system of synapses and neurons (wait, don’t glaze over, because I’ll explain)

Think of neurons as two sides of a cliff.
Neuron 1 is one side of cliff.
Neuron 2 is the other side of the cliff.
There’s a wide, deep ravine in between those cliffs.

To cross over, you need a bridge
That bridge is the synapse bridge.
When we learn something new, the brain keeps building a bridge between the two cliffs.
All the time, as you go through your day, your brain is building new bridges.
The more you repeat a learning or action, the more the brain works on strengthening the bridge, because it recognises the bridge as important.

So you can create a bridge of pain.
And the brain will keep working on that bridge so that your synapse (bridge) is one one of pain.

Day after day. Week after week. Month after month.
Pain and more pain.
So that a once rickety bridge becomes a steel structure.
A structure that’s permanent, and can take on even more loads of pain.
Thus increasing your pain manifold.

Really talented people recognise the failure and the pain
But they rise above it forcing their brain to remember the joy and achievement.
The excuse-makers find a way to focus the brain on the pain and failure.
And the brain gives us exactly what we want. It creates a stronger bridge of pain or joy—depending on what you choose.

So do you want to fix muscular pain?
Or creative pain?
Get your brain to swing into action. And see how it fixes the so-called problem faster than you think.

Apple has been bugging Microsoft forever.
And finally Microsoft takes the bait.
Yup, it’s bait!

They fight back with an ad that looks remarkably like Apple.
Microsoft tries to be cool.

And yet, Microsoft can never be cool.
This isn’t a stupid ad issue. And who fights whom. It’s a branding issue.

If you own a space in the customer’s brain, then that’s the space you own. You can look at Macs any side up, and they represent ‘cool’ or ‘hip’ or ‘trendy.’

That’s their brand.
That’s their advertising.
That’s who they’ve projected themselves to be, and the consumer and paying customers have bought into the cool image.

Ok so what does PC stand for? PC doesn’t stand for cool. But PC stands for the ‘ability to tweak stuff.’ I’ve owned PCs for twenty years. And I can tell you that PCs are tweakable. There’s loads of hardware and software ‘tweakability’ for PCs. Macs aren’t like that at all (and I have to say I love my Mac more than my PC, but it drives me crazy often enough).

On a PC, I can find software to do what I struggle to do with a Mac.
For example, Macs will put in Matsushita drives that won’t let me play legal DVDs. And trying to find software that allows me to make my DVDs region-free is a nightmare. So I switched to the PC. Created a region-free disc, disc image…the works!

With a Mac, I can’t put in more hard disk space. And Apple decides if I need a Blu-ray or not. And so it’s very ‘un-tweakable.’

The word for PC is ‘tweak.’

No matter which way you look at a PC, their branding stands for ‘tweakability.’
The Mac on the other hand stands for ‘cool’. I can do cooler presentations on the Mac, than I can do on a PC, and believe me, I’m very, very capable of doing top quality presentations and delivering them. And so there are cool things I can do with my Mac.

What I’m saying is that I use both PCs and Macs. I have four PCs. And one Mac. And trying to convince me that a PC is cool, is a waste of Windows’ time.

Understand your brand’s uniqueness
PC= ‘Tweakable’.
Mac= Cooooool.

Then use those advantages to dominate your market.

See the silly videos below. Apple has it right. Microsoft has it wrong.

This equation could be memorised. But with layering, you’re more likely to remember it seventeen years from now

Does the brain learn through memorisation?
Most people would think so.

And those people would be partially wrong.

Of course, you don’t have to believe me.
Because we’re going to do a simple test of memory.

So you studied for your examinations in school right?
And you had a hated-subject, but you also had a favourite subject.
Now let’s take your favourite subject (whatever it was).
And let’s give you that exam paper to write once more.

You know what happens next, don’t you?
Your memory is going to fail you. Yet, if you step back into your memory, you’ll sure as heck remember a picnic. Or a day at the zoo. Or some incident. And what’s amazing is that you’ll remember it with a decent amount of detail.

So what’s really happening here? Is it that school was too boring, and the zoo was more exciting?
Or is there something else at play?

There is something else, and it’s called layering.
Layering works in um, layers.
Like a movie it rolls out in your brain, enabling you to build one layer over another.
And memory forms the crucial role of remembering what you learned yesterday, and the day before, and the year before. But without layering; without that movie running in our heads, the memory is just a bunch of bits and bytes. It has little intrinsic value.

And a combination of memory and layering is what causes talent.
So as a child, you learn how to write the letter A.
Then you remember it.
Then you layer the letter A with an object. e.g. apple, or aromatheraphy (just kidding!)
The association is the factor of learning. And develops a talent for writing the letter A.
By itself, the letter A has no value. But with memory and layering, that letter enables you to create words, sentences and a lot more.

The brain depends heavily on memory.
But without layering, that memory becomes useless.
As useless as the information you learned in school, and promptly forgot after the exam.

So where does this take us when we’re developing a talent?
Talent requires layering.
So if you’re learning a skill, you have to learn a bit about drawing.
Then a bit about physics. Then a bit about woodworking. Then a bit about badminton.
And relate it back to your memory of drawing.

It’s when you put all these layers together, that you start to become an outstanding artist.
Or an outstanding singer.
Or an outstanding whatever.
Memory has its role. But layering, ah now that’s quite something else!

Watch this video: It’s quite fascinating…and very well made! (You’ll need to be reading this post online to see the video).

How much is 3 + 3?
You know the answer already, don’t you?

That answer is embedded in your brain through a factor of repetition.
Time and time again, you were called on to remember random numbers.
Then you had to add them up, multiply them and eventually they formed a memory.

Your brain has a storage point for all these bits and pieces.
And talent works on memory. But depends far more on layering.

So if you were to listen to Clay Shirky on collaboration (see video below), you’d learn about collaboration in groups.
If you were to listen to Clay Shirky a second time,  you’ll learn something quite different about collaboration in groups.
If you were to listen to Clay Shirky four or five times, you’ll learn something quite different every single time.

How do I know this?
Because I went for a walk to the beautiful Milford beach, near my home.
And during that one hour walk, I listened to the same audio five times over.
Each time my brain remembered something from the previous hearing, and layered a new learning over it.
The more I listened, the more I learned.
It wasn’t just repetition.
It was literally a bunch of new ideas that were popping in my brain with every repetition.

In effect, I was layering.
Then I took that layering, and added some more information.
I listened to Deborah Gordon and how ants use collaboration (see video below)
Then I spoke to my wife, Renuka about how collaboration could be used on our websites.
Then I brought up the concept of collaboration in a client call.

With every layer, my understanding of collaboration increased in leaps and bounds.
I now understood collaboration like never before.
What my brain is doing, is creating a whole bunch of amazing links.
Links that help me learn.
And get more talented in the understanding of collaboration.

Compare this with 3 + 3.
No matter how many ways you look at it, it’s still 6.
Which brings us back to the question of superiority. Which is more important? Layering or repetition?
Without a doubt, layering is what helps us become talented.
Memory merely helps us remember those layers.

Memory isn’t superior than layering. And neither is layering superior to memory.
Both are needed to learn and sustain a skill.
But if you really want to become a genius at something you can’t depend solely on memory.
Memory by itself is just a bunch of 3 + 3 situations.
Layering is what causes genius.

More on this later…now that I’m back thanks to a nudge from Stew Walton
For now, watch these fascinating videos on collaboration.

Six times of course!

If you ask a stupid question, you get a stupid answer.

Or if you ask a question that’s engineered to get the answer ‘NO’, then you get the answer ‘NO.’
And most of your education, my education, and everything we’ve learned is engineered around getting a negative answer.

But what if we changed the question?
What if your answer could simply not be negative?
What then?

So what if I changed the question to: Can you write the letters of the alphabet?
Your answer is: Sure, I can.

Well, then you can draw cartoons.
Your kids can draw cartoons.
Your grandma who’s ninety-seven years old can draw cartoons.

But where’s the proof?
Here’s the proof. And it’s affordable proof at just $11.99.

And here’s a link: http://www.edapple.net/servlet/the-868/WordToons/Detail
Send me your cartoons when you’re done!

Yup, anyone can draw cartoons.
If you stop asking yourself stupid questions, you too can become ‘creative’

Note: This book was created by my friend, Wayne Logue. Wayne was the first person I knew in New Zealand. He too was a cartoonist. And like all good internet stories, we ‘met’ on the internet, in a cartoon chat room. I didn’t know anyone in New Zealand, and Wayne picked me up from the airport, and made me very comfortable in an unknown land. I don’t know if Wayne gets a commission if you buy his book, but I sure hope he does.