My wife Renuka, sniffled.
She sniffled. She sneezed.
Achoo!
Achoo!
Achoo!
For thirteen years she sneezed.
Her eyes would get all red and puffy.
She tried all types of anti-allergy medication.
It would work for a while, then it was back to achoo!
Incredible as it seems, the problem was in her brain.
Your brain reacts to allergies with a code. And that code has a ‘virus.’ So when you run into dust or pollen the virus kicks in. It says: Execute command, and the virus starts rolling out.
How do we know it’s a virus? And not a program instead?
We know it because most of us don’t sneeze with pollen. Or dust. Or after drinking wine. But Renuka’s brain had accumulated a whole bunch of viruses. And to try and subdue these viruses, she’d take anti-allergy medication. But anti-allergy medication simply stops the virus from executing. It can’t erase the virus. And frankly, erasing the virus is a waste of time.
All we need is to re-wire the brain to stop running the program in the first instance. The brain needs to have a completely different code written to deal with dust. Then it stops sneezing.
Which is what Renuka did
She visited an anti-allergy clinic. Or should I say allergy-elimination. But were they able to prevent dust or pollen from entering her system? No they weren’t. But they were able to write a new program onto her brain. A program that ignored the dust, pollen, etc. A program that was fresh and didn’t have any viruses.
And so it is with talent and learning.
Trying to fix the problem with medication (more courses; more training) isn’t going to help at all. Instead all the brain does is replicate the anti-allergy syndrome and pretends to learn. But eventually the virus kicks in and you’re back to where you started. If you truly want to learn a new skill. If you truly want to develop a talent, you’re wasting time trying to eliminate the virus.
What you need to do is write fresh code.
Code with no viruses in the first place 🙂
And the achoo goes away forever!
Note: Renuka doesn’t sneeze. She can enjoy her wine, go out amongst the flowers in spring, and dust away to her heart’s content. And it was all done with no pills, no medication and simple re-writing of code. (It’s actually a simple system of re-wiring and no wires are involved–just in case you’re wondering).Â
Most people can’t draw.
There’s a reason why.
They have a brain virus.
Here’s what happens when someone asks you to draw.
Your brain runs a program.
The program says: Execute program. Draw, you silly fool, draw!
And the program starts to execute. But even as it’s executing the lines of code, it runs into a virus.
The virus crashes the program.
And you can’t draw.
A client of mine (let’s call him Jon) was on an article writing course
And he did the entire course.
But he couldn’t get down to writing an article.
So here’s what he did.
He read more on the topic.
He even did another course.
But every time Jon sits down to write, the same problem occurs.
The ‘article writing program’ kicks in.
And then the ‘virus that’s linked to the article writing program‘ kicks in.
And his ‘article writing program’ crashes.
No matter how he tries to write articles, he’s going to fail. And fail forever. (No, I’m not kidding)!
So how do yo get rid of this brain virus?
Actually you can’t.
Your brain has thousands of viruses running around. And trying to get rid of them is a waste of time.
It’s easier to write a fresh program for your brain instead.
So how do you write a fresh program?
In Jon’s case, he has to stop writing articles.
He has to do a completely different activity.
e.g. Make a movie instead.
e.g. Describe how he met his wife.
When he does this activity, the virus can’t kick in.
Because the virus is embedded in his ‘article writing‘ inability.
So now Jon’s having fun. He’s talking about how he met his wife, and how he goofed up on the first date, and how they went to the cafe down the road. And Jon doesn’t know it yet, but he’s writing an article.
The next step is to put structure to Jon’s story
Step 1: How did you run into your wife to-be?
Step 2: Where did you go for your first date?
Step 3: What were you nervous about on your first date?
When Jon answers these questions his brain is relaxed.
He’s having fun.
And he’s not accessing the ‘article writing program’ of his brain.
As we put structure into his story, he recognises that the structure is from the ‘article writing system’, but because he’s not running the exact ‘article writing program‘, the virus doesn’t kick in at all.
This means that Jon is now able to get started on a whole new program.
A program that uses new code. Plus some borrowed code from the old program.
As he advances, he’s able to learn how to write articles, even though it was an impossible task before this very moment.
In effect, he’s bypassing the brain virus.
And that’s what you have to do to learn a skill.
If you’ve struggled to learn Spanish before, you have a virus embedded in the ‘Spanish learning program’.
If you sit down and try to learn it, you’ll fail, because the virus already exists.
But if you sing a song in Spanish like: ‘Ensalada, de fruta fresca’ and see ‘fresh fruit salad’, you’ll learn Spanish while having fun.
The fun part is important, but not critical (Essentially fun only allows you to relax. Relaxing the brain is critical).
The critical part is bypassing the virus.
Albert Einstein was reputed to have once said: “You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it. You must learn to see the world anew.”
What he means is:
Your existing program has a virus.
You have to bypass it.
Or you’ll never really learn no matter how many times you try!
I was sitting at my favourite cafe in Takapuna with Renuka’s niece, Marsha.
Marsha was only three and half years old at the time, and happily drinking her um, ‘coffee’, when she looked upwards (as most kids do), and noticed a black object on the glass.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Fungus,” I said.
“Fungus,” she repeated about three-four times.
Then promptly she forgot. And asked again.
Of course I told her it was called fungus. And she nodded happily.
When she went back home to her mother, she ran through the door and said “Mama, I saw a bungus.”
Of course confusion reigned till I stepped in to clarify that it was a fungus.
And Marsha was delighted to correct herself and say the word correctly.
Most adults don’t act like Marsha
They’re defensive. Incredibly defensive.
They’re attacking. And it gets a bit scary how they fight back at times.
They don’t want to make a mistake.
They don’t want to appear in a bad light.
They are insecure. Because if they weren’t insecure, they would have no problem making mistakes. Or letting the world know about mistakes.
Most of us want to appear perfect.
We don’t want to make mistakes.
We don’t want others to learn that we’ve made a mistake.
In effect, we’re dolts.
Even a three and half year old knows better.
In fact the reason why kids have an enormous learning capacity is because they follow a very clear pattern of: 1) Learn
2) Talk
3) Implement
4) Make mistake.
5) Go back to start.
Most kids are smart because they’re professional mistake makers. They live in a world of ‘conscious incompetence’. Most adults are dolts.
They learn less not because they don’t have the time. Or because they have no talent.
They learn less because they can’t be like Marsha.
This isn’t a learner sign: It’s a ‘I’m going to make a mistake’ sign
Think of anything you’ve ever learned.
Anything.
Ever learned.
And the only way you’ll have learned it is by making a mistake.
Look at the act of learning the alphabet.
Speaking; walking; running; talking; dancing, and just about anything.
And you’ll never be able to point out even one instance in your entire life that was learned without making a mistake.
This idea of willfully making a mistake scares the heck out of most people.
It literally means that you have to make mistakes—and that if you don’t make mistakes you can’t learn. If you can’t learn, you can’t acquire a new talent. If you can’t acquire a new talent, you remain exactly where you are.
Are you scared?
You should be.
Because the younger you are, the less you’re afraid of making mistakes. The older you get, the more you tell your brain it’s bad to make a mistake. The older you get, the more you feel you have to learn something quickly, and correctly the first time.
Yet that’s not the way the brain learns at all.
The only way the brain learns is through actively making mistakes. The brain’s most powerful tool is to make the mistake, recognise the mistake, and then try to remember the mistake. This is so that it doesn’t make the mistake again, or doesn’t create mistakes of an equal intensity.
This process needs time and effort.
The smaller, and simpler the task, the quicker the brain is able to eliminate mistakes. The more complex the task, the more time and effort is required to make the mistake, recognise it, remember it and finally correct it.
And yet the correction factor is almost never 100%.
So let’s say you’re learning a new dance step for instance. The brain has to first goof up. Once it has goofed up, it has to recognise the goof up, or it won’t improve. Once recognition sets in, all your neurons have to fire in the right sequence to memorise this mistake.
The more you muck up the dance step, the more your brain has to work out what’s wrong. And with every mistake, it eliminates only a percentage of the error. It’s only when it eliminates 100% of the error, does it then get that dance step right.
What’s interesting is that you’re never learning one step at a time.
You’re learning several steps. And the brain has to go over this whole sequence of making the mistake, recognising it, memorising it and then fixing it.
And it has to do this entire sequence for every single mistake.
Luckily our brains have enormous computing power.
And they’re able to process these mistakes and make corrections in a matter of milliseconds—if we are willing to make the mistake, that is.
The biggest reason we don’t get talented is for a simple reason.
It’s because we can’t bear to make a mistake.
And as you can now tell, that’s the biggest mistake of all!
Note: During this lesson I had to go through this exact process, because I was trying to learn how to insert an ’em-dash’. On my PC, I have to press Alt + 0151 on my keyboard to get an ’em-dash.’ On a Mac, it’s different. I have to press Shift+ Alt + – to get the same result. I learned how to create the ’em-dash’, and then promptly goofed it up. I had to go back several times to learn it. And now I think I have it. Or do I? 🙂
Read the lyrics of the song (till you can stand it), and then scroll to the bottom. 🙂
Back to you. It always comes around. Back to you. I tried to forget you. I tried to stay away. But its too late.
Over you. I’m never over. Over you. Something about you. Its just the way you move. The way you move me.
I’m so good at forgetting. And I quit ever game I play. But forgive me, love. I cant turn and walk away. Back to you. It always comes around. Back to you. I walk with your shadow. I’m sleeping in my bed. With your silhouette.
Should have smiled in that picture. If it’s the last that I’ll see of you. It’s the least that you. Could not do. Leave the light on. I’ll never give up on you. Leave the light on. For me too.
Back to me. I know that it comes. Back to me. Doesn’t it scare you? Your will is not as strong. As it used to be.
This is our love song of failure.
Every time we fail, a similar song plays in our brain.
And we go back to the behaviour that causes us to fail. It always comes around. Back to you.
But it could also be a song of success.
The same lyrics that bring you down, take you to overcoming the silly hurdles.
It depends what you’re in love with.
Failure or success.
Making excuses or making things happen!
If you have a cancerous growth, how long would you wait to remove the growth?
If you had a cancerous thought, how long would you wait to remove the thought?
Most people let the thought cancer grow.
Then they say, ‘I’m not really talented’.
They say, ‘I wasn’t born talented.’
They say, ‘Talent is in-born, you can’t learn it.’
Ah, the cancer ‘groweth.’
Let it grow, let it grow, let it grow*
*(sung to the tune of ‘let it snow, let it snow, let it snow’).
