September 2007

Recently, I proposed a new blog-meme.  A cold kept me from following through, but now prodigious amounts of orange juice have restored me, and the exercise, to life.  As I pondered delving back into the concept of success, I realized I needed to split it in two. 

First, there is my egalitarian, love-the-world, everyone-has-value concept of success, the one which encourages small victories, and assures people that no, they are not failures.

Then there is the more concrete definition of success:  “the attainment of wealth, favor, or eminence.” 

It’s this second meaning that I want to explore as a goal. 

So, here goes. Ahem.

[click to continue...]

Since my mild cold has turned into a full blown case of misery, I’m not much in the mood to dissect my ideas about success. Besides, my current definition of success is staying awake for more than 2 hours at a time.

Instead, I’ve thrown together a rough outline of something I’ve been mulling over for a while: a brain training guide, of sorts. The goal is to provide a tool to help others create their own individualized brain-training programs, starting with a self assessment of the following areas, each important to brain-health.

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Keeping An Active Mind

Staying mentally active is likely the best thing you can do to care for your brain. The brain-training software like those from Lumosity, MindFit and PositScience are good for this - but so is learning a new and engaging hobby, studying a new language, and so on. Keeping your mind engaged and constantly learning not only protects you from “normal” cognitive decline as you age, but also provides a buffer against more serious concerns like Alzheimers.

On a scale of 1-10, how active do you think you keep your brain? [click to continue...]

It’s a blog, it’s a workbook, it’s a podcast…. it’s BrainReady!

I hadn’t run across these folks before, and at first glance, I can’t seem to find their qualifications or a contact link (I know.. pot.. kettle… black)

Still, their ideas seem sound enough, and they have a few interesting offerings.

Brainflex is workbook with a month’s worth of worksheets, each worksheet filled with simple mental exercises meant to train your brain in a variety of ways. Three of the worksheets are available for free on the site, and they do look flexible enough to be useful. There are also two books of challenge exercises available.

Braincasts is their series of free podcasts, offering information and training exercises of a wide variety. The auditory part is a good switch up from the visual/reading exercises we see most often. Maybe it’s because I’m sick, but the exercises do speed past pretty quickly, and could be frustrating if you don’t keep the pause button handy. (This is one of the draw backs of a training program that can’t respond to your input)

Anyone know who these folks are? Check it out, and let me know what you think, please.

Now I’m off to find some chicken soup.

You want to be successful in life. I know I do. But it’s tough to reach success if we don’t know what success is. I’d like your help in defining and visualizing success.

Here’s the deal.

1. You write a post exploring what success looks like to you. You can use the suggestions below as guidelines, or adapt the concept to something that works for your blog’s topic.
2. Invite your readers to participate with their own ideas about success. You can copy and paste the text of this post, or just send them back to MindTweaks for more info. Tag individual bloggers or not, it’s up to you.
3. Title your post “What Does Success Look Like?” or something similar. (I’m easy going)
4. Link back to MindTweaks and the blog you found this idea on.
5. Leave a comment on the original MindTweaks post (it’s here ) with a link to your post so I can find it.
6. You’re done!

Once you notify her, MT will dutifully link back to your post, collecting your thoughts and the thoughts of others. From there, thousands… erm.. hundreds… (ok, at least a dozen or so readers)will have the chance to internalize your thoughtful observations. This influence will give you a sort of immortality, which could be called a form of success, couldn’t it? What an incentive!

Suggested Exercises: (Pick one, or all)

A. Picture someone you think of as “successful”. What is it about them that you see as successful? What does their success look like, feel like, sound like? How do they display their success? What areas of their life does it touch? What areas doesn’t it touch?

B. Imagine yourself in a successful future, at least ten years from now. Look around you.. what do you see and feel? What signs of progress are around you? What sorts of accomplishments have you reached? What does it feel like?

C. Think of a moment in time when you really felt successful. Describe how you felt, with as much detail as possible. What were you wearing? What is the light like? What physical sensations do you feel? What is your emotional reaction? Was it all positive, or were there still doubts? Is there a particular taste or smell in the air?

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I know that many of you already write about success in some form or another, so feel free to adapt or create your own take on this.

If you don’t have a blog, or this concept just doesn’t fit with your topic, you can still contribute to the collective vision of success. Write up the exercise, email it to MindTweaks (insert AT sign) gmail (insert a period) com and we’ll find a way to post it for you.

So…

Why are you still here reading? Go.. go write! Get successful!

(I’ve apparently caught a cold, so my own example will be delayed. Meanwhile, I appreciate the help — I really do need your input on this one)

If you think my recent  posts have been somewhat less inspired than you’re accustomed to, here…  you’re not alone. Your favorite fearless mind blogger (that’d be me, wouldn’t it?) agrees with you.  Content has been puzzlingly flat this week. 

And I don’t even have a good excuse.  I wasn’t hit by the surprise Texas hurricane.  I didn’t have a truckload of political refugees land on my doorstep, and I wasn’t abducted by aliens or some anti-blogging conspiracy group. No, I’m just stuck.

The realization that I was intellectually vain was inspiring. It was a revelation. I took it apart, peered at its inner workings, turned it upside down and backwards, adjusted a few things here and there. I wrote umpteen related posts.  I hitched up my goals to the power-donkey of my vanity, and off we went…

into…  nowhere. ______________________________

It’s all YOUR fault, you know. Well, some of you.

You see, when you commented on those intellectual vanity posts ( or  sent me emails, IMs, or otherwise conversed with me about it) YOU kept mentioning success.  In a dozen ways, you reminded me that “intelligence is not success”. 

“Yes yes I KNOW that!” I responded. “I’m talking about IQ, dang it! Can’t you stay on the subject?”

Except… well.. you were more perceptive than I was.  In a dozen ways, my posts demonstrated a deep seated confusion between intelligence and success.   You recognized it (consciously or not), mentioned it to me (again and again) and eventually it sank in.   

 Your comments got through, my subconscious accepted that intelligence does not imply success, and vice-versa. Ok, got it. Good job, and thank you! Another puzzle piece in place.

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There’s just one problem.

The inner-donkey-of-motivation has realized that while appearing intelligent is a tasty carrot, a carrot seasoned with success is even MORE tasty, more motivating. 

So now the donkey wants to appear intelligent, AND successful.

Ok, I can deal with that! One success-seasoned carrot coming up.

Unfortunately, this leads to another problem. (You didn’t really believe there’d just be one, did you?)

I have absolutely no idea of what “success” looks like.

So stay tuned.  I’m going to need your help on this one.  I can’t even seem to find the corner pieces alone.

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 MindTWEAK: The successful man doesn’t use others, other people use the successful man, for above all the success is of service - Mark Caine
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