December 2008

Even though I’m running around like a over-wound reindeer this Christmas Eve-Eve, I didn’t want you to think I’ve forgotten you, dear MindTweakers. So here’s your holiday gift: unasked-for-advice on how to un-train your brain!

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Now, I’m sure none of you are procrastinators. Sharp-brained folks like you surely finished with your holiday shopping for weeks, maybe even months. Me? Yes, I’m done… assuming it all gets here on time. (I finished the last minute Amazon orders just a minute ago)

But just in case some of you aren’t *quite* done yet, I thought I’d toss together a few last minute mind-tweaking gift ideas - I’ll even link to the products on Amazon, where possible. (The first one is my favorite, but more conventional gift ideas follow.) [click to continue...]

So, I was talking (ok, emailing) with a friend of mine the other day (Hi  Robert!) about a project he’s been building, Engage.  The core concept  (assuming I have it right) is about the importance of building (and engaging) personal values, and how those values relate to  success on both a business and personal level. 

I’ve been following his progress for a while now, but given the current world economic "situation" the timing of his project struck me as right on the mark, timing wise.  

Here’s My Thinking…

For the past decade or so, success in Western cultures  (at least in the US)  has been defined almost exclusively by profit margins, productivity, and cost/benefit analysis.  Those  same trends have been evident online, with the number of blogs stressing productivity, efficiency, quick tips lists, and a race for sheer numbers of subscribers/followers.   It’s been all about shallow and broad, rather than narrow and deep. 

But with the money drying up, consumers are fewer and further between, and those who are still spending are pickier with where they spend their money -   that means each customer starts having more value to the company. 

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It’s not a brain-training program.
It’s not a productivity tool.
It won’t make you more creative.

But it is immensely amusing and SO perfect for MindTweaks that I can’t believe it took me three years to discover it…

What is this astounding bit of excellence?

Psychonauts: a video game that involves both collecting and going inside other people’s brains! I ask you… Does it get any cooler than that??

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Good question.

Brain fitness seems like it should be easy to define - I mean, it’s the fitness level of your brain, right? But when I sat down to write this article, suddenly it didn’t seem so simple.

We’re used to thinking in terms of physical fitness - overall physical health, endurance, muscular strength, and so on. Sometimes, we describe more specific types of fitness- heart fitness, for example, which refers to the strength and function of the heart muscle and circulatory system.

But the brain isn’t a muscle…

…. and we haven’t traditionally considered the brain in our ideas about physical fitness. Some of us (ok, me) even had an image of the brain as sort of a inert lump that just sits there, almost like a gland that churns out thoughts, instead of adrenaline or bile, not as a muscle that might need exercising.

In fact, most of us haven’t thought much about the function of the mind and brain in physical terms at all (except for those dull anatomy lessons in school, of course). [click to continue...]