Archive for September, 2009

      I attended an amazing workshop that focused on using right brain tools to succeed in the current economic situation. A part of me expected a huge revelation, some new scientific data analyzed to prove success without any measure of failure. I guess that part of me was looking for the miracle pill that creates the perfect outcome in the smallest amount of time. I was reminded again that it doesn’t exist. Success really comes from practice and lots of it.

      What does this have to do with right brain tools? When I think of practice, I think about some kind of left brain routine, like tracing the cursive letters in 3^rd grade. The presenter introduced the notion of deep practice: a concept written about by Daniel Coyle. Deep practice is focused practice on a skill. The right brain can focus on the skill without be inhibited by doing it correctly. It doesn’t see the notion of doing it wrong, it just keeps practicing it. Six minutes of deep practice is equal to one month of normal practice on the same skill. 

     How do you get in the habit of deep practice? In this workshop we actually created drawings, something that most people are uncomfortable with. To stop our right brain from interfering, comedy was played in the background as well as music. The sound was enough to distract the left brain from jumping in and telling you that it’s not right, erase it and do it again. The right brain can continue the practice without interruption and without attachment to the outcome. What did this produce? For most people it was very skillful drawings from people who had little prior practice. Talent is not always an effect of natural ability. It can be the result of deep focused practice. 

     The cynics are probably saying then how come we all can’t be like Tiger Woods? The method to get to that level of achievement is to combine ignition with practice. You have to feel physically and mentally ignited by the skill. It has to stir the strong inner drive in you. To express it simply: a true passion. When that drive meets focused practice a natural talent and genius emerge. The presenter gave the example of Michelangelo working relentlessly for years on the many achievements he gave to mankind.

     We are all capable of it. If that’s the case, why don’t most of us achieve to that level? Many people give up when they hit the frustration level. I learned from this workshop that frustration is the first sign of a breakthrough. If you can practice through the frustration you will get to the breakthrough. Many people mistake the frustration as a sign of inadequacy and the end result is abandonment of a potential success. Quiet the left brain and allow your right brain to take you into the deep practice. Strive for the breakthrough; it can create a whole new level of success in all of your endeavors.

     We typically live our lives in one of two ways: living a life that is dictated by unending responsibilities or living in a world that is full of abundant choices that we create. People are often shocked to find that these two places exist in the same universe. They question the fact that we have a choice because there are some things we just have to do.

 

      The biggest shift happened in my life was when I learned the power of choice. Sure we may not want to do certain things like taking out the trash or even going to work. But the simplest acts like taking out the trash are a matter of choice. You could choose to never take out your trash and live in filth. You choose to do it because you want to live a clean healthy life. I know plenty of women who aren’t fond of cooking but do it because they want their children to eat healthy food. The end result of that act is very important to them so it makes the choice feel better.

 

    So how does this relate to something like your career? You need to make money after all. Even if you dislike your job, you are going to work everyday for a myriad of reasons. You chose to work to pay for your home and bills, because those values are important to you. You could choice not do any of it, but you may not be comfortable with the result of that choice. You may be working for the benefits because you want the security of knowing you and your family will get the care they need. When you look at these things as choices, not obligations it takes the power out of the thought that you are stuck in your job.

 

     You may get to a point, as I did, where you have to examine those choices and realize that you have the choice of accepting what the situation entails or leaving it. I was in a very secure job where I had tenure for life and great health benefits. What more could I ask for right? Though I had security, I had no control of my future. I was under contract and was guaranteed a job, but no choice in where I could work or moving up the career ladder.

 

      I had already been on the path of evaluating my choices and if they worked for my goals in life. Then the moment happened where I had to choose. I was told I would be moved to another building for a portion of the day, but would share my current responsibility with a co-worker. When I went to my superior to discuss my options, I was told I had none. I expressed to him that while I knew how my employment contract worked, I had ideas of how to make the transition work more effectively. Though I knew there was little chance that I could arrange my schedule, it felt good being able to realize that I could express my opinion and then make a choice.

 

    The fact of the matter is I did have a choice. I could work there forever on their terms and choose job security over job fulfillment. I made the choice to leave and experience the freedom of creating my own business. Any difficulties I have encountered along the way don’t feel like struggles because I followed my choice and have accepted anything that comes from it. When you realize the power of choice, the abundance of possibilities that you create are endless. Think about the choices you are making: do they feel self empowering or imprisoning?

     In the first two parts of this column I discussed Daniel Pink’s “A Whole New Mind”; a book that discusses how to create in a global marketplace. He introduced the “six senses” as a way to increase your high concept and high touch aptitudes. These aptitudes are related to right brain functioning, something he believes is crucial in the current conceptual era. 

      I touched briefly on the six senses: design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning, in part 2. The following are ways that Daniel Pink prescribes to develop your right brain aptitude. It may feel a little like homework, but it actually is a lot of fun and the benefit of improving your perspective is well worth it.

• Design: Become aware of your environment.

1. Keep a design notebook and write down the design elements that work for you in the environment around you and the ones that don’t. If you hate writing notes, take pictures instead.
2. Read design magazines and visit museums. Get a sense of what feels good to you. Go to open houses and pay attention to layouts that work and others that feel crammed.

• Story: Explore different ways of telling stories.

1. Write a mini saga: stories that are only 50 words long.
2. Record yourself or family member telling a story.
3. Go to storytelling festivals.
4. Tell stories digitally with pictures and sound.

• Symphony: The ability to put together the pieces and invent something new by detecting patterns and combining elements.

1. Listen to classical music such as Beethoven’s 9^th Symphony
2. Draw. Books like “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain” by Betty Edwards will help hesitant drawers.
3. Keep a metaphor log and list metaphors you encounter in print and daily conversation.

• Empathy: The ability to imagine yourself in someone else’s position and intuit what the person is feeling.

1. Read Paul Ekman’s book “Emotions Revealed” to learn how to decipher the emotions on people’s faces.
2. Take an acting class. Not your style? Buy the CD-Rom Mind Reading. Originally developed for people who have difficulty reading emotions and want to learn how, it is now used by actors, illustrators and people who want more insight.
3. Volunteer.

• Play: No longer seen as a distraction from working and learning; games, humor, and joyfulness are contributing positively to society.

1. Join a laughter club.
2. Play right brain games. Tecmo’s Right Brain Game determines your brain dominance and challenges you to complete increasingly difficult level of right brain functioning.
3. Play some video games for fun, but skip the excess.

• Meaning: The abundance of information and technology has led many people to increasing meaning in their lives through creating happiness and spirituality.

1. Show gratitude for the people in your life who have helped you along your life path.
2. Examine roadblocks in your current life. Compile a list of some of the important changes you’d like to make and what’s keeping you from realizing them
3. Look at how you spend your time and decide what activities add value to your life.

    In Part 1 of this blog, I was discussing Daniel Pink’s book “A Whole New Mind”. His book focuses on the change in the American workforce in which left brain linear thinking jobs are being automated via technology and shipped overseas where labor is cheaper. As I mentioned in the last blog, the intention is not to scare professionals like lawyers, engineers, and programmers, is to alert them to the fact that the new way to excel is these fields is to tap into their more creative right brain thinking. This will allow these professionals to create new services and products that can’t be replicated immediately overseas.

     Pink asserts that we are entering the “the conceptual age”, whose main characters are the creator and empathizer, attributes of right brain functioning. He characterizes this age with the notion of “high concept, high touch”. High Concept meaning the “ability to create artistic or emotional beauty, detect patterns, craft narratives and combine unrelated ideas into novel inventions”. High Touch involves the ability to “empathize, understand subtleties of human interaction and pursue purpose and meaning”. So the question becomes: How do I tap into that creative right side of my brain?

     After investigating that very question, Pink devised an answer by creating the “six senses”. These are six specific high concept and high touch aptitudes that he feels “are essential in the new era”. The six senses include: design, story, symphony, empathy, play, and meaning. 

• Design: Products in the new area need to be more than just functional to sell. It needs to engage consumer by beauty or emotion.
• Story: Information age means more than an effective argument that will meet a counterpoint is needed. Compelling narratives created by using persuasion, communication and self understanding will be more noticeable.
• Empathy: Logic will always be part of the human experience. However, people who thrive will be able to understand others and how they respond/behave, create relationships, and show caring for others.
• Play: Most of the highly respected left brain professions are all about seriousness. New research reveals that there are many health and professional benefits to having fun.
• Meaning: In a world of abundance and material things, many people are looking towards purpose, transcendence, and spiritual fulfillment.

In part 3 of this series I will review specifics of each of these “six senses” and how Daniel Pink believes they can developed in everyone.

    Technology has forever changed the way we work. I know this is highly apparent and nothing new to anyone living in the modern world. Unfortunately, not everyone understands the full impact this has on our economy and the availability of various kind of jobs. In today’s workforce you are competing against yourself. What does that mean? It means that for the majority of professions there is someone with the exact same skill set as you that can do your job for a fraction of the price in another part of the world. If it can be programmed into a computer, it can be done anywhere. My intention is not to scare you, but to alert you that the game has changed and you need to gear your set of skills towards that.

      Daniel H. Pink discusses the change in the workforce and what it means to professionals in his book “A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future”. In this book he discusses the fact that the highly prized linear thinking professions like accountants, lawyers, and engineers, that guaranteed great salaries and job potential, are being shipped overseas. Why? Because they are highly educated workers in India, China and Russia who can do the same job for a lot less because of a huge difference in the cost of living.  I was shocked when Pink mentioned that a typical aeronautical engineer in the US was paid $6,000 a month but in Russia the same job could be done for only $650 per month.

     So does this mean that there will be no jobs in these fields and everyone should just resign themselves to unemployment or a lower standard of living.  Absolutely not. What Pink prescribes in this book is that people who are in these left brain functioning jobs need to become more creative, literally. Pink explains that in order for people in professions that can be replicated by a computer to succeed, they must learn to use the right side of their brain more effectively.

     So what does that mean? It means that to succeed in the current workforce you need to be the one creating the new ideas. You need to develop a new way of developing or producing things that can’t be replicated immediately all over the world. You see this concept in action when you go shopping. Every store carries similar items, but the ones that sell the best have the best design or a feature that is different from anything else on the market. For people in the technical world, this means staying ahead of the curve of what people and companies need, and being one of the first to provide it. Even CEO’s realize the importance of design. Robert Lutz of GM was quoted in the New York Times when asked how his approach was different from his predecessors as saying “It’s more right brain…I see us being in the art business. Art, entertainment, and mobile sculpture, which coincidentally, happens to provide transportation.”

     Getting to the right side of your brain is easier than you think, even if you are a hard core left brainer. In part 2 of this piece I will discuss the ways that Daniel Pink suggests for tapping into the right side of your brain.