His mind was sharp, but his vision was blurred.  He could think, but could not talk.  He wanted to write, but could not use his hands.  With one eye sewn shut, his only means of communication was by blinking his left eye.  Yet with all his obstacles and challenges, he was able to ”write” a bestselling book that was turned into a movie.  Who am I talking about?  Jean-Dominique Bauby the author of “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”.

There are stories that entertain, stores that scare, and stories that motivate.  This is a story of motivation, perseverance and accomplishment in the face of adversity and debilitating paralysis. Every now and then you come across a story so powerful and compelling, that it grabs you by the throat and just won’t let go.   Such is the nature of the true story of Jean- Dominique Bauby – locked in his body as one is in entombed in a diving bell, yet free to wander, dream and travel to faraway places using only his mind.

Jean-Dominique was the editor of the French ELLE magazine and lived a fast pace life in the world of fashion. Then on one day in 1995 he had a massive stroke that left him completely immobile except for the movement of his left eye.  Unfortunately he was the victim of a extremely rare condition called Locked-in Syndrome.  Now, just take a moment to absorb Jean-Dominique’s condition – you’re mind is perfectly fine, you feel pain, hot and cold, a bead of sweat rolling down your forehead, but the only thing you can move is your left eye.  How would you react?  Would you be able to turn your condition into something positive?

Locked-in Syndrome is characterized by full body paralysis usually caused by a massive stroke, traumatic brain injury or even by a drug overdose.  Many times the only thing a victim can move is their eyes while their brain is typically undamaged.  Jean- Dominique’s mind was fully functioning, aware, and learning to cope with his new body while the blinking of his left eye was his only means of communication.  Imagine for just a moment what it would be like to  lie perfectly still,  and the only thing you can move is your left eye.  As an experiment – try to read the rest of this article using only your left eye.  Go ahead.  It’s the least that you can do.

Learning to “write”

The therapist assigned to Jean-Dominique devised a means to communicate by organizing the letters of the alphabet by their frequency and reading each letter.  Jean-Dominique would blink once when the correct letter was read that matched the letter in the word he was thinking.  He would painstakingly spell each word in the sentence he was thinking.  Using this method Jean- Dominique was able to pen his memoir.  He tells how he would mentally write, edit and rewrite his sentences before communicating them to his therapist.

Making a Choice

”My diving bell becomes less oppressive, and my mind takes flight like a butterfly.  There is so much to do.  You can wander off in space or in time, set out for Tierra del Fuego or for King Midas’s court” – Jean-Dominique Bauby

The above quote from Jean-Dominique speaks volumes about his character and his ability to overcome adversity.  Jean-Dominique had a choice to make:  He could either lay there and play the part of a vegetable or accept his situation and try to make some good of it.  Fortunately for us, he chose the latter. Using only his mind, he was free to wander the world, visit with friends or imagine himself in another time.  With a blink of an eye, he wrote a book.  What is it that makes some people “overcome” adversity, while others never really seem to recover?

Question:  Would you have the strength to make the same choice?

1. Accept your situation.

This is easy to say and hard to do.  But, if you want any chance of overcoming adversity of any kind, you first have to accept the cards you were dealt.  It’s ok to visit pity city, but at some point you have to leave it all behind.

Another great example of someone accepting and making the best of a situation is Randy Pausch, the author of “The Last Lecture”.  Here’s a guy at the pinnacle of his career, a loving wife and three young kids, who finds himself with tumors in his liver from pancreatic cancer.  His is given three – six months of “good health”, before the inevitable happens.  Randy gives his last lecture at Carnegie Mellon University and becomes a phenomenon in his final months.  His lecture if full of his life’s lessons and bits of wisdom that we all should follow.

2. Focus on what you can do

Blink and think – that’s all Jean-Dominique could do.  By using a single eye movement (one that we take for granted), he was able to write letters to friends and family and eventually write a book.  .

3. Be prepared for hard work

Hard work and setting goals is the key to overcoming adversity.  Writing a book with the blink of an eye or writing and delivering your last lecture while undergoing chemotherapy treatment, all take hard work.  Jean-Dominique was able to do it, Randy Pausch did it and so did Lance Armstrong.  They set goals for themselves and worked to achieve those goals.  One can experience great satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment when you achieve your goals.

Question:  Have you written down your goals and developed a plan to achieve them?

4. Be persistent – nothing comes easy

Tenacity is the key.  Many times people give up after a failure or an obstacle is put in their path.  Walls are meant to be torn down, climbed over or pushed through.  Never, ever give up!  What did Thomas Edison say?  “I have not failed.  I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work”.  He only needed to find one way to make the light bulb work and change the world.

Question:  Were you able to read the rest of this article using only one eye?

While The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is the story of one man’s struggle with Locked-in Syndrome, it’s also a lesson in overcoming adversity.  Against all odds, Jean-Dominique Bauby was able to show us that no matter how disabled or incapacitated, one can still make an impact on the world.

How are you going to make your mark on the world?

External Resources:

Book:  The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Book:  The Last Lecture

This post was written by Victor Stachura.

The events of the past few months and especially this week are disturbing and troubling at best. Food and gas prices are rising faster than they have in a long, long, time. The value of our retirement accounts are on a wild roller coaster ride and our incomes are not keeping pace with inflation. It’s a scary time and one night I was wondering if there was anything that we can do to calm our fears and help us sleep at night?

The other night I was particularly restless and decided to go downstairs and started watching The Matrix. I watched the movie, the scene selections, listened to the audio commentary and viewed every piece of footage on the DVD. Then I stumbled across the strangest scene of all – it must have been a ‘deleted scene’ that didn’t make it into the released version of the movie. In this scene Morpheus was explaining to Neo how to survive troubled times. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and even felt the back of my head for one of those ‘Neural connectivity ports’.

The scene opens with Morpheus sitting across from Neo as a thunderstorm is raging outside.

Morpheus: Welcome Neo. I’ve been searching for you for quite some time.

Neo: Morpheus?

Morpheus: Yes. Do you know why you’re here?

(Neo stares with a confused look on his face)

Morpheus: Let me tell you why you’re here. You have a nagging feeling that something isn’t right with the world. The economy is all mucked up and you’re afraid you 401K will be worthless in a few short months. You can’t explain it, but you know something is wrong with the markets, our banks and our energy policy. You worry about these troubled times, and you can’t sleep at night. You’re searching for an answer, Neo. It’s like a splinter in your mind.

Neo: Yes, yes.

Morpheus: But it’s the question that’s driving you, Neo. You know the question, don’t you?

Neo: How does one survive troubled times?

Morpheus (smiling): Yes, Neo

Morpheus: Surviving troubled times is something that cannot be explained. I’m going to have to show you. But, I have to warn you. Once we begin, there is no going back. If you take the blue pill, you wake up in your bed and believe what you want to believe. Take the red pill, and I will show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. (pause) I only offer the truth. Do you still want to know what it is?

Neo: Yes (Neo takes the red pill)

Morpheus: Good. Then let us begin. Your strategy for survival should consist of ideas that are focused in three areas:

1. Your budget – find things you can implement today to improve your finances

2. Your career – plot a mid-to-long term strategy to earn more cash

3. Your family & self – strategies to satisfy your soul and improve your relationships

Neo: I’m listening

Morpheus: Cut out the incidental expenses. This is an action you can take right now. Bring your lunch to work instead of going out. Do you really need that expensive Grande-triple-shot-non-fat-one-pump-vanilla late? You will be surprised by how much you can save in a month.

Neo: Interesting – I bet I could save $40/month

Morpheus: Cut the nice-to-haves from your budget. In this category of budget savers, take a look at any recurring expenses that are nice to have and ask yourself “are they truly essential”. There’s a big difference between something being truly essential and something being nice-to-have. These items may hurt more than other money saving tips, but you what are you most interested in? Saving your house or owning a fancy iPhone? I know two families that don’t have cable – and they’re doing just fine. Do you have an unused gym membership? Do you really need a newspaper subscription? You can get all the news you need and more from the internet. And don’t forget your local library.

Neo: wow you’re right, I forgot about that gym membership. I could save another $50/month

Morpheus: Call your credit card companies and ask for a reduction in your interest rate. This really does work. Give it a try. Now. I’ll wait.

Neo: Really? I’ll call now.

Morpheus: Shop for cheaper auto insurance. Insurance companies are constantly changing their rates and it’s up to you to shop around for the best deal. I’ve noticed a pattern where I’ll get a lower rate when I first sign up, but after a year or two I’m hit with increases. But, I switch again and take advantage of lower rates. You may want to check with your employer – they may offer group discounts for auto insurance as well as homeowners. Check out InsuranceQuotes.com for a comparison of various types of insurance.

Neo: Got it. Now what’s the name of the insurance company with the lizard?

Morpheus: Do something outstanding at work. Now we’ll shift gears and discuss a few things that are designed for longer term benefits. By focusing on your career, you want to put yourself in the best position as possible for a raise. It’s time to become a top performer and let your boss know your contributions. Many people have their reporting manager in another city and rarely talk to them? It’s up to you to inform your manager of your performance – they typically have too many people to take care of, to do an adequate job of performance rankings. I know there are many, many dynamics that impact someone getting a raise – and some of them are not be fair. But, if you’re a top performer, you’re at least in the running for an increase and it gives you ammunition if you don’t get one.

Neo: Hmm…but I’m in a dead end job. What do I do now?

Morpheus: You have a couple of choices, none which are easy. Start a second income. This one will take a lot of work but it may turn out to be very rewarding in the long run. As Johnny Bunko learned “There is no Plan” when it comes to career progression. There are plenty of people that started something as a hobby which grew into a rewarding, satisfying, full time job. Have you ever dreamed of starting your own business, writing a book or building something? Take a good look at your situation, your interests and skills and decide once and for all, to commit to your dream. Start small while you have the security of your day job. Yes it’s going to be difficult, but anything worthwhile is usually not easy.

Neo: Start my own business? Hmm..I always wanted to become a …… (Neo drifts off into dream land)

Morpheus: NEO! Pay attention. There will be plenty of time to plan your future once our little talk is done. We don’t have much time, the next tip is thes: Look for a better job. What’s holding you back? The best way to get a pay increase is to switch jobs. Yes, it’s risky, scary and puts you out of your comfort zone. But maybe that’s what you need.

Neo: ok, I’ll update my resume today

Morpheus: Keep learning and apply your new found knowledge at [work, home, play]. This has worked particularly well for me through the years. I spend a lot of time learning new skills and taking different assignments – some of them very uncomfortable. But, in the long run you increase your knowledge, experience and confidence. All these things make you more valuable. Think about it: If you owned a company, would you want your employees to stagnate or would you want them to be constantly growing and learning?

Neo: learning is fun

Morpheus: Good. Now listen up, we’re changing focus again. The 3^rd dimension that needs to be addressed is ‘Self & Family’. My advice to you is this: Let your soul shine. It’s time to focus on the positive things in your life. Are you secure in your job? Are you and your family healthy? My wife called me while I was on a business trip recently and mentioned the bills we received in the mail that day and a few other not-so-fun-things that happened around the house. I then mentioned that we’re lucky to not be one of the people we know in our neighborhood that have breast cancer. We’ll pay the bills and deal with the other stuff, but those are mere annoyances compared to being seriously sick. Remember to put things in perspective.

Neo: yea, you’re right

Morpheus: Learn to stop worrying and start living. These are the words and book by the great industrialist Dale Carnegie. If you haven’t read his book “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living”, I highly suggest you do. It may just save your life. Many of us spend time worrying about things that may never happen or are beyond our complete control. Also, the act of worrying will not solve or change the problem you’re worrying about. Think about it. Instead of spending time worrying about something, spend the time to make a plan to counteract the problem. Only then will you be able to sleep at night. Carnegie’s formula to eliminate worry is simple:

1. Determine the absolute worst outcome

2. Prepare to accept the worst

3. Make a plan to counteract the worst

All of a sudden I woke with a start, staring at the main menu of the Matrix DVD. Still in a sleep induced state of confusion, I slowly realized that I must have been dreaming. But what a dream. I have to write this down before I forget everything…

This post was written by Victor Stachura.

Then one day the price went down. Only a little at first and certainly not enough to worry about. But then the downward slide began and I watched in as the price went lower and lower and lower. How could this be? Netscape was the darling of Wall Street at the time and made ‘surfing the net’ a mainstream experience. With unbridled confidence I watched and waited. And waited some more. I just knew it would rebound.

Unfortunately for me, after a few years of “waiting”, I finally sold the stock at a loss after the AOL buyout. It was only after reading “Sway – the Irresistible pull of irrational behavior” by Ori and Rom Brafman that I understood why I had acted the way I did. It was little comfort to know that I acted like so many investors and was swayed by a force almost as powerful as gravity – Loss Aversion.

Ori and Rom Brafman explore several psychological forces that influence decisions we make and the actions we take on a daily basis. These forces are stronger that any of us realize, and have a significant impact on our lives. Think of these forces as Dark Matter for our minds, that exert an unseen force that sways us into taking actions that we really should not be taking. Rational people doing irrational things. What are these forces that have us in their grip? Is there a way to overcome them? Ori and Rom present the evidence and provide the information needed for us to break free.

Stories Capture our Attention

The Brafman’s employ a very powerful technique to convey their message and hold your attention: they tell stories. And good one’s at that. They masterfully summarize numerous medical and psychological studies that support their observations and illustrate their points. After reading the Preface, I too was swayed into a reading frenzy that caught the attention of my wife. My lovely bride of 24 years noticed my I-can’t-put-this-book-down behavior and promptly reminded me that I had several books from the library that I needed to finish before I continued with Sway. My books went back to the library the next day.

No One Likes a Loser

I read the story about the airline pilot that ignored years of training and experience while trying to minimize a large perceived loss, and paid for it with the lives of the crew and passengers of his doomed flight. Sometimes we can be swayed into consequences far worse than a financial loss. Then there is the professor who consistently gets students to pay significantly more than $20 for a $20 bill. Or the investor who like me, watches his investment dwindle all the while thinking it will rebound.

These are all examples of Loss Aversion – a psychological force that causes people to go through great lengths to avoid a loss (even when the action to avoid the loss is greater than the loss itself). No one wants to be a loser, even when it’s the best option to take.

Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover

There was the story of the young scientist that found an archeological discovery that revolutionized the thinking of the origins of humans. Unfortunately he was ostracized because he was relativity unknown in the scientific community. No one would believe his find until many years after the discovery. Meanwhile, a well known archeologist was praised for a discovery that ultimately turned out to be false.

Value Attribution is a nasty little force where you make a conscious or subconscious judgment based on your initial perceived value. If you think someone is a bozo, then they will always be a bozo in your eyes. No matter what they do, their work will be suspect. As Jim McCarthy said in his book “Dynamics of Software Development” – “Don’t flip the bozo bit”. You shouldn’t ignore someone’s input just because they made a few mistakes or are not viewed as the resident expert on a team.

There is Always More to the Story

Ori and Rom tell a poignant story about a young toddler that’s not feeling well and has a mother that seems to be “over reacting” to the situation. After three days and three trips to the emergency room, the toddler sadly dies from her illness. The doctors were focused on the over reacting mother instead of the sick patient.

Unfortunately the doctors fell prey to the force of Diagnosis Bias and a little girl paid the ultimate price. Diagnosis Bias occurs when one ignores the facts and observations that contradict your initial assessment of a situation or a person.

Treat People the Way you Want to be Treated

There are a set of studies that highlight the irresistible pull of a force known as Procedural Justice – it’s the process and not the outcome that matters. People want to be treated fairly – even convicted felons. When studied, convicted felons felt they were treated fairly based on the amount of “time their lawyer spent with them”. Even when the outcome was not in their favor and they went to jail, the felons felt the process was fair.

Are we Doomed to be Swayed?

Now that we’re aware of these forces, can we turn them to our favor? How can we benefit from this knowledge? As one reads through each chapter, Ori and Rom provide us with tips on combating these forces as well as providing sound advice in the Epilogue. Once you know these forces exist, then you are way ahead of most people and can change your behavior.

About a month ago, I was the lucky recipient of one of the free copies of Sway from PickTheBrain.com and thought it was fitting to write this book review. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did. For some reason I have the irresistible urge to read the book a 2^nd time. Hmm, could there be yet another psychological force at work here?

This guest post was written by Victor Stachura.

Photos by Idea-man and TeeRish.

We read about it in magazines, blogs and news stories. Every day in the media we see it. What am I talking about? Passion. Passion for a cause, a product, a candidate or a company. You can easily read yet another story of a team that put in a Herculean effort to get their product out the door, their company launched or make that last deadline.

Even though they’ve spent large amounts of time at work, they look happy, satisfied, and only a little tired. For all the hours they spent at work, they certainly don’t have any of the signs that they’ve settled. What is it that drives groups like this and is there anything you can do to create the same passion in yourself and the people around you? At what point does being at work stop being work and turn into something enjoyable and satisfying?

Instilling passion in a group or team is an art practiced by many successful leaders and is something that can be learned – believe me, I’ve tried the suggestions below and have had great success. Many of us manage teams of people during our day jobs, and with the right team and working environment this can be an enjoyable experience. You may be leading a software development team, creating a product or working on a political campaign. Either way, you’re expected to motivate and lead a team through what may be, a period of very hard work.

Mo-ti-va-tion noun. The psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal;

While the textbook definition may be true, it certainly isn’t very, lets say, motivating. Motivation is the act of creating passion and passion is the fuel for great teams. Great teams feed on passion and leaders know how to nurture and instill passion in their people. We’re all trying to develop passion for our dreams, goals and desires and to motivate ourselves to take action. The following list is a few things I’ve learned and used to motivate my teams. I believe these lessons can be applied to our personal lives too.

Paint a vision of the future

Your goal as a leader is to develop a compelling vision for the team. Something that’s simple, yet elegant, maybe even a little edgy. Don’t bother with some stuffy board room mantra. If you do, you might as well hang it up before you get started. By simple, I mean something that creates the most impact with minimal effort. On a personal level – what is your vision of the future? Do you even have a vision? Unfortunately there is no ‘seeing eye dog’ that can help you develop your personal vision. Take time, dig deep and develop the vision of your future.

There is always more to the story

This is absolutely THE best leadership lesson that I’ve ever learned. In every situation that arises at work (and at home too), things are never as they seem. You may notice someone coming in late and leaving early and start to think – what a slacker. You may even complain about this person. Then you come to find out they’re taking care of an aging parent and make-up the hours every evening. You never know.

Break a rule for the team

I really like this tip and have used this successfully on various projects. I happen to work for an large “old school” computer company that had a strict dress code. At the time I was leading a team on a project that impacted everyone in our organization and it was important that my team was passionate about their work. I decided to purchase black denim shirts with the project name embroidered on the front (I know it’s no big deal now, but at THAT time, in my company, it WAS a big deal). NO one was allowed to wear denim in our office. But, I bought them anyway and I took a little heat from my manager. But in the end everything worked out. The team loved the shirts, was motivated, and put in the effort to get the job done on time.

Breaking a dress code rule is always a great thing to do for a team. Telling someone what to wear is the ultimate form of control and everyone is reminded of what their parents wanted them to wear when then were teenagers. Take one for the team, and they’ll take one for you when the time comes.

Really great teams feel as if they’re on a mission

You want your team to feel like they’re on a ‘mission from God’. The most successful teams have that type of passion and drive. The original Macintosh team had it, teams at Microsoft, Netscape and now Google have that drive. Do you feel you’re on a mission to achieve your personal goals?

Overcome an enemy

Every team needs an enemy to overcome. An enemy needs to be overcome in order for the team to be successful. Along with the leader’s vision, the drive to overcome an enemy will motivate the team to excellence. If there is no clear enemy, then you need to create one.

Have fun, no matter what

There’s enough pressure as it is at work, that you don’t need to be an ogre in the office to get your team to work. A team that is having fun will support the cause and will work hard.

Know and listen to your team

I’m not saying that every decision needs to be democratic, but you need to listen to team. When people are listened to and know their opinion is valued, they will work all the harder when the time comes. People need to be free to perform their absolute best. Great leaders surround themselves with great people and then get out of the way.

Sensible and flexible

As a leader you have to understand people have lives outside of work, and lets face it – things happen. Kids get sick, the car breaks down or your toilet erupts like Mt. St. Helens. Showing understanding and flexibility will pay huge dividends when the time comes.

This also means using failure as a learning experience. Your team needs to feel they can take a chance and not be punished. Like a dog that’s been hit one to many times, they’ll take the safe path and never develop that industry-changing-we-rock product that you’re looking for.

It’s been 24 years since I entered the professional workforce and I’ve experience both great leaders and some really bad ones. A few years ago I was asked to help a project that was “in trouble” and not going very well. I confidently walked into the office and what I saw was a sad sight. Before me was a room of people with a dead pan look on their faces, furiously coding at their terminals. No fun. No passion. No lets-save-the-world attitude. I tried to stir them from their stupor, but then I realized the problem. The team leader had sucked the life out of these people with his lack of leadership and constant badgering. After a year, he almost had me broken, too. But fortunately I escaped in the nick of time and he is no longer employed at our company.

When looking at new opportunities or projects to join, I use the tips above to evaluate the leader and to get a read on the team dynamics. A few simple questions and quick conversations can yield a lot of information about a leader’s style and the psyche of the team.

I’ve sat through too many sessions like this, and frankly, can’t stand it any longer. I don’t even fault the presenter. Many times people gain valuable experience in a topic or technique and are asked to put together a presentation and “train” a group of people. The problem is, the presenters are rarely trained in teaching techniques or learning theory.

It was after doing a little research that I then came across the learning principles of William Glasser, M.D – a psychiatrist who wrote many papers on improving the U.S. school system and was an advocate of non-medical treatments to mental disorders. He said:

“We Learn . . .
10% of what we read
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we see and hear
70% of what we discuss
80% of what we experience
95% of what we teach others.”

As someone who occasionally develops training material in a corporate environment, these principles dramatically changed how I develop and present my material. I also think about my kids in school and wonder if any of their teachers use these principles?

I do know that when I help my daughter study for a test, I have her teach me the material. She loves being the teacher and my only job is to listen and ask her questions. We find that she scores much higher on tests when she uses the studies-by-teaching method as opposed to rote memorization of the material.

An understanding of these principles is key to improving the learning experience. I’ve spent many hours delivering presentations when my only qualification was that I knew the material well. The problem was that I knew nothing about teaching.

When I thought about the Glasser Principles of Learning, I can see that my audience was only retaining 10% – 20% of what I was teaching. As a stockholder in my company, that did not sound like a good return on investment to me. I wonder how much money is spent by corporations on training where the participants only retain 10% – 20% of what they see and hear?

One thing to note was my class surveys always came back positive. “nice presentation”, “instructor knew his material” they would say. But, who really cares about the instructor? It’s not about me or any instructor – it’s about how much the audience learns and physically changes through your lecture (the brain creates new pathways and physically changes as you learn new material). The point of any class is to put new information into the heads of your audience. I often wondered – which 10% – 20% of the material is the class retaining? Then I found out.

Learning Happens at the Beginning and at the End

Research has shown that learning most frequently happens at the start and at the end of a message. Your message could be a presentation, advertisement or a lecture, it doesn’t matter – people remember the beginning and ending more than the middle. It’s called the primacy-recency principle and was first studied in the 1920’s. Movie directors understand this to well – that’s why in most movies something big usually happens within the first couple minutes and the best song is left until the end. They want you to remember the start of the movie and feel good at the end. We can apply this concept and provide a better learning experience for your audience.

Use Beginnings to Grab Your Audience

It’s at the beginning where you can grab the attention of your audience and set the tone for the rest of your message. We remember more from the beginning and end of a presentation than we do of the stuff in the middle. Usually people are ‘ready to learn’ at the beginning of a session and pay close attention and typically take notes.

But then something happens after a while – their eyes glaze over and they start to drift away. They check their Blackberry, complete their to-do list for the day or just plain doodle. All the while the presenter is trying her hardest to deliver her message and teach you her topic. Has this ever happened to you?

What’s missing, is the attention grabbing message. Too many times we don’t do an adequate job of telling the audience why they should care about the material. And it can’t be some lame corporate directive reason either. You have to explain why your message matters to your audience in a way that’s meaningful them. You as the presenter may be passionate about a topic, and to be successful, you have to communicate that passion to the audience. Only then, when the audience has a compelling reason to listen, will true learning and retention occur.

Endings are for the Big Hollywood Finish

At the end of your talk you want your audience to leave feeling good, like they truly learned something. You want them to leave with a sense of accomplishment. That’s why it’s actually better to cover fewer topics with more depth, than a range of topics at a cursory level.

Remember, it’s not how much you know, but how much your audience learns during your lecture. People need to feel they’ve changed during your talk. They need to feel they were engaged, challenged and reached a higher level of thinking (just like in a video game). Yes, game designers do know something about keeping our attention and providing just-enough-challenging-activities to get us into a Flow State. I think we can borrow some of these concepts and apply them to teaching and learning.

Improving Audience Retention

You solve the I’m-bored-in-the-middle-of-your-lecture syndrome simply by having more starting and ending points. I’m not suggesting you take breaks every 15 minutes, but you should provide for some type of exercise, discussion point or a change of pace about every 15 minutes. An exercise or discussion point that breaks up the flow of your talk will allow the audience to have more points where learning will occur.

In one class I took they had an exercise titled “Vote with your feet”. The instructor would ask some controversial question and everyone would go to one side of the room or the other based on their answer. The class would then discuss the topic while standing.

This technique was pure genius and a classic implementation of ‘adding more starts and ends’ to your talk. The class was forced to get out of their seats and move – which is great for getting the blood flowing and making sure everyone is awake. Since the question was typically asked at the end of a section – we were more inclined to remember the questions and more importantly, the discussion points. Once we sat down we proceeded with another start. Another point that facilitates learning.

You can see that by providing more beginnings and endings, you are actually operating at the higher end of the William Glasser scale – especially if you provide exercises or opportunities for discussion.

The financial newspaper Investors Business Daily (IBD) asked these same questions a few years ago and started a multi-year search for the answer. They studied industry leaders, investors and entrepreneurs to understand the traits they all had in common that contributed to their success. Reproduced here is their list of 10 Secrets to Success along with my commentary on each no-so-secret, ‘secret’.

I decided to reproduce the list here and comment on each of the traits in hopes of motivating you and myself in the process. It’s time for me to take my own advice and start on the path to my dreams. I hope to motivate you, by using myself as an example.

I originally came across this list when I was staring at some papers on a refrigerator owned by someone who was very successful – both personally and financially. My family and I had just spent the night as a guest in a great house in the suburbs of Boston. We were living life large as we played pool in the rec room, drank wine from the wine cellar, and enjoyed a dip in the hot tub. The problem was, neither of the couples in the house owned the property or the life we were pretending to have. You see, my friends were house sitting for the original owner and they had invited us to stay for the weekend.

It wasn’t until the morning after our little ‘party’ that I noticed something taped to the refrigerator – something that impacts me each time I read it. It was the IBD 10 Secrets to Success. Once my head cleared, I quickly copied them down and read them over and over again. After our vacation I made copies and posted them in my home office and inside a journal I decided to keep.

The problem was, after a couple of months I forgot about the secrets and they fell by the wayside. And so did my actions towards my goals. At the time the articles 7 Ways to Grow the Action Habit or How To Motivate Yourself – Self Motivation didn’t exist and I lost my motivation. Well, I re-discovered the list and want to share it with you now. I hope you take these not-so-secret, secrets to heart and realize your dreams – whatever they may be.

1. How You Think is Everything.

Always be positive. Think Success, not Failure. Beware of a negative environment.

This trait has to be one of the most important in the entire list. Your belief that you can accomplish your goals has to be unwavering. The moment you say to yourself “I can’t…”, then you won’t. I was always given the advice “never say I can’t” and I’d like to strike those words from the dictionary.

I’ve found that from time-to-time my attitude waivers. A mentor of mine once said “it’s ok to visit pity city, but you can’t stay and there comes a time when you need to leave”. Positive things happen to positive people.

2. Decide upon Your True Dreams and Goals: Write down your specific goals and develop a plan to reach them.

Write down my dreams and goals? Develop a plan to reach them? You mean like a project plan? Yes, that’s exactly what this means. You may have heard the old adage: A New Years resolution that isn’t written down is just a dream, and dreams are not goals.

Goals are those concrete, measurable stepping stones of achievement that track your progress towards your dreams. My goal is to start a second career as a freelance writer – what are your goals?

3. Take Action. Goals are nothing without action.

Be like Nike and “Just do it”. I took action by reaching out and started writing. Every day I try to take some action towards my goals. It may be small, but it’s still an action. Have you taken action towards your goals?

4. Never Stop Learning: Go back to school or read books. Get training & acquire skills.

Becoming a life long learner would benefit us all and is something we should instill in our kids. It’s funny that once you’re out of school you realize how enjoyable learning can be. What have you learned today?

5. Be Persistent and Work Hard: Success is a marathon, not a sprint. Never give up.

I think every story of success I read entails long hard hours of work. There is no getting around this and there is no free lunch. But, if you’re working towards something that you’re passionate about, something you love – then is it really work?

6. Learn to Analyze Details: Get all the facts, all the input. Learn from your mistakes.

I think you have to strike a balance between getting all the facts and making a decision with incomplete data – both are traits of successful people. Spend time gathering details, but don’t catch ‘analysis paralysis’.

7. Focus Your Time And Money: Don’t let other people or things distract you.

Remain laser focused on your goals and surround yourself with positive people that believe in you. Don’t be distracted by the naysayer’s or tasks that are not helping you achieve your goals.

8. Don’t Be Afraid To Innovate: Be different. Following the herd is a sure way to mediocrity.

Follow through on that break-out idea you have. Ask yourself “What would I do if I wasn’t afraid?”

9. Deal And Communicate With People Effectively: No person is an island. Learn to understand and motivate others.

Successful people develop and nurture a network and they only do that by treating people openly, fairly and many times firmly. There is nothing wrong about being firm – just don’t cross the a-hole line. How do you deal with people?

10. Be Honest And Dependable: Take responsibility, otherwise numbers 1 – 9 won’t matter.

Enough said.

Have you ever told yourself that a particular book is important but you find yourself rereading the pages just to understand the material? It’s difficult to pay attention to material written in a formal tone (like most textbooks) even though you may want to understand it. The problem is you’re fighting against your brain – the most sophisticated computer ever created.

Neuroscience has discovered that our brains remember things that it thinks are important. And our brains think conversations are important and should be remembered. Especially funny or emotional conversations.

Conversational writing causes your brain to wake-up and pay attention. Your brain thinks it’s in a real conversation, even though you’re reading text on a page. If you’re developing learning content, teaching or helping your child study for a test – use a conversation. Your reader’s brain will thank you for it.

For a majority of the writing you may do, a conversational tone will go a long way in getting your point across while holding your reader’s attention. Here’s a few tips to help:

1. Write using a conversational tone. Your brain thinks it’s in a real conversation when reading material written in a conversational tone. What happens during a conversation? Your brain pays attention and your remember more of the material. Researchers aren’t sure exactly why it works, but you can read more about it in e-learning and the Science of Instruction. Their research shows your brain pays attention to conversations and improves your ability to remember the topic. I guess, if you’re involved in a conversation your brain thinks it may have to respond to that conversation and should pay attention.
2. Your tone tells a lot about you. Here’s something to think about. If you’re using formal language in a lecture, article or book, are you more concerned about you and how you sound to the audience? Or are you truly concerned about your audience and what they’re going to get out of your presentation. If you’re truly concerned about your readers, then use a conversational tone and help them learn your material. It’s all about your readers and not about you, the author.
3. Write the way you talk. Yes, ignore what you may have learned about writing and write the way you talk to help your readers understand your material. What this really means is to write in a direct and friendly manner – it’s more appealing (especially to your brain) than formal writing.
4. Use the Readability Index Calculator to improve the understandability of your writing. This calculator implements the Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease criteria for determining how easy a passage is to read. Magazines such as the Reader’s Digest are more easily read and score higher on the test (65), while other magazines have dramatically lower scores and are difficult to read. Most paragraphs in this post scored about around a 45 – not bad, but maybe I need to loosen up a bit. I’m not gong to discuss the specifics of the Reading Ease criteria, but suggest using it as a quick verification of the level of your writing.
5. It’s ok to use contractions. Contrary to what you may have learned, it’s ok to use contractions – you’ll grab your reader’s attention and engage their brain without them even knowing it.
6. “And” and “But” can be used at the beginning of a sentence. But that’s not what you’ve been taught, is it? When we talk we occasionally start sentences with ‘and’ and ‘but’. If you want your writing to sound authentic, the you should do the same.
7. Pass the “read out loud” test. If you’re unsure about your writing, then read it out loud to yourself. If it doesn’t sound right, then change it. Reading your writing out loud gives it new meaning and will prevent your brain from filling in any gaps between words.
8. Don’t use jargon, buzzwords or obscure words. If you’re really concerned about your readers, don’t use words that show off your intelligence. Your writing is all about the reader and not about you.
9. Remain organized and don’t ramble. Conversational writing does not give you permission to write like you’re sending a text message or to ramble using long sentences. In fact, I probably reached a limit in my previous sentence, but I wanted to make a point. Your writing will still need to be well organized and have thoughts that flow together.

There is a time and place for formal writing – maybe you’re creating a reference work or you may be involved with a team of writers and need a consistent tone or style. Certainly contracts and legal documents should not be written in a conversational tone.

You also don’t want to overdo it with the conversational tone. You’ll loose your readers with to much jargon or conversation speak. Take this for example:

“Hi there, are you ready for your first lesson in calculus? Well, ok, lets put on our math hats, get a calculator, some graph paper and lets get started!”

There’s a lot of clutter in my example and many words that don’t add value to the sentence. A better approach would be:

“Some graph paper and a calculator is all that’s needed for your first lesson in calculus”

Clean, precise, but conversational. You can almost hear my voice as I talk to you through my writing.

If you’re looking to improve your writing, grab your reader’s attention and appeal to their brains, then use a conversational tone – your reader’s will love you for it.

It’s unfortunate that nursing homes are filled with people that barely recognize their friends and family that come to visit. If you’ve read the book or seen the movie “The Notebook”, you understand what I’m talking about. Is there anything we can do now to help prevent these diseases or should we sit and wait for science to develop a magic pill for us?

I don’t know about any magic pill, but there is research that shows there are things we can do to help ward off the effects of Alzheimer’s and Dementia. But, before I divulge the secret-sauce of mind disease prevention, I need to explain a property of the brain that may be contrary to what you already know.

Did you realize that our brains have the ability to physically change no matter how old we are! A brain that is 70 years old is just as capable of learning and changing as a brain that is 30 years old. This property is called neuroplasticity and

John wrote an insightful article titled Science Proves You Can Improve Your Mind which also discusses research conducted with Buddhist monks. In John’s article he wrote “Mental training can improve your mind by physically changing the structure of your brain.” Hmm, so it seems you can teach an old dog, new tricks. Everything you have experienced, learned and seen has been encoded within millions of networks or pathways of neurons within your brain.

It’s these networks that allow us to remember faces, names, places and experiences. Have you ever been called a ‘muscle head’? Well, if you were, I hope you weren’t to upset because in some ways our brains do behave like muscles. If you don’t use a muscle, it eventually atrophies and dies. Conversely, if you exercise a muscle it will get stronger . Our brain works the same way – it must be kept active, or it too will atrophy and wither away, just like a muscle that is seldom used. So, what is the secret-sauce of mind disease prevention?

Our brains must be kept active through learning and through regular vigorous exercise. As long as you keep learning new things, your neural networks will remain strong and your brain will act like a spry young kid. It’s when you stop learning that you loose mental performance and you slowly start down the path towards the permanent fog. It’s up to you and only you to exercise your brain and keep it young.

There is a long standing belief that when the brain is young, it learns quickly and by the time we’re in our twenties, it becomes ‘set in it’s ways’. It was also believed that you cannot replace brain cells that are lost. Research has shown this is no longer true. Brain cells can and do regenerate in certain areas of your brain up until your last breath is taken. I know the brain is amazing, but how does it regenerate itself?

It’s simple really – our thoughts (which are non-physical) can and do impact the physical structure of our brains. Let me repeat that: Our thoughts impact and change the physical structure of our brains. Here’s something a little more strange – if one continues to think negative thoughts versus positive thoughts, the chemistry of the brain physically changes! Again, your thoughts can and do effect the physical world.

When you learn something new, the neurons in your brain physically change by making new pathways. New pathways are needed to store and retrieve the information you’ve just learned. The more you repeat an activity or attach an emotion to it, the stronger those linkages become allowing you to easily remember the material. Your performance on a task will improve the more you repeat the task – your brain pathways are continually refined and strengthened. By exercising your brain and learning something new, your brain physically changes. Simply amazing.

The Secret Sauce to Keeping your Brain Young

1. Become a life long learner. Looking to reduce your chance of getting Alzheimer’s disease? Not looking forward to dementia? Then learn, learn, and learn some more. Your brain continuously changes and strengthens its networks the more you learn. There was a reporter that asked a 100 year old lady if she had any regrets in her life. She said she had one. She wished she started playing the violin when she was 60 – she could have been playing the violin for 40 years. Wow.

2. Remain physically active. Not all activities need to be mental in order to keep your brain young. Working out, walking, running, swimming or any physical activity is good for your brain. Your brain enjoys fresh oxygen.

3. Play video games. I believe playing video games is not as bad as some people may think. You’re solving complex problems, using mental visualization to track your progress and in many cases experiencing a state of Flow as you try to advance to the next level.

4. Perform memory exercises. As learning puts new things into our minds, we too must exercise our ability to recall information and memories.

5. Meditate. This is perhaps the ultimate in mental exercise. Volumes have been written on the benefits of meditation.

6. Maintain a positive mental attitude. As I mentioned before, our thoughts impact the chemistry of our brains. Positive thoughts, positive chemistry. Negative thoughts, negative chemistry. I know I need all the help I can get – only positive thoughts for me.

That’s called “flow” – a state of consciousness where we experience a task so deeply that it truly becomes enjoyable and satisfying. For me this usually happens while I’m reading, writing, or developing software. For you, it could happen during any number of tasks — golfing, cooking, hiking, etc.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is the architect of Flow and after decades of researching the characteristics of the “optimal experience” (a fancy word for enjoyment) he wrote Flow: The Psychology of the Optimal Experience. A guide that shows us how to add more enjoyment in our lives by increasing the time we spend in Flow.

The Conditions of Flow

Flow can be achieved by anyone with any task, as long as the conditions are right. I usually get into a state of Flow while writing. I listen to music through my headphones and after a few minutes I really get into my work I’m oblivious to my surroundings.

Sometimes I can’t type fast enough. Other times I type so s-l-o-w-l-y and the words don’t come easily. But, either way, I’m in a state of Flow. According to Mihaly there are eight characteristics to an optimal experience:

1. You’re challenged by the task at hand. This seems to be the ‘prime directive’ to achieving Flow and can actually prevent you from being in a state of Flow. The difficulty of your task has to be “just right”. If the task is to easy, you’ll get bored and eventually stop. If the task is to difficult, you’ll get frustrated and eventually stop. Either way, you loose.
2. The ability to concentrate is key. If there are to many interruptions or it’s noisy, you won’t be able to concentrate on your task. No concentration, no Flow.
3. You have clear goals to achieve. Goals establish a mechanism to measure your progress and provide a sense of achievement. People in Flow achieve their goals.
4. You receive immediate feedback. Either your ball landed in the cup or it didn’t. You know immediately if your goal was reached or not.
5. Your worries and frustrations of everyday life recede into the background. This perhaps is one of the greatest benefit of Flow. You’re busy concentrating on your task and the rest of your world just “goes away” for a short while. Even though you’re challenged, you end up relaxed, satisfied and you achieved something meaningful (all this, and it’s legal too).
6. Your sense of self disappears (only for a while). When it re-appears, you’re refreshed with an even stronger sense of self.
7. You have a level of control over your actions while performing your task.
8. You loose track of time and feel great when you’re done with your task.

The Paradox of Leisure Time

With all the “modern conveniences” available today, we have more free time than ever before. But, with all this free time, people rarely reported being in a Flow state.

What is the largest single pastime for Americans? Watching TV. It’s a national obsession – sports, soaps, reality TV, it doesn’t matter, we’ll watch anything. The interesting thing is this – Flow is rarely achieved while watching TV!

I wonder if it has anything to do with your brain being more active while you’re sleeping than when you’re watching TV? Even though we have plenty of free time, our single most leisure activity is producing the poorest quality of enjoyment. If you’re looking to take one small step to improve the quality of your life – then turn off your TV.

The State of Flow at Work

Engaging in a challenging activity is a primary condition to achieve Flow and for many of us, this occurs while at work. You’re given a task or you volunteer for a project that’s just beyond your current skill level. Deep down you know you can do it and maybe it’s a stretch. But it’s the challenge that intrigues you and ultimately expands your knowledge.

This is how one grows – expanding your skills by continuously challenging oneself and moving to that “next level”. It’s at work where the opportunity to grow occurs most frequently. There is nothing wrong with this. My point is that we need to find activities outside of work where we can achieve Flow.

Your Personal Plan for Flow

1. Find a challenging activity. This could be anything. Reading, suduko, learning a language, cooking, or even playing a video game. Whatever you decide to do, just do it.
2. Commit to yourself. Remember, you’re doing this for one person and one person only. Yourself. This is your chance to finally get on the road to happiness and accomplishment.
3. Set a series of realistic goals. By setting goals you automatically know the level of skills needed to accomplish those goals and you provide yourself a framework for achieving a sense of accomplishment. Just as a video game has levels that you try to achieve, so should your activity. Define the levels, work to achieve them and realize your goals.
4. Turn off the T.V. “Everything in moderation” is what my father used to tell me – so it goes for TV. Some is good, a lot is bad. Give yourself a chance to get into a Flow state by turning off the TV.
5. Remove any interruptions. It nearly impossible to be engrossed in an activity when you’re bombarded with interruptions. I tell my kids “Please don’t interrupt me unless you’re bleeding or a dinosaur is crashing through our house”. They usually giggle and give me the time I need.
6. Track your progress. Create a simple way to track your daily progress. Place a mark on a calendar, write a short entry in a journal or scratch a line in your bedroom wall.
7. Enjoy your experience. Achieving flow takes determination. But remember to enjoy your experience along the way. As they say “it’s the journey that’s important”.

Have you achieved a state of Flow today?