I have to confess, the line that really caught my attention in this article was the reference to our president, “the Decider”, and the statement that “to decide is to kill off all possibilities but one.” It turns out that we, as complex human beings, really can improve, not just maintain, the health of our brains as we age.
In The New York Times on May 4th (Can You Become a Creature of New Habits?), Janet Rae-Dupree challenges us to consciously develop new habits in our lives. Apparently this process of developing new habits, creates parallel synaptic paths in the brain AND brand new brain cells. Yay! The result? Increased creativity and innovation that we can all use to improve both our personal and work lives.
She goes on to say that humans are born with the capacity to approach problems and challenges in 4 different ways but that we choose a dominant method based on our experiences in roughly the first 10 years of living. This is important as it relates to developing those new habits and continuing to learn. Figure out how you have achieved success in learning in the past and utilize that pathway to learning in the future. Do you get a lot out of how-to manuals? Go with them. Personally I’d be asleep on the second page as I’m a very visual and action oriented learner.
So, by any means suitable to you, develop new habits and get creative about your future. That, of course, includes hiring or getting hired!
