06 July 2006
Learning how to recognise the symptoms of "brainflood" and taking time away from a problem to let your brain work in the background so that the issues are resolved
It doesn't matter what the subject is when I am preparing workshops but there always comes a time when my brain just will not work any more. It's the same when I'm doing business plans or cash flows for clients – there comes a time when getting the next key point into a marketing strategy or trying to discover why the columns don't add up is like getting blood out of a stone. It can be in the morning, the afternoon, the evening or late at night it's always the same: the brain refuses to work.
When this happens I know that I have to break off from whatever I'm doing, whatever the deadline and take a break. The break can be anything – taking the dogs round the block for 10 minutes, reading the newspaper, making a cup of tea or taking the post to the letterbox – because I have discovered that after a period of time I get what I call “brain-flood”.
During the years I have been coaching all sorts of different people, I have discovered, also get “brain flood” and invariably they have tried to battle through it only to realise that it's like pushing against a brick wall. It’s also something that makes them very frustrated until I explain what's going on.
I think that most of us know that the brain has lots of different areas where it does different things – talking, memorizing, reactions, rationalizing, visioning, and so on – but principally the left brain (controlling the right-hand side of the brain) tends to be logic-, numbers- and detail-orientated; the right brain (controlling the left-hand side of the brain) tends to be big picture, creative and artistic.
Both sides are constantly being supplied by a whole range of neuro-chemicals which provide the necessary “food” for our grey matter that is consumed by our neurons and dendrites. The thing is that if we’re using one side more than the other, the side that isn't being used gets over supplied or “flooded” as it is not consuming the “food”. The result is that eventually side that isn't being used and it is invariably the right-hand side which is being underused, starts complaining.
It complains by not coming up with solutions and answers to problems as quickly as we expect and eventually it brings the whole thinking process to a painful and frustrating halt. Unlike computers, when they’re over-tasked, our brains don’t crash, but they are in effect saying: “time out”. So, however hard you try and think it is an absolute waste of time – all that occurs is that you will “do your head in”.
The solution is simple: take a break. Amazingly my clients have discovered that it doesn't have to be a long one. Only a few minutes being necessary – preferably with a little exercise and a change of scenery – allows the stabilisation of the neuro-chemicals to occur amazingly quickly even though you might have been spent one or two hours slogging away at the job in hand.
This very simple recipe to cure “brain flood” will possibly be more difficult for those people who are blessed with a more driven, stubborn personality. Take it from one person who has learnt the hard way that “have a break – get a breakthrough” soon becomes the talk of the month.
You'll find that with regular breaks you will be far more productive. So the next time you see colleagues having a chat at the water cooler go and join them – not only will you get back to your job feeling more refreshed, but you’ll also be keeping your finger on the pulse of the company.
©William Barron
Creating Insight
July 2006
12 July 2006
We are all ugly ducklings and beautiful swans within ..
..it is just a question of recognising it… how to recognise what we consider as normal in oneself but is really excellence and translating that into a language that others can understand
I have no idea if you have been driving along and suddenly you ”wake up” after a few miles and have no recollection of having driven them. Well, when I talk to people in my workshops about “unconscious competence”, it seems that a number of people have these moments. Basically, it was your unconscious competence doing all the driving for you ie. something you do so naturally that you don’t know you’re doing it and all of this whilst you were chatting to someone
All this came to me when Shahida, one of my clients said she was having difficulties communicating to a very good friend of hers, Leah, who was also responsible for recruiting her for a new job. The challenge they both had was that they were talking but they were not able to communicate. They both knew that Shahida was just the ticket for the job but there was a brick wall and they both agreed to have another meeting once Shahida had put her ideas down on paper.
While that was all very well but Shahida is not an “ideas on paper” lady. She is very much a creative, ideas-led person, lives in the moment, excellent spokesperson, “meeter and greeter” of people, imbues excellent trust and feel-good factor amongst strangers, but to put on paper the plan, the process, the steps, well that’s kind of difficult .. except that this bit is easy for her “boss” friend Leah, who believe it or not is not a “meeter and greeter”, has difficulty standing up and talking to groups and audiences, thinks long and hard about what she is or isn't going to do, runs numbers and scenarios through her head time and time again, before making a decision.
The fact was that neither understood the difficulty that the other was having understanding the other. They were both talking from their own unconscious competences and neither was communicating in the other person's competences language. They were both talking about something that was so automatic and natural to themselves that they couldn't possibly understand how or why the other one didn't understand what each one was talking about.
Shahida’s language was all about energy and passion and taking great the leaps in thoughts from one idea to another missing out huge parts of the process, with lots of waiving of her arms and Leah was just lost. Shahida’s words were tumbling out in a torrent of energy, much too fast for Leah’s processor type brain. Leah was trying to hear and see a plan, map, even some steps but structure was something that Shahida’s brain did not do at the best of times. This time it was less than structured as it was all so “instantaneous”.
The interesting thing for me as an outsider was that both of them were approaching the art project from exactly the same unconscious values of passion for art, artists and creativity but their implementation process was completely different. Shahida’s process was instantaneous, seat of the pants, impulsive ideas whilst Leah’s was to think, then plan a process and finally implement it.
The saving grace was that they both had the same unconscious driver of going the extra mile to “do what was needed to make it work” - “it” being their relationship and the project. If egos or any prejudices had been involved, it is highly probable that they would not have both agreed to another meeting to think how they could discuss “it”, the project, in more detail.
Once they realised that they both had huge amounts of unconscious competences to give each other, to fill in each other's gaps, all they had to do was to honour each other's thought processes and gradually “have a meeting of their minds”.
The lesson from this short event is one that this type of event is occurring all over the place to many of us when we are talking to business colleagues, friends, loved ones and of course to ourselves.
The solution is to honour the difference and use it to create a solution using both unconscious strengths. The trick is to understand that we all have these unconscious competences, some of which we are unable to see in ourselves because we live with them 24/7 and they are an invisible part of our makeup.
Often it is only a third party, someone on the outside that can see the ability and honour it. So if you see somebody doing something so naturally, like
- like resolving a difficult issue
- carrying out a complex mental arithmetical problem quickly and accurately
- talking to a group of strangers easily and fluently
- making people feel at ease with grace
- polishing a table effortlessly
- cooking a meal that smells so delicious whilst carrying on a conversation and laughing at the same time
- driving a car through traffic smoothly and safely
- pruning a plant deftly
- presenting a report accurately and with passion
then take time to honour the person in the moment with a few words of praise. You may never know how much you increased their understanding of themselves, that they have such an unconscious skill, but you will have made a difference.
©William Barron
Creating Insight
July 12 2006
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