Monthly Archives: January 2012

Mindful Curiosity from Where You Stand

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Ask What if… questions to fire neurons in new directions and open curiosity’s eyes to cultivate wonder.

Blaze trails typically reserved for the curious by running with one new possibility. The simple question What if… stokes working memory to think more like a genius that way J-Mac did when he ignored autism and landed a life-changing basketball shot.

When Competition’s Paradox Means Defeat

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Why is the competitive approach Americans crave – also a force driving us out of the game?

NPR brought competition’s problem to our attention. Check out Finland’s winning model that touts a distinct distaste for unabashed competition.

Compare Finland’s winning approach to U.S. test based competition. Dr. Pasi Sahlberg, Director General of the Centre for International Mobility, contrasted Finland’s advantage:

In my country … we believe in cooperation and sharing. Cooperation is a core starting point for growth.

A Brain on Persistence

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All good intentions aside – projects often fall off the tracks before completion. Has it happened to you?

Why do so many power-packed-possibilities flicker, fizzle and die before they reach their potential? Some blame it on disorganization. Others attribute derailed efforts to laziness.

Neither laziness nor disorganizations’ the culrprit – if you consider how a brain hangs onto one idea and lets go of another.

Research now shows scientific support for persistence as it links to working memory and basal ganglia, as illustrated in the video here.