START EXPERIMENTING ON YOU If you won't, who will? I have been in dozens of different rooms this fall, filled with people who are working hard to make change. Yet no matter how hard they try to push things through, get that process, those programs, that strategy, those people whipped into shape, they still feel like they are slowly sinking in quicksand. Why not start experimenting with new ways to trick yourself and your brain to get what you want more quickly? CHANGE WON'T EVER HAPPEN SOON ENOUGH FOR THOSE WHO ARE READY NOW What we know is that the world is filled with resistance to change. Status quo is comfy. no doubt about it, and in some cases resistance is a good thing. Resistance slows us down to consider whether what we are about to do is really going to create expansive change.  Think of some of the ridiculous ideas you have tried or items you have purchased with your hard earned denaro that you wish someone had talked you out of. But there are some cases in which resistance prevents us from making scientific discoveries that can alter the life experience of others who need it.  This week a Rhode Island-based research team won a $1 million prize at the BrainTech Israel Conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday morning for breakthrough research and innovation in neurotechnology. Out of 10 finalists, the prize went to the Brain-Gate research team, headed by Dr. John Donoghue. BrainGate, which is based at Brown University, helps disabled people around the globe by creating robotic and prosthetic arms controlled by implanted neural sensors. When this idea first came out, people didn't think it possible, given that each of our brains react so differently to stimuli. These doctors are currently recruiting people to advance science through placing an implant in the part of the brain which controls movement. They are linking thinking to actual movement of prosthetics. In their acceptance speech for the award, one of the doctors said, "We are strangers to ourselves," when referring to our lack of knowledge about how the brain truly works. Uh, yep. SO WHY NOT RUN YOUR OWN SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENT ON YOURSELF? Change agent and SPHR coach, Andrea Ballard ran an ad hoc experiment in one of my Vision to Reality sessions last week.  She was wearing a biofeedback dot on her hand during the session. Later, she shared the results from her experiment: "During your presentation, if I was talking in a small group or with a partner or listening to you speaking, I ranged orange/brown on the color scale - which was nervous/unsettled. I think it's because my brain was processing so much info. When I was drawing (and typically I think of drawing as something that makes me anxious - i.e., "I'm not good at this") my dot turned dark green or blue indicating calm/tranquil EVERY SINGLE TIME." Research shows that drawing increases our levels of serotonin and dopamine, neurotransmitters that play a role in increasing happiness and relaxation. Ever lose track of time working on a creative project? This is because our concept of time exists in the left hemisphere of our brain. The creative process exists mainly in our right hemisphere. If we focus our attention to the right hemisphere, we give our analytical left side some much needed time to rest. AND we drop our resistance to and relax into new ideas. Try this experiment:  Next time you or your team are feeling stressed or resistant to change, try drawing a picture of what you are currently experiencing and then doodle how you'd like this whole situation to be going. Shift your perspective and shift your reality. VISION TO REALITY NHRMA 2013 CONFERENCE Amazing drawings from participants in my session at the recent NHRMA conference in Tacoma. A SIMPLE DRAWING CAN CHANGE EVERYTHING You don't need to know how to draw to make change in your world. Download a template for free and get started today. Here's a great example from one of the participants! BROADWAY BOOKS DRAWING SOLUTIONS:  HOW VISUAL GOAL SETTING WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE If you haven't gotten your copy of Drawing Solutionsor one for a friend who needs to make a change, why not stop by Broadway Books at 1714 NE Broadway in Portland and pick one up?  Support your local INDIE BOOKSTORE!

TRAINING THE ZOMBIE IN YOU!

I've been reading a phlethora of books on the brain.  My current favorite is by David Eagleman,Incognito:  The Secret Lives of the Brain.  In his book, Eagleman talks about the different lives inside our brains.  The one that I got a kick out of is the inner zombie - you know - that part of your brain that gets you to your destination and once you arrive you wonder, "Wow, I don't even remember driving here!  How did that happen?!"  According to the latest neuroscience, what got you there was the "automaton" or zombie part of you.  Your brain is a pattern making machine and you can get it to become an automaton and go all zombie on yourself when it comes to doing a lot of things, especially the things you want to change.  Yay!

For example, how can you train your brain to help you eat less pumpkin pie?         

Put that pie in front of yourself and then push it away while saying "No, thanks!"  The first time you do it, according to Eagleman, you won't really register a higher level of dissuading ability.  But after you do it 3-4 times, your ability to say "No", goes on autopilot and as it becomes a routinized pattern, it just gets easier.  Just like in real life, practice makes perfect for that zombieizing of self.  The more you practice saying no to the things you don't want, the easier it gets. Conversely, the more you say YES to the things you do want, the more you will get them!

Achieving your goals is simply a combination of training your brain to focus on what you want, while taking routine steps towards accomplishing your goals.  That's why picturing your dreams, both inwardly and outwardly, works!  It trains the zombie in you to "Bring me that which I want!"

Don't believe me or Eagleman? Test it yourself!  Before you press the "power up" computer button, sit down in a chair, grab a piece of paper and pen, shut your eyes and ask yourself, "What's one thing I want more of in my life?"  Then, QUICK, write down the first thing that comes to you.  After you have a few words, let yourself fantasize about it a little, build out a picture.  Draw some symbols to see what else will be present in that new world of you.  

Finally, pretend that it has already happened and interview yourself about what it's like to be you in that new experience. Pretend to be the interviewer and ask yourself some questions like, "In the past, you were known for ____, and now you have become so ______!  What is the biggest tip you can give our audience about what you did?" or "What is the most exciting part about your _________ today?"  Then everyday, so back and revisit that super fun new you!  Watch how quickly you step into it.  #believeit.

Have fun!  And be sure to share some of your cool ideas with me so I can pass them to the rest of our readers. Go ahead and get zombified over Thanksgiving!

Let me add how thankful I am for each of you. It has been a magnificent year thanks to you.  You inspire me and thanks for being here.

CONVERSA- TIONS I had a fantastic time with Vicki St. Clair.  She does a weekly talk show on KKNW 1150AM and is so gracious and smart!  If you missed our interview, you can catch it here.  My part starts at about 1215 on the podcast player.

PENCILS & PIXELS Talk about game changers.  What I loved about being able to record this conference was the great ideas that came from this breakout session discussing social media in higher ed.  Check out their  CONFERENCE and find out what they are up to.

WHAT'S COMING UP This January I am donating my time to this fantastic Harlem school,The Children's Storefront and flying in to show these students Visual Goal Setting.  If you want to get in on this project, I am looking for someone to donate 20 copies of my book,Drawing Solutions to the teachers to use in their classrooms. Contact me if you are interested in helping.

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Drawing Your Vision or Goals: Helping Your Brain Commit Them To Memory

Setting goals is a magnificent, inspiring, iterative practice.  Not just a quarterly or annual process, it can be an effective daily practice when you want to make change stick.  I was recently researching the neuroscience of memory and what helps us to keep our focus on achieving what we want; those sometimes slippery goals.

There are three types of memory - sense memory, which is what you experience on a sensory level; short-term memory (sometimes called working memory) which is what's happening right now in this present moment - for example you want something to eat so you go to the fridge and get it.  The third type of memory is long-term memory.  

Sense memory almost always automatically shifts into your short-term memory. Short-term memory can only hold information for about a few minutes, and its storage capacity is limited.  It can only take in about 5 items or elements before it short-circuits and starts dumping things off into the abyss. Long-term memory, however, can retain some information for life and it has an enormous capacity.  Long-term memory is key to goal achievement.

Think about it.  What's the use of goal setting if you can't remember what it is you are focusing on?  So it's a good idea to help your brain shift those new pictures of who and where you want to be a year from today out of that short-term and into the long-term memory.  

To make your thoughts into a roadmap for reality, you have to get a little loud and creative.  Your brain's short-term memory is so used to quickly sorting and screening out information that it often just simply deletes ideas and moves on to managing the car in traffic unless you tell it to stop and PAY ATTENTION. This is where using both words and images to capture your ideas and vision right when you are thinking about them is so critical.

Drawing, for those of you who are not artists, is a fantastic way to call something out with a big highlighter for your brain.  If you don't often draw, just the act of doing that "new thing" wakes your brain up and forges a new neural pathway.  Drawing also helps you relax, subsequently you are more likely to surface new ideas, increase your creativity, clarity and focus.  Doodling pictures or symbols helps imbed the concepts, ideas or vision with enough juice that your zippy short-term memory moves it into a more permanent place.  Both words and images combine to specify for your brain what and why something is important - a recipe for great goal-setting.

Next time you are reviewing where you are and where you want to be, why not draw it out on a piece of paper to see if you get any different results.  Remember combine words and images to thoroughly up your creative genius and lock in those goals you want to focus on to increase your success.