20 Dec My three questions
I have asked these three questions several times to several audiences.
My first question is “how often do you use your brain?”
And almost always, I receive self-deprecating shrugs, chuckles and sometimes even outright giggles of embarrassment in response to this question. The correct answer is all the time! Our brain controls something as simple as breathing to something as complex as deliberate thinking holding multiple thoughts and paradoxes!
My second question is “how often do you work out or exercise? What is your favorite form of exercise?”
Usually, the response ranges from shameful “I try” to self-effacing “I lift occasionally” to prideful “I look down on those fat, irresponsible, unmotivated couch-potatoes. I am addicted to staying healthy” I have almost never received a response of ‘never.’ Our general awareness that we are responsible for our bodies and that we need to take care of it is well-established by now.
My third question is, “how often do you take care of your brain?” This question is almost always met with blank stares of confusion. “Exercise for the brain?” Seriously? Despite our brain being the most central and crucial organ; it after all controls our entire body and mind; but it is also the one that receives least attention from most of us.
So, how do you exercise your brain and what does that have to lead with leadership and management?
Really simple. Mindfulness and contemplative practice! Whether it takes the form of traditional meditation, transcendental meditation, thought-based meditation, emotion-based meditation, Zen meditation, so on and so forth, mindfulness practice is the one that you need to mine to become a better manager and better leader. Simply put, regular and consistent contemplative practices helps you become more cognitively complex, emotionally and socially intelligent, and more prosocial. Your cognitive complexity allows you to hold multiple and sometimes even conflicting ideas and issues so you can make more deliberate, complex, and informed decisions. Emotional and social intelligence is a key leadership competency. More prosocial orientation not only allows you and your team members to be more other-oriented, it also tempers the dark side of emotional and social intelligence – manipulation and exploitation.
So why not exercise your brain?
No Comments