Mindframe

In 370 BCE, the great Greek philosopher Hippocrates was chilling out in the local public square (no one had invented the mall yet) and doing a little scientific inquiry.  In modern jargon we’d call this  "people watching."  As he hung out and observed, he realized people fell into roughly four groups: the pushy ones, the ones that talk too much, the anal retentive, and those who think the sky is falling. Of course he called them by different names, because he spoke Greek, but you get the idea. Fast forward to circa 2008 ACE. Helen Fisher, noted anthropologist, chilling out in the local research lab doing a little scientific inquiry.  In modern jargon we’d call this "people watching."  Along with some neuroscientists, she discovered that people fall into roughly four groups. The pushy ones, the ones that talk too much, the anal retentive, and those who think the sky is falling. Of course she called them by different names , because scientific terminology...

What do the lightbulb in your garage and your brain have in common? They both operate on about 60 watts of power. This is a problem for two reasons: first, your garage tends to be under-lit, and second, your brain doesn't have enough processing power to deal with today's environment. The human brain blueprint was built 40,000 years ago and hasn't had any serious upgrades since. (Steve Jobs would be rolling over in his grave, if he hadn't been cremated.) Rene Descartes, 17th century mathematician and father of western philosophy (apparently nobody remembers the mother; let's just call her Jane Doe), focused on a different problem: the mind-body one. In his discourse Passions of the Soul and The Description of the Human Body , he suggests that the body is like a machine, built of material properties, and the mind consists of non-corporeal properties. So how then do these two entities interact, you ask? Descartes asked that, too. His solution was the brain's pine...

In 1935, Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in order to become the greatest blues guitarist of all time, or so the story goes. Prior to his Devil deal he’d been a general pain in the ass around Greenwood Mississippi, pestering anyone with a guitar to teach him how to play. Eventually he left town, and legend has it that when he came back three months later, Johnson was the best damn blues player anyone had ever heard. Unfortunately, Johnson had an eye for the ladies and in 1938 he was poisoned by a jealous husband. I have just concluded my experiment of attempting to leverage everything I know about brain science into accomplishing 14 goals. None of them as ambitious as the deal Johnson struck with the Devil. Unless, of course, you count goal #14: eating more slowly. I wish I could look you all in the eye and tell you I have achieved 100% success over the last 40 days, that my experiment proves that I am the master of my destiny like fitness guru and Power Juicer pitch...

On August 20 th , 1974, in a baseball game between the Angels and Tigers, Nolan Ryan threw a fastball that clocked in at 101 miles an hour. (At that time, the fastest recorded pitch.)  If you do the math, it means the ball traveled the 60.5 feet to home plate in four tenths of a second, a remarkable feat when you consider that it takes a half second for the conscious brain to even process information. How could any batter stand a chance of getting a hit when Ryan was “bringing the heat” a full tenth of a second ahead of their conscious brain? It turns out Mr. Subconscious Brian is calling the shots, or in this case, swinging the bat, with virtually no time delay.  Your subconscious brain is the star of the show. It's also about 95-98% of your grey matter. Your conscious brain is more like the weather app on your cell phone: really nice to have, but somewhat overrated. Although there is linkage between Mr. Conscious and Mr. Subconscious Brain, Mr. C acts more the part of ...

In the middle of your brain lives your basal ganglia. It's about the size of a golf ball.  Personally, I don't play golf for two reasons. First, the hole is just way too small. Imagine if you could instead aim for a target the size of say, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's waistline . I think it's likely golf would bloat up with a whole new audience.  The second reason for avoiding the links came from my father, Glenn Rhys Best. He liked to say "I'm not old enough to play golf yet. " He died in 1993 at the age sixty seven––strangely enough, killed by his own basal ganglia. According to research conducted at MIT, the basal ganglia is command and control for all your habits.  My dad––and, I suspect, the NJ Governor––never met a lunch buffet that didn't whisper his name. And once a habit loop gets established, it's virtually impossible to eradicate. In his book The Power of Habit , why we do what we do in life and business , Charles Duhigg esti...