Books

This is Part Four of the Brain Rules for Bloggers series, based on
John Medina’s Brain Rules. More links at the bottom of the post
(Assuming you aren’t asleep by then, of course!

Brain Rule #7: Sleep Well, Think Well (and blog better)

You there… Yes, you with the Starbucks Grande in your hand, and the dark circles under your eyes. Go take a nap, will ya?

Yes, I know there is so MUCH to blog about. I know about all the social media demanding your attention, the blog design that needs tweaking, the emails you need to answer. I know that the internet is open 24/7, that there is never, ever enough time, and that something has to give — but that “something” shouldn’t be your sleep.

On the surface, sleep may seem like a waste of productive time - but to your brain, snore-time is crucially important.

Denied downtime, your brain begins to falter, affecting mood, attention, working memory, and many other functions. Loss of just one night’s sleep can cause a 30% drop in cognitive function. Lose two nights, and the drop is 60%. More worrisome? The effects of sleep loss is cumulative, according to Brain Rules: “When sleep is restricted to six hours or less for just five nights… cognitive performance matched that of a person suffering 48 hours of continual sleep deprivation”

Ouch. But sleep is more than just a mental restorative to the brain - it’s time spent processing, replaying, sorting, and learning from the days events.

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This is Part Three of the Brain Rules for Bloggers series, based on John Medina’s Brain Rules. More links at the bottom of the post!

Brain Rules #5 and #6: Short and Long Term Memory - Repeat to Remember, Remember to Repeat (and become an unforgettable blogger)

What’s memory got to do with being a better blogger, you ask? I’d tell you, but I seem to have forgotten..

Ahem. Seriously.

Repeat visitors are essential for a successful blog - and that means you need your readers to remember to visit again, and again. Even in this age of RSS feeds, your audience needs to remember why they stay subscribed, why they click on your post titles, why they follow you at all. Both your branding and your content need to hit the “save” buttons in your reader’s brains, because, well… You may offer the best advice in the world, but if your readers forget about it as soon as they leave the page , the advice will never be applied - and your readers likely remember to come back, either.

By applying a little bit of knowledge about how our brains handle memories, you can make your blog and your content “unforgettable” - or at least, less forgettable. [click to continue...]

Continuing the shameless twisting of John Medina’s Brain Rules for my own nefarious purposes,  I proudly present:

Brain Rule #4:  We don’t pay attention to boring things (so don’t be a boring blogger)

Getting a reader’s attention is crucial for a blogger - keeping it is even more important.   But with a gazillion bits of competing information whirling around in their heads,  what makes a reader stay focused on YOUR blog post instead of the 3 dozen others cued up in their feed-reader?   Learn to apply the basics of the brain’s attention span, and make your blog "sticky".

  In Ten Minutes or Less

The average human brain has about a 10 minute attention span.   Even in the best conditions, with few distractions and a desire to focus - attention falters every 9.5 minutes.    To keep someone’s attention beyond that, they need to be actively engaged, re-hooked, so to speak.

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Inspired by John Medina’s 12 Brain Rules, I’ve taken it upon myself to shamelessly steal borrow and adapt all 12 rules to the unique-and-special-snowflake needs of bloggers. Want to build a better blog? Start by building a better brain!

Brain Rule #1: Exercise Boosts Brain Power
(even in bloggers!)

Your brain needs exercise. No, not just the mental sort you get from researching for hours on end, practicing creative writing techniques, or mucking around with CSS code, I’m talking about real life old-fashioned get-your-heart-moving physical workouts. Getting the blood pumping increases the amount of oxygen and glucose available to the brain, making it work better *now*. Not only that, but 30 minutes of aerobic exercise just 2 times a week can cut your risk of dementia in half. (We won’t mention the added benefit of reducing blogger-butt-bloat) [click to continue...]

When most people discover a book that really connects for them, they can’t put it down. Me? I can’t keep it picked up!

Contrary, I know. But sometimes an author’s words hit all the right buttons, and my mental machinery gets all wound up and excited. It starts kicking out so many of its own ideas that I’m compelled to put the book down, pick up a pen and notepad, and scribble madly.

Brain Rules is one of those books. It sparked so many thoughts that I had trouble focusing on the book itself. My attempts to focus on a proper review have been even trickier. [click to continue...]

Those of you who follow me regularly know I’ve been struggling through a messy post series lately. The topic? Spiritual Enlightenment, and actual neurological changes in the brain that might go along with it.

I blame Oprah.

It all started with my attempt to review her multi-media marketing of Eckhart Tolle’s psuedo-Buddhism, ala A New Earth.

Then it snowballed into sharing my personal experiences and half baked hypothesis, which I’m afraid comes off like What-The-Bleep, Part Deaux. Still, I’m compelled to finish this series, trudging onward bravely…

First, a reminder of the science:

Modern neurological research has seriously shaken up our understanding of the mind/brain connection. Not only does the brain shape thought, but thoughts help shape the brain. [click to continue...]

Here at MindTweaks, readers have come to expect an odd combination of humor, science and general advice about how to make your brain work better. A twisted few among you have even despaired that there is not more of this sort of mind-tweakish thing available on the web.

Despair no more, Brain Rules is here to save the day!

Seriously. (Or maybe not)

It’s a book. It’s a DVD. It slices, it dices, it amuses, and it informs.

“Brain Rules” is the brain-child of John Medina, a molecular biologist with a wicked sense of humor, and an interest in all things brain-ish. I think I have a new bloggy crush going on here.

But back to the product: through a combination of written and video materials, Medina presents his “12 principles for thriving at work, home and school.”

I’ll let you know more after my copy gets here, but for now, there’s a wealth of information and excerpts at the Brain Rules website. (I highly recommend the video on Rule #1: Exercise. I laughed outloud. Seriously.)

Or you can just trust your favorite brain-blogger’s instincts, and pick up your copy of this multimedia extravaganza at Amazon now. We’ll make it our own little book-club pick. Like Oprah, but with much cheaper shoes.

Order your copy here:
Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School (Book & DVD)

Or Preview Audio/Video Excerpts At The Brain Rules Website

Promises, Promises. I’m full of them, aren’t I?

Last week I promised you my personal “awakening” story, as part of exploring the Oprah/Eckhart Tolle presentation of “A New Earth”.

But as I wrote, I realized I couldn’t reduce it to a simple one post undertaking. It’s a sub-series in it’s own right, and the first part is nearly ready to be posted.

Before I get to that, I did finish reading “A New Earth” and, surprisingly, I surprisingly have very few issues with it, in and of itself.

Here’s an edited version of what I said on the Oprah site: [click to continue...]

So. I’ve made it most of the way through Eckhart Tolle’s “A New Earth”, as promised. I’m still maintaining an open, if discerning, mind - also as promised. And I still don’t hate it.
Oh, I did grit my teeth a few times, and sort of sputtered into my Diet Coke at least once.

But I’ll get to all that in another post. *This* post is about an honest insight I had while reading the first chapter.

First up, some definitions.

Neurogenesis / Neuroplasticity: Both terms refer to the brain’s ability to physically develop and rewire itself according to need. Even adult brains can create new connections between neurons, reroute tasks to different parts of the brain and in some situations, even produce new cells. It’s hard science, measurable and measured.

Enlightenment: In a spiritual context, enlightenment refers to a permanent state of higher wisdom, perception or understanding. Depending on the person talking, and the tradition they’re influenced by, it can mean anything from a simple awareness of their own nature, to the more complex [click to continue...]

If you’ve surfed the Internet at all this month, you’ve been bombarded by incessant tangerine for Oprah’s latest endeavor: a free online course about her book club pick, Eckhart Tolle’s “A New Earth”.

Eckhart Tolle (for those of us who live under rocks where New Age booksellers can’t find us) is one of the big names in the spiritual publishing/workshop niche. Oprah, of course, is Oprah. (And no rock in the world is big enough to insulate us from Oprah!)

For several years, Oprah has been on a spiritual quest, and she’s been excitedly dragging her audience along with her… miss-steps and all. Last year, she promoted the psuedo-scientific mysticism of “The Secret” into a multimillion dollar international obsession. Ouch.

I came late to The Secret party (someone forgot to send me an invitation) and so my posts on the topic didn’t have the impact they could have. Still, I enjoyed my attempts at righteous indignation and skepticism, and they were among my most popular posts.

Determined not to miss the chance to blog about this years Really Big Spiritual Woo from Oprah, I ordered “A New Earth” from Amazon, and signed up for the course on Oprah.com. [click to continue...]