Never ever, ever, EVER give up on something that is important to you.
By Robert Ringer
Cognitive science is the study of the brain
mechanisms responsible for an individual’s
thoughts, moods, decisions, and actions.
Cognition refers to everything that takes place
in an individual’s brain that helps him
understand the world around him. To accomplish
such an understanding involves mental processes
such as concentration, memory,
conceptualization, creativity, and emotions.
In his book "The New Brain," Dr. Richard Restak
uses the term “plasticity of the new brain” to
refer to the capacity of the brain to transform
itself. This is an incredibly exciting notion,
and one that has endless positive ramifications.
Until recently, it was generally believed that
the brain’s plasticity peaked out at young
adulthood, if not earlier. But researchers now
believe the brain is subject to transformation
throughout life, which is why Restak
appropriately refers to it as a “lifetime work
in progress.”
Now that I’ve become a born-again behavioral
modificationist, this makes perfect sense to me.
When I was a Freudian laymanologist, I assumed
that genetics and childhood experiences set
everything in stone. It wasn’t until the
headmaster at my son’s school told me that he
had based his entire career on his belief in
behavioral modification that I allowed myself to
consider its merits.
That led me to read "Reality Therapy." The
essence of that book, is that no matter what
happened to you in your childhood, no amount of
rehashing the past can ever change it. On the
other hand, by focusing on being a responsible
adult today, you can change the way you feel
about yourself, and about life, in the present.
Thus, whether you want to learn a foreign
language, how to play tennis, or the techniques
for writing good ad copy, you first have to make
changes in your brain. And the key to making
such changes is repetition.
Repetition makes repeated impressions on your
brain, but there’s a catch: If the repetitions
are wrong (e.g., swinging a golf club
incorrectly), you are not going to excel at the
skill you have targeted. From whence comes the
worn-out but true observation that only an
insane person would continue to repeat the same
thing over and over again and expect to achieve
different results.
Which brings yet another question to the fore:
If you continue to get negative results, should
you invoke persistence … or is it more sane just
to give up and move on to something else? The
answer is that you definitely should be
persistent, but, based on what you have learned
through your experiences, you should try a
different methodology.
Restak’s main point is that regardless of how
much of success is due to genetics and how much
is due to practice, the level of success one
achieves is based on the plasticity of the
brain. My take on this can be summed up in what
I call the “C” Student/"A" Student Theory, which
simplistically states: In a majority of cases, a
student with “C” intelligence who is willing to
put forth the required effort can achieve “A”
results.
I know this from firsthand experience, because I
went from a 0.8 average in college to a 4.0
after a stint in the army. My military
experience was so unpleasant that it made an
indelible impression on my brain – and highly
motivated me to get good grades.
In other words, my brain’s plasticity made it
possible for me to transform my view of the
world. It was a cerebral transformation that
made it possible for me to recognize that there
is more to life than girls, booze, and playing
poker. Once I redirected my energy from such
trivial pursuits to studying every waking moment
that I wasn’t in class, I was able to achieve
“A’s” in such difficult subjects as physics and
organic chemistry.
The plasticity of the brain is why you can
accomplish great things without being born with
superior intelligence or natural talent. Dr.
Restak maintains that a transformation of the
brain can be achieved by sheer determination.
Fair enough, but begs the question: What if your
brain isn’t wired to be determined? That’s where
one’s experiences and environment come into
play.
For example, notwithstanding imbecilic arguments
to the contrary, what you see and hear around
you (such as in movies and on television) has a
huge impact on how and what you think about all
day long. When people – children in particular –
see violence, “alternative lifestyles,” and
explicit sex on the screen, or hear it by
listening to rap-crap, the power of suggestion
is planted with each repetition.
So-called intelligence is plastic, because
scientific research has shown that experiences
cause neuronal circuits to form and become
denser. Therefore, no matter what your age, the
more you exercise your brain, the higher the
density of the neurons in your frontal cortex –
which makes you more “intelligent.” (“General
intelligence” is believed to be directly related
to the amount of gray matter in the frontal
lobes of the brain.)
You have heard this phrased in laymen’s terms as
“Use it or lose it.” The less I write, the more
difficult I find it to write. The more I write,
the more easily the words fly off the keyboard.
Which is why every writer should make the words
of Michael Masterson’s father his/her mantra: “A
writer is someone who writes. Not now and then,
but every day.” The substance of this philosophy
is true whatever your profession may be.
The corollary to the “C” Student/”A” Student
Theory might well be stated as: In a majority of
cases, a student with “A” intelligence who is
unwilling to put forth a reasonable amount of
effort is likely to achieve “C” results. To me,
then, intelligence has more to do with how close
you come to performing at your maximum capacity
than it does with IQ.
Finally, it’s important to recognize that native
intelligence is not nearly as important as such
traits as social skills, the ability to
persuade, and the willingness to take action.
Our universities are overflowing with top-heavy
frontal-cortex types who would surely be lost in
the real world (i.e., the world beyond the
ivy-covered gates guarding a weird mixture of
academic pinheads and illiterate semi-pro
athletes).
There’s no question that whoever came up with
the term “personal best” definitely was onto
something. It’s not what you have, but what you
do with what you have. No matter how old you
are, no matter what your financial condition may
be, and no matter how many bad experiences you
may have had in your past, it’s never too late
to become “smarter.”
Consciously and continuously make it a point to
push your plastic brain to the limit – and
beyond – until the day you breathe your last
breath. The human brain is the most powerful
collection of atoms on earth, but it requires
constant exercise.
And what if you’re not motivated to exercise
your brain? I’ll say it again: You have free
will! Force yourself to take action. That will
get those atoms in your plastic brain vibrating
at ever-higher rates of speed. And that, in
turn, will produce motivation. I guarantee it.
