This ezine is from www.theMindtoLead.com and Suzanne Kryder, Ph.D.

You received this ezine because you subscribed on The Mind to Lead website.

============================================

Thanks very much for subscribing to Mind Matters, the newsletter that turns brain research into practical leadership tools. This issue is only 725 words and takes less than 4 minutes to read.

Click here, then scroll to the middle of the page to watch a video of two leaders describing their experience on a Mind to Lead retreat

Later in this issue, links to the 2009 Mind to Lead retreats and telephone coaching groups.

============================================

Wandering through the Past or Future
Have you noticed where your mind is most of the time?

Try paying attention to your thoughts when you’re doing a routine task like making copies or walking down the hall.

Do you pay attention to what you see or to the feel of the paper or your feet on the floor?

Probably not. More than likely, your mind is either reliving something in the past, or predicting what’ll happen in the future.

Your mind rarely hangs out in the present. It’s not naturally interested in what’s happening right now.

You might be thinking, “What’s wrong with imagining the future? Olympic athletes use visualization to mentally rehearse events. If it works for them, why can’t it work for me as a leader?”

That’s a valid point. Deliberate mental rehearsal can be powerful when preparing for new or challenging circumstances.

But, notice the difference between (a) infrequent, intentional mental rehearsal versus (b) allowing a nonstop story about the past or future to distract you throughout your work day.

Begin to notice how much of your mental air space is uncontrolled. Anything and everything is allowed to fly right through it.

When you allow your mind to wander, you waste your most valuable human resource: focused mental energy to get things done. You also create disappointment, because your mind is thinking about what it doesn’t have rather than appreciating what’s right in front of it.

And, you’re not the only one who’s wasting mental energy. Your direct reports are rarely in the here and now either.

The wandering mind is nothing to get upset about. It’s just good to know how your mind works. Plus, there’s a solution.

The Solution: Training the Mind to Lead
There’s a solution to minimizing the natural inclination of the wandering, predicting mind. It requires developing new relationships with your brain and mind.

Feeling too old or too busy to start a new relationship with your mind?

Fortunately, your brain, regardless of your age or life experiences (like whether you inhaled or not), is quite flexible. It might not feel like it on a Monday morning, but you really can change your brain.

Neuroplasticity: You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks
Neuroplasticity, also called brain plasticity or brain malleability, is the brain's ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections. Research shows that these changes create:

• Structural brain modifications (the hardware looks different)
• Functional brain and mind changes (software improvements) such as improved emotion regulation (eg. fewer freak outs), better immune function and an enhanced stress response.

Scientists have known for many years that neurons (nerve cells) in the brain reorganize in response to brain injury and disease. It’s like when someone at work is out sick. Your team reorganizes, and forms new connections to cover his workload.

The brain does the same thing. The undamaged axons at the end of healthy neurons grow new nerve endings to reconnect the injured neurons. This “axonal sprouting" forms new neural pathways to bring back a needed function.

(Unfortunately, the technology to sprout new employees is not currently available.)

To reconnect, neurons need to be stimulated by activity. For example, when my dad had a stroke, he got physical and speech therapy in hopes of building new neural structures and regaining lost functions. Despite paralysis in his right leg, he eventually learned to walk again. Unfortunately, the speech centers in his brain were too severely damaged, and he never learned to talk again.

In the old days, scientists thought that neuroplasticity only happened in very young brains. Now, there’s growing research on adult neuroplasticity, for example, Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz’s successful work with adult sufferers of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Fortunately, you don’t need a brain injury or disease in order to change your brain. You don’t even need physical or occupational therapy from a professional.

It might sound circular, but when you focus your mind, it changes your brain. When your brain changes, it helps your mind work in new and improved ways.

The Mind to Lead programs focus and train your mind, so that your brain changes. A new and improved brain helps you think and lead better.

In my monthly newsletters this year, I’m looking forward to showing you how to train your mind to lead. Please email me your thoughts or questions about neuroplasticity.

To learn more about training you mind to lead in 2009, consider:

• Attending a one-day retreat in Albuquerque

• Joining a telephone coaching group from anywhere in the US.

Best wishes,
Suzanne

Suzanne Kryder, Ph.D.
P.O. Box 35429
Albuquerque, NM 87176 USA
505.232.8433

P.S. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you can listen to or download a 10-minute guided exercise on breath awareness here.

***Subscribe to this ezine here***


© 2008-2009 Suzanne Kryder, Ph.D. All rights reserved. You are free to use material from the Mind Matters eZine in whole or in part, as long as you include complete attribution, including live web site link. Please also notify me where the material will appear. The attribution should read: