The Woes of Our 20th-Century Brains!
The Woes of Our 20th-Century Brains!
by Bobby Rock
As I wake up every day and contemplate how much of my true potential as a human remains untapped, I’ve had a reoccurring thought for awhile now: we have all brought our 20th century brains into the 21st century. Here’s what I mean:
We have dragged into the present era, a brain that has been developed and conditioned to learn, read, study, discern, memorize, and archive a somewhat finite amount of readily accessible “content"—as well as navigate a finite amount of outside stimuli and distraction—into an age of an incomprehensible degree of technology and access, where content, outside stimuli, and distraction are now infinite.
Yes, that’s one long-ass sentence! But think about it. The one-dimensional, linear way of thinking and learning that most of us grew up on in a 20th century classroom just ain’t gonna cut it these days if we truly wish to maximize the opportunities for expanded growth at hand. Simply put, we have immediate access to virtually anything and everything we need, related to any form of expansion and evolution, both personally and professionally… and we are carrying around the “keys to the castle” in our back pockets (hello smartphone). Such was not remotely the case in the 70s, 80s, or even the 90s.
So, I’ve been spending some extra time lately revisiting a lot of old books, courses, and personal writings that encourage a more creative, expansive way of thinking and learning. It’s real work... kind of like going to the gym for your brain. But again, it’s essential if we want to stay afloat in the tsunami of content and stimuli that washes over us daily.
Which leads us to…
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Three Questions to Consider in Upping our Brain Game
Here are the three main things I’ve been asking myself lately. And believe me… this is an area that I NEED to spend more time with myself:
1. What kind of system do I have in place to record original content (new ideas, etc), organize and prioritize what I want to learn more about, or archive my weekly “curriculum" of interests that I wind up studying?
2. How often do I practice memorization, or really stretch my mind to recall or remember things, even if it's just for the "brain workout?”
3. What measures do I take each day to: protect my mind from the absolute trash that’s out there demanding my attention, or safeguard against those unstructured, time-wasting rabbit hole excursions?
Perhaps we all struggle with one or more of these things. But just like physical exercise, if we want a 21st Century Mind, we have to make consistent efforts to gradually increase our practice and conditioning of the almighty brain.
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