Nine Lives

TSA

When you travel a couple hundred thousand miles a year you spend a lot of time with TSA.  I know they are trying to do a good job; I see the meetings, the pep rallies, the handoffs, some teamwork and a genuine attempt, for sure in the small towns, to be pleasant.  But I've been thinking about something that makes less sense the more I encounter it.

SSSSS on the bottom of your ticket means that you have been selected for the full treatment.  While you try to watch your valuables, rubber gloves pat the most dangerous parts of your body.  In Helena Montana I also had everything removed from my backpack, swiped with the bomb detector paper and analyzed.  As things were being placed back in my backpack the vigilant TSA agent spotted a small bottle of hand sanitizer I always carry in the mesh water bottle holder on the outside of the pack.  He said, "Do you have a plastic bag for that? If not I will have to confiscate it.  You can get a bag over there," and he pointed to  a small kiosk selling refreshments.  I smiled and walked away.  He was doing his job exactly as he has been told to do it and when what he does is illogical, who am I to say anything.  You can't win with logic, I have tried.  All it will get you is a night in jail if you are unlucky enough to encounter one of the really strident TSA folks.  So what is this blog about? Simply this.

The most important activities of the TSA are the unscripted ones.  Like the pipe bomb Jamacian who was apprehended in Orlando thanks to an observation of his unusual behavior and good screening.  The things that TSA does that protect us the most are not scripted, they are innovative and spontaneous.  And yet, every day we take the TSA personnel through thousands of trials where we deaden any independent or innovative thoughts they might have.  We train them to follow the script and never, never use their judgment. Yet it is their judgment that we need the most.  Seems a bit contradictory.

Would my 2 Onces of hand sanitizer have been safer  in a plastic bag.  Of course not. Did the TSA agent, who clearly knew that what he was doing made no sense at all, I mean it had already gone through security and I had gone through a random test, become a little less likely to use his judgment when it might be important.  I think so.

"No, I replied."

Mind Mapping: Preparing the brain to remember

I have recently posted this article on brainready.com due to a high level of requests.  I am presenting it hear for interested readers of this blog.
Readers of BrainReady.com are well aware of the benefits of a brain healthy lifestyle.  And many of you, like me, are particularly interested in making sure your memory is functioning as well as it can. In the next few paragraphs adopt a different perspective on your memory.  Rather than focusing on getting things out of your memory banks I want you to consider how you put things into your memory banks.

The way we learn affects how much and how long we remember what we have learned. Lets take a minute to review what we know about the brain as it relates to learning and memory.
➢    The brain remembers things because of the associations formed with other things.
➢    The more associations that are formed the more likely you will be able to recall a something later. (Even if some of the associations are weakened as a part of the aging process.)
➢    The associations can be with words, colors, images, smells, tastes, sounds, textures and emotions.  This is called synesthesia and synesthesia was covered in an earlier blog.
➢    The brain operates in a radiant rather than a linear manner.
➢    Much of learning is delivered in a linear and somewhat boring format that contains few of the elements necessary for optimal recall.

But there is a technique that operates in a manner consistent with the way the brain functions.  It is called Mind Mapping and it is the creation of Tony Buzan, a British writer and psychologist who has published dozens of books on the subject.  Tony is also a friend of mine who wrote the forward to my most recent book, CATS: The Nine Lives of Innovation. (Published by Management Press in Australia in 2007 and scheduled to be published by McGraw Hill in the rest of the world in January of 2009. Check my blog at www.topperformer.com for updates.)

Mind Mapping in brief is a radiant display of words, colors and images that has a central image and lines radiating from the central image.  The lines represent the associations and as the lines radiate out from the center, key words, color and images build a structure that conveys the meaning with 3% of the words it would take if you were using standard linear text.  A Mind Map is designed to be remembered because it presents information in a brain friendly manner.  A Mind Map is designed to be remembered; it can put all the information necessary for a full understanding of a subject on one page and in an interesting format.

Mind Maps can be used to organize the content of a book, a concept, a meeting or of your observations about a subject.  It can also be used in the creative process as a way to prepare to write, consider strategy or organize a speech. In a moment I will direct you to a couple of web sites where you can look at a variety of mind maps but first I will take you through a process I use all the time.

I like to speak without notes or PowerPoint and in order to do that I prepare with a Mind Map.  The subject of my talk takes the form of a central image.  Recently this has been a fish, a top hat or a cat given the nature of my recent books.  Then off of the central image I draw lines that are exactly the same length as the word I place on that line.  These key words close to the central image are the key themes of the talk.  The branching from these key words are other lines, images or quotes that trigger things I want to be sure to cover.  I use different colors for the lines and words of different branches. I study this mind map on one or two occasions before giving the talk.  During my talk the mind map in my pocket for security, I am human, but it will always stays in my pocket.  I find that I can “see” the mind map as I speak. That is because it is memorable.

Another great use of a mind map is to take notes from a fluid meeting.  A mind map provides the flexibility needed if the subject moves around.  No matter how disorganized the discussion, the mind map is always organized. 

If you want to remember, organize your thoughts in Mind Map form.

Now check out Tony in a six-minute presentation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlabrWv25qQ

Tony Buzan’s main web site:
http://www.buzanworld.com/

A mind map of an accounting class:
http://mappio.com/mindmap/info-ideamappingsuccess-com/accounting-501