Page 59 - Power Up Your Mind Learn faster,work smarter

50 Power Up Your Mind

performance of the brain to make a decision to extend the approach to
the whole division.
With Purple Works, they are creating an environment where
people can experiment, learn, and decide for themselves why they want to
take part, rather than just investing in facilities or forcing people to
participate.The aim is to benefit both the individual and the company.
The program is multifaceted, using practical training sessions,
workshops, information on the company intranet, and links to external
sources of advice and support. Overall, the Sainsbury’s team wants to
raise energy levels to enable people to gain a better balance between
home and work life and so perform better.

BRAIN GYM

Brain gym was created by Paul Dennison in the US to help young
people with learning difficulties, especially dyslexia. Recently, the
concept has been developed into a more generally helpful activity
for us all. While, of course, you exercise your brain all the time, the
idea of brain gym is that by exercising in a certain way you are con-
sciously creating patterns of activity in your brain that may be ben-
eficial to you.

Whenever you are feeling the effects of too much work on the computer, try doing this exer-
cise. Start by writing the infinity symbol (below) on a flipchart. Begin with your felt-tip pen in
∞
the center, go anti-clockwise, then clockwise, and so on. Do this a few times and establish a
good rhythm. Now try doing it with your eyes only rather than with your pen. Let your eyes
trace the shape of the infinity sign for at least five circuits. You may find this quite hard work
to begin with.

You can find out more about this in Carla Hannaford’s book, Smart
Moves: Why Learning Is Not All in Your Head, from which I have
adapted this idea.