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Browse published articles attributed to Steve Gillman, with full-archive search.
What is the connection between music and the brain? Is it possible that music can help you think better? The research says yes, and after telling you about some of it, I'll let you in on an even faster way to boost your brain power with music. Music And The Brain - The Research The research ...
Albert Einstein used a technique for deep thinking, which he referred to as "thought experiments." He didn't invent the technique, but perhaps made it more popular. It was essentially the practice of relaxing and setting a visualization in motion while watching it closely to see what might be ...
When I saw the "American Inventor" program, I immediately loved the show. It's a parade of ingenuity - and sometimes silliness and total ignorance of markets. Watching some of the inventors come onto that stage, I realized I wouldn't want to be a judge on the show for anything. The judges face ...
There is a lot to be said for dreaming up crazy ideas, and doing so is more than just a way to exercise your creativity (although it's very good for that purpose too). Sometimes a crazy idea is not as crazy as it first appears, and sometimes it is, but becomes something more useful with a bit of work. The story below provides a good example, and is followed by some tips on how to get more creative in your thinking and how to generate one crazy concept after another.
You may have used affirmations before, writing positive statements on cards and repeating them every day. Hopefully you stuck it out and got the results that you wanted. More often, we find it hard to take the time to read them every day, and without that constant repetition, we don't get the ...
We should always be looking for ways of thinking outside the box. It isn't that we will always find a better solution through more creative or non-conventional solutions. But we sometimes will. Maybe that doesn't sound inspiring enough, so let me explain. Suppose you get in the habit of thinking outside the box and you have many interesting, creative, but unusable ideas. So most of the time you fall back on conventional solutions to your problems, whether at home or in business or in the workplace.
The following creative marketing ideas are specifically about finding new places and ways to advertise. This has always been an area ripe for new ideas. What prompted me to write this page is an article I recently read on a company called Show Media. Show Media has advertising displays on top ...
Is there a "lie detector?" Most people have been lead to believe that this is what the polygraph is. But most scientists think the polygraph is less than scientific. Here's a quick look at the From the website of the American Polygraph Association: "A steady pace of improvements in techniques ...
Why not start each morning with a simple thought for the day? Hold it in mind to see what perspective it gives to the day's events. Here is one for each day of the week. Monday's Thought For The Day When you argue with a person, are you focused on the words? What's out there beyond the words? ...
Why good luck quotes? Perhaps you don't believe in luck, but you can see that some people have more good things happen to them. Whether you choose to call that luck or not, here is what some famous people have to say about the phenomenon. Those who have succeeded at anything and don't mention ...
Regular readers of my blog and subscribers to my Brainpower Newsletter know that I’m a believe in safe self-experimentation. In fact, I regularly recommend trying things out that do not yet have scientific evidence proving their effectiveness. After all, why would science ever look into a new ...
It used to be that meditatio CDs were just pleasant music and perhaps some “sounds of nature” thrown in. There is nothing wrong with that. They were relaxing and could help you get into a meditative state. But the newest recordings use more than just a light tune and the sound of rain or waves. The good ones now use embedded beats and pulses that lead your brainwaves into the desired state. These new brainwave entrainment technologies are powerful.
You Want Brain Power, Not Scores!Would you like to know what your IQ is? Want to improve it? What is IQ anyhow? The American Heritage Dictionary defines Intelligence Quotient as "The ratio of tested mental age to chronological age, usually expressed as a quotient multiplied by 100." Basically, ...
We all have a bit of brain fog from time to time - particularly in the morning for myself. We may want to concentrate on finishing that story, working on that report for work, or whatever it is that requires our best mental efforts, yet we are in a haze. What can you do to more effectively concentrate on the task at hand? Fortunately there are several things.
There are a thousand or more ways to make money, but they can be roughly classified into three categories. These are fast ways to make money, basic ways to pay the bills and long-term wealth-creation strategies involving building a business. Lets take a quick look at the three, based on the assumption that you are starting from a desperate position with no money. If that is not the case, you can skip ahead to the “paying the bills or “wealth creation” part.
I prefer to report on unusual ways to make money, but when you save money it can effectively be a way to make money for your goals. If, for example, you want to make two thousand four hundred dollars for a vacation, you might work extra shifts or find other ways to generate the three thousand dollars necessary to meet your goal after taxes.
What are critical thinking skills? They are the habits of thought that you cultivate for better decisions on what to believe and what to do. Critical thought is not about being able to argue well. That kind of thinking can be a trap. Unfortunately, some very intelligent people think that way, ...
In order to find a house that is right for you, you have to first think carefully about what you actually need and want. Many people limit their thinking to the home itself, and so have a mental (or even written) list of all the features they want. But what you need in a house is not limited to the structure itself, nor even that and the neighborhood. Sure, you want a nice place, but you also need something that helps you with your important goals in life.
What if there was a way to make money with any of your hobbies? Fortunately, there is. Thanks to the internet it's more feasible than ever to turn a hobby into an income stream. The basic idea is to share your knowledge and ideas with others who have similar interests. You can do this with a website a blog or an email newsletter.
Creative thinking is a potential we are all born with. If you don't use that potential, it is probably because you don't know and apply the simple principles for developing it. We can remedy that right now. The two basic principles of creative thinking are: 1. There are methods and techniques ...
There are a lot very good reasons for developing a meditation practice. You are likely to be healthy both physically and mentally. You’ll have less stress. You might gain some insight into the workings of your own mind. Your friends may find that you are easier to be around. Then there are the spiritual goals. Some people use meditation as a form of prayer. For some it means learning to be in the moment, with the hope that this more natural and peaceful state of mind can be carried into everyday life and activities. Other find that meditation helps them to become more compassionate.
The very concept of retirement is flawed. It is based on several false premises. First is the premise that at a certain age you are no longer able to provide economic value. That is clearly nonsense as shown by the many millionaire entrepreneurs and business people in the sixties, seventies and eighties. Yes, we generally get weaker and lose some abilities as we age. But there are seventy-five year-old retirees playing tennis out there, and anyone who can still think and move two fingers can do what I’m doing for a living. Another false premise is the whole “golden years” idea.
To invent new products, you need to know how to generate new ideas - lots of them. Then you look them over and pick out the good ones. Here is one of the many simple techniques for coming up with ideas for new products. New Products From Old Start with an existing product and extract some of ...
Do you want to be a mind reader? Well, lets get the disappointing part out of the way: You won't be able to hear the thoughts of others, and there is little evidence that anyone has ever had this kind of ability. Most of what passes as mind reading is a mix of nonsense and psychological tactics ...
How do we determine right and wrong, and can we really capture them with philosophical rules or religious commandments? The answer to the first question is that we call something right or wrong according to whether or not it helps achieve our moral values. That makes the answer to the second ...
There are many creative problem solving techniques, and each will lead you to different kinds of solutions. One of the simplest, though, is the "add, subtract and change" technique. What follows is a basic explanation of how to use it to generate more creative solutions. Add Whatever you are ...
Of course there are opportunities during a recession, including those listed below. In fact, many "lucky people" will prosper in these tough economic times. If you want to be one of them, you have to start to think like them. To begin with, you might want to turn off the stream of bad news on ...
What are the metaphors we live by? Is life a journey, a game, a dream, or a movie we are watching? How do these metaphorical perspectives affect our lives? Let's take a look at a few of them. Life Is Purgatory Some people see life as a sort of purgatory to be suffered through. In fact, many ...
An open mind is like an open well. It is easily contaminated by anything blowing in the wind. At least that is the problem with what many call an open mind. For example, you may have heard someone called open minded because he believes in visitors from space, bending spoons with mind power, and ...
How do you choose the relaxation music that works best? You can certainly start by experimenting with many different types. After all, it seems likely that what one person finds relaxing another will find irritating. But is it all just a matter of personal preference? Actually no. Though ones ...
There are a number of speed reading techniques that you can learn quickly. The key to their effectiveness is not just in how well you understand the idea, though, but in how much you actually practice them. Here are two to get you started. Forced Speed Simply forcing yourself to read faster is one of the primary techniques you will learn from any good speed reading course. Our minds are able to see and process a lot of information at once - much more than we realize.
Some of the more obvious signs of lying include different answers when you repeat a question, and hesitation in answering. You also can watch for eye movements that differ from the usual. Be careful with these individual signs, since shifty eyes may be normal for some people, even when telling the truth. Compare eye movements and other behaviors to their known tendencies. There are other signs of lying you can learn, but perhaps it is more useful to learn how to get the truth out of a person. That’s what the rest of the tips below cover. Motivation
When talking about financial freedom, different people can mean entirely different things. For some it means getting to do what they want because they have enough money. For others it means having enough income from investments that they are free of any financial conce s. Of course, few people are actually unconce ed about financial matters regardless of how much income they have. Some even get more worried about their finances as they get wealthier. And few people get to do everything they would like to do no matter how much money they make.
Why do we need ways to be dumber? We don't of course, but there are two basic ways to improve oneself. The first is to actively engage in new thoughts and behaviors that are better, and the other is to avoid those patterns of though and behavior that make matters worse. This is based on the ...
Want to have more creative concepts for your business, job or home life? Practicing can help, especially if it is with others. The first time you brainstorm with a group of creative people, you might feel like you are mentally slow, but soon you'll find that you are coming up with more and more ...
The filed of behavioral economics repeatedly shows that we are not as rational as we think when making financial decisions. No big surprise there. But can we become more rational with our money? We can if we learn to spot our irrational tendencies and correct them. Let’s look at some examples. The Sunk-Cost Fallacy The idea of “sunk costs” in economics is that once money is spent it is gone and should no longer be a part of a rational decision making process.
An IQ test is supposed to measure one's "intelligence quotient," to provide a basic rating of how smart a person is. When we try to measure people in this way, we hope it will predict how well they will perform in either their profession or academic work. Of course we know that this doesn't work ...
Probabilitism? I just invented the word to describe an ideology of living life according to the odds, or more specifically, making decisions according to them. Life, after all, is all about making decisions, and we need some guide for making better ones. The most common explicit guide to ...
What is the American Dream? Is it two kids, a new car, a good job, and a big new house with a pet dog to greet you at the door? Hmm... At least there was a deeper conception of it when it was invented. James Truslow Adams answered the questio "What is the American Dream?" in his book, "The ...
Neurobics is a term invented by Lawrence Katz and Manning Rubin to describe exercises that help the brain stay fit. Specific types of sensory stimuli and activities, especially those that involve non-routine actions and thoughts, produce more of the chemicals that encourage growth of new ...
The idea of a power nap isn't new. They used to be called catnaps. They consist of just a little bit of sleep in order to refresh you. There has been some research done more recently, though, and it shows that there is a right way and a wrong way. More precisely, there is a right length and a ...
Not sure what to do? Try the following seven step decision making process the next time you need to make up your mind about something important. And take notes! 1. What are your immediate intuitive feelings? Make a few notes about your immediate "gut reaction." For example, if you're not sure ...
How do you choose the best self help books? That depends on what you want to accomplish. Are you looking for peace of mind, more money or less fear? Here are five self help books which I have read and can recommend, along with some tips on how to find more that are right for you. "Feel the Fear ...
People talk about the need to think outside of the box as though everyone understands what that means. It is assumed to simply mean being more creative and open minded in your thinking. But shouldn't we ask what the "box" is that we want to get out of? We'll get to an answer for that in a ...
You have probably seen the bumper stickers that say, "America - Love It Or Leave It." Most polite people won't put it that bluntly, but many share the sentiment. They think that if a person doesn't like the system here, they have no right to be here. What an ignorant and hateful idea! To show ...
No More Brain Fog Where is...car...my keys...hmm...and that...oh yeah, but...hmm - Does your brain feel like that sometimes? How can you combat "brain fog," and think more clearly? Try some of the following. Clear space equals clear thinking. Despite many protests to the contrary, it's rare ...
The two most important critical thinking skills are not keen observation nor logic. These help, but both of these come pretty naturally in humans (though we often choose to ignore logic). The skills I am referring to are less common, at least in their fully developed forms. That's sad, ...
There are hundreds of ways to make money online, but they each generally fall into one of the four basic approaches outlined below. In our own business, my wife and I have had the best luck with the last two, but each of us is different, and each of these approaches to making money has its advantages and disadvantages. Here’s is a quick look at those plusses and minuses. Employee If you can write, there is always a chance that you can get hired by a company that needs constant new content for their websites. You might also be hired as programmer or web-designer.
"Thinking games" are games and exercises that help develop thinking skills and so boost your brainpower. While some brain games exercise memory, or test knowledge (usually trivia), the following require analysis, creativity and imagination. They can all be played alone in theory, but try to get ...
All of us make financial mistakes, and research in the new fields of evolutionary economics and behavioral economics are starting to explain why. It will be good to have this knowledge someday. But in the meantime, here are ten of the more common money mistakes you may be making, so you can ...