How does one work on mental fitness?

Logic is the art of recoding – finding an ordinarily sequence for disparate elements.

The following exercise/activities will awaken the inherently logical being inside you.

Don’t use a list when shopping. Instead, invent a system to take the place of the list. Use memory aids, such as formatting a complete word or one that can be completed by adding a certain vowel or constant from the first letters of the words for the things you need to buy. Or, you can classify foods into raw and cooked. Or, use any other system that works for you.

All games involve logical activities. Card games such as pinochle and bridge or board games of strategy such as chess or checkers are good choices. So are crossword puzzles, anagrams and other word games. Avoid playing the same games all the time. Chess players might switch to solitaire, while bridge players might play whist or hearts.

Playing the same game all the time leads to routine, which is the opposite of activation. The same cerebral circuits and neuronal regions are constantly used and everything else remains unused. Fine new to you and find new playing-partners for old and new games and activates.

What Makes Good cue for remembering events?

One of the most interesting areas of research in the study of event memory is a small set of diary studies. In one such study, a Dutch psychologist, Willem Wagener, recorded his day’s events everyday for six years, noting down:

      Who was involved?

      What yes event was?

      Where it occurred?

      When it occurred?

Wagener was hoping to discover which of these different bits of information the best retrieval cues were. At the conclusion of his study he reported that ‘what’ was the least effective (have you ever tried to remember an event on the basis of its approximate date?).

There is nothing particularly special about these types of information, however. Later, wirehair reanalyzed his data and found that most of the difference in the memo ability of these cues was due to their relative distinctiveness. Thus, the nature of the event is usually the most distinctive aspect of the event and the people involved and the location are usually more distinctive bits of information than the date or time of occurrence.

Self Assessment Questionnaire

This questionnaire on employee motivation focuses on the role of leaders in empowering employees and
improving motivation. Answer/tick any of these 20 questions honestly to score your motivational capability.

• I arrive at the office on time and do not leave early.
• I expect the same levels of accuracy in my own work as my employees’.
• I do not blame others. I take responsibility for my part in mistakes.
• I encourage a 'no blame' culture where staff is able to admit mistakes and learn from them.
• I do not keep secrets from my employees.
• I do not encourage gossip or rumour.
• I set high ethical standards for my behaviour towards employees and hold myself to those standards.
• I ensure that staff has the training they require.
• I participate in training to improve my own skills and competencies.
• Employees have an active role in developing objectives for themselves, their team and the company as a whole.

• I regularly check that objectives between different parts of the team or company are congruent.
• Everyone pulls together for the same end rather than competing for different results.
• I have a clear system for handling employee discontent.
• Employees are aware of the system for handling discontent and feel encouraged to use it to address problems.
• Members of my team do not ask me simple questions. Significant matters are brought to my attention.
• But smaller challenges are considered and resolved by those responsible. I am not bothered by minor matters.
• I do not build rapport with my team by sharing my weaknesses and fears. I am honest but professional.
• Employees are encouraged to make mistakes.
• Employees tell me when mistakes have been made, how they have been rectified and what the key learnings are from such mistakes.
• I have a coach or mentor who keeps me focused and motivated about my work.
• I do not teach. Instead I lead, share, encourage and stimulate team members to grow, develop and learn.

 
Total score …………….


Interpretation/Calculation:


15 to 20: Well done. You are walking the talk. Of those statements you were unable to tick, which ones would
you like to work on?
10-14: The basics are there. Now you need to upgrade. What would need to change for you to score 15 or
more?
5-9: You need to raise your standards. Some essential systems are missing in terms of empowerment
motivation for employees. Commit to raising your score to 15 in the next 3 months.
0-4: You can probably see the results of your lack of integrity in your team. Take three simple steps to improve


Employee motivation immediately. Commit to raising your score to 15 in the next 6 months.

Types of memories

Experts have classified memory into two major kinds:

      Knowledge Memory

      Personal Memory

Knowledge memory contains information about the world while personal memory consists of information about you.

Within knowledge memory, separate domains may exist for numbers, for music, for language and for stories. These are all types of information, which appear to be dealt with in different ways.

Personal memory also comprises different kinds of domain like autobiographical memory, social memory (remembering names and faces of people), skill memory and planning memory.

      Autobiographical memory contains information about you and about personal experiences.

      Emotions, the “facts” that describe you and make you unique, the facts of your life and the experiences you have had, are all contained in separate domains and processed differently.

      Your memory for emotions can help you modify your moods.

      Specific events you have experienced are only memorable to the extent that they include details special to that specific occasion.

Most events in our lives are routine and are merged in memory into one generic memory containing the common element of the experience.

The most common memory problems faced by people occur in four key areas

1. 1.       Knowledge Memory
2. 2.       Identity or Personal Memory
3. 3.       Event Memory
4. 4.       Planning Memory

Within each of these zones of memory, there are specific details in which people have problems. Let us have a look at the type of things one forgets.

Knowledge Memory:

•       Remembering information you have studied.
•       Remembering words.
•       Remembering data.
•       Remembering visuals.

Identity Memory

•       Trying to put a name to a face.
•       Trying to put a face to a name.
•       Trying to remember who someone is.
•       Wanting to remember someone’s personal details.

Event Memory

•       Remembering whether you’ve done something.
•       Remembering where you’ve put something.
•       Remembering when/where something happened.
•       Remembering important dates.

Planning Memory

•       Remembering to do something at a particular time
•       Knowledge there’s something you need to remember but you can’t think what it is.

How brain fitness works

Just as physical exercise maintains body tone, strength and endurance, mental exercising has positive conditioning effects for people of all ages. We will cover the essentials that constitute “mental workout” – daily exercises for the brain.

The goal of brain fitness is to revive certain mental abilities before they slow down. In le poncin’s own words, “our team does not claim to work miracles. We simply develop the previously unknown fertility of land that had been lying fallow”. The exercises are simple and fun to do. And, by repeating the exercises over several weeks time, real progress can be seen in a relatively short time.

Although these exercises have been especially created for the people of advancing age, anyone can do them in order to keep the mental faculties functioning properly. 

How to get the most out of your practice

While practice is the key, there are some actions we can take to ensure we get the most value out of our practice:

      Learn from specific examples rather than abstract rules.

      Provide feedback while the action is active in memory (i.e. immediately). Try again while the feedback is active in memory.

      Practice a skill with subtle variations (such as varying the force of your pitch, or the distance you are throwing) rather than trying to repeat your action exactly.

      Space your practice (math, textbooks, for example, trend to put similar exercises together, but in fact they would be better spaced out).

      Allow for interference with similar skills: if a new skill contains steps that are antagonistic to steps contained in an already mastered skill, the new skill will be much harder to learn (e.g., when I changed keyboards, the buttons for page up, page down, insert etc., had been put in different order – the conflict between the old habit and the new pattern made learning the new pattern harder than it would have been if I had never had a keyboard before). The existing skill may also be badly affected.

      If a skill can be broken down in to independent sub-skills, break it down into its components are dependent, learn the skill as a whole (e.g. computer programming can be broken into independent sub-skills, but learning to play the piano is best learned as a whole). 

Problem Solving Flowchart

Role Of Imagery In Mnemonics

•       Images are effective to the extent that they link information.
•       Images are not inherently superior to words and bizarre images are not necessary recalled better than common images.
•       Imagery is chiefly effective when used with an organizing structure.
•       Most mnemonic strategies are based on imagery.
•       There is no doubt that imagery can be an effective tool, but there is nothing particular special about imagery. The advantage of imagery is that it provides an easy way of connecting information that is not otherwise readily connected. However, providing verbal links can be equally effective.
•       The critical element is that words or images provide a context, which links the information. Thus, imagery is only effective when it is an interactive image – one that ties together one bit of information with another.
•       Visual imagery on its own is of limited value without an organizing structure, such as the method of loci or the peg word method.
•  It’s usually empathasized that bizarre images are remembered much better, but there is no evidence for this. In many studies indeed, ordinary images are remembered slightly well. One of the problems is that people usually fine it harder to create bizarre images. Unless you have a natural talent for thinking up bizarre images, its probably now worth bothering about.

Why Remembering To Do Things IS SO Difficult

Remembering intentions is in fact much more difficult than remembering events that have happened and the primary reason is the lack or retrieval cues. This is why, of all memory tasks, remembering to do things relies most heavily on external memory aids. Reminder notes, calendars dairies, watch-alarms, oven-timers, leaving objects in conspicuous places – all these external aids act as cues to memory.

In practical compensation for the lack of effective retrieval cues, planning memories are more easily triggered by minor cues. E even a small and seemingly insignificant thing can act as a remarkable cue. A friend of mine was reminded that her son’s friend would be spending Saturday night with then when she saw an advertisement for a movie about John F.Kennedy ( the child’s father had the same initials: JFK).  
I remembered that I had to give my green dress for dry cleaning when I saw a similar green colour in the display window of a store.

Remembering Intentions

Experts have categorized the remembering of intentions under ‘planning memory’. Planning memory is nothing but an exercise, which helps you recall your intentions i.e. what you need to do.

Planning memory contains your plans and goals (such as, “I must pick up the dry-cleaning today”, “I intend to finish this project within three months”). 
Forgetting an appointment or a promise is one of the memory problems people get most upset about.

Remembering intentions is more difficult than remembering past events. It’s the lack of cues to remembering that makes remembering intentions so difficult. That is why using physical objects to cue our remembering is so common. To remember intentions without relying on physical reminders, it’s best to concentrate on working out an event or time that will trigger your remembering.

Set your mind to remember the link between the trigger and the intention, not the intention alone.

Remembering Telephone Numbers

These can be remembered simply by associating numbers from Eg)., the Number/Rhyme system, or the journey system and by further association these with the face or name of the  person whose number is being remembered.

For Example, to remember that John’s phone number is 6587452, I can imagine myself travelling to his flat: with my destination firmly in mind, I envisage the following stops on my journey:

1.        Front Door: The door has hundreds of sticks (6) lying in front of it.
2.        Rose Bush: A small sapling (tree, 3) is growing its way through the middle of   the bush.
3.        Car: to build a hive (5) under the wheel of my car. I have to move it very carefully to avoid damaging it.
4.        End of Road: A tree (3) has fallen on the road. I have to drive around it.
5.        Past Garage: Someone has nailed a sign on the door (4) strange!
6.       Under Railway Bridge: The bees are building another hive (5) between the girders here.
7.    Past The Municipal Park: All the trees in the park have shoes (2) hanging from their branches.

Remembering Numbers

Day by day our lives are becoming more and more complicated. No matter what, one has to remember at least a few bank account numbers, telephone numbers etc.,

How does one remember numbers?

Using mnemonic systems, remembering numbers becomes extremely simple.

There are a number of ways of approaches, depending on the types of numbers being remembered:

1. Short numbers

These can be stored in a number of ways:

The easiest is to use simple Number/Rhyme method associated in a story.

A simple peg system can be used, associating numbers from the Number/Rhyme method, organized with the Alphabet system.

2.Long Numbers

This can be remembered using the Journey System. At a simple level, numbers can be stored at each stop on the journey using e.g., the Number/Shape system.

Using all the simple techniques in concert, there is no reason why you should not be able to store a 100-digit number with relatively little effort. Using the more powerful systems, holding it to 1000-digits might not be too much of a challenge.

Five principles to improve Memory

There are five basic principles you can apply in forming your mental pictures, which will help you make your associations strong and long lasting. These are quite similar to the ones suggested in the mnemonic system.

1. Out of Proportion: In all your images, try to distort size and shape. In the first exercise, you were told to picture a “Huge” sausage or a “gigantic” tie. Conversely, you can make things microscopically small.

2. Substitution: In the first exercise, we suggested that you visualize of a football, or pens growing on a tree instead of leaves. Substituting an out of place item in an image increases the probability of recall.

3. Exaggeration: Try to picture vast quantities in your images. For example, we used the word ‘billions’ (of bananas).

4. Movement: Any movement or action is always easy to remember. For example, we suggested that you saw yourself cutting a sausage and gallons of ink squirting out and hitting you in the face.

5. Humour: The funnier, more absurd and zany you can make your images, the more memorable they will be.

Applying and combination of these five principles when formatting your images will help make your mental associations truly outstanding and memorable. At first you may find that you need to consciously apply one or more of the five principles in order to make your pictures sufficiently ludicrous. After a little practice however, you should fine that applying the principals becomes an automatic and natural process.

How to improve memory

Attempts to improve memory are now new. For centuries, man has been trying out ways and means to improve his memory because he has realize the importance of having a good memory, was devised by the Greeks a long time ago.

While there are many methods that keep appearing from time to time, there are some, which have proved there efficacy. They remain popular because of the ease and practically of implementing them. Of these, mnemonic, link system and pegging are the most popular.

One thing that needs to be mentioned here is that there are no quick fix methods available for improving memory. These methods have to be practiced with sincerity and regularity in order to apply then effectively. Just as with any self-improvement process, memory improvements needs consistent efforts and take a little time to make an impact. So, don’t expect overnight results or you will be disappointed!

Using Mnemonics More Effectively

When you are creating a mnemonic, eg., an image or story to remember a telephone number, the following things can be used to make the Mnemonic more memorable:

      Use positive, pleasant images. The brain often blocks our unpleasant ones.

      Exaggerate the size of important parts of the image.

•       Use humor! Funny or peculiar things are easier to remember than normal ones.
•       Similarly rude or sexual rhymes are very difficult to forget!
•       Symbols ( e.g., red traffic lights, pointing fingers, act.,) can be used in mnemonics.
•       Vivid, colorful images are easier to remember than drab ones.
•       Use all the sense to code information or dress up an image. Remember that your mnemonic can contain sounds, smells, tastes, touch, movements and feelings as well as pictures.
•       Bringing three dimensions can be used either to maintain the flow of association or can help to remember actions.
•       Locate similar mnemonics in different places with background of those places. This will help in maintaining similar images distinct and unconfused.

The important thing is that the mnemonics should clearly relate to the thing being remembered and that it should be vivid enough to be clearly recalled whenever you think about it.

Mnemonics – Memory Improvement Technique:

The Ancient Greeks developed basic memory systems called Mnemonics, a name derived from there goddess of Memory, Mnemosyne. In the ancient world, a trained memory we s an immense asset, particularly in public life. There were no convenient devices for taking notes and early Greek orators delivered long speeches with great accuracy because they learned the speeches using Mnemonics system.

The Greeks discovered that human memory is largely an Associative process – wick works by linking things together. For example, think of a pineapple. The moment your brain registers the work ‘pineapple; it recalls the shape, color, taste, texture and smell of that fruit. All these things are associated in your memory. When you recall what you had for lunch yesterday, that may remind you of something someone said during lunch, which may recall the memory of some background music which was playing, which may evoke something which occurred ten years ago, and this can go on and on. This association does not have to be logical – they can be completely random or absurd. In fact, the more absurd the association,  the better the recall.

IMPORTANCE OF ATTITUDE

Rich and Poor:


WHY RICH COUNTRIES ARE RICH?
WHY POOR COUNTRIES ARE POOR?


The difference is not the age of the country.
India & Egypt, that are more than 2000 years old and are poor.
On the other hand, Canada, Australia & New Zealand, that 150 years ago were inexpressive, today are developed countries and are rich.
This is not because of availibility of natural resources
i.e. Japan has a limited territory, 80% mountainous, inadequate for agriculture & cattle raising, but it is the second world economy.
Race or skin color are also not important:
What is the difference then?

The difference is the attitude of the people,
framed along the years by the
education & the culture.

On analyzing the behavior of the people in rich &
developed countries, we find that the great majority follow  the  following principles in their lives:
1.Ethics, as a basic principle.
2.Integrity.
3.Responsibility.
4.Respect to the laws & rules.
5.Respect to the rights of other citizens
6.Work loving.
7.Strive for saving & investment
8.Will of super action.
9.Punctuality.

All
SIGN OF
+VE ATTITUDE

In poor countries,
only a minority
follow these basic
principles in their daily life.


We are not poor because we lack
natural resources or because nature
was cruel to us.
We are poor because we lack attitude


POSITIVE ATTITUDE IS EVERY THING
SO CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE….
AND YOU CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!!

Overconfidence

It's good you feel confident about your job.

You take pride in your ability to do your work quickly and well.

However, there is such a thing as overconfidence — when you forget about the hazards and fail to use safe work practices

•No matter how long you have been on the job and no matter how skilled you are, you must remember the basic safety precautions.

Don't get complacent!

Experienced workers have paid dearly for carelessness.

•They have been electrocuted because they failed to lock out the power when doing electrical repairs.

•They have been burned in explosions when they allowed an ignition source in a flammable atmosphere.

•They have been killed in falls from heights when they failed to hook up fall arrest gear.

•They have lost limbs while operating the same saws or punch presses they have used for years.

They have been disabled in vehicle crashes while driving familiar routes.

All workplaces and tasks have certain hazards and risks.

•As a long-time worker, you can still become entangled in the conveyor if you wear loose clothing.

•The nip roll is just as tight and the floor may be just as slippery

 

Mental Fitness

Are you one of those who believe that mental efficiency declines with age?

As a matter of fact, it doesn’t. There is no age limit for exercising the brain nor do the exercises have any side effects. In fact, the more mental exercising one does, the better are the chances of keeping an active memory tills a ripe old age.

The Good news:

The decline in specific mental abilities, beloved to be associated with ageing such as memory loss, sluggish thinking and blocks in problem solving , are not inevitable, if the brain is frequently excited by new challenges. In a matter study by the NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH in Philadelphia, men tested at age 81 where compared with performance on the same tests they had taken at ages 75 and 70. Researchers reported that the “pattern of decline” of cognitive capabilities generally associated with advanced ageing” was “neither extensive nor consistent”. Other major studies on ageing over the past 52 years (Seaborg and colleagues in Sweden,  Duke University, and the National Institute on Ageing). Support the findings that “mental (and physical) declined with ageing is not inevitable”. Yet we have all seen elderly people who unmistakably experience mental decline, as they grow older. What can be done to preserve (and enhance) mental fitness, as we grow older?

Use It or Lose It?

Not surprisingly, the same advice that we follow to achieve physical fitness applies to mental fitness – “ use it or lose it”. Just as daily weight repetitions in the gym or jogging strengthen certain muscle groups mental exercises will strengthen and enhance cognitive functions over them.

 Monique Le Poncin, founder of the French National Institute for research on the prevention of cerebral ageing, has written a fascinating book called “brain fitness. By identifying the various mental abilities in the human repertoire – perception, long and short term memory and visuo – spatial memory structuralization, logic and verbal abilities – le poncin has “prescribed” an exercise regimen designated to strengthen those areas that tend to become week over the life span. She advocates a technique of cerebral activation, which she calls “brain fitness”. 

+ive ATTITUDE A KEY TO SUCCESS

QUOTES ON POSITIVE ATTITUDE


The most significant change in a person’s life is a change of attitude. Right attitudes produce right actions.


A positive attitude is not a destination.  It is a way of life.
A positive attitude is like a magnet for positive results.
Our life is a reflection of our attitudes

HOW MUCH DO YOU SEE OF AN ICEBERG?

ONLY 10% OF ANY ICEBERG IS VISIBLE. THE REMAINING 90% IS BELOW SEA LEVEL.

ØThe Iceberg phenomena is also applicable on human    beings …

EXAMPLE THE ICEBERG