The human mind is a wonderful thing, but sometimes it can be our own worst enemy. Henry Ford was certainly right when he said “whether you think you are able to do a thing or not you are right.” I often spend a lot of time thinking about doing something before actually attempting to do it and I find that the mindset in which we approach an activity has a great influence on the outcome. If you are interested in this topic and some of the amazing things that the human brain can do I suggest reading “The Brain that Changes Itself” by Norman Doidge, it is an excellent book and I strongly  recommend it.

The book above is about neuroplasticity and how the human mind can change, grow and adapt to the environment around it and to recover from damage caused to it. It has several amazing stories of human discovery, invention and miraculous tales of recovery that were previously thought to be impossible.

The mind is one of the most important organs, it holds all our conscious thoughts regulates our biological processes and allows us to perform complex tasks. More than this though, the brain holds our identity, we use our minds everyday and the influence that this small grey wrinkly organ has on how our life plays out is not to be under estimated. In terms of our ability to do things I think that our mind is often the dominating factor, we need to find ways to influence and change our mind so it is not a hurdle or resistance to our intended actions. When you think about the body the muscles we use are the ones that get stronger, it is the same in the brain, the sections of our brain that are used the most get stronger and take up more space within the brain. Thought patterns are like pathways cut through the jungle, the more often you walk down them the larger and wider you cut them. This process makes it easy for us to become trapped in the same ways of thinking, sometimes in order to move forward we need to make a mental shift to get us out of those well travelled paths. It is especially important when it comes to attempting or completing difficult tasks, so often we talk ourselves out of trying because in our mind the task is impossible, I usually find though that no task is impossible if you have the right mindset and some people who are willing to help. For me it seems that exercise is a great tool for helping to shift gears.

I decided recently to do an experiment, it was a simple experiment enacted upon myself, a 50 day challenge to do something that was difficult everyday. The challenge consists of climbing to an old fort called the Bastille above the city of Grenoble. So far I am 9 days into my challenge and have completed it everyday and added a few extra challenges along the way. The exercise has been very good for me, I am not really fit at all so each time I go to face my task I end up coated in sweat and struggling to lift my legs by the end of it, to make it worse because of the experiment I have no rest days between the exertion which means my legs are constantly tired. In spite of this I find that after 9 days the task is getting easier, I am unsure whether this is because I am getting fitter or whether having proved to myself that I can do it many times makes the mental challenge smaller.

What I can say is that the affect of a trip to the Bastille on my mental state of being and mindset in general is quite astonishing. If I am feeling lethargic and depressed before heading to the Bastille the combination of exercise and the sense of achievement seems to act as a catalyst for a mental transition. I become much more efficient at work, I cannot empirically say that the exercise is the sole cause of this but the evidence seems to be there. Every time I complete the challenge I finish in a positive mood, it makes me feel like I can do anything, taking that to the lab seems to have a positive influence on whatever task I take on that day. It also seems to have increased my creativity and abstract thinking, although this may just be due to spending an hour a day doing a task that requires no more thought than putting one foot in front of the other, allowing my mind to work freely whilst it has a good blood flow.

The benefits of  a positive approach to any task cannot be ignored but it is crucial to find the tools you need to make that mental shift and keep you mind there. My challenge for you would be to take 50 days and do 1 thing that you have wanted to do for an hour every day. For me it was to get fit but that’s not for everyone, do something that challenges you and will give you a sense of achievement when you complete it each day. Learn a language, musical instrument, get fit or take up yoga whatever you choose to do, challenging yourself helps to maintain a flexible mind and will make you grow.

Leave a comment about what you chose to do.

Cheers,
Daniel