Brainpower Ain’t Easy – No Matter What We Tell You…

A Reader Recently Commented On A Brain Fitness Blog Post:

It looks easier than it is because my brain just does not want to do what I tell it to. I will persist as you suggest because my friend has gotten great results as a subscriber to your studio. If she can do it so can I.

Look, there was a time when I was not immune to eagerly clicking on links that promised to make me a “COGNITIVE SUPERHUMAN” in 24 hours or less.  When I first became interested in a brain fitness lifestyle, I was desperate to stop running around in circles and get my life together so that I could use my native intelligence to actually ACHIEVE something significant.

As it was, I was constantly starting “the most amazing thing ever”, only to be distracted by something far more amazing less than a week later.  It was a terrible pattern that made me feel lousy about myself, lousy about my future (because I was smart enough to know that if I didn’t STICK to one thing I’d never DO anything of significance), and worst of all, it made me the kind of person who, despite the best of intents, simply couldn’t keep promises to himself.

Some of you are feeling that kind of pain even as you read this, so I understand why you too would want the “FASTEST FIX” possible to break out of self-sabotaging mental patterns and habits.  But, you should listen carefully to what I’m about to say here as it pertains to boosting your mental skills for the purposes of elevating your life.

People are used to promises of “easy”, “fast”, “instant”, and “no effort required”, but it’s all a bunch of nonsense. I’ve literally had people complain to me because once they realized that they actually have to PRACTICE, their habits of mental laziness drove them back to playing practically (and I say PRACTICALLY) useless “BRAIN GAMES” that have virtually no chance of changing their experience of life for the better – and it’s not because brain games CANNOT, it’s just that nobody’s DESIGNED them for that kind of dynamic effect on fluid intelligence in the real world (don’t worry, Dynamic Mental Fitness, Inc. is working on that problem!).

I remember a couple months ago one lady telling me that she was hoping that all I would have her do was play a couple games and she would suddenly be a cognitive superhuman.  WHAT!?!  This poor dear was convinced by false advertising that a few hours on video games would boost her I.Q., make her easily fluent in foreign languages if she chose to learn them, and cause her to be the hit of the party.  Wow.  After I explained to her how much time one needs to put in – that it is no less a lifestyle choice than deciding to get into superior PHYSICAL shape, she hauled away from my program so fast you could almost see flames coming off of her butt.  She’ll get her reward, all right.  Zilch is what she’s going to get, and she’s placing herself in that higher category of risk for developing age-related mental declines because of sheer mental laziness.

There was a guy last week who became a Neuro-Sculpting Training Studio Subscriber, lamenting how doing hours of Lumosity didn’t do anything to remove his feelings of total clumsiness when talking to women in social situations. I asked him, “Dude, are you telling me that in order to feel more confident talking to women you were playing ONLINE BRAIN GAMES!?!” He was like, “Uh…yeah.” I immediately sent the guy some REAL, “Direct Method” techniques that can put him in a position to be able to manage his thoughts and emotional reactions as well as allow him to control his Attention in such a way that he is “IN THE ZONE” in social situations and not feeling out of place. THAT, my friend, is how you challenge your brain so that it fertilizes brain cells, thickens and strengthens existing neuronal connections, and generates new brain cells. LEARN something that EXPANDS and TRANSFORMS you as a human being.

So, it certainly APPEARS easier than it actually is, in the same way that my declaring “All you have to do is work out to have big muscles” is easier to conceive of in one’s mind than to carry out. If I told somebody that all they needed to do in order to be a buff, hot-buttered hunk of sexiness is to pull up in the parking lot of the gym and read the newspaper, I wouldn’t be believed. But if I tell somebody that five minutes a day will boost their brainpower, their ears perk up. It’s a ridiculous claim that I see all over the internet.

I used to be really tempted to go with such claims.  Forget that nonsense nowadays, because I’ve learned that people who are insistent on that kind of instant, NONEXISTENT gratification make lousy brain fitness trainees.  If you ask me what it’s going to take, I’m going to give it to you straight with no chaser:  HOW HUNGRY ARE YOU?

People, if you want greater mental power, you’re going to have to get into the mental workout habit and you’re going to have to do it with love and commitment and tracking and adjusting and discipline. Period. I can TEACH you all the fundamental concepts in a DAY if I wanted to, but without “WALKING THE WALK,” you really won’t KNOW what it MEANS on a physical, gut level.

The good news is that, YES YOU CAN do it if you persist, and I’ll be here to cheer you on and give you the assistance you need when you run up against something you don’t understand.  I can’t promise you warp speed, but what I can promise you is that EVERYTHING will change as your brainpower begins to expand in ways you aren’t even able to imagine right now – your imagination can convey these kinds of experiences because only the reality of going through it can do so.

And I’ll tell you another thing.  If I get even the slightest hint that you’re real about your commitment – if I sense that, inside of you – is a person who will do what’s necessary, who will PUT IN THE WORK, I promise you that you’ll never run into anybody who will bend over backwards to help you acquire all the knowledge and skills you need to succeed.  You can put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Sorry, it’s just that I’ve been dying to type, “you can put that in your pipe and smoke it.”  Get to work guys.  You work, I’ll work on your behalf.  Period.