Bringing the Principles of Neuroscience to Educational Practice and Career Development.
I have been reflecting on the swings of society recently.
There are subtle differences in the wording between individualism and individuality, but there is a big difference in their manifestations. As a result, this is what I have observed:
Continue reading “Are you Group One or Two?”
There has been a lot of talks and evidence presented lately concerning our young people’s ability to survive and recover from a personal crisis. With youth suicide reaching high levels in some countries during, and since, the Covid 19 crisis there has been an outcry as to why this young generation doesn’t seem to be coping.
My view is that the lazy production line mentality of governments towards education is depriving many young people of basic societal survival skills, leaving many to languish on the parameters of economic stability and a sound future.
Continue reading “Is our school system in Australia killing off resilience?”
I read a book recently. Regular readers of my blog know I am an avid reader, I even write book reviews!
This one though, it really got to me.
It is called Forward by Dr David Jeremiah. In his book, Dr Jeremiah makes an excellent analogy of driving a car to direct our lives.
I’ll let you know upfront, Forward, is a faith-based book. What I really liked about it is that he makes some brilliant observations that we can all learn from, regardless of our spiritual beliefs.
Continue reading “How to drive forward… and leave the past behind us.”
I have often written about the need for us to be gracious and forgiving to our younger selves. We often, surprisingly, give less mercy to ourselves than we would to others.
As a person with, often extreme OCD, I will mull over things that I did many years ago that I consider foolish and stupid in reflection.
How about you? Are you one of the many of us, in a certain generation, that is thankful that we did not have cell phones with cameras back then recording our every moment? All of those slips and stumbles in judgement from our lack of maturity in those days.
Continue reading “The Value in Mistakes”
How many times has a fiery argument been lost, and the winner is later proven wrong? I vehemently defended a position in my younger years, only to find another factor I had not considered.
But lately I have become more considered and reflective in my approach. Time and the compounding interest of experience must be allowed to do their work.
Continue reading “Winning or Losing?”
Yes, it certainly has been a different kind of year! We have learned how much we need each other and those little unusual things about ourselves that we never knew we liked or thought we could do.
While this has been a year of testing tragedy for many, it has also been a year when many of us have dared to try things. Along the way, we have discovered that our boundaries were not really our boundaries at all, as we quickly rose above and beyond them.
Continue reading “Who Are You Right Now?”
I think we all know that it is important in times like these to ‘guard our hearts and our minds’. Today I watched the news and let’s say it did me no good.
I questioned, do we need to stay ‘informed to the minute’ about that for which we have no real control?
Today I want to encourage you to stay focused on the good things. Many of the people we all regard as heroes did not rise in times of ease or great prosperity; in fact, we wouldn’t probably call them heroes if they had!
Continue reading “Nurture Your Mind Today”
These are tricky times we are in and I would like to share a few of my thoughts on real leadership and our responsibility as citizens at this time. I think we can all agree, now is the time for real leadership. We need to see it, feel it and witness it in action daily.
It’s a tough time to be a leader because in these uncharted waters, mistakes will inevitably be made as no-one in this life can see around corners and know what will happen next.
It is also a time of intense scrutiny of our leaders from families, businesses, communities and our entire nation. The cracks in character and resolve will be seen and right now, we can be assured that they will be noticed.
Continue reading “Are We Seeing Real Leadership?”
Given the world’s present situation, we must decide more than usual how to strengthen our own foundations.
Who are you right now? Who do you want to be? What strengths can you share to help your family, community and country right now?
The time is right to pause now. Reflect and choose a path to do your best each day. We can also cut everyone some slack, including ourselves.
I have recently been encouraged to write out my own life story. The encouragement is coming from mentors, colleagues and friends who believe that the place where I was and where I have come to now along with my Tourettes diagnosis is notable.
They feel that my story would be of great encouragement to others who are stuck in the feeling that their disabilities are a barrier. That it could be read as a motivating success story for people who feel, or have been told, they lack the talent or ability to reach their goals.
And so, with those thoughts in mind, I begin to write my own life story. To share, to inspire and to provide support for those just beginning their journey with Tourettes.
Continue reading “Writing My Life Story with Tourettes”
I attended an Elton John concert a few days ago in Sydney. It was amazing and, being a songwriter myself, I have always thought of him as one of the great songwriters of our time.
One specific observation shined out to me about this concert. It was not only the genius of his music and piano ability that I was seeing. It wasn’t even how brilliant his band played. They were superb!
Continue reading “Why Struggle Matters”
Back in 1984, my cousin Richard and I backpacked to California and ended up somehow in the deserts of Morocco, a North African country bordering the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea.
One day, we saw a bright green dot on the horizon out of the van window. Surprisingly alone amongst the dry, barren brown desert, it didn’t seem to fit the view. As we approached, the scene opened up to what I can only describe as a large depression in the landscape about three to four hundred yards wide.
Continue reading “Leaving the Oasis”
In a mood of review, I am writing to thank you for reading my posts this year. I hope that you are finishing up 2019 well and can look back with happy affection to the year that has almost passed.
In reflection, I am reminded of the good things, especially those things that I take for granted as if they will always be there. It easy to fall into a sense of comfort that these joys will always be there. Don’t we all do that a little? Yet at this time, I am reminded of how much I do not truly show gratitude for them.
I want to thank my family for being there and particularly my beautiful wife Rhonda. She quietly works behind the scenes without fuss and is a model of consistency and hard work. She is truly what I call a ‘saint of the mundane’ whose work and cleverness makes the household function and whose kind, honest and unassuming nature makes its members shine brightly in the world.
At this time, I am reminded of how much we need to cherish ones such as her, our children and the many friends we have who, in many small ways, make life as sweet as it is.
Continue reading “Thank you and see you in 2020!”
As many of you know, I am currently enjoying studying Educational Neuroscience in the Brain-Based Education course through Central Queensland University (CQU).
Why add to my list of qualifications in Career Development? Here’s why.
The Graduate Certificate in Brain-Based Education will enhance my capacities as a professional educator. I personally grow from this further education, and I can offer my clients even more when they come to me for advice and guidance.
That sounds like a win-win for you and me!
Continue reading “The Power of Outside Influences”
How often have you found yourself metaphorically lighting the lamp in the dark, hoping it’s a candle and not a stick of dynamite?
As a year nine dropout with Tourette’s syndrome, I was forced into a position of choosing life as a victim or a victor. I thank God every day because those circumstances have formed me and made me take risks that have enabled me to push beyond the potential I thought I had.
I have tried some really, really dumb things. But I have also succeeded beyond what people thought I could. I have neurological disorders handed down from both sides of the family line; however, I have learned to avoid destructive actions and indulgence in those things that would lead to the continuance of those symptoms in my own life.
As a person with Tourette’s syndrome, I can be ‘grasshopper minded’ as my Father used to describe me, flittering from one obsessive idea to the next.
Continue reading “Reflecting on Life”
In careers counselling, we often have to dig deeper than just helping someone find a job. In fact, the more people insist that they will do ‘anything’, the more inclined they are to fail when they gain the position they have applied for.
The realities are that our deepest career desires are actually the children of far deeper emotions than the surface concerns like remuneration and position. Neurologically and psychologically we need to fulfil a destiny and ‘inner calling’ to be people of consequence and to live a life of meaning.
We ultimately want to do something that matters.
Continue reading “Digging Deeper”
Focus is an important skill. Focus and persistence can get you through the darkest days until you can find the light again.
Through the persistence of my parents who never gave up, a few lifelong friends who saw past my Tourette’s and a large church youth group who fed my soul with a great social life, I came to life.
I was able to respond to challenges in my thinking that allowed me to reach towards my potential.
I love the story that Dan Miller writes in his blog about himself and a 10-year-old friend, Bob. They were out in the neighbouring farms and his friend got bitten by a snake.
As his friend was incapacitated Dan’s first instinct was to go after the snake and give it the retribution it deserved for biting his friend. Bob, however, did not pursue the snake but settled down to dealing with the wound by lancing the bite and sucking and spitting out the poison.
How often do we read about the two percent of people who do things differently?
They go the opposite route from the tide of emotion or feelings of the general population and practise a counter-culture mindset.
Some of those people are long term thinkers when it comes to stocks. They buy when others are selling and experience greater profits when the share recovers.
At first, we might go for anything to get us some momentum. However, once we have some wisdom, made some mistakes and been down some alleys that we do not wish to try for a second time, we start to be able to learn.
Mark Twain once said, “whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority it’s time to pause and reflect.”
Because of my anxiety disorders and fears over the years, I have often behaved very erratically under pressure and have been talked into deals that have wrecked my prospects and opinions that I might not agree with if I had the time and prudence to look into with more detail.
After automatically reacting along with the crowd and bearing the consequences, I have found myself reflecting and seeing where my choice took me in the wrong direction.
Standing back and rummaging through the memories, I think that over the decades, I have been ‘reactionary’ rather than a ‘responsive’.
Continue reading “Responding or Reacting?”
I am at a point of transition. It is me who has lost my taste for what I am doing for a living and is now considering a move into something I am passionate about.
Does that resonate with you? Do you feel it?
I think most of us do not mind working hard. It is part of our commitment to earning a living and keeping ourselves and our families financially abundant. It is whether we feel that our work is of consequence and significance that sometimes makes it seem hard or easy.
Continue reading “Transition and Meaning”
We know how important persistence is in our successful career lives.
The only common denominator in the many success stories I have read about is summed up in that one word: Persistence. Alter your dreams and know when something is not the right path and let it go.
We must take time, however, to put the brakes on and examine our awareness regularly. In his book ‘High Trust Selling’, Todd Duncan talks about the inner world of a person being exceptionally important when it comes to establishing trust in a client’s mind.
He talks about his ‘Law of the Iceberg’ where he says that like an iceberg that conceals 90% of its mass below the water line, we need to practice integrity, trustworthiness and good healthy relationships in our secret lives.
Continue reading “Rest and Awareness”
One of the best bits of advice I ever received was about farming a career. This valuable quote was:
Be a farmer not a hunter!
Anonymous
It was explained to me that a hunter kills their prey and once consumed, the animal never reproduces again. However, a farmer will not eat all of his produce but use some of his crops to sew for future crops.
In summary, the hunter is always looking for new targets and a quick return. The farmer, however, sees the long game and will in time have harvest after harvest coming in continually as long as the climate is favourable.
Often we hear of opportunists who come into an industry, looking for a quick profit, abuse the business, people and community for every drop of cash that can be squeezed without integrity or regard for others, and then callously move on.
They leave those people, their businesses and the community with a bad name and can ruin the good reputation of an industry as a whole. What many fail to realise is that it is the little things in life that make a life. Little things matter. Little things make lives and destroy lives.
However, a farmer waits patiently.
Continue reading “Slow Growth v Immediate Results”
Have you heard of the phrase ‘winning by volume’ in your worldly travels? It works like this. Study consistently and continuously to gain knowledge so that when you need an answer, it is not the first time you have heard of this subject or concept.
The only common denominator in the many success stories I have read about is summed up in one word: persistence.
However, it is still important that you find a path to the top of the mountain!
Continue reading “Winning by Volume”
James Michener was someone who found what he was made to do and did it. For him, work was not toiling but completing himself in many ways. He was in what Max Lucado calls ‘his sweet spot,’ where he was in his natural flow, and things came naturally.
This state does not exclude a lot of hard work and the tediousness of the backstory of our labour but is driven by the sense of being in the purpose that fits each one of us. It is also an ongoing process of revelation as we discern what works for us and what does not.
For many years, I have feared saying what I really wanted to say. I had always softened my message with humour, kindness, and respect, but often, I may have weakened it so as not to offend.
During the break, I listened to Brene Brown on YouTube, first in her talk to creative people at a conference called ’99u’ and then in her viral TED Talk. You can see her TEDx here. (Thanks again to Angela at Whipbird Creative for another excellent tip-off.)
It was all very healing for me. It awakened in me a drive for what I feel needs to be said and renewed my passion for setting a few things right in the world.
Continue reading “Sparking Words of Joy”
Is it possible that we sometimes add 2 + 2 and get a not-quite-right 5?
How many times have I jumped to conclusions about someone or something and made a fool of myself? Too many times to count! It happens to all of us. It appears to be an innately human fault that transcends geographical, socio-economic, age, and gender boundaries.
I would like to share a story with you about a group of scientists who were conducting experiments on flies and other insects.
Continue reading “Wrong Conclusions”