OUR LEARNING BRAIN
Engaging Your Brain for Learning & Habit Change
Book 1 of the MAXIMISING BRAIN POTENTIAL series
Dr. Celine Mullins
Published by Oak Tree Press, Cork, Ireland
www.oaktreepress.com / www.SuccessStore.com
ISBN: 978-1-78119-340-2 (ePub)
ISBN: 978-1-78119-341-9 (Kindle)
ISBN: 978-1-78119-342-6 (PDF)
ISBN: 978-78119-428-7 (PB)
© 2018 Celine Mullins.
Brain Images by Phillip Cullen
All rights reserved. This book may not be reprinted or distributed in electronic, print, web or other format without express written permission.
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
WHY READ THIS BOOK?
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1: THE IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ADULT LEARNING AND HABIT CHANGE
CHAPTER 2: UNDERSTANDING THE POWER OF THE BRAIN AND THE BRAIN’S SELF PROTECTION MODE
CHAPTER 3: OVERCOMING THE BRAINS SELF PROTECTION MODE AND CREATING SUPPORTIVE HABITS
KEY TAKE-AWAYS
NOTES
CELINE MULLINS
ADAPTAS
FOREWORD
As Professor of Psychology at Trinity College Dublin and the Founding Director of the Institute of Neuroscience Trinity College, Dublin, I co-supervised Celine while she was a PhD student. Celine was always an ambitious and independent thinker. Her work since then – and some of it now available to you, the reader, in the MAXIMISING BRAIN POTENTIAL series – is no different.
In this first book, Celine draws on newly-published knowledge about the brain’s role in habit to explain the complexities of the brain in the learning and habit change process. Her ability to translate this complex science into easy-to-understand prose means that readers of all backgrounds will be able to grasp the brain’s role in making changes and learn how to implement these changes for themselves. This book is also well-suited for those at management levels who want to make learning a priority for their staff.
I can think of no one more qualified to write this book, as Celine has been putting the theories in this book into practice in her work for many years with the company she founded: Adaptas, a learning and development business through which Celine has successfully coached and facilitated learning in thousands of leaders and teams worldwide – from Ireland and the UK, to North America, to Africa. Her form of training is unique and receives exceptional reviews, with many people saying they wished they had learned this information “10 years previously”. Her clients deliver overwhelmingly positive reviews, expressing appreciation for Celine's ability to “create a safe space” and create “amazing outcomes”.
With this book, Celine brings to the reader the science and theory that drives her successful training. Celine’s insights should not be overlooked.
Professor Ian Robertson – Clinical Psychologist and Neuroscientist, Author of The Stress Test: How Pressure Can Make You Stronger and Sharper; The Winner Effect: The Science of Success and How To Use It; Mind Sculpture: Your Brain's Untapped Potential; The Mind’s Eye: An Essential Guide to Boosting Your Mental Power
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
The only skill that will be important in the 21st century is the skill of learning new skills. Everything else will become obsolete over time.
Peter Drucker1
During my time working as a psychologist, coach and facilitator of learning and growth, I have had the opportunity to observe how we behave as individuals, teams and organisations. Cognitive science, psychology and neuroscience have taught us a lot about the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of our behaviour as humans. However, only the smartest organisations and educational institutions have taken what is applicable from these schools of thought, theory and research and applied it to how we learn and change habits. And this is a work in progress.
If like me and many others I know, you have completed courses or attended workshops, but thereafter made few changes in your behaviour, then welcome to the club. There are many reasons for not making the planned changes that might surprise you and that are covered in this short book. Time and time again, in recent years I see the difference that knowing this information makes to a person’s commitment to change and to their own long-term behavioural change.
Reading this book will help you to see learning from a new perspective. Awareness of the concepts in this book will help you to open up to learning new things and enable you to maintain the elements that make long-term behavioural change possible.
How do I know this works?
With my clients over the years, I have learned by observing what is effective and what is not in creating change. People who have taken on this information have made long-term behavioural change, while those who have not taken it on board have not had the same success.
This book is the first in the MAXIMISING BRAIN POTENTIAL series. The MAXIMISING BRAIN POTENTIAL series is based on the most upto-date scientific research of how our brain potential can be maximised for habit change, learning, productivity and health. This series of books pulls this information together into digestible chunks. The others in the series include DEVELOPING LEARNING ADDICTS: THE 7 STEPS TO LEARNING & HABIT CHANGE and CHANGE BEGINS HERE: BUILDING THE FOUNDATIONS FOR LEARNING & HABIT CHANGE. These books both introduce additional concepts and also probe deeper into some of the topics discussed in this book.
Similar to the current wave of just-in-time learning, where learning is available on-demand, and can be accessed when the learner needs it, the MAXIMISING BRAIN POTENTIAL series of books is just-what-you-need-to-know-to-make learning-easier in adulthood.
I know that this text will be useful for you, whether you want to make a change in your own life, or you are involved in helping others learn and make change.
If you would like more, we also have workshops and an online course available to help guide you through a process to maximise your brain potential. Contact info@adaptastraining.com for information.
Dr. Celine Mullins, Adaptas
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This may be a short book but it takes a long time and a lot of people to create something that has real clarity and actually gets to the point of publication!
Without the assistance of Diana Friedman and Enda Hughes, this text would not make half as much sense as it does now. Their patient reading, editing, re-reading, and editing, as well as encouragement and advice, is hugely appreciated. The process has taught me much about how writing is re-writing and re-writing is writing!
Thank you to Eve Johnston, John Mulreid, Laura McCarthy and Ciara Byrne for reading, suggestions and ongoing encouragement and belief.
Thank you to Brian at Oak Tree Press for seeing the potential, and for patience with each 'near final draft' email!
Thank you to Agne Vabamäe for pulling together so much of the information I had written over the course of a number of years and creating a beautiful first version of this book.
Thank you also to Camille Donegan, Claire Comerford, Alistair McBride, Paul O’Kelly and Padraig and Angela Mullins for ongoing encouragement.
Thank you to Annie Keeney for patient checking of references and footnotes.
Thank you to Regina Heffernan and Catriona Walsh, who read an early draft and expressed enthusiasm that drove me forward. And to Dr. Richard Roche for painstakingly being my second pair of eyes with the neuroscience!
Thank you to Claire Comerford and Enda Hughes for pushing me out of my comfort zone and encouraging me to do more with this text, beyond my original plans.
Thank you also to Sinead Kennedy, Eve Bulman and Niamh Ní Dhónaill, whose encouragement did not go unnoticed!
And a final thank you to my clients. I share some examples of clients I have worked with but have changed some names and small details to protect their anonymity.
WHY READ THIS BOOK?
This book will:
o Help you to use your brain more effectively when learning new skills, by offering simple and practical tips.
o Support you in breaking old habits and creating new ones.
o Give you great insights into organisational learning and development-related topics that you can use in your organisation.