Happy Independence Day from your learners.

Here is a link to the final article in the three part series, the Learner's Declaration of Rights: http://snipr.com/lpo06. This time, it's my turn to respond to their "demands". See if you agree with my comments.

Happy Independence Day from Lenn!

Part Two of the Learners' Declaration of Rights is now posted. Help feed the learning revolution and pass this declaration on.

In the immortal words of some of our recent leaders; "yes we can," "let no learner be left behind," "I feel your learning pain," "read my lips - no new ice breakers," "Mr. trainer, tear down that learning wall," and "ask not what your learners can do for you. Ask what you can do for your learners." You can find the article at http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-8694-Workplace-Training-and-Development-Examiner~y2009m7d2-The-learners-declaration-of-rights-continued.

It's a revolution baby!

Here ye, here ye. The learners' Declaration of Rights is now posted.

Read it on Lenn's Examiner.com Training and Development Expert page .

Listen one.

Listen all.

Discover what learners really think and what would cause them to throw us trainers, teachers, and speakers "overboard".

DOES SNOW WHITE LIKE APPLES?
by Michael Aun, CSP, CPAE, preprinted with permission.

My wife Christine and I had a rare free afternoon together so we decided to head to a movie at Downtown Disney where there are a plethora of theaters that offer the latest greatest flicks. That particular day we got to enjoy the Disney movie “Enchanted,” for which I had to render my “man-card” according to my son, Christopher.

I bumped into my buddy Lenn Millbower, who, at the time was part of the Disney magical experience. We both marveled at how actress Amy Adams captured all the essence and mannerisms of a Princess in the movie.

I’ve always admired the way that Disney does its business. Just for the heck of it, I’ll sometimes float around the grounds of Disney or Downtown Disney and I’ll intentionally throw a piece of paper on the ground just to see how long it will stay there before one of the mega-trained Disney employees arrives to collect it. Trust me; it’ll be a short wait.

Part of the reason is, save the great textile giant, Milliken & Company, of Spartanburg, SC, there may not be a better trained work force on the planet. Milliken, with whom I’ve done considerable work over the years, requires 40 hours of continuing education out of each of their employees every year just to keep your job.

People like my dear friend and speaking colleague Lenn Millbower are the core of training that makes Disney magical.

Lenn is a creative and dynamic instructional designer and facilitator who spent considerable time with Disney Learning Solutions, the Disney University, the Disney Institute and Walt Disney Entertainment. An accomplished arranger-composer, Lenn is skilled in the psychological application of music to enhance learning.

Today, Lenn has retired from Disney and now runs Offbeat Training, an organization dedicated to enhancing the enjoyment of learning through the infusion entertainment-based techniques that maintain attention, foster retention and increasing better results.

The author of four books, Lenn is a guru in training circles. CLOUT Creator Inventory© is his behavioral self-assessment tool for training teams. His book Show Biz Training is the definitive book on creative techniques of the entertainment industry. He wrote Cartoons for Trainers, a popular collection of 75 cartoons for every training situation. His book, Training with a Beat: The teaching Power of Music, is the foremost book on practical usage of music in learning situations.

Learning Leaders: Does your team need some learning pixie dust to help them focus on the positive, do more with less, and deliver effective results? Lenn's seminars can help. Click here to see how: http://www.offbeattraining.com/training-design/leaders.html.

To me, some of the coolest things Lenn has done in his career are to train-the-trainers who train all new costumed Character Performers at Disney. When I retire, I want to be a Disney character. What an awesome way to enjoy retirement.

No matter how hard you try, you can’t tick a Disney Character off. I’ve tried. The closest I got was trying to get a picture with Mickey with a beer in my hand. Mickey doesn’t do pix with drinkers. Walt would flip in his grave (if he’s in one) if he knew that Minnie was cozying up to an inebriated guest. It ain’t gonna happen folks. You either put the beer down or no picture. Just another Disney standard on which they will not veer.

Lenn’s train-the-trainer job was challenging because he had to write the manuals that trainers would use to convey message to the characters. He would not only have to take the author’s version of what was written and interpret it, he would then have to vicariously train the character through the trainer whom he was training. Easy you say? Not!

It’s not just about training them on what to say and how to say it. It’s about training the character how to stand, gesture and move. In short, it’s about synchronizing the entire process for the very best results. It’s also about training the character what “not to say.”

Trainers. Teachers. Speakers, Presenters. Need training but can't afford a conference? Lenn's One-on-One Learnertainer(tm) e Trainer Program will begin later this summer, (with reduced cost for the first 20 to enroll). Click here: www.offbeattraining.com/e-training/one-on-one.html.

Every time you see Snow White or Cinderella or Mary Popkins do their magic, you are a witness to the by-product orchestrated by Lenn Millbower and his cronies. Easy you say? What about when some kid asks Snow White if she likes apples? Get real gang. It was an apple that put Miss White to sleep. She doesn’t want to go there. Lenn’s job was to put words in Snow White’s mouth. “Oh, I much prefer gooseberry pie.”

So the next time you’re enjoying some of Disney’s magic, remember my buddy Lenn Millbower.

Reprinted with permission. This article remains the property of Michael Aun, CSP, CPAE and may not be reprinted without specific permission.

Lights, Action, Learning
By Lenn Millbower, the Learnertainment® Trainer
Keep 'em awake so the learning can take!(tm)

Entertainments that succeed reach their audiences emotionally. Viewers tear up when the hero faces sadness, they cheer when the hero succeeds, and they become anxious when the hero is in danger. In the learning environment, people tear up, cheer, and become anxious as well. Unfortunately, these reactions likely happen in spite of the instruction.

If you reach people intellectually, you may gain consensus. If you reach people emotionally, you likely change behavior. Taping into that well of emotion is fairly easy if you follow the Learnertainment® Principle, Perspectives Deepen Meaning and the corresponding action step, Layer Learning. In this article I hope to show you how.

Concept and Message in Entertainment

Great entertainments have a focused point of view, and that point of view dictates every event in the presentation. For instance, most movies begin with a concept:

• A beast must win true love (Beauty and the Beast)
• An epic western in space (Star Wars)
• The smallest being must save the world (The Lord of the Rings)
  

Determining a movie’s concept is usually a simple matter, the title, as in the case of those listed above, hints at the concept to be presented. Having a clear concept is the first step. Next, Hollywood ties the concept to a message:

• Beauty comes from within (Beauty and the Beast)
• Trust the force within you (Star Wars)
• It’s how you live the times you’re given (The Lord of the Rings)
  

All three of these films were box office gold, and deservedly so. Each had a clear concept and a specific message and then stayed focused on both throughout the entire film. Using these same tools, training programs can create their own box office gold.

Concept and Message in Learning

Most instructional designers, including this author, rely on the ADDIE (Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate) model for creating training programs. ADDIE is a useful but imperfect tool. The Linear emphasis of ADDIE creates a logical, point-to-point design. The danger in this approach is that sometimes the design wanders so far a field that the last point may not tie to the first.

The ADDIE alignment with training objectives does help direct a design. Training objectives are obviously important, but they exist on a logical level. In contrast, the concept and the message exist more emotively. In Hollywood terms, the objectives tell the learners what the goals of the learning are. What the objectives do not highlight is the context in which the training will be presented (the concept) and the higher purpose the training serves within the context of the learners’ lives (the message).

For instance, in my book Show Biz Training (AMACOM, 2003), I present a case study of asbestos awareness training as A Bess-Tess Story, with Bess being an employee who does everything correctly and her sister Tess doing everything poorly. I then tied the whole training to The Brady Bunch TV show theme song.

Learning Leaders: Need to help your team focus on the positive, do more with less, and deliver effective results? Lenn's seminars can help. Click here to see how: http://www.offbeattraining.com/training-design/leaders.html.

Concept and Meaning in Entertainment

A concept need not be that elaborate. For a financial services training, the concept might be as simple as learning the steps required to file a loan application. During leadership training, the concept may be centered on becoming a more effective leader. Customer service training may focus on the mechanics of assisting the customer.

As in the Hollywood examples listed above, the title of the training is an important element in framing the context of the training. As the A Bess-Tess Story demonstrates, I like to title training programs so as to frame the concept. The program can then communicate it’s intent in advance to the trainees. As such, an effective design process would start with, rather than end with, determining the likely training program title.

With the concept clearly defined, the next step is to determine the underlying message of the training program. The A Bess-Tess Story message was that handling asbestos safely leads to a long life. In the financial services example, the message might be the comfort that comes from financial security. For leadership, the desire to better serve humanity could be the focus. Customer service training’s message may be that creating lasting memories enriches a customer’s life.

Once the trainers understand the underlying message, the training becomes less about a series of required tasks and more about developing skills that will enhance life. The resulting training can be delivered with a passion not possible with a sequential process alone. As with anything in life, knowing and believing in a purpose leads to a laser-like focus that can prevent side issues from dominating a program, both during the design and in the classroom.

Layering Perspectives in Entertainment

The concept and the message provide the underpinnings of a training design, but do not address the sequencing of the learning methods. For that, I layer instruction through as many perspectives as possible. Let me demonstrate through another look at entertainment.

The literary arts, including virtually all the great poems, plays and fictional stories of Western culture, thrive on delivering multiple perspectives. Shakespeare’s Hamlet became a classic in part because it can be perceived in as many different ways as there are actors to portray Hamlet.

Most great literary works allow the reader or viewer to enjoy the story on a surface level while simultaneously, through the use of simile, allegory or metaphor, experience it on an emotive, holistic level.

Hollywood thrives on presenting a perspective, and then surprising the viewer with a change of perspective. Joe Alden Robinson classic, Field of Dreams offers an excellent example. The movie’s hero, Kevin Costner, plows under his Iowa cornfield to build a baseball field to “ease” baseball player Shoeless Joe Jackson’s “pain.” It’s only in the last ten minutes of the film that the viewer discovers the pain to be eased is Kevin Costner’s own at being estranged from his father.

Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind offers another example. The viewer is first led to believe that the film’s hero, played by Russell Crowe makes friends with a college roommate and works as a top secret code breaker for the US government. The film later reveals that neither happened, except in the hero’s mind.

Warning - BIG SPOILER AHEAD!!!

Perhaps Hollywood’s best purveyor of alternate perspectives is M. Night Shyamalan. In his thriller, Signs, the movie-goer is led to believe that the “signs” are crop circles created by aliens as navigation signals. The end of the film reveals that the signs are signals from God meant to reunite the lead character, played by Mel Gibson, with his faith.

It's safe to read again. SPOILERs OVER!!!

These examples allow the viewer to experience the event on multiple, simultaneous perspectives that create deeper, richer, more meaningful film experiences.

Layered Perspectives in Learning

The great artist and scientist, Leonardo da Vinci developed many of his legendary works through a layered learning approach. Da Vinci believed that the key to true learning was to view a subject from as many perspectives as possible. He felt that the first perspective he chose was too biased toward his usual way of seeing things. Instead, he would examine the subject from one perspective, move to another perspective and then to another until, with the advantage of additional perspectives, he learned the subject completely.

Hot off the presses: Trainers. Teachers. Speakers, Communicators. Need training but can't afford a conference? Lenn's One-on-One Learnertainer(tm) e Trainer Program will begin this summer, (with reduced cost for the first 20 to enroll). Click here: www.offbeattraining.com/e-training/one-on-one-training.html.

In our own time, Dr. Howard Gardner offered a theory that supports da Vinci’s approach. Gardner theorized that there are different ways to be intelligent. The eight Multiple Intelligences he listed follow:

• Bodily/Kinesthetic – Touching, participating in physical activity
• Interpersonal – Relating, focusing on others
• Intrapersonal – Introspecting, focusing inward
• Linguistic – Articulating, communicating ideas
• Logical/Mathematical – Analyzing, solving problems
• Musical/Rhythmic – Feeling, connecting sounds and rhythms
• Naturalist – Communing, relating to nature
• Visual/Spatial – Seeing, comprehending dimensional relationships
  

Gardner’s theory suggested two implications of his theory for learning:

1. A person's core intelligences need to be engaged in learning – Learning that matches a person's innate intelligences helps that person feel more engaged and competent and enriches the learning experience, making it more fulfilling
2. People need to learn in multiple ways –A multi-dimensional training approach exposes learners to different intelligences and a wide range of learning experiences
   

Here is where ADDIE fails. Although it is excellent at leading a designer through a logical flow, it does so without regard to the simultaneous richness that da Vinci and Gardner championed. The resulting designs are often shallow, white bread, paint-by-the-numbers programs devoid of richness and detail.

Consider the design of a typical diversity class. The instructional methods usually include lecture (linguistic), video (visual/spatial), and statistics (logical/mathematical).

Now consider what that same class would look like if presented through Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences filter. Linguistic, visual/spatial, logical/mathematical and Interpersonal material would still be presented but additional elements might include the sharing and sampling of food from different cultures (bodily/kinesthetic), small group discussions (interpersonal), reading expert opinions about the effects of discrimination (intrapersonal), musical samples from around the world (musical/rhythmic,) and a look at the world’s variety of wildlife and fauna (naturalistic).

This multi-layered approach would give the learners a fully rounded, holistic view of the subject, a greater appreciation of the value of diversity and a greater likelihood of behavioral change.

Lights, Action, Learning

A final word of caution is appropriate. The layered approach should work in concert with ADDIE: not replace it. Once a training event becomes too focused on entertainment it loses its instructional value. Just as a great movie must stay on message, learning events should stay on objective. The "signs" present in a learning program should all lead to one source: higher effectiveness through new skills that enhance the human condition.

Now it's your turn: Take action for effective learning!

Learn about Lenn's One-on-One Learnertainer(tm) e Trainer Program, rolling out this summer, (with reduced cost for the first 20 to enroll). Click here: www.offbeattraining.com/e-training/one-on-one-training.html.

Permission is granted to reprint this article in its entirety without editing AND with proper attribution to Lenn Millbower, BM, MA, The Learnertainment® Trainer and Offbeat Training LLC.

Follow Lenn online at Examiner.com, LinkedIn, Twitter, or OffbeatTraining.com.

Offbeat Extra,

Enjoy this video. Better yet, get some munchies to eat while watching it. No broccoli please.

Lenn Millbower, the Learnertainment® Trainer

And ... ACTION!!

Top Ten Tips to Make Learning Sing

By Lenn Millbower, BM, MA, The Learnertainment® Trainer

“At certain moments in films, nobody knows the difference between what is visual and what is acoustical. It all comes together. It's like seeing and hearing lightning--it's one effect.”

Composer Bronislau Kaper

Music and learning, come together as one effect? It is possible.

Music, that forgotten learning tool, is everywhere in life. It is unfortunately, not often placed in learning. And yet music may be the original human language. Our connection to music is emotional, almost visceral. It certainly communicates to us in deeply personal, meaningful ways that transcend verbal language and cultural values.

There are a number of key ideas involved in selecting music for learning. Here are, drawn from my work Training With A Beat, my top ten greatest tips, presented as questions you should ask yourself before applying music to learning.

1. Can you walk or sway to it? 
All music, in every cultural tradition, has rhythm. This rhythm is closely aligned with human activity. In Western culture, the two most common representations of rhythms, called time signatures, are 4/4 and 3/4.

(Slightly technical explanation you can skip, unless you want to know more: The top number of the time signature defines the number of beats that will occur before the primary beat repeats. The bottom number identifies the note that gets the individual beat. 4/4 tells the musician that there are four beats before the sequence starts over and that the quarter note gets the beat.)

It isn’t necessary to understand the technical definitions of 4/4 and 3/4. It is important, however, to know that most learners listen to music paralleling the rhythm created when we walk, pace or run. If you can count to four as you walk, you already know how to count keep time in 4/4. Likewise, if you can lift a glass of beer and sway it back and forth as you say, “1…2…3…, 1…2…3…,” you know how to keep 3/4 time (and, given the right beverage, 3/4 is fun to practice).

Because 4/4 and 3/4 so closely parallel natural human rhythms, any piece of music that your learners can walk or sway to will be familiar to them and unlikely to distract them from your learning message.

Action Step – Try to walk or sway to the music. If you can do either, use it.

Learning Leaders: Need to help your team focus on the positive, do more with less, and deliver effective results? Give your team Lenn's Brain Stimulus Package.

2. Will it be constant?
The goal of learning music is usually to further instruction without drawing attention to itself. Learning music, therefore, is usually best when it maintains a steady beat, volume and instrumentation. If the tempo changes, the mood changes too. If the volume or instrumentation changes, the instructor will be required to adjust the volume.

Music that draws repeated attention is a distraction. Select music that maintains itself without requiring your attention. Otherwise, you will find yourself instructing with one hand glued to the music volume control.

Action Step – Listen to the complete piece of music without adjusting the volume level. If the tempo, instrumentation and volume do not change, use it.

3. Will learners move to it?
In addition to pulsing in time signatures, music has moods. These moods are communicated by the notes (tones) that, together, become the piece of music.

Music with a positive feel is usually in a “major key.” Up-tempo rock and popular songs, including perennial favorites like Johnny Be Goode, Celebration and Y.M.C.A., fall into this category.

“Happy” songs are extremely helpful learning tools for establishing positive moods. After a long, tedious, difficult training module, a break accompanied by happy music instantly brings sleepy or tense learners back to life.

Use movement music whenever you want people to wake up, become more excited, stand, stretch or move from place to place.

Action Step – Play the selection. Feel the music. Is your mood positive? Happy? Does your toe tap? If so, use it to encourage movement and positive emotion.

4. Will learners think to it?
Other pieces of music, usually slower and in 4/4, can be said to make you feel “sad.” These pieces have a reflective feel ideal for small group discussions, self-assessments and other activities focused on thinking rather than doing.

“Thinking” come from any musical style, with Baroque, New Age, and light Jazz-Rock being ideal. Appropriate selections usually pulse in 4/4 at a rate paralleling the human heart at rest, usually about 60 beats per minute.

Action Step – Play the selection. Feel the music. Is your mood reflective? Thoughtful? If so, use it to encourage thought and reflection.

5. Will it be integrated?
In both film and learning, music serves a support function. The film dictates the music: the music does not govern the film. Likewise, the learning should dictate the music: the music should not dictate the learning. 

Much in the way an effective activity is one that organically emerges out of the content – as a seamless part of the whole, and not as a disjointed add-on – The music you select should be integrated into the whole. If it is not, remove it.

Also avoid selecting songs that are your personal favorites. Especially in situations where you have become tired appropriately selected music you’ve heard too many times. Select the best piece for your needs, and then fully integrate it into your instruction. And once you know it works, stick by it with conviction.

Action Step – Use music only when there is a reason to do so. Tie the music so tightly to the content that you cannot imagine the content without the music (like thunder and lightning).

6. Will is be judicious?
It’s not the notes that make the music; it’s the silence between the notes. Just as you must know valleys to appreciate mountains, silence helps focus your learners on the music. Music in a classroom, as composer Max Steiner once commented, “should be felt rather than heard.”

Sound, continuously made, and sustained without break, become drone. Do not cover your learning environment with sound. Select your musical moments for specific reasons. Let your musical moments sing.

Action Step – Evaluate the amount of music you use. Use only enough to augment the learning, not engulf it. If in doubt, leave it out.

Trainers. Teachers. Speakers. Need a brain stimulus plan? Then follow this link to Lenn's Learnertainment® Webinars. (They're free!)

7. Will it be appropriate?
Regardless of how carefully you choose your music, and how successfully you integrate it into your instruction, music that your learners do not relate to will distract from your instruction. Obviously, you cannot know every cultural and personal factor concerning your learners. You can, however, insure that the music you select fits your instruction. It should match so seamlessly that your learners focus on the instruction, not the music.

Some musical selections may also not be appropriate in specific situations. The shark theme from Jaws, for example, is not a good motif for a boating safety class.

Topical songs, especially those featured recently on American Idol, or currently on the iTunes charts, are too immediate to be used. Learners will define those pieces in terms of their current meaning, and not in the context of your learning point. Use material that is familiar, but not current.

Songs with lyrics can also have hidden meanings. Visit one of the many song lyric posting Internet sites. Read the lyrics of the song you wish to use. Carefully analyze the lyrics and verify that the song means what you think it means.

Action Step – Carefully evaluate your song selection for alignment with learner tastes, appropriateness and negative connotations. If it passes these tests, use it.

8. Will it cue reactions?
Much as game shows use music to tell contestants when their time is up, as magicians use music to create and aura of mystery, television shows use music to state that a show has started and movies use music to warn of dangerous situations ahead, music cues actions in learning environments. Up-tempo, “happy” music can announce a break, break music cranked up to high volume and then stopped can announce a return from break, fanfares can call attention to critical information.

In my own presentations, for example, I rarely have difficulty getting attendees to turn to the next page in their handout. I have embedded a “ding” – the sound an elevator makes as it reaches the next floor – into my PowerPoints. It directs trainees to turn the page in their handout. Once the learners know what that sound means, they d literally on the same page with me.

Action Step – Identify key or procedural bits of information that could benefit from a musical cue. Select and try music that may meet that need. Once a piece of music gives you the appropriate learner reaction, use it.

9. Does it feature vocals?
Songs with lyrics are a distraction. They call the logical portions of the brain to attention in ways that songs without lyrics do not. When the brain hears the human voice, it focuses on what is being said, rather than what is being felt.

Action Step – Use songs without lyrics to place the music in the background. Use songs with lyrics to place music in the foreground. 

10. Will it be legal?
Music, just like real estate, is owned. You are required to pay “rent” to use it. Whenever using popular songs, it is wise to get permission rights from ASCAP, BMI, or other like organizations in your home country.

Fortunately, there is a whole genre of music that can be easily used without legal problems. Royalty free, or buy out, music is readily available on the Internet. Vendors I have used successfully in the past include the Music Bakery, Shockwave Sound, Killer Tracks, TrainerSounds, and my own Game Show Themes for Trainers.

The advantage these vendors offer is a one-time payment for the rights to use the music legally. In other words, you own “rather” than “rent” the music.

Action Step – If buy-out music meets your needs, use it. If you need to use copyrighted material, consult with your organization’s legal department, a lawyer, or read the copyright law.

Music is not a substitute for insightful content, inspiring activities and engaging instruction. It is, however, a wonderful communication tool for effective learning. Follow these top ten tips and your learners will “sing” your praises as they toe tap out of your learning room.

This information is a small sample of what Lenn has to say during his seminars. Discover how Lenn can help your trainers, educators and presenters keep 'em awake so the learning can take.

Permission is granted to reprint this article in its entirety without editing AND with proper attribution to Lenn Millbower, BM, MA, The Learnertainment® Trainer and Offbeat Training LLC.

Follow Lenn on Twitter.

Visit Lenn online at Offbeat Training LLC.

Besides writing articles focused on keeping learners awake so the learning can take, I help organizations, in the past including MetLife and Make a Wish, discover their creativity. With all the gloomy economic out there, I thought it timely to write an article to help you, your learners, and your organization. Below is a down payment on a brain stimulus plan.

The Brain Stimulus Package:
How to Thrive in Turbulent Times
By Lenn Millbower, BM, MA, The Learnertainment® Trainer

The Chinese symbol for crisis is made up of two characters. One represents danger. The other, opportunity. This symbol effectively encapsulates my thoughts about the current rough economic patch everyone seems to be going through.

Small business owners see their business shrinking. Some corporate and non-profit employees are losing their jobs. Those that survive the cutbacks are unappreciated, underpaid and overworked. The distraction and angst of all this makes it hard to be creative. Ironically, people who are comfortable with their creativity aren’t much troubled by the turbulence. They welcome it. To them, danger is opportunity.

Even the worst economic situation is teeming with creative opportunities. But most adults have been taught to stifle their creativity.

Today’s vision of adulthood classroom is a remnant of late 1800s. The Industrial Revolution and the factory system popularized back then distilled all the tasks required to make a product down to the simplest elements. Society focused on producing workers capable of rote repetition. Order and control were expected. Creativity was exterminated. Youngsters were told to be quiet, to do what is expected, to “act like adults.” Eventually, most of us fell out of tune with our inner creative self.

Rediscovering that individual, unique creativity is the first step to a successful future. Listed below is an acronym, appropriately spelling the word C.R.E.A.T.I.V.E., that may help you create your own brain stimulus package.

Learning Leaders: Need to help your team focus on the positive, do more with less, and deliver effective results? Give your team a brain stimulus plan. Follow this link: http://www.offbeattraining.com/Learnertainment_Central/Seminars.html.

Challenge Assumptions

The amygdala, deep in the brain, has one primary function: to protect its owner. It does this by being cautious. Its caution causes it to assumptions about new situations based on what has happened in the past. But when the situation is new, as it is today, old assumptions become an anti-creativity trap that must be aggressively challenged.

If the current need is more effective learning with fewer resources, challenge your assumptions about what that learning must look like. If the need is to find professional growth opportunity or a new position, challenge yourself to identify different techniques and employment avenues your amygdala never let you consider before.

Refocus Energy

Negativity, spurred on by the amygdala, abounds in the workplace. It certainly permeates the news media these days. This negativity is a helpful warning function, but once warned, it can sap the will to do anything about the warning.

Change is like a stampede, distant and ominous at first but eventually overwhelming. Negatively focused people are often so caught up in bitterness about the situation that the stampede catches and engulfs them. The creatives, on the other hand, are rarely caught. They may even lead the stampede.

There is, fortunately, an easy way to refocus your brain away from negative energy: fun. Play leads to relaxation, which leads to less rigid thinking, which leads to creative solutions. In tough times like these, negativity is wasted energy. A positive and playful focus on future possibilities is more likely to produce better results.

Explore Alternatives

Less rigid thinking opens the door to alternative ideas. Creatives explore every angle. Their motto could be stated as, “What else?” Albert Einstein was once asked to define the difference between him and most other people, and he replied that if the average person, looking for a needle in a haystack, would stop once a needle was found. Einstein would instead take the entire haystack apart looking for more needles.

When things are difficult, like they are today, alternatives aren’t luxuries; they are essentials. Explore every possible avenue to be a more effective learning professional, a more visionary leader, a more relevant employee, to develop a more effective career, or to build a better business.

Accentuate Strengths

Once all the alternatives have been explored, the next step is to determine how your specific abilities can be applied. Creatives know what they are creative at and seek out opportunities to do more of those things. Where the failure that comes from accentuating weakness builds doubt, success that comes from focusing on strengths builds confidence.

Strengths are, fortunately given the realities of the world, transferable from job to job and career to career. In my own life, my strength as a musical composer and arranger became a strength as an instructional designer. It turned out that the same skills required to compose, logical precision and emotional intuitiveness, are required to create effective instructional designs.

Think Metaphorically

Many people absorb the specifics of an experience rather than the commonalities between experiences. Creatives seek out deeper relationships between seemingly incompatible experiences and intentionally look for ways to interrelate them. Those relationships lead directly to new possibilities.

In the current environment, the people around you, especially your learners, need comparisons for their current situation. The metaphors you create may help them cope with and define the angst they are feeling. Likewise, looking for deeper meanings and trends will help you identify your next career steps.

Investigate Unknowns

Making these kinds of connections requires a depth and breath of knowledge about a wide range of subjects. Creatives are amazingly, almost annoyingly, curious. Curiosity is a key factor in creativity. Without curiosity, it is virtually impossible to create anything. Curiosity leads to questions, and those questions lead to new creations. Most people will accept things at face value. Creatives want to know why something is true, why it works, or what would prevent it from working.

Curiosity about other people, organizations, and career paths can lead you forward. Without that curiosity, it is likely that some available options will never occur to you.

Visualize Results

Creatives also try to place their creative efforts in the context of the results they hope to achieve. Visualizing something made it easier to comprehend. Visuals aren’t bogged down in facts and negativity. The images exist separate from the current reality. Because of this, a visualized result is not restricted by logistics. The result just is.

Trainers. Teachers. Speakers. Need a brain stimulus plan? Then follow this link to the Learnertainment® Skills Development Lab <http://www.offbeattraining.com/Learnertainment_Central/Workshop.html>

Knowing what the results of the learning program look like, what relationships you value, what activities give you pleasure, what job you would perform well, and what your career goals should be will help you make more informed decisions to determine what details must occur to make the visualization a reality.

Enjoy Life

Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. once said, “Most of us go to our graves with our music still inside us, unplayed.” That’s certainly not true of creatives. When focused individuals challenge assumptions, refocus energy, explore the alternatives, accentuate strengths, think metaphorically, investigate unknowns, and visualize results, they can relax and let the creativity flow. The result is a more opportunity to play your own music your own way.

Ultimately, there isn’t much you can do about situations that are global in nature. What you can do is recognize that your life is precious. Every day you wake up is a good day. Relax and enjoy the fact that your eyes opened. Luxuriate in the uncertainty each day brings. For with the danger comes incredible opportunity. And in that opportunity is your very own brain stimulus package.

This information is a small sample of what Lenn has to say during his seminars. Visit http://www.offbeattraining.com/Learnertainment_Central/Brain_Stimulus_Package.html and and create your very own stimulus package for your team.

Permission is granted to reprint this article in its entirety without editing and with proper attribution to Lenn Millbower, BM, MA, The Learnertainment® Trainer and Offbeat Training LLC.

Visit Lenn on line at www.OffbeatTraining.com, www.TheLearnertainmentTrainer.com, or www.Learnertainment.com.