Ann C. Holm

We live in a world that calls for new cognitive skills. We must be capable of deep and creative thinking while being distracted by electronic stimuli from the internet, cell phones, and other age of information devices. How do we effectively manage this? This is the first in a series of articles about the I-Brain, how to make it work effectively and how to minimize it's shortcomings.

Each year, many of us make New Year's Resolutions but we can fall short of our goal. Often we give up before our brains have a chance to fire and rewire. Meaningful and resilient change is challenging but not impossible. Coaches, teachers, and mentors can be the missing factor that can help you push through the very human tendency to default to familiar patterns, even when a better you lies just below the horizon.

Many people have encountered the MBTI either at work, at a career center, or in counseling. Several online tests incorporate MBTI principles. The MBTI I describes the broad strokes of an individual personality with the goal of identifying people with similar cognitive preferences. The MBTI II (Form Q) serves to capture individual differences in people who have the same personality type. The newly released MBTI Step III measures how effectively you are using the unique qualities of your type.

The Executive Brain written by Elkhonon Goldberg, is a book that examines the role of the frontal/prefrontal cortex in the overall functioning of the human mind. Goldberg describes the the critical functions that the this brain structure plays in higher level thinking such as judgment, attention, problem solving and ethics. Almost in passing, he uses the metaphor of a search engine to define it's function. In this article, I elaborate on that concept.

In June 2009, I completed the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program offered by the University of Minnesota. I further explored mindful awareness through coursework offered by Daniel Siegel and did additional readying on my own. I began meditating every day. This article gives an overview of my experience with mindful practice and offers a few practical ideas on how you might get started with your own practice. The overview is brief and is by no means meant to be comprehensive.

Entrepreneurship and small business ownership are more prevalent than ever in today's economy. The internet is a useful tool to market your goods and services. However, this is a crowded playing field so how will you stand out among all the other possible players? Personal branding is one way to define what you offer and the MBTI is a tool to identify strengths and be mindful of blind spots as you engage in that process.

There are effective tools that can be used to assess cognitive blind spots and developmental challenges as well as strengths. Coaches use various techniques to assist in the process of this self-discovery. One of the most comprehensive and personalized tools available is the newly released MBTI Step III, a point in time assessment of how well an individual is using his strengths and addressing weaknesses based on MBTI personality type.

A recent study states even after 4 days of 20 minute breath awareness exercises, cognitive improvement can be measured. There is also evidence suggesting that these exercises strengthen areas of the prefrontal cortex that integrate multiple areas of the brain creating a framework to modulate behavior based on a given situation. I have postulated that this can help individuals shift from preferred to less preferred functions using the MBTI model.

This article combines the concepts of neuroplasticity and the adaptability of the brain and the facet scores seen in the MBTI Step II. The elegance of type theory is that it introduces a dynamic system that acknowledges and encourages an individual to change as a part of healthy type development.