BRAAIIINS!

Reflection Entry # 3:

Cognitive Fitness
By Roderick Gilkey and Clint Kilts


I haven’t really given much thought about my brain. I wake up in the morning, brush my teeth, take a bath, walk, rush to work, put my things on my desk, write, shoot, edit and a whole other things or activities take place. In my free time, I think about what I’m going to do after work, or the chores I forgot to do at home, my friend’s love problem, a lousy movie I watched, an effect in Watchmen opening credits I’d like to copy, the novel I bought at a bargain price, what time it is, wondering how many Jollibee branches there are in the Philippines, etc, etc.

It’s funny how I’ve never given much thought about it, even though I use it every second of my conscious (and subconscious) life.

I guess between heart and brain, the brain takes the back seat in conversations. But today is the day for my brain. It’s BRAAAAAAIN DAY! (imagine it being said by a hungry zombie in Plants vs. Zombies)



I’m wondering now what my brain looks like. I don’t think there’s something very remarkable about it. I can imagine it looks something like this.



I don’t consider myself an intelligent person – there are a lot more people smarter than me. I think my brain’s right hemisphere probably has more fissures than my left. I write, I voice act, I direct, I video edit, I do graphics, I write short stories and make short films – these are instinctive activities to me. Does that make sense? What I mean is, they are second nature to me. So yeah, I guess my right’s functioning more than my left is.

I think this was something the Management (of a former company) saw in me – that I was fast, resourceful and I had leadership (whatever that meant) – so they decided to promote me only after a year as rank and file to Executive Producer. I was to head a huge department of 10 Producers, 2 Production Assistants, 8 Video Editors and 3 Graphic Artists.

I was young and I was stupid and I knew of nothing else but the fact that promotion is good. So naturally, I said yes.

And I remember thinking now, while looking through the readings, had I known these things or had I been given leadership training before my first day on the job, I would have survived.


WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU’RE AN EXECUTIVE PRODUCER WITHOUT ANY EXPERIENCE:

I learned these the hard way.

I was heading two sub-departments and overseeing a total of 8 channels that I became A LIVING DEAD, A WALKING ROBOT. I ate lunch while working, I worked at home, I worked in restaurants, cafes, I worked in the FX on my way to work, I worked in my dreams, I almost never took a break to manage the department.

I looked like WORK. I wonder what I looked like. Maybe like this:



You know why? Because I forgot HOW TO PLAY. I forgot its value.

So rule number 1: DON’T FORGET TO RELAX AND TO PLAY.

As what Gilky and Klints said, play improves one’s ability to understand the world.

This is the same as what Jack Torrance wrote in the movie The Shining (of the same novel written by Stephen King) , although in a scary kind of way, “All work and no play makes Jack a very dully boy”, a sentence he wrote over and over again on pieces of paper his wife supposedly thought was a draft of his novel. Of course, he never finished his novel because he became crazy and was possessed by a ghost. This was his crazy picture.



Then, I thought I had no time to relax. I wanted to go home at 8 or 9 pm every day so I thought working straight would make things easier for me. But it wasn’t. The bad effect was that not only was I stressed, I also wasn’t able TO THINK CLEARLY.

So whenever there was a problem, I got more stressed out and I didn’t know what to do.

So rule number 2: Always have an open and clear mind to search for patterns.

Patterns. The Big Picture. Plan A, B and C. The cup is half full, not half empty. To become a leader is to look at a problem and be challenged by it, and see how it can be solved in the simplest way. This is the same as saying, “…the power of pattern recognition….is to simplify without being simplistic.”

This is a left-hemispheric brain activity so that means I need to also develop this part of my brain to strike a balance with my right. That is, if I envision myself becoming a leader again. And of course, yes, some day, when I AM READY.

Rule # 3: Try something new once in a while

I also do remember a part of my career as EP when I improved my performance. That was the time when I enrolled in a voice-acting/voice-over workshop.

My brain was too full of job orders and products and clients and evaluation forms that studying voice-acting was so refreshing.



I became more open to my subordinates and I found a new zest in my work. I guess this is why some overworked people I know find new hobbies like hiking, photography or cooking and it actually helps them. An acquaintance of mine who works for Citibank was able to keep from resigning by running and joining marathons. She still works there and is very happy.

The more new things you learn, the better you become at learning. The brain is trained to become flexible and open to new things.

However, I resigned last August 2009 when I realized I wasn’t ready yet for that kind of position. But everything I learned I charged it to experience.

Rule number 4: Understand how experience makes the brain grow.

Rule number 4 happened just before I left. I believe MY BRAIN grew a lot from my experiences as EP. I learned a lot from the Producers, the clients and my superiors.

I guess I can consider this my “walkabout” in network management and I have never regretted accepting the promotion.

I grew and became wiser from that experience, something I bring with me now when I work, study, meet and interact with people.

Learning just never stops.

And I intend to go on and be better.

To my brain, both left and right, hi, hello, we are in this together. ☺