Does Using SuperFocus Increase Your Brain Power? - My Answer

It’s noticeable that the majority of people who answered the question, including the winner Seraphim, did so from the perspective that SuperFocus increases the power that is able to be exercised by the brain when using SuperFocus. This is analagous to saying that our bodies can exercise more power by driving a car. This is true, but not the whole answer.

Consider the analogy I just gave. If we drive a car we are extending the power that our bodies control. But once we get out of the car and start walking, our bodies have the same power as before - or perhaps even less since we might have become much fitter by walking instead of taking the car.

But if we extend the power of our bodies by riding a bicycle, we are also at the same time making our bodies fitter. When we stop cycling and start walking again we are able to do so more effectively.

So the question is really: “Is SuperFocus the equivalent of the car or the bicycle in these analogies?”. Or to put it another way, as a result of using SuperFocus do our brains work more powerfully even when we’re not using SuperFocus?

My answer is that I don’t know. No research has been done on this, and I don’t have even enough anecdotal experiences to begin to give a definite answer. But there are some factors which I think might indicate that the subject is worth investigating.

Not so long ago it was considered that once one had reached adulthood the brain was to all extent and purposes fixed. Nowadays there is an increasing understanding that this is far from the case. The brain is now seen as very plastic. It is made up of millions of chemical pathways, which form patterns which can be re-arranged, re-connected and added to.

There’s also an increasing appreciation that the brain is part of the body and behaves in much the same way as the rest of the body. A person has a basic genetic inheritance for their body, including the brain, and this can be built on using the right sort of exercise. Of two people with similar genetic inheritances one might be a champion athlete and the other a couch potato. One might do little with their brain other than watch tv, while the other by contrast might be a leading mathematician.

So in what ways might SuperFocus provide the right sort of exercise for the brain?

To answer that we need to look at the way in which the brain increases its strength, and also what the main inhibitors on that increase are.

The brain works by establishing chemical pathways which permit the passage of electrical currents. In the absence of very strong stimuli, these pathways are primarily set up by repetition. Once a pathway is set up it will tend to decline if there is no further repetition. Like the processes which take place in the body after exercise, such as weight lifting, chemical changes in the brain take place between stimuli. This is why good learning and thinking requires time for maturation.

SuperFocus works with these brain processes in several ways. The most important of these is “little and often” which provides optimal maturation and repetition. This maturation process is also seen in the “universal capture” aspect of SuperFocus. The pattern of recurring tasks provides repetition so that patterns are laid down in the brain which result in an economy of effort.

The main inhibitors which prevent the laying down of effective patterns in the brain are stress and lack of persistance.

Stress manifests itself in many ways, which include overwhelm, paralysis, compulsive actions, brain fog, procrastination, adrenaline addiction, etc. SuperFocus is renowned for its ability to remove the stress from working. This is not entirely confined to the times when one is actually using the system because the stress reduction allows for optimum brain patterning.

Lack of persistance manifests itself in a failure to finish work that has been started and a compulsive jumping from one system or way of working to another. SuperFocus stresses finishing, which in itself exercises the brain in persistence. It also provides an addictive feeling of flow which tends to keep people working the system rather than constantly changing it.

So taking all this together - optimal conditions for brain patterning together with the removal of the main inhibitors - leads me to suppose that consistent use of SuperFocus over a period of time may well lead to actual physical changes in the brain equivelent to physical exercise making the body stronger.

I can’t prove any of this, but I do believe that it is well worth investigation.

Comments

[Seraphim]

Great blog post Mark.

I've often observed that working with AF or SF automatically teaches a person better habits. Some people said it's too much to expect things like that from a time-management system -- but it's been a very real phenomenon these last 2+ years, for me at least. I hadn't thought of this in terms of increasing brain power, though.

Thanks again!

[Steve Schapel]

Thanks a lot, Mark. Your comments help a lot to put the benefits of Super Focus in context.