"The existence of forgetting has never been proved: We only know that some things don't come to mind when we want them." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche
It's not a fun feeling. In fact, it's downright frustrating and annoying (and sometimes can be quite embarrassing). It's that experience of having something at the tip of your tongue. . . something that at one time you knew but which you have now drawn a complete blank. Short term, long term, medium term, it could be a historical or political fact, it could be the wife's birthday, it could be the name of a valued and important client who you have had numerous interactions with. (This is the most frustrating of all.)
You might have experienced a decline over the years in your recall of certain things, but this is not a given. There are, in fact, things that we can do to lessen these 'senior moments', by exercising our brains in unfamiliar ways, we can help them to stay agile and powerful.
Some folks like crossword puzzles or brain twisters, others prefer group activities, like Scrabble. These are like aerobic exercises for the brain.
As we age, our senses decline in sharpness. Studies have shown that younger people see, hear, smell, taste and feel better than older people. They also think better. This is partially a result of the fact that once people retire or even as they age, they find ways to do things they are good at and often avoid very challenging tasks. Keeping our brains functioning at their highest capacities requires that we feed them challenges and new activities.
To add to our un-inevitable declines we have biochemical responses that diminish as we age, mostly because we lose a sense of curiosity. Children have fresh, active responses because the world is new and there is so much to learn. This need not decline, however, as we can always nurture a this sense of curiosity in ourselves. Another thing that may diminish as we grow older is the idea of being rewarded for what we do. I love a good reward. As a kid if I got straight As, I could chose any record I wanted.
So how can I apply this to persuasion? Well, when we study persuasion, a fortunate byproduct is that we enhance our brains immeasurably through the challenges of thinking a new way.
Studying the 36 Chinese stratagem and the 24 doorways of Magical Objection Mastery, we are flexing from macro to micro, in essence, looking at situations from different angles to determine how best to engage.
What does this do for us and why do our brains find it so challenging? Well, maybe it's not a part of your brain you use very often. Enhancing our cognitive agility can be hard, but is so worth the effort.
Kenrick Cleveland teaches techniques to sell to affluent clients using
persuasion strategies. He runs unique public and private seminars and offers home study courses, audio/visual learning tools, and coaching programs in
persuasion techniques. Find more free articles at
www.MAXpersuasion.com/blog. Be sure to sign up for his free report entitled "Yes! Persuasion."
