I’m reading a very fascinating book, The Brain that Changes Itself, by Norman Doidge, M.D. No, it’s not a sci-fi book about a brain that takes over people’s body or gets out of control.

It’s about your brain. It’s about my brain.

In the early days of neuroscience, it was believed that the brain was a fixed instrument in our bodies. The idea that the brain could change over time was considered unscientific and disproved in early studies. It’s the idea that the brain you got is the brain you have—and there’s nothing you can do about it.

But what if you could. What if the brain could adapt and change and grow and learn.

It can.

So can you. 

This year I’ve been so intrigued by learning about learning. There was a moment in a number of years ago that I learned something new about leadership and people. It inspired me to learn, and dramatically changed my life. 

So now, I want to learn as much as I can about learning so I can share it with you—because learning helps everyone get better. Little did I know what was possible with learning.

In this book, I learned about brain-mapping. It’s the process of mapping the neurons and mental pathways from feeling, let’s say in your fingers, to your brain. It’s the ability to know which neurons and which sections of your brain activate to tell which functions to do at what time. As this mapping was going on, scientists asked the question, what would happen if you lost a finger or that nerve was severed. What would happen to that portion of your brain?

The prevailing thought was this space would become unusable, and remain unactivated in the brain.

But that’s not what happened.

In clinical trials, they learned that neuron space is like real estate, highly valued real estate. If something isn’t working as it was intended, the brain will “remap” that space and use it for other functions. In the case of the finger being gone, the brain reuses that space for other functions, and eventually is completely replaced with a new function. 

If you don’t use it, you lose it.

I’ve heard that saying for a long time, but actually, it does happen in your brain.

When you and I learn something new, our brains are going through the process of creating a brain map for that information. It’s our way of creating memories and helping us remember the information we’re gathering. But the less we use that section, once it’s created, the less efficient it becomes. It doesn’t only deteriorate, it also gets reused in the brain for the other functions that are needed.

Take my German class from high school for instance. I learned a lot about the German language while I was in high school. By my Senior year I could speak fairly well, or at least well enough to pass my class. Now, almost 15 years later, I can barely remember good bye and hello.

Why is that?

Because my brain has prioritized something else in that real estate. I stopped activating that area of my brain to repeat the information I’d learned. At one time I was needing to access that information 5-6 days a week. Now, I rarely ever use the information I learned.

For the most part, I’ve lost what I’d learned.

I’m learning that an important part of learning is consistency. The more we use information, the more we do something, the more our brains create these mental paths that increase our ability to use the information we’ve learned.

Our brain is plastic, not like the action figure you used to play with, but that it will adapt to the mold you put it in.

What are you wanting to learn? What are you learning? Keep at it, and share more about it. It will help create those neuro-pathways necessary for learning—which you’ll need. If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.

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