Wanted

DO MENTAL

CALLISTHENICS



Strengthen your career by strengthening

your mind

Challenge your brain cells daily. Undertake at least

one mental exercise every morning, for example try

multiplying 59 × 59

1

in your head.

A few decades ago one of my teachers emphasised that the brain

was a muscle which needed exercising and strengthening on a reg-

ular basis – otherwise it would atrophy and get flabby. He

encouraged mental arithmetic and would suggest: ‘When you leave

school learn for example the 14 times table or multiply 23 × 23 in

your head.’ He asserted that by doing so our brain power would be

increased. He also proposed reading classic literature and other

books many found unreadable. He mentioned for example James

Joyce’s Ulysses and said it would be helpful to know who Leopold

Bloom and Stephen Dedalus were, if we were ever asked.

Expressed another way, a lazy brain

leads to a lazy life whilst an active

brain will lead to an active career. Acti-

vating your brain with increasingly

difficult challenges will certainly

strengthen your mind and prepare you

for those awkward questions inter-

viewers throw at career-climbers, such

as: ‘What is your favourite character in classical literature?’ or

‘In your existing job if you were given an extra million in your

budget what would you do with it?’

Some people rely on crosswords or Sudoku to sharpen up,

although these can be too narrowly focused for broad-band intel-

180

wa nte d

A lazy brain leads to

a lazy life while an

active brain leads to

an active career

1

To obtain the answer easily multiply 60 × 60, subtract 60 and then subtract 59

181

Do Mental Callisthenics

ligence. Knowing the download speeds for the Internet in various

countries can help – especially when your boss is frustrated with

the exorbitantly expensive and frustratingly slow 256 kbytes he

experienced on his recent trip to an ‘emerging country’.

Watching the soaps and reading the tabloids is definitely worth-

while if you want to understand the masses, but possibly not

worth mentioning at an interview. A knowledge of sport will

definitely help, especially if you can establish that your inter-

viewer’s favourite team is the one you support too. (A little

detective work here is evidence of an enquiring mind and will

definitely help.)

At one London University a concierge learnt to say ‘Good Morn-

ing’ and ‘Good Night’ in 20 different languages so that he could

say a few words in their local language to the large number of

foreign students attending the university. At a resort in Mauri-

tius a porter, a football fanatic, would check the Internet every

Saturday night and memorise all the football scores in the UK

Premier League (along with the major European leagues) so that

he could inform visitors arriving Sunday morning after a long

overnight flight of the score of the team they supported. He

would even memorise who scored the goals.

‘Which football team do you support?’ he

would ask. ‘Manchester United.’ ‘They won

1–0 yesterday. Rooney scored.’ What a start to

a holiday!

In summary, the number of ways to

strengthen your mind is infinite. Sadly many

people do not get beyond ‘point zero’ and

come to nothing as a result.

qu e st i on

Answer this

question in

your head.

What is the

time now in:

(a) San

Francisco?

(b) Singapore?

(c) Sydney?

182

wa nte d

PRA C T I CA L TI P S

G

Study the financial pages of the more serious newspapers

and familiarise yourself with economic trends, for example

of the main countries in Asia.

G

Check exchange rates daily so that you know how to convert

dollars into Chinese renminbi as well as pounds into euros.

G

Learn some basic Chinese words in order to offer greetings

to your Chinese suppliers.

G

Memorise the names of everyone you meet when visiting a

new company.

Career stimuli

10

REINFORCEMENTS

G

Back up your learning in the way you back up the files on

your laptop.

G

Few things are learnt the first time.

G

Lessons have to be reinforced.

G

Reinforce yourself by review, reflection and reinstatement.

G

Reinforce yourself by recharging your ‘self’.

G

Reinforce your ‘self’ by renewing yourself.

G

To take two steps forward take one step back.

G

The force in your career comes from reinforcement.

G

Maximise the reinforcement in your job and in your

career to be WANTED.