这让我们提出一个重要问题：我们能改变吗？我们都可以学到新知识、新技能，但我们能学着改变思维倾向吗？答案是：完全可以。 大脑可塑性是指大脑的“软线路”可以在多大程度上改变。科学家曾在很长时间里认为，在经历一段童年的关键发育期后，人脑的大多数神经连接都会固定化，很难改变。但近年来的研究显示，从身体锻炼到学习冥想，很多种练习都能给人脑带来物理性和生理性变化，从而影响人的思维与记忆能力。威斯康星大学的研究人员对一些练习了1万多个小时冥想的佛教僧侣进行研究，发现他们大脑里的伽马波显著多于常人，而伽马波与认知和解决问题的能力有关。这并不意味着大脑具有无限的灵活性。如果你有某种思维偏好，你也许能训练自己换一种思维方式，并发现经过练习，难度会降低，但是你彻底改变潜在偏好的可能性很小。同样，你也许能训练自己的创造力，但如果你天生创造力不强，你在这方面就可能存在天花板。现实就是这样，所以我们应当接受现实，并学习如何应对现实。我们可以利用一些应对技巧，例如，经常忘记时间的有创造力、缺乏条理的人，可以养成使用闹钟的习惯；不善于某种思维方式的人，可以训练自己依靠更擅长者的思维方式。改变的最好方法是做脑力练习。和体育锻炼一样，这也会痛苦，但如果你利用之前提到的“习惯回路”，给练习以奖励，“重装”你的大脑，让它喜欢上学习和有益的改变，痛苦就会消失。记住，大脑的一些区域会本能地坚信自我完美的幻觉，而接受你的弱点与这种本能相违背。你需要勤加练习才能降低这种本能的防御反应，同时你需要待在能促进头脑开放的环境里。 你将在每日原则的“工作原则”部分看到，我发明了不少工具和技巧来帮助人和机构克服这种抵制反应。我发现通常最有效的方式不是期盼自己或其他人改变，而是承认自己的弱点，然后用明确的预防机制来避免弱点导致错误。这通常能加快成功的速度，提高成功的概率。This brings us to an important question: Can we change? We can all learn new facts and skills, but can we also learn to change how we are inclined to think? The answer is a qualified yes.Brain plasticity is what allows your brain to change its “softwiring.” For a long time, scientists believed that after a certain critical period in childhood, most of our brain’s neurological connections were fixed and highly unlikely to change. But recent research has suggested that a wide variety of practices—from physical exercise to studying to meditation—can lead to physical and physiological changes in our brains that affect our abilities to think and form memories. In a study of Buddhist monks who had practiced more than ten thousand hours of meditation, researchers at the University of Wisconsin measured significantly higher levels of gamma waves in their brains; these waves are associated with perception and problem solving.That doesn’t mean the brain is infinitely flexible. If you have a preference for a certain way of thinking, you might be able to train yourself to operate another way and find that easier to do over time, but you’re very unlikely to change your underlying preference. Likewise, you may be able to train yourself to be more creative, but if you’re not naturally creative, there’s likely a limit to what you can do. That is simply reality, so we all might as well accept it and learn how to deal with it. There are coping techniques that we can use—for example, the creative, disorganized person who is likely to lose track of time can develop the habit of using alarms; the person who isn’t good at some type of thinking can train himself to rely on the thinking of others who are better at it. The best way to change is through doing mental exercises. As with physical exercise, this can be painful unless you enlist the habit loop discussed earlier to connect the rewards to the actions, “rewiring” your brain to love learning and beneficial change.Remember that accepting your weaknesses is contrary to the instincts of those parts of your brain that want to hold on to the illusion that you are perfect. Doing the things that will reduce your instinctual defensiveness takes practice, and requires operating in an environment that reinforces open-mindedness. As you’ll see when we get into Work Principles, I’ve developed a number of tools and techniques that help overcome that resistance, individually and across organizations. Instead of expecting yourself or others to change, I’ve found that it’s often most effective to acknowledge one’s weaknesses and create explicit guardrails against them. This is typically a faster and higher-probability path to success.
