• Home
  • Contact
  • Blog

Energize Performance

Ignite Passion and Performance with User Friendly Brain Tools

  • Buy the book

Menu

  • About the Book
    • About Energize
    • Testimonials
    • Table of Contents
    • Excerpts
    • Goodies
  • Motivational Speaking
  • About the Author
  • Consulting

Browsing Tags caveman

Bowl a Strike – The secrets to learning a new skill quickly and confidently

July 29, 2015 · by Bob Faw

He is a winner. Handsome young men throwing a bowling ball while three people cheering

A number of motivational psychologists have asked the same question: “Which gives better results: focusing on positives or negatives?” (Another questions they ask is “Why do people enjoy bowling?” – just kidding.)

Four researchers at the University of Wisconsin decided to find out (about focus that is). They used one of America’s most popular adult sports, bowling, to do the research. The experiment involved monitoring the scores of low-skilled bowlers in four leagues over a few months, and two leagues showed something startling. One league had been asked to track only what they did right and focus on doing those things more; another league had been asked to track only the mistakes and focus on avoiding those errors in the future. While both teams improved, the team tracking what they did right had 100 percent greater improvement than the team that was tracking its mistakes!

The researchers go on to say that when people are new at skills lots of positive feedback and ideas are the most helpful. Once someone has mastered a skill set a higher ratio of negative feedback is more helpful for improvement. In other words, keep newbies focused on how to do the skill. Distracting with too much negative takes them off course and can diminish important confidence-building.

The bottom-line is that focusing on both positives and negative are important. Both prime people. But prime well, so that they are clear about what how to do the skill well, and they motivated to keep improving. This calms the caveman and energizes the artist.

Whoop it up! Celebrate the positives. At first, only point out negatives that will make a big deal if not fixed. Then quickly get back to what is working, and what is best to do next.

Go bowl nonstop strikes!

Research Note: Kirschenbaum, D. S., A. M. Ordman, A. J. Tomarken, and R. Holtzbauer.

“Effects of Differential Self-monitoring and Level of Mastery on Sports Performance: Brain Power Bowling.” Cognitive Therapy and Research 6, no. 3 (1982): 335–42.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Like this:

Like Loading...

Calming the Caveman’s F Responses

January 3, 2014 · by Bob Faw

I have fun playing the “caveman”, one of the most primitive aspects of our survival response. I describe the “Caveman” (or Cavewoman, if you prefer) and its responses to stress.
… then there are goofy outtakes

FYI, The “F Responses”–Fight, flight and freeze are technically part of the limbic system of the brain. We call it the Caveman to make it easier to remember and deal with.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • More
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

Like this:

Like Loading...
  • Search blog posts by topic

    activities ACT Team appreciative inquiry being liked Best DNA Bob Faw brain Brain chemistry brain science Business calm career caveman change communication consulting dream effectiveness empowerment energize experiences fulfilling improvisation influence inspiration learned optimism learning motivation passion performance positive Positive deviance positive psychology positive thinking priming productivity Purpose solution solution focus solutions focus speaker strengths tools training transform
  • Connect with Bob on Facebook

    Connect with Bob on Facebook

    Recent Blog posts

    • Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast!
    • Are You Getting Everything You Want?
    • Are You Thriving or Just Surviving?
    • Resiliency Lessons from the Red Cross
    • Mindfulness is a Superpower

    Follow Blog via Email

    Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 1 other subscriber
  • Theme: Debut by Cedaro.
  • Proudly powered by WordPress
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d