I’ve been doing quite a bit of reading on Neuroplasticty, an area which is starting to enter the mainstream and gaining lots of traction in the areas of learning and development.

The simple idea behind it is that the brain can both create new physiological connections between brain cells and rewire existing ones in response to changing needs.

When we learn something new, we create new connections between our brain cells and we can encourage and stimulate this and the rewiring process.

This idea of a more flexible, responsive brain therefore underpins the thinking around growth mindset, that your skills, talents and abilities can be either be developed or improved through sustained effort. The key word here is “sustained” – rinse and repeat.

Visualisation taps into this too – you can augment the benefits of physical practice with mental visualisation practice of the same activity.

Mindfullness is also shown to loosen the hard wiring of the brain, creating space for new things to emerge.

Listening to music may also facilitate changes to the brain.

It struck me recently that neuroplasticity underpins one of the key ideas in that 80’s classic movie, The Karate Kid. Yes, stay with me…

Daniel Larusso wants to learn Karate from the wise sage Mr Miyagi, who gets him to do a number of chores….most famous of which is “Wax On, Wax Off”. Daniel is told to essentially repeat a very specific set of actions again and again, when waxing cars, sanding floors and painting fences…Eventually Daniel gets frustrated at the lack of “how do I kick ass” karate training until Mr Miyagi demonstrates to Daniel that these repeated actions he has been doing have become ingrained and therefore automatic in his Karate.

You see, Neuroplasticity in action in the Karate Kid! Repeated actions over time creating new neurons in the brain that create new skills and abilities. This is what underpins habit formation.