USE IT OR LOSE IT! - Go Old School for Resilience
When I was in my teens, I went to help my aunt and uncle during holiday season with their general store. I started with stocking shelves, bagging merchandise and carrying bags to cars of customers, and then I was asked to help with the register. My aunt spent the night before going over how to ring things up, but I also remember how to count change back the correct way. When I worked the butcher counter, I had to hand write out and calculate the price of the various meats and add in tax etc. I did this on and off for three summer vacations, and quite a few holiday weekends. Of course, I didn’t realize this would become “Ole School” at the time but it did help me build skills to be used in future, especially when technology fails.
The other day I went to buy an item on sale at a local establishment which was also offering additional discounts for cash. When it came time to check out, the young man behind the counter became flustered as the register system “crashed”. He called his manager on the radio who instructed him just to write a receipt using the pad under the register. This is when the issue started. The first amount he told me I owed was way off. I showed him the flyer, and he tried using his cell phone calculator but the basics of a certain percentage discount (including cash) and then determining the tax just really threw him off. He became more flustered as the line backed up. “You mind if I show how to do it Buddy?” I told him I would write it the way I was taught. I showed him how to calculate the percentage discounts and document on the paper invoice and then told him the local tax rate and let him punch that in. Finally, he got it done. BUT we were not through, I handed him the cash, and his head tilted as he couldn’t calculate the change. By this time the manager showed up (who happened to be a family friend) and he opened another register line and looked over the young man’s shoulder at the handwritten invoice receipt -patted him on the back and said, “Ole School, I like it!” He let me show the young man how to calculate change and how to count it back to help from giving too much or too little money back to customers. Nothing worse than a register being over or under at the end of a shift.
Neuroscientist Eleanor Maguire of the University College London began a study of London cab drivers from research on memory champions. She discovered that London cab drivers possess uniquely adapted brains with a significantly enlarged posterior hippocampus, which is the area of the brain responsible for spatial memory and navigation. This was most likely due to mastering the information required to earn their licenses. 3 to 4 years driving around on mopeds in the city of London’s 25,000 streets all within a 6.2-mile radius of the train station, as well as thousands of tourist attractions and hot spots. Cab drivers and those in the industry refer to it as “The Knowledge” which is tested before licensing is granted by a series of grueling examinations which less than 50% pass of all the candidates. The scans of the cab drivers were compared to other humans whose brains were scanned (similar in age, education, gender, and intelligence) as well as bus drivers who drove specific routes, and anyone else who were not cab drivers. The amount of gray matter in the posterior hippocampus was shown the advantage to the cab drivers. This included monitoring of the growth and activation of this region while they learned and used “The Knowledge” of old school repetition, and recall.
Recently, I came across an article concerning How GPS Weakens Memory by Scientific America, which then caused me to do a quick search to verify. Turns out, it does in fact, shrink the hippocampus of the brain. Not just this technology either, there are other advances which has caused human brains to be affected in other ways as well.
Creativity and simple cognitive skills are being lost. Creativity to heavy television watching as the script feeds you the story without having to read and imagine the scenery. Calculators are solving problems which are dwindling both visual and the cognitive ability to recognize when something, uh hm, isn’t adding right. Writing abilities are slowly diminishing due to AI (artificial intelligence) not being used appropriately, contact lists in phones allow us not to remember phone numbers anymore, and so on.
Old school ways like simple writing, and arithmetic should be exercised every now and again to not only exercise the brain, but to help build resilience in the event systems crash and you have to go old school. Also, automated systems are fallible, I have identified errors in data as I still use the power of estimation or “back of the envelope” math (Fermi Math) which at least let me know the ballpark of what a quote, safe working weight limit, estimated times of arrival, etc. should be. When I discover something is way off, I dig deeper. This has resulted in preventing critical lifts from going wrong, medication errors (accidental overdoses), and several times RFQs (Request For Quotes) being inaccurate preventing loss of revenue on several occasions and one occasion preventing an overbid which would have dropped a company I worked for out of the running from making the top three for consideration of award.
Some of the ways to keep this skill up is to simply try a few things. When ordering or when eating out, calculate the ballpark of what the check will be. I usually round up to the nearest dollar for each item and add ten percent. Another thing to try is estimate the cost of items in your basket before getting to the grocery store register (this one also helps one stay within budget and potentially make better choices). This exercise not only stretches the hippocampus (or at least I like to think so) but it has caught quite a few overcharges and undercharges. I do speak up either way as having worked in the service industry I know some companies deduct register shortages from tips or wages. Another thing to try, use cash instead of card going through a drive through. When they tell you the amount, calculate the change you should receive before arriving to the register window. This can be a roulette of sorts as the time to calculate can range from 10 seconds to 20 minutes. Instead of just asking ChatGPT to create a document, try drafting ideas down first, then entering it and review. Lastly, taking alternate routes to known locations sans GPS, helps keep that navigational part of the brain strong.
“Only those who have patience to do simple things perfectly ever acquire the skill to do difficult things easily.” – James Corbett
“Technology is a compulsive and addictive way to live. Verbal communication cannot be lost because of a lack of skill…use technology wisely.” -Rick Pitino
“Old roads, old dogs, and old folks and old ways still have a lot to offer in this sped-up world we all live in.” – Author Unknown
Till next week, Go Old School and Build & Test Your Resilience, and LEAD ON!
