Comments on: Cross-Train Your Brain

By: Ingrid Cummings, author of The Vigorous Mind, on tour mid-January to mid-February, 2009 | TLC Book Tours

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:11:10 +0000

[…] Wednesday, February 4th: MidLifeBloggers […]

By: Elaine H

Elaine H — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 21:09:39 +0000

Oh, is this ever me–and thank God someone is showing that it’s a positive and not a negative. Although I think women like Huffington have proved that you can reinvent yourself over and over, and still rise to the top, so the belief that a woman has to be single-minded in her career approach seems to be pure old-think. What this book might do is alleviate some of the anxiety those of us who are schizophenic in our talents feel about being square pegs in a round-holed world. It sure does mess up your LinkedIn prodfile, though :-)!

By: BarbD

BarbD — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:08:18 +0000

I haven’t read the book but my instincts tell me I’m a Generalist. And for the last 10 years or so of my corporate career, I had the best of both worlds — a job I created and molded according to my wide-ranging interests (covering both communications and technology). I’m quite proud of what I accomplished!

I left the corporate mother ship last year on the wings of an early buyout. I’m not sorry I left but as I attempt to put together a downsized career as a freelancer, I find it hard to describe exactly what I do so well. Write? Edit? Check. Website maintenance? Check.

What I’ve still not found easy to explain in a 30-second elevator speech is how I synthesize the hard skills with the creative abilities to come up with new ways of doing things.

One year into my latest adventure, I’m still searching for something I can feel passionate about again. Maybe it won’t be work that does it this time — I don’t know. The only thing I’m sure of is that my range of abilities make it more likely I’ll find work to support myself while I’m looking!

By: Harmony Evans

Harmony Evans — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 18:55:19 +0000

Duchess,

Interesting, I never thought about the colloralation of distraction and attention. Makes perfect sense.

Harmony aka Burgundy or is it Burgundy aka Harmony,

No this may not be the right venue. You are a brilliant thinker who has embraced your interests without society’s definition of success, i.e. CEO, Chair of the English Department, Pulitzer Prize novelist, etc.
Pick one.

By: Candy Turner

Candy Turner — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:16:18 +0000

Sounds like this book should have my name on the front cover after “Especially for…”. I think my mother was actually a kaleidoscope. It’s high time I get my act together. My life has been fun, but I haven’t seen what I consider to be any accomplishments in my 58 years on this earth. My friends admire my carefree attitude. I admire their retirement plan. Like Burgundy, I had an employer ask me the same exact question – “Who are you?” – a few months back. I didn’t have an answer! I haven’t gotten that far yet. Maybe this is the catalyst I need.

By: Liz

Liz — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:52:22 +0000

I’m not sure which category I belong in! What I am good at is becoming a specialist very quickly, but then I get bored and want to move on to another area. I need to feel challenged by what I am doing, to feel like I am learning something new every day. Now I’m experimenting with becoming a generalist, and my dream is to have two or three different activities that bring in enough income to support myself – so when I get bored by one, I can go do one of the others for awhile!

By: byjane

byjane — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:17:41 +0000

Duchess-
I agree. It seems that the single-mindedness of specialization is a male thing. Another arena in which they’ve made their proclivities The Right Way To Be.

By: Duchess

Duchess — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:08:28 +0000

Well, I hope no one throws virtual rocks at me for saying so, but I think women are more likely to have minds that range broadly and are at the same time (on average) less capable of the kind of single minded focus that gets you to the top of a single career. I have always assumed that this is simply adaptive and that women’s brains evolved that way: if you are undistractable, you may not respond to that crying infant.

I have no idea if this is bad science, but it makes sense to me.

Whatever, I too have a scatter gun, jack of all trades approach to life and career(s) — such as they have been.