Do you spend more on the outside or the inside of your head

Have you ever considered whether you are investing more money on the outside of your head or the inside of your head?  

I didn’t think so. This article, possibly for the first time in your life might get you to start to think about it.

If you spend $150 a month on the outside of your head you spend $1800 per year, just on the outside of your head.

When you start to look closely at the outside of your head, it certainly does receive a lot of attention. Cutting, shampoos, conditioners, hair dryers, straightening, styling gels, colouring and hats. It can add up very quickly. All very important if looking great and feeling special are key values for you.

When I look at the outside of your head, it reminds me of selecting a bottle of wine.  I tend to notice the outside of the bottle first. If that looks presentable, I start to consider what the inside will be like.

As kids we are advised to not judge books by their covers. As you know, this is far easier said than done. People form a very quick initial impression about you when they first meet you. The outside of your head is a huge part of that first impression.

As this year starts to race towards the finish line, take a moment to consider how much have you invested on the inside of your head this year. Your own operating system.

We tend to upgrade our PC’s every few years. From XP to Windows 7, maybe even Windows 8.

If you have young children think about how much you have invested in to developing the inside of their heads this year. School fees, music lessons, math and sports coaching, karate and speech therapy. Even if you could only spent 20% of what you are spending on them on yourself you’d be sending them a very powerful message.

Here are my 5 tips for upgrading the inside of your head

1. Start learning a new skill or improving on an existing one.  Want to learn Spanish or play the Guitar? Maybe play the Spanish guitar.  As soon as you have to start to think about doing something new, the inside of your head needs to get busy. Neurons that may have been lying dormant need to start to fire into action. It might not be that easy at first. It will be tempting to quit. Stick with it. As time passes the new skills will become easier to master and you will enjoy the fact that you are slowly improving.
2. Change what you read and listen to. If you listen to the same songs, read the same papers and tune in to the same endless drivel on the radio, day after day, the inside of your head gets very comfortable. It really doesn’t need to think. In a way it’s enjoying the fact that it can be very lazy.  You can almost be on auto pilot. I remember interviewing a very successful DJ many years ago. I asked him what type of music he enjoyed listening to. His answer has always stuck with me. “Anything new”.  Not a bad idea to keep yourself fresh.
3. Enrol in a course or a program that potentially interests you. In 3 months’ time the year will be over. You might have thought about attending a course or two for your professional development. Chances are you haven’t got round to it yet. Still too busy. I’m yet to meet a person who regretted attending a course or doing some professional development.
4. Review your diet and alcohol consumption. If the fuel you are putting into your body is the same, I would suggest the way the machine performs will be the same. Rather than thinking about what you should remove from your diet, why not think about what you can add to it? There’s no shortage of research on powerful brain foods.
5. Improve your levels of fitness. It’s amazing how your thinking improves when you are physically fitter. If you are constantly knackered I doubt that you are allowing yourself to think as clearly as you should be.

So there it is. The outside of your head may well look great. I certainly hope it does. However, are you really devoting enough time developing the inside of your head?

If you like to measure these things why not measure what you spend on the outside of your head next year. Then compare it to what you spend on the inside. If you can match every $ spent on the outside with a $ spent on the inside you’ll have a very interesting and exciting 2014.

Posted in Leadership; Tagged Leadership; Posted 12 September 2013 by Steve Herzberg