Day Three: How the Brain Works

Day Three: How the Brain Works

Little did I know that such a small book—only 65 pages—would have such a lasting influence on my life.

Decades ago, I discovered A Technique for Producing Ideas by James Webb Young. Something about his simple explanation of how ideas develop and how the mind processes what we put into it changed my thinking. I began recommending the book to students, and over the years I watched its ideas become important to many of them as well as to me.

Now, decades later, that little book has come full circle and has taken on an entirely new significance in my own life.

I have always wondered if Young’s explanation was a medical description, a practical theory, or simply an idea that made sense to those of us in pursuit of understanding more about our daily routines, habits, and the way our minds work.

A quick summary of the idea is that our brain continually takes in and absorbs new ideas, situations, and memories. The idea being that the more we put into our mind, the more there is to process—sometimes willingly, sometimes subconsciously.

For a great portion of my life, I have wondered why I would wake up around 3:00 A.M., without an alarm and without an agenda. It just seemed that my mind began working before I asked it to. I have always said of myself that my brain does a day’s work by 9:00 A.M., whether I want it to or not.

I also credit this idea with helping give birth to the naming of our nonprofit Teen Leadership Training Center, The Idea Factory. It was a place for teens to create after-school and school-day activities for elementary and junior high students—bringing their own ideas to the community, providing teen leadership opportunities, and sustaining many of them for years—with adults providing support rather than leadership and control.

As I look back on my life and career, I could never imagine, or count, the number of ideas my 3:00 A.M. wake-up calls have provided.

And now, decades after first reading James Webb Young’s little book, I find myself returning to it again—this time not to recommend it to a student, but to better understand myself.

This is Day Three of a journey I hope will become forty essays. Rather than sending each one to people along the way, I’ll simply leave them here. If you’re interested in where the journey goes, come back from time to time. I’ll keep writing.