62 Quotes by John Medina

What you do and learn in life physically changes what your brain looks like – it literally rewires it.

The Mozart Effect comes to mind: the popular idea that listening to classical music makes students better at math.

Though we have been stuffing them into classrooms and cubicles for decades, our brains actually were built to survive in jungles and grasslands. A lifetime of exercise can result in a sometimes astonishing elevation in cognitive performance, compared with those who are sedentary.

There are two ways to beat the cruelty of a harsh environment: You can become stronger or you can become smarter.

Children have never been good at listening to their parents, but they have never failed to imitate them.

You may think that grown-ups create children. The reality is that children create grown-ups. They become their own person, and so do you. Children give so much more than they take.

Many couples will fight in front of their children but reconcile in private. This skews a child’s perceptions, even at early ages, for the child always sees the wounding but never the bandaging. Parents who practice bandaging each other after a fight, deliberately and explicitly, allow their children to model both how to fight fair and how to make up.

We know when our actions fail to match our inner thoughts and feelings, but we often forget that this knowledge is not available to others.

The most common communication mistakes? Relating too much information, with not enough time devoted to connecting the dots.