world are still the ones between our ears.

This is the view of Elizabeth Hayes, general manager of Performance Consultants International, a company dedicated to increasing productivity and creativity through training in speed reading, improved memory and study skills. These training services are now being increasingly used by companies and institutions throughout Bermuda.

With revolutionary strides now being made in the education and, in some cases, re-education of these human computers, it is predicted that within ten years into the 21st century, 70 percent of all work will have moved from manual to mind power.

"The next century will not be so much about who can read and write, but about those who can deal effectively with information -- those who can retain what they have read. The leaders of the 21st century will be those who focus on the greatest currency the world has ever known: the currency of intelligence, and the most important skill that each of us can acquire is mastery of our own intelligence,'' she explains.

"It is now a matter of proven fact,'' continues Ms Hayes, "that within 48 hours, the brain `forgets' 80 percent of what it is taught in adult training sessions, and 99 percent has unfortunately disappeared within two weeks. Vast sums of money are spent by well-meaning firms on training their employees, with most of the newly acquired knowledge `gone' by the time they are back on the job! Unwittingly, the original aim of motivating and training can actually demotivate large sections of the workforce -- and 95 to 99 percent of a company's training budget is wasted. So before sending anyone on a training course, it makes sense to send employees on a memory training course so that they can retain what they learn.'' Some 95 percent of what we know about the brain and how it functions, has been made in the last 25 years or so. It is now widely recognised, for instance, that the brain is indeed a sleeping giant, with most of us only using one percent, or even less, of its potential. "Even in the 1950s,'' comments Ms Hayes, "it was thought that we used between 40 and 50 percent, but since then, that estimate has fallen dramatically. So anyone who increases their brain power by only one percent has automatically doubled that power.'' It was when she was awaiting a flight at London's Heathrow Airport about three years ago, that Elizabeth Hayes idly picked up a book entitled `Using Your Head' and began to read. Utterly intrigued by what the author, Tony Buzan, had to say, she subsequently attended one of his weekend mental literacy courses.

Astonished by the way in which the course enhanced the ability of her own brain (for example, she now `speed-reads' 2,000 words a minute: the average is about 240), she decided to train as an instructor and is now licensed as a teacher for Buzan Centres Ltd. and is a certified trainer for Carlson Learning Company.

One of the groundbreaking methods employed by Tony Buzan was the development of his `Mind Map', a technique for improving thinking skills, memory, concentration and creativity. Mr. Buzan described it as a form of note-taking that identifies the key elements of a problem or discussion, "...a technique whereby you put out on paper what's in your head.'' Noting that recent research indicates that the left side of the brain deals with things such as logic, words, numbers and analysis, the right side deals dominantly with the imagination, images, colour, rhythm and dimension.

Mind mapping, by placing a central image on a page with associated networks of thoughts branching out, combines all the elements used by the brain. This highlighting of major points or themes can be used in simplifying manuals, for speech-writing, note-taking or even to set out the future aims of an individual or company. By using key words, and a highly visual, dramatic and often colourful association of linking ideas, it is an effective training tool.

British born Tony Buzan is Chairman of the Brain Foundation, founder of The Brain Trust, past editor of the international journal of MENSA (the high IQ society) and reputedly holds the world's highest `creativity IQ'. Publisher of 15 books (14 on the brain, creativity and learning and one volume of poetry), they have been issued in 50 countries and translated into 20 languages. His `Use Your Head' is a standard introductory text for such firms as IBM, General Motors and the UK's Open University. His `The Mind Map Book: Radiant Thinking' on the nature of human thought, was selected as Book of the Year by the BBC in 1993.

Learn how to make the most of your mind He is internationally known as a TV and radio presenter and producer of award-winning shows for the BBC and ITV. Mike Stanley of Boeing Corporation has stated that the use of Buzan's Mind Maps programme has provided savings of over $10 million in one year (ten times the original goal) for his company, with over 500 new projects being identified within one month.

Tony Buzan has a basically simple message for his world-wide audience: "You are all better than you think you are. Much better. Education, or lack of it, does not set a limit to what you can do. With appropriate training, it (the mind) can soar to unexpected heights.'' But he cautions that before any kind of training can take place, we have to "learn how to learn''.

As Ms Hayes points out, the constant exercising of the brain automatically increases its power. "If you walk through a field of long grass you can't see where you have been but if you keep walking through, you eventually make an impression. This can be likened to the number of chemical secretions which we send through the brain. As we use our brains, we increase the number of connectors (dendrites) and chemicals which cause gaps at the end of those connections, so although the number of our brains cells don't actually increase, the more we use our brains, we do increase the number of connectors between the cells. It's like a muscle -- if we use it, it gets better because we are causing physical changes to occur. And, just as with physical fitness, we can start doing this at any age!'' Experiments have revealed that rats made to use their brains develop more connectors. "They had one group running through mazes and the other group just going round and round on a wheel. When the rats died they examined their brains and found that the rats in the maze had a lot more connections because they had to think about where they were going. So the idea of exercising your brain has a literal meaning -- we need to stay mentally fit.'' Ms Hayes has comfort, too for people who, as they get older, fear memory loss.

"This is a myth and a self-fulfilling prophecy,'' she exclaims. "We've all heard people who have lost their glasses, for instance, going around saying `I must be going senile', but if a kid of six leaves her gym bag or homework at school, it would never occur to her to say, `Gee, I must be getting old'. The main reasons for poor memory,'' she says, "are far more likely to be stress or anxiety (one reason why some people don't perform well under examination conditions), lack of motivation or concentration, or simply not bothering to exercise the brain.'' There are three `golden keys' for the average person who wants to increase their brain power. These are to stay socially involved, be mentally active and to have a flexible personality that is willing to learn new skills. "At any age, we can challenge ourselves in all kinds of ways: take up something completely new such as yoga, learning how to repair your own car, play bridge, or learn a musical instrument. It's also an absolute myth, by the way, that `older' people can't learn how to use computers. If you want to learn, you will learn! The nice thing is that all of this has a knock-on effect -- if you learn how to use the Internet, you will also find that your golf game improves!'' She points out that when we purchase a computer we are given huge manuals which explain how it works. "But no one has ever really taught us how to use our brains. This is a great shame when you consider that it takes the brain just one second to grasp a concept, but a main-frame computer that can make about 400 million calculations a second would take over 100 years to grasp what we are capable of grasping in a second. No, there is no danger that we are being taken over by robots! But we do have to learn to use our brains in a more productive way.'' It is increasingly recognised that a human being learns more between birth and the age of two, than at any other time. "Babies use all of their senses -- touch, smell, taste, hearing and so on. They also use, quite naturally, right and left cortical skills. Unfortunately, as a child starts school, or even pre-school, it is encouraged to concentrate on left side of brain activities, rather than the right side. At school, most of what we learn is left brain. I have yet,'' she adds, with a laugh, "to hear of a prize-giving where a prize is given for `two hours of day-dreaming'. We don't reward it, in fact, we tend to punish day-dreamers. Yet we should remember that Einstein's theory of relativity was based on his day-dream of riding on a sunbeam and Mozart said that his music came, "unbidden'', already completely formed, into his head (into his `right' brain). Music, incidentally, has a terrific effect on mathematical ability and Mozart scribbled a lot of mathematic formulae through his manuscripts.'' She makes the point, also, that recent research has confirmed that listening to baroque music where the `beat' is exactly the same as electrical currents, or vibrations, given out in the brain, open up the brain and so increase intellectual ability, whereas `pop' or `reggae' (which is not `in tune' with these electrical impulses) literally shuts the brain down. It has been proven in extensive research that a child who studies music doubles its IQ -- a fact which might usefully be borne in mind by today's educational `experts' who persist in considering music "a luxury'' on the school curriculum.

So can we expect kids to soon be walking about with Mozart and Haydn issuing forth from their boom-boxes? While Elizabeth Hayes wouldn't count on that, she says that much of today's `popular' music affects the blood level and heart beat. "By tensing up, this means the brain will remain in `beta' mode which is the normal `wide-awake' state. If we wish to develop our imagination and creativity, we need to go into `alpha', or the right side of the brain which is reached only when we are in a relaxed, harmonious state.'' Elizabeth Hayes, who taught for ten years at the Bermuda High School for Girls, becoming Dean of Students, received her Bachelor of Science (Hons) from the University of Liverpool, post-graduate Certificate of Education from Cambridge University, her M.S. in Counselling from the University of Indiana and a Masters in Education from the University of Maryland.

Performance Consultants International is the training arm of Benedict Associates Ltd., whose managing director is well-known facilitating expert, lecturer and visiting faculty member at Rutgers University, Vaughn Mosher.

Most Performance Consultants International training courses are arranged through individual companies but Ms Hayes is currently running a series of open courses which members of the general public are welcome to attend. Of special interest to those who wish to stimulate their brain power and offset the fear of the ageing process is her course, `Making the Most of Your Mind', which will be held at the Bermuda Insurance Institute on Cedar Avenue on March 15 ($195 for the day).

Other courses of general interest are `Improving Your Memory' on February 8 from 8.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. ($150), `Presentation Skills' on February 15, 8.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. ($150) and `From Failure to Success', 8.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 1 ($150). Please telephone Performance Consultants International at 295-2070 (Fax 292-9174) to make reservations or obtain further information.

PHOO