A little more than a week ago, I signed up for Lumosity. I figured that while I’m spending so much time and effort getting physically fit, I should also not forget to keep my brain fit, too. Now, one would think that working a full time job and being involved in other things would be enough to keep me in good cognitive shape. I’m sure I’m doing okay, but I have noticed that my memory isn’t always quite as sharp as it used to be a few decades ago.
So, between television ads, Facebook ads, and one of my bosses, Lumosity hit my radar. I finally checked it out. I won’t say I’m obsessed, but I am compelled and eager to do a mental workout every day. Different games work different abilities – spatial memory, working memory, vocabulary function, number tasks, directional planning, and so on and so on.
The goal is to keep improving at the tasks over time. I haven’t been doing them long enough to know whether I’m making significant progress, but I have discovered some things about myself and, in some cases, have rediscovered things about my personality.
First realization: I am competitive, even with myself. Now these aren’t games that you win or lose, you just keep trying to do your best and increase your score. Still, if I don’t feel that I’ve done well enough, I immediately want to try the game again. Now that I’ve been doing it a week, I’ve repeated some of the games, so I actually have a score in those against which to measure my performance. If I don’t beat my previous score in one of the games, yes, I have to try it again, find a way to improve, do a better job of concentrating. I take on the challenge.
It’s a good thing that I’m a gracious loser and a non-gloating winner when I play games against other people.
Second realization: I definitely feel more stress on a timed game. Oh how I hated the standardized SATs and other big tests when I was in high school. It was difficult enough to have the pressure of needing a good score. Having to perform well on the questions and do so in set periods of time was a double-shot of freakout-inducing stress.
I can feel myself getting clear performance anxiety on the Lumosity games that are timed! I want to hit a pause button, take a deep breath and tell myself to snap out of it. The games are intended to help. It’s not like the fate of my life hangs in the balance or that I fail if I only get to a certain score. In thees games, like in much of life, it’s progress not perfection.
Third realization: At this age, I’m able to more quickly and easily get over my own foibles. When I was a kid, these things would eat at me. Then I’d eat over them.
Now I look at them, take note, laugh at myself when appropriate and, like tonight, even write a blog post. Then, tomorrow, I go back and try the mental workout again.
Weighty Matters 