Left/Right isn’t just for Politics

Being a Digital Engineer, primarily hardware engineering, and being a “Creative”, primarily Video, Music and Writing, I’ve been told I use both sides of my brain. Apparently, neuroscience had said that is unusual.  

Well now some of them say that Right Brain / Left Brain dominance is a myth. It is more complex than Right Side is creative and the Left Side analytical.

I say who cares!!

I’ve be asked throughout my career, “How is it that you can perform in so many different sectors of various industries. My answer is always the same. Because no one ever total me I can’t.

It’s all seems the same to me.

If I’m working within the Tech world I’m using my creative and analytical problem-solving techniques to design something new or fix something old.

If I’m working in the Creative world, I’m using my creative and analytical problem-solving techniques to work out a song, develop a story line or at this moment write this blog.

It’s all the same.

In troubleshooting tech, I use a simple technique of “start at the source and work your way through the path until you reach the destination”. That simple process allows me to troubleshoot a failure or flawed design from a simple issue like, no signal from a guitar to an amp or as complex as routing of an IP address in broadcast control room from the switcher through frame sync to EVS.

It’s all the same.

Those same basic troubleshooting skills work when I’m working on a story or song. I’m at a point in the song, like a verse, now I need to get to the hook without breaking the flow.

The same is true for storyline. How do I get this character out of this situation?  Let’s back up to how they got into this place and find were the path got broken.

It’s all the same.

Was Tesla a creative or an analytical thinking?

Was Einstein a creative or an analytical thinking?

Was Leonardo da Vinci a creative or an analytical thinking?

Yes, these are extreme examples but you may also be one of those examples.  You just have to remove the notation that you have to be categorized as Left Dominated or Right Dominated. Being categorized as Left or Right leaves you with only two career choices, “am I a creative or analytical”.

Nonsense!   

We need to stop defining All STEM majors (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) as analytical. And all Performing Art majors as creative.

You need the totality of your brain to rise to the greatest potential. You need to exercise and challenge both sides of your brain just like you exercise and challenge both sides of your body.

Image what would happen if you were told since your right handed you need to find a career where you only use your right hand.  Ridiculous!!! Right!! (no pun indented haha) 

So, the next time someone tells you, “you can’t do something because this takes a “creative” or they tell you it’s not for you because “it takes analytical thought”. 

First, use your creative Right Brain and find some unprintable superlatives to tell them off.

Then use your Left Brain to back up your superlatives with some hard facts!