Coma to a Masterclass

In 1993, an elderly man named Eugene Pauly was rushed to an emergency room near San Diego suffering from stomach cramps, vomiting, and a high 105-degree temperature. It turned out that Eugene was suffering from encephalitis, which affects the brain. He slipped into a coma for ten days, and when he woke up, his wife Beverly was forced to face the fact that Eugene was no longer the same. Although he could still speak, he could no longer remember the day of the week, had trouble recalling conversations, and frequently prepared his own breakfast without really eating it before falling asleep and repeating the process later.

Coming to terms with reality, Eugene and Beverly moved to a new area to be close to their daughter, and one of the important parts of his daily routine was a walk around the block. The doctors told Beverly that she had to monitor her husband constantly - if he ever got lost, he would never be able to find his way back home. After all, he was unable to tell you which door in his living room led to the kitchen. One morning, Beverley got dressed before their morning walk as usual. She then went to find Eugene and couldn't find him. He had disappeared. Terrified, Beverley ran around the neighborhood, screaming his name but couldn’t find him. Distraught and not knowing what else to do, she went home to find her husband watching the History channel. On the table lay a pile of pinecones that he had collected on his walk.

How did he do it? Repetition. When a task is repeated enough times, a process known as "chunking" occurs in which the brain turns a series of deliberate acts into a pattern that runs automatically.

"If you repeat an action often enough, it will become automatic and therefore effortless." - The Pauly Principle

The brain loves shortcuts. We can only remember 7 pieces of information with our conscious minds, so once we learn any skill, that knowledge gets stored in the subconscious, where we can recall it automatically. The ability to read the very words in this email is a skill you learned consciously and with effort at school but that is now completely effortless. The reason the brain loves shortcuts is that it knows they are good for survival. Whatever you keep repeating, the brain will make it automatic. It even worked for a man with extensively damaged brain functioning. Eugene Pauly became the subject of intense study by neuroscientists because he overshot the potential, they expected to see in anyone who had suffered this level of brain damage. He is a masterclass in how habits really become effortless and automatic.

I came to know of Eugene Pauly and "The Pauly Principle" from Charles Duhigg’s book "The Power of Habit". There is a TedX talk from Charles Duhigg on the "Power of Habit". 

Reading about "The Pauly Principle" reminded me of "Forrest Gump", which as we all know is one of the best movies of all time. The 1994 film starring Tom Hanks tells the story of a kind-hearted man from Alabama, who, despite having a low IQ, managed to accomplish great things while also positively influencing the lives of those around him. In "The Power of Habit," Charles Duhigg explains that success often requires performing quiet, boring, and repetitive tasks. By performing such tasks, you gain mastery. That is what Forrest Gump did.