A quote on NPR this morning from a student at a two-year technical college in Texas preparing for his career in factory maintenance, highly technical and manual work. The undercurrent of the story is that most college students use screens to do their work, and the loss of hands-on repair and adjustments in an industrial setting has led to the demand to surge and the supply cannot keep up. The student in the interview is paid $20 an hour now but projects a salary of 100K in the next few years. Not only does his brain itch as he admits geeking out on his trade training, but I bet his wallet does too.

Brain itch. A great word coupling. Intellectually our brain itches in our fields of expertise, in hard and soft skills we develop.

I know mine does as I commence coaching a new client or training in a company and know that at the end of my process they all emerge more intellectually attractive to those on LinkedIn, far better than when they started with me. Itches can be contagious!

The reader of your LinkedIn profile must have their brain stimulated enough to scratch the itch and take the next step: open contact to your connectivity. Make their brain itch. Or else they scratch their heads in disbelief.

Network up to someone on LinkedIn you need to meet, using mutual colleagues to faciliate the connection. Make the referrers glad they offered you that ooportunity. Impress the target and make their brain tingle. Leave your comfort zone of fear and imposter syndrome behind. Go for it!

Itchy brain exceeds LinkedIn, of course.

My brain itched throughout my recent trip to the Adriatic. We worked on a family farm in a small village, we constantly asked cultural and historical questions. As is characteristic for me, I strayed off from the group to photograph thousands of architecture sites and human groupings, closeups of flowers: all what my eye told me to be unique views, now captured forever on my photo app, and I am always able to appreciate them for the details I may have missed the first time. Sometimes, the itch can never be satisfied.

I now itch for more human adventures. There are so many places, people and ideas to explore. Not just sit and watch it all go by, but to actively participate and get to know people, connect with them in a stronger, more emotional way. Smile, laugh, ask for help in a grocery store for their recommendation between 2 packages of cheese, for example. Converse with the human touch. Like and appreciate, ask and answer. Discuss, explain, inquire about their daily lives. I itch to meet the world’s best people. Yes, to rub off on each other just a little bit.

That’s why I do what I do. My brain always itches.

Now it’s your turn to share what makes your brain itch. I invite you to fess up and tell us what and especially why you do whatever itching you do. No emojis, right–they don’t itch–they barely offer any feeling, so please use words and openly share if this post has made you scratch some cerebral itch.

“I double diamond dog dare you,” to quote the great sage Ted Lasso.