Is it possible to rewire your brain? Okay, today we're going to get into some brain
science. So stick with me through the science that will create the context for
some powerful tips that you get right toward the end. Questions sometimes comes
up: "Is it possible to rewire your brain?" Okay, first of all folks, your brain is
not an electronic instrument. There are actually no wires in your brain. But I
know what they're talking about. Because we can think of wiring as the way that
our our brain operates with the neurons. Those might be kind of equivalent to a
wiring system. Neurons talk to each other through a chemical electrical stimulus.
And when those neurons repeatedly talked to each other in the same way, it sets up
something that we sometimes refer to in the industry as a neural pathway. Think
of it as the cruise control or the autopilot for your brain. So, whatever we
repeatedly do gets programmed in or wired into a neural pathway. For example,
there are some things that you do without even thinking about it. Walking
into a room. Drinking a glass of water. Tying your shoes. Think of some of these
things that you do very naturally and automatically and you don't even think
about it. Walking, for example. That is one of the most complex activities that we
can engage in. It requires the coordination of a number of muscle
groups all at the same time so that you can keep your balance. Shift your weight
just right and not fall on your face in the process. That's an enormously
complex task and you can do it just like that
without even thinking. Your brain is still in charge of that activity. But
different parts of your brain do different things. So, this is your brain.
I'm a psychologist not an artist, give me a break. But this is a schematic
of what your brain might look like. Sideview, we've taken away all the outer
stuff. So, we're just looking at the brain here. Different parts of your brain do
different things. Do you know which part of your brain controls eyesight? Vision.
Most common guess is right up here. It's the closest to your eyes. It's the most
common incorrect guess. The part that controls vision is actually back here in
the occipital lobe or the visual cortex. It's the back of your head. And that's
weird. Why is that the part that controls eyesight?
I don't know. I didn't design your brain. But that's the part that all visual
information is routed through first. There's another part right up here on
top that controls motor function. Meaning, your muscles. How you move your arms and
legs. Both big muscles and little fine ones. Controlled right up there on top,
it's about the size of your thumb. You got one on the right side of your brain
and one on the left side of your brain. Then the left side of your brain
controls the right side of your body. And vice versa. Why is it that way?
I don't know. Didn't design your brain. But that's how it is. This part right up
here in front, very important part. It's called the prefrontal or frontal lobe of
your brain is in charge of... Thinking. Cognition. Rational thought, logic,
problem-solving. Also some fun things like personality and higher cognitive
functioning like compassion and empathy and forgiveness. Hmm, those might be
important later on. Short version is different parts of your brain do
different things and there's a lot of different parts. Now, part of your brains
job is to keep things really efficient. Because if you had to think about
everything your brain is doing, you'd go nuts. It's in charge of what you think,
what you feel, what you do and all kinds of other things that you never even
think about. Like circulation and digestion and all of those things that
are just handled in the background. It's a good thing we don't have to think
about all of that. And the way your brain creates efficiencies through these neuro
pathways that I mentioned earlier. So, let's take a common task like typing, for
example. I call it typing. My kids call it keyboarding. Because now we have
computers and they all have a keyboard, right? And you know how to do this. When
you sit down at your computer, where is the G? Do you know? Isn't that weird
to ask? Now, you probably just looked at your keyboard. Or if you don't have a
keyboard near you, you may have moved your hands to try to imagine a keyboard.
Why do we do that? Because when we're typing, we're very used to just putting
our hands in a position and then it's as if our fingers know where the keys are.
Well your fingers don't know anything. Your brain does. And it's your brain that
controls your fingers specifically the motor cortex which runs the muscles in
your fingers. Well how does this happen? Let's say that I wanted you to type the
phrase "good morning". Now, if I were to show you that phrase, it has to get
into your brain somehow first. So, let's picture a G right out here that you're
looking at. Now, at this point, the G is nothing more than a pattern of light. As
it enters your eye, it hits an organ called the retina. The retinas at the
back of your eye. And all it does is translate light into a nervous impulse.
Because your nerves don't carry light. It's a chemical electrical stimulus. One
neuron talking to another through the synapse and chemicals and electricity. So,
after it gets translated into a nervous impulse, it travels through your optic
nerve. Kind of along the base of your brain and it comes in back here
somewhere near the visual cortex. Now, there's another part of your brain I
didn't tell you about. It's a really fun part of your brain. It's located down
here near the brainstem somewhere. And it's called the reticular activating
system. The reticular activating system has a lot of different roles. But one of
those is kind of as a gatekeeper, a monitor. And so, it's keeping track of all
of the input and telling you what to pay attention to and what to ignore. Like the
feeling of your shoes, for example. Oh, you can feel them now? Yeah, that's because I
brought it to the attention of your reticular activating system. But usually,
it tells you, "Hey, you're typing. You've done this a
good billion times." We don't have to bother the thinker about this. And then
it shoots that signal from the visual cortex where it comes in. Straight up to
the motor cortex. It's like a little shortcut that it takes. So, you don't even
have to think about it. Now, that's an oversimplification of how your brain is
actually functioning. But it captures the idea that these neural pathways, as long
as you practice it repeatedly, you can set up a little shortcut. Well, what if I
give you a little challenge to type your name using my keyboard. Now, what do you
notice about this keyboard? Hmm, it's a little scrambled, isn't it? Would that be
hard? Yeah. Why? Because it's not where you're used to having the keys. So, if
you're using my keyboard and incidentally it takes about 48 seconds
on the average for one of my clients to type their first and last name using my
keyboard. Normally it only takes a second if that, right? So why does it take so
long to type it on my keyboard? Some people tell me it's because the keys are
in the wrong position. No, they're just in a different position.
Notice that the keyboard you have is scrambled too. It's called the QWERTY
keyboard. You know why? Because it starts with a "Q" --Q-W-E-R-T-Y. Who says the alphabet
that way? Nobody. But we've all learned it so we think that that's the right way
for it to be. Mine is just different. So, using my keyboard, what happens? The G
comes in here just like it always did. Hits the retina. Translated in the lines.
Comes back. Everything's all the same until you hit the reticular activating
system. When the little alarm goes off. And the alarm is all about "Whoa! we can't
use the old neural pathways." Something's different. And sometimes there's a little
sense of panic that ensues at that moment. In psychology, we call this the Old
Crap Response. And it happens anytime that you get set off of your normal
routine. Your normal neural pathways. Well, when the alarm goes off, the traffic gets
redirected basically. Signal gets sent up to the
front for processing where your thinker has to figure it all out and tell you
where to put your fingers now. Usually one of those two. And then you can
instruct one of those fingers through your motor cortex to type the letters. Do
you see how this works? This is called the processing loop. It takes more time,
it's less efficient. And your brain is basically lazy and loyal. It doesn't want
to learn something new when it's already got a neural pathway. So, it's going to stick
whatever you've been trained taught and educated to do. Even if it's not the most
ideal way to do it. Okay, that's going to give us some clues as we work on
changing habits for example or rewiring our brain. There's no wires in there to
go mess around with. So what are we going to do? We're going to create new neural
pathways. This is not easy. In fact, there's a fun video on
YouTube. You can look it up after you watch this one if you want to. About the
backwards bicycle by smartereveryday. Amazing example of the same concept. if
you were to learn to type on my keyboard, first of all, take a look again. Could you
learn how to type on this? Yes, what would it take? And how do you know that by the
way? Because you learned how to type on the other one. And it's scrambled too. So,
what would it take? Yeah, you nailed it. It's going to take a whole lot of practice
isn't it? But there's another obvious but unnoticed piece to this. Do you want to
learn how to type on my keyboard? No, it would be a horrendous waste of your time
wouldn't it? So, that implies the other thing that's needed. You got to have a
strong enough why. What if Dr. Paul were to offer you $5,000 to learn how to type
on my keyboard in the next 2 weeks? Would you take me up on that? Yeah, what
changed? Your motivation. Exactly. So, you've got to have a strong enough why
and then even if I would offer you the 5 grand, you couldn't do it unless
they let you take the keyboard home and practice on it. Because it's going to
require both. Neural pathways are strong and they resist change. When you
encounter a new way of doing something or a new way of thinking, it's not going
to come now surely to you at first. That's fine. Don't
be discouraged by that. Understand you've got to give your mind a strong enough
why. And then you got to practice it enough that you actually establish a new
neural pathway. That might take a while to do it. But it is absolutely possible.
So, that's a lot of brain science today at Live On Purpose TV. The scrambled
keyboard, the backwards bicycle. I bet you can think of some other examples of
neuro-pathways. Share them below let's get this conversation going.
I saw standing in the street