You stopped at last time.
The story in four panels
Sculpting a successful brain
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1The problem
A smartphone with notifications piling up I'm tired, I'll rest
If you rest with nothing but passive activities, the brain doesn't change.
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2How it works
Two neurons reaching out and connecting The brain can be sculpted
Neuroplasticity: the brain changes with intended actions and information. (Ramón y Cajal)
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3What to do
An open book and a pen Small, just do it
10 minutes of reading, blogging, 30 minutes of exercise, trying something new.
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4The change
A staircase climbed step by step with a flag at the top "Five whole days" left
Put the same situation in good words, and the brain responds in that direction.
Neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity means that, like plastic that can change shape freely, our brains can also be changed in the direction we want.
We want our brains to change like the brains of successful people. But if we do nothing and say, “I’m tired, I need a rest,” engaging only in unproductive, passive activities, will our brains change?
They won’t.
“Every person can, if they truly wish, sculpt their own brain.” — Santiago Ramón y Cajal, neuroscientist and Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine
“The greatest discovery of our time is that a person can change their future merely by changing their attitude.” — Oprah Winfrey
So for the brain to change, to change the way we intend, we just have to “just do” intentional actions. And since we’ve made up our minds to do it anyway, let’s try the things successful people do, with a “nothing to lose” attitude.
There are five whole days left in 2022, including today. (You might say there are only five days left. I almost wrote it that way myself, but I deliberately changed it to “five whole days.” If you ask why: because the brain can change in an intended direction, it responds well when it receives good information and responds badly when given bad information.)
I’ve also recently started a few things, to change my brain into the successful brain I want:
First, I’m reading for at least 10 minutes a day. Right now I’m reading The Painful Truth by Monty Lyman, recommended by the YouTube channel Studian.
Second, I’ve started writing a blog. I started with an attitude of “let’s just do it,” so it’s not easy, but I’m keeping at it.
Third, I’m exercising for 30 minutes a day.
Fourth, I’m trying things I’ve never done before. Right now I have a one-year subscription to Class101 and am learning to draw on an iPad.
Beyond these, the book by Jachung calls the various ways to build a “brain” optimized for success “tools of titans.” As you try these tools, doing new things one by one instead of living the way you always have, they’ll seep in and become your own, and you’ll become a giant!
Above all, what matters is believing that even though I don’t have anything yet, my “brain” is changing in a positive direction right now.
You and I are both changing.
I’ll become a better me than I was yesterday.
I hope you’ll become a better you than yesterday, too!
Let’s grow more today than yesterday!!!
- Next post: Is the placebo effect real? Let’s find out
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