Improve productivity by rewiring your brain
For those who don’t understand what neuroscience or neuroplasticity is, it’s basically how we understand the brain and how the studies about the brain, how the brain functions, how we apply to the way we live our life.
The old school of thought was always, for example, if someone had a traumatic brain injury, the idea was you can never heal the brain. But new science and research is starting to show that the brain is an amazing organ that actually does heal itself, if we allow it to heal.
So what does that mean?
It’s kind of like putting yourself in a room with you being blasted by this negative noise, all can focus on is the negative noise. And in our case, the news or all the other stuff we’ve seen and we hear every day. But if you step out of the room and you get into an area of peace and quiet, it’s like, “Oh, calm. Finally, I can hear myself think.”
We can allow, and if we look at it, the way that our brain works, here are some facts about the brain which I find very fascinating. Your brain uses 20% of the oxygen in your whole body. And then did you know that there’s more neural pathways in your brain than there are stars in the sky?
Just think about that.
We think about the universe, and you just look up at the stars at night, you think, wow, that’s so many. You have the same kind of concept in your mind. If you just think about the enormity and how amazing God made our brains, we have haven’t yet tapped into the full potential. We only use parts of it.
But why I get so nerded out about this stuff is that the good news is, you can change your brain. You can age backwards. You are not your brain and you can change the way you approach things. And even things like people say, personality is set. Actually, some of the studies are showing that it’s not necessarily true. You can change your way of thinking, especially when you think about habits, mindsets.
Change your Thinking
How you think, for example, how do you think about money? How do you feel about rich people? These are all little hot buttons that often people go, “Oh my God, I can’t go there.” These are good reasons why to say, what do you believe about this thing, or about yourself, or about your situation, or your family? Your purview and your worldview.
What if what you’ve been taught isn’t a hundred percent true? Or, what if what you know, or what you think you know, isn’t necessarily true?
Because a lot of us believe the stories we tell ourselves, and I’ve seen this time and time again, people who come from very stressful and traumatic backgrounds, with abuse and who come from very poor backgrounds. There is something that is a mental shift that happens that makes them think, I can do this. And what it is, is they believe in the possibility.
Another Example
I found this video the other day which totally shook off my brain, and I was like, oh my gosh, I totally get it now. In the Jewish society, they have a different concept of wealth and prosperity than most Christian Western societies because here’s the thing that they do, is every year they go to the rabbi and they pledge what they’re going to give for the year. Not like in the Christian churches where they say, you need to tithe 10% of your earnings, meaning this is the money I made, and sorry, God, I can only give you a hundred dollars. The Jewish communities have a different viewpoint. Their view is I’m going to pledge for the year ahead and do what I need to do, but I’m going to stretch myself a little out of my comfort zone and partner with God, taking those steps of faith that he will supply my needs.
And what they do is they pledge it, they know they’ve made the promise, but now they don’t focus on what they don’t have. They focus on what they need to do to achieve it.
Change your Mindset
So if you just think about that for a minute, that changes your whole mindset, your approach to living and how you look at productivity. Instead of looking at it in retrospect like, I can’t afford to do this because I didn’t earn the money today, what if we flipped our minds about looking to the future of what we wanted to do and started to live up to our own expectations of what we’ve pledged for ourselves, our lives, our business, and our giving? That will be a total mind shift in your approach because once I’ve made this agreement, I’m going to do it, you’re going to do whatever it takes to make it happen.
Why you’re not Broken
But what we’ve been told is, “oh no, you’re broken, you can’t do that, shame, shame, stay in the corner”. So you never try. So what if we just took that away, and just said, “There are no limitations. You can achieve whatever you want to.” And this is where the Bible comes true. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And what that means is I partner with God, so he is made known and he is made strong in my weakness, because it’s only when I totally let go and say, “Okay, God, I don’t know how to make this happen, but I’m going to do the things that I can do. You’ve got to come to the party and do your things.” And he’s like, “Great, now we can do something.”
So just allowing yourself that concept and that mindset shift will totally transform the way that you approach things and not to see yourself in a situation of lack, or scarcity, and realize that God’s word is true. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
It goes beyond positive thinking and positive affirmations and vision boards. That’s cute, but that’s not necessarily going to get you there. It’s action. So in the Jewish community, they pledge the money, then they know their responsibility is to show up every day, do the work, do what they need to. But, here’s the kicker, they’ve given the result to God. They’ve made that shift of, I’m doing my thing and it’s up to God to multiply. Just like with the loaves and fishes.
The Bible Speaks
The Bible has all these stories there already. We just have to realize that that is actually true, and it’s just making that mental shift to our line of souls in God’s plan so we can walk out our purpose according to his plan.
When you’re typing on things, you are using another part of your brain, which is more like getting your ideas down, but when you’re writing, something happens in the brain that slows you down where you have to, if you remember, writing always feels half speed to typing, because you are allowing your thoughts and your processing to catch up. Where when we’re typing, and I’m the same way, when I’m typing, I’m typing something, but I’m already thinking of the next thing and the next thing and the next thing, and we just get into this habit.
Slow Down to Speed Up
But if you really want to slow down and to know what you’re actually thinking, is to write it down, and that way then, it’s forcing the speed to slow down, and it’s forcing you to make sense of what you’re writing. I mean, my mom can do this, but not many of us can write shorthand, and it used to be back in the seventies and eighties when secretaries had to learn shorthand, it was useful. Nowadays, we just type things or we voice to text, because it’s this whole speed of, got to do, got to do, got to do. But sometimes speed isn’t going to get us there. We actually need to slow down to speed up. And what that means is slowing down enough, you’re in the car, to see the signs on the road. So if you’re going a hundred miles an hour and there’s an exit sign coming, and if you’re going too fast, you’re going to miss the exit, or you’re going to miss where the refreshment station is.
Power of Being Intentional
If you apply less speed and more intentionality, it’s amazing how the journey becomes so much more enjoyable. “Oh, look at that scenery. Oh, look at that.” All of a sudden, you see things you missed. So again, and I invite you, give yourself the time. Rest is not selfish. Self-care is not selfish. You actually need to take the time to hear out what it is you’re thinking, and most importantly, to hear what God is saying, so you can get in tune with his plan for your life so you can renew your mind.
Grab Resources
So I have some great resources for you if you go to mimikacooney.com/supercharge. I have the eight tips to supercharge your mindset. And also on my website, I have a podcast you can subscribe to, I regularly put out information in podcast episodes. And I have a tab that’s actually has articles and resources, so if you want to learn a little bit more about rewiring the brain, how to unstick your mind, all this good stuff, definitely connect with me online.
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