“Habits cannot be tossed out a window. They must be coaxed down the stairs one step at a time.”
Day 2 Morning Scorecard and Habit Changes Self-Reflection:
Neuroplasticity: The Ever-Changing Brain
For quite a long time, scientists believed changes in the brain only occurred during childhood. It wasn’t until fairly recently that researchers discovered the amazing ability of the brain to change throughout a person’s lifespan. This ability to “teach old dogs new tricks,” was then named neuroplasticity. So the next time you tell yourself that it’s too late in the game to change, think again. Neuroplasticity proves that even in adulthood if you do something often enough, you can physically alter the landscape of your brain. It’s never too late to adapt to a new set of circumstances and change your old patterns. Obviously, it would have been preferable to establish healthy habits when you were younger, but there is always a chance to turn it around. The brain may not like change, but if you stick with anything long enough the brain will adapt.
FACT: It only takes three attempts at a task to physically alter the pathways in your brain and make new synaptic connections.
TAKEAWAY: The brain is always changing itself and adapting to new experiences.
The Science of Silence
Our culture seems to reward the busy, many of us equating movement with success. This mindset, however, has its consequences. The brain was programmed to move in cycles: activity followed by inactivity. When we constantly stimulate the brain throughout the day, our brains are never allowed to go offline. The result of this incessant overuse is feelings of lethargy and stress, from a lack of restoration and relaxation. Silence and stillness, if only for a few moments, allow our brains to process incoming information and input that stimuli into long term memory. If we use smartphones and television to fill up every second of our day then the learning centers of our brain never have a chance to do their job. The hippocampus, which encodes new learning into our memory banks will literally shut down if too many stimuli inundate us at one time. Therefore, to break the habit of always “doing,” we need to incorporate moments of restoration into our day. This could mean taking a deep breath, finding a moment to sit down, or closing our eyes to reboot our brains. Making these temporary stop-breaks in our day actually helps us accomplish more, allowing our brains to compute our environment and process information more efficiently. To put it bluntly, boredom is what makes us brilliant. So remember that naturally, we are all human “beings,” not human "doings."
FACT: Subjects in a research experiment were left alone in a room with only an electrified button. All participants had previously touched the button and knew it really hurt. Within 15 minutes of being alone with only their thoughts, 67% of all men and 24% of all women had touched the button and knowingly shocked themselves.
TAKEAWAY: People would rather be in pain than left alone with their own thoughts. In our culture, we have become addicted to comfort and any time alone with ourselves is downright painful.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is then not an act, but a habit.”