Thanks to the accelerating advances in brain scanning technology and subsequent findings around Neuroplasticity, I believe the areas of Neuroscience & Neuropsychology are on the cusp of a Mind Hacking Revolution. One whereby many more normal human beings will be able to consciously and deliberately change the way they think for the better.
Neuroscientists have a term for this, called Self-Directed Neuroplasticity, I however, call it mind hacking and because I’m being asked about this subject more and more, I felt that a simple explanation by way of a taster might be useful.
I’ll go on to explain in more detail but in a nutshell, mind hacking turns the tables on conventional thinking, disrupting the ‘status quo’ that stifles growth or progress to enable people to think in more creative, innovative, productive ways, ways that set them apart from the crowds who follow conventional ways and get the same old conventional results.
The Mind and Brain Are Not The Same!
The first thing we need to understand about mind hacking is that the mind and the brain are not the same; your mind and your brain are not the same!
I say this because your brain is part of the physical, visible, tangible part of the body. It’s the organ that weighs in at an average of 1.33kg for men and 1.19kg for women or 2% of body weight. When I mentioned to my wife that females had smaller brains than men, her instant reply was “yes but we use all of ours don’t we’ and I couldn’t really argue with that one :-)
Your mind however is part of the invisible, transcendent world of thought, feeling, attitude, values, beliefs and imagination. The mind is most closely associated with the brain but is not confined to it because the intelligence of your mind permeates every cell of your body and all bodily functions, including the nervous system and the heart. In fact, the heart sends more signals to brain than the brain sends to the heart but it’s the mind that interprets these signals.
In effect, you brain is your inner computer and your mind is the operator. It’s just that some people have their brains running their minds in autopilot and are not really in full charge of their thinking or emotions, which inevitably have an impact on their actions and what they accomplish in business and in life in general, or not as the case may be.
“The brain is without doubt, the most sophisticated piece of technology known to humankind and we could be the most intelligent beings in the whole universe so how come some people still manage to act dumb at times (yes, this includes all of us) and allow their thoughts and emotions to control them rather than the other way around?”
Isn’t it in these times when we need to be able to manage our brain and our attitudes more than in times when everything us running smoothly? Isn’t it these times when we need to pull on all our reserves that we know exist within us but just need ways to draw them out?
Mind hacking enables you to take control in these times, to eliminate the thinking that gets in your way and clear the path to achieve what it is you want and is the most modern and effective form of mindfulness I’ve come across in aiding success without the stress. I don’t mean being mindful as in meditation because that’s a very limited view of it but as in, being mindful of how to control your mind and reprogram your brain to work as they were intended, for your benefit and for the benefit of others.
So What is Mind Hacking?
Before we look at what mind hacking is, we should first look at what it’s not.
Namely: The term mind hacking may sound a little sinister to some people but it isn’t a gimmick, a manipulative technique, a mind-trick or brainwashing of any kind but a disciplined way of being, a method that makes you much more conscious (awake, alert and aware) of what’s going on in and around you so that you can manage your brain more creatively and effectively.
Just like computer hacking experts are being employed by major corporations and government organisations around the world to infiltrate systems to test vulnerabilities, find, fix or remove bugs that slow the system down or cause it to malfunction and improve software and applications to ensure the networks operate at optimum levels, neuroscience is showing us that humans can now begin doing the same with their brains.
By understanding that the brain is your inner computer and your mind is the operator, you can begin to take more conscious control of your thinking so that it serves you better, rather than allowing the brain to run your life or career in autopilot.
We do this by understanding the key elements and functions of the brain that are responsible for how we think and more precisely, how we’re wired to think. With such an understanding, we can then begin to rewire our brains to think more positively and productively.
This brief post is not the place to go into detail about all the brain functions but it’s worth noting that mind hacking plays a crucial role in strengthening the brains ‘resilience’ centre and silencing its ‘fear’ centre.
In this respect, when I look back at the businesses, projects, sales channels and change programs I’ve led over the years, it’s proven to be one of the most effective tools in developing outstanding teams that think differently and achieve differently, better differently.
A key element of this is the use of mind hacks to challenge conventional thinking and open the mind to seeing things in new ways. In my keynote speech and corporate sessions I cover specific mind hacks that have created multi-million pounds gains in Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies, as well as adding hundreds of thousands in smaller organisations so feel free to enquire about these sessions for your organisation HERE or check out my website HERE for more information.
Not only has mind hacking helped to ensure, if I may say, that some very notable successes have been achieved in helping me change the climate of businesses but it’s also enabled the cultures to be free of the usual pressures, stresses and long hours that go with success.
The great thing about mind hacking is that you don’t need to be a neuroscientist or have a PhD to understand and use it, mind hacks are so simple to recall that they make change (improvement) easy and effective.
If you want to learn more about this developing area of personal and management development, just check out my Personal Leadership Mastery course HERE, which is full of useful management mind hacks.
Best,
Reece
#strongminds #mindhacking #mindhacks #productivity #managementtraining
