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22 Tips to Optimize Your Brain

Created by Mark Waldman: Brain Hacker, Peace Maker, and Myth Buster
Faculty, College of Business, Loyola Marymount University

If you were given a choice between happiness and wealth, which would you
select? Most people will choose happiness, but your brain prefers wealth. In fact, a
single coin will stimulate the motivational centers of your brain more than
happiness, comfort food, or love. But why choose either when we can have both
inner and outer wealth.
Historically, the definition of wealth was a combination of health and well-
being. Today, neuroscience can show you how to optimize your brain to more
easily achieve inner and outer wealth. Here are some of the key elements that our
brain-scan research has revealed and some simple ways to integrate them into your
life.

1. Curiosity Inspires. Whenever we see or hear or discover something that is
new or different, our brain lights up with intrigue. It then releases the
pleasure chemical dopamine and this, in turn, increases consciousness and
our ability to achieve desired goals.

2. Relaxation Expands Consciousness. But goal-seeking and problem-solving
quickly tires the frontal lobes, generating stress, worry, and carelessness. By
taking several 10-second breaks every hour to slowly stretch different parts
of your body, youll think more clearly and have greater control over
emotional reactions.

3. Yawning is the Fastest Way to Relax. It slows down the metabolism of
your busy frontal lobes, and even a few fake yawns will generate a real one.
47 documented studies show that yawning decreases pain, anxiety, and
stress while increasing empathy and productivity at work.

4. Running is the Fastest Way to Interrupt Anxiety and Stress. When
yawning doesnt work, stand up and run in place as fast as you can for 20-30
seconds. Then stop and rest for 20-30 seconds, paying attention to how you
feel. Then run again. Do this 3-6 times, and it will give you the equivalent
of a 20 minute aerobic workout! Or, if you prefer, 60 seconds of aerobic
running once each hour throughout the day because the neurological and
physiological effects are accumulative.

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5. Daydream Your Way to Success. Its the most overlooked strategy for
reducing stress, improving memory retention and recall, and solving
problems efficiently. When you are concentrating on a project or goal, the
brain can only maintain focus for 5-10 minutes. Then it needs to take a rest.
This relaxed state of "mind-wandering," as neuroscientists call it, is essential
for integrating information into long-term memory. Daydreaming and mind-
wandering also stimulates the creativity centers of your brain.

6. Want to be More Successful? Write it Down! If you have a clear written
strategy, the research shows that you will be 50% more likely to reach your
goals if you write out a detailed step-by-step strategy. Create a Daily
Commitment Sheet by picking a simple goal (in the morning) that you
would like to accomplish that day. Write it down, along with three steps to
take to achieve it. Next, write down 2-3 ways you could sabotage your goal.
Finally write down counter-strategies for those sabotage behaviors.
Congratulations! You have applied the core principles of cognitive behavior
therapy that are proven to make you successful.

7. Self-Touch Improves Self-Confidence. Gently stroking the palms of your
hands helps your brain build a stronger self-image, and stroking your arms
decreases negative emotions. Add this simple strategy to your relaxation and
meditation practice.

8. Negative Thoughts Shut Down Your Brain. Anything unpleasant be it a
memory, feeling, or fantasy instantly turns off the motivation centers in
your brain. Consciousness is compromised, and the stress neurochemicals
that are released will interfere the functioning of every part of your brain.
Your right frontal lobe is a pessimist, and its always dreaming up potential
problems. But heres the good news: most of these negative thoughts are not
real! Each time you notice a worry or doubt, ask yourself this question: Is
there anything actually threatening you at this moment? The answer is
usually no. This allows us to turn on the optimist in your left frontal lobe
which is always dreaming up solutions to every problem that is real.

9. Optimism Improves the Functioning of Your Brain. Negative thoughts
are easily turned into long-term memories, and to insure that you dont
become a pessimist, you need to push your positivity ratio to 5:1. That
means you have to fill every hour of every day with ongoing hope, faith, and
optimism. Optimism adds two years to your life, so keep a positivity and
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negativity chart and deliberately train your brain to focus on every small
pleasure and success you experience throughout the day.

10. Long-Term Goals Turn on Immune-Enhancing Genes. Think about what
you would love to do for the next year, or even the next decade. Happiness is
not based on immediate gratification but the ability to overcome increasingly
difficult challenges.

11. Inner Values Give Your Life Meaning and Purpose: Make a list of
words that capture your three deepest personal values, your three deepest
work values, and your three deepest relationship values. By repeating any of
those words for 5-20 minutes a day, youll turn on 1200 stress-reducing
genes. If you ask yourself, once each morning, What is my deepest value
for today? youll eliminate most of your daily stress.

12. Turn Your Values into a Mantra: Pick two words that have deep meaning
and value words that make you feel calm, focused, and confident and put
them into the following sentence: I breathe in _____, I breathe out _____.
Or select a negative word of a quality you want to release and put it after the
phrase I breathe out _________. For example: I breathe in peace, I
breathe out stress. When you are struggling with an emotional problem, or
feeling pain or sadness, or having difficulty sleeping, repeat the phrase over
and over until you feel a sense of inner comfort and peace.

13. What Would You Do if You Were the Wealthiest Person in the World?
When you deeply contemplate this question and think about the ways you
could help others or improve the world, youll discover core elements to
what will give your life the most meaning and purpose. Take 5 minutes each
day doing something that will bring you closer to acting like the wealthiest
philanthropist in the world.

14. When Speaking, Remember the 10-10 Rule. Everyday consciousness is
the place where we make most of our daily decisions from. It's called
working memory, it can only hold 4 "chunks" of information and it occurs in
the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In general a single word contains one
chunk of information, and the human brain can only hold onto that
information for about 10 seconds. Which means if you want someone to
fully comprehend you, you'll need to speak one sentence - 10 words or less -
and then pause and let them respond. Try this experiment with a friend.
Youll both hold your fists in front of you, and for each word you speak,
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youll raise one finger. You must stop speaking when all 10 fingers are
raised. Youll quickly learn to convey more information in less time. The
listeners comprehension will increase, and youll both feel deep empathy
and intimacy for each other.

15. Have an Imaginary Fight. Want to win an argument before it begins?
Have an imaginary fight with the person in your head. Say what you really
want to say, and imagine how theyd respond. If you dont get the response
you want, rehearse in your mind the best thing to say to win the other
persons approval. New research shows that if you carry out a fantasy
dialog with someone you love or hate, you'll have better language and
coping skills when you meet face-to-face. Other research shows that people
who have imaginary conversations have a better emotional understanding of
others!

16. Lovingkindness Meditation Stimulates the Most Important Circuits in
Your Brain. Repeat this phrase whenever you feel anxious, tired, or
depressed: "May I be happy, may I be well, may I be filled with love and
peace." And when you want to eliminate the hurt and anger you feel toward
others, visualize that person as you repeat this phrase: May you be happy,
may you be well, may you be filled with love and peace. Finally, repeat
this phrase and notice how it makes you feel: "I am happy, I am well, I am
filled with love and peace." Brain-scan studies show that this meditation
stimulates the newest evolutionary structures that are involved with
empathy, compassion, and generosity, whereas anger, worry, and self-doubt
damages nearly every structure in your brain.

17. Record Your Daily Successes. Each evening, beginning tonight, write
down three things you did well and briefly explain why. If you do this for
seven days, research shows that your happiness and self-esteem will
continue to grow over the next three months! Imagine what could happen if
you did this exercise for 30 days!

18. Transcending Inner Speech. Everyday consciousness is filled with silent
inner speech. You cant eliminate it, but if you observe those rambling
thoughts and feelings without judging them staying deeply relaxed as you
do so youll begin to feel a growing sense of calmness and confidence. As
you watch this constant stream of consciousness, youll come to the
realization that you are not your thoughts. Then, when worrisome thoughts
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enter consciousness, you wont identify with them because you will know
that they arent real.

19. Listen to Your Inner Speech, But Trust Your Intuition. Intuition is a
specialized form of cognition. It is governed by unique spindle neurons
found in the anterior cingulate and insula, which are the same parts of your
brain that are stimulated by self-reflection and meditation You can ask your
intuition as though it were a separate person in your mind for advice,
and if you listen closely, youll sense a whisper of wisdom (like the voice of
an inner teacher) that will give you a deeper level of insight than what you
would normally access when you use the logic and reason of everyday
consciousness. Try this experiment right now. Think about a current
problem, and use your logic to come up with a solution. Write it down. Now
take several deep breaths and relax every muscle of your body. Now ask
your intuition for another solution, and listen to what you hear. It may take
several minutes, but write down whatever comes to mind. Notice how this
information has more depth. Before you take action, use both voices your
logic and your intuition to resolve problems more quickly and plan better
strategies to achieve your goals.

20. Accepting Your Weaknesses Increases Inner and Outer Wealth.
Perfectionism is another word for self-criticism, and those who strive for
perfection are the least likely to succeed. Write down, on a single sheet of
paper, all of your weakness and faults. Then, as you gaze at your list, repeat
over and over, I accept my weaknesses because they are part of who I am.
As the newest psychological research shows, acceptance is one of the most
effective ways to eliminate anxiety, depression, and stress.

21. Reality is Not Real. When we fully realize that everything we see, hear,
taste, touch, and feel are nothing more than fancy maps created by different
parts of our brain, we begin to look at the world differently. Instead of taking
things for granted, we come to appreciate the underlying beauty and
mystery of life. And this, our neuroscientific research suggests, brings us
closer to experiencing the reality that exists outside of the brain.

22. Become a Brainiac: Visit PubMed. Visit www.pubmed.gov to separate
facts from urban myths. Type in key words about any medical, health, or
biological question you have and you'll have access to every peer-reviewed
study published in the last 50-100 years. Rule #1: when looking at different
studies, don't cherry-pick because you can always find one study that
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supports your personal bias. Rule #2: look at the 10 most recent studies in
the last 4 years. Rule #3: refine your search and look for review studies and
meta-analytic studies. Rule #4: remember that "statistically significant" only
means the results are better than chance; most often the findings are only
slightly better than chance, and it probably will have little practical value for
your life. Rule #5: Does it beat placebo? Many FDA drugs no longer do,
which means if you believe it works, your belief is what probably makes it
work! And remember this general rule of thumb: today's science quickly
becomes tomorrow's pseudoscience!