Brains, Bits, & Butterscotch

Dear Leaders, Entrepreneurs, Dreamers, and Creators of Great Things: I write these Love Letters each month with the hope of bringing you a little encouragement, some marketing help, and a few minutes of joy. Whether we are already friends or have yet to meet, I hope you’ll enjoy my stories from the road and some awesomely random takeaways, tools, tips, and updates.

Brains

Recently I learned something both weird and cool and a little bit scary.

Neuroscientists have discovered that your brain doesn’t care if your thoughts are true. It just believes whatever you repeat.

How crazy is that?!

Every time you think a thought, like, “I’m not good enough,” or “I’m unlucky,” or “I can’t do that,” your brain fires the same neurons. If you repeat the thought enough, those neurons wire together. And your brain literally starts building pathways around those limiting thoughts. They become permanently wired in your head.

But the opposite is also true. When you think, “I can do this,” or “I am improving,” or “I am capable,” your brain starts to wire pathways of strength and confidence.

This is called neuroplasticity – your brain’s ability to reshape itself based on the thoughts you continually feed it.

When I was a kid, one of my favorite books was The Little Engine That Could, by Watty Piper. Originally written in 1930, it’s the story of a little train locomotive that tries to pull a long train over a steep mountain. It’s best known for the line the engine repeats to itself over and over again, “I think I can. I think I can.” Little did we know that by repeating those words, we were rewiring our brains.

When we change our thoughts, we aren’t just “thinking positively” or changing our mindset. We are physically reprogramming the ways our brain works. Your brain becomes a reflection of your most consistent thoughts. Your brain listens to every word you speak.

So what are you telling it?

 

Bit by Bit

I want to share something that Jay Acunzo wrote recently, as it really resonated with me.

“Our work has to be about something.

I know you’d admit you want your work to make a difference. I feel the same way. But how often do we stop and consider what we mean by “difference” in the first place? To make a difference is not just “drive a result.” It’s a reference to something else: make a change. Make something DIFFERENT.

Leaders have to lead people to something.

The stories you tell, the work you do, the stance of leadership that you take — it can all only mean one thing. You’re here to lead people away from something and towards something else. You can’t have no position. You can’t make everyone feel comfortable. But things don’t improve unless we manage to push people out of their comfort zones, ever so slightly, bit by bit, over time.

I hate to make others feel uncomfortable, but I love the result of doing so: we make things better. We explore new possibilities. We feel fulfilled or serve others more deeply. We resonate.

If we’re really here to make a difference, than we can’t make zero people uncomfortable. Because the work has to be about something.”

If you want to make a difference, you will make people uncomfortable. Oof. That’s some good truth right there, friends.

 

This is where I share the good stuff.

… the latest websites, books, & tools that are inspiring me, the people who are making me smile, and the stuff I have been writing on sticky notes.

A quote that has changed my life:
“Success is just trying one time more than you fail. An adventure is a crisis you accept.” – Bertrand Piccard

Interesting thoughts on AI (and a great voice to follow). The BEST quote I have ever heard about your secret sauce.

My friend Jenn wrote a book that is going to change the way you look at work forever. Preorder it now!

The weather is getting colder here, and this is currently my favorite delicious thing to make. Yum.