Emily McDonald, a neuroscientist, shares three ways to reach your goals: rewire your brain by repeatedly focusing on what you want, write your goals down (research shows this increases success by 42%), and adopt empowering identity labels like "winner" instead of "procrastinator" because they become self-fulfilling.
42%
Here are three science backed strategies to achieving your goals that I'm using right now as a neuroscientist. The first secret is to realize that your brain works just like the social media algorithm. When you talk about something or you're thinking about it and you open up social media and there it is right there on your timeline. When you set goals and you remind yourself of these goals, you rewire your brain and you teach your brain what's important. Your brain will then start to look for things in reality to align you with the goals that you have. Your brain creates your reality algorithm. This leads me to secret number two, which is to actually write out your goals in a list. Because research shows that writing out your goals increases your likelihood of success by 42%. And now you know why. Because writing out your goals helps to wire them into your brain which helps to shift your life algorithm. And secret number three is that the labels that you identify with are a self fulfilling prophecy. Research shows that even your name impacts your personality. As you develop, the labels that you identify with determine what you become. If you identify as a winner, you're more likely to win. If you identify as a procrastinator, you're more likely to procrastinate. But please do not forget that you have the power to decide who you are.
