Dr. Michael Merzenich

Pay close attention, okay, to this individual. Pay close attention to what he's learned as one of the leading scientists and researchers and co founders of Posit Science, a great company, as I mentioned before. So take a look at this video and I'll see you back in about 25 minutes. So, hey there, Michael. It's great to see you again.

It's nice to see you, John.

Awesome. So why don't we get right into it? I've already shared with everybody your background, and I'm fascinated with your research and fascinated with your accomplishments and what you've done over the last, I don't know how many years, but a lot of years, really focusing on the brain. And maybe we can start with making sure everybody understands what is neuroplasticity.

Well, John, it used to be thought that the brain was like a computer piece of hardware. You could say that's an alterable in an adult life. We now know that that's completely wrong. We now know that each time you improve an ability or each time you acquire a new ability, the brain actually specializes, it actually modifies itself, it revises itself. So, you know, you have a lifelong history of brain revision. You're actually changing the machinery that you carry around with you that's controlling your actions. And it's subject to continuous revision, in a sense, continuous improvement in advance, or, you know, you can also let it go to hell, you know, more or less under your control.

And I remember when I was, when I was younger and I was in school, they said that, you know, your brain is hardwired and you're born the way you're born, with your beliefs and your habits and things like, you know, you're just like your. And you can fill in the mic, your mother, your father, or your grandparents. And so in the research that you've done, what are some of the latest developments in how we develop? Maybe, you know, our beliefs or our levels of confidence or certainties. What we want to help people understand is how do they change their brain and their beliefs and their habits and their ideas around how much income they earn, how big they can grow their business. Because that's really one of the keys for many, many people.

Well, we teach ourselves these things and we basically develop strategies in how we approach our problems in life that are based on our experiences. And our experiences haven't necessarily been positive. So I decided a very simple example. If I engage you in a behavior in which you consistently get the answer wrong, it's obviously a way to grow your lack of confidence, right? So pretty soon you're insecure. Pretty soon you're, sir, you can't do anything right. And we see many examples amongst us of people who have had this history. But on the other hand, I can just turn things around, and I can get you consistently in behaviors and activities in which you usually succeed. And, of course, I grow your confidence.

So.

So you can see another side of this is that I can just tell you, John, be confident that you can change and improve for the better. And if you really believe that, John, it will have an impact on your operations in your brain. Because these things don't come out of the air. They actually come out of the physical characteristics of the operations of your brain.

Awesome. And so, as I understand it, every time we have a thought, every time we imagine something, every time we experience something good or negative, we're creating these neural patterns in the brain or neural circuits, just like a computer, which you referred to earlier. And is it accurate to say that once those neural circuits are repeated over and over and over again, or those patterns are repeated over and over again, they become fixed, and then it's hours to change as opposed to just staying the same?

One way to think about it, John, is that the brain changes in a positive way. When the brain judges that what is happening in your operations, in life is important to it. So it's very much dependent upon the context in which you're operating, which you're trying to operate or advance. And when it really matters to you, when it really matters to your brain, when the conditions are right, you're going to make the most neurological progress. You're actually going to advance the most from the point of view of the growth of your personal powers. And this has been shown in many, many ways. It's absolutely these characteristics that we think are more or less the characteristics that define us. Tell yourself a thousand times that you can't do things, and the brain is listening. Tell yourself a thousand times the brain, that you can do things, and the brain is also listening. Absolutely. These habits actually stem from brain use. They actually stem from how we engage the machine. And if we engage it appropriately, we can drive it positively and to a substantial extent.

Awesome. When I was in my teens, I played basketball competitively. And one of my coaches used to say, I want you to master all the basics and repeat them over and over and over again. And although I didn't know what he was doing back then, today I think about it in the terms of he was really reconditioning or conditioning my brain to be able to have the patterns to do those simple tasks repetitively and easily. Is that one of the things that the brain does naturally?

Absolutely, John. And actually this is something that is an important aspect of the brain training programs that we apply at BrainHQ and in other places, that is to say, a very closely repetitive but also progressive form of training in which basically we're trying to drive the brain from its present operational characteristics slowly, progressively, as far in a positive or improving direction as possible in these elemental skills that are the basis of all of our complex operations.

And so once the brain learns these new patterns and you give it, let's say, another, I know you call it exercise, I call it inner size, it develops this mental muscle and memory that then it becomes easier and easier to think that way, behave that way, and use those patterns again. Is that accurate?

But also, John, the bigger the foundation of, you could say, mastered skills and abilities, the more powerful that foundation you're writing with, the more complex and powerful ways you can extend it.