John Assaraf explains why emotion drives behavior more than logic. Ideas start in your left prefrontal cortex, but vivid images hit emotional centers and release dopamine, which actually motivates you to pursue goals. Fear does the opposite, triggering doubt and procrastination instead.
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Hey, this is John and the age old question, logic versus emotion. Left brain, right brain, guess what? Number one, your whole brain's always working. And the question around logic versus emotion, around which is more powerful has been answered through some of the most recent scientific brain research. And here's the answer you actually need both, because they're equally important. But I actually think that emotion drives your behavior even more. And let me explain. Every idea that you have starts in your left prefrontal cortex. And every image or vision has an emotional impact within the deepest, oldest parts of your brain. Now, if the emotion for that vision is too small, your motivational center, it's called the nucleus accumbens, won't be activated. And what that means is that you're not going to get any of that feel good legal drug called dopamine that won't be released. And when dopamine isn't released, the goal that you have really won't feel important enough for you to expend any energy on and go after. If you have an idea or a goal and the emotional reaction is negative because you've activated the fear centers of your brain, your motivational center turns off. And guess what you'll do? You'll have doubts, you'll have fear, you'll procrastinate, you'll come up with all the reasons why you shouldn't or can't go after or even be able to achieve that goal. So the key here is this. When you have a goal and you emotionally stimulate, okay, the positive ideas and aspects of that goal, you're also stimulating the motor cortex of your brain, and you start to figure out how to make the goal or dream a reality. What you have to manage is to make sure that, that your positive emotions are not too strong or too weak. Because if they're too strong, what happens is you start to act impulsively and carelessly like an addict. And you become more susceptible to risky behaviors, cause you to make mistakes. The beautiful thing that you can learn how to do is to have balance between the emotional center of your brain, which is the amygdala, which is just above the ears, inside your brain, and the idea center of your brain, your left prefrontal cortex. And what this requires you to do and be is aware, socially aware, personally aware. And what happens when you are compassionate with yourself around the goals and dreams you want to achieve. You're activating the insula and anterior cingulate in your brain. And what all of this does is it gets you to start carefully analyzing all of the things that you feel and all the things you want to achieve. And we do that through our logical mind or brain. So we use both to choose the goals. We use both to activate the different parts of our brain. And that really brings out the genius that's right within you.
