How do you unlock your full potential and become the best version of yourself? Dr Karolien Notebaert, neuroscientist and founder of Notebaert Consulting, provided Society Leaders at the Global SLC with ways to hack your brain and succeed.
In this popular session, Karolien explained that the brain is never at rest: “Spontaneous activation is used to filter all the information out there and give the world a meaning. This constantly changes depending on how we are feeling and what we are seeing.” The default mode network in our brains is dominantly active and ideas about our identity are in here; “This is the monkey in our mind,” Karolien added.
Karolien believes that your performance is a result of the potential you have, minus interferences. She highlighted that interferences are caused by “amygdala” in our brains, which can block us with feelings of anxiety or insecurity. Amygdala is quickly active and part of our survival response (fight, flight or freeze). Karolien emphasised the importance of using the prefrontal cortex of our brains, which is involved in executive functions (i.e. planning and decision-making) and is not spontaneously activated.
Karolien described that on busy days, when we use the prefrontal cortex a huge amount, the amygdala takes over and the brain cannot be in control. This mental state is called “depletion” and Karolien emphasised that, “In this state, you are the worst version of yourself.”
The workshop highlighted that if you receive negative feedback, the automatic reaction is to be angry or upset. However, if you are able to react with a conscious choice, Karolien believes you will have the freedom to decide your response. She suggested a strategy to help: “If you activate the direct experience network by bringing awareness to one of your senses (sight, sound, smell, taste or touch), you will deactivate the default mode network; thus reducing amygdala and significantly improving the prefrontal cortex so that interferences become smaller.” To show this in practice, the audience was asked to bring awareness to their senses, with their eyes closed, activating the direct experience network and making the “monkey” go away (if only for a few milliseconds).
To successfully train your brain to switch between the direct experience network and the default mode network, Karolien emphasised that mindfulness meditation is critical. She emphasised that you must “Practice, practice, practice” and that regularity is important: “Start with three minutes a day and then increase this over time.” There are many meditation apps that can be downloaded and she suggested searching for mindfulness on the app, Insight Timer.
Karolien argued that if you can self-regulate and recognise internal interferences, this will help you to succeed and reach your full potential. By bringing awareness to your direct experience network you can increase cognitive performance and cognitive flexibility (agility), improve your decision making, increase creativity and have more positive emotions.
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