The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.
As a leader, it is important to understand that what YOU do, and do not do, and what YOU action and what YOU ignore has the biggest single impact on YOUR organisation and YOUR people.
The pleasure of talking about ourselves
Have you ever been at a party where someone has talked about themselves without pause? You may have thought this a case of “too much information”, but science is begging to differ.
According to new research from Harvard University, disclosing information about yourself may be intrinsically rewarding.
What turned you on today?
For those familiar with brain principles, neuroscientists have identified that our brains know how to do one of these two things very well: avoid pain or seek pleasure. As humans, we have always pursued pleasure as an essential part of our survival, devoting time and resources to get what we want. And it is important we understand it so we can make the right choices.
What turns us on varies from person to person and most societal systems have tried to moderate “certain pleasures” with laws and systems. In many cases, it has not worked.
Why? One very good reason is the fact that pleasure is hard-wired in all of us. Latest findings reveal that a small group of regions inside the brain called the pleasure circuit is where pleasure “lives”.
Author David Linden, a professor of Neuroscience from John Hopkins University in America has studied how the anatomy of pleasure works and how easily addictions can develop if we allow our cells, molecules and chemicals to go wild.
Well-known motivation speaker, Anthony Robbins once said:
The secret of living a successful life is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you’re in control of your life. If you don’t, life controls you.
So what are some of the things that we can learn from the science of pleasure?
Humans perform basic activities that are rewarding to our brains such as eating, drinking and mating. Thanks to this, we are able to survive and procreate.
The brain’s circuits of pleasure become activated in the same way by both virtue and vice (ranging from orgasm, sweets, fatty acids, exercise, prayer, social approval, drugs or donating to charity). It is up to us what we choose.
What makes pleasure compelling is that these circuits are interconnected with other brain regions creating memories, associations, emotions and social meaning to the things we find rewarding.
On entrepreneurship and the creative brain
“Being an entrepreneur means you have to wear many hats”, say the experts. I would like to suggest that being an entrepreneur requires the person to have the ability to use brain circuits that he/she may not have explored before.
Those who enter the artistic industries, in general, seem to have a tendency for thinking about concepts, exploring their artistic vein and projecting themselves into the future with great ideas and a willingness to experiment.
This is a good start if one considers that ideas are the fuel to make things happen.
However, it is not enough. To achieve success in any enterprise, it is vital to develop ourselves in areas that may not be our “preferred ones” but are critical in acquiring the “entrepreneur” mindset.
So… what is important to learn?
1) How to establish processes and systems that will save us time, particularly when we are starting a new venture
2) How to promote ourselves, what we do (or can do) and our products and services
3) How to be socially intelligent so we can develop positive relationships with clients, providers or people that work with us
4) How we are (yes…. self-knowledge), our reactions and how to manage them, particularly when things do not go the way we expect.
5) How to manage the cash flow so we do not spend more than we earn
6) How to portray a vision and communicate it to others
These six points are undoubtedly a product of what our brains can or cannot do. Learning how “our brains” work will make us more aware and attentive to those behaviours that may get in the way of our success.
The good news is that our brains are plastic, which means that we can build new connections between neurons all the time. This is an extraordinary finding because we can modify habits that are less useful or attain new ones that can help us become a more rounded individual, therefore a better entrepreneur.
When I read a great quote or a story, I get inspired. When I get inspired I get energised. When I am energised, I smile more, give more, do more. And everyone arounds me gets more engaged. Look for what inspires you DAILY.
A brain scan may reveal the neural signs of depression, but a Beethoven symphony reveals what that depression feels like. Both perspectives are necessary if we are to fully grasp the nature of mind, yet they are rarely brought together.
Abstract thinking leads to greater creativity… That means if we care about innovation we need to be more abstract… But in our businesses and our lives, we often do the opposite. We intensify our focus rather than widen our view. We draw closer rather than step back.
For those who seek certainty in uncertain times, here is the famous poem by Robert Frost, written in 1915.
Perhaps it provides some comfort, perhaps some inspiration.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood and looked down one as far as I could
to where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair, and having perhaps the better claim
because it was greasy and wanted wear; though as for that, the passing there
had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay in leaves no feet had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh, somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I….
I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.
- Page 1 of 8
- Next »
