Have you ever heard that we only use about 10 percent of our brain? If that is the case what in the world is going on with the other 90 percent? Well, here are some answers to that question. The 10 percent of your brain that this is referring to is actually your conscious brain. This is the part that we use while we’re awake and allows us to think and communicate. About 45 percent of our brain is the un-conscious part. This is used for functions that we don’t think much about like breathing, blinking (or in some cases, when my wife drives her car . . . just kidding hon!). The remaining 45 percent or so is our subconscious brain. This is where our memory, creativity and emotions come from.  Understanding this subconscious part is where people can really make a difference in how they think and what they do. Yet few people leverage this part of the brain and few understand how to program or better yet how to re-program their subconscious brain.

I’m sure we’ve all experienced the battle in our minds about what we should do and then what we actually do. You know, that extra serving at Thanksgiving dinner that we know we shouldn’t have. Or that one last drink before we leave the party. Our conscious brain keeps telling us we shouldn’t. But our subconscious brain, having all the emotion seems to always win out. This is because it has been “programmed” over time and has learned from our previous behaviors. Once it meets its objective and wins the battle with your conscious brain, it kind of goes away leaving you to wonder, “why did I just do that?” Unless you re-program this part of the brain you will continue to make decisions and behave in the way your brain has been used to over the years. If you are happy with that then great! However, if you wish to have different results in your business and your life then you’d better make some changes. And it can all start with your subconscious brain.

First decide on what you want, not necessarily what you don’t want. Kind of like telling yourself to remember rather than telling yourself “don’t forget.” Because when you tell yourself to “don’t forget” most times guess what happens? You forget. So be very clear about what you want and then try to program those things into your subconscious mind. Some people do this through visualization or daily affirmations. Some use meditation to accomplish this. Some create what are called “dream charts” where they paste pictures of all the things they want on a poster board or just put them on the fridge to constantly remind themselves of their goals. Money goals usually don’t work well since it’s what the money can buy us rather than the money itself that we really want. Once you figure out what you want it is just a matter of mental rehearsal that these things become programmed into your brain.

Some people are very skeptical about whether this type of brain “programming” can really change things. But I can tell you, if you are thinking the right way, the way that will get you to the things you want, you will find yourself actually saying and doing the right things. And before you know it you start accomplishing the things you set out to accomplish. So before your write this idea off as a bunch of B.S. give it try. Who knows, you might actually start using more than 10 percent of your brain.