🧠How happiness scientifically makes you smarter.
Increase the bandwidth of your brainpower with 'positive priming'.
It might seem obvious, but there are reasons behind why you perform better when you’re happy. And the great news, is that you can hack your brain to be happier and therefore smarter—backed by science.
One of the ways you can increase the bandwidth of your brainpower is through ‘positive priming’. This psychological term is helpful not only for when you’re feeling stuck creatively, it could also enhance your overall productivity.
Everything you need to know
Before going straight to practice and trying it out for yourself, there are a few priming 101 lessons you need to first understand:
Priming is a phenomenon whereby exposure to one stimulus influences the response to the subsequent stimulus without conscious guidance and intention.
Example: You go buy oranges from the shop and you’re ready to eat sweet and juicy fruits, only to find out they turn out to be dry and not tasty at all. This experience has primed you for the next time you see oranges.
Priming works most effectively when two stimuli are in the same modality.
Example: Visual priming works best with visual cues, verbal priming works best with verbal cues, and suchlike.
You can leverage human ability to prime and use it to your advantage.
Example: If you know that you’ll have to write a blog post, you can prime yourself by visualizing it step by step; how you prepare your workstation, open your laptop, create a new document, and start typing.
Learn more about priming from the Productivity Guy on YouTube in his 2-minute explanation here.
Positive vs negative priming
Positive priming does not necessarily mean inducing a happy thought; it means exposing the brain to a stimulus that accelerates processing. By contrast, negative priming slows the brain down.
Positive psychologists have found that giving subjects a jolt of happiness accelerates multiple brain functions. Like how reminiscing on the happiest day of your life before a math test will significantly help you outperform your peers.
In your day-to-day life, you can also easily activate this part of your brain. Five of the the most common ways include:
Eating your favorite snack
Speaking to a loved one
Thinking of the happiest day of your life
Trying "laughter yoga"
Listening to your favorite artist’s music
Find more examples on how positive priming could help in terms of practicality here.
The secret priming ingredients
It seems that we collectively agree, as a society, that success births happiness. The truth is, it’s actually a full cycle that starts with happiness itself.
Happiness improves your productivity —> brings you closer to & achieve success —> gives you satisfaction and makes you happy —> amplifies your productivity —> the cycle goes on.
Arguably, there are at least 6 factors that help with achieving productivity through positive priming:
Excitement
Each morning, think about something your are looking forward to that day, that week, that month, or that year. Â Build excitement to prep yourself for the future.
Gratitude
Each night, write down three things you are grateful for. Even better, if it is a person, tell them. Shoot them a message, give them a call, or tell them in person. Â
Amusement
Laughing primes you for success. Watch a funny video, listen to a joke, tell a joke, share a humorous story. It’s great to do during your downtimes.
Awe
Allow yourself to be in awe of your surroundings. A task may be extremely challenging, but appreciating the beauty of its outcome will be very helpful.
Anticipation
Having an optimistic outlook helps you look towards the future, especially after you hit a not-so-great shot. It can also keep your momentum going.
Calmness
Take 5-10 minutes a day with no distractions. If you get distracted, start your counting over and shift back to your breath.
Wanna know a fun fact? These 6 tips are actually taken from a Golfing blog. Who knew Golfing could be such a universal sport! Check out the full article here (part 1) and here (part 2).
Have you actually tried out positive priming without even realizing?
Now that you’re equipped with this knowledge, you can put it to practice whenever you need.
Prime yourself for the week ahead with this week’s Monday Mavens edition, and we’ll see you again next week!