How to ACHIEVE ANYTHING | Neuroscience tricks

Summary

In this neuroscience-focused video, Dr. Sadat Warrior explores the brain's role in achieving dreams. He explains the interplay between the limbic system, which seeks pleasure and avoids sadness, and the prefrontal cortex, which plans and executes long-term goals. Dr. Warrior offers three practical steps to turn dreams into reality: writing about dreams to engage the PFC, converting dreams into measurable goals, and breaking goals into SMART objectives. He also advises celebrating small wins to keep motivation high and suggests not sharing dreams prematurely to avoid the limbic system's quest for immediate validation.

Takeaways

• 😊 Dreams can make us happy by providing a sense of anticipation and motivation.
• 🤔 Dreams come from the limbic system, which is responsible for our emotions and desires.
• 🧠 The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is logical and helps in planning and executing long-term goals.
• ✍️ Writing down your dreams helps the PFC understand and remember your motivations.
• 🎯 Convert dreams into specific, tangible goals with clear targets and timeframes.
• 🔍 Break down goals into SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) objectives.
• 📅 Regularly review your progress and adjust objectives based on your success rate.
• 🏆 Celebrate small wins to keep the limbic system motivated and engaged in the journey.
• 🔄 The ideal failure rate is 25%, meaning occasional failure is normal and keeps you striving.
• 🤫 Don't share your dreams prematurely to avoid quick validation and maintain focus on achieving your goals.

Q & A

What is the primary focus of Dr. Sadat Warrior's YouTube video?

The primary focus of the video is on the neuroscience of achieving dreams and three neuroscience hacks to make dreams come true.

Why do people enjoy dreaming, according to Dr. Warrior?

People enjoy dreaming because dreams come from the limbic system, which seeks happiness and avoids sadness. Dreaming gives a sense of pleasure and fulfillment, similar to a drug.

What is the role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in achieving dreams?

The prefrontal cortex is responsible for planning, calculating probabilities, and executing long-term actions needed to achieve dreams. It must take control from the limbic system to turn dreams into reality.

What are the three steps Dr. Warrior suggests to make a dream come true?

1. Write about your dream and why you want to achieve it. 2. Convert the dream into tangible, measurable goals. 3. Break down each goal into specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives.

Why is it important to write about your dream?

Writing about your dream helps the prefrontal cortex understand and remember the motivation behind it. Using words, a tool of the PFC, solidifies the commitment to the dream.

What is the difference between dreams and goals?

Dreams are abstract ideas placed in the future, while goals are tangible, short-term targets that are clearly described and measurable.

How should you set objectives to achieve your goals?

Objectives should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. This helps in tracking progress and making necessary adjustments.

What is the ideal failure rate for setting objectives, and why?

The ideal failure rate is 25%, meaning you achieve your objectives 75% of the time. This balance keeps you motivated and ensures the objectives are challenging yet attainable.

Why might the limbic system interfere with achieving long-term goals?

The limbic system seeks immediate gratification and may get frustrated with the long-term nature of goals, potentially convincing the PFC to give up and seek new, more immediately rewarding dreams.

Why does Dr. Warrior advise against sharing your dreams too early?

Prematurely sharing dreams can lead to quick validation from others, which satisfies the limbic system and diminishes the drive to achieve the dream. It’s better to share once you have set goals and started making progress.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 The Joy of Dreaming Big

The introduction encourages viewers to recall their last significant dream and reflect on their happiness while dreaming. It questions whether they achieved it and explores the reasons behind their success or failure. Dr. Sadat Warrior introduces herself as a neurologist and sets the stage to discuss the neuroscience of achieving dreams and three specific neuroscience hacks to make dreams a reality.

05:03

🧠 How Dreams Form in the Brain

Dr. Warrior explains that dreams are narratives we create from our memories and observations, often focused on the future. She highlights that dreams originate from the limbic system, the emotional part of the brain, which seeks happiness and avoids sadness. The prefrontal cortex (PFC), responsible for logical planning, cannot function effectively if the limbic system is overly active. The interplay between these brain regions influences our ability to make dreams come true.

🚀 From Dreams to Actions

To turn dreams into reality, actions are necessary. The limbic system can trigger short-term reactions, while the prefrontal cortex is capable of sustained, long-term actions. Dr. Warrior emphasizes the importance of empowering the PFC by translating dreams into concrete actions. She introduces three steps to achieve this: writing about the dream, converting the dream into a goal, and breaking the goal into specific objectives.

📋 SMART Objectives for Success

The key to achieving dreams lies in setting clear objectives. Dr. Warrior introduces the SMART criteria: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. She explains each element with examples, such as setting a specific weight loss goal and ensuring it is measurable and achievable. Regular reviews and adjustments are essential to maintain progress and motivation.

🎉 Celebrating Small Wins

The primary challenge in achieving dreams is managing emotions. The limbic system seeks immediate gratification, which can conflict with the long-term planning of the PFC. Dr. Warrior advises celebrating small wins to keep the limbic system content, ensuring a smoother journey towards the ultimate goal. This approach helps harmonize the emotional and logical parts of the brain, facilitating a state of flow where every part of the brain works towards the same objective.

🤫 The Power of Silence and Accountability

Dr. Warrior concludes with advice on sharing dreams. She cautions against premature sharing to avoid the limbic system's quick validation trap. Instead, one should wait until concrete goals and objectives are in place. Sharing dreams at the right time can lead to accountability and added motivation. The video ends with encouragement for viewers to share, like, and subscribe to support the channel and stay motivated for their journey.

Keywords

💡Limbic system

The limbic system is a part of the brain involved in emotional processing and motivation. In the video, Dr. Warrior explains that dreams originate from the limbic system, which seeks pleasure and avoids pain, influencing our desires and aspirations. It reacts to emotionally charged stimuli, driving us to chase dreams that make us feel good.

💡Prefrontal cortex (PFC)

The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain associated with planning, decision-making, and rational thought. Dr. Warrior highlights that the PFC is responsible for turning dreams into actionable plans and goals. It requires the limbic system to be calm to function effectively, enabling long-term goal setting and sustained action.

💡Dreams

Dreams are imaginative scenarios that our minds create, often involving our aspirations and future goals. According to Dr. Warrior, dreams are driven by the limbic system and provide emotional satisfaction. However, to achieve dreams, they must be translated into concrete goals and actions by the prefrontal cortex.

💡Goals

Goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound targets derived from dreams. Dr. Warrior emphasizes the importance of converting dreams into goals to make them attainable. Goals provide a clear roadmap for achieving what we aspire to, breaking down abstract dreams into actionable steps.

💡SMART objectives

SMART objectives are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals. This framework helps in setting clear and attainable objectives. Dr. Warrior explains that using SMART objectives is crucial for breaking down goals into manageable tasks, ensuring consistent progress towards achieving dreams.

💡Emotions

Emotions are the feelings that arise from the limbic system, influencing our motivation and actions. The video discusses how emotions can both drive and hinder the achievement of dreams. While positive emotions can motivate us, negative emotions can cause distractions, making it essential to manage emotions effectively.

💡Flow state

Flow state is a mental state where individuals are fully immersed and focused on an activity, often leading to high productivity and enjoyment. Dr. Warrior describes this state as the harmony between the limbic system and the prefrontal cortex, where all parts of the brain work together towards achieving goals.

💡Motivation

Motivation is the drive to pursue and achieve goals. It is influenced by the limbic system and can be sustained by clear goals and small wins. Dr. Warrior emphasizes the importance of understanding one's motivation, or 'why,' to keep going during challenging times in the pursuit of dreams.

💡Validation

Validation refers to the acknowledgment and acceptance of one's feelings or ideas by others. In the video, Dr. Warrior cautions against seeking premature validation by sharing dreams too early, as it can give the limbic system a false sense of achievement, reducing the drive to pursue actual goals.

💡Small wins

Small wins are minor achievements along the journey towards a larger goal. Celebrating these helps to keep the limbic system satisfied and motivated. Dr. Warrior suggests recognizing and rewarding small accomplishments to maintain motivation and make the overall journey towards achieving dreams more manageable and enjoyable.

Highlights

Introduction to the concept of achieving dreams and three neuroscience hacks to make them possible.

Explanation of dreams as stories created from memories and influences, which make us feel something about the future.

The limbic system in the brain is responsible for creating dreams and emotions, seeking happiness or avoiding sadness.

The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is the logical part of the brain that plans for the future and calculates probabilities.

The PFC cannot function effectively if the limbic system is distracted and focused on its own pleasure.

Actions are necessary to convert thoughts into reality, and the PFC is responsible for sustained, long-term actions.

Step 1: Write about your dream, including why you want to achieve it and how it will make you feel.

Step 2: Convert the dream into a goal by making it tangible and measurable in the short term.

Step 3: Break down each goal into specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives.

Regularly review your progress and adjust the difficulty of your objectives to maintain motivation and progress.

The importance of celebrating small wins to keep the limbic system satisfied and prevent it from overpowering the PFC.

Achieving goals and seeing dreams come true can align the limbic system and PFC, leading to a state of flow.

Advice to avoid prematurely sharing dreams with others to prevent the limbic system from getting quick, cheap validation.

Sharing dreams with others can be beneficial once goals are set and progress is being made, as it can provide accountability and motivation.

Encouragement to subscribe to the YouTube channel for more content on neuroscience and achieving dreams.

Transcripts

think of the last big dream that you had

when you wanted to achieve something

maybe you wanted to get fit or maybe you

wanted to learn a new skill think of how

happy it made you dreaming that dream

but did you manage to do it and if not

why not and what can you do to make it

happen that's what we're going to talk

about in today's video hi everyone I'm

Dr Sadat Warrior I'm a neurologist and

welcome to my YouTube channel where we

talk about neuroscience and everything

in today's video we are talking about

the Neuroscience of achieving dreams and

three Neuroscience hacks that you can

use to make this possible Let's Go

dreams are stories that we create for

ourselves from our memories from things

that we see from other people's lives

and there are stories that make us feel

something and dreams are always about

the future someday I will do this

someday this will happen to me like Rik

Roshan is

Z where he stands in that big Bungalow

and thinks someday I will own a house

like this but why do we like to dream so

much in fact we like to dream so much

that we can get lost in them where we

don't want to come back to our everyday

lives and if somebody reminds us that sa

it feels like a rude shock but why does

this happen in the brain Dreams Come

From A Part called as the lyic system

which is the emot

part of the brain now the lyic system

wants to think about and do things that

make it happy or make it go away from

sadness so whenever it comes across any

imaginary idea or story that can give it

that sense of kick which ma if it can

feel that it will keep chasing it like

it's a drug so when you find a dream

that makes you feel good you will keep

on dreaming it but the prefrontal cortex

part of your brain is more logical it

wants to plan the future it wants to

calculate

probability but the problem is that the

prefrontal cortex cannot do its job if

the lyic system is distracted if the

lyic system is doing its own trip which

is why the prefrontal cortex has to wait

it has to wait until the limic calms

down and finally say

a and that is what we call getting back

to reality so how can we make dreams

come true remember that the only thing

that can convert thoughts which are just

electric signals in the brain into

reality is actions so at some point your

body has to do something physical to

make things happen now both your limbic

and your PFC can do action but there is

a difference lyic actions are very short

term in fact they're not really actions

they are

reactions you angry let's fight

everything that the limic does is very

reactionary and

reaction some dreams do happen because

of reactions you get some opportunity

suddenly and you react in a good way and

that dream can come true but the truth

is that most dreams only come true with

sustained action over a long term when

you consistently plan and execute some

things and this is the job of the

prefrontal cortex so how do we make a

dream come true you have to give power

to the prefrontal cortex as long as the

dream remains in limic the chances are

less that it will come to life so here

are three steps to help you do this step

number one take your dream and write

about it write about why you want to

achieve that dream write about how it

will make you feel whether you'll be

happy proud write about what motivate

you right now words are a PFC tool the

more words you use to describe an

emotion the more the PFC understands it

and this is also important because you

have to remember your original

motivation your original why because at

some point when you're struggling with

the dream this why is what will keep you

going step number two convert the dream

into a goal now what is the difference

between dreams and goals dreams are

abstract ideas placed sometime in the

vague future but goals are tangible

targets something that can be described

clearly and measured in short term like

in weeks to months for example if your

dream is to get fit then your goals

would be to work out regularly for 3

months and to lose weight and it always

helps if the goals have some number

attached to it and as you get closer and

closer to the dream your goals can and

should keep changing and finally step

number three is to take each goal and

break it down into objectives now this

is the key step the difference between

achieving and not achieving your dream

is how well you can convert it into

clean objectives there is an acronym

that you can use to set out your

objectives and the acronym is smart so

what does it stand for S is specific

make sure that you describe specifically

the objective that you want to achieve

so for example if you want to lose

weight how much weight if you want to go

to the gym then how regularly should you

go to the gym twice a week Thrice a week

or every day M is for measurable your

objective has to be easily measurable so

that it is easier to keep track of it if

your objective is something like I want

to feel good every day that's not

something that you can measure and keep

track so that's not a great objective

number three is achievable is the

objective that you have set achievable

for you and the only way you can know

about this is by comparing it with your

previous patterns and this is very

important because of the failure ratio

that I will talk about after this R is

for Relevant does your objective fit in

with the larger picture of your dream

and T is time bound always set a time

limit for when you want to achieve your

objective by now how do you know if

you're on track to achieve your

objectives every month do a review of

how far you've come where you've reached

and what did you not do now suppose you

reached your target objective only 10%

of the time clearly the difficulty level

of that objective is too high and you

need to set easier targets for yourself

but suppose if you were able to do it

100% of the time you could actually

increase the difficulty of your

objective and aim higher in fact there

is an ideal failure rate of 1 and four

which means that if 25% of the times you

fail that is good it keeps you motivated

learning to adjust the difficulty level

of the objectives you set for yourself

is key to achieving your dreams so what

are the challenges here why aren't

everyone able to achieve their dreams

the main challenge is emotions remember

that dreams come from the limic system

and the lyic system wants to feel good

all the time it wants to feel sexy it

wants to feel validated it wants to feel

like it has achieved something amazing

even if it is just an imagination but

when the PF decides to set goals and go

after objectives this is a longer Road

where the rewards happen much later and

so the limic system can get frustrated

it might run out of patience and it

might convince the PFC it might

overpower the PFC and say that forget

about this let me start dreaming about

something else now because it's new it's

exciting and my rewards are immediate

this is why you must celebrate small

wins make the limic feel good for for

the small achievements that you get

along the way like if you're on a long

road journey and there's a child in the

car and the child is cranky you give the

child a toy to play with so that it is

calm while you reach your end goal that

is how you should think of your olymic

system keep celebrating it

congratulating it for the small wins and

your overall Journey will be much calmer

and eventually when you achieve your

goals and you can see your dream coming

true the anticipation of that will

convince the lyic system also to join in

and then the lyic and your PFC will work

together to make your dreams come true

and that is one of the best feelings

ever anyone who has found true passion

in their lives will have experienced

this where there is no more conflict and

every part of their brain actually wants

to do the same thing and that is what

Flow State means a final word of advice

don't tell too many people about your

dreams because this is also a trick that

the lyic system pulls to get some quick

and cheap validation in fact don't tell

them until you have set your goals and

you've started achieving your objectives

once you realize that you've hit your

ideal failure rate that is when you can

start telling people so that they can

hold you accountable and give you that

added motivation but till then

prematurely sharing your dreams can be

counterproductive because the limic has

already gotten its validation because

people have said oh wow that sounds

amazing and now the liic

feels share this video with your friends

who are Aiming High and like this video

so that it can reach to more people if

you like this video consider subscribing

to the channel it means a lot to me and

it acts as a motivation boost for me to

keep creating more such content for you

guys so all the best to all of you good

luck for the new year and I'll see you

in the next video

cheers