Peter Hollins - Neuro-Discipline: Everyday Neuroscience for Self-Discipline, Focus, and Defeating Your Brains Impulsive and Distracted Nature

By Peter Hollins,

Author and Researcher at petehollins.com

Neuro-Discipline: Everyday Neuroscience for Self-Discipline, Focus, and Defeating Your Brains Impulsive and Distracted Nature

Table of Contents

A Tale of Two Brains

Give Me What I Want

The Speed of Self-Discipline

The Essence of Sacrifice

Me, Myself, and I

Behavior Chains

Pleasure Now, Pleasure Later

Smaller, Faster, Closer

Deconstruct Pleasure

Environmental Assistance

Shift Your Focus

What Did You Say to Me?

Know Your Style

Excuses, Excuses

Delay, Delay, Delay

Keep Your Mind

The Master of Discomfort

Kate had always wanted to learn French, but she was having some problems. It wasnt just the pronunciation or reading comprehension; she wasnt even at that point yet. She was unable to carve out time in her schedule to even learn how to order a croissant and coffee.

Her daily schedule looked something like the following:

8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.: Work

5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.: Exercise or meet a friend for coffee

7:30 to 9: 30 p.m.: Eat dinner and watch television or meet a friend for dinner

9:30 to 11:00 p.m.: Unwind from the day, update social media, and catch up on gossip from friends

11:30 p.m.: Time for sleep

One day over lunch, she put this schedule into writing and showed it to a friend she was complaining to about not being able to achieve her goals with French. How could she ever make time to learn French? She was so busy! Her friend took a moment to consider how he wanted to spend the next 30 minutes of his life and then simply agreed with Kate that it was too difficult, and they had a pleasant and nondescript lunch together.

In reality, all of us are Kate at some point or another. We have goals, whether lofty or low, that we cant seem to reach. It feels like its out of our power, and it might even feel like a fantasy. Is it actually true that Kate is destined to be monolingual and have her dreams of retiring in rural France dashed to the ground? No, but its not her fault if thats her starting point.

Were not excusing laziness or letting our goals fall by the wayside, but we do need to acknowledge that our brains are simply programmed to do as little work as possible, seek maximum pleasure, and generally bask in the sun like a house cat. Kate is just an illustration of how our brains are the opposite of goal-oriented, except when it comes to instant gratification and the fulfillment of only short-term pleasuresfor her, these are exercising, eating, and socializing with friends. She is unwilling to delay or sacrifice what she wants (these daily pleasures), so she remains stuck in place, though very comfortable.

Much of what we will discuss in this book is either directly or indirectly designed to battle our own brains and rise above our natural instincts. This is the actual neuroscience of self-discipline, motivation, and getting things done. The same instincts that make us human are the ones that make us binge eat, act against our own best interests, and keep us firmly rooted in a place that we dont want.

These struggles all start from the way that our brains have developed over time, and understanding our brains basic structure will provide mental orientation. We have to pay attention to two components in particular.

The cerebral cortex is probably the most recognizable part of the brain, as weve seen the brain depicted in biology textbooksthe gray matter that physically resembles a thick sponge. The cerebral cortex is the processor of thought, reason, language, and general consciousness. It may help to assign a so-called avatar to each portion of the brain, and since this portion is focused on analytical thought, this is the Albert Einstein portion. The cerebral cortex is further divided into four subcomponents called lobes, but we are only concerned with the frontal lobe. Thus, we typically refer to the prefrontal cortex.

The prefrontal cortex is probably where most of us exist in our minds: the conscious and analytical part of us that makes choices based on the information weve obtained. Its basically the hub of free will and our personality development, including decision-making, planning, and thought and analysis. Its like the conference room of the mind.

The prefrontal cortex is where we try to organize our behavior and thoughts with the goals weve set up. Its typically associated with executive functionwhere we make judgments and decisions and formulate strategies to align our actions with our beliefs, like moral or value judgments (good vs. bad, better vs. best), qualitative assessments (similarities and differences), consequential thinking (what will happen if certain actions are taken, whats the predicted outcome), and social behavior. Specifically, the ventral medial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex show increased activity when engaging in tasks that require self-discipline and thinking about long-term consequences.

We use the prefrontal cortex to predict stock market rises, strategize marriage proposals, figure out if were going to dress up as a goth, and decide where to get lunch. As you might suspect, this is the part of the brain where self-discipline lives. But just like Albert Einstein, it is frail and not very strong. The component responsible for holding poor Albert Einstein in a figurative chokehold is the limbic system.

The limbic system is an umbrella term for all the structures that govern our emotions, stress responses, and instinctual drives for sex and hunger, for instance. As you again may have suspected, its often the part of our brain that we want to shut off because it is behind our lack of self-discipline. Simply put, if we are unable to regulate our drives or impulses, or are ruled by our emotions, then thinking critically and analytically becomes nearly impossible. The limbic system thinks it is still the year 10,000 BC and hasnt updated itself despite the world around it changing dramatically.

A useful avatar for the limbic system is a skittish cat that runs and hides first and foremost. Theres no thinking, only a reaction based on a desire to fulfill some unconscious instinct. And just like the cat, the limbic system becomes fierce and dangerous if it feels caged. Sometimes it will do nearly anything to run and hide.

The limbic system is always watching out for us, which is great in theory, but it can also be unnecessarily restrictive. Imagine how phobias and anxiety can derail you despite your best intentionsthose are both the result of the limbic system not being adequately balanced by the prefrontal cortex. Both the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system very badly want to make our decisions for us, and as such, theyre frequently battling each other for that responsibility. Its your good old-fashioned conflict between logic and emotion.

This struggle is what makes self-discipline so difficult. As your prefrontal cortex is making evidence- and logic-based decisions, your limbic system hijacks that process with its emotional response. Kate sought out the emotional responses of comfort and pleasure, and those were drives that were ultimately too strong for her to overcome. The limbic systems pursuit of pleasure and/or relief can be so powerful that it will overwhelm the supreme reason of the prefrontal cortex, driving one to make unfortunate choices.

For instance, you are probably already familiar with one facet of the limbic system that makes us completely incapable of reasoned thought: the