Unlock your brain's potential with neuroplasticity. Dive into the incredible world of mind transformation. Learn from real studies: how London cab drivers change their brains and how jazz pianists enhance creativity. Understand the brain's chemical, structural, and functional shifts, plus why struggle is your path to change. Don't miss this eye-opening episode! 🧠🌟
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Unlock your brain's potential with neuroplasticity. Dive into the incredible world of mind transformation. Learn from real studies: how London cab drivers change their brains and how jazz pianists enhance creativity. Understand the brain's chemical, structural, and functional shifts, plus why struggle is your path to change. Don't miss this eye-opening episode! 🧠🌟
This podcast is 100% donation driven. If you like the content I provide I would truly appreciate any donation you have to offer.
Here's how you can donate:
VENMO
PAYPAL
CASH APP
Need other options? Email me at:
dariusdotch@gmail.com
Listen to Dotch Music!
What's up everybody, and thank you for listening to Mastering the Mindset. My name is Darius Dutch and I'm an actor, hip hop artist and fitness and life coach. I'm here to personally help you train and improve your mindset so that you can 1. Become the best version of yourself mentally and 2. Gain focus and motivation to be able to take action and achieve the success in life that you want and deserve. Before we get started, please like and subscribe to my channel and at the end of this episode, if you liked it, please share it with a friend or a loved one or someone who would benefit from hearing this message. I'm so glad you're here and I'm ready to go on this journey with you, and that journey begins now. Hey, and welcome back to another episode. Thank you so much for being here. I appreciate you listening to me. Let's go ahead and jump in it.
Speaker 1:Today, let's talk about something that's called neuroplasticity and how to change your brain and the science behind it, and I think this episode is a really important one, because one of the things I'm sure you all have heard somebody say is this is who I am, this is who I always been, this is who I'm always going to be, and in reality, that don't have to be true. In reality, you can shape and mold yourself into almost anybody you want to be. We can change ourselves. We just have to take the right steps and take the right actions to get us there. If we change the right actions, over time, if we keep doing it, those actions we take, those actions we changed, they'll become habits and that's what change in the brain comes, which will lead to changes in who we are. So, if there are areas in your life that you want to change, if you take different actions, your life will start to be different. And it sounds so simple and it really is. We can understand that concept, but easier said than done, right, obviously.
Speaker 1:Now talking about neuroplasticity, what that word means in layman terms is the science of how your brain changes, the science of how to change your brain, how your brain changes and reorganizes itself. So let's dive in. So again, there is a science and there is science and real facts about the things I talk about on here. I don't want you to think I'm just some dude with a podcast that's just pulling random stuff from what I think sounds good. No real facts, real science, and I'm going to share with you some interesting studies I came across, and this one comes from an entrepreneur and life coach by the name of Rob Dile, and in his book Level Up he talks about a few studies.
Speaker 1:The first one I'll talk about is a study done on London taxi cab drivers. Now, in London, the cab drivers they can't use navigation systems. It's kind of weird in my opinion, but they're not allowed to by the government, and it comes from a law that was way back in 1865 for horse cabbages Not as I can sure how those two correlate, but from what I read, that's where this law comes from and they carried all the way into now. And so now that's just the way it is. The law prevents taxi cab drivers from relying on maps, so all the cab drivers in London rely on memory, memory, only just memory. And they all have to pass this exam. The name of it is called the knowledge, and they have to learn every street and be able to navigate around the city much better than the average driver. And check this out London has 25,000 streets, 25,000. And it takes some drivers up to four years to be able to learn it all. Ain't that crazy? That's like going to school, so you can imagine, half of the applicants fail, and that's fact. Half of them fail. So here comes the study.
Speaker 1:So neuroscientists studied the impact of this on the driver's brains. They followed 79 aspiring cab drivers for four years and they prepared, as they prepared, to take this test, the knowledge, and they did MRIs on all 79 of them and they found that all of the drivers had around the same size hippocampus, and the hippocampus is the part of your brain that deals with the kind of memory you need for navigation. So again, they all had about the same size hippocampus and after four years 39 of them passed that test, so about half. And after those four years they did a scan on all the drivers, again, another MRI and they found that the hippocampi that's the plural for hippocampus probably myself learning that one, let me say it again they found that the hippocampi in the brains of the drivers who passed the test were larger than the drivers who failed. During those four years those cab drivers brains literally changed. They all started with about the same size hippocampus but after four years the ones who passed the test had larger ones. So they weren't born that way, but through dedication and action and practice they changed their brain.
Speaker 1:And, of course, the reason I brought this study up is that no matter who you are, no matter who you are, you can change your brain to do the things you need to do. If you're terrible at memory, you can get your memory to be better. If you're bad with focus, you can get your focus to be better. If you're bad with spatial recognition, you can get your spatial recognition to be better. If you suck at math, if you suck at music, you can be better with math. You can be better with music. You can change if you want to change. So let's talk about some of these changes that your brain will go through that Rob Dile talks about in his book. So there are three steps your brain will go through when it's starting to change, and the first one is a chemical change, and the chemical change is a short-term memory type of thing.
Speaker 1:So let's say you start to learn how to play the piano right, and you sit down with the piano teacher and they teach you how to play Mary had a Little Lamb. And let's say it's an hour-long session and after that hour session you feel like, huh, I feel kind of good. I feel like I got this song down. You can play it pretty good after that hour. Now let's say you take a week off and then you come back a week later and you try to play that song, you're going to realize, okay, damn, I don't have it, it ain't all here. I'm not as good as I was a week ago. Has that ever happened to you? Me personally, I took a keyboard and class in high school and I went through this all year round, all the time Plus. I didn't really take it as seriously as I wish I would have, which is a whole another story.
Speaker 1:But this is why a lot of times in, let's say, rehearsal, in the rehearsal process let's say we work on a scene the day before and we finish it the next day the director will run that scene at the top of rehearsal before they go on to the next scene, just to get it back fresh in your mind. Because once you move away from that scene and you come back to it, it won't all 100% be there and this is, like I said, a chemical change in your brain, or short term change. The electrical signals in your brain didn't actually rewire yet. It's just a short change. That's why you can learn how to do something today and you'll suck at it tomorrow, while you can learn a scene today and come back to it after the weekend and forget where you're supposed to even step on stage at. It happens all the time. It's a short chemical change. That's not the change. That's not going to change your brain.
Speaker 1:Now how do you change your brain? By showing up consistently over and over again. Repetition is the mother of all skill. When you do something day in and day out, it starts to change your brain, which goes into part number two, which is structurally changing your brain. First step is chemical change. So if I show up to rehearsal and learn a scene and go through a full rehearsal process, which is usually six days a week for a whole month, and each time I do the scene I go deeper and deeper into my character. I start learning to play more. I start to know my scene partners, lines because I've heard them say them so many times by now. So by now I have the timing down and when my next line is coming, the structure of my brain will have changed. The synopsis in my brain will have rewired. When you consistently do something over and over again, your brain will change and you start to change the structure of your brain and you start to become better at whatever it is you're doing. You're going to be way better at playing. Mary had a little lamb after one month than after one hour, and any musician would tell you that. Right. So let's go a little further, to step three, which is the function of your brain actually starting to change. So one is chemical to a structural and the third is the function of the brain changing.
Speaker 1:And let me give you a quick quote from Rob Dowell. He says researchers have scanned the brains. Excuse me, researchers have scanned the brains of pianist when they play the piano and found that their brains pump less blood to the regions associated with fine motor skills compared to the average person's brain. This means that the brain doesn't have to expand as much energy to concentrate. Pianist weren't born this way. Their brains developed over time with practice. So okay, now hold up for a second.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about that. You would think that when a pianist sits down, especially if they've been doing it for decades and if they're a master pianist, you would think that their brains would be like okay, I'm going to send more blood to this part of your brain so you can focus and play better. But that's not how it works Now. It does that for the chemical and the structural change, but in the functional change your brain requires less blood for you to be able to play the piano, and this has happened to all of us at some point. Right, as a matter of fact, we all do it, and you probably do it a few times a week. And I'll prove it to you. How many times have you drove home from work or from a certain direction on the highway and you don't even remember the drive? You look up and you realize, oh damn, I'm almost home. I forgot to stop to get milk. For the opposite, when you're not going to work but you head in the same direction, then you end up taking that turn towards your job, even though you don't work that day. Your brain has done it so many times that you don't even need to think about it. It doesn't need as much to function. We all been there, done that. This happens to me all the time, and let me read some more.
Speaker 1:So another researcher discovered that experienced jazz pianist, while improvising, created different connections in the frontal lobe of their brains compared to those who didn't play piano. This part of the brain is responsible for problem solving, decision making and also spontaneity, which means that these pianists could turn off parts of their brain that will automatically provide a stereotypical response. This allowed them to play in a way that was true, that was a true representation of who they were and not copy someone else, and that makes so much sense, especially if you think about jazz music and how improvisational it is. So if they've been doing it for a long time and they're really good, the part of their brains that have been changed are the areas for problem solving, decision making and spontaneity, which means that as they become better musicians, they get better with problem solving and decision making outside of playing the piano. So by being a jazz player, a jazz piano player, they literally change the function of their brain, which goes to show you that if you want to change something, let's say you want to get better at pickleball Random, I know, but I kind of want to learn how to play pickleball. Looks fun as hell. But let's say you want to get better at pickleball. Not only would you get better at it, but you'll start to change other areas in your life, in your brain, because you're going to change the chemical parts of your brain, the structural parts of your brain and, in the long term, the functional parts of your brain, which proves that you need to continue to keep showing up. You have to do that thing over and over again, over. That thing is.
Speaker 1:Repetition is the mother of all skill and we all know that for the most part right. When you start to learn something, it takes time, it takes effort. So what it comes down to, when you start to learn something, there will be struggle, and in this book he talks about how many neuroscientists they say this. They say that when you struggle, that when you struggle to do something, that this is the most important part. When you fail at doing something, it's more important than succeeding. And what happens is it's gonna feel like stress, it's gonna feel like agitation. When you struggle, it feels like this because your brain releases something called acetylcholin and epinephrine, which is another name for adrenaline. It releases these chemicals inside your brain and it does this in order for you to focus. And this is the crazy part, this is the cool part, actually. Your brain will release acetylcholin and epinephrine in your brain at the Exact point it needs to change. It basically finds where your brain needs to change and it releases this and it basically Marks it. So think about that. The feeling in your body when you release these chemicals in your body is stress. It feels like agitation and stress, and that stress and agitation is showing you that your brain, it's about to change itself. The more you get to this point, the more you will change. It marks those neurons that need to be changed. When you struggle to get better at something that is the most important part of getting better struggling. Your brain is working to change that for you.
Speaker 1:And let me give you an example. I'll use theater as an example again. Now I would love to tell you that I ain't never make a mistake on stage and if I did, I will be lying. But I think the biggest mistake I ever made and it was actually the first professional show I've ever done I was in a show called broke allergy at Pillsbury House Theater and Basically the whole show comes to a point of a decision at the end of the plane that my character has to make. He had to choose between going back to school and getting his masters or Staying at home and helping his brother take care of the sick and dying father, and the decision was a tough one for the character, the two brothers. They have been debating about this decision a whole play. The other brother wanted him to stay. My character wanted to leave and go, make a make life different, make life better, not only for him but for the family. And it's literally like the last page in the play, right, and I'm supposed to say I've made my decision, I'm not staying, I'm going. And what did I say? Of course I said I've made my decision, I'm not going, I'm not staying, I'm going. And when I tell you In that moment, the stress and agitation when that wrong line came out, man and I beat myself up for over a week after that. But guess what, it never happened again.
Speaker 1:Every time I came up to that part in the script, I have the most focus. My brain had corrected it and my point is, when you're trying to change something, trying to learn something, do things differently, go after a goal or change habits, when you start to feel that pressure of messing up or struggling, it's a good thing. Your brain is marking that spot and it's going to work at making it better and eventually, just like the rest of all my other lines in the play, like driving home from work, you'll be at a level where you're not even thinking about it. But, like I always say, it takes time. It takes effort and dedication, and, and again, repetition is the mother of all skill. So again, you can change your brain on the chemical level, the structural level and on the functional level. Now you know how. So that's what I got for you today.
Speaker 1:Thank you again for being here. Like I always say, please share this on social media. Make sure you tag me. It's gonna help me grow this podcast. I also leave a rating or feedback on whatever platform you listen to me on. Right, I'm on all platforms, or the majority of podcast platforms. I don't know where people are listening from, but Wherever you are, leave a rating. That's also gonna help me reach more people, which means the bigger impact I will make on the world because, at the end of the day, that's why I'm here. So let's go ahead and uh ride on out. Thank you again.
Speaker 1:Welcome to East Side High. You can lean on me. Live life on the highs to keep it low key. So, dope, I can be your OZ. You better thank GOD for your moolah.
Speaker 1:If you heard my name, it's a rumor. I'm on night brain like a tumor. I make them hoes sweat like zumbas. I mean I'm vicious. I mean I'm women. I mean I'm trippin. I mean I'm sippin. I already had two cups, but if I pass the juice, I run, whether running on streets or running on business meetings. Better lay show shoes up and better button that suit up.
Speaker 1:If you was the F, I fall and catch a bad break. Man, you can lean on me like a new crutch. God, look at you. Good, you know where I been. Look I'm put. Love. They can never eclipse me. They can block my shine Cause I'm way too lunar, cause I grind all day till the sun go down and I moon up. I wake up and say hallelujah, you got to be Archimandula, but they give me nuts that can loot up Mine. They gon' be jumpin in water and come out with dumbbells that will cool us Right out in the future. Go get you a scooter. They about to kick in the world with us.
Speaker 1:Watch, you can lean on me like a kickstand and when it goes down like quicksand, you can lean on me. Put everything on me. Sometimes you got to lean on me. I'm the one you can't lean on. And now you gon' be straight. Hold your head, be strong and lean on me. Can I lean on you?
Speaker 1:I hit my cousin, say what's up? He came through with a blunt. We talked about dreams. He said why not you? He said do it for the family, for your blood. Like I'm parout, and this cheeky head tried to pull me down. But I'm too fly this. What the fuck I do? Still got a bird's eye view. But who can you trust when people try to throw you under the bus? I just want a window, seat Me and the broccol by.
Speaker 1:Do I know they want me to strike out? I'm still callin' my shots out and then I swing like roof man and it's ball. Three, strike two, eight and I'm getting big. Yeah, it's to be so little, but now I'm in beast mode. I need some skittles. And I've been knocked down. They was looking at me like he ain't gonna get up and she like rollin' on email and she ain't gonna fill up. Yeah, they better pay me.
Speaker 1:I need more shrilla. Couldn't be more villa? Be finna, get lit. Be me more liquor. They javu this seem familiar. Lookin' at me like I'm in your mirror. Lookin' at you like I need your liver Damn die.
Speaker 1:While you, being so bitter, mind your own, I'm bein' your business and the world keep turnin' the bro, keep on spinnin'. My team go be keep on winnin' them. Police gon' keep on killin'. It's amazing how we keep on living, tellin' me opportunity knocks. Where I'm from is ding dong ditching. We can't breathe, but they ain't gonna listen. You can take a double styrofoam cup and pour it all over my shirt, so, in other words, you can lean on me. Put everything on me. Sometimes you gotta hate it. I'm the one you can't hate. I know you gon' be straight, hold your head and be strong and lean on me. Can I lean on you? Yeah, sometimes you gotta hate it, I'm the one you can't hate. I know you gon' be straight, hold your head and be strong and lean on me. Can I lean on you? Yeah, oh, oh, oh, oh. Lean on me. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.