Stage 4 · 20 minutes

Brain hack two: emotion

Why emotion decides what your brain treats as important, and how to use it deliberately.

The power of emotions

Emotions play an important part in real and simulated actions. Emotions:

Increase the significance of an event to your brain
Prioritise the event for long-term memory storage and recall
Sharpen your brain’s focus on that event
Trigger a stronger physiological response (heart rate, cortisol) reinforcing importance

The stronger the emotional element, the greater the physiological and memorable impact. Weak emotion reduces importance, making the event forgettable and unable to hold your brain’s attention.

Your brain does not limit or inhibit your emotions when you imagine something. When you imagine a situation, you feel it as if you were there.

That is exactly why today’s exercise asks you to feel it, not just see it.

Imagine your Next Version of Me: Exercise 2.0

Imagine 5 min

All of it, with feeling

Reread everything about what you want to BE, DO, HAVE and how you want to spend your MONEY, TIME and ENERGY. Imagine for 5 minutes living all of it. Make it vivid, detailed, multi-sensory and emotional. Play it like an epic movie trailer, flicking between seeing yourself and experiencing it as yourself.

Score it

Give your Next Version of Me a score out of 10 and note it down: “NEXT ME <score>”

Repeat at least once more today.

Well done! See you tomorrow.

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This course is educational and not a substitute for therapy or medical advice.