Thursday, September 14, 2023

Reframe Your Brain

Scott Adams holds that your brain is just a moist computer and, just like a computer, it can be programmed.  This book provides the code to reprogram your brain.  If your thoughts guide your actions, then changing your thoughts will lead to a change in your actions.  Often times, the code doesn't need to make sense.  One of his more effective ways of cutting down on drinking was to say to himself that 'alcohol is poison.'  Though not literally true, his brain soon accepted this reframe and he very rarely drinks.  Really, who wants to drink poison.  Some have used this same reframe except for sugar.  'Sugar is poison' might be a good way to lose weight.  The idea is to have a particular thought appear when you are tempted.

You: Gee, that candy bar looks tasty.

Your brain: Sugar is poison.

You: Better not.

The point is to get the reframe stuck in your head.  Many of his reframes are just looking at things from a different perspective.  He suggests replacing 'be yourself' with 'become a better version of yourself.'

The book is packed with reframes to implement.  There are reframes for success, mental health, social life, physical fitness, and even reality.  Many appeared silly, but a reframe does not need to make sense to be effective.  If you view the world as a computer simulation and yourself as just a player, that might be an effective way to motivate yourself.  Won't work for everyone, but you just need to find the reframes that work for you.

As a regular viewer of his podcast, Coffee with Scott Adams, I had been exposed to his reframes already.  This is a great resource for upgrading the software in your brain.  Recommended.

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