Author: Loretta Breuning

Notes:

• 4 Types of Chemicals
  1. Dopamine: Rewards actions, builds motivation
  2. Endorphin: Ignore pain, escape harm, builds motivation
  3. Oxytocin: Builds trust, safety in companionship
  4. Serotonin: Get respect and social hierarchy/dominance
  • • Cortisol: Anxiety and Stress, build caution
• Hormone release tapers or drops over time, thus we seek thrills or new rewards
• Neurological Learning
  1. Myelin
     • Experience makes neuron efficient
     • Build faster at younger age, harder to retrain as older
  2. Synapse Enforcement
     • Learning is enhanced by
       • Repetition
         • Time-based repitition triggers wiring
       • Emotion
         • Heavy emotions trigger instant wiring
  3. Synapse Growth
     • Grows between used neurons
  4. Pruning
     • Majority pruning between 2-7y/o
     • Creates focus on learning
  5. Emotion Receptors
     • Undergoes growth and atrophy
     • Depending on receptors, we can be overwhelmed with emotion
     • Brain adapts to it over time
• Triggers of learning
  • Mirror neurons + Happy Hormones
  • Animals
    • Smaller cortex
    • Animals rely more on preloaded programs
  • Humans
    • Large cortex and numerous neurons are metabolically costly
    • Humans have larger cortex and are able to learn from experience
    • A lot of Neural learning is done in childhood
    • We can remodel our neural pathways through repetition and emotion
• Tactics
  • Dopamine
    • Celebrate small victories
    • Take small steps towards goal
      • Divide unpleasant tasks into small parts
      • Keep moving bar upwards
  • Endorphin
    • Laugh
    • Cry
    • Change up exercise routine
    • Stretch
  • Oxytocin
    • Small interactions / stepping stones
    • Be trustworthy
      • Works both ways
    • Verify first, trust will grow over time
    • Get a Massage
  • Serotonin
    • Express pride in accomplishments
    • Enjoy your current social position
    • Notice your influence
    • Make peace with what is outside your control
  • Others
    • Replacement habit that triggers happy hormones
    • Tagging / Bundling habits to learn with others
• Tools
  • Mirror the habits you want
  • Ensure balance in chemicals
  • Graft - look at how you can create branches of existing knowledge
  • Work on energy schedule - morning for most people
  • Fun - have fun while working
  • Chunk - process few inputs at a time