Jun 7, 20193 min read

Neuroplasticity and creating lasting habits with James Garrett.

When it comes to creating new habits, neuroscience has a lot to teach us that will help us succeed. In this episode, James Garrett helps us understand how we can literally "re-wire" our brains to make new habits work for us.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from the interview.

You are deeply powerful.
You have way more potential than you've ever expected.
Tiny Habits are the key.
It takes about 66 days to create a new habit.
We have these "today" versions of ourselves, and our "ideal" version of ourselves. The ideal version of ourselves is the dormant potential that is sitting inside of ourselves.
Self Compassion is an effective behavior change strategy.

I left this interview with James Garrett inspired and ready to immediately try some of his suggestions.

Here's your homework for this episode.

When you complete these assignments you will successfully make your first big steps towards re-wiring your brain to make three new habits work for you.

Your Assignments

Do 66 days of tracking three new habits on a calendar. - Get two months of any blank calendar. - Draw an cross in box to divide each day into 4 squares. - Pick three tiny-habits you want to work on for the next 66 days. - The first three squares of each day are for tracking the completion of each of your three tiny-habits. - The 4th square is to confirm you let your accountability partner know you completed these.
Repeat after me: "I will be kind to myself."
Journal Prompt: "Who would I like to show up as in this world?"
Get James Garrett's $200 Master Your Habits course for FREE! - Text the word Brain to 44144. - You'll receive an auto-response asking for your email which will then give you immediate access to his course. I did this and am learning a lot already!

About James Garrett

Adapted from his bio on: www.brainbydesign.com/meet-james

For over a decade, I've been studying and teaching the psychology of success, and unpacking the brain science behind what makes human beings thrive. As an entrepreneur, scientist, trainer, and coach, I am passionate about turning academic knowledge about the human brain into practical tools that anyone can use to change their life—and the world.

Having built a highly successful social startup—and having gone through a major burnout along the way—I feel deeply and personally that we need to change the way we live, work, and innovate. So I've spent the past several years building powerful, 100% evidence-based tools that help individuals and organizations maximize their productivity, creativity & joy.

With my wife, Shaylyn Romney Garrett, I Co-Founded Think Unlimited, a social venture working to catalyze innovation and entrepreneurship in the Middle East. Our work (including one of the first and only curricula on creativity and innovation taught in the Middle East) has been featured in the New York Times, FastCompany, LinkedIn, Harvard Business Review, and Arab Investor. In 2011 we were honored with the prestigious Draper Richards Kaplan Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship, and were finalists in the global Echoing Green Competition. We were twice awarded a coveted membership to the Clinton Global Initiative, and have been speakers at TEDx and Harvard Arab Weekend.

Since returning from the Middle East, I've trained, coached, and mentored hundreds of people in an effort to make the best brain science applicable and accessible to everyone.

My true calling is to bridge the gap between academia and the real world, but my journey started in the lab. My research and writing on snap judgments, self-efficacy, and emotional intelligence has been published in top scientific journals, including the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and PLOS ONE. I graduated summa cum laude in Psychology from Columbia University.