Tag: Limbic Brain

How many of you REMEMBER the ALARM CLOCK named “CLOCKY”?This is why it was so SUCCESSFUL..

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Adopted from the following great insight shared by Chip and Dan Heath from Switch..

Gauri Nanda from MIT had designed a unique alarm clock with wheels named “Clocky”.

This clock was meant to start moving across the room using the wheels instead of giving the provision to “snooze”.

As a result of this the clock gave no chance to the user to neglect the alarm.

What a great invention to tame the “elephant” limbic brain.

Please see the link below(source today.com) for more details on the invention.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.today.com/today/amp/tdna133547

These insights on why the “human limbic brain” has no capability for rational thought

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Adopted from the following great insights shared by Malcolm Gladwell in Blink and Seth Godin’s insights from his book All marketers are Liars..

“Malcolm Gladwell’s brilliant book Blink, he proves conclusively that humans make decisions on almost no data—and then stick with those decisions regardless of information that might prove them wrong. We decide that a politician is just like us, and it doesn’t matter a lot when he misspeaks, makes poor decisions or even gets indicted. We’ve already made up our minds and we’re going to look at everything that happens through the rose-colored glasses we put on after that first meeting.”

Characteristics of “Gut Decisions”

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“Gut Decisions” just feel right.

It all happens in the part of the brain known as the LIMBIC BRAIN.

It is not an accident that we use the word “feel” to explain those decisions.

The reasons that gut decisions feel right is because the part of the brain that controls them also controls our feelings.

Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why

Why do companies STRUGGLE to communicate their TRUE VALUE?

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The struggle that so many companies have to differentiate or communicate their true value to the outside world is NOT a BUSINESS PROBLEM.

Rather it is a BIOLOGY PROBLEM.

This is just like a person struggling to put emotions to words relying on metaphors , imagery etc. in order to attempt what we feel.

Exactly for organizations such a message which has to be understood by the human LIMBIC brain needs to be based on belief and stories which have no rational explanation.

Once communication starts inside OUT from WHY to HOW and WHAT the message becomes easy to understand and more credible.

Adopted from Simon Sinek’s book Start With Why

Overcoming resistance of the limbic brain

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The limbic brain or the lizard brain in human beings is the single biggest resistance towards change.

Its inherent tendency is to anticipate fear and stay away from things that bring in a change to the status quo.

A linchpin conquers the resistance of the limbic brain and is open to take calculated risks.

“It is impossible to be a linchpin if you agree to feed your anxiety.”

Adopted from Seth Godin’s book Linchpin.

Handling high state of “emotional arousal”

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The limbic part of our human brain is responsible for all emotions.

A high state of emotional arousal is when performance starts deteriorating out of stress , tension , anxiety.

A basic principle of the human brain suggests that a negative emotion has a far lasting impact than a positive emotion.

Since the limbic brain and rational brain work inversely , in a state of high emotional arousal i.e. negative , effective use of symbols instead of elaborate messaging can go a long way in giving control to the prefrontal cortex as against the linbic brain to reduce the arousal.

This is how great leaders are able to stay calm and use their rational senses when confronted with difficult and emotionally charged situations.