The Neuroscience of Change: How to Rewire Your Brain

The mysteries of the mind are many and complex, but neuroscience is beginning to unravel some of them. Neuroplasticity, or the ability to rewire your brain, is one that I’m particularly interested in. Extensive studies by neuroscientists confirm that mental processes can actually alter the physical structure of brain matter – neural networks in particular. This is especially good news for those of us who struggle to make good habits stick, regardless of how badly we want to make positive choices.

This fascination with rewiring the brain led me to a number of visits to Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, a research psychiatrist and one of the world’s leading experts in neuroplasticity, as well as the author of a book called Brain Lock. I sought him out due to his breakthrough work on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). And here's the thing: He doesn't use drugs to treat patients; he teaches them to rewire their brains by changing how they think.

If Dr. Schwartz can help people break free of that kind of mental rigidity, think what can be done with a mind that doesn’t suffer from such a condition. So whether you’re out there trying to kick a bad habit, come up with new and original ideas, shift business focus, develop company culture, or change the world, Dr. Schwartz’s four-step approach may help you successfully rewire your brain.

Here’s a look at his method, which he has confirmed can be used to positively create change in any area of our personal or professional lives.

1. Relabel Thoughts as Deceptive Brain Experiences

According to Schwartz, the first step to rewiring your brain is to put a label on the given thought, feeling, or behavior to help you recognize what it actually is. For example, if an unwanted thought creeps in, you might relabel it as a “false message” or “brain glitch.” This process helps you train yourself to avoid being tricked by automatic thought patterns, feelings, and behaviors. You can step back and say, “This is just my brain sending me a false message.” (Someone with OCD might say, “I am having a compulsive urge to check the stove” instead of “I have to check the stove.”)

This process can be harder than it seems. The point is to try to mindfully understand superficial, involuntary brain habits at a deep, neurological level. Next time you’re struggling to come up with a new idea and impulsively assume “I’m not creative enough to solve this problem,” consider labeling that unhelpful thought for what it really is: an uncomfortable sensation that makes you feel like you’re not capable, even if you are.

2. Reattribute the Thought to Its Real Source

The second step to help successfully rewire your brain focuses on answering the question, “Why do these thoughts and tendencies keep coming back?” The true answer is almost always “it’s not me, it’s my brain!” The brain can misfire, get stuck in gear, create mental noise, and send false messages – all out of years of engrained habit, or even clinically dysfunctional neural networks (as in the case of OCD). If you understand why unhelpful thought patterns or habits are always popping up, you may eventually be able to recognize that they’re just “brain glitches” that you can manually override.

Say a lifelong procrastinator keeps postponing an important project. This is a good opportunity to try to assess why they tend to put it off rather than get it done. Maybe they think they’re bored, but it’s just an excuse to avoid getting started. Or maybe they have perfectionist tendencies and are afraid of failure. Regardless of the rationale, they can start to rewire the brain by reattributing the setback to its actual source: Procrastination often results from a battle between the prefrontal cortex (the part of the brain responsible for complex planning and decision-making) and the limbic system (the part of the brain that says do what feels good, now). In general, the prefrontal cortex is less developed than the limbic system, so the “feel good” part of the brain often wins, perpetuating the cycle of procrastination. In other words, it’s your brain, not you.

That raises the natural next question: What can you do about it?

3. Refocus Your Mind by Shifting to a Positive Activity

The third step to rewiring your brain can usually be the toughest as it requires actually changing your behavior. According to Schwartz’s method, this involves taking the initiative to direct your attention toward a productive or wholesome activity in spite of any false or deceptive thoughts. For example, refuse to be misled by unhelpful messages – “I’m not creative enough to solve this problem” – and instead go for a brief walk or refocus on a hobby you enjoy. This can give you the time and space to help you recognize that automatic thought patterns can be invalid. When you refocus, your mind can take charge of your brain, allowing you to begin changing your mindset at a neurochemical level.

It’s like manually shifting the gears of a car. “The automatic transmission isn’t working, so you manually override it,” says Schwartz. “With positive, desirable alternatives – they can be anything you enjoy and can do consistently each and every time – you are actually repairing the gearbox. The more you do it, the smoother the shifting becomes. Like most other things, the more you practice, the more easy and natural it becomes, because your brain is beginning to function more efficiently, calling up the new pattern without thinking about it.”

4. Revalue Your Thoughts for What They Objectively Are

The rewiring process all comes together in the fourth step, which is the combined effect of the first three steps. Every time you relabel, reattribute, and refocus, your brain creates a new connection. Repeating these actions can reinforce the connection. As a result, you can begin to “revalue” old patterns as distractions or habits engrained within the brain. You can assess how accurate or valid those thoughts are, what would happen if you gave into them, and what you want to achieve instead of falling back on the habits you want to break. In turn, patterns that once held you back become deceptive brain messages with little to no value. As you work on rewiring your brain over time, the old tendencies can begin to fade in intensity altogether.

Then, “two very positive things happen,” Schwartz says. “The first is that you're happier, because you have control over your behavioral response to your thoughts and feelings. The second thing is that by doing that, you change the faulty brain chemistry.”

The Bottom Line

Schwartz confirmed that although he’s focused on treating OCD, his methods could be used to rewire the brain to create change in any area of business, work, or life. “Since it has been scientifically demonstrated that the brain has been altered through the behavior change, it’s safe to say that you could do the same thing by altering responses to any number of other behaviors.” What all of this means to me is that we can learn to improve our ability to defeat the mental traps we tend to fall into, especially when facing a challenge. 

A version of this article was originally published on July 07, 2011.

Photo: Getty Images