Latest / Just For Today / 151. Hebbs law
Transcript
- Cindy Marler: Good morning, everyone. Hebb's law, H-E-B-B, Hebb's law tells us that neurons that fire together, wire together. Here's a little neuroscience nerding out for you. A fundamental rule in neuroscience is that neurons that fire together, wire together. And you're like, what in the world? What does that mean? Okay. Well, this is good news for us, especially with a podcast like this. So when you experiencing something new, like let's say hearing a new word or taking a walk, then these neurons fire and there's an electrical impulse. Then when you repeat that action, they fire again, the same ones. And then if you repeat it again, a third or fourth time, they start building like a pathway and here's where the brain is incredible. Now they're building a pathway and now it just flows more freely. Okay. The problem is that If you there's also another expression called use it or lose it that comes from this basic principle again, because the brain is very efficient. It's actually ruthlessly efficient. So if you stop using a pathway, let's say you developed a habit of journaling every night before bed and now you have this pathway. And if you stop doing that and you lose sight of that, your brain's like, okay, we don't need that pathway anymore. I'm going to dismantle that road to save energy, to use it somewhere else. So you can't stop, otherwise you have to build it again. The good news is it's easy to build again. The brain doesn't hold it against you. Your pathways aren't like, not doing it again. This is our 10th time this year. She's tried to develop this journaling habit. No, no, no, the brain is so great. It just kind of forgets and starts over. So I want you to remember this. You are never stuck with your brain, the habits or your limitations. Every single choice you make is like a vote for a neural highway, a new pathway of wanting to build something. So you don't have to wait for inspiration. You just fire that circuit by doing it, then try doing it again and watch how your brain will help you make habits that can change your life. Just like listening to this podcast, you're doing the same thing. Every time you trigger your brain to turn this on within the first hour of waking up, you're telling your brain. And then eventually before you know it, you're just turning it on. turning it on, turning it on. And then if you get out of the habit, let's say you go on a long vacation or you go away to sleepaway camp. If you're a teenager and you don't have your phone, you might have to build that pathway again. But eventually it does the work for you. And then you might have to build it again if you lose it. remember, Hebb's law, do you guys remember what was Hebb's law? Neurons that fire together, wire together. Okay. Thank you, Heb. We appreciate your work in neuroscience, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.