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Your Brain Is Your Ally, Not Your Enemy
Your brain isn’t you, but it’s a partner you must work with
It’s a myth that we only use 20% of our brain, but I can see why it’s popular: It’s the perfect excuse.
How can I excel if the tools I need to do so are in a place I can’t access? If only there was a miracle drug…
In reality, even a single task can easily demand 35% of your brain’s capacity, and, over the course of a single day, most of us will access all 100% — just different areas at different times.
Still, many a movie has been made about said miracle drug, including Limitless, a film starring Bradley Cooper as a hard-up writer. After he discovers NZT-48 and finishes his book in a day, he makes millions in the stock market and enjoys his newfound life as a genius — until the side effects kick in.
It’s a nice movie to fuel our daydreams, but it also makes for a strong wake-up call because, as Lars van der Peet says in a video essay about the film, “it explores something we are all aware of: The perception that we are unfulfilled potential; that we aren’t doing everything we could and should be doing.”
Our frustration with our brains shows on many levels: You might be angry that you can’t remember what you wanted to say, feel depressed after being…
