10 Powerful Mind-Body Hacks to Break Limits and Unlock Growth

Overview

Leaders are learners. People don’t begin as experts, after all. We must gain experience, invest in ourselves, and apply what we learn. But unlocking this growth is easier said than done. When we’re feeling stuck, mind hacks can be a helpful way for us to overcome obstacles, gain perspective, and acquire knowledge.

Mind hacks and other learning techniques are part of a lifelong pursuit of learning that extends beyond formal education. Mind hacking rejects the belief that people can’t learn or grow past a certain age. By contrast, research suggests that structured learning opportunities help older adults’ cognitive abilities “resemble those of adults 30 years younger at the program’s end,” write psychology professors Rachel Wu and Jessica A. Church. 

For workplace leaders, the implications are clear: Learning should be a career-long pursuit for ourselves and our teams. Learn more about mind hacks, some of the most common brain-hacking techniques, and how the Whole Brain Thinking framework can encourage learning and new perspectives.

What Does It Mean to Hack Your Mind?

Mind hacking refers to the intentional and strategic use of techniques and practices to optimize the functioning of the mind and enhance cognitive abilities. This strategy involves testing and adopting specific approaches to learning, changing habits, overcoming limitations, and unlocking untapped potential.

Mind hacking is relevant in personal development as it empowers people to take control of their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in pursuit of improved performance, well-being, and growth. 

Mind hacking can be known by other names, including brain hacking and metacognition, which is essentially the act of people thinking about thinking.

Why a Growth Mindset Is Crucial for Mind-Hacking

The idea of a growth mindset comes from psychologist Carol Dweck, who posits that people can take two approaches to life: One, that your intelligence and personality are fixed and predetermined, or two, that they can be developed through effort.

You can’t learn from your mistakes if your intelligence and personality are fixed. But with a growth mindset, mistakes become an opportunity. As Dweck writes, “In this mindset, the hand you’re dealt is just the starting point for development.”

Embracing change becomes easier with a growth mindset because people become more open to new experiences, ideas, and perspectives. By cultivating a growth mindset, people can enhance their resilience, adaptability, and willingness to step out of their comfort zones.

A growth mindset is essential for mind hacking, as both depend on the belief that people can learn, grow, and develop rather than being limited by forces out of their control.

Other Definitions of Mind Hacking

“Mind hacking” most commonly describes how people strive to improve their thinking, intellect, and personal development. However, that’s not the only way this term is used.

For example, mind hacking can be a negative term for how unscrupulous marketing and communication techniques subconsciously influence your behavior. Social engineering, for instance, is a mind-hacking technique used by cybersecurity hackers to gain key employees’ trust to exploit them for unauthorized access or protected information.

Another way people talk about mind hacking or brain hacking is in the context of human-computer interfaces.

Also Read: 4 Powerful Strategies to Conquer Stress and Regain Balance

Benefits of Mind-Hacking Techniques

Mind hacks provide people with tools and techniques to challenge and overcome their limiting beliefs, self-doubt, and negative thought patterns. By consciously rewiring the brain, people can reframe their perspectives, develop new habits, and break through mental barriers that hinder personal growth. Here are four benefits realized by a successful mind hack.

1. Enhanced Cognitive Abilities

Mind-hacking techniques can improve cognitive abilities such as memory, attention, focus, and problem-solving skills.

People can optimize their cognitive functioning and perform better in various tasks and activities by engaging in specific practices like mnemonics, mindfulness, or brain-training exercises. For example, the memory palace is a popular memory-building technique that transforms memories and information into powerful images stored in a familiar location. Providing structure and context makes these memories easier to remember and recall.

2. Increased Self-Awareness and Self-Reflection

Being 100% focused and attentive isn’t possible for humans, nor is it desirable. Mind-hacking techniques can also help us embrace self-awareness and self-reflection. Through journaling, meditation, or introspection, people can gain deeper insights into their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.

Cognitive offloading, such as making written lists instead of trying to memorize a bunch of information, is one way to free your mind from reflection. Increased self-awareness allows people to identify patterns, strengths, and areas for improvement. And research shows that downtime is essential for creativity.

3. Improved Emotional Well-Being 

Mind-hacking techniques such as mindfulness, positive affirmations, or cognitive reframing can enhance emotional well-being, reduce stress, and increase resilience.

By embracing a growth mindset, you can improve your emotional well-being because mistakes and setbacks are no longer insurmountable. Adopting healthy coping mechanisms helps people navigate challenges with optimism, embracing the chance to learn and improve.

4. Enhanced Personal Growth and Transformation

Mind-hacking techniques provide people with tools and strategies to facilitate personal growth. By setting goals, practicing visualization, or adopting growth mindsets, people can cultivate a mindset of continuous learning and development. Mind-hacking techniques empower people to overcome limiting beliefs, expand their comfort zones, and

10 Simple Brain Hacks for Better Health

Take a cold shower

Turn your morning shower to cold at the end. “Your breath will immediately start to become fast and shallow as your body senses change and the ‘fight or flight’ mode is activated,” says neuroscientist and author Dr Julia Jones.

“Keep your breathing slow with extended exhales to stay relaxed and train the autonomic nervous system – the bodily function that regulates our heart rate and blood pressure – to stay in ‘rest and repair’ mode.”

Try intermittent fasting

There are lots of ways of introducing fasting into your routine, but one of the easiest is to eat breakfast 16 hours after yesterday’s dinner, aka 16/8 fasting.

When our cells are not busy metabolizing food, they can remove waste products and do other important housekeeping tasks. This is important as the build-up of waste products accelerates biological aging and drives chronic inflammation.”

Studies show this kind of fasting can have numerous benefits, including improved blood sugar control and longevity. To do it, stop eating three hours before you go to bed and delay your breakfast about four times.

Set your internal clock

Getting outside during the early morning is important to set our circadian rhythm, which follows a 24-hour cycle and is regulated by natural daylight. “Levels of blue light are high in the morning and in the afternoon it’s more red,” explains Jones.

“The optic nerve in your eyes tells your brain the color of the light, proteins that build up at night lessen and activate feelings of wakefulness, and the hormone melatonin kicks in at the end of the day to make you sleepy.”

The artificial blue light of screens disrupts our circadian rhythm. In the evening, Jones recommends wearing blue-light-blocking glasses and, instead of turning on bright overhead lights that imitate the sun, using candles or low lamps below eye level.

Eat 30 types of plants

Diversity in our gut microbiome is crucial for our immune system and helps control inflammation. “The typical Western lifestyle has crucified our gut bacteria with processed food and little seasonal variation,” explains Jones. “Different gut bacteria feed off different prebiotic fiber, so variety is key.

Aim to eat at least 30 types of plants a week.” All plant foods count, including fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, wholegrains, pulses, and even herbs and spices. In addition, taking a probiotic every day, such as live yogurt, kefir, fermented sauerkraut, kombucha drinks, or miso, helps boost gut bacteria.

Prioritise social time 

Humans are not designed to be isolated. Research has found that loneliness is worse for your health than obesity or smoking 15 cigarettes a day, and is likely to increase your risk of depression, dementia, heart disease, stroke, and inflammation, not to mention mortality.

“We are pack animals,” says Jones. “Bonding chemicals in our brains – oxytocin and dopamine – are feel-good chemicals activated when we’re with people that make us feel safe and are crucial for our mental and physical health.”

Make sure you carve out social time for family, friends, and leisure pursuits, especially if you’re working from home. “We’re often so busy we neglect this, but it needs to be a priority,”

Keep learning

Complex tasks like learning a language or musical instrument are the most efficient and effective ways of building brain connections as an adult. “Building new brain connections is important to protect the brain against future degeneration, including dementia,” says Jones.

There is also some evidence to suggest that the more people over 50 engage in games such as sudoku and crosswords, the better their brain function.

Listen to calm music

Listening to calm music with dim lights in the evening tells the brain it’s safe. It can be an exceptional tool to promote sleep and studies have shown that it also reduces pain, anxiety and depression.

“Calm music can be a super metronome for breath work,” says Jones. “Doing deep breathing to a slow song you love can regulate breathing and shut off stress chemicals.”

Feel gratitude

Research shows that thinking about the positive things in your life releases feel-good chemicals in the brain and makes you feel happier. It can also help reset our brain to be more resilient.

“Gratitude helps us focus on what we’ve got right and what we’re lucky to have, which can be easy to forget living in a whirlwind of busyness,” says Jones.

“Take five minutes before bedtime to pay attention to the successes and pleasures of the day – it could be as simple as being thankful for a delicious cup of coffee you’ve drunk.”

Sleep better

During sleep, your body undertakes restorative work along with the consolidation of memory and emotion. “Use a tracker to measure whether you’re getting enough good quality sleep,” says Jones.

“To improve your sleep, try not to stimulate your brain and autonomic nervous system during the evening, as this could trigger the ‘fight or flight’ reflex.”

Dimming lights, reducing screen time, listening to relaxing sounds, and keeping warm all help your body to know it’s safe so it can concentrate on regeneration.

Be kind

Kindness has real benefits for our mental health and wellbeing. A study by the Mental Health Foundation found that 63% of UK adults agreed that being kind to others has a positive impact on their mental health and vice versa. 

“Kindness produces a feeling that some psychologists call ‘elevation’,” says Dr David Hamilton, author of The Five Side Effects of Kindness.

“When we feel elevated from the experience of kindness, we’re more likely to pay it forward and be kind to other people. Research shows that elevation is the source of the ripple effect of kindness and is contagious to the three degrees of separation.”

This means if you’re kind to someone that person will then be kind to others (1 degree), and those others will then be kind to others (2 degrees) and those others will be kind to even more people (3 degrees). Indeed, research has found that being kind is linked to increased feelings of happiness, well-being, and life satisfaction.