How to Rewire the Bad Parts of Your Brain
If there’s one goal of this blog before ANYTHING else, it’s to put you in the best position possible for dealing with the world we live in. That means, fiscally speaking, you cannot screw yourself over by panicking and selling or buying at the precisely wrong time.
Yet therein lies the issue: it’s hardwired into the human brain to gain basic pleasure and avoid basic pain. Which, duh, should be the aim regardless, but the keyword here is “basic”. When evolution was tweaking our synapses and instincts, it wasn’t doing so with modern society in mind. This means that we did great with surviving in several different climates, eating well, and avoiding ancient predators or getting caught in a snowstorm. But thousands of years have gone by since those days. We’ve won that game so hard we invented a completely new one, one so complex and intricate that it requires more than just the basics to outrageously succeed.
Trying to win with these basics is like trying to win against a pro-gamer and their PC with a computer from 1998. You’re welcome to try, but you’re so out of your league it’s laughable. Thankfully, it’s not actually a massive endeavor to upgrade your wiring from Basic to Pro. It might take time and effort, but other than this initial work there’s no downside when you rewire the bad parts of your brain.
Acknowledge Your Money Worries
Sure, I have these grand ideals about living practically when things are falling apart around you. Mostly, though, I just want to give people their power back. And that starts with education. Acknowledging what, exactly, it is about money that inspires you to act in the ways you act about it. If you panic when the markets are doing poorly, what is the reason for that panic? Once you know that, answer whether that’s supposed to be part of your financial planning strategy or not. Impulsive behavior does not a good future make.
Y’all. If you don’t put words to your worries you’re never going to conquer them. Keeping worries unnamed and unacknowledged allows them to continue being obstacles to success. Put enough obstacles in your own path and yeah, you’ll never make it. But REMOVING obstacles creates AMAZING new paths that take you to incredible heights. Even taking out just a few of those obstacles makes for a smoother ride.
Consider Removing Temptations
Like many, I have a weakness for sugar. I freaking love sweet stuff, which humans are, of course, hardwired to consume wherever they find it. This worked awesome in the Stone Age when sugars were hard to come by; today, not so much. For me, it takes a hell of a lot of discipline and self-monitoring to not just eat all of my ice cream or cookies instead of portioning it out. Too much effort when that Ben & Jerry’s is calling my name.
So instead, I don’t put in that effort. In place of that discipline, I just don’t buy the sweet stuff when I’m at the grocery store. If I don’t have it at home, I’m not desperate enough to run to the corner store for my fix. The most that happens is I stare sadly at my pantry before getting distracted by Twitter or Netflix.
Same goes for money. If you already know you’ll be tempted to panic-sell or -buy with your money, you can definitely exhaust your mental fortitude to stop yourself. Alternatively, you can remain aware that viewing your investment performance won’t serve you and simply hold off on checking it. Avoidance is a valid strategy to not derail your progress or plan; it’s also a recommended pathway to get yourself out of toxic behaviors and impulses. It’s not as simple as “don’t look lol” or “don’t buy lol,” which I know from my struggles at the grocery store not to buy all the junk food I see. But it’s easier to exercise a little discipline now than in the face of it later.
Use Psychology to Your Advantage
Great news: you don’t actually have to change everything about how you think and behave to make this work. If you can’t remove bad influences, acclimate. Instead of completely recoding your behavior to rewire the bad parts of your brain, you can actually adapt your behavior to align with your goals. You see this most often described as “channeling;” someone with aggression issues might, say, channel it into competitive sports instead of their intimate relationships. Someone else with anxiety might channel that into productive micro-tasks instead of shutting down or missing deadlines. For your money needs, see if you can channel your damaging behaviors into something much more constructive.
It also helps to dig into some basic psychology and see what you can work to your advantage. I got a lot of help out of learning just how deeply humans are attuned to spotting patterns and building habits. Since I am also a human, I know I’m best served by building good money habits to buoy me during tough times. These habits make it so much easier to do the things I need to do to stay on track. And because I like the pattern of my day-to-day, I’m not so willing to deviate from it.
Make it easier on yourself as well. If you happen to find comfort in eating expensive food or shopping endlessly online, you know feeling uncomfortable is a trigger to behaviors that will not help you long-term. How will you go about resetting your habits to avoid this? Work on it and your life is all the better for it.
Final Thoughts
Also, know your limits as an investor, because you are an investor. If you’re so terrified of investing that you couldn’t handle even a 1% drop – yet can’t stop yourself from checking anyway – build your tolerance. Exposure therapy does wonders. You’ll need to build yourself up to weather any storm. You’re human, after all, so you can definitely do this.
Have you tried to rewire the bad parts of your brain? How much more work do you have to do, if you’re still working on it?
Disclaimer: just as I am not a licensed financial professional, I am also not a trained or licensed psychologist. To get a customized consultation of your particular brain rewiring, go see one.