Our brains are wondrous things, mysterious and unprecedented in the animal kingdom. My belief is that we are just beginning to get a glimpse of the capability of this miraculous organ.

Research numbers vary, but it seems that the average mature human brain has roughly 100 billion neurons. There are many more present in the natal state, but your brain “prunes” cells and connections that are unused in the beginning of extra-uterine life.

Those 100 billion cells connect to each other. Estimates range from 100 trillion to about 7x10¹⁵ connections linking them all together. That’s a neural network of seven quintillion connections (7,000,000,000,000,000) that operate at a speed of about 700 quintillion operations - every second.¹

And that’s just the hardware.

The software is far more enigmatic. We call it “mind,” and to be honest, we don’t really have the faintest idea what it is or how it works. I suspect that we won’t begin to understand the real function and potential of the mind until we have some idea of the nature of consciousness. Which we don’t.

Mind regulates blood flow to your kidneys, creates music and art, falls in love, evaluates new car purchases, connects to the divine. Many of the more startling achievements of the mind occur when we consciously try to turn it off. We call this subroutine, “meditation.”

It’s your Choice

We are not really able to wrap our heads around what operates inside our heads. As is the case with any extremely powerful system, we must take care to operate it correctly. A car with 1,000 horsepower is a beautiful thing in the hands of a driver who understands, respects and drives it with precision. To just jump in, close your eyes and punch the accelerator, however, would yield disastrous results.

And so it is with our unfathomably more powerful mind. To realize even a portion of its potential, we must make a conscious decision to aim the power of mind at a specific result.

We must choose to focus.

Unlike a supercar, the mind - under normal operating parameters - never “turns off.” It is running all the time, when we are awake or “zoned out,” even when we are asleep and not dreaming (sleep is another thing we don’t at all understand, despite what you may have heard.)

Imagine that very powerful car hurtling along with no one at the wheel (self-driving Teslas aside: there is a computer at the helm even then). An unhappy outcome is sure to follow, and very quickly. Fortunately, your mind - in its ineffable inner wisdom - normally doesn’t self-destruct if not steered.

But it also doesn’t do much that is productive. If you want to harness even a fraction of the power of your mind, you have to intentionally aim it at a specific process or destination.

Focus Determines Mindset

Our ability to focus our mental horsepower enables something invaluable. When we think with intention, when we consciously aim our minds, we can make drastic and immediate changes in our normal operating system.

The truth is, we aren’t able to consciously focus all the time. In fact, the vast majority of our “brain time” each day is spent on autopilot. We wake, prepare for the day, commute to work (even if it’s just in the next room), do whatever it is that pays for our material existence, watch some TV or doom-scroll social media and then go to bed.

The tragedy of a mind on autopilot is that our time is finite.

We have even invented phrases to describe this loss of our precious moments of consciousness. We are “killing time,” or “wasting time,” or just “passing the time.” But we are not killing time; time is killing us.

We can choose to do better. When we concentrate our magnificent cerebral machine we can change the way the mind functions. We can modify the routine from mundane to miraculous. We can change the way we feel, the way we experience life. We have control over our emotional state. We can become responsible for and therefore control more of or circumstances and situations. And we can control how we react to the events that aren’t in our control.

In other words, our focus determines our mindset.

That alone is worth the time and effort needed to learn how to control your mind. But it gets better. Much better.

Mindset Influences Action

When you change your mindset, you change your behavior, not just your thoughts.

When you choose to consciously improve your emotional state, your interactions with other people become more pleasant. When others see you as happy and approachable, they are more likely to spend time with you. And time spent with others can lead to happy situations, from friends to work opportunities to romantic relationships. As a studio musician, I quickly learned that the people who got return work weren’t necessarily the best players, but were the most pleasant with whom to work.

Focus disengages your mental autopilot.

Use your mind to evaluate your current situation. Concentrate on the things you want to change. Move with intention toward the goals you decide to set. Focus on the meaning you choose to give your life.

(Here’s a little parenthetical serendipity for you: I am siting right next to the drive-through as I write this in my favorite coffee shop. There are three white cars in line for their caffeine fix. All three cars - in a row - are iterations of the Focus.)

You will soon discover that you can easily go from bored to busy. When your alarm goes off, your mental state will be one of intention, not irritation. You will quickly grow tired of mindless “time wasting” activities, because you have a vision of something better and are willing to work at getting it.

You can change your life’s purpose when you change your mindset.

Actions Create Your Life

Once you focus your thoughts and start to harness the power of your brain/mind, your mindset will follow suit. Your actions cannot help but fall in line. And when you can hold your focus long enough to change your actions, magic happens.

Where would you be if - five years ago - you started to exercise instead of watch TV or play that video game? Imagine the improvement in your energy level, self-esteem and overall health.

The degree that seemed like it would take forever would have been finished by now. The work promotion that necessitated the degree would have been yours. And the increase in income would have changed your life.

Five years spent on your mental health would render you - literally - a different person. Five years of meditation, time spent in nature, time with family would pay permanent dividends.

What if, five years ago, you got sober? How would it feel to be five years down the road from the gambling or overeating or drugs or porn addiction? What could you have accomplished with the time regained from your deleterious pastimes?

Your side-hustle could have become a new profession, a new place to live, better schools for your kids. International travel.

If, five years ago, you started doing the things you know you need to do, your life could have been immeasurably better by now. For you and your family, your community, your world.

Five years of action could have bought you freedom, however you define it.

Focus

There is an ancient saying, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is now.” There is no time like the present to focus. Or, if you have been on the path to the life you envision, to reevaluate and perhaps redirect your focus. You have complete control over the things you prioritize, the journey you choose to take.

Time ticks inexorably on. Each day you don’t choose to focus on a better life is a day you have chosen to accept where you are. You alone can decide to imagine - and follow - a new path, a better meaning, a higher purpose. No one, as they say, is coming to save you.

So learn to focus. That new life isn’t going to build itself.

1. See, for instance, Ackerman S. Discovering the Brain. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 1992. 6, The Development and Shaping of the Brain. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK234146/



I am a creator (musician, writer, live-streamer and podcaster), entrepreneur, educator and counselor. 

To learn more about how to use these concepts or to inquire about working with me, you can contact me through my website, the comments section on my Substack or Medium accounts or The Authentic Life Blog page. If you have found value in this article, consider following my Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) accounts. To support this community, you can even Buy Me A Coffee or donate through my Patreon account. 

Subscribe to my River of Creation podcast - The Podcast for Creators, and my associated YouTube channel, coming later this year, wherever you download your podcasts.

- JWW