The Brain Science of Positive Thinking and Practical Actions

Positive thinking, setting clear goals, and getting enough sleep – all critical components for personal and professional success. In this episode Manny teams up with daughter Allyson (a Ph.D. Candidate in Behavioural Neuroscience) to debunk the myth that merely thinking positive thoughts guarantees success – it must be couples with practical actions. Visualizing your success activates brain regions associated with decision-making. 

Guest: Allyson Andrade, Ph.D. Candidate Behavioural Neuroscience, University of Guelph
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Listen to Allyson’s previous episode on this podcast 

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Transcript

Manny Andrade (00:00):

I guess the mere thought of thinking positive thoughts, t hat in itself will never ever guarantee success. But when it's coupled with the necessary steps and practical actions, it can definitely contribute to an individual's personal success and even bring on the resilience that is necessary to work through failure.

Allyson Andrade (00:41):

Hi everybody. Welcome back to another podcast, Coffee Beans and Real Estate. We're talking about real estate and you may be asking yourself what coffee beans have to do with real estate. My premise is that being a realtor real estate broker is the same as being a business owner and one of my new to the business agents comes to me in the first interviews, sort of have him or her associate themselves with running a business, a coffee shop business, and what it entails. What are the obligations as a business owner, what you have to do in order to survive, if not thrive in this profession. So we have a little fun with it, but also it always intrigues them a little bit when we're talking coffee beans and real estate and you remind them that they are business owners. Additionally, we are in the pursuit of it.

(01:37):

So if you recall, if you haven't heard, maybe give you an opportunity to go back episode two or podcast two. We had A K A Allyson Kristen Andrade, also known as my daughter, who is, I'll let her make the introduction, but I just remind everybody that we were talking about the science behind behavior. It, the pursuit of it. I identified that my one word for it was fear. Alison, on that episode mentioned her word was courage, and then we got into passion and how she identified how she found her it, her passion was a little interest, intrigue in a certain field, developed knowledge and skill and then grew into the passion. I'll introduce Allison. Allyson, welcome back. Thanks for the first one was great. I listened to it and re-listened and reheard it. And I thought it was so fascinating when you're recording it the first time, maybe the second time you go through it, you say, well, it's okay, but the knowledge, the in depth content that you provide, it was so fascinating. It's so on point, so on mark. So I want to thank you for that. Welcome you back. I'm sure you have a busy day, days. Why don't you just say hello?

Manny Andrade (02:54):

Well, thanks for having me back. I think the last conversation was a lot of fun, so I'm happy to get more into what we were talking about and talking about specific scientific evidence, I guess for things pertaining to personal development and goal setting and a lot of the things that you talk about on the show. So thanks for giving me the opportunity. For those who didn't listen to the first one, I recommend you do listen to it. And I'll introduce myself for now if you haven't, but I'm Allyson. Like Manny said, I am his daughter. I am a PhD student at the University of Guelph, studying Behavioral Neuroscience, and I'm also a sessional lecturer at the University of Guelph teaching a seminar on the history of psychology. So, I do like science and I do like to also engage in discussion about the broader implications of what I've researched. So yeah, I guess that's everything. We can get into it.

Allyson Andrade (03:57):

We're going to get right into it because on the last episode, we were having a little fun with manifesting things and ideas, and I introduced one of our agents friends manifested having twins, and we got into, well, you can't just think about it, something critical or physical or is there something more than just the thought has to occur? We're talking about the book, the Secret, Manifesting Dreams, and we're going to get into this today a little bit and more on the science side of things. Behavior, is it that simple, Allyson, can you just wish to win the lottery to be a great realtor, to be a great athlete? Or what are the myths behind some of this stuff?

Manny Andrade (04:40):

Well, you do need to wish it, there needs to be a thought, there needs to be a motivation that's driving you towards some sort of direction or goal. So you do need to wish something into reality, but you also sort of have to act on it. And I was actually thinking about this earlier, it's kind of like if you are into woodworking or D I Y things around the house, you can buy all the tools you need, you can know what all the tools are for, but ultimately it comes down to understanding how to use these tools. And through trial and error and experience, you get better at using it. And eventually you can come out with the D I Y project that you've always wanted to do, or you can fix whatever problems you have around the house. So you not only need to know about these tools and have the tools, but it's how to implement them through experience, through trial and error to ultimately come at whatever you're trying to achieve.

(05:42):

So that's how I kind of think about it. You need to have the wish, you need to have the goal, and you also need to know and understand how to use the tools. So it's a lot of different things that you need to implement. And we were talking about the book 'The Secret', and it sort of created this movement of manifesting your dreams and this interest in the law of attraction. And although there were a lot of tangible and in many ways valid ideas that were presented in the book, it was sort of oversimplified and it kind of influences people into this sort of magical thinking. Well, okay, if I just think about it, if I just wish it, close my eyes really tight and just wish it that it'll come true. So today we'll go through some popular myths about manifesting your dreams and I guess what the real truths are.

Allyson Andrade (06:45):

I can't wait. I can't wait to get into that and put me on a spot if you have to. It's interesting this morning, and you mentioned goals a couple of times, this morning I read an email that was differentiating goals from decisions and I thought there's some validity to that. I have a goal that I want to be a super athlete versus a decision that I'm going to train the heck out of myself and I'm going to stop overeating, over drinking, whatever. And so that is a decision versus a goal. One is a physical and the other one is more of an emotional sort of, I'm going to sit here and just close my eyes as you say, and hope for it to come true. Give us an example of a myth or dispel some of the stuff in the book.

(07:38):

Well, I'm not going to discredit the book. I mean, it was just more just a point of that it's this trend and that it's not necessarily incorrect to think about some of these things or to use these tools, but to do it in combination with other things, so other actions and mindsets and things like that. So I guess the first thing that I wanted to talk about was it's this saying, it's just think positive thoughts and everything will fall into place. What do you think about that? Do you think that's a truth or do you think that's a myth?

Manny Andrade (08:16):

Well, thinking positive. When I'm dealing with a situation, a problem, whether it be a problem file or whatever situation, look, can I just think positive and pretend it's not there? When I was a child, my mom would say, well, don't worry about it son, just pretend it's not there. No mom, it's still bleeding and it's still painful. So thinking positive thoughts, do we trick ourselves into thinking everything's all right, but is it?

Allyson Andrade (08:43):

Well, some people will really argue. Yeah, that is definitely true. You can literally, as long as you're thinking positive, your actions will sort of follow and you sort of put yourself in situations that align with that positive thinking. But just I guess the mere thought of thinking positive thoughts, that in itself will never ever guarantee success. But when it's coupled with the necessary steps and practical actions, it can definitely contribute to an individual's personal success and even bring on the resilience that is necessary to work through failure. So even when things happen, they don't go your way, you fail. If you have that positive thinking, then it will sort of allow you to carry on. So there are research, there are studies that support this idea that positive self-talk involves using this idea, positive affirmations, positive statements that will help encourage yourself. And this research suggests that positive self-talk can sort of boost your self-confidence, it can reduce anxiety and enhance learning and performance. And also this positive self-talk and gratitude is associated with increased activity and brain regions that are related to self relevance and self valuation. So by engaging in positive thinking, you're engaging necessary brain regions that are going to sort of help you accomplish these goals and orient you into a better direction, make better decisions, being more creative, things like that.

Manny Andrade (10:31):

Mama's right again, right? Moms are always right.

Allyson Andrade (10:34):

Yeah, yeah, just

Manny Andrade (10:35):

Be positive and ignore the fact that it's there. It's bleeding will eventually stop. Think positive. But I like your point where it said you work through the failure. Obviously being negative or dwelling in the negative is not going to help us get to a better state of mind or have a positive result. So yeah, it makes sense.

Allyson Andrade (10:56):

Yeah, so when you engage in negative thinking, you're sort of training your brain to think that way. Your brain develops patterns that will continue or perpetuate that sort of thinking. So that's why some people recommend doing gratitude journals in the morning. It's to sort of break that habit of negative thinking and promote positive thinking that, as I mentioned, is really helpful in accomplishing your goals and it's a necessary part of accomplishing goals. And also this idea of gratitude's also been associated with strengthening the immune system and the ability to overcome difficult challenges and failure along the way. So there are many benefits to practicing positive self-talk and gratitude. Do you have any sort of instances or ways that you can encourage yourself to engage in positive thinking?

Manny Andrade (11:52):

Well, again, my early childhood days, my existence today and throughout early days were based on fear, surrounding fear, fear of failure. I couldn't fail. I couldn't show up at home after anything that was had any connotation towards a negative. Do I practice it? I do. Most, if not all, the literature is along these lines. My role as a broker of record in helping shape others is fundamentally important that I am practicing this. And we have to be careful. In current market conditions, we have a tendency to get negative. Oh, interest rates are high or house prices are down. And that isn't necessarily the case. It's actually not. Instead of high rates, they're less low, actually they're not high, but 5 or 6%. So I think it's the words matter, the choice of words that we use to identify something, is the glass half full or half empty? That sort of mindset. And it is important. I do agree. It is very, very important to start off your day feeling that way because there is a saying that we have around here. If you believe you can, you will. If you believe you can't, you won't. So you're right. If you believe you can't do it, you won't. And if you believe you can, you shall. So yeah, I think that's important. Is that..

Allyson Andrade (13:17):

Yeah, that's great. Definitely it takes work sometimes to catch yourself in that negative loop thinking loop or a negative thought loop and to say, you know what? I'm going to choose to not think this way. And at first it seems a little forced, but then the more you practice, the more natural and organic it becomes, and then eventually that's just how your brain thinks about things. Instead of glass half empty, it's half full. So I definitely believe in that positive, how you word things, how you express things, it's going to help change your thought process. Another one is picturing success can help with manifesting your goals. So visualizing success helps to manifest your goals. Is that true or no?

Manny Andrade (14:05):

I believe in it. I believe in it, and I'll tell you why. I read something interesting where if two athletes are running towards the finish line and one sees the finish line and the other one doesn't, the one that sees it gets there quicker, right? You see the goal, you see the end, and you strive harder faster towards it. So I do believe, I believe, and I practice it in my days as a realtor now as a business owner, putting little sticky notes up with goals, monthly goals, weekly goals, annual goals. So I do believe whether it just, obviously it's a state of mind, but it keeps you on track.

Allyson Andrade (14:46):

Yeah. So it's definitely true. So visualization techniques that help you sort of imagine your goals or yourself carrying out your goals can really activate regions specifically, like I mentioned, I think in the last episode, your prefrontal cortex that's associated with motor planning and decision-making and execution, it's going to, visualizing your dreams will engage that specific area of the brain that's important for decision making. So you definitely, like you mentioned the runner, visualize that finish line, visualize where exactly you need to get to, and those practices will help you or engage at least parts of your brain that will help you get there.

Manny Andrade (15:37):

I'm going to ask for your assistance in helping us here. We have, I mentioned earlier, a softer market, a balanced market where it's good for both acquisition and disposition. You are working with sellers or buyers. I think it's a fair playing field right now. Instead of a runner we put in a realtor. How do you help realtors today who are sort of manifesting or repeating what they hear in the media and the negative spin and the negative cycle? How do you help them stay positive and start manifesting the positive maybe six months or a year, whenever that may be, when the market turns around a little bit or rates stabilize a little bit. How do we practice those things? What can we practice?

Allyson Andrade (16:23):

Well, I think creating, we're talking about now an image of what does it look like in six months to be successful or to, yeah, what does it mean to be successful? I guess you sort of have to create that mental image and allow people to imagine themselves in that position and start thinking about things like that rather than failure.

(16:23):

Manny Andrade (16:49):

And then find ways to work towards it.

Allyson Andrade (16:50):

Yeah, exactly.

Manny Andrade (16:51):

So look, I want to be, identifed as a successful realtor that he she, I want to be him or her. I want I will be him or her. And then put things in place to whether it be better, lighter, run issues, whether it be, whatever it may be, find tools, systems to implement some of the things that made other people successful, and then follow up on that.

Allyson Andrade (17:16):

And outlining clear specific goals. Okay, what do you want to have accomplished in six months and being able to quantify your success. So how do you measure your success along the way? I like to wear my Apple watch and I can see my activity levels throughout the day, and it helps me stay on top of my daily fitness goals. So being able to measure success, see how I'm doing, how I'm progressing, this will allow me to sort of tweak and refine my approaches on a day-to-day basis in some cases so that I can continue to work towards my goal. So

(17:59):

Your goals are

Manny Andrade (18:00):

Measure

(18:01):

Goals. You measure by the minute and by the hour by the day?

Allyson Andrade (18:04):

With respect to activity levels?

(18:09):

Usually it's by the day. And then you can see we have the rings on the apple watches. So if you close your fitness ring, you accomplish an hour of activity or physical activity in a day, and you can see from a month's eye view sort of thing from a month in review how many times you closed your rings. And then when you see all of those closed rings, let's say 30 days in a row with a couple of off days on some weekends, it gives you that feeling of accomplishment. And that's, that will be very rewarding. We know those reward centers of your brain and dopamine play a huge role in that. It gives you this feeling of, okay, I accomplished something. And that keeps you on track, it keeps you, it allows you to see how well you're doing what you need to change.

Manny Andrade (19:06):

It's fair to say it inspires and motivates you to keep the cycle going.

Allyson Andrade (19:11):

Absolutely,

Manny Andrade (19:12):

And it is, whether it be in athletics or in this business, we will set a goal and we just want to get there. We don't want to work our way through it. We just want to go from the bottom rung to the top rung, I want to lose 15 pounds, snap my fingers. There it is. But it takes work and it takes closing a lot of rings in sequence, and then it's a process, but you know what, being committed to it and being dedicated to it, and it's work, it's work. So there's a lot of truth in the book, but it's also, it entails a lot of work and discipline.

Allyson Andrade (19:48):

Yes, and it kind of goes back to what I was talking about when you're learning how to use tools to make your D I Y craft or to fix things around the house, you have to go through a lot of trial and error. You have to get a lot of experience along the way. Maybe you have to start with smaller jobs and then build your way up to bigger ones. So it does take a lot of work and failure and just kind of putting yourself back out there to keep going. So I guess, yes, you can picture and visualize success to manifest your goals, but not to take away from the fact that you also have to make clear goals, be able to measure those goals and sort of overcome certain failures. So there's a lot of work still involved beyond just sitting there and picturing where you'll be in six months.

Manny Andrade (20:43):

Yeah, overcoming failure I think is the hardest in this business, because you can get negative in a real big hurry and it spirals and you start, go down this rabbit hole and you can't get yourself out. And I often tell people, look, just spend 20 minutes on it. Write yourself an email, don't send it to anyone. Send it to your mom, send it to yourself, and then get rid of it. Get rid of all the negative thoughts associated and get back on the bike. It's that whole work through your failures and learn from those failures or past non successes, if you will.

Allyson Andrade (21:21):

Yeah, I think that failure is so important because that's really where you learn to just be better and not make those same mistakes again, it's learning opportunities. That's essentially what it is.

Manny Andrade (21:36):

Failure sets the bar for success, right?

Allyson Andrade (21:39):

Absolutely.

Manny Andrade (21:40):

Yeah. It's 30, what is 36 years ago when I first got into this business profession, you didn't think there was any, oh, there's nothing to it, right? Just a bunch of hard work. But there's a lot of, we're emotional beings. We have critical decisions, critical in a sense of business, business decisions daily, and we can get super high, super low, but there's so much science, so many nuances behind all this stuff. And it's so interesting. We're talking about a book, a fluffy movie, slightly better book, but you know what? It's just human behavior, right?

Allyson Andrade (22:21):

Yeah. I think that these things aren't new. We've been talking about them for decades, if not centuries. So yeah, it kind of goes back to the point of we can know about these things. We can know exactly the right things that we have to do, but actually putting them into action is the most difficult part.

(22:44):

It really is.

Manny Andrade (22:44):

Because...

(22:45):

Do you think people are just afraid to, okay, well, I'm not going to do that because what if I failed? And does it come down to fear of trial and error is just, again, it's all mindset.

Allyson Andrade (23:00):

In some ways it's fear. I think for a lot of people, it ultimately is fear. And we were talking about this in the last episode a little bit, the rule of fear. I think fear is necessary because in many ways can propel you towards those goals. Because I think in your situation, the fear of failure was enough to propel you towards your dreams or towards just getting things in action or putting things into action. But in some cases, fear can really be debilitating and could cause in certain situations, people to just recoil and not even try. So it's good to have a nice balance of fear, fear enough to get you going. We know fear, stress, there's an optimal level of it that can enhance our performance and enhance our learning. But after that specific threshold, it becomes damaging. So you want a nice balance of fear. You want that optimal level, ideally.

Manny Andrade (24:05):

Yeah, it can be paralyzing. I was challenged, if you will, to partake in the CN tower edge walk, and I have a fear of heights. I worked as a steeple jack mechanic on... Hanging out of, dangling out of the side of skyscrapers. And I was fearless at the time because I was too young and too, I'm not going to say whatever the word is, but to consider the risks involved in doing what I was doing. But today I won't do it. And I actually said, no, I'm working on it. I'm trying to be persuaded to do it, but I have a paralyzing fear of that. And I think maybe what I'm saying, what I'm hearing myself say is that I got to go out there and do it. Just do it.

Allyson Andrade (24:50):

You can. Or you can be like, maybe not. I'll do something else.

Manny Andrade (24:55):

Yeah, I'm climbing a mountain an active live volcano in Ecuador in November, and the individual says, well, what about that? I said, well, that's different. I can't fall off the edge of a mountain, but I can fall off the edge of the CN tower. It's possible.

Allyson Andrade (25:10):

Yeah, it's good to pick your battles. You kind of want to weigh where you're going to put your energy. Do you want to climb a mountain or do you want to be hanging off of the CN tower?

Manny Andrade (25:21):

Mountains, baby mountains. Give me mountains, give me mountains, fresh air and mountains. Wow, this is so fun and so good. Yes. Sorry.

Allyson Andrade (25:29):

I was going to say I do have one last one that's really interesting, and I think in many ways relevant to you, to many people out there. Your future depends on your dreams. And I mean that literally.

Manny Andrade (25:44):

Dreams. So what I dream? I'm manifesting my future based on my dreams. Nah, I am going to say no. I dream. I know we all dream. I remember most of my dreams and have any of them sort of come to fruition, I'm going to have to say no.

Allyson Andrade (26:10):

Well, this is a trick question because when I'm talking about dreams, I'm actually talking about sleeping.

(26:15):

So the role of sleep, and we talked about this I think in the office at one point where sufficient sleep is one of the most important things that you can do for your brain, for your performance. When people tell you, I pulled in allnighter, I studied all night, I didn't sleep. Or when they say that they're running on four hours of sleep, they don't need any more than that. And that's simply just not possible. You need sleep. Sufficient sleep is crucial for your cognitive functioning, being able to consolidate memory. So when you're learning new things, let's say you're going through training, a training process, you need to have proper sleep because this will allow your brain to organize everything effectively and will allow you to ultimately implement what you've learned much more effectively. And it also helps with emotional regulation and studies where individuals have sleep deprivation, they show impairments in all of these areas. So impairments in cognitive functioning, memory, attention, decision-making, so getting proper sleep. If you are on track to trying to accomplish a goal, you want to make sure you are sleeping properly because this will allow you to present yourself to the world. It will allow you to show up in the best possible way and help you reach your fullest potential. So definitely get your good quality sleep.

Manny Andrade (27:52):

Oh, absolutely. And it keeps you from making sloppy mistakes, whatever you're doing. I was talking to a colleague this morning that hiked some parts of the Grand Canyon, and she was sleeping three, four hours a night and was prone to mistakes. And some of those mistakes are perilous, and she got through unscathed, but sleeping. She was telling you it was a very important component with the entire track because you have to stay sharp and stay on your toes, literally.

Allyson Andrade (28:27):

Yeah. And when you're in a state of when your brain's tired, you don't even recognize that you're making those sloppy mistakes. You're missing it because chances are you're really stressed. You're running on adrenaline, and so you're missing all of these things and you're working too fast, and ultimately that's going to cause you to crash. So...

Manny Andrade (28:48):

Nice. I'll keep that in mind. It reminds me a little bit of when I have three or four beers, the judgment is impaired, so it's the same sort of thing. Right?

Allyson Andrade (28:58):

Exactly.

Manny Andrade (28:58):

You think you're great, you think you can do these amazing things, but you actually can't.

Allyson Andrade (29:02):

But you're not. Yeah.

Manny Andrade (29:03):

You're not going to do it, Manny. Not anymore. Alison, listen, I want to thank you for participating part one, part two today, and associating normal day-to-day stuff and sort of identifying why we do certain things and helping us maybe get better as individuals, as professionals, as human beings. There is science behind everything, so thanks for taking the time. I know you have a busy, busy day, days. Last we spoke, you said you're close, you're a year away from tentatively, you said right?

(29:41):

Yeah, I'm working towards, in a year, defending my thesis, so that would be August 20, 24th at this point.

Allyson Andrade (29:53):

Alright, good work. Thank you again. Thank you for the amazing part one. Thank you for following up today again at home. If you haven't heard the funeral correlated two or associated two, go back to podcast number two. Thanks again. Be well. Good studies. What's the weather like in Guelph?

Manny Andrade (30:13):

It's 25 and sunny.

Allyson Andrade (30:16):

Fantastic. Fantastic! Amazing golf weather. And to you at home for listening, wherever you may be. I want to thank you all for participating. If you like what you hear, we're trying to have a little fun with this. We're identifying we're in the pursuit of it, or today we're dispelling some of the myths behind some of the behaviors, the manifestation. We're having a little fun with this stuff, but I hope you find it interesting. If you like it, share it, like it. If you don't like it, give us some comment, give us some feedback. And I want to thank our producer, Doug, for putting this editing and putting this great show together. Until next time, be well.