The 10% Myth

The 10% Myth

Tim Connor

For decades motivational experts and Gurus have been heard saying “We only use 10% of our brain and brain potential on a regular basis.”  Well, having studied brain function for over thirty years and reviewing recent articles and statistics by a variety of well respected brain experts this simply is not true and never has been.

Let me give you a few basics first;

-There are over 12 billion brain cells in every human brain

-Each of these has over 10,000 connections to other cells

-That’s’ over 125 trillion brain connections

-There are over three trillion chemical reactions in the brain every second of every day (that includes while you are sleeping)

- Every cell in your body has nerve connections that directly or indirectly connects to the brain.

There are many more important items I could share, but I don’t want to bore you with statistics.  What does all of this mean when it comes to brain function and individual performance?

For starters there are; attitudes, opinions, experiences, mindsets, values, beliefs and mental conditioning that you received during your early years that had a permanent impact on all of the previous items.

We were raised and nurtured in an environment we couldn’t control, so much of what has become etched in our minds (brains) during our formative lives has little or no relevance to our current life or circumstances and yet we are still influenced every day by these early messages from parents, teachers, churches etc.

The mind forgets nothing and stores everything.  Some of these memories, thoughts, experiences and words are deeply rooted in one or many of the 12 billion brain cells while others for a variety of reasons stay close to the surface ready to impact our actions, decisions and behavior in an instant.

Many people over the years have just thrown out this 10% number indicating that we don’t utilize 90% of our brain or minds.  As I said this is not true.  The mind is active every second of every day running a variety of bodily functions simultaneously.  The human body and especially the brain is a miraculous entity and works constantly for many of us for 80 and 90 years.

I’ve never been sure of what people have meant when they said we only use 10%.  Are they referring to; emotions?  Memories? Feelings? Or something else?  I know, they have been referring to potential.  But consider – how can the brain function non-stop and then just decide on its own that we will only have access to or use only 10%?  Ridiculous. Yes, many of us can’t find our keys, can’t remember names or lose control of our emotions from time to time, but this isn’t the minds fault it just reflects the messages we send it by our senses, observations and thoughts.

Everyone has creativity but many people refuse to accept or believe they have it.  We all have an imagination but very few people regularly tap into its potential.  This isn’t because we don’t have it, it’s because we have developed attitudes, beliefs, values or mindsets that reject what is true for everyone.

Think about it – if we only used 10% of our brain function we would have a lot more to worry about than our use of our potential, memories or feelings.  Imagine how many bodily functions like; digestion, heart beats, lung function etc. would work if the brain only used 10% of its ability.

While you are reading this you don’t have to pay attention to trillions of things that are going on in your body every second.  Consider - just to take a single step requires the use of over 200 muscles at the same time.  Ever thought about these while you were walking?  I doubt it, but the mind knows what to do, when and how without your instructions.

In summary the mind is a tool – you can use it for your ultimate good or you can use it for your demise.  The mind is not a judge it will let you do either but it does take its guidance from what and who you are exposed to in your life. It takes it all in – the worry, regret, anger, disappointment, anxiety, frustration etc. or the joy, happiness, peace, contentment or satisfaction. All thoughts that are repetitive will tend to contribute to how the brain works for you so if you want to change something in your life you must first change your thoughts.  And often before you can do this you may need to change something else in your life – who you are around, what you read, what you watch and how you behave.

Decisions, choices and actions are ultimately the results of what you have fed into your brain through your senses; eyes, ears, mouth, nose and touch.  Want better outcomes – control what your senses are exposed to.

There is one other area that determines the use of our brains and bodies therefore ultimately our outcomes and this is the spirit of God (or soul) that we all have in us.  In many ways this is our inner guidance system that when we permit it to impact our actions, choices and decisions and yes, thoughts, will give us better outcomes.  But I’ll save this discussion for a future article.

“Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners

of their own minds.”

T. Roosevelt