The Brain Is Like A Calculator
Brian Ford
Using personal development to fundraise for charity | Self-Improvement Podcaster (20+ million downloads) | Social Impact Leader (Nonprofit founder at For Purpose Foundation)
The human mind is incredible. It has endless computing power, constantly processing millions of bits of information to help us understand the world around us. John Assaraf calls the brain a “billion dollar bio-computer” and for good reason!?
In particular, one of the things the brain is always doing is taking in the contextual data around us, interpreting it, and producing a meaning to everything we experience. It works kind of like a calculator where the mind enacts different functions to all the inputs of life and outputs a specific answer.?
Also like a calculator, I’ve found that the brain uses a specific formula: Unconscious Influence + Conscious Influence + Situational Influence = Meaning.
The unconscious influence is made up of our belief systems, evolutionary hardwirings, and genetic predispositions. Conscious influence is made up of all the goals, dreams, desires, and priorities we want. And the situational influence takes in the contextual factors of the present energetic and emotional state, accessibility of behaviors, and other environmental circumstances.
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It’s these three elements that make up the calculator’s formula and come together to output the specific meaning, action step, or way of feeling about an event.
The majority of the time, the mind works unconsciously. This means that the calculator’s formula neglects conscious influence and operates solely on unconscious and situational factors. That’s why it’s so important for us to do the work to create an empowering belief system and self image, so that our unconscious calculations lead to positive outcomes.
And, we also must cultivate awareness. The more awareness we have, the more conscious influence comes online and the better control we have of the formula. Rather than the calculator processing the world completely from pre-programming, we can guide the calculation ourselves to shape the meaning we assign to events.?
Simplifying the brain’s process, it takes inputs, processes them, and produces outputs. It’s the processing step that is calculator’s formula, and it’s our job to make that formula as optimal as possible as often as we can.