#1 Neuroscientist: After Listening to This, Your Brain Will Not Be the Same

Mel Robbins (0:00)

Hey, it's your friend Mel, and welcome to The Mel Robbins Podcast.

Today's conversation is going to blow your mind, because we have one of the world's leading neuroscientists here with scientific proof that you can change.

In fact, Dr. Lara Boyd will tell you, by just choosing to hit play on this episode, your brain will never be the same.

Dr. Boyd knows what she's talking about because she has spent decades studying the remarkable ways your brain can adapt, recover, and keep learning even after a serious injury. And what she's going to teach you today will change the way you think about your own potential. Dr. Boyd is going to teach you three key ways to set your brain up for success. She's going to give you a whole new way to think about struggle. And once you understand how your brain works, you can start using your brain to learn better, to make progress that sticks, to push past what you thought were your limits. And through the science of neuroplasticity, you will realize you are capable of so much more.

Hey, it's your friend Mel, and welcome to The Mel Robbins Podcast. I'm so thrilled that you're here today. You're going to love this conversation. It's an honor to be together. I love spending time with you. If you're new here or somebody sent you this episode, I just want to take a moment and personally welcome you to The Mel Robbins Podcast family. And what I love about today's episode is our expert says that simply by listening to today's conversation, your brain is going to change. Your brain will not be the same by just listening to this. How cool is that? Dr. Lara Boyd is a world-renowned neuroscientist, physical therapist, and award-winning researcher in neuroplasticity, which is your brain's ability to change throughout your life. Dr. Boyd is a distinguished university scholar and professor at the University of British Columbia. She also directs the university's Brain Behaviour Laboratory, where she studies how the brain learns and adapts after injury and illness. Her TEDx talk on the remarkable power of your brain to grow and change has been viewed more than 45 million times. Please help me welcome Dr. Lara Boyd to The Mel Robbins Podcast.

Lara Boyd (2:27)

Thank you.

Mel Robbins (2:28)

I'm so excited you're here.

Lara Boyd (2:29)

I've been leaning forward to this so much.

Mel Robbins (2:31)

I love your research. I love this topic.

Lara Boyd (2:34)

Thanks.

Mel Robbins (2:34)

And here's where I want to start.

Lara Boyd (2:37)

Okay.

Mel Robbins (2:37)

So there's a person who is listening right now, who has no time, but they've made time because Dr. Boyd, they really want to learn from you. If they take everything to heart that you're about to teach us, about the brain, neuroplasticity, the fact that we can change over time, what could improve about their life?

Lara Boyd (3:02)

I want to start by saying, I listen to the show, and I've heard you say many times, that people can change their brains. They have this fundamental capacity for change. I absolutely couldn't agree with you more.

I want to take that idea and I want to stretch it. And with that knowledge, it should be very empowering for you to go out and continue to make that change. You understand why sometimes it's hard, why sometimes you struggle, why sometimes you fail. And I hope you walk away knowing that all of those things, failure, struggle, difficulty, are actually very good for the brain, very healthy for the brain. I want to give you an example of the power of that. So did you know that if you take school children and you teach them their brain changes when they learn, their grades go up?

That's remarkable. Like you can improve your child's grades just by helping them understand.

Mel Robbins (3:49)

That's all I needed to do?

Lara Boyd (3:50)

I know.

Mel Robbins (3:51)

Where were you when they were in high school, Dr. Boyd? Really, you just tell children?

Lara Boyd (3:55)

This power of knowing they have the capacity for change shifts their mindset and enables better academic performance. So here's the important key ingredient, if you will. The single largest driver of change in our brain is our experience. There's no drug, there's no magic bullet, it's the experience you engage in. So if you know that, then you can choose experiences that are really positive, that are things you want to learn, places you want to be, people that are healthy and positive for you.

And by doing that, you're shaping your brain. And so by engaging with Mel and I today, and having this conversation with us, your brain will not be the same after this conversation as it is when we began, right now, from here forward it changes. And I just think that's amazing. And I hope you do too. And I hope you do too, because it's just the most exciting thing.