Expectations and Your Brain

I'm making a list of key "secrets" about the brain, or perhaps "laws of the  brain" might be a better phrase. Expectations are extremely powerful, personal expectations, the expectations of others that you may buy into, and so on. Low expectations translate to low results. Studies have shown that the same school room of students performed entirely differently depending on the expectations of the teachers.  One teacher thought the students were not very bright and actually made comments that the students would be lucky to pass. The next year a different teacher to the same group of students thought the students were capable of doing very well in school, making comments that she expected them all to be able to earn good grades. The outcome? The students performed to the expectations of their teacher. One of the laws of the brain states: all things being equal you brain performs to your expectations. Low expectations mean low results. As Deepak Chopra put it in his book Super Brain, "Your brain is always evesdropping on your thoughts. As it listens, it learns. If you teach it about limitation, your brain will become limited." Take a few minutes today and identify some of the expectations you have for your brain.