As an expert on habits, I used to believe that our habits mostly affected our bodies. I was wrong. Our brain, mind, and habits are all interconnected.

For example, healthy eating habits contribute to brain growth. By giving your body the nutrients it needs you can boost your focus, improve memory, and slow cognitive decline. ¹

On the other hand, a high sugar diet will impair your thinking, memory, and learning. High glucose levels affect mental performance and can cause your brain to atrophy or shrink. ²

Every habit you have has a direct effect on your body and your mind.

But your habits do not control your life. Your brain controls everything that you think and do. It is your body’s command center. And controls all your thoughts, emotions, memory, speech, reasoning, movement, breathing, and temperature.

Your brain impacts every decision that you make in life. It is your responsibility to protect it at all costs and not damage it. Instead treat it as your most valuable asset and do whatever you can to make it more powerful.

What is Brain Power?

The brain has about 86 billion nerve cells called neurons. How those neurons are connected directly affects the quality of the decisions that we make.

Your brain power is measured by adding the number, size, and strength of all the neural connections in your brain. It is defined as your intellectual ability. And contrary to old beliefs, your level of intelligence is not fixed at birth.

Thanks to neuroplasticity your brain is always changing and growing.

When you were born the neurons in your brain were disconnected and unable to communicate with each other. But they quickly connected with one another based on any experiences you had. These connections form at junctions called synapses and control everything that you do.

Synaptic connections allow you to learn and adapt to every new experience. Your brain also prunes connections if you don’t use them. Synaptic pruning helps you become more efficient by getting rid of connections that you don’t need and reinforcing those connections that you actually use.

The more you do something the stronger a connection becomes. This is how you form habits. And why things get easier over time with practice.

Why is this important?

You can grow your brain just like any muscle. And while good habits make your brain stronger and increase your mental performance. Bad habits will damage your brain and negatively impact your decisions.

The Brain Power Loop

Your brain is more complex and more powerful than a supercomputer. Every experience that you have changes it and affects its performance.

For example, your brain consumes a lot of energy. It requires plenty of oxygen to think and process information. When you exercise you increase blood flow to your brain and create new neurons critical for memory and learning.

Running and biking does not only make you fit. It also increases your brain’s plasticity and improves your memory, focus, and thinking skills. Exercise raises your IQ far more than any mind game by giving your brain the oxygen it needs. ³

The opposite is also true.

Sitting too much can cause thinning in your brain. A sedentary lifestyle does not give neurons enough oxygen for them to function properly. And can gradually lead to cognitive decline, memory loss, and dementia. ⁴

Your brain, mind, and habits are all connected in a loop.

If you choose your habits wisely they help you master the world around you. Good habits energize your brain, increase efficiency, and maximize your potential. But bad habits weaken your brain and hurt decision making.

You are the architect of your brain in charge of powering it up.

The Brain Power Hierarchy

In 1943, psychologist Abraham Maslow published one of the most popular theories of human motivation. According to Maslow, people have basic needs that must be met before they can pursue other important needs.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs states that people have to meet their physical needs such as food, water, shelter, and sleep before focusing on their personal growth. Social, emotional, and self-actualization needs are important but a person will usually pursue their immediate needs first.

When it comes to brain health, it is important to follow a similar hierarchy. Your brain has basic needs that should be fulfilled before pursuing further growth.

Oxygen and nutrients are critical for your brain because it is an energy-hungry organ. It uses 20 percent of the oxygen you breathe and energy you consume. The best way to give your brain more power is to focus on the four essentials: exercise, nutrition, sleep, and water.

Exercise acts as a fertilizer for your brain by growing neurons (neurogenesis) and protecting existing ones from stress. Even walking briskly for 30 minutes will increase the levels of a protein called Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) which is vital for cognitive performance, memory, and learning.

Your brain also needs key vitamins and minerals to function properly. Leafy green vegetables are power foods that increase blood flow and metabolize nutrients for energy.

Sleeping well reorganizes and recharges your brain. And drinking plenty of water hydrates neurons and helps them to communicate better.

Challenge Your Brain to Grow It

Once your basic needs are met, there are many ways to grow your brain.

Your brain is designed to become stronger and more powerful the more you use it. The key to reaching your potential is to make a commitment to acquire new skills and knowledge on an ongoing basis. By making learning a lifelong habit, you can increase your intellectual ability.

By learning a new skill or starting a side business, your mind is forced to work harder. Hard work and learning challenge your brain and change it. Neurons multiply and form new connections every time you learn something new.

It is important to also form strong relationships to keep your brain healthy. Studies show that socializing stimulates attention and memory. Spending time with family and friends will help to strengthen neural connections.

If you challenge your brain, it will create new and denser connections of neurons and become more powerful. This is the science behind a growth mindset. And why your brain grows through effort, learning, and experience.

Reading is one of the best ways to exercise your brain and keep your memory sharp.

The goal is to form habits that unlock your full potential. Reading, meditating, journaling, and using your creativity are good ways to do that.

How to Reach Your Full Potential

Whatever skill you want to build, you are born with the ability to master it.

The phrase “Use it or Lose it” was coined by neurologist Marian Diamond to refer to what happens to the brain if it is not exercised. Her research shows that the brain continuously shrinks and expands depending on our experiences.

Just like the brain has the potential to grow, it can shrink if it is not challenged. Without enough oxygen, nutrients, rest, and hydration it can’t function properly. And when neurons are not used they lose their connections and deteriorate. 

People that have a growth mindset put in the time necessary to learn a new skill. They accept that failure is a part of the learning process and see mistakes along the way as lessons to learn from and master.

Likewise, if you are going to fulfill your purpose in life you must first believe that you can be successful by working hard and developing your talents. Even if you grew up believing that your intelligence, talents, and abilities are fixed traits that cannot grow you can develop a growth mindset.

Change the way you think to maximize your potential.

Learn more: How to Break Bad Habits Damaging Your Brain

A rational person would assume that the country with the most gyms in the world would also be one of the fittest.

The irony is that the US leads with over 40,000 gyms but only 23% of Americans get enough exercise. The fittest country in the world is one of the poorest and is not even in the rankings. People in Uganda don’t have to go to gyms because they already get plenty of exercise during their workday. ¹

Ugandans like Jennifer Namulembwa and Abiasali Nsereko can’t afford to own a car and have to walk everywhere. Their daily life demands that they stay active. ²

Jennifer works as a cleaner in Kampala and spends over three hours per day walking to work. She does it five days a week but would rather ride in a car or motorcycle if she could afford one.

Abiasali is also very active and spends up to eight hours a day on his feet. He is a sixty-eight year-old Ugandan farmer who wakes up at 5 a.m. every day to milk his cows and grow all the food he eats.

When it comes to being healthy there is a difference between “need” in order to survive and “want” because I desire. For Jennifer and Abiasali it is not a matter of choice to be fit but a financial necessity.

In contrast most people in wealthier countries drive to work and spend their day sitting. Their only choice to be active is to exercise.

The words “need” and “want” don’t have the same meaning.

Difference Between Needs and Wants

Over the last fifty years our habits have changed significantly.

The majority of people today don’t have physically demanding jobs and the main staple of most meals is not vegetables. By relying on motivation and willpower, we treat exercise and eating healthy as things “we want” instead of necessities.

The average American today spends three hours daily watching television and over two hours on social media. Yet, a recent survey revealed that most people don’t exercise because they are tired, don’t have time, or are too busy working. ³

According to the CDC, sitting too much is just a part of the problem.

Only ten percent of adults eat enough fruits and vegetables. Instead, more than half of our total daily calories come from ultra-processed foods. These foods are low in nutrients and high in sugar, oil, and salt. And very addictive.

Due to the drastic shift in our habits, the US obesity rate jumped from 15% in the 1970s to over 40% today. And this number just keeps rising! ⁴

A sedentary lifestyle and poor nutrition are not only problems found in the US. Over 800 million people in the world are considered obese.

Unfortunately, our bad habits don’t only harm our bodies. Every habit has a direct effect on the brain for better or for worse.

How Bad Habits Hurt the Brain

Your brain needs oxygen, nutrients, rest, and hydration for peak performance. Without these four key essentials your brain becomes weak and ineffective.

According to a 2009 study, it takes at least 2 months for a simple behavior to become automatic. But complicated habits can take 9 months to fully develop.

Unfortunately, not all habits are created equally.

Bad habits damage the brain and impair decision making. They are also easy to form because they reward us immediately. Watching television, eating junk food, and using social media are all easy to do, fun, and addictive.

On the contrary, good habits require patience and effort. They take much longer to form since they pay off in the future. The reward we receive from exercising and eating healthy becomes visible only after we invest a significant amount of time and energy. The fact is good habits require conscious effort.

Our bad habits are effortless.

And once we develop a bad habit, it becomes a vicious cycle that damages the brain. It impacts the daily choices we make by hurting our thinking, learning, and memory. And the weaker the brain is, the harder it is to form good habits.

When we eat fast food instead of a salad we neglect the brain of nutrients. By using social media instead of getting sleep we don’t give the brain enough rest. By sitting on the sofa instead of exercising we give the brain less oxygen. And by drinking soda instead of water the brain does not receive proper hydration.

Every day we are surrounded by products and services that are engineered to keep us addicted to our bad habits. It is simply much easier to stick with an old habit than replace it with a new one. Even the old habit is self-destructive.

The only way to create lasting change is to treat good habits differently.

How to Make Better Decisions

Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck coined the term growth mindset to explain how you can develop your talents and skills through experience and hard work.

The fact is there is nothing about you that is fixed.

If you challenge your brain, it will create new and denser connections of neurons and become more powerful. This is the science behind a growth mindset. And why your brain grows through effort, learning, and experience.

Unfortunately, not all habits are created equal.

When we eat processed foods instead of a salad we don’t get enough nutrients. By staying up late using social media instead of resting we cut down our sleep. By sitting on the sofa instead of exercising we neglect to get more oxygen. And by drinking soda instead of water we don’t receive proper hydration.

Chronic stress, too much sitting, excessive sugar, and lack of sleep make the brain weak and ineffective. These bad habits impact the daily choices that we make by hurting our thinking, learning, and memory. And the weaker the brain, the harder it is for us to replace our bad habits with good ones that stick.

Because your habits are stored in your subconscious mind, changing them is not an easy process. It takes conscious effort to create lasting change.

Giving your brain power will help you to make better decisions.

Understanding Needs and Wants

This is why it is important to differentiate between a need and a want. The way you think about your habits is important because good habits will never become easy to do. Good habits can’t compete against bad habits that are easy to do and provide immediate rewards. And will always require more effort and planning.

But if you develop the right mindset you can make good habits stick.

Your brain needs a ton of energy to process information and make decisions. It requires nutrients, oxygen, rest, and hydration to function properly. Exercising, eating vegetables, getting quality sleep, and drinking water are not optional. Your brain needs these four essentials. They should be treated as needs and not wants. Otherwise, your mental and physical wellbeing is negatively impacted.

If you develop the right mindset building healthy habits is not hard. When you treat a healthy habit as a necessity it becomes easier to commit to repeating it even if life gets busy or it requires substantial effort.

By giving your brain the energy it needs, it can process information quickly and perform at its optimal level. If you don’t, your brain will lack to the power to make good decisions. And it will be too weak to make good decisions.

The only way to master your habits is to keep your mind sharp. A mindset focused on growth is key to making better decisions and living your best life.

Are You Focused on Growth?

Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck coined the term growth mindset to explain how you can develop your talents and skills through experience and hard work. The fact is there is nothing about you that is fixed.

If you challenge your brain, it will create new and denser connections of neurons and become more powerful. This is the science behind a growth mindset. And why your mind grows when you develop your talents and skills through effort, learning, and experience.

Even if you grew up believing that your intelligence, talents, and abilities are fixed traits that cannot grow you can develop a growth mindset.

Change the way you think and you will be able to grow your mind.

Why and How to Track Growth

To track your habits and measure growth, a mindset tracker is an effective and simple tool you can use.

It is similar to a habit tracker since you just need to mark an X on a calendar each day you stick with your routine. But by subtracting your bad habits from your good habits you can visually see if you are growing or harming your brain.

I created the Mindset Tracker below to make this process as easy as possible:

Healthy habits like exercising and eating more vegetables help your brain to grow and keep your mind sharp. While unhealthy habits like eating junk food and watching too much television harm your brain and hurt decision making.

Habit tracking works because it keeps you motivated and reminds you to act. Keeping track of how your good and bad habits affect your brain will also make it easier for you to grow your mind and make better decisions.

By tracking your habits each month, you can review your progress and make any necessary adjustments in the new year.

The Mindset Tracker will even show you if “You Have a Growth Mindset!” or if “You Have a Fixed Mindset” to ensure that you stay focused on growth.

Are You Ready for Battle?

To fulfill your potential and live your best life, you will need energy, strength, a focused mind, and good habits. You will need a healthy brain that is functioning at its optimum level to maximize brain power and make better decisions.

And the weaker your brain is, the harder it is to form good habits. This negative cycle becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy since a weak brain lacks the power necessary to form healthy habits that stick.

By rewiring your mind for growth, you can boost your brain power and improve the quality of your decisions. And making better choices changes your destiny.

Your brain can help you achieve amazing things in life if you take care of it. This is why the first step to breaking bad habits is to focus on your brain health.

Sleep also plays an essential role in the function of your brain.

By removing toxins that build up in the brain during waking hours, quality sleep maintains neural pathways. A good night’s rest improves your learning, memory, focus, productivity, and overall performance.

However, if you don’t give your brain the rest it needs you impair your ability to think clearly and make decisions. By sleeping less than five hours per night you can damage your brain and double your risk of developing dementia.

Learn more: Brain Power: How to Boost Your Intellectual Ability