No, giving the ‘voice in your head’ a name of its own is not a surefire sign of madness. It’s actually a positive mindset technique invented by former Google Engineer, Chief Business Officer and bestselling Author Mo Gawdat.
In his book ‘That Little Voice In Your Head: Adjust the Code That Runs Your Brain’ Mo provides a practical guide to retraining your brain for optimal joy, from changing thought processes and turning greed into generosity, to silencing negative self-talk.
It’s a must-read for techies and businesspeople interested in psychology or simply living life better.
Gawdat is a true engineer at heart, but of a philosophical kind, even having invented an ‘algorithm for happiness’; but you’ll have to research that one on your own for now.
One of his top tips, which we'll unpack today, is the idea of ‘Naming your Brain’. To hear Mo discuss why he dubs his brain ‘Becky’ and the benefits this brings, we highly recommend that you listen to this episode of the podcast How To Fail With Elizabeth Day.
The host of How to Fail, Day herself, who we featured in our recent list of Most Influential Women of 2022, describes Mo like this:
“My life guru. His writing, his ideas and his generosity in sharing them has changed my life for the better in so many ways. Everything he writes is an enlightening education in how to be human.”
Why name your brain?
Our brains are wired to focus on the negative. That’s for survival.
If a tiger is running at you, your brain doesn’t waste time saying ‘what a beautiful animal that is’, it goes straight to ‘we’re about to die’, so that you run away. But not every situation is a tiger running at you.
Say you lose your job. Your negatively wired brain may tell you you are just incompetent and will never find a decent job again. This is catastrophising and doesn’t serve to protect or motivate us.
Naming your brain helps you to position it as a separate person from you, someone you can have a conversation with and challenge their points, rather than internalising every piece of negative self-talk and accepting it wholly as the truth without question.
Separating Brain from Self.
Think about it. If that voice in your head was you talking to you, why would it have to talk? This opposes the common western mentality ‘I think therefore I am’, or as Mo describes it “that the voice in my head speaking to me is Me, telling me what to do.”
Another perspective is this: Your brain is just an organ like your heart or your lungs. But we don’t believe that we are the blood in our veins or the air that we breathe. So why are we so sure that we are the thoughts in our heads?
Though this is a bit of a mind-bender, it can be helpful to separate the Brain from the Self.
Your brain works for you, not the other way around.
When we think of our brain as a separate entity from us, we can choose to disagree with its negativity. You can be the boss, and say “To do your job as my brain to a better standard right now, you’re going to have to be more optimistic!”
So if your brain tells you for instance:
“We’re stressed because you’re so disorganised, it’s a huge character flaw and it means you’ll never be successful” - it’s catastrophising again.
You can either be discouraged or say, “Brain, you’re being unhelpful. Please give me an objective that is within my power to achieve.”
To this, your brain will likely try again with a more constructive thought, like “We’re more creative than we are regimented, so let's go get some inspiration and see if a new solution comes to us.”
You, the boss, can then say “That’s a great idea Brain! This is why I pay you the big bucks.”
Now, action your brain's constructive advice and solve the problem in a way that works for you rather than being critical of yourself and trying to fit a round peg into a square hole; a futile exercise that many of us are often guilty of.
The Job spec.
Think of it as an employer/ employee relationship.
You ask your brain to help you through life. It’s a job that requires versatility, attention to detail, and good communication.
As long as you fairly remunerate your brain in the form of exercise, healthy food, intellectual stimulation, rest and fun, it remains motivated and performs better.
In turn, you have the right to offer feedback on strategies that work and ones that don’t.
This way, the two of you can have a more symbiotic relationship.
Have you tried naming your brain? Let us know what you think of this technique in the comments.
For more mental health tips and resources, check out our free Mental Health in the Workplace handbook, available to download now.
