shift your mood. Romano plays
“Happy” by Pharrell Williams to
help her stay optimistic. It’s certainly hard to listen to that and not
smile. What music consistently lifts
you up and expands your thinking?
Have it handy for the next time you
need a boost.
• Gratitude. There is a growing body
of research on the profound effects
of gratitude and its ability to prime
your mind for success. Before speaking, think about one thing you’re
grateful for, and notice the shift in
your energy. Or better yet, start a
gratitude journal.
• Apps. There are apps such as Hap-pify, and MindPT (created by Serafini and used in her work with the
sales agents), that help to positively
prime your mind and shift from a
place of stress and anxiety to a
state that inspires higher
performance.
So, how can you utilize what
you know about the brain and
positive priming to make your
messages have a bigger, more
lasting impact?
Your ability to recall informa-
tion is, in part, determined by how
much the hippocampus fires while
in the process of learning. The
brain has to be focused on the task
in order to facilitate long-term
memory.
How do you accomplish that with
your audience’s increasingly short
attention span? Here’s how:
SHORT. The most effective way to
make your message stick is to deliver
it in short, focused, bite-sized, easily
consumed bursts, often referred
to as “learning nuggets.” Optimal
micro-learning segments are two to
seven minutes long.
SPACED. When exercising, it’s during
periods of rest that muscle building
takes place. Likewise, creating space
between each learning segment is necessary for retention and transformation
to happen. ;
VARIETY. Include as many modalities
as possible. Bill Cates, CSP, CPAE, has a
micro-learning program called Rapid
Fire Referrals. Each twice-weekly segment has a two- to three-minute video,
an audio version, and a transcript of the
audio. Clients can watch, listen, read
and write/highlight. Other modalities to
consider are quizzes and gamification, or
involvement in social communities. Each
of these uses different parts of the brain,
and help form a more complex neural
circuit, which increases retention. ;
INVOLVE. Another way to engage
your audience is to get them involved
There is considerable research on
this, most notably the work of Bar-
bara Fredrickson, PhD, a professor
of psychology at University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, and her
Broaden and Build Theory. It states
that when you focus on positive
emotions, like joy, gratitude or
love, neurotransmitters, such as
oxytocin, serotonin and dopamine,
are released. Consequently, your mind
expands, and you can come up with new
and more creative ideas and possibilities.
Rena Romano, an emerging keynote
speaker, acknowledged that it can be
daunting getting those first paid bookings. She knows she has life-changing
lessons and stories to share, but if she
doesn’t get the bookings, she doesn’t
feel on purpose. She said, “Hearing a
bunch of no’s is a creative killer. And
sometimes I just hit a wall.” To get back
to a positive, expansive mindset,
Romano reads success books, watches
uplifting videos, and listens to inspirational podcasts. She often goes for a
walk or changes her environment.
Here are some additional ways you
can positively prime your mind and
perform at your best every time:
• Breathing. Whenever you feel anxious, one of the fastest ways to
release tension is to bring awareness
to your breath, and gently increase
your inhale and exhale. It sounds
simplistic, but it works!
• Awe. Surround yourself with awe-inspiring beauty. Select artwork for
your workplace with expansive
visual feasts, visit an art gallery,
spend time in nature or your local
botanical garden.
• Music. Long recognized for its positive priming effect on the brain,
music is one of the easiest ways to
The brain has
to be focused on
the task in order
to facilitate long-
term memory.