What influences our thoughts?

Why do we do what we do?

It’s a question that has gained more popularity over the years, partly due to the work by Simon Sinek, The Golden Circle, and for me, partly as I seek to understand myself more deeply, what motivates me and what makes me unique.

When the question was raised in the group last week, I thought I’d go back to some basic neuroscience before launching into why I do what I do. Afterall, the science is much simpler than delving into the depths of my mind and motivations!

In this group, we all have business and services to offer the world, so we need to be able to articulate what and how we do what we do but the question of why is often missing from our communication, that may well be because we struggle to articulate it ourselves, let alone tell others.

Is that a problem? Well, yes, I think it is.

If I asked you how you make the decision whether or not to buy a product or service, what would you reply?

“I’m a very rational person and need the facts?”
“I make choices based on emotion and gut feel?”

Maybe you are a mix of the two?

Many people do think they make rational buying decisions but if that were true then we would never buy a product or service simply because of how it makes us feel.

We would never be loyal; we would always choose the best deal. We would never care about trust or relationships; we would only evaluate the numbers.

In reality, we know that we don’t do that. We do choose one product, service or company over another because of the way it makes us feel.

What is happening in the brain when we are considering our purchase?

Let’s look at this at a very basic level:

The neocortex is part of the human brain where higher cognitive functioning is thought to originate from, it controls many functions including:

• Higher-order thinking: It’s responsible for complex cognitive processes like reasoning, planning, and problem-solving.
• Sensory processing: The neocortex receives and interprets sensory information from various parts of the body.
• Language: In humans, areas like Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas in the neocortex are essential for language production and comprehension.
• Spatial awareness: It helps in understanding our position in space and navigating our environment.
• Memory: The neocortex is involved in the formation and storage of long-term memories.
• Consciousness: It’s believed to play a significant role in conscious awareness and perception.

Basically, it’s the thinking part of the brain, always trying to understand and make sense of the world.

Then there is the limbic system, a complex set of brain structures that plays a crucial role in various emotional and behavioural functions. It’s main functions include:

• Emotion processing: It’s responsible for generating, experiencing, and regulating emotions.
• Memory formation: Particularly emotional memories and spatial memory.
• Motivation and reward: It’s involved in the brain’s reward system, influencing motivation and goal-directed behaviour.
• Learning: Especially associative learning, where we connect stimuli with responses.
• Olfaction: Processing of smell is closely linked to the limbic system.
• Behaviour regulation: Especially those related to survival, such as feeding and reproduction.

Put very simply the Limbic System controls our emotions, feelings like trust and loyalty and also decision-making. However, it is not primarily associated with language processing or production.
We make decisions using our Limbic System and then justify those choices with our Neocortex, the part of the brain that handles language and logic

If we only communicate WHAT we do, people can understand vast amounts of complicated information, like features, benefits, facts and figures but this does not drive human behaviour.

When we communicate WHY we do what we do, with empathy and compassion, we speak directly to the part of the brain that control emotions, behaviour and decision-making.

Whether we are discussing our business with potential clients, collaborators or even ourselves, it’s worth remembering that activities such as buying are an emotional process and when our feelings align with logic then we feel good about the process.

Why do I do what I do, more about that in another post

Photo credit Juan Rumimpunu- Unsplash