How Do You Like Your Adrenaline?
Recently, I learned a fascinating thing about adrenaline in the Optimal Work Masterclass. It turns out that there are two ways that you are able to utilize adrenaline, the hormone that is secreted when you encounter a potential threat, such as a dangerous animal or a challenging exam.
If you interpret the potential threat as something to be avoided, then your adrenaline is sent to your body, triggering the fight or flight response. Your blood flows to your periphery. You sweat. You feel anxious. Your adrenaline prepares you to fight the threat or run away.
If on the other hand, you reframe the potential threat as something to be welcomed, then your adrenaline is sent to your brain, increasing your intelligence and cognitive abilities. You think more clearly. You speak with greater fluency. You are more creative and focused.
Dr. Majeres teaches a very simple way to reframe things when you feel threatened or experience anxiety. He invites us to simply welcome the adrenaline, saying to ourselves, “Bring it on!” This advice resonates with my experience of rollercoasters.
As a child, I very much feared riding on rollercoasters but I also very much feared being called “chicken.” And so, I would always go on the roller coaster when my family went to theme parks, even though I hated it. One day, however, as the roller coaster was clicking its way up to the top of the first drop, I decided that I would embrace the ride. I gripped my seat and even leaned forward into the plunge as the roller coaster zoomed down. The change in my mindset completely altered how I experienced the ride. I actually had fun and went on as many roller coasters as I could that day until the park closed.
As further evidence of this principle, Dr. Majeres cites a Harvard study during which a group of college students was required to take a practice GRE exam. Half of the students read an article on reframing and how adrenaline can increase mental performance. The other half just read a random unrelated article. Both groups then took the practice GRE and had their blood sampled to measure their levels of adrenaline. The first group had significantly higher levels of adrenaline but reported lower levels of anxiety, while the second group had lower adrenaline but higher anxiety. Then, the students went on to take the real GRE some months later. The first group had a significantly higher average score, improving their practice exam score from 700 to 770, whereas the control group’s score stayed about the same.
Dr. Majeres says that, “We can actually say that anxiety is adrenaline with a negative framing, and with a positive frame, it’s intelligence and excitement waiting to happen.” This week, I invite you to practice being more deliberate about how you take your adrenaline.
What is a situation in your life during which you might benefit from welcoming your adrenaline response? What would change for you if you could learn to say, “Bring it on?” In what other way could you positively reframe the anxiety producing situation? What would you need to believe to be 100% committed to mastering this practice?
God Bless,
Dan
