Do You React or Reason? Well that depends on which part of the brain you activate. To greatly over-simplify neuroscience, the brain can be divided into three main areas of function. Most advanced is the forebrain or the neocortex, which is responsible for thinking and reasoning. It has also been called the primate brain.

Beneath that is the lower brain, made up of the midbrain or limbic system, which includes the amygdala. This area is often called the mammalian brain. The limbic system is the emotional center. The amygdala is the center for emotional learning. Feelings of love, hate, lust, anger, fear, revenge, and contentment all come from this area of the brain.

When the amygdala is activated, feels threatened, or when there’s a sense that people might laugh at you, it takes over. Emotion rises up to shut you down. This can be seen as a natural resistance, the nagging voice that fears failure, keeps you in the safe-zone, and works to keep you from being noticed.

There is a biological underpinning that creates fear and uncertainty, finds excuses and makes tasks needlessly complex or oversimplified to halt your progress. The resistance can be so powerful that it will undermine all the shortcuts, time savers and focusing tools you try to use. It is subtle and sounds quite sensible, but it will compromise your goals and undermine your efforts.

Beneath that, is the final area, the hindbrain. It developed hundreds of millions of years ago and is found in the area of the brain stem, which is at the base of the skull emerging from the spinal column. As the oldest and smallest region of the human brain, its function is evident in your reactions.

It is similar to the entire brain of present-day reptiles. It is often called the “reptilian brain” or “lizard brain,” as it is found in lower life forms such as lizards, crocodiles and birds. This part of the brain determines your general level of alertness and regulates the autonomic brain processes of the body, such as breathing, heartbeat, digestion, blood pressure and the fight or flight response.

The reptilian brain lacks language; it acts on impulses that are ritualistic and instinctual. Fundamental needs such as survival, self-care, dominance, and mating are its primary concerns. Procrastination and being hypercritical are products of the reptilian brain, which also creates anxiety, obsessions and excuses.

When you procrastinate, your reptilian brain is sensing a threat, something that it feels like resisting. You begin to feel emotionally dull about the task, which can even lead to dread. This is your reptilian brain trying to keep you from stepping out of the box and doing something new, even if potentially beneficial. It acts out of fear and limits you to the status quo.

The reptilian brain is reacting, not thinking. When you find yourself procrastinating, ask yourself, “What is the deeper reason I might feel threatened by this task.” When you deal with that or face it, you are activating the rational, thinking part of the brain and can begin to manage the task further.

For the reptilian brain, things are black and white, and never your fault. And while your reptilian brain is busy reacting, your mind will be engaged in fear-based subtle judgment and unfocused on the task at hand. Become conscious of this. The abilities to suspend snap judgment, stay on task, and move past the status quo are important steps in transforming behavior.

Often when you make choices that don’t line up with your rational belief system, or you don’t do what you think you should do, it is due to the reptilian brain influence. By calming that area of the brain, you will increase control over your thoughts and your intentional behavior.

Therefore it becomes vital that you recognize what behaviors result from the reptilian brain. When you recognize that these are simple reactions, you can begin to tackle them using the thinking part of your brain.

By breaking down the task into simple steps and resolving to only act on step one, you can diffuse the sense of threat that the reptile brain encounters. Once you have completed step one, your likelihood of continuing though the process is high, after all you were able to do the hardest part, get started. You have now established a simple way to override the reptilian brain mentality.

The reptilian brain, in partnership with the limbic system, determines and conditions a great deal of your behavior. By paying attention to these reactions, you can engage the thinking part of the brain and begin to make simple adjustments to create the outcomes you desire.