Iconoclast

The iconoclast.

In this book, Berns defines an iconoclast as “a person who does something that others say can’t be done.” (← I like it.)

Before we take a little deeper look at the three aspects of the iconoclast’s brain that are different from the normal person’s brain, let’s take a deeper look at what the word “iconoclast” means.

Berns tells us: “Iconoclasts have existed throughout history. A name was given to this type of person when Leo III, emperor of Constantinople, destroyed the golden icon of Christ over his palace gates in AD 725. Leo’s act of defiance against the church was to consolidate his power, but the word iconoclast, which means literally ‘destroyer of icons,’ stuck. In the same vein, the modern iconoclast, whether consciously or not, acknowledges the fact that creation is also an act of destruction. To create something new, you also have to tear down conventional ways of thinking.”

A destroyer of icons. A person who attacks cherished beliefs or institutions. Creating the new while destroying the old…

Now, back to the iconoclast’s brain!

The book systematically unpacks these three primary differences:

1. The iconoclast sees the world differently. By definition, if we want to create something that hasn’t existed before (and that others say is impossible to create), we must see things differently, and sustain our attention on that vision.
2. The iconoclast creates freedom from fear. We’re evolutionarily wired to conform and avoid failure. We need to use our prefrontal cortex to master our fear and wisely push our edges.
3. The iconoclast cultivates social intelligence. If we want to be a successful iconoclast, we must have the ability to sell our ideas. This requires social intelligence.

Perception + Courage + Social Skills.

Before we can muster the courage and cultivate the social intelligence to create iconoclastic change, we must take the first step of seeing the world differently.

This step has two components. We must a) see the possibility that conventional thinking is wrong and b) imagine alternative possibilities.

Needless to say, that’s not easy to do.

Berns tells us: “In order to think creatively, and imagine possibilities that only iconoclasts do, one must break out of the cycle of experience-dependent categorization—or what Mark Twain called ‘education.’ For most people, this does not come naturally.”

His top recommendation to help us break out of the rigid constraints to think differently? “Bombard the brain with new experiences.”

Our brains are wired to be efficient—which is both good and bad. We need to simultaneously take advantage of that efficiency by creating habits to get great work done AND we need to create novel circumstances to challenge our brains to grow and see new possibilities.

Bombardment-wise: Travel abroad and see cultures that are different than yours. Read broadly—looking back at history and across domains that challenge rigid thinking.

But DON’T merely unconsciously bombard yourself with the latest push notification. That’s distracting and enervating, not catalyzing.

We need to step far enough back from all that noise to SEE the world. We need to settle our brains down and then systematically choose how we will stimulate our brains such that we become more capable of challenging conventional wisdom.

Then, as inspiration and clarity arises and we develop an alternative to conventional thinking, we need to know that, as Berns advises: “To imagine something in detail, you must devote a significant amount of mental energy to the task. More precisely, mental energy refers to the ability to direct and sustain attention for the job at hand.”

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi talks about how important it is to protect our attention and keep it focused on our chosen domain in his profile of creative iconoclasts, Creativity. Check out that Note for more. For now: “After creative energy is awakened, it is necessary to protect it. We must erect barriers against distractions, dig channels so that energy can flow more freely, find ways to escape outside temptations and interruptions.”

How’s your vision? What aspect of conventional thinking do you know is off? What alternative possibilities do you believe are out there? That’s Step 1. See things differently.

P.S. This Joseph Campbell gem from The Power of Myth is a good one to help us step back and see the world and our role in it more clearly: “This is an absolute necessity for anybody today. You must have a room, or a certain hour or so a day, where you don’t know what was in the newspapers this morning, you don’t know who your friends are, you don’t know what you owe anybody, you don’t know what anybody owes you. This is a place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. This is the place of creative incubation. At first you might find that nothing happens there. But if you have a sacred place and use it, something eventually will happen.”

Cognitive reappraisal. ← THAT’s where it’s at.

We’ve gotta know that, although we can optimize our relationship to it, fear is never going to go away completely. Our amygdala will continue to scan our environments for threats and we’re going to receive those inputs for the rest of our lives.

AND…

We need to know that we can actively learn how to inhibit the OUTPUT of that fear.

Iconoclasts have gotten VERY good at doing this.

Whether we aspire to be iconoclasts or simply happier humans, we’d be wise to cultivate our courage as well.

One “fairly simple” way to do that? Cognitive reappraisal.

When our amygdala lights up, we need to flip on our prefrontal cortex (PFC).

In Your Brain at Work, David Rock echoes this wisdom as he talks about how our PFC and limbic system（home of our amygdala）are kinda like a seesaw. When one’s up the other’s down and vice-versa.

Rock tells us: “It turns out that conscious control over the limbic system is possible, not by suppressing a feeling, but rather by changing the interpretation that creates the feeling in the first place.”

Knowing this, we want to get really good at flipping on our PFC to cool our amygdala off.

We talked about a similar idea in a similar book by Adam Grant called Originals (basically his word for iconoclasts).

Grant walks us through the whole “I’m excited!” research we talk about all the time and offers this tip: “Don’t try to calm down. If you’re nervous, it’s hard to relax. It’s easier to turn anxiety into intense positive emotions like interest and enthusiasm. Think about the reasons you’re eager to challenge the status quo, and the positive outcomes that might result.”

One more reappraisal technique we come back to often: Remember Tool #1 from The Tools? The Big Idea that we should “Reverse our desire” and, rather than wilt and run away from fear we should say, “BRING IT ON!!!”—while reminding ourselves that our infinite potential exists on the other side of that fear. That’s a really (!) powerful tool for our growing iconoclast toolboox.

Cognitive reappraisal. Let’s get good at it.

I love this idea of substituting deliberate, short-term stress to alleviate the negative impact of long-term, chronic stress.

Two ways: Exercise + short-term projects.

First, exercise. Feeling chronic stress? Put yourself under some short-term (20-30-45-60 min) stress! And, remember: If you’re NOT exercising you’re effectively taking a “Stress Pill” every morning. Not a good idea.

Take Alden Mills’ Magic Pill instead: “What if I told you of a pill that makes you smarter, helps you lose weight and build muscle, fights off depression, improves your ability to work longer and harder, and prevents numerous life-threatening conditions including heart disease and diabetes? What would you pay for this pill—$10, $50, maybe $100?

Now, what if I told you this pill could change your destiny by making you successful and perhaps famous, if fame is a dream of yours? And what if I told you this pill could give you the confidence to do anything you put your mind to? How much might the pill be worth to you now? $1,000? Maybe $10,000?”

← Take that Magic Pill!! It only costs you x minutes per day. :)

Then there’s the power of rockin’ short-term projects with defined endings to deal with chronic stress. This is the essence of Masterpiece Days 101.

Whether we’re super stressed by the pressure of big, long-term projects (or life in general/whatever), we want to BREAK IT DOWN into tiny pieces so we can make progress daily.

Alden Mills actually has a brilliant idea for this approach as well. He tells us to dream big and then imagine your big, audacious, awesome goal as a huge rock. Then take a sledgehammer to that big rock and break off a tiny piece. Then, go do that tiny little thing. Repeat daily.

P.S. The Upside of Stress is another great Note to check out!

So, our iconoclast sees the world differently then has the courage to DO something with that vision. Then it’s time to build the brain circuits for social networking—we need to cultivate our social intelligence if we want to bring our ideas to life.

Berns tells us that there are two primary facets we need to consider on the social side: familiarity and reputation. We need to be familiar to people and, when they think of us, we want them to think good things (aka we need to have a positive reputation).

He walks us through one iconoclast as an example: Picasso. One of Picasso’s strengths was the sheer volume of his work (he was arguably the most prolific artist ever). That volume created familiarity between him and the world. Plus, he was uber-connected.

Berns presents some fascinating research on something called “the mere exposure effect” which demonstrates exactly what it sounds like. For example: In studies, people who are shown pictures of people so quickly they aren’t even aware they’ve seen them report liking them more than others.

Plus: “Does familiarity with someone increase the likelihood of doing business with him? A wealth of economic data suggests that the answer is yes.”

In short: “Familiarity quiets the amygdala.” (← Which, of course, is a good thing if you want people to adopt your ideas.)

Reputation-wise, it’s all about fairness and integrity. Short story here: We have an innate sense of fairness and *hate* it when people violate that. Stated positively, we gravitate to people who operate with a deep sense of integrity and fairness.

Here’s to being good humans and letting the social capital that arises from that commitment fuel our commitment to making positive change in the world!

There ya go.

The Iconoclast’s secret formula: Seeing differently + Dealing with fear + social intelligence.

How’re you doing with each of those ingredients? Where are you strong? Where and how can you optimize?