The She Leads® Podcast - Wealth Building & Business Growth

Brain lady Julie Anderson spent thirty years studying how neuroscience shapes women's success, and what keeps them from the million dollar mark is not capability. It is mindset, and specifically what their brains have been trained to listen to.

In this episode, Adrienne sits down with Julie Anderson, certified brain health professional and international speaker, to talk about the mindset and neuroscience behind how women build and scale. Julie breaks down why women take on too much, why the word "challenge" activates fight response while "opportunity" opens the prefrontal cortex, and why that small shift changes what the brain looks for. They talk through the evening gratitude practice that has to include something about you, the visualization work elite athletes actually do, and something Adrienne noticed in an AI class that morning: a male instructor typing messy prompts and getting ten times the output of a brilliant woman correcting every comma.

If you are building toward a million and wondering why the same patterns keep repeating, this one is worth your time.

Chapters:
01:38 🧠 Meet Julie Anderson, the brain lady with 30 years in brain science 
03:58 🌱 From homeschooling to psychoneuroimmunology: how it all started 
08:06 ⚖️ Why women spread themselves too thin and what it costs them 
15:44 🔄 Challenge vs. opportunity: brain treats them differently 
18:46 🌙 The evening gratitude practice that has to include you 
30:29 🏆 What brain scans of elite athletes reveal about visualization 
38:16 💻 The AI class moment: perfectionism vs. messy progress 
47:16 🔬 One word can activate fight, flight or open the prefrontal cortex 
50:34 💰 Normalize the million, and everything after it 

Links: 
Email: info@brainladyspeaker.com
Website: BrainLadySpeaker.com
Social: @brainladyjulie 
Reach out to Julie Anderson to learn more about the neuroscience behind high performance and the mindset work that helps women leaders scale. 
 
Thank you to our podcast sponsor
Go From Expert to Thought Leader with the Genius Discovery Program.
Book Directly with Kent: http://talktokent.com 
Learn more at: geniusdiscovery.org 

We're always seeking aligned sponsors.
⭐️  If you're interested in supporting our podcast - one episode or a season, reach out to Adrienne at Adrienne@sheleadsmedia.com.⭐️

Reach out to Adrienne: hello@sheleadsmedia.com 
Visit our website: www.sheleadsmedia.com to learn about upcoming events or to work with me directly and get the clarity you’re seeking.

As a gesture of support for this podcast and sharing women's voices everywhere - I would greatly appreciate if you would take a moment and give our podcast a 5 Star rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. 

By you taking this simple action, you are making a difference in sharing women's voices, thoughts and opinions.  

One last thing - if you haven’t done so already, please hit the plus sign + to follow the podcast so you never miss an episode. Thank you so much!!
XO
Adrienne 
  • (01:38) - 🧠 Meet Julie Anderson, the brain lady with 30 years in brain science
  • (03:58) - 🌱 From homeschooling to psychoneuroimmunology: how it all started
  • (08:06) - ⚖️ Why women spread themselves too thin and what it costs them
  • (15:44) - 🔄 Challenge vs. opportunity: brain treats them differently
  • (18:46) - 🌙 The evening gratitude practice that has to include you
  • (30:29) - 🏆 What brain scans of elite athletes reveal about visualization
  • (38:16) - 💻 The AI class moment: perfectionism vs. messy progress
  • (47:16) - 🔬 One word can activate fight, flight or open the prefrontal cortex
  • (50:34) - 💰 Normalize the million, and everything after it

Creators and Guests

Host
She Leads® Media
👩🏻‍⚖️ ⭐️ Adrienne Garland - She Leads® Podcast Network - 4 women X women ⭐️ 🎧 The She Leads Podcast Host| Leadership Conferences, Retreats #SheLeads #Women #entrepreneurs

What is The She Leads® Podcast - Wealth Building & Business Growth?

The go-to podcast for women entrepreneurs and leaders growing and scaling to $1 million and beyond while building lasting wealth. Each week, Adrienne Garland offers real and insightful conversations that dive deep with bold women entrepreneurs, executives, and leaders across the globe — stripping away the sugar-coating to get at what actually matters. This podcast is for driven women entrepreneurs and leaders growing their businesses for profit and impact.

Adrienne is a Professor at NYU and Rice University, an entrepreneur, and a business growth advisor. She's also an MBA grad, and that bold business friend who asks the questions other women in business podcasts shy away from.

Topics covered: scaling to seven figures and why it matters for women and the world, funding women-owned businesses, amplifying your voice and visibility, building high-value networks, leadership, designing entrepreneurial ecosystems that benefit humanity, the importance of financial acumen and literacy, and wealth building strategies

Less than 2% of women-owned businesses scale beyond seven figures. The She Leads® Podcast exists to change that.

Subscribe now and follow @sheleadsmedia on Instagram for She Leads LIVE events, conferences and travel experiences.

website: https://www.sheleadsmedia.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriennegarland

Adrienne Garland:

Leadership isn't just changing. It's evolving in ways we're only just beginning to imagine. And women, we're not playing this game anymore. We're the ones reshaping the entire field, building models, movements, and businesses that serve more than just a few. On the She Leads podcast, you'll hear real conversations with women who've broken through all kinds of barriers, revenue, identity, orders, and expectations.

Adrienne Garland:

There's no sugarcoating here, just the truth told by those who are living it. I'm Adrienne Garland, entrepreneur, strategist, educator, and creator of live experiences, gathering women leaders together for over a decade. And this is the She Leads Podcast. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the She Leads Podcast. I'd like to kick off today's episode with a request.

Adrienne Garland:

If you haven't done so already, before you listen into this episode, please pause and take just two minutes to give the show a five star rating and review. It's so important to share the journeys, wisdom, and lessons of women entrepreneurs and leaders that we feature here on the She Leads Podcast. And the best way to do that is to rate, review, and share the show with anyone who's interested in seeing more leaders in this world. Thank you so much for helping to share our incredible show with more people. Now, I cannot wait to introduce you to my next guest.

Adrienne Garland:

Her name is Julie Anderson. She's known as the brain lady, and she's a certified brain health professional and a sought after international speaker and bestselling author with over twenty seven years of experience in the field of brain science. I'm so excited to welcome Julie to the She Leads Podcast because she's spoken at the She Leads Live conference for two years to great fanfare. Everybody loves her energetic and actionable advice. Julie's worked with corporations, entrepreneurs, and individuals to improve communication, team building, leadership, conflict prevention, improved organizational culture, and business organization.

Adrienne Garland:

Julie's speaking topics cover brains and mind health, entrepreneurship, career leadership, and women's concerns. That is why we are so excited to have Julie on the show today. Welcome to the She Leads Podcast, Julie.

Julie Anderson:

Oh, thank you so much for having me here. I love it whenever I can play in Adrienne's sandbox.

Adrienne Garland:

We have a lot of fun over here at She Leads, and our mission is to, you know, help more women to get the visibility that, you know, we all, I hope, believe that we deserve. And more and more on this podcast, we are focused on highlighting women's stories that have a million dollar revenue in their, you know, their striking zone. They're either building toward a million or they've gone past it. And having those conversations about what you can do to grow your business to that point and free up the capital that's required to do the good things in the world that women do when we have the resources. So I know that you do a lot of work with women that are in this, you know, area, and I know so much of business has got to do with mindset.

Adrienne Garland:

So we're gonna talk about all of that. But before we do, I want to I want to introduce you to everybody and get, to know you. So can you just talk a little bit about your origin story? How did you how did you grow to become brain lady Julie Anderson?

Julie Anderson:

Well, it's kind of funny because it was just this kind of it it just morphed over the years. You know, when I started, I was actually studying. I was you know, this was thirty years ago, and I was homeschooling my kids, and I was studying myself for a degree in natural health. That was what I was passionate about. And I in one of the required courses so I I I made it 10 courses into into the 12 that I needed for the bachelor's, and I got sidetracked because I got sidetracked with a course that was called on psychoneuroimmunology.

Julie Anderson:

And it's this big long word that basically just means, how your thoughts in your mind right? Talking mindset, how the thoughts in your mind affect your neurochemistry and then how that in turn affects your immune system. And what I was digesting was all this neuroscience, all this scientific data to prove that that is true. And I just was like, oh my gosh. What else can neuroscience show us about how the functioning of our mind and our brain can help us to either achieve more things, do more things, live happier lives, or hinder us Yes.

Julie Anderson:

From doing those very same things. So that just I just from that point on, I just started grabbing every certification I could in those you know, anything that was connected to that field and just really moved that into in the beginning, I was homeschooling, and so I was sharing this information on a professional basis with other homeschoolers and other homeschooling families. And then that kinda went into entrepreneurship where I started coaching and working with entrepreneurs, primarily women who needed you know, who had success within their reach, but something was stopping them and they didn't really know what. And it's like, okay. Let's figure out where your brain strengths are, and let's let's go.

Julie Anderson:

So then it went from that until now I do prime I do entrepreneur or women as well as women executive coaching, and I work with corporates as well.

Adrienne Garland:

So good. I I mean, I have a million things to ask you just about women, women entrepreneurs, some of the things that get in our way, and then this concept or the reality really that a very small percentage of women owned businesses ever get past that million dollar mark. And, you know, I I wanna also make sure that we are very cognizant of the fact that, you know, there's a system out there that we are operating within. And so there is the the mindset and the challenges that we face that's a piece of the puzzle, but it's not everything. There's also a system that we're operating within.

Adrienne Garland:

And just more and more of the reading that I'm doing and the things that I am interested in, you know, I I just want to make sure that we never put blame on women entrepreneurs for not achieving some of these milestones because I think that that's what has been done. Like, there's something wrong with us. And Yeah. Yeah. Like, let's shift the focus to the fact that there really is not something wrong with us.

Adrienne Garland:

We're incredible. But there is something wrong with the system that we're operating within. And that's the reason that we experience so much challenge. And then with that said, there are certain, you know, mindset shifts that we need to make. So can you talk a little bit about, you know, I mean, I have 30,000 things going on in my head at one time.

Adrienne Garland:

I do know that with the eradication of DEI, there's fewer and fewer programs within corporate that are specifically focused on helping women leaders to grow. So I guess, you know, with that as the landscape or the back backdrop, you know, what is some of the work that you're actually doing with women leaders within corporations? And then we'll talk about women entrepreneurs.

Julie Anderson:

Yeah. I think what I am finding or I know what I am finding, what tends to pop up the most is women and it's the makeup of our brain. It's the way our brains are functioned or are are designed or wired, right, is we tend to spread ourselves too thin. And this even happens within yep. Yep.

Julie Anderson:

Raise your hand, everybody. We don't preach it. We just tend to do too many things. And that can lead to micromanaging even within your own team in in a corporate world. It can lead to really not not delegating enough and thinking, oh, you know what?

Julie Anderson:

They they're busy. They can't do it. I'll just do it. Or, you know, I should this is a big thing. I should be able to handle all of this.

Adrienne Garland:

Mhmm.

Julie Anderson:

And so this gets put in our this is our own little voice in our head. You know, we have to be careful. Our brain listens to everything that our that we're thinking in our mind. So we have to hear what we're telling it. Right?

Julie Anderson:

And we have this thing where we're like, okay. I I can do that. I can do that, or I can take on this additional thing. And that is kind of unique to women. Most men don't do that.

Julie Anderson:

Yeah. Most men are like, uh-uh. You I you know, my plate's full. I'm I'm not gonna take on anything else. Whereas women in the corporate world as well as in the entrepreneur world, they just tend to do too much.

Julie Anderson:

And they take on and accept too many projects. And in doing so, they're not able to give a 100% to each thing because there's just too many things they can't. And then the negative voices start. Like, can't I do this? Like, I see so and so doing it.

Julie Anderson:

So if they can do it, why can't I do it? Well, they don't know that so and so is falling apart every opening drinking a bottle of wine every time they go home. Right? It's like this this thought process that just our our brains our minds work against our brains and against our ability to be productive. As productive as we could be because we just simply try to do too much.

Julie Anderson:

We do that everything all at once. Right? And it's just it's too much.

Adrienne Garland:

It's really funny. It makes so much sense. And I'm kind of honing in on what you said about our brains listen to everything. And I think that goes back to what I was talking about, about how society sort of places these expectations upon women that we should be able to do all of these things, and we should be able to do all of them, you know, beautifully and expertly and quietly. And, you know, uphold the world, you know, allow others to do what they're going to do.

Adrienne Garland:

We're the, you know, we're the sweep up crew behind everyone. And so I think that that is part of the, you know, the input into our brains and why Yeah. We start to shame ourselves into, you know, a really bad pattern of behavior because then it not only is in your brain, it seeps into your soul. And then you start to say, you know, I'm a failure or I can't do this. I can't handle it.

Adrienne Garland:

And then that reinforces this this programming. So it am I am I kind of, you know,

Julie Anderson:

explaining this thing like Yeah. Absolutely. You become a self fulfilling prophecy. Right? You really do.

Julie Anderson:

Because when I say that your brain listens to what you're thinking, it's I like to use the illustration of buying a new car. Like, back, I I had my this is when my boys were little, and I wanted a Toyota Sequoia. I felt that was just like, that was the car I wanted. Suburbans were too big. My husband want a Suburban.

Julie Anderson:

I'm like, that's that big. So this is what I wanted. And we finally get into the financial position where I can get there and I can do that. And we drive down a couple hours away from the house and we buy it and I'm so excited because it's like, it's this color I've never seen before. And I just I'm so excited that I get to drive at home, this two hour drive home, and I kid you not, the entire drive home, I had to have seen another dozen cars exactly like that one.

Julie Anderson:

And it's like, how did that happen? Did they just magically appear? No. All of a sudden, my brain was like, this is something that's important. This is something I need to pay attention to because now it was part of our life.

Julie Anderson:

Right? Yeah. And I saw it everywhere.

Adrienne Garland:

So it's a simple way

Julie Anderson:

to illustrate that this is what happens when we have positive or negative thoughts. Yeah. If we start thinking in our head, we're a failure. What's wrong with me? This is such a such a common statement.

Julie Anderson:

What's wrong with me? Why can't I do this better? Or why can't I accomplish this? Yes. Well, now your your brain begins to see every single thing in your life Yes.

Julie Anderson:

That is falling short of the the mark that you placed on it. Not that other people placed on you, the mark you placed on it. Because that's what you're telling your brain to pay attention to. That's what you're telling your brain to look for.

Adrienne Garland:

So it's gonna see it.

Julie Anderson:

Yeah. Right? It's gonna see the cookies that got a little burnt versus the the five batches that were perfect Yep. And one batch was a little burnt. All it's gonna pay attention to is the quote, unquote failure of the one batch.

Julie Anderson:

Yeah. Right? Because that's what you've programmed it to pay attention to.

Adrienne Garland:

Well, I have to say that I would eat even the burnt cookies.

Julie Anderson:

Who cares? They're just a little crispy. Who cares? Exactly.

Adrienne Garland:

Oh my goodness. Okay. So Yeah. I definitely want to talk about what we can do to shift that so that we're we're not focused on, you know, the this almost self fulfilling negative prophecy. And I think what's hard, and I even do this myself, is that there are the statistics that are out there.

Adrienne Garland:

Right? There's sort of the truth maybe, if you will. So even when I quote statistics about how women are not able to secure venture capital financing at the same rate, we don't grow businesses past a million dollars at the same rate, you know, there's so many barriers in our way. When I talk about that, I'm very conscious of the fact that that is a fact, and I I would like to change it, but I don't see a ton of evidence in the positive to pull us out of talking about these statistics. And it's actually something that, you know, even I, as, you know, the the CEO of She Leads Media that, you know, I'm trying to help women to accomplish their goals.

Adrienne Garland:

The fact that we're even in this, you know, bubble of we need to overcome the challenges is almost like a negative framing of issue and it goes against what I actually want to accomplish. So, you know, not using me as an example unless you want to, but, you know, I wonder how women can set themselves up for success starting with their mind and the things that they're focused on so that we can accomplish some of these, you know, grander goals that I know we have the capability to to achieve?

Julie Anderson:

Absolutely. One of it, I'm only gonna use you as a small example because you said a word, one word, that if you could shift that word, it's gonna make a difference in your programming, your internal programming. So you said, I'm trying to help women Oh, yeah. Too, as opposed to the confidence behind I am helping women too.

Adrienne Garland:

Love it.

Julie Anderson:

Right? Like, your events are amazing. Like I said, I love playing in in Adrian's sandbox. Your this this entire platform, you know, it's it's incredible. And you're bringing resources, and you're opening up a discussion and things that used to be taboo.

Adrienne Garland:

Yes.

Julie Anderson:

And you're in the process of discussing those things that are perhaps standing in the way or become challenges. And I put that in air quotes for a reason because, again, it's a dialogue thing. It's a conversation thing. So you're bringing it to the fore. So you are helping women.

Julie Anderson:

So let me start there. K. Be very positive and very confident about the things that you are accomplishing as a woman for all of the listeners. Yeah. Right?

Julie Anderson:

Always focus on that and start reframing. You know, you hear a lot out there in the world of it became popular, I don't know, I wanna say maybe a decade ago. My my time could be off a little bit. The scarcity mindset versus the abundance mindset. Right?

Julie Anderson:

And and all of that. And what I like to do is say, let's talk about the biggest neuroscience piece. And it has to do with the again, what you're telling your brain. Are you looking at a challenge, the challenge of not hitting a $1,000,000 as fast as men or not having the opportunities as men, are you looking at it as a challenge, or are you looking at at it as an opportunity to change something?

Adrienne Garland:

Mhmm.

Julie Anderson:

The brain looks at it differently. This is a challenge that puts it into kind of a fight. Okay. This is a challenge. I gotta step up in a challenge.

Julie Anderson:

I gotta, you know, I gotta

Adrienne Garland:

sharpen my stuff. Yeah. Sharpen the

Julie Anderson:

Exactly. As opposed to, okay. So this is an opportunity to change the tide. This is an opportunity to do something different. This is an opportunity to break the mold.

Julie Anderson:

Yeah. So now your brain starts looking at it as, okay, how can how can we grab this opportunity as opposed to how can we defensively step up to the challenge? It seems like a small shift, but if you are telling yourself this every morning, like, instead of going, you know, I will rise to every challenge, which is, what a lot of people have said is and is positive in thought going, I will pay attention to and notice every opportunity that I can take advantage of. It's a slight switch, but it changes what the brain begins to focus on. Yeah.

Julie Anderson:

And then I book in that with because I teach a mindfulness practice that's a little bit different than what a lot of people do, but it's very much focused on that rewiring of your thinking. It's very much focused on creating new neural pathways.

Adrienne Garland:

Yeah.

Julie Anderson:

So then in the evening, what you're gonna do is you're always gonna do your gratitudes. You want your brain to be thinking very positively while you are sleeping. Whatever you think about the last thing before you go to bed is what your brain's gonna resonate on while you're sleeping. That's just the way it works. So I always tell people, yes, you're gonna write down your gratitudes, but I want you to make sure or I should say, and I want you to make sure that at least one of those gratitudes, at least one of those celebrations is about you.

Julie Anderson:

You as an individual. And that's hard to do. Right? I see the grin on your face. Like, that's not an easy thing to do.

Julie Anderson:

Yeah. We do not we are so quick to to praise other people. Yeah. You know, I'm so quick to say, oh my gosh. My my husband, he just has this nat my husband and my first we like, they have this amazing brains, natural intelligence.

Julie Anderson:

They can just problem solve anything. And I'm not that smart. Right. Right? Like, it can it can be that I'm book smart, but I'm not that smart.

Julie Anderson:

Yeah. Well, hey, guess what? I've been studying for thirty years. I've got a lot of information in this brain, and I'm putting it to good use, bringing it out into the world, sharing it. Right?

Julie Anderson:

So you can start to see how just simply what we think of as maybe, well, I don't wanna be too proud or I don't wanna be too cocky. Yeah. You know, we're actually sabotaging our own brain, our own, our own success because we're telling our brain stay under the ceiling. Yeah. Don't don't go, don't go about that.

Julie Anderson:

Don't sing your own praises. And I'm not saying that I want people to go out in the world and every time they network go, well, I did this and I did that. You know? No. I'm saying you just wanna own it.

Adrienne Garland:

Yeah. Not diminish yourself.

Julie Anderson:

Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. And that takes programming of the brain. So every evening, you're you're gonna say to yourself, you know what?

Julie Anderson:

I accomplished this today. Instead of looking at and writing down all the things you didn't get done and focusing on that, you're gonna you're gonna just really hone in on those one, two, three things that you did and you did beautifully. I did this, and I'm so proud of myself. You know? I I was able to check this thing off my list.

Julie Anderson:

I was able to do this or, you know, I really I brought a positive contribution to the world today, and I'm proud of myself for that. Yeah. By doing things like this, now your brain is going, okay. Tomorrow, I am going to bring a positive con contribution to the world again because I felt good about it.

Adrienne Garland:

Right.

Julie Anderson:

You know what I mean? Yes. It's it's a it's a brainwiring. You've got to train your brain what you want it to do, and it'll support you.

Adrienne Garland:

It's so interesting because I I think that there had been a time in my life where I I was programming my brain very much in the positive and the opportunity way. And I fell into this, you know, almost like negative or or fixed type of a mindset. And I I found evidence outside of myself to to reinforce some of those, you know, negative thoughts. And it it's funny because the results then followed. You know?

Adrienne Garland:

The the results are definitely not what I want. And and yet, you know, I keep falling back in into these patterns and I almost feel like a different person. I I say to myself oftentimes like, gosh, I did not used to be like this. I I never stopped to question myself and I was very successful. You know, maybe a little bit was being young and naive and not knowing the full scope of everything, but I definitely fell into like a negative space.

Adrienne Garland:

And I don't think that I'm the only one that this has happened to. So, you know, it's, it's not like I've always been a negative person, but I definitely fell into a trap. So I guess, I guess the, the positive there is that because I used to think like that, I can easily think like that again.

Julie Anderson:

Yes. Yes. It's there. Those it's there. It's there.

Julie Anderson:

And those are things, you know, people talk about retraining the brain and rewiring the brain and you do that. Right? We all do. We can we can do that totally. However, the you also have to remember that the initial wiring is still there.

Adrienne Garland:

Yeah.

Julie Anderson:

And it's really easy to fall back into that easy pathway. A well worn pathway is easy to step into. Yes. Right? It's easy to walk on in your in your thought process.

Julie Anderson:

So what I always tell people is you have to create constantly work to create the most well worn pathway, the pathway that you choose, that you want to have. I shouldn't say the pathway you choose, rather the pathway that you want to have. The thought process that you want to have. And it's a daily cognitive input because there are so many daily automated things that come at us that are giving us the negative input. Yes.

Julie Anderson:

Right? Every every time you scroll through social media, every time, you know, you it's easy when you scroll through social media. It's easy for me when look at we were talking about my hair earlier. Right? It's I cut it really short because it's gotten so thin post, you know, in the next beautiful stage of my life.

Julie Anderson:

I'm embracing I am embracing a different look because my hair is different than it was before. Right? But it's easy for me to kind of look at these. And, of course, Google hears me say that. So, obviously, those are the ads that come up, you know, with these women with this beautiful long flowing hair.

Julie Anderson:

And it's easy in the back of my it's easy for me to just not even realize I'm thinking, I wish I had hair like that. Yeah. And or reading that ad and going, oh, maybe I should buy that because it'll it'll make my hair better. Yeah. My hair's not bad.

Julie Anderson:

It's the it's just different.

Adrienne Garland:

Right? Look amazing. I said that before we I love it. Yeah.

Julie Anderson:

But see how easy it is? The point is it's so easy. Yeah. There's so many negatives. It's so easy for our brain to say things that are self deprecating.

Adrienne Garland:

Yes.

Julie Anderson:

Or I should say our mind to think things that are self deprecating that we don't even realize we're doing.

Adrienne Garland:

Yeah.

Julie Anderson:

Right? We don't even realize that when we're looking at that ad or when we're looking, we're thinking, oh, I wish I looked like that. Yeah. Well, now your brain's going, well, you don't look like that because you wish you were. So that means you don't.

Julie Anderson:

So that now connects with other, you know, other doubts in your head and now it becomes a negative. Yeah. So it's it's this constant that it's our brain is constantly programmed in the negative. Yeah. We have to consciously work at programming it in the positive.

Julie Anderson:

And there's there's a difference when and this is all neuroscience based. And that's what I love about the advancements in neuroscience. There are so many amazing technical brain scanning machines now that, you know, in the seventies, the early ones that came out, they were, you know, the MRI machines, those types of things. They were all primarily used to discover or understand brain injuries or brain disorders. Mhmm.

Julie Anderson:

Now they're able to actually watch the brain as we're thinking. Mhmm. Not just as it's doing its automated, you know, moving your hand and that kind of thing, but as you're actually thinking. So now we can go, oh, well, what if we think differently? And then watch how the brain works differently.

Adrienne Garland:

Yeah.

Julie Anderson:

And, you know, whether you're touching into the the subregions or running the fight flight and not even realize you're you're doing it because it comes so automatic. Wow. Right? And it works so fast. Yeah.

Julie Anderson:

So now we have this neuroscience to say, well, if you do this, this, and this, because when we scan the brain, when you're doing this, this, and this, it reacts differently. It reacts in a very positive way. So let's do more of this positive thinking and reinforcement of positive messagings to messaging to ourselves and looking at these these things that come up or these things in the world that are not fitting for our gender and go, we can change this. This is an opportunity to do something. Just because the statistics say this doesn't mean I can't be I can't break that statistical rule.

Julie Anderson:

Right. I can do something different. Yeah.

Adrienne Garland:

Hey, everyone. So for years, I've been working with Dr. Kent and sending people in my network his way. He does so much impact work. What do I mean by that?

Adrienne Garland:

Well, he helps people create books and podcasts and things like that. He even helps with this podcast behind the scenes. Dr. Kent is my thought partner. Anyone listening knows that we all need to do what we can to get our thoughts, opinions, and voices out into the world and how important it is for women to invest in other women and for women to hire other women. I am all about that, and you all know that.

Adrienne Garland:

But in this case, I think Dr. Kent is an exception. He's doing something really different via this new program that he's launched called the Genius Discovery Program. So he wants to work with people like me and like you who are impact driven. Dr. Kent has an intensive program that goes for a month. He also has a three month program where he figures out where you're headed with your brand, your business, your speaking, and your signature story as a thought leader.

Adrienne Garland:

I've known Dr. Kent for a long time. So believe me when I say that he has a ton of experience working with people that are looking to make an impact but might not know exactly how to approach them. So if you're interested in talking to him, you can go directly to talktokent.com, or you can send me a DM on Instagram at She Leads Media, or just shoot me an email over at hello@SheLeadsMedia.com.

Adrienne Garland:

You know what's interesting too as you're talking, it's making me think that as women move through our lives, there are many different, you know, things that we have to, you know, contend with. And then when Mhmm. Women are, let's say, leveling up, I'll just use that word, you know, leveling up. Let's say they're moving into a million dollar business. They're moving into a senior leadership role.

Adrienne Garland:

What or they're or they're moving out of corporate into entrepreneurship. Okay. Yeah. And all of these women that we're talking about are successful women. Okay.

Adrienne Garland:

They're intelligent. They've got the personality. They're incredible. What can they do in order to almost adopt the new identity? Because that idea of, like, what got you here will won't necessarily get you there.

Adrienne Garland:

But how do you shift your mindset and maybe your identity so that you can very easily or more easily move into that new position and continue to be successful?

Julie Anderson:

I think there's a lot of it's it's controlling your thought process. It's well, first off, you have to have a healthy brain. So I'm just gonna say take care of your brain and body. Okay. Right?

Julie Anderson:

And and do do the the the self care as a business, part of your business plan.

Adrienne Garland:

Love it.

Julie Anderson:

Part of your you know, this becomes something that you are going to get up and you are going to work out at some point in time during the day. I prefer doing it first thing in the morning just because that's what I prefer doing. Just get it done. I don't care if you do it before you go to bed. Right?

Julie Anderson:

You just gotta do it. Get the exercise in. Neuroscience study says your brain is gonna be healthier and you're gonna have better cognition and better thinking process if you if you exercise. Yep. Hydration.

Julie Anderson:

Good sleep. Sleep is number one. This is another thing that falls on women's shoulders a lot of times. If there's kids that need to be taken care of or the house has to get cleaned and you're just like, I'm just gonna stay up until the dishes are done. And that means that you're not getting to bed till 11:00.

Julie Anderson:

Uh-uh. Stop. Yeah. Yeah. Sleep first.

Julie Anderson:

Because that's going to give you the mental and the cognitive energy the following day. So take care of yourself. You can throw in a medi pedi every now and then because, Yes. Digital tampering every now and then. Right?

Julie Anderson:

But really take care of the brain and body. Because when you do that, now you have a vessel that is going to meet the or that's going to meet and be able to take advantage of those opportunities when they are presented. Yeah. Right? So that's that's the first thing.

Julie Anderson:

And then really visualize what does this look like for me? And clearly lay out in your brain, visualize yourself taking all of those steps. They've done brain scans on high performing athletes and high performing executives. And something that they have found is that as they've studied them and then scanned them, that individuals who are high performing, there are certain there are certain commonalities. Mhmm.

Julie Anderson:

And one of those commonalities is clear cut visualization. Mhmm. And what I say by that is total embracing the visualization practice. In other words, okay. I can close my eyes and I can see myself standing on a stage in front of, you know, 10,000 people.

Julie Anderson:

Yep. And they're all laughing and clapping. Right? I can visualize that. Okay.

Julie Anderson:

I did my visualization. No. These athletes, you're we're talking about Michael Phelps. We're talking about LeBron James. We're talking about people that have hit the top pinnacle.

Julie Anderson:

They don't just do that. They deeply embrace it. They feel it in their muscles. They smell it in their they embrace every single sense. They even go so far as to, to think about what are some of the challenges.

Julie Anderson:

And I use that word because this is what they would, they would do. Right? What are some of the obstacles that might get in my way as I'm trying to make that three point throw or as I'm trying to swim faster than anybody else? Like, what are the things? You know, did if what happens if I don't push off from the starting point fast enough, or what happens if this other player jumps in front of me and they visualize themselves moving around those scenarios.

Julie Anderson:

Yeah. And successfully getting past them. So this is what we have to do is that same thing. How am I going to handle this conversation when this person comes up to me and says, I don't think you're a right fit.

Adrienne Garland:

Right.

Julie Anderson:

What am I gonna say? How am I gonna navigate that in a positive way? And really take the time to visualize every facet, embrace the touch, the feel, every sense that your body has, embrace it. It makes a difference on the brain scans because what they have found is when you do visualization this way, your brain will scan the same as when you are actually doing that activity.

Adrienne Garland:

My gosh.

Julie Anderson:

Is that fascinating? Yes. Right?

Adrienne Garland:

Yes. And I I also have heard that this is why sometimes we are operating in a state of stress with the high cortisol because while we're not actually in the stressful situation, we've put our brains there. And so we're harming ourselves.

Adrienne Garland:

Right. Mhmm.

Adrienne Garland:

Yeah. This is fascinating because the you know, speaking on stage and and you can visualize yourself there. That is what like you're saying, that's amazing. Right? That's but that's one aspect.

Adrienne Garland:

It's like, that's the that's the highlight reel. All of the things that it takes to get there also need to be visualized so that Absolutely. That speaking on stage in front of 10,000 people, it's almost in your brain, like a logical progression to that point. Because otherwise, like, how do you go from sitting in this chair to to speaking in front of 10,000 people if you don't do anything or if you don't even know how to get there.

Julie Anderson:

Exactly. Exactly. You have to visualize all the steps along the way. Yeah. And I think that's that's something since you mentioned that, not to go too far off, but I I believe that's one of the reasons why a lot of entrepreneurial women are not as successful in the business as they potentially could be, or they stop short of those final is they don't know how to do it.

Julie Anderson:

Yeah. They have the big picture of what it is that they want to accomplish, and that vision is amazing. Yeah. But they don't stop and ask themselves, how do I get from point a to point b? What are all of the mile markers that I have to hit?

Julie Anderson:

What do I need to learn? Who do I need to talk to? Who do I need to be introduced to? Yeah. What podcast do I need to listen to that are gonna give me though that advice or give me those steps and expand my knowledge as to how do I, you know, how do I get in front of a decision maker?

Julie Anderson:

Yes. Right? And that that's important. You you have to allow your brain to be trained on those. And sometimes it means controlling our big, beautiful vision and going, okay, wait a minute.

Julie Anderson:

I gotta I gotta figure out the steps it's going to take to get there.

Adrienne Garland:

Yeah. And I think what's super interesting about this too, is something that you said before. Well, number one, we don't have a lot of stories to read and, you know, people to observe. Well, how did they do it? We see how men have done it, and then we try to replicate that.

Adrienne Garland:

And then we realize, wait a minute, that that doesn't work for us. It works for them. And then so then we go out looking for, you know, how does that work? And I don't think that it's that women aren't capable. It's just that we don't have enough, you know, evidence out in the world.

Adrienne Garland:

And what you said before, I also think adds another layer to this, is we think that we have to work harder. We have to be perfect, and we have to do all of the things. So because that, like, quote, unquote, feels natural to us. And that's the very thing that holds us back. I wanna bring up one thing because I I it blew my mind this morning.

Adrienne Garland:

So I'm taking this class that is called design thinking and AI. And it is put on by a company called IDEO. I'm not sure if you know who they are, but they're, you know, a big company that just helps other companies to come up with campaigns and new innovations and things like that. They're fascinating. Such smart people.

Adrienne Garland:

Oh my goodness. And what a fun class. So we are basically using AI to help us to, like write storyboards or even create music for your brand. And we're, looking at these different challenges, and we play a lot, and it's so much fun. And one of the instructors from IDEO is this really brilliant guy, David.

Adrienne Garland:

And he shares his screen with us and he's furiously typing away, you know, all these different things. And everything that he's typing, you know, the words are spelled wrong. The it's like, know, fast and furious. It's kind of a mess. And he, you know, he puts it into AI and it it spits out all the stuff and he does the next thing.

Adrienne Garland:

And it's it's kinda messy. Right? And that's not to say anything, you know, negative. It's just is what it is. So then there was a student today who she said that she would share her screen as we, like, went through certain prompts and everything.

Adrienne Garland:

And she's copying and pasting the the prompts into her AI, and some of the words are misspelled. There's a comma that is, you know, off here and there. She's going back. She's correcting it, making it perfect. And my mind was blown.

Adrienne Garland:

I was like, know we're not talking about this, but Right. Look at the difference. David is furiously making mistakes and getting 10 times more output and results than the brilliant woman who is an executive at an amazing company, who's perfecting how she's inputting into AI. And I was like, there is a difference in the way that we approach things right there.

Julie Anderson:

Yep. Yep. Exactly. Exactly.

Adrienne Garland:

Mind blowing to me. And and then I I asked, like, do do we have to, you know, do when we were prompting with AI, do we have to be so perfectionist about it? And, you know, the answer was no. You do not. You you know, you just have to make sure that you're not typing in, an incorrect word, but you can misspell words.

Adrienne Garland:

You don't need the the, you know, the syntax or the the grammar. You don't need any And of Yeah. It's a huge message, I think, that it is also part of the way that we approach things. Like, we think that we have to be perfect or at least as close to it as we possibly can get so that we can get better output. And that's the stuff that also slows us down.

Julie Anderson:

Totally. Totally. And again, it's a programming. Every single time those little things happen, your brain is getting reinforced. Yeah.

Julie Anderson:

With that information. Yeah. Every single time. Yeah. And we don't realize we're doing it.

Julie Anderson:

Right? But that's it's you know, she's going back and in her brain, she's thinking, okay. I have to correct this. Have to correct this. So the brain is thinking the mind is thinking, I gotta correct this.

Julie Anderson:

I gotta correct this. So the brain's thinking, okay, everything we do has to be right. Yeah. Yeah. And and and that falls in into other, you know, other parts of of the our life.

Adrienne Garland:

Yeah. And then and then it's it's I have to also say that when, you know, David was, like, furiously typing and misspelled, I I was getting anxious. Like, oh my gosh. He's spelling this word wrong. You know, he needs to go back and correct this.

Adrienne Garland:

And but meanwhile, the his his result was incredible. You know? And Yeah. Like, that is the thing that I I feel like women need to do more of is observe what is kind of working. You don't maybe you don't have to be on one extreme or the other, but maybe experiment around with being less perfect and seeing and it it is it's exactly what you said.

Adrienne Garland:

It's that opportunity mindset. How do you see something and take a step in that direction instead of, like, thinking that you have to have every single bit in order in order to take that step?

Julie Anderson:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It can be messy and it can still change lives. Yeah.

Adrienne Garland:

And it should, we have to get so comfortable with being messy and, and, and like what is messy

Julie Anderson:

and why is it bad? Yeah. Exactly. I think that, again, that starts that starts that programming starts when you are just a child, a toddler. Yep.

Julie Anderson:

Right? And it it translates into everything. Right? Where we want to in school. You're always shooting for the straight a's.

Julie Anderson:

Like, that's what that's what you're programmed. And you if you don't get an a, then it's a red pen. You know, you get the c and it's a red pen and you're not celebrated for the fact that you got 50% of the questions right. Right. You're criticized for the fact that you got 50% wrong.

Julie Anderson:

Right. Right? It's always that we literally are training all the little kids. And I'm not saying that that we don't want that we want to have a bunch of people out there that can't spell. Right?

Julie Anderson:

Well, I'm not saying that. Right? I'm saying the way that it's done could definitely and that's a whole another whole another topic, but that's where the programming starts. Yeah. Right?

Julie Anderson:

That's where it all of that really gets into, you know, that how we think and view everything that we do through our lives. And I remember my mentor, one of my early on this goes back when I was in my thirties. One of the first courses I took was on the brain and innate giftedness, and it was by brilliant woman, dr. Arlene Taylor. She has a double couple double she has two PhDs in a nursing and she's got all this stuff. But, anyways, she said that when she really embraced this information that she was then training us, she said, we don't my husband and I, we don't make our bed anymore.

Julie Anderson:

We pull the comforter up. We got a big comforter. Yep. And we we just pull it up and throw the pillows on there.

Adrienne Garland:

Yeah.

Julie Anderson:

We don't worry that the sheet's right. We don't worry that it has a hospital corner or military corner. Like, we don't worry about it. It doesn't have to be perfect No. Because I'm just gonna lay in it again tonight.

Adrienne Garland:

Yeah.

Julie Anderson:

But it's those little it's that little programming. Yep. And I'm not saying, you know, leave it on the floor. I'm just saying it doesn't have to be perfect. Yeah.

Julie Anderson:

And when we start to embrace that and we start to train our brain, like, it doesn't have to be perfect Yeah. Is when we're able to go, oh, okay. This this is an opportunity. I I can do it. It's not gonna be perfect, but now you're not being challenged to make yourself perfect before you can take that opportunity.

Julie Anderson:

You're just going, I'm gonna dive into this opportunity. And if it's not perfect, oh, well, eventually, it'll be close enough. Right? Yeah. So it's it's retraining that entire dialogue, and it's paying attention to that throughout the day.

Julie Anderson:

What's my dialogue like? What am I thinking? You know? When you get frustrated throughout the day and you're kind of getting anxious or you're getting, you know, stressed, stop and ask yourself, what is my internal dialogue doing right now?

Adrienne Garland:

Yeah.

Julie Anderson:

What am I thinking about right now? And how is that thought process affecting the outcome that I'm trying to achieve?

Adrienne Garland:

Do you think that it is important to write that down so that at least you some way are signaling, like, I'm being conscious about

Julie Anderson:

this? Absolutely. Especially if it's a chronic issue. Right? If it's something that is this is you really need to work on it, then I find I because I I want you to flip it.

Julie Anderson:

I want you to literally in that instance. So let's say, your thought is I'm just not I'm I'm on a deadline. I'm not getting my stuff done. So you write that down. That's what your entire internal dialogue is.

Julie Anderson:

What you want to do is, again, then flip that into a positive. I'm on a deadline. Look at how much I have gotten done. It's it's a simple shift, and you're still looking at what you're accomplishing. Yeah.

Julie Anderson:

One is looking at the negative side of it

Adrienne Garland:

Yes.

Julie Anderson:

Versus one is going, okay. I actually I've gotten a lot I've gotten a lot accomplished. Now I'm just gonna kinda organize the rest that I need to get accomplished. Right. And we'll we'll work on what's what's most important first.

Julie Anderson:

But when doing that switch and actually flipping that internal dialogue is so important because when you do that, there's such a power in words. Oh, another fascinating. So much fascinating brain scans. Right? That one word will either activate the higher thinking or activate the fight flight.

Julie Anderson:

One word has the power to do that. No. Words in general. Words in general.

Adrienne Garland:

Positive versus So we

Julie Anderson:

yeah. So when we use words like

Adrienne Garland:

I'm looking for

Julie Anderson:

the word. Yeah. Love loving kindness reward safety security winning these words activate positive regions. They activate they actually produce in the brain positive neurochemistry. Rewards like victory, success, those words actually release oxytocin in the brain.

Julie Anderson:

Dopamine is released with certain positive words, whereas and that activates. When that happens, you've got this cerebral cortex that just fires. You've got your prefrontal cortex. It strengthens the motivational centers in the brain and opens up the PFC or the area of our brain that is responsible for higher thinking, for problem solving, for setting and achieving goals. Right?

Julie Anderson:

It it activates those regions. Whereas when the negative words become the primary thing, like, oh, I didn't get this done. What's wrong with me? Now you're shutting the prefrontal cortex down. It goes dead on a brain scan, and you're activating the amygdala and the subregions of the brain and kicking in the fight flight.

Adrienne Garland:

Oh my god.

Julie Anderson:

You're kicking in the conserve withdraw. Right? It's it's words can do that. Simple words can do that. Again, my mentor did this one thing.

Julie Anderson:

I I will never forget this. She had an audience of about a 100 people and she had everybody say the word cancer audibly. And when they said it, it was like it was on this low tone. It was like, oh, cancer. It's like this negative tone.

Julie Anderson:

Right? Then she went through because she also teaches a lot of positive health. Right? She's very much into the organic and positive health. She goes through her presentation for thirty minutes of of how the statistics shift Mhmm.

Julie Anderson:

When you are a healthy person and you don't smoke and you don't over drink and you, you know, you do all these things. She does that. And at the end of her presentation, she goes, okay. I want everybody out everybody now. Again, I want you to say the word cancer.

Julie Anderson:

And it's almost like everybody yelled it in a very a very like, a powerful way. Right. So it just that just that changing the thought process around it Right. From going to, oh, one in every three people are gonna get cancer to, I have all kinds of things, all kinds of control in my life that's gonna reduce my risk of getting cancer. Yeah.

Julie Anderson:

So now that word doesn't engage the fight fight. Right? It actually goes, oh, wait a minute. What am I doing in my life? It opens a prefrontal cortex.

Julie Anderson:

What am I doing in my life that's going to help me to not So good. Get this? So it's it's it's words. It's thoughts. It's it's powerful what that what that can do to the brain chemistry and which portions of the brain it activates.

Adrienne Garland:

Oh my goodness. Yeah. And this all directly relates to women, million dollar businesses and beyond. When you get there, what do you think of next? Like, always know that that next thing is coming for you because it is.

Adrienne Garland:

Right? We have to put our brains in the space that this is normal. Normalize. Right? Yeah.

Adrienne Garland:

Normalize getting to a million dollars. Normalize getting to $5.10, $20,000,000. Normalize selling companies. Normalize being an expert in finance and having control over your financial life and being comfortable with numbers. There's there's a whole new set of vocabulary that I really believe that women need to embrace.

Adrienne Garland:

So, Julie, I just I feel like I took a look at the time and I cannot believe how much time has gone by, honestly. I feel like we have another, like, hour of conversation in us. So I'm gonna invite you back. But for right now, how can people get in touch with you? Because I do really believe that it requires someone to help point out where you might be getting in your own way.

Adrienne Garland:

And I think that working with you and talking to discussing things with you can truly help. So how can women get in touch? And how can anybody not just women? How can anybody get in touch with you?

Julie Anderson:

Yeah. My primary e or my primary website is yourbestmindllc.com. So that's where you can read all about everything I do for corporates and entrepreneurs and the brain and happiness project and all of that. So we you can check me out there, or you can just shoot me an email at info@yourbestmindllc.com. Beautiful.

Julie Anderson:

Wanna stay in touch with me on on social, pretty much every platform, I'm brain lady Julie. And if you search brain lady Julie on the way on on Google, you you're most likely gonna find me. So

Adrienne Garland:

I love it. I love it. We'll put all of that in the show notes. And do you have any I know that once in a while you do some courses. Do you have any coming up that we could join?

Julie Anderson:

The next one will be in the fall. So I do my my six week change your mind control your brain, and that will be in September on October. It'll run will run through September on October. So if you're interested in that, shoot me that email info@YourBestMindLLC.com and put in there the change your mind, and and we'll make sure that we notify you as soon as we're running it.

Adrienne Garland:

Beautiful. Well, this has been so much fun. It's always so much fun talking to you, and thank you so much for sharing all of your wisdom and your time with us all here today. We we I loved this conversation, and I'm speaking for everybody else that I'm sure that they loved it too. So thanks so much, Julie.

Julie Anderson:

Oh, thank you so much. It was an honor. And like I said, I just love being with you, Adrienne. So thank you so much for having me on.

Adrienne Garland:

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Adrienne Garland:

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Adrienne Garland:

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Adrienne Garland:

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Adrienne Garland:

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Adrienne Garland:

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Adrienne Garland:

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