Transcription
This is what's really interesting. People who have high IQ, they tend to use emotional suppression as a tactic quite a bit, right? They become hyper-rational. But when you suppress your emotions, they don't turn off. They just start working behind the scenes.
So there's this part of your brain called the amygdala, which is where you experience anxiety. And then the amygdala connects to anterior cingulate cortex and frontal lobes. This is the decision-making apparatus of the brain. So lots of different things enter this portion of the brain. It's kind of like the council.
Amygdala comes in and says, "We're anxious about this." Nucleus accumbens dopaminergic circuitry comes in and says, "But yeah, but we really want it." And then they fight. And then your frontal lobes are sitting there the the head of the council is thinking there, "Okay, let me hear the arguments for responding to this text from my ex."
Nucleus accumbens says, "Bro, don't you remember how good your ex is at giving head? That's what we want today." And the amygdala is like, "Don't you remember how terrible your ex is? They're crazy, bro. This is going to go wrong and this is going to the nucleus accumbens like, "Nah, we'll deal with that later. This is what we want right now." And the council member is like, "Hmm, okay. We're going to go with the nucleus accumbens." That's literally what happens in your brain.
Now, when we suppress an emotion, the anxious portion of our brain doesn't shut off. We just don't let it into the council chamber. But then that anxious portion of our brain still connects to other parts of the brain, including the nucleus accumbens. That anxious portion will affect your calculations that are subconscious. And so it still shapes you but without your knowledge.
So if I'm working with someone with high IQ is who is failing to live up to their potential, the solution isn't that you need to be smarter. You're plenty good at that. The solution is that you need to be more in touch with your emotions. Really try to understand what your emotions are first and foremost. Secondly, understand dealing with your emotions directly is absolutely necessary.