Because nothing is “hard wired,” you can utilize neuroplasticity to change entrenched behaviors or patterns in your own life. You just have to actually make the effort to practice a new habit with consistency and, over time, your brain will respond by making permanent changes.

Want to quit smoking? Interrupt the pattern habitually, and your brain will become your ally in the effort. Your brain can be put to work for you if you want drop 10 pounds, stop drinking coffee all day, end a drug addiction or biting your fingernails. Visualizing can be of help when encouraging neuroplastic change to help stop a bad habit. You can put your thoughts to work on just about anything in your life. Alter your behavior, and, because of neuroplasticity, your brain will make physical changes to reinforce the new pattern.

Except in the cases of birth deficits, disease, or injury, all we have to do is make a deliberate choice about how we’d like our brain to work and then, practice, practice, practice. Nothing we think, feel, or do happens without influencing the way our brain is wired. We’re either strengthening old brain wiring or building new connections, thought by thought, feeling by feeling, action by action. Accidentally or intentionally, we can’t avoid the benefits or problems we create for ourselves.

Neural pathways are strengthened into habits through the repetition and practice of thinking, feeling and acting.

Neuroplasticity means we all should adopt what Stanford professor Carol Dweck calls a growth mindset. She divides people into two groups.

Those with a fixed mindset believe that their talents are essentially set. People don’t significantly change once they are adults. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

Those with a growth mindset know that real change happens all the time. With the right focus and REPETITION, brains rewire to enhance or add pathways that result in new skills, knowledge, and habits.

Dweck’s work shows that choosing a growth mindset is extremely important. It’s not what you know as much as how you grow. By choosing a growth mindset, you open the door to continued learning and change all of your life. You open the door to rewriting the story of your brain.

Choosing a growth mindset means you continue to learn new knowledge, skills, and behaviors. You can improve your brain’s ability to do your current job and prepare your brain for your next role.