#59
Magic, Brain-Hacking and Performance
Keith Barry
Keith Barry is a magician, hypnotist and mentalist, who focuses on helping people recalibrate their subconscious minds to strive to become the best versions of themselves and achieve their personal goals. He was born in Waterford City, Ireland, where he developed his interest in magic when he was 14 years old.
Most recently, he has returned to television with his RTE series ‘The Keith Barry Experience’. His TED talk is one of the top 20 viewed TED talks of all time. As a mind coach, Keith has worked with many world-class athletes, business people, influencers, and actors to assist them in unleashing their subconscious potential.
He’s known for his public speaking engagements, performing magic shows, and his work producing and appearing on television shows such as Brain Hacker, CSI: Miami, and Now You See Me. Keith has recently released a book called ‘Brain Hacks: Everyday Mind Magic for Creating the Life You Want’.
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Summary
02:57 What drew Keith to magic
- When he was a child, he had a Paul Daniels Magic Set and used to watch The Paul Daniels Magic Show on the BBC
- Keith has always enjoyed seeing the reaction in people’s faces when he would perform magic tracks
04:26 Being a mentalist and hypnotist
- Keith practises all genres of magic tricks
- He was drawn to hypnosis from when his girlfriend at the time was studying Psychology at college
- He has always been fascinated by the powers of the subconscious mind
06:05 The skills needed to become a magician
- You need to learn the technicalities first
- Keith uses the analogy of a guitarist, who needs to learn the chords and keys first, then when they are proficient, they can make their own music
- Once Keith gets into a flow state, he generates his own ideas
- Creative thinking involves eliminating critical thinking
11:29 Motivational mentalism
- You can get a strong sense of a company’s culture through a group Zoom meeting
- Empower all your employees to think about their ‘why’
- Most leaders are too busy to take a step back and review their purpose
- During a 40 hour work week, employees spend about 13 hours being distracted online, according to the McKinsey study ‘Capturing business value with social technologies’
17:59 Regaining focus and eliminating distractions
- Keith teaches people how to ‘hack’ their subconscious mind
- 95% of decision making is done subconsciously
- The energy levels of a leader has an influence on the energy levels of employees
- American biologist Bruce Lipton studied how every thought has a physical reaction in the body
25:23 Why there isn’t enough focus on energy psychology
- Energy psychology addresses the relationship of energy systems to emotion, cognition, behavior and health
- The main problem is that we will never be able to fully understand the subconscious mind, so it is open to much interpretation by pseudo scientists
- Keith advocates ‘habit stacking’, as coined by James Clear, which increases the likelihood that you’ll stick with a habit by stacking your new behaviour on top of an old one
33:05 The conscious versus subconscious mind
- The subconscious mind is more powerful than the conscious mind
- The difference between meditation and hypnosis is that meditation is about being consciously in the present moment, whilst hypnosis is about focused visualisation
- During hypnosis, the brain enters an alpha brain wave state
- Creative visualisation is the art of using mental imagery and affirmation to produce positive changes in your life
- Keith recommends practising creative visualisation for at least fifteen minutes a day for twenty one days
- It has nothing to do with the ‘law of attraction’ – it is just your subconscious mind working out how to achieve the goal that you visualise
47:47 Habits to consider eliminating from your lifestyle
- The number one thing is limiting your time in the digital world
- Eliminate negative relationships in your life
55:51 How to handle negative self-doubt
- Our belief systems are ingrained in our subconscious mind before the age of seven
- By identifying your current core beliefs, you are able to change your belief system
- It’s important to find your own technique to overcome self-doubt and negative self-talk
- There is no instant fix
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