The Source

About the Author

Tara Swart is a neuroscientist with a rich background in psychiatry and an impressive career advising some of the world's top business leaders on achieving and maintaining peak brain performance. She is also a senior lecturer at MIT and co-author of the book Neuroscience for Leadership. Swart's work is grounded in a deep understanding of how the brain functions, how it changes in response to experiences, and how this knowledge can be applied to improve various aspects of life, from work and relationships to personal development.

Main Idea

In The Source, Tara Swart explains that to achieve the life you want, you must tap into the full power of your brain and all its different neural pathways. She describes how the brain changes itself in response to our experiences, the different modes of thinking, and the major principles of the Law of Attraction. Though the Law of Attraction is often dismissed as pseudoscience, Swart elucidates the neuroscientific principles that underlie it and make it work. She then offers a four-step process for utilizing all this knowledge and brainpower—collectively referred to as “The Source”—to create the future you want and improve your work life, relationships, and personal development.

Table of Contents

• Neuroplasticity: How the Brain Changes
• Fueling the Changing Brain
• How to Make Your Brain More Agile
• The Principles of the Law of Attraction
• The Four-Step Process to Change Your Life

Neuroplasticity: How the Brain Changes

Understanding how the brain changes itself—a process known as neuroplasticity—is essential to harnessing the full power of your brain, which in turn allows you to achieve what you want most in life and shape your future. Swart explains that the brain consists of 86 billion neurons—or brain cells—which are interconnected, and these connections are responsible for all our brain’s functions, including all our thoughts and behaviors.

“These neural connections aren’t set in stone: They can change according to our experiences and our responses to those experiences.” - Tara Swart

These changes include forming new neural connections, strengthening and speeding up existing connections, pruning away old neural connections that are no longer needed, and even creating new neurons (neurogenesis).

Swart highlights that neuroplastic change is time-consuming and takes a lot of energy. As your brain changes, you’ll often seem to backslide, suddenly struggling again with aspects of your new skill you thought you had mastered. Learning involves short-term changes that only become permanent with repeated practice. To learn anything new, you must continually commit to learning it.

Fueling the Changing Brain

Because neuroplastic change requires significant energy, it’s essential to provide your brain with the resources it needs. Swart offers several tips: