December 19, 2024 • 47 mins
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Unlock neuroplasticity's secrets and control your cognitive destiny with our guest, Stu Morris. He unravels the brain's incredible ability to adapt and evolve, emphasizing that forgetting is more about recall than loss. Morris sheds light on how impactful experiences forge stronger neural pathways and offers strategies to counteract age-related cognitive decline by reshaping belief systems. Tune in to explore how understanding these mechanisms can lead to enhanced cognitive abilities and a new perspective on overcoming the challenges that come with aging.
Venture into the intricate dance between neuroplasticity and consumer behavior, especially within the photofinishing industry. Discover how repeated exposure to certain marketing cues establishes lasting neural habits, driving repeat business and evoking powerful emotions through nostalgia. We discuss the art of storytelling in marketing and the importance of focusing on impactful strategies rather than spreading efforts too thin. Learn how entrepreneurs can harness the brain's adaptability to thrive in business by engaging with industry trends and creatively utilizing existing channels. This episode promises to equip you with insights on maintaining a competitive edge in an increasingly complex market landscape.
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Hosted and produced by Gary Pageau
Edited by Olivia Pageau
Announcer: Erin Manning
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Erin Manning (00:02):
Welcome to the Dead Pixels Society podcast, the
photo imaging industry'sleading news source.
Here's your host, Gary Pageau.
The Dead Pixel Society podcastis brought to you by MediaClip,
Gary Pageau (00:15):
Hello, welcome to the Dead Pixels Society podcast.
I'm your host, Gary Pageau.
Today we're joined by StuMorris, who's going to tell us
all about your brain.
He's a brain guy.
We all have one.
It needs help, and Stu's goingto help us.
He's going to use a lot ofwords I can't pronounce, because
(00:36):
we've had a discussion beforethis where we discovered that my
ability to say neuroplasticityis a challenge, so that might be
the only time I get it right.
Hi, Stu, how are you today?
Stu Morris (00:50):
I'm real good, Gary.
Appreciate you having me onyour show, love your show, what
I've heard, and the Dead PixelSociety I just think that name
is just classic.
So yeah, very happy to be here.
Thank you for having me.
Gary Pageau (01:04):
So let's talk a little bit about cognitive
ability, right, that's your areaof expertise.
Everyone has it and it changesover time, and I know a lot of
my listeners are getting olderin age.
What are some of the things yousee that maybe they can start
identifying that?
Hey, I need some help in thisregard.
What are maybe some of thethings they encounter?
(01:25):
Is it like I forgot?
Is that just you forget whereyou put the car keys or stuff
like that?
There's more to it, right?
Stu Morris (01:32):
There is more to it.
I always start when people askwhat I do.
I always ask the question haveyou ever entered a room and
forgot what you came in for?
Gary Pageau (01:42):
I've done that to my house.
Stu Morris (01:43):
That's what I fix, that's what we fix.
So we leverage neuroplasticityto improve the brain's cognitive
ability.
That's what we fix, okay, so,simply put, neuroplasticity it's
the brain's ability to adaptand to reorganize, form new
(02:03):
neural connections.
Throughout your entire life, wefound out, you never forget
anything.
It's just a matter of recall.
Gary Pageau (02:09):
Really Okay, so let's go into that.
So people always say I can'tremember what I had for lunch
yesterday, but they may rememberwhat they had for lunch in high
school.
Is that what that is?
It's the connection isn't beingformed, but the older
connections are there.
Is that what that's about?
Stu Morris (02:25):
Yeah, that's part of it.
That's part of what's calledneuroplasticity pruning.
So, neuroscientificallyspeaking, pruning is when you're
not using a neural pathway.
You're not using that thoughtor that memory, for very often
(02:45):
your brain kind of naturallyjust tucks it back into a
bookshelf for later use if youneed it.
But you tend to not be able torecall it.
So you don't forget it, butyou're not able to recall it.
If you were having lunch, youcan't remember what you had for
lunch yesterday, but if you satdown with somebody naked you'd
remember what you had for lunchyesterday.
Emotions or things that make itmore impactful in your life make
a stronger neural connection,make a stronger pathway.
(03:06):
So it's like walking through agrassy field and you turn around
and you can see your footprintsin the grass, but the next day
they're gone.
The grass pops back up.
But if you take like a bigHarley or a four wheel drive and
you just chew through the mud,that path's going to be there
for a long time.
So depending on how you createthat impact and how you create
that emotional strength to, itwill improve that neural pathway
(03:30):
.
Gary Pageau (03:30):
What is it about getting older, then?
That prevents those pathwaysfrom engaging?
I mean, I guess that's whatwe're talking about, right, is
it?
Because when you're younger,your brain is fresh and new and
by the time you're old and jaded, you don't really want any more
pathways.
You've got enough pathways yeah, that's a.
Stu Morris (03:52):
that's a very good question.
Okay, so the biggest part, thebiggest effect that we've found
in just in our personal researchso this is not necessarily
scientific, but in just myreading over the last 16, 18
years on neuroscience, it seemsto me like the biggest problem
and what we combat is normalcognitive aging, normal
(04:16):
cognitive decline in aging Right.
So the biggest thing to combatwith that is our belief system.
As we get older, we are trainedto believe that, oh, I'm older
now and I'm just forgetful.
Right, you have to overcomethat disempowering belief,
that's half of it right there.
It has nothing to do withscience so much, except that you
can use neuroscience toovercome a disempowering belief.
(04:37):
For sure Interesting andneuroplasticity will help you
create new habits and can defeatthose old habits of like, oh
gosh, you know, automaticallythinking like I'm older now and
I forget things.
So if you can get past that,which is kind of the first part
of everything we do really, thenwe can.
Absolutely we have.
We have proven,neuroscientifically proven
(04:58):
strategies to combat age relatedcognitive decline all the time.
You can do it all day long.
That's my bread and butter.
Gary Pageau (05:05):
You know, take it from the standpoint of, let's
say, a business owner who isoperating, let's say, a small
business of some sort, and youknow they're running into these
issues where, you know datingmyself a little bit you go back
20 years people weren't reallydealing with the amount of flow
of information like they did.
Right, you know, right now, youknow you could usually be able
to run a camera store by lookingin the till and knowing how
(05:27):
much you.
You know that.
You know how much money wascoming in and you looked on the
shelf and there was yourinventory and you know customers
came in, they bought stuff andthey left and you know that was
how you're in the business.
Now it's, you know, onlineordering and now there's all
these other inputs.
Does that have anything to dowith it, the amount of inputs
coming in that people arestruggling with, or is it mostly
(05:47):
attitude, like you said?
Stu Morris (05:49):
Oh yeah, absolutely so.
There is what's calledcognitive load, and we see it a
lot in stressful situations.
So if you have a very stressfuljob or are experiencing like I
handled it in the emergencydepartment a lot of times I
worked in the emergencydepartment for 22 years and you
are working with people that areunder a tremendous amount of
(06:11):
stress, right and so and we knowthat those that that stress,
that that affects yourneuroplasticity, it hinders it,
it slows it down, it makes thosepathways less memorable and
harder to recall.
So, for sure, things likemeditation people kind of
snicker at meditation andmindfulness.
(06:31):
Sure, I don't know why.
It's only been used since 7,000years before Christ.
You know what I mean.
Gary Pageau (06:40):
It has always a decent track record right.
Stu Morris (06:44):
It has always a decent track record, right,
exactly.
And so you need to stop andslow down and relax your brain.
You need to take 10 minutes ofsome deep breathing and try not
to think right, just empty yourmind, and there's a lot of
(07:04):
exercises to do that thatpromote neuroplasticity and we
work through a lot of them,especially, you know, in the
book there's you get the book,you get the course for free, and
in the course there's a lot ofmindfulness exercises.
There's even audios that youcan listen to, that you can
download and listen to andthings like that.
So meditation and deepbreathing exercises, mindfulness
practices, those will reducestress and they absolutely
(07:24):
promote neuroplasticity.
Gary Pageau (07:25):
Really, because I just find that kind of
fascinating that I mean I guessit makes sense, right?
If you're more at ease in yourmind, there's less traffic to
inhibit the formation ofpathways.
Stu Morris (07:37):
Yes, you know another excellent strategy for
that.
My personal favorite is naps.
Gary Pageau (07:47):
Nice Okay.
Stu Morris (07:50):
So I don't live on the beach for nothing.
I mean, I learned some stuffhere.
So there's kind of two thingsthe mindfulness breaks during
your day.
Just take five minutes and dosome mindfulness exercises can
really impact your brain andreally kind of clean up the
cobwebs.
Sure Okay.
Gary Pageau (08:13):
Power napping.
Maybe going for a walk orsomething like that can actually
improve your cognitive ability.
Stu Morris (08:18):
Sure, go for a walk in the middle of the day.
From time to time somebody hasgone for a walk in the middle of
the day and you come back andyou think clearer and sharper
and it's just natural.
The other key part of that issleep and rest.
So we kind of talked about naps.
But during sleep the brainconsolidates memories and it
clears out toxins and repairsneural connections.
(08:38):
So you have to have propersleep hygiene.
It's a consistent bedtime,avoiding screens on your phone
and the computer before bed,creating a restful, dark
environment.
These are all crucial tosupporting cognitive longevity,
absolutely.
Gary Pageau (08:53):
So why do you think we're seeing this coming, as
almost?
I wouldn't say it's a crisis,but it seems to be more of an
issue these days with.
Is it just because people areliving longer, or it's a more
stressful environment, orthere's just so many inputs, or
people just don't take enoughnaps?
Stu Morris (09:12):
Yeah, absolutely, I'm going to sit down.
Gary, you answered that.
Those are the reasons.
Exactly.
There's, I think, two kind ofbig ones going on.
I think we're more aware of theworld that's going on around us
.
Our great-grandfather lived andwas subjected to as much
information, right, a billboardhe didn't see it.
(09:33):
Television, he didn't see it.
Radio was a rare, you know, ifyou went into town you got to
listen to the radio if it was on, and it was, only it wasn't on
24 hours a day, right, so youdidn't get the newspaper and you
didn't see what's going on theworld.
You kind of focused on your ownfarm.
Right, let's say we are moreaware of what's going on around
us.
That awareness has really builtthis culture of comparing
(09:55):
ourselves.
Right, we want to compareourselves to the kardashians or
whatever, and they're living thelife of luxury and they're all
worried about their, their eyemakeup or some stupid thing.
And then we like, oh well, myeye makeup isn't good enough, or
I don't drive a lamborghini orI, and we're always.
We naturally compare ourselvesand we're comparing ourselves to
things that don't exist.
Like, I know the kardashiansexist, but really they don't
(10:19):
exist.
Not even the kardashians livethat life right that's just what
we see, and right and the sameas group or any social media
podcast.
You, you, you know there's nougly pictures on social media,
right?
Gary Pageau (10:31):
well, you haven't seen my insta, but, um, it's
sort of, it's sort of the old.
Uh, comparison is the thief ofjoy statement.
Stu Morris (10:56):
right?
Yeah, exactly, I'm sorry, didyou ask a question?
So emotion is the deal.
Joy, fear, elation, you knowany number of emotions.
Those affect yourneuroplasticity hugely and if
you are robbed from your joy,you will find neural pathways
(11:17):
that are joyless and you willget used to cruising down those.
Your brain just automatically.
I mean, that's, that's how weproduce habits.
Brain does that automatically.
You don't have to make a habitright, and so the brain does
that automatically and you livea life, a joyless life.
You will continue to live alife, a joyless life, because
it's become a habit of how yourbrain functions, and it's a
(11:40):
forgettable life.
How about that?
Yeah, there's no.
If there's no joy there's,there's nothing emotionally
attached to that neural pathway.
And you, yeah, you, you lookback after 20 years.
You're like I've been sittingin this recliner watching, you
know, the Cosby show orsomething, right, I mean,
there's no, there's.
You've got a life that has alegacy.
(12:02):
You've created a legacy.
It's just not impactful.
Gary Pageau (12:05):
So let's talk a little bit about, you know, kind
of steering this towards myaudience, which is, you know,
business people, right, smallbusiness people, people in the
memory business, right, and whoare in the joy business really,
because that's one of thereasons why people say they get
into this business is becausethey're able to preserve family
memories for other people andshare them with wall decor or
(12:27):
photos or prints or photo booksor all these great things where
they provide the equipment thatlet people enjoy photography
which brings them joy and allthat.
But a lot of people have, youknow, run the businesses
themselves.
You know, kind of get mireddown in the business.
So what are some thoughts orsuggestions you have other than
naps?
What are your some ideas whenyou talk to business people
about reigniting their joy ortheir interest that will then
(12:51):
again re-engage their brain, ifyou will.
Stu Morris (12:53):
Well, you know, re-engaging your brain and
improving, you know,neuroplasticity, or being able
to boost your neuroplasticity,is really is a could be super
powerful tool for entrepreneursin the photographic service
industry for sure, especially inlike realms of marketing.
Boost your neuroplasticity isreally is a could be super
powerful tool for entrepreneursin, you know, the photographic
service industry for sure,especially in like realms of
marketing, communications andmedia strategies.
The photo finishing laboratory,entrepreneur understanding and
(13:16):
leveraging neuroplasticity canenhance customer engagement,
brand loyalty, even operationalefficiency.
As I read about your audienceand read about you and listened
to your shows, I was trying tothink of some areas, so I kind
of came up with six areas Ithink that might be advantageous
to your listeners.
Gary Pageau (13:33):
I love checklists, let's go.
Stu Morris (13:35):
Boom For the photo finishing laboratory.
Like entrepreneur, a big one iscustomer behavior and habits,
right.
Neuroplasticity involves thebrain's ability to form and
reorganize those neuralconnections and it's based on
experiences and behaviors.
So for a photo finishing labthat's important because you
know creating habits, forinstance.
So through consistent exposure,specific messages or incentives
(13:59):
, customers can develop habits.
Habitual behaviors always willchoose your lap, like that's a
habitual behavior, such asalways choosing your lap, for
instance.
Or a reward program orreminders for a photo project,
like creating a photo album.
So those personalized promotionscan help reinforce repeat
visits and it creates a naturallasting neural pattern okay so
(14:20):
the emotional connection behindthat, which is what we've talked
about, how that connects youremotions, connect your to your,
to your neuroplasticity or thoseneural pathways, rather.
So photos are tied to memoriesand emotions.
Right Boom, it's perfect for it.
So highlighting the emotionalvalue of a photograph can
trigger emotional responses inthe brain that even deepen the
(14:42):
customer's attachment to yourbrain On a customer behaviors
and kind of helping yourcustomer form you know, I've
always thought about that.
Gary Pageau (14:49):
I always thought some successful marketing that,
I see, is when people, uh,online for example will send you
a, an email with your ownpictures and it said hey, we
pre-made this photo book for you.
Relive the memories andhopefully order it right, right,
so that's that sort of activity.
That's what you're talkingabout.
Stu Morris (15:07):
Absolutely.
Yep, that's it.
You know.
Another thing thatentrepreneurs need to do is they
need to market to theircustomers, right?
So photo business right, youare a visual business, so visual
and emotional cues.
You better get on board withthat if you're not using
pictures in your photograph.
Gary Pageau (15:22):
That's sort of a given right with that if you're
not using pictures in yourphotograph.
Stu Morris (15:26):
That's sort of a given right, Exactly so.
The visual nature of thephotographic industry totally
makes it ideal for stimulatingthe brain's visual processing
centers.
So design visual, appealingmarketing materials that evoke
emotions nostalgia, joy, forinstance to emotions that appeal
to a visually visual marketing.
You can enhance memoryretention of your brand that way
(15:48):
.
Neuroplasticity doesn't exactlyprove it, Neuroscience, we
haven't proven it yet and that'sharder to do, but it absolutely
suggests that repetition ofthese emotional stimuli Well,
they actually strengthen thebrain's association between your
brand and that positive feelingthat's why I've got a question
about that, because I hear thisfrom marketing people all the
(16:09):
time and you're kind of touchingon something.
Gary Pageau (16:10):
That's sort of one of my little things I like to
harp on, if you will, a lot oftimes in in the marketing world.
You know it's driven bycreative people want to invent
stuff all the time and they tendto want to change up things a
lot.
But what you're saying is you,once you've got a winning
approach, you should be stickingwith it.
Stu Morris (16:31):
Yeah.
If you find something that canhelp organize information for
your industry and evoke emotion,yeah.
Stick to it like a wet shirt.
Gary Pageau (16:44):
You bet All right, because the reason I say is
because you always hear peopleoh my gosh, I got to be on
TikTok, I got to be this, I gotto do that, I got to do all
these other things, and it getsvery distracting for them and it
gets very, you know, it gets tobe a stress point.
Right, I've got, oh, I've gotto be on all these things where
it's like, well, you know whatPeople kind of expect you to
(17:04):
communicate a certain way, witha certain image, in a certain
way.
And, yeah, you might be missingsome people, but are you really
?
Stu Morris (17:13):
Yeah, exactly you know, the more you narrow down
your market, the bigger themarket.
You have Right, you narrowsomething down you can really
expand on it.
So, as far as marketing andbranding goes, those, you know,
visual and emotional cues arejust are the key to
strengthening that stimuli.
Another thing is that ourbrains, you know we naturally
(17:36):
respond to stories.
Our brain is wired to organizeinformation in narratives.
That's just the way we're made.
So effective marketing for aphoto finishing lab, you know,
should focus on customers'stories and their emotional
impact of preserving memoriesthrough the photographs, and you
can reshape how a customer willperceive the value of those
printed photos by telling thestory Right.
(17:58):
And that'll do it.
But you know, like what yousaid, there's so much
information.
You got to be on TikTok, yougot to do this, you got to do
that, you know.
You ask how do you market abook, For instance, for me I
asked that question and theygave me a book.
I'm like I can't.
I can't do all this Right.
You just got to find somethingthat works, something you're
good at, and stick to it.
Gary Pageau (18:16):
But make sure it works and make sure you're good
at it, and not to say you can'ttry new things.
But you don't have to try everynew thing.
Stu Morris (18:25):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah , you don't have to try.
Don't try everything.
You can't be all things to allpeople, right?
Take it from Abe Lincoln.
Gary Pageau (18:32):
Yeah.
Stu Morris (18:33):
One of my favorites, right, can't be all things to
all people, right?
Take it from abe lincoln yeah,one of my favorites, right,
can't be all things to allpeople.
So I was thinking as far as a,you know, a photo lab
entrepreneur kind of thing.
There's, there's a lot thatgoes into the customer
experience right sopersonalization is a part of
customer experience andneuroplasticity, can you know?
it's the brain's constantlyadapting, based on those
(18:54):
personal experiences, right sooffering personalized
recommendations based on yourcustomer's history specific
types of photo prints maybe, orbased, you know, on their past
purchases.
Gary Pageau (19:05):
I'm not exactly well, and then the other piece
of it is that on in the photobusiness, unlike many other
market segments, you're dealingwith people's personalized
content, content that'smeaningful to them, that they
can then personalize a productwith.
So actually it's, in my opinion, has an advantage over other
product categories.
Like, you know, if you're, ifyou're going to do a you know,
(19:26):
let's say, you're doing a coffeemug as a gift, right Boring mug
from Starbucks is not the sameas one with a, you know,
personalized photo on it.
Now, I know coffee mugs arekind of cliche because there's
thousands of other products thatare out there, but the point is
is I think our industry hasalmost an advantage over other
market segments because of theopportunity to personalize.
Stu Morris (19:46):
It sure does.
And the photo mug it might be.
I mean, I would like to haveone.
I don't have one, but if you'rea grandma who drinks a cup of
tea or a cup of coffee everymorning and you have a mug of
your grandchild, you havecreated a customer for life.
Gary Pageau (20:00):
Right.
Stu Morris (20:00):
Right, they will want to know.
So that's exactly how you cantailor those experiences and it
leads to stronger customerloyalty and your brain will
naturally associate that lab, orthat your business, with
meeting that unique needs.
That lab or that your businesswith meeting that unique needs,
right, so cool, yeah.
And then you know that customerexperience has a lot to do with
that, what we were talkingabout, that neuroplastic
(20:22):
overload or neuro.
So making the process ofuploading photos, for instance,
or ordering prints as simple andas seamless as possible, it
creates, you know, africtionless experience and the
brain will seek naturally torepeat that, right so, and the
brain will seek naturally torepeat that.
So if you do something, you likeit and it's easy, you just go
right back to it.
You don't think about it.
It's a habit that's formedalmost instantaneously, so the
(20:42):
easier and more rewarding theinteraction, the more likely
customers are to return.
Gary Pageau (20:45):
Yeah, I just read.
I'm probably the last person onthe planet to have read Atomic
Habits by James Clear, butthat's a lot of that.
Yeah, is the idea.
If it's easy enough, itreinforces that behavior.
Stu Morris (21:06):
Yep, keep it simple and you'll do it.
My father was a baseball coachand he always said the key to
mastery, the key to success, isconsistency, and the key to
consistency is simplicity.
Keep it simple, you'll do itconsistently and you'll master
it.
He was a Marine.
He never argued with him.
You could, but you're going tolose.
So my guess is, with the amountof change that you've seen in
(21:32):
the industry this is just meverbalizing here.
I don't know, but it seems likethere's a need for a lot of
training and innovation for anentrepreneur in the industry.
This is just me verbalizinghere.
I don't know, but it seems likethere's a need for a lot of
training and innovation for anentrepreneur in the industry,
because it's.
I mean, they used to beeverything's digital and it used
to not be right.
I mean it's huge in your market.
So learning and adaptation issomething that just falls right
in line with neuroplasticity.
It's not just for customers, itabsolutely applies to the
(21:53):
entrepreneur.
So the ability for the brain tolearn and adapt is crucial for
staying competitive and you wantto do that right, so by
continually engaging withmarketing trends or photography
techniques or customer serviceskills well, even like going to
conferences, meeting people anddoing all those kind of things.
Gary Pageau (22:11):
Right, because I mean you don't want to hear
someone say I'm too old for this.
Right, because they're reallynot so so.
So that is part of the thing,is you always hear people like I
just I go to a lot of industryconferences and I see a lot of
people and it's just the valuefor them is, like you said,
they're almost re-engaging theirneurons in a way, as they're
interacting with people,exchanging stories, like you
were talking about, and learningnew things.
Stu Morris (22:34):
A hundred percent and you believe what you say
comes out of your mouth morethan anything else.
So if you say I'm too old forthis, you better believe that
you're your own in that Right.
Engaging in activities thatchallenge your brain's
creativity, experiencing withnew photo products or marketing
ideas, it stimulates the brain's, the part of the brain, the
(22:56):
region that relates toinnovation.
You become more innovative, soover time the brain strengthens
its capacity for creativeproblem solving and it can lead
to new services or marketingstrategies that will
differentiate your lab from ablue sea of competitors, kind of
thing.
Right.
So that's right along the linesof what you're saying.
(23:17):
I was kind of thinking thatwith photos and the photo
industry, that there's obviouslya lot of new media strategies.
Content creation, ding, ding,ding.
Right, we hear content creationIn that realm though.
Neuroplasticity, you know,inform how you create and
present content okay, so forexample, educational content
(23:39):
that teaches the customers aboutpreserving photos, maybe, or
tutorials on creative uses forprints that can tap into new
learning pathways in the brainand it makes your brand more
memorable.
Videos and visuals areespecially effective, right?
You're telling a story and weand you know you go on tiktok
and everything's a video.
Gary Pageau (23:59):
It's not like myspace next, thing, you know
you were talking about geocities uh, I remember.
Stu Morris (24:10):
I remember posting on my first bulletin board as a
freshman in college oh my gosh.
Gary Pageau (24:13):
So when I was a freshman in college.
Stu Morris (24:14):
That was actually a physical bulletin board as a
freshman in college.
There you go, oh my gosh.
Gary Pageau (24:16):
So when I was a freshman, in college that was
actually a physical bulletinboard with a thumbtack oh my god
, I love this gary.
Stu Morris (24:26):
This is so much fun.
Gary Pageau (24:27):
So, anyway, so getting back to that.
All right, but.
But we're kind of talking incircles here and I want to make
sure we kind of tie all this ina bow is?
You know, you're talking aboutnew things, telling stories,
doing TikTok, but you know, 10minutes ago we said don't do all
the things, so so there is abalance there that you kind of
have to strike.
So can you kind of address thata little bit?
Stu Morris (24:47):
Yeah, I, I, you know , I think, um, like, I'm not on
TikTok personally, right?
I just um, it's just one, Ijust didn't want to.
Oh well, you've got to be onbook talk, you sell books,
you're an author, you got to beon book talk.
I'm like, no, I don't actually,so I just, I just didn't want
three or four or five or 10things.
So pick your, you know, pickyour strategy for sure, but
(25:17):
whatever that is using thosevisuals is, you know, very it's
effective at engaging the boththe video and the and the
auditory parts of the brain, andthen encourage your customer to
you know, to form a strong umassociation with, with your lab,
with your business, and so,wherever you're doing it, do it
well, but don't do so much of itthat you can't do all of it or
any of it and you can integratesome of these other things, like
you said, you know the shortvideos, the how-tos, the demos
(25:38):
and things within your existingchannels.
Gary Pageau (25:41):
That's what I'm saying, like.
I mean, you know, if you've gota Facebook page, there's really
no reason why you couldn't havethat within the Facebook page
you already have.
You don't need to start, youknow a TikTok to do that, you
know.
Or even on Instagram, or forLinkedIn or some of these other
platforms you may already havechosen as your channel, you can
integrate some of the creativeaspects you were talking about
(26:02):
within those channels withouthaving to invent a whole new
thing is where I was kind ofgoing with that.
Stu Morris (26:08):
A hundred percent, gary Yep, if you, if your lab,
your business just regularlyposts tips, I don't know offers,
showcases, customer stories onsocial media, just what you're
using, you don't.
We're not talking.
You know, we think of a socialmedia and we think of Facebook
or or Instagram or somethinglike that, but there's 160 of
them.
Erin Manning (26:28):
There's 160 big ones around the world right.
Stu Morris (26:30):
So you're just not going to reach all the audience.
Gary Pageau (26:34):
So just pick your audience that you can reach and
reach them well, and reach themwith something that'll stick in
their mind and maybereinvigorate those practices
with some of the things you weretalking about, as opposed to
yeah, because I think that'swhere people kind of they look
at social media channels andthey have kind of a vision that
there's sort of a certain typeof thing right, like, for
(26:55):
example, tiktok is you knowshort, cool little videos.
Well, you can do that on otherplatforms as well, because
there's obviously TikTok successand they steal that approach
right.
So if you've already got adecent Instagram following, you
can do that within that platform.
You don't need to.
Not that I'm dissing TikTokPersonally.
I'm like you.
I don't have one.
I'm not so fond of giving theChinese all my information, but
(27:18):
I'll give it to Zuckerberg forsome reason, and that's another
thing.
But the point is is that Iguess what I'm trying to talk
about is maybe have some, bemore strategic with this, but
still have the creative approach, so that you can keep those
pathways open for new ideas.
Stu Morris (27:37):
Yep, absolutely, gary.
Yep, you nailed it.
You could do this for a living.
Gary Pageau (27:43):
Or have a podcast, even I don't know.
Maybe I'll start a podcast.
Stu Morris (27:47):
You should really tell people about your insights.
Gary Pageau (27:50):
As you probably guess, I'm not modest about
speaking my mind.
You have a book out.
We haven't really talked aboutthe book.
How would someone who is, youknow, in the business because
again, I know a lot of peoplewho struggle with this, right, I
mean because you know they'vebeen in the industry a long time
and they're just they talkabout having no time and no, and
a lot of it's fatigue andthey're, you know, tired and
(28:13):
that translates into, you know,I forget things, I'm not doing
things.
Well, like it's tough for me tolearn stuff.
So, kind of bringing this backto kind of what you're offering,
what is the theme or thedirective, and we kind of talked
about naps and kind of some ofthat stuff as a jokey standpoint
.
But you know reality, what aresome of the top things we want
(28:35):
to learn from your book, whichis called I have a note here
power, influence and purposeyeah, power, influence and
purpose.
Stu Morris (28:42):
It's the 10.
It's 10 neuroplasticityessentials to architect a legacy
of impact.
Went through three editors forthat and it's you know, every
word just kind of is a chapterin itself kind of a thing.
But yeah, that's what it is.
So we're all going to leave alegacy, gary.
(29:03):
We are all going to leave alegacy.
Is yours going to be animpactful legacy?
Is it going to be somethingthat you're proud of?
I have, you know, have 22 yearsof working in the emergency
department.
I have dealt with death anddying and I think probably maybe
once a week I had some littleold lady grab my hand and say
don't go be with your family, godo what's important.
(29:26):
You don't be on this gurney inthe emergency department where
I'm at right now in 20, 30, 40years and have regrets, and so
that's kind of what the book'sabout.
It's building a legacy that isimpactful, and you can do that
by using neuroplasticity.
It's the easiest way you wantto change.
(29:47):
Use neuroplasticity.
That way you can use science tochange how you feel, how you
think, where you go, what yourgoals are, what you want to do
in life, and that's what it'sall about and the book's really
good and it offers a lot ofstep-by-step you know processes
and strategies, but the coursein the book has been a
bestseller for a long time.
And the course in the book iswe've taken it offline right now
(30:09):
because we're revamping it forthe book, but it's the over 51
advantage right, and it isliterally the step-by-step guide
to preventing and reversingcognitive decline.
Gary Pageau (30:24):
So you get the book , you buy the book, you get the
course for free Nice.
So where can people go for moreinformation on the book, the
course and Stu Morris?
Stu Morris (30:30):
So thank you very much.
You can go to over51.com islike our main clearinghouse of
information for the book.
Specifically, you can go topowerinfluencepurpose.
com.
Gary Pageau (30:43):
Nice, well, great Stu, this has been fun.
This has been a funconversation.
When I was like brain healthI'm not sure I want to talk
about that, but this has beenfun.
I've learned a few things and Iappreciate your time.
Thank you so much.
Stu Morris (30:57):
What a pleasure, what a pleasure to be with you,
gary.
I've done a few podcasts myself, a lot of them, and I haven't
laughed this much in any of them.
It's been a great, great show.
I really appreciate your timeand your willingness to let me
help your audience you take goodcare, sir and your willingness
to let me help your audience.
Erin Manning (31:13):
You take good care , sir.
Thank you for listening to theDead Pixels Society podcast.
No-transcript.
(39:28):
No-transcript.
(47:33):
Read more great stories andsign up for the newsletter at
wwwthedeadpixelssocietycom.
Welcome to the Dead Pixels Society podcast, the
photo imaging industry'sleading news source.
Here's your host, Gary Pageau.
The Dead Pixel Society podcastis brought to you by MediaClip,
Gary Pageau (00:15):
Hello, welcome to the Dead Pixels Society podcast.
I'm your host, Gary Pageau.
Today we're joined by StuMorris, who's going to tell us
all about your brain.
He's a brain guy.
We all have one.
It needs help, and Stu's goingto help us.
He's going to use a lot ofwords I can't pronounce, because
(00:36):
we've had a discussion beforethis where we discovered that my
ability to say neuroplasticityis a challenge, so that might be
the only time I get it right.
Hi, Stu, how are you today?
Stu Morris (00:50):
I'm real good, Gary.
Appreciate you having me onyour show, love your show, what
I've heard, and the Dead PixelSociety I just think that name
is just classic.
So yeah, very happy to be here.
Thank you for having me.
Gary Pageau (01:04):
So let's talk a little bit about cognitive
ability, right, that's your areaof expertise.
Everyone has it and it changesover time, and I know a lot of
my listeners are getting olderin age.
What are some of the things yousee that maybe they can start
identifying that?
Hey, I need some help in thisregard.
What are maybe some of thethings they encounter?
(01:25):
Is it like I forgot?
Is that just you forget whereyou put the car keys or stuff
like that?
There's more to it, right?
Stu Morris (01:32):
There is more to it.
I always start when people askwhat I do.
I always ask the question haveyou ever entered a room and
forgot what you came in for?
Gary Pageau (01:42):
I've done that to my house.
Stu Morris (01:43):
That's what I fix, that's what we fix.
So we leverage neuroplasticityto improve the brain's cognitive
ability.
That's what we fix, okay, so,simply put, neuroplasticity it's
the brain's ability to adaptand to reorganize, form new
(02:03):
neural connections.
Throughout your entire life, wefound out, you never forget
anything.
It's just a matter of recall.
Gary Pageau (02:09):
Really Okay, so let's go into that.
So people always say I can'tremember what I had for lunch
yesterday, but they may rememberwhat they had for lunch in high
school.
Is that what that is?
It's the connection isn't beingformed, but the older
connections are there.
Is that what that's about?
Stu Morris (02:25):
Yeah, that's part of it.
That's part of what's calledneuroplasticity pruning.
So, neuroscientificallyspeaking, pruning is when you're
not using a neural pathway.
You're not using that thoughtor that memory, for very often
(02:45):
your brain kind of naturallyjust tucks it back into a
bookshelf for later use if youneed it.
But you tend to not be able torecall it.
So you don't forget it, butyou're not able to recall it.
If you were having lunch, youcan't remember what you had for
lunch yesterday, but if you satdown with somebody naked you'd
remember what you had for lunchyesterday.
Emotions or things that make itmore impactful in your life make
a stronger neural connection,make a stronger pathway.
(03:06):
So it's like walking through agrassy field and you turn around
and you can see your footprintsin the grass, but the next day
they're gone.
The grass pops back up.
But if you take like a bigHarley or a four wheel drive and
you just chew through the mud,that path's going to be there
for a long time.
So depending on how you createthat impact and how you create
that emotional strength to, itwill improve that neural pathway
(03:30):
.
Gary Pageau (03:30):
What is it about getting older, then?
That prevents those pathwaysfrom engaging?
I mean, I guess that's whatwe're talking about, right, is
it?
Because when you're younger,your brain is fresh and new and
by the time you're old and jaded, you don't really want any more
pathways.
You've got enough pathways yeah, that's a.
Stu Morris (03:52):
that's a very good question.
Okay, so the biggest part, thebiggest effect that we've found
in just in our personal researchso this is not necessarily
scientific, but in just myreading over the last 16, 18
years on neuroscience, it seemsto me like the biggest problem
and what we combat is normalcognitive aging, normal
(04:16):
cognitive decline in aging Right.
So the biggest thing to combatwith that is our belief system.
As we get older, we are trainedto believe that, oh, I'm older
now and I'm just forgetful.
Right, you have to overcomethat disempowering belief,
that's half of it right there.
It has nothing to do withscience so much, except that you
can use neuroscience toovercome a disempowering belief.
(04:37):
For sure Interesting andneuroplasticity will help you
create new habits and can defeatthose old habits of like, oh
gosh, you know, automaticallythinking like I'm older now and
I forget things.
So if you can get past that,which is kind of the first part
of everything we do really, thenwe can.
Absolutely we have.
We have proven,neuroscientifically proven
(04:58):
strategies to combat age relatedcognitive decline all the time.
You can do it all day long.
That's my bread and butter.
Gary Pageau (05:05):
You know, take it from the standpoint of, let's
say, a business owner who isoperating, let's say, a small
business of some sort, and youknow they're running into these
issues where, you know datingmyself a little bit you go back
20 years people weren't reallydealing with the amount of flow
of information like they did.
Right, you know, right now, youknow you could usually be able
to run a camera store by lookingin the till and knowing how
(05:27):
much you.
You know that.
You know how much money wascoming in and you looked on the
shelf and there was yourinventory and you know customers
came in, they bought stuff andthey left and you know that was
how you're in the business.
Now it's, you know, onlineordering and now there's all
these other inputs.
Does that have anything to dowith it, the amount of inputs
coming in that people arestruggling with, or is it mostly
(05:47):
attitude, like you said?
Stu Morris (05:49):
Oh yeah, absolutely so.
There is what's calledcognitive load, and we see it a
lot in stressful situations.
So if you have a very stressfuljob or are experiencing like I
handled it in the emergencydepartment a lot of times I
worked in the emergencydepartment for 22 years and you
are working with people that areunder a tremendous amount of
(06:11):
stress, right and so and we knowthat those that that stress,
that that affects yourneuroplasticity, it hinders it,
it slows it down, it makes thosepathways less memorable and
harder to recall.
So, for sure, things likemeditation people kind of
snicker at meditation andmindfulness.
(06:31):
Sure, I don't know why.
It's only been used since 7,000years before Christ.
You know what I mean.
Gary Pageau (06:40):
It has always a decent track record right.
Stu Morris (06:44):
It has always a decent track record, right,
exactly.
And so you need to stop andslow down and relax your brain.
You need to take 10 minutes ofsome deep breathing and try not
to think right, just empty yourmind, and there's a lot of
(07:04):
exercises to do that thatpromote neuroplasticity and we
work through a lot of them,especially, you know, in the
book there's you get the book,you get the course for free, and
in the course there's a lot ofmindfulness exercises.
There's even audios that youcan listen to, that you can
download and listen to andthings like that.
So meditation and deepbreathing exercises, mindfulness
practices, those will reducestress and they absolutely
(07:24):
promote neuroplasticity.
Gary Pageau (07:25):
Really, because I just find that kind of
fascinating that I mean I guessit makes sense, right?
If you're more at ease in yourmind, there's less traffic to
inhibit the formation ofpathways.
Stu Morris (07:37):
Yes, you know another excellent strategy for
that.
My personal favorite is naps.
Gary Pageau (07:47):
Nice Okay.
Stu Morris (07:50):
So I don't live on the beach for nothing.
I mean, I learned some stuffhere.
So there's kind of two thingsthe mindfulness breaks during
your day.
Just take five minutes and dosome mindfulness exercises can
really impact your brain andreally kind of clean up the
cobwebs.
Sure Okay.
Gary Pageau (08:13):
Power napping.
Maybe going for a walk orsomething like that can actually
improve your cognitive ability.
Stu Morris (08:18):
Sure, go for a walk in the middle of the day.
From time to time somebody hasgone for a walk in the middle of
the day and you come back andyou think clearer and sharper
and it's just natural.
The other key part of that issleep and rest.
So we kind of talked about naps.
But during sleep the brainconsolidates memories and it
clears out toxins and repairsneural connections.
(08:38):
So you have to have propersleep hygiene.
It's a consistent bedtime,avoiding screens on your phone
and the computer before bed,creating a restful, dark
environment.
These are all crucial tosupporting cognitive longevity,
absolutely.
Gary Pageau (08:53):
So why do you think we're seeing this coming, as
almost?
I wouldn't say it's a crisis,but it seems to be more of an
issue these days with.
Is it just because people areliving longer, or it's a more
stressful environment, orthere's just so many inputs, or
people just don't take enoughnaps?
Stu Morris (09:12):
Yeah, absolutely, I'm going to sit down.
Gary, you answered that.
Those are the reasons.
Exactly.
There's, I think, two kind ofbig ones going on.
I think we're more aware of theworld that's going on around us
.
Our great-grandfather lived andwas subjected to as much
information, right, a billboardhe didn't see it.
(09:33):
Television, he didn't see it.
Radio was a rare, you know, ifyou went into town you got to
listen to the radio if it was on, and it was, only it wasn't on
24 hours a day, right, so youdidn't get the newspaper and you
didn't see what's going on theworld.
You kind of focused on your ownfarm.
Right, let's say we are moreaware of what's going on around
us.
That awareness has really builtthis culture of comparing
(09:55):
ourselves.
Right, we want to compareourselves to the kardashians or
whatever, and they're living thelife of luxury and they're all
worried about their, their eyemakeup or some stupid thing.
And then we like, oh well, myeye makeup isn't good enough, or
I don't drive a lamborghini orI, and we're always.
We naturally compare ourselvesand we're comparing ourselves to
things that don't exist.
Like, I know the kardashiansexist, but really they don't
(10:19):
exist.
Not even the kardashians livethat life right that's just what
we see, and right and the sameas group or any social media
podcast.
You, you, you know there's nougly pictures on social media,
right?
Gary Pageau (10:31):
well, you haven't seen my insta, but, um, it's
sort of, it's sort of the old.
Uh, comparison is the thief ofjoy statement.
Stu Morris (10:56):
right?
Yeah, exactly, I'm sorry, didyou ask a question?
So emotion is the deal.
Joy, fear, elation, you knowany number of emotions.
Those affect yourneuroplasticity hugely and if
you are robbed from your joy,you will find neural pathways
(11:17):
that are joyless and you willget used to cruising down those.
Your brain just automatically.
I mean, that's, that's how weproduce habits.
Brain does that automatically.
You don't have to make a habitright, and so the brain does
that automatically and you livea life, a joyless life.
You will continue to live alife, a joyless life, because
it's become a habit of how yourbrain functions, and it's a
(11:40):
forgettable life.
How about that?
Yeah, there's no.
If there's no joy there's,there's nothing emotionally
attached to that neural pathway.
And you, yeah, you, you lookback after 20 years.
You're like I've been sittingin this recliner watching, you
know, the Cosby show orsomething, right, I mean,
there's no, there's.
You've got a life that has alegacy.
(12:02):
You've created a legacy.
It's just not impactful.
Gary Pageau (12:05):
So let's talk a little bit about, you know, kind
of steering this towards myaudience, which is, you know,
business people, right, smallbusiness people, people in the
memory business, right, and whoare in the joy business really,
because that's one of thereasons why people say they get
into this business is becausethey're able to preserve family
memories for other people andshare them with wall decor or
(12:27):
photos or prints or photo booksor all these great things where
they provide the equipment thatlet people enjoy photography
which brings them joy and allthat.
But a lot of people have, youknow, run the businesses
themselves.
You know, kind of get mireddown in the business.
So what are some thoughts orsuggestions you have other than
naps?
What are your some ideas whenyou talk to business people
about reigniting their joy ortheir interest that will then
(12:51):
again re-engage their brain, ifyou will.
Stu Morris (12:53):
Well, you know, re-engaging your brain and
improving, you know,neuroplasticity, or being able
to boost your neuroplasticity,is really is a could be super
powerful tool for entrepreneursin the photographic service
industry for sure, especially inlike realms of marketing.
Boost your neuroplasticity isreally is a could be super
powerful tool for entrepreneursin, you know, the photographic
service industry for sure,especially in like realms of
marketing, communications andmedia strategies.
The photo finishing laboratory,entrepreneur understanding and
(13:16):
leveraging neuroplasticity canenhance customer engagement,
brand loyalty, even operationalefficiency.
As I read about your audienceand read about you and listened
to your shows, I was trying tothink of some areas, so I kind
of came up with six areas Ithink that might be advantageous
to your listeners.
Gary Pageau (13:33):
I love checklists, let's go.
Stu Morris (13:35):
Boom For the photo finishing laboratory.
Like entrepreneur, a big one iscustomer behavior and habits,
right.
Neuroplasticity involves thebrain's ability to form and
reorganize those neuralconnections and it's based on
experiences and behaviors.
So for a photo finishing labthat's important because you
know creating habits, forinstance.
So through consistent exposure,specific messages or incentives
(13:59):
, customers can develop habits.
Habitual behaviors always willchoose your lap, like that's a
habitual behavior, such asalways choosing your lap, for
instance.
Or a reward program orreminders for a photo project,
like creating a photo album.
So those personalized promotionscan help reinforce repeat
visits and it creates a naturallasting neural pattern okay so
(14:20):
the emotional connection behindthat, which is what we've talked
about, how that connects youremotions, connect your to your,
to your neuroplasticity or thoseneural pathways, rather.
So photos are tied to memoriesand emotions.
Right Boom, it's perfect for it.
So highlighting the emotionalvalue of a photograph can
trigger emotional responses inthe brain that even deepen the
(14:42):
customer's attachment to yourbrain On a customer behaviors
and kind of helping yourcustomer form you know, I've
always thought about that.
Gary Pageau (14:49):
I always thought some successful marketing that,
I see, is when people, uh,online for example will send you
a, an email with your ownpictures and it said hey, we
pre-made this photo book for you.
Relive the memories andhopefully order it right, right,
so that's that sort of activity.
That's what you're talkingabout.
Stu Morris (15:07):
Absolutely.
Yep, that's it.
You know.
Another thing thatentrepreneurs need to do is they
need to market to theircustomers, right?
So photo business right, youare a visual business, so visual
and emotional cues.
You better get on board withthat if you're not using
pictures in your photograph.
Gary Pageau (15:22):
That's sort of a given right with that if you're
not using pictures in yourphotograph.
Stu Morris (15:26):
That's sort of a given right, Exactly so.
The visual nature of thephotographic industry totally
makes it ideal for stimulatingthe brain's visual processing
centers.
So design visual, appealingmarketing materials that evoke
emotions nostalgia, joy, forinstance to emotions that appeal
to a visually visual marketing.
You can enhance memoryretention of your brand that way
(15:48):
.
Neuroplasticity doesn't exactlyprove it, Neuroscience, we
haven't proven it yet and that'sharder to do, but it absolutely
suggests that repetition ofthese emotional stimuli Well,
they actually strengthen thebrain's association between your
brand and that positive feelingthat's why I've got a question
about that, because I hear thisfrom marketing people all the
(16:09):
time and you're kind of touchingon something.
Gary Pageau (16:10):
That's sort of one of my little things I like to
harp on, if you will, a lot oftimes in in the marketing world.
You know it's driven bycreative people want to invent
stuff all the time and they tendto want to change up things a
lot.
But what you're saying is you,once you've got a winning
approach, you should be stickingwith it.
Stu Morris (16:31):
Yeah.
If you find something that canhelp organize information for
your industry and evoke emotion,yeah.
Stick to it like a wet shirt.
Gary Pageau (16:44):
You bet All right, because the reason I say is
because you always hear peopleoh my gosh, I got to be on
TikTok, I got to be this, I gotto do that, I got to do all
these other things, and it getsvery distracting for them and it
gets very, you know, it gets tobe a stress point.
Right, I've got, oh, I've gotto be on all these things where
it's like, well, you know whatPeople kind of expect you to
(17:04):
communicate a certain way, witha certain image, in a certain
way.
And, yeah, you might be missingsome people, but are you really
?
Stu Morris (17:13):
Yeah, exactly you know, the more you narrow down
your market, the bigger themarket.
You have Right, you narrowsomething down you can really
expand on it.
So, as far as marketing andbranding goes, those, you know,
visual and emotional cues arejust are the key to
strengthening that stimuli.
Another thing is that ourbrains, you know we naturally
(17:36):
respond to stories.
Our brain is wired to organizeinformation in narratives.
That's just the way we're made.
So effective marketing for aphoto finishing lab, you know,
should focus on customers'stories and their emotional
impact of preserving memoriesthrough the photographs, and you
can reshape how a customer willperceive the value of those
printed photos by telling thestory Right.
(17:58):
And that'll do it.
But you know, like what yousaid, there's so much
information.
You got to be on TikTok, yougot to do this, you got to do
that, you know.
You ask how do you market abook, For instance, for me I
asked that question and theygave me a book.
I'm like I can't.
I can't do all this Right.
You just got to find somethingthat works, something you're
good at, and stick to it.
Gary Pageau (18:16):
But make sure it works and make sure you're good
at it, and not to say you can'ttry new things.
But you don't have to try everynew thing.
Stu Morris (18:25):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah , you don't have to try.
Don't try everything.
You can't be all things to allpeople, right?
Take it from Abe Lincoln.
Gary Pageau (18:32):
Yeah.
Stu Morris (18:33):
One of my favorites, right, can't be all things to
all people, right?
Take it from abe lincoln yeah,one of my favorites, right,
can't be all things to allpeople.
So I was thinking as far as a,you know, a photo lab
entrepreneur kind of thing.
There's, there's a lot thatgoes into the customer
experience right sopersonalization is a part of
customer experience andneuroplasticity, can you know?
it's the brain's constantlyadapting, based on those
(18:54):
personal experiences, right sooffering personalized
recommendations based on yourcustomer's history specific
types of photo prints maybe, orbased, you know, on their past
purchases.
Gary Pageau (19:05):
I'm not exactly well, and then the other piece
of it is that on in the photobusiness, unlike many other
market segments, you're dealingwith people's personalized
content, content that'smeaningful to them, that they
can then personalize a productwith.
So actually it's, in my opinion, has an advantage over other
product categories.
Like, you know, if you're, ifyou're going to do a you know,
(19:26):
let's say, you're doing a coffeemug as a gift, right Boring mug
from Starbucks is not the sameas one with a, you know,
personalized photo on it.
Now, I know coffee mugs arekind of cliche because there's
thousands of other products thatare out there, but the point is
is I think our industry hasalmost an advantage over other
market segments because of theopportunity to personalize.
Stu Morris (19:46):
It sure does.
And the photo mug it might be.
I mean, I would like to haveone.
I don't have one, but if you'rea grandma who drinks a cup of
tea or a cup of coffee everymorning and you have a mug of
your grandchild, you havecreated a customer for life.
Gary Pageau (20:00):
Right.
Stu Morris (20:00):
Right, they will want to know.
So that's exactly how you cantailor those experiences and it
leads to stronger customerloyalty and your brain will
naturally associate that lab, orthat your business, with
meeting that unique needs.
That lab or that your businesswith meeting that unique needs,
right, so cool, yeah.
And then you know that customerexperience has a lot to do with
that, what we were talkingabout, that neuroplastic
(20:22):
overload or neuro.
So making the process ofuploading photos, for instance,
or ordering prints as simple andas seamless as possible, it
creates, you know, africtionless experience and the
brain will seek naturally torepeat that, right so, and the
brain will seek naturally torepeat that.
So if you do something, you likeit and it's easy, you just go
right back to it.
You don't think about it.
It's a habit that's formedalmost instantaneously, so the
(20:42):
easier and more rewarding theinteraction, the more likely
customers are to return.
Gary Pageau (20:45):
Yeah, I just read.
I'm probably the last person onthe planet to have read Atomic
Habits by James Clear, butthat's a lot of that.
Yeah, is the idea.
If it's easy enough, itreinforces that behavior.
Stu Morris (21:06):
Yep, keep it simple and you'll do it.
My father was a baseball coachand he always said the key to
mastery, the key to success, isconsistency, and the key to
consistency is simplicity.
Keep it simple, you'll do itconsistently and you'll master
it.
He was a Marine.
He never argued with him.
You could, but you're going tolose.
So my guess is, with the amountof change that you've seen in
(21:32):
the industry this is just meverbalizing here.
I don't know, but it seems likethere's a need for a lot of
training and innovation for anentrepreneur in the industry.
This is just me verbalizinghere.
I don't know, but it seems likethere's a need for a lot of
training and innovation for anentrepreneur in the industry,
because it's.
I mean, they used to beeverything's digital and it used
to not be right.
I mean it's huge in your market.
So learning and adaptation issomething that just falls right
in line with neuroplasticity.
It's not just for customers, itabsolutely applies to the
(21:53):
entrepreneur.
So the ability for the brain tolearn and adapt is crucial for
staying competitive and you wantto do that right, so by
continually engaging withmarketing trends or photography
techniques or customer serviceskills well, even like going to
conferences, meeting people anddoing all those kind of things.
Gary Pageau (22:11):
Right, because I mean you don't want to hear
someone say I'm too old for this.
Right, because they're reallynot so so.
So that is part of the thing,is you always hear people like I
just I go to a lot of industryconferences and I see a lot of
people and it's just the valuefor them is, like you said,
they're almost re-engaging theirneurons in a way, as they're
interacting with people,exchanging stories, like you
were talking about, and learningnew things.
Stu Morris (22:34):
A hundred percent and you believe what you say
comes out of your mouth morethan anything else.
So if you say I'm too old forthis, you better believe that
you're your own in that Right.
Engaging in activities thatchallenge your brain's
creativity, experiencing withnew photo products or marketing
ideas, it stimulates the brain's, the part of the brain, the
(22:56):
region that relates toinnovation.
You become more innovative, soover time the brain strengthens
its capacity for creativeproblem solving and it can lead
to new services or marketingstrategies that will
differentiate your lab from ablue sea of competitors, kind of
thing.
Right.
So that's right along the linesof what you're saying.
(23:17):
I was kind of thinking thatwith photos and the photo
industry, that there's obviouslya lot of new media strategies.
Content creation, ding, ding,ding.
Right, we hear content creationIn that realm though.
Neuroplasticity, you know,inform how you create and
present content okay, so forexample, educational content
(23:39):
that teaches the customers aboutpreserving photos, maybe, or
tutorials on creative uses forprints that can tap into new
learning pathways in the brainand it makes your brand more
memorable.
Videos and visuals areespecially effective, right?
You're telling a story and weand you know you go on tiktok
and everything's a video.
Gary Pageau (23:59):
It's not like myspace next, thing, you know
you were talking about geocities uh, I remember.
Stu Morris (24:10):
I remember posting on my first bulletin board as a
freshman in college oh my gosh.
Gary Pageau (24:13):
So when I was a freshman in college.
Stu Morris (24:14):
That was actually a physical bulletin board as a
freshman in college.
There you go, oh my gosh.
Gary Pageau (24:16):
So when I was a freshman, in college that was
actually a physical bulletinboard with a thumbtack oh my god
, I love this gary.
Stu Morris (24:26):
This is so much fun.
Gary Pageau (24:27):
So, anyway, so getting back to that.
All right, but.
But we're kind of talking incircles here and I want to make
sure we kind of tie all this ina bow is?
You know, you're talking aboutnew things, telling stories,
doing TikTok, but you know, 10minutes ago we said don't do all
the things, so so there is abalance there that you kind of
have to strike.
So can you kind of address thata little bit?
Stu Morris (24:47):
Yeah, I, I, you know , I think, um, like, I'm not on
TikTok personally, right?
I just um, it's just one, Ijust didn't want to.
Oh well, you've got to be onbook talk, you sell books,
you're an author, you got to beon book talk.
I'm like, no, I don't actually,so I just, I just didn't want
three or four or five or 10things.
So pick your, you know, pickyour strategy for sure, but
(25:17):
whatever that is using thosevisuals is, you know, very it's
effective at engaging the boththe video and the and the
auditory parts of the brain, andthen encourage your customer to
you know, to form a strong umassociation with, with your lab,
with your business, and so,wherever you're doing it, do it
well, but don't do so much of itthat you can't do all of it or
any of it and you can integratesome of these other things, like
you said, you know the shortvideos, the how-tos, the demos
(25:38):
and things within your existingchannels.
Gary Pageau (25:41):
That's what I'm saying, like.
I mean, you know, if you've gota Facebook page, there's really
no reason why you couldn't havethat within the Facebook page
you already have.
You don't need to start, youknow a TikTok to do that, you
know.
Or even on Instagram, or forLinkedIn or some of these other
platforms you may already havechosen as your channel, you can
integrate some of the creativeaspects you were talking about
(26:02):
within those channels withouthaving to invent a whole new
thing is where I was kind ofgoing with that.
Stu Morris (26:08):
A hundred percent, gary Yep, if you, if your lab,
your business just regularlyposts tips, I don't know offers,
showcases, customer stories onsocial media, just what you're
using, you don't.
We're not talking.
You know, we think of a socialmedia and we think of Facebook
or or Instagram or somethinglike that, but there's 160 of
them.
Erin Manning (26:28):
There's 160 big ones around the world right.
Stu Morris (26:30):
So you're just not going to reach all the audience.
Gary Pageau (26:34):
So just pick your audience that you can reach and
reach them well, and reach themwith something that'll stick in
their mind and maybereinvigorate those practices
with some of the things you weretalking about, as opposed to
yeah, because I think that'swhere people kind of they look
at social media channels andthey have kind of a vision that
there's sort of a certain typeof thing right, like, for
(26:55):
example, tiktok is you knowshort, cool little videos.
Well, you can do that on otherplatforms as well, because
there's obviously TikTok successand they steal that approach
right.
So if you've already got adecent Instagram following, you
can do that within that platform.
You don't need to.
Not that I'm dissing TikTokPersonally.
I'm like you.
I don't have one.
I'm not so fond of giving theChinese all my information, but
(27:18):
I'll give it to Zuckerberg forsome reason, and that's another
thing.
But the point is is that Iguess what I'm trying to talk
about is maybe have some, bemore strategic with this, but
still have the creative approach, so that you can keep those
pathways open for new ideas.
Stu Morris (27:37):
Yep, absolutely, gary.
Yep, you nailed it.
You could do this for a living.
Gary Pageau (27:43):
Or have a podcast, even I don't know.
Maybe I'll start a podcast.
Stu Morris (27:47):
You should really tell people about your insights.
Gary Pageau (27:50):
As you probably guess, I'm not modest about
speaking my mind.
You have a book out.
We haven't really talked aboutthe book.
How would someone who is, youknow, in the business because
again, I know a lot of peoplewho struggle with this, right, I
mean because you know they'vebeen in the industry a long time
and they're just they talkabout having no time and no, and
a lot of it's fatigue andthey're, you know, tired and
(28:13):
that translates into, you know,I forget things, I'm not doing
things.
Well, like it's tough for me tolearn stuff.
So, kind of bringing this backto kind of what you're offering,
what is the theme or thedirective, and we kind of talked
about naps and kind of some ofthat stuff as a jokey standpoint
.
But you know reality, what aresome of the top things we want
(28:35):
to learn from your book, whichis called I have a note here
power, influence and purposeyeah, power, influence and
purpose.
Stu Morris (28:42):
It's the 10.
It's 10 neuroplasticityessentials to architect a legacy
of impact.
Went through three editors forthat and it's you know, every
word just kind of is a chapterin itself kind of a thing.
But yeah, that's what it is.
So we're all going to leave alegacy, gary.
(29:03):
We are all going to leave alegacy.
Is yours going to be animpactful legacy?
Is it going to be somethingthat you're proud of?
I have, you know, have 22 yearsof working in the emergency
department.
I have dealt with death anddying and I think probably maybe
once a week I had some littleold lady grab my hand and say
don't go be with your family, godo what's important.
(29:26):
You don't be on this gurney inthe emergency department where
I'm at right now in 20, 30, 40years and have regrets, and so
that's kind of what the book'sabout.
It's building a legacy that isimpactful, and you can do that
by using neuroplasticity.
It's the easiest way you wantto change.
(29:47):
Use neuroplasticity.
That way you can use science tochange how you feel, how you
think, where you go, what yourgoals are, what you want to do
in life, and that's what it'sall about and the book's really
good and it offers a lot ofstep-by-step you know processes
and strategies, but the coursein the book has been a
bestseller for a long time.
And the course in the book iswe've taken it offline right now
(30:09):
because we're revamping it forthe book, but it's the over 51
advantage right, and it isliterally the step-by-step guide
to preventing and reversingcognitive decline.
Gary Pageau (30:24):
So you get the book , you buy the book, you get the
course for free Nice.
So where can people go for moreinformation on the book, the
course and Stu Morris?
Stu Morris (30:30):
So thank you very much.
You can go to over51.com islike our main clearinghouse of
information for the book.
Specifically, you can go topowerinfluencepurpose.
com.
Gary Pageau (30:43):
Nice, well, great Stu, this has been fun.
This has been a funconversation.
When I was like brain healthI'm not sure I want to talk
about that, but this has beenfun.
I've learned a few things and Iappreciate your time.
Thank you so much.
Stu Morris (30:57):
What a pleasure, what a pleasure to be with you,
gary.
I've done a few podcasts myself, a lot of them, and I haven't
laughed this much in any of them.
It's been a great, great show.
I really appreciate your timeand your willingness to let me
help your audience you take goodcare, sir and your willingness
to let me help your audience.
Erin Manning (31:13):
You take good care , sir.
Thank you for listening to theDead Pixels Society podcast.
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(39:28):
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(47:33):
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