The Neuroscience of Wow: How to Create Moments People Never Forget

Hi there,

What’s the Story?

Happy Birthday to me!!! I turn 47 today. I know you’re thinking to yourself, ‘No way, Owen, you don’t look a day over 37, and thank you!’ But, alas, I’ve been around a long time.

Hope you’re doing brilliantly and staying connected with the people who matter. I’m spending today working, but I will get a chance to take some time to hang out with my family. Things on my end are wild as usual, between trainings and this book!

Anyway, I’ve been fortunate to travel quite a bit over the years, from the Great Wall of China to the pyramids of Giza, from North Korea to the islands of Greece. And what strikes me isn’t just the incredible places I’ve seen, but how certain moments transcend everything you expect and leave you fundamentally changed.

In a world where we’re constantly bombarded with content designed to grab our attention, true “wow” moments have become precious currency. So this week, I want to share the science behind what makes people stop, stare, and never forget, and how you can create those moments in your work and relationships.

Don’t forget to check out my latest video on YouTube on how often the perfect posts we see on social media are an illusion. Check out this week’s short video here.

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The Neuroscience of Wow: How to Create Moments People Never Forget

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes 56 seconds

There’s a reason some experiences stick with you forever while others fade by the next day.

It’s not about how much money you spend or how elaborate your experience is. It’s about understanding a simple psychological principle that most people completely miss.

Let me start with a story that illustrates this perfectly.

In 2007, as part of a study, Joshua Bell, one of the world’s greatest violinists, played for free in a Washington, D.C. subway station. For 45 minutes, this virtuoso performed pieces that normally fill concert halls and cost hundreds of dollars to hear.

Out of over 1,000 people who walked by, only seven stopped to listen. Why? Because the story we tell ourselves about what we’re experiencing determines how we experience it.

Those commuters weren’t expecting to encounter world-class artistry on their way to work. So they didn’t. That’s the secret to creating “wow” moments: they happen when we expect amazing experiences and then when those experiences transcend our expectations.

The Brain Science of Amazement

Your brain has two primary jobs: to predict what’s about to happen and to adapt to what actually happens.

It’s constantly running simulations, making predictions about the next moment based on the current one. Most of the time, it’s pretty accurate. You expect your coffee to taste like coffee. You expect your commute to be boring. You expect Tuesday to feel like Tuesday.

But when something exceeds your prediction, when reality is better than anticipated, your brain releases a flood of dopamine. Not just when you get the reward, but when you realize the reward is bigger than expected.

That dopamine surge does something fascinating: it makes your brain pay attention. It marks that moment as significant. It creates what neuroscientists call a “prediction error”, and prediction errors are what memories are made of.

Research at Princeton showed that during moments of awe, our brains literally change frequency. We shift from beta waves (normal waking consciousness) to gamma waves, the fastest form of thinking, associated with peak performance and heightened awareness.

That’s why you remember exactly where you were during the best concert you ever attended, or the moment you saw something that took your breath away.

The Three Types of Wow

Not all wow moments are created equal. I like to organize them into three distinct categories:

1. Incredible Experiences: These are the sensory bombshells that overwhelm your expectations. The northern lights. The first time you see the ocean. A perfectly executed magic trick. Your favorite band live.

These work because they assault your senses with something your brain struggles to process. The scale, beauty, or impossibility creates an immediate “how is this real?” response.

2. Inspiring Examples: These are the human stories that reframe what’s possible. The underdog who wins. The person who overcomes impossible odds. The visionary who sees the future before anyone else.

Think Rosa Parks, Steve Jobs, Serena Williams. These moments work because they expand your sense of human potential. They make you think: “If they can do that, what’s possible for me?”

3. Ingenious Insights: These are the “aha!” moments when you suddenly understand something in a completely new way. The breakthrough that solves a problem you didn’t know could be solved. The reframe that changes everything. Penicillin. The internet. The moment you realize you’ve been thinking about something completely wrong.

Why Wow Moments Matter More Than Ever

In our attention-deficit world, creating genuine amazement has become a superpower. When you wow someone, you don’t just get their attention, you get their memory. And memory is the foundation of all influence, all relationships, all impact.

Research by psychologist Dacher Keltner shows that experiencing awe makes us feel more connected to others. When we share wow moments, we’re more likely to trust, cooperate, and feel part of something bigger than ourselves.

That’s why the best leaders, the most successful businesses, and the most memorable people are masters of creating these moments.

The Six-Question Wow System

So, how do you intentionally create wow moments? Here’s the framework I use:

1. How can you make what they see, hear, or feel better than their expectations?

Start by understanding what they’re expecting, then figure out how to exceed it. If they expect a 30-minute presentation, give them an experience. If they expect information, give them transformation.

2. How can you get them to share their wow through conversations?

Build in inherently shareable moments. Give them stories they can’t wait to tell. Create experiences that feel incomplete until they’re shared with someone else.

3. How can you surprise and delight them on the day?

Plan unexpected moments. The unscheduled breakthrough. The guests they didn’t know were coming. The insight that comes out of nowhere.

4. What performances can you use to blow them away?

This isn’t about entertainment, it’s about execution at a level they’ve never seen before. Master your craft so thoroughly that your competence becomes awe-inspiring.

5. What stories can you tell to inspire them throughout?

Humans are meaning-making machines. Give them stories that reframe what’s possible. Stories of transformation, breakthrough, and triumph over impossible odds.

6. What problems can you help them figure out?

The best wow moments solve a problem they didn’t know could be solved. Give them the key to something they’ve been struggling with for years.

The Two Most Powerful Wow Triggers

Of all the ways to create wow moments, two stand out:

Surprise works because it triggers the dopamine prediction error system. When something unexpected happens, especially something delightful, your brain marks it as significant. That’s why surprise parties work. That’s why plot twists stick with you.

Social sharing amplifies everything. When other people are amazed, we become more amazed, too. Social proof tells us how to feel. That’s why concerts are better than recordings, why movies are better in theaters, why experiences shared are experiences multiplied.

How to Wow in Everyday Life

You don’t need a stadium or a million-dollar budget. You can create wow moments in everyday interactions:

In conversations, ask questions that make people think differently about themselves.
In presentations, start with a story that reframes everything they thought they knew.
In relationships, remember details that matter to them, then act on those details in unexpected ways.
In work, deliver not just what was requested, but what they didn’t know they needed.

In a world full of mediocre experiences, wow moments are your competitive advantage.

They’re not about perfection, they’re about intention. About understanding what people expect and then thoughtfully exceeding those expectations.

The goal isn’t to wow everyone all the time. It’s to create enough memorable moments that when people think of you, they don’t just remember what you did, they remember how you made them feel.

Because in the end, that’s what wow really is: the feeling that something just shifted. That the possible became actual. That the ordinary became extraordinary.

And once you understand how to create that feeling, everything changes.

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