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The Neuroscience of Success: How to Wire Your Brain to Win · Do You F*cking Mind?

• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Hello, beautiful beans, and welcome to the podcast episode of today.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: My name is Alexis Fernandez. This is Do You Fucking Mind?
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: This is the podcast where I help you change your
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: relationship with yourself and your brain.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: And in today's episode.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: We are going to be talking about the neuroscience of success.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: So how can you harness particular brain regions that's already
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: within your control to increase your chances of winning? Now, winning,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: it's kind of like, what is your version of success?
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Everyone's going to have a very different version of what
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: success looks like. And part of this episode is figuring
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: out what that is for you. But there are mechanisms
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: within the brain that you can really hone in on
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: to increase your chances of success. Now, we're talking about
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: self-made success, stuff that you self-directed success. I'm not talking
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: about increase your chances of, you know, winning this prize
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: or winning whatever.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: I'm talking about.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: How can you better use your brain regions and and
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: better connect these brain regions to make it more likely
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: for you to be good at something, stick to it,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: see it through, get better and better as you go
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: about it, and become successful. We all have an idea
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: of what we want in our lives. This episode is
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: going to help you get closer to that thing, okay?
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Quick life update.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: I'm actually not going to go into much of a
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: life update. Nothing's really coming to mind.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: Life is great. All is good.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: But I do have a bit of a brain fact
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: that I wanted to give you guys because last night
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: my neck was fucked, right? And it's honestly just because
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: I'm picking up the boys all the time and they're
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: only one, but they're just getting heavier and heavier.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: I just feel like they're just these two tanks. And
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: I mean, I am weight training quite a bit.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: But I'm also like my biggest priority right now is
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: making sure that I'm eating enough food because after I
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: gave birth, I was kind of weight wise was relatively normal,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: but I'm noticing I'm starting to lose more weight than
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: I would like at the moment. And I think it's
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: because I'm just run off my feet constantly. And I genuinely,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: and I never thought I'd say this because I don't
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: know how people can do this, but I've become one
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: of those people. I'm forgetting to eat because I'm just
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: constantly like up, down with the twins, with.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: Work, with whatever. So my main priority is like nutrition
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: and eat.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: But I just feel like the last couple of weeks,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: I feel just frail and I just threw my neck out. Anyway,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: all that to say that I took a Voltaren and
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: it did wonders for me. Like it took the pain away.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: My neck felt fabulous.
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: Everything was good.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: So I thought, why not do a little pharmacology brain
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: fact about fucking Voltaren or the actual like active ingredient
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: of what Voltaren is, which is called diclofenac.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: I don't know if that's how you pronounce it. Diclofenac. Anyway,
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: so we're going to be talking about what it does.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: And I also am going to touch on why it
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: is that people say that it's bad for your stomach lining.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Like, oh, it's bad for your stomach to have too
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: much Voltaren or whatever. It's bad for this.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: And why they say, you know, and I'm also going
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: to touch on what, like if you should have it
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: on an empty stomach or not, all of that kind
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: of stuff. Now, We're going to talk about the mechanism
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: of action. Voltara, like I said, the active ingredient is
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: called diclofenac. So it is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, NSAID.
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: You might see it written as NSAID, NSAID. And it
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: works basically by blocking enzymes called cyclooxygenase. Now, this active ingredient, diclofenac,
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: blocks cyclooxygenase 1 and 2, COX 1 and 2 is
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: what they're like abbreviated to. Now this COX enzyme produces
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: chemicals in your body called prostaglandins. And these prostaglandins are
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: produced at the injury site or the inflammation or the
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: pain site in arthritis as well. And they're sending these
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: pain signals to the brain. The blood vessels begin to
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: swell and at times they start to leak as well.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Now the COX enzyme when we block that COX enzyme,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: the prostaglandins stop being produced or the production of prostaglandins
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: significantly reduces and therefore the swelling goes down and therefore
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: the pain goes away, okay? Now, normally something called arachidonic acid,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: which is like a fatty acid, enters a particular channel
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: on this cyclooxygenase enzyme and that entering of the channel
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  Speaker 1: is what causes this conversion to prostaglandins. So that's what's
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: causing the whole thing, this arachidonic acid.
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  Speaker 2: Now, this drug, this.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Diclofenac, fits perfectly into that binding site that arachidonic acid
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: normally would bind to. So it's competing at the binding site.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: So now this arachidonic cannot bind.
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  Speaker 2: You've taken the drug.
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: It's now blocking it, but it's not entering. It's just
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: locking it off. It kind of like fits perfectly, like
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: a key in that binding site. and it's not allowing
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: arachidonic acid to enter, and it will stay kind of
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: bound to that site. It's got relatively high affinity, so
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: it will stay bound until your own body metabolizes and
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: kind of clears it away, which.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: Is for quite a few hours.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: So it's very, very effective, and that in the meantime
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: of that binding, you're not getting that arachidonic acid entering,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: and therefore you're not getting the production of prostaglandins, the inflammation,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: all of that. So that's exactly how it works. That's
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: all well and good. Now, why is it that it
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: is a risk for your stomach? It's because, and I
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: just found out while I was looking, like when I
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: was doing the research for this, but it's really interesting.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: So the aim for the anti-inflammatory drugs, you know how
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: I said that it targets cyclooxygenase enzyme one and two,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: the aim is to target COX-2. But here it's targeting
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: both COX-1 and COX-2. And the reason for that is
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: that most drugs are promiscuous. Now, I used to fucking
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: laugh when they would say that at uni, like drugs
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: are promiscuous.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: In the sense that they're going to do more than
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  Speaker 2: one thing. They very rarely, it's very rare that you.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Can find a drug that that will only target one thing.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: And if you do, that's just fucking brilliant, but it's
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: quite rare and difficult. And the reason for that is
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: because many things in the body do many roles as well.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: So to target something so specifically is very difficult to do,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: especially in drug design. Anyway, here we're targeting both COX-1
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: and 2. The issue is that COX-1 is producing this
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: particular prostaglandins in the stomach and And the prostaglandins that
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: are produced in the stomach are different to prostaglandins everywhere
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: else because they act as like a defense mechanism within
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: the stomach. The aim is to maintain its defense and
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: produce mucus and do all these other things. So when
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: you block that COX enzyme one, you're producing less mucus.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: So you're getting less protection of the stomach walls. You're
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: decreasing bicarbonate, which is kind of supposed to neutralize that
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: acidity within the stomach. And circulation also drops to the
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: stomach lining. So it takes longer for the tissue to repair.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: So if you take a lot of this Voltaren or
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: these particular anti-inflammatories, then it can, like your natural digestive acids,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: which are very strong, can actually begin to erode that
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: stomach lining. And this is why people who take a
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: lot of these drugs can get bleeding, indigestion, and really
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: bad ulcers as well. That is why topical application of Voltaren,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: like the cream version, is way low, low, low, low,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: low risk for your stomach. So it's very low inhibition
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: to COX-1. It's mainly targeting COX-2, the cream version. However,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: of course, because you're applying it to your skin, it's
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: still going to enter your bloodstream. And part of what
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: enters your bloodstream is going to end up in your stomach.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: So it's not to say that it's 0%, but compared
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: to the oral usage of these NSAIDs, it is going
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: to be significantly less. So if you're worried about your
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: stomach lining or your stomach lining isn't great at the
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: best of times, then you are better off taking– the
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: fucking cream version. Now, this is why it's still a
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: risk even if you eat food. So you can still
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: have the food. It's more so so you don't get
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: queasy and sick, this idea of having food with drugs,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: but it's not, and it might help a little bit,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: but because it's a blocking of the enzyme and it's
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: stopping the production of prostaglandins, regardless if you're eating food
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: or not, you're still going to have this kind of
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: tampering with what's going on in the stomach lining and
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: that defense mechanism. So whether you eat or not, this
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: is still going to affect your stomach lining. Now, that
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  Speaker 1: is the fucking brain fact of today. Let's get into
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: the episode of today, which is all about success and
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: how to harness brain regions to increase your chances of success. Now,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: like I said, at the start of this episode, most
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: of us have a really good idea of what we want.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Maybe we've got several ideas of what we want or
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: kind of the life that we would like to be living,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: or maybe we just know what we don't want, which
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: is helping us steer us to know what we do want.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: But I want you to look at success as whatever
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: it is that you define it to be, this is
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: going to be in my steps following later in the episode,
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  Speaker 1: as being part of a predictable pattern in the brain.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: So it's this predictable network, predictable set of behaviors, consistency, discipline,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: all of that. And it kind of starts in the mind,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: then the brain, then in your outward life. So you
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: first have to kind of tweak the software as in
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: your thoughts and your behaviors and all of that. You
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: tweak that first, which then tweaks the hardware.
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  Speaker 2: Which is the actual physical capabilities. connections within the brain.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: And then that kind of manifests in your everyday life.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: That's how you want to look at it. Start with
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: the software, then it goes onto the hardware. And then,
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: you know, it happens in your everyday life. I'm going
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: to start by talking about the brain regions and the
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: circuitry that is involved in success. And then I'm going
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: to go into the key points. So we have the
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: prefrontal cortex, which you've heard me talk about a thousand times,
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: and we've got the basal ganglia. The prefrontal cortex is
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: the part of the brain that plans out things, makes
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: complex decisions, can imagine the future, can plan ahead for
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: the future, setting goals and things like that. And then
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: the basal ganglia is a part of the brain that
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: builds habits, automates routines, executes physical actions. This particular network
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: in the brain, the basal ganglia, is several structures, including
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: the striatum.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: The global pallidus.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: People pronounce it differently, subthalamic nucleus, and the substantia nigra.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: And if you heard my episode from a couple of
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: weeks ago, the substantia nigra is one of the biggest
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: dopamine-producing regions within the brain. Now, when you first learn
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: something like a skill, et cetera, your prefrontal cortex has
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: to be on, right? It is using every part of
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: your brain to be able to do this thing.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: It is highly conscious. It is exhausting.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: It feels so difficult to do. It is very conscious process.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: It is very cognitively heavy. But the more you do
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: that thing, you do it more and more and more,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: this basal ganglia starts to take over. And it turns
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: those things into an automatic habit. So it starts freeing
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: up that prefrontal cortex and your consciousness to focus on
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: other complex tasks that arise, like planning, decision-making, et cetera. Like,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: for example, if you look at the first time that
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: you ever had to, for me, the first time I
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: ever had to put together a podcast episode.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: Was a lot more cognitively difficult.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: Or the first time I ever wrote an essay was
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: way harder than the last essay that I wrote. When
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: you start practicing an instrument, like a guitar, it is
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: just mind-boggling and you're... Same with a language, kind of anything.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: The more you do it, the more your brain starts
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: to think, well, this is something.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: I'm going to do a lot of.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: I'm going to recruit all these other brain regions like
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: within the basal ganglia so I can automate this process,
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: make it a lot more efficient for the brain. And
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: then I can free up all that cognitive space within
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: the prefrontal cortex to take care of things that are
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: acute and more like needing my attention right now in
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: the day. Like I said, the basal ganglia is very
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: rich in dopamine receptors because it's got the substantia nigra there.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: And it's pretty much the most important hub of the
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: reward pathway. So any wins or progresses that you have
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: in your goals, you get a release of dopamine to
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: reinforce that behavior. The other thing that this region does,
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: this network in the brain, is that it also helps
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: suppress competing behaviors and focuses your attention on the thing
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: that you are executing. So it really helps with that inhibition.
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: It's like, I'm not going to be doing that thing.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to be focusing on that thing, whether
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: it's a distraction or like your phone or this or that.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: I'm going to be focusing on the task that's at hand.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: So this is that brain region that's also.
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: Involved in that.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: When you do things that are process-driven tasks, this is
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: where you feel the reward during the process of doing
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: it as well as the end result. It reinforces more
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: of the same. Your brain sees you doing that action
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: and you get a good outcome. or a beneficial outcome
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: to your lifestyle. So then your brain thinks, well, that
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: was really good. That was beneficial to me. It made
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: me feel good. So it reinforces that learning, that thing
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: that you just did. So it can repeat it more easily.
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: It says, well, that's important. That released to dopamine and
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: dopamine is basically telling the brain, I want more of this,
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: more of the same, more of the same, more of
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: the same.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: So going to the.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: Analogy of like an instrument, you don't think, oh God,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: this is such a slog until the day you become
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: really good. It's actually a very enjoyable process throughout. you
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: learning to play that instrument because every time you see progress,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: you start to feel quite good about yourself.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: You start to feel fulfilled.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: It feels nice to see growth within yourself, even if
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: it's tiny growth, even if it's for a hobby, it
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: doesn't matter. The brain really enjoys that. So it's going
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: to reinforce that feeling. So you want to do more
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: of it. That's why it's really important to focus on
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: process driven things, that idea of intrinsic motivation versus extrinsic motivation.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: If you are extrinsically motivated, you're going to really struggle
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: to stick to a long-term goal, a goal that's pretty
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: far away.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: Because if you don't feel.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Any kind of win or pleasure from the doing, you
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: are going to lose motivation very, very quickly. That is
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: why I say that often the idea when people set
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: out on their fitness journey and the goal is purely,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: I just want to lose weight, I just want to
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: lose weight. Weight loss doesn't happen, especially if it's from
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: exercise and diet. It doesn't happen overnight. You see a
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: little bit of results, not overnight after a bit, but
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: it doesn't happen immediately.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: So I say that, oh, I just want to lose weight.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: That's not really your goal. Yes, weight loss is going.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: To be a positive side effect of what you are
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: setting out to do, but a better goal would be
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: to find something where you actually enjoy the process. So
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: it could be I really want to run a half marathon.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: I want to run a marathon. Or I want to
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: be able to do 10 pull-ups. Or I want like
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: a goal like that. The actual process is enjoyable for
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: many reasons. Number one, you can break it up into
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: all these smaller wins. You can see yourself improving at something.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: You see yourself gaining strength. It's very exciting.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: You feel really good about it. You also start to
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: have more energy. You feel better.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: For example, if we're doing the run, I've got a
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: goal to run a marathon next year. But I also
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: really enjoy the small runs that I go on. I
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: feel I get a lot of mental clarity.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: I get that runner's high.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: So the actual each part of working towards that bigger
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: goal is it makes me feel good. So that's where
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: that intrinsic motivation comes from. I want to do it
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: because the process itself is.
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: Something I want.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: Even after I run that marathon, I'm going to continue
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: to run after the marathon, maybe not as intensely, maybe
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: not as often, but I will definitely continue to run
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: because it's something that I do.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: Because the actual process of it.
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: Makes me feel good. The same as if you had
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: all these other things. So when you're looking at a
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: goal and you think, oh.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: It's such a fucking slog and I feel so shit
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: about doing it.
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: How can you turn around the motivator as to why
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: you're doing it to make you feel like you could
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: do this as part of your lifestyle? Not this one
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: external milestone goal that feels like such a painful slog,
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: but instead make it like a lifestyle goal that you
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: can feel the joy and the reward in the doing.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: Now, how can we increase this functional connectivity between brain regions?
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Because the more connected the prefrontal cortex is with the
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: basal ganglia, the easier it is to put this, you know,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: the frontal cortex is like, this is the goal, this
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: is the plan, this is how I'm going to execute it, whatever.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: The basal ganglia is like the execution. And the more
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: connected these regions are, the easier it is to kind
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: of follow through with your goals and.
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: Obviously achieve success. So this loop.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: between the prefrontal cortex and the basal ganglia is known
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: as the corticostriatal loop. And if you want to increase
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: connectivity between these regions, you want to target the circuits
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: responsible for habit formation, goal-directed behavior, working memory, and also
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: physical activity. So one of the best things to do
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: for increased connectivity between brain regions, especially functional connectivity, is HIT,
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: so high-intensity activity. This is very, very good for neuroplasticity,
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: for goal-directed neuroplasticity, self-directed neuroplasticity, and it increases something called
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: brain-derived neurotrophic factor.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: These neurotrophins are really.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Neuroprotective for particular regions within the brain, including the hippocampus,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: which is where memory consolidation and formation and learning, a
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: lot of that happens in that region of the brain.
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: Now, a lot of people say, well, what if I
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: don't like HIIT? Well, too bad, so sad.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: This is just one of the things that is very beneficial.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: If you want to do a slow yoga, that's good
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: for you. But as far as that big release of
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: brain-derived neurotrophic factor, we're seeing it specifically in high-intensity activity.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: Not that you can't get it doing anything else, but
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: HIIT is just phenomenal for it. Whether you like it
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: or not, you don't have to do it. Then another
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: one is agility drills. And the reason for that is
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: because you're combining complex physical movement with cognitive decision-making. That's really,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: really good to strengthen those pathways. Even something like a
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: rock climbing or whatever, where it's like movement and you've
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: got to figure out what's the best.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: That's very good for your brain.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: Another one is think of a really complex task and
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: do exercises where you have to break it down into
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: a list of what would be the steps, the most
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: logical steps to get this task done and do that
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: more and more and more often. And then your brain
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: starts to learn how to break down a complex task very,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: very quickly. Another one is doing tasks where you have
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: to override impulses. So for example, it could be particular
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: brain exercises, like brain training games, where you have to
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: like inhibit to focus on something else. Or it could
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: be things like resisting phone usage or resisting that sugary
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: snack after dinner, which I'm fucking one to talk because
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: I always have a sweet treat after dinner. Another one
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: is learning new skills, puzzles, languages, instruments, all of that.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: And then of course, anything to reduce stress is going
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: to help increase connectivity, functional connectivity between your brain regions.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: So breathing exercises, meditation, and then of course, the other
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: things that help reduce stress overall, like improved sleep and
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: all of that. Now, overall, this is the set of
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: skills that is going to increase success for you. We
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: have resilience, which is basically adapting to failure. How do
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: I adapt from failure? How do I look at what
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: I failed at? And then I, you know, restructure based
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: on that failure, or I take a learning from it.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: What do I do about that failure? The other one
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: is growth mindset over fixed mindset. I have a whole
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: podcast on that, so I don't want to go into detail,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: but it's this basically in a nutshell, fixed mindset is
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: where people have this fixed idea of what their abilities are.
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: So even if people think that they're really smart, they'll
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: never take on a task which might push them beyond
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: that threshold, because if they fail, then it means that
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: they themselves are a failure. Whereas someone with a growth
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: mindset is way more likely to take risks because they
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: don't see failing a task as a reflection on their
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: own abilities. They see their abilities as flexible. And so
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: if they were to fail, they'd be like, oh, well,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: that's a learning opportunity. I could probably get better from this.
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: So growth mindset, go check out that entire episode if
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: you want to know how to switch from fixed to growth. Willpower,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: which is basically where you're doing something that's difficult and
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: you're training your brain to borderline enjoy doing hard things.
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: The ability to critique yourself. This is where you're able
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: to track your results. And based on these results, you
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: can make changes accordingly. Setting measurable goals where progress is visible.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: I'll go into that in a second, but there's a
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: difference between having this like vision board goal, which is
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: that's fine initially, but then how, how is that measurable
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: for you to say, oh, I just want more money.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: I just want to be less stressed. That's not measurable.
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: How do you measure it?
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: What's the marker that lets you know that you've achieved
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: that goal? Or what's the marker that lets you know
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: you're 10% there, 20, 30, et cetera, et cetera? Patience
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: is very important for success. It's not this all or
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: nothing approach. You have a small win and you think, okay,
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: what can I.
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: Do with that? Maybe you went for your dream job.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: It came up and you went for it and you
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: didn't fucking get it, but you made a good contact
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: and it led you to a job. That's not your
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: dream job, but it's something that could teach you a lot,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: whatever you would take that.
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: You would be patient.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: You would take that as a small win. And you'd
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: think if you had the all or nothing approach and
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: you didn't get that job, you'd be like, well, fuck
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: this career.
• 22:05
  Speaker 2: Fuck this. It's not meant for me. You'd throw in
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: the towel.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Um, Of course, habits and structures to automate important days,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: like parts of your daily life. And then discipline, huge one.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: I have so many episodes on discipline. And this is
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: strengthened through daily repetition. Discipline is not an inbuilt character
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: trait that you have or you don't have. Discipline can
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: be worked on and it can be improved dramatically in
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: almost anyone. Okay, so let's go into the points. This
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: is what we're going to do. We're going to break
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: it down into points. Number one. I want you to,
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: of course, grab a notepad and a pen. You need
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: to pause if you want to, whatever, but I want
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: you to do this as you're listening or soon after.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: Define success.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: I want you to be clear and I want you
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: to be specific and you can have more than one
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: area of success. Ideally, you want more than one. So relationships, career, lifestyle,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: personal health, whatever. as many categories as you would like.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: So if you say successful relationship, I.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: Want a healthy, I want a good relationship. Get specific.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: What does a successful relationship sound like to you?
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: So for me, it could be one where we have
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: fun together, where the romance is alive, where when conflict arises,
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: none of us are fearful and we feel comfortable to
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: talk about, you know, communicate openly about what we're feeling.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: We always seek to understand each other. We plan for
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: our future together. We're flirty. We plan things together like
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: dates and holidays and things like that.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: And our overall aim is to make each other's life easier.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: So that's a very clear vision of what a successful
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: romantic relationship is. Then you could have the same version
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: of that for your friends. What does a successful group
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: of friends look like? Or what does success look like
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: with a healthy group.
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: Of friends is better worded.
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: More so saying like, I want a group of friends
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: that like we really cheer each other on on our wins.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: There's zero jealousy or competitive nature in the group. There's the,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: you know, like, and you really flush it out. Career,
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: what is the ideal, you know, career for you and
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: what would success look like financially? You name it, whatever
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: that is, because everyone's got a different measure of what
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: it means to be successful. Some people it's like, I
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: just want my bills paid and I want to have
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: peace of mind. And if that's success for you, I
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: fucking love that for you. What does that look like though?
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: What's peace of mind? No drama in your friendships?
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: Is it not being in debt?
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Is it just living in a place that just makes
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: you happy when you walk out the door? Is it
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: like it doesn't have to be these major fucking things?
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: Or it could be. I want to be a fucking multi, multi,
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: multimillionaire and run my own company.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Great.
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: Get specific.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: You have to be specific because if you can't, your
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: brain cannot sustain that concept or that image in its head.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: So you have to know what it looks like and
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: more important than anything else, you have to know what
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: it feels like. Your brain responds to emotion. The best
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: way to retain something, to remember it and to create
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: self-directed neuroplasticity is.
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: To include emotion.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: So now that we've understood what success looks like, what
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: is the motivator behind it? And it has to end
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: up with an emotion, okay? So your motivator could be, well,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: I want to be Financially stable.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: Okay, great.
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: What does financial stability provide for you? Security, safety, whatever
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: it is. Why do you want to feel loved? Do
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: you want to feel calm? Do you want to feel protected?
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: What is it? Feel the emotion.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: Find that feeling. Do you want adventure in your life?
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: Do you want it?
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: It doesn't matter.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: Obviously, I could give you every example under the sun
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: and it wouldn't make a difference.
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: It's up to you.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: You have to understand what that motivator is. Freedom, passion, adventure, comfort, security.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: Knowing that feeling, focusing on the feeling once we've gotten
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: specific about the goal helps keep that thing in focus
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: and you stay sharp and focused on that thing. The
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: broader you are, the more fluffy and fuzzier it gets
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: in your attention and awareness and And then you keep
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: going round and round in circles. It's kind of, you know,
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: that feeling. And I'm not going to lie. I come
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: back to this often. But where you feel like every
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: couple of weeks, you're like, right, I'm resetting.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: I'm starting my life over again. I'm resetting.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: I'm this, I'm that.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: I'm reassessing. I'm blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: Which is all well and good because it's nice that
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: you have the ability to do that. But sometimes it's like,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: does this mean that I'm not clear enough on my
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: goals that every fucking few weeks or months, I feel
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: like I have to reset everything again. Like, can't I
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: just live my fucking life without needing to be the
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: new me every day? So that's where this clarity really
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: comes into play and really helps us out. Now, what
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: I want you to do is look at planning it out. Now,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: I'm not talking about necessarily have to have a five-year plan,
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: a 10-year plan. I'm not talking about timelines, but I'm
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: saying wherever possible, I want you to be able to
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: break it down into actionable steps because there's three kinds
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: of things that you can action, okay? There's things that
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: we have control over, like legitimately where most of the
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: action is going to be. Things that I can control
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: where I'm not waiting on some other thing for this
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: to happen. So I can learn more, that's totally within
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: my control. I'm not waiting on anyone else for that.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: I can upskill, I can eat better, sleep better. There's
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: all these things within my control that I can do,
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: manage my time better, whatever. Then there's the things that
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: are not within our control. And the things that are
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: not within your control can be split into two categories.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: There's things where you have.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: Some influence over, and then there's things that there's zero
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: influence over. So if we're talking about back to the
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: job market, The things that you have some influence over
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: is that you could just start networking, reaching out, sending
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: out your CV or sending a gift box to the
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: boss of the company that you want or whatever. You're
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: putting yourself out there. You're getting your face out there.
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: You're trying to make connections, whatever. You know that ultimately
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: it requires someone else's interaction to respond back to you.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: So nothing might come of it. but you're just influencing
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: a potential response so that you don't technically have control
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: over it, but you're casting the net and you're doing
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: what you can. So I highly recommend you do that
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: as well, but you just don't get too attached to
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: the outcome because it's not really in your control. And
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: then there's the, you know, things that you have zero
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: influence over. And that is, for example, your perfect job
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: coming on the market within a month. You have, there's
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: nothing you can do to influence that. Okay.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: So I want you to be well aware of off
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: all of these things. Is it in my control?
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: Is it something I can influence? Is it not in
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: my control at all? And I want you to plan
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: out all the steps of how you could get there.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Let's say you want to make new friends. A lot
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: of the actions of making new friends are within your control.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: And then a lot of them are within what you
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: could influence, getting out there, putting yourself out there, meeting people,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: hoping to find a good connection with other friends, that
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: kind of thing. But I want you to plan it out.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: What would it look like if I was someone that
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: was on the hunt for the best group of friends? Okay.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: Then We're going to look at.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: Breaking it into intrinsic versus extrinsic. So how can I
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: make sure that while I'm doing this thing or these
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: particular goals, I can find reward in the process? Like
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: I mentioned with that analogy that we were speaking about
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: just before with the losing weight versus picking something that
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: feels good in the moment.
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: Think about it work-wise as well.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: So for example, with my podcast, I could say, oh,
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: I just want a podcast where that's my main job,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: where I can make a living off my podcast. Yeah, great.
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: But I could get very tangled up and very stressed
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: and very resentful very quickly if I was thinking, well,
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: just I've got to make money off the vodka. I've
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: got to make money. If I was to then turn
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: it around and say, okay, the ultimate end goal is
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: that I want this to be my career. But in
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: between that, the thing that really lights me up is
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: where I know that I might be making a difference
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: in someone's life, where someone can take a piece of
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: information and say, well, I'm better off for hearing that
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: thing than I was before I heard this episode. or
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: I've learned this and I can apply it to my life.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: Something I love is sharing my passion for science, right?
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Sharing my passion for the mind and the brain. So
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: I could always have this intrinsic motivator of like, this
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: thing makes me feel really good when I'm able to
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: share this information and talk about it and meet other
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: people that feel the same way.
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: I feel great. So that way, while I'm working on
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: this major.
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: Goal, or I mean, now it is obviously my job
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: and it's been for a while, but while I was
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: working on that goal, The day in, day out of
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: doing what I'm doing feels good to me. Now, I
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: understand that not every job in the world is going
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: to be something that you love, and that's fine. But
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: then I would, if we're talking about a major goal
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: for ourselves, I wouldn't say that you working for someone
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: else always has to be your goal. That might be like, well,
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: this is where I make money.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: I don't care. I'm good at what I do. I
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: go in, make money, go out, fine.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: But then outside of that, what are the goals that
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: you think would make you successful, that you deem to
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: equal success, okay? So really look at where can I
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: tweak this thing so I've got that internal motivation to
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: keep me going. It doesn't have to be your purpose
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: in life, by the way. It doesn't have to be
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: your greatest life passions. But for example, if I'm playing
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: the guitar, it's not my greatest life passion in the world,
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: but it feels good and I'm noticing small change and
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: it's enough to make me feel motivated. Another thing that
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: I do is I love the feeling of having a
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: tidy bedroom wardrobe home.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: Is it always tidy?
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: No, it's not. And so when it's not tidy, it's
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: like that harsh contrast that lets me know that I'm
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: not aligned with what I want to be doing or whatever.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: So what I do is To make it fun, I'll
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: set a 20 minute timer and it's me against the clock.
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: And I see how much shit I can get done.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: Not only do I get way more done than I
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: think I can, but I enjoy it. I enjoy the game.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: I enjoy the process. And I really enjoy the tidy
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: home after those 20 minutes. So it's, that's not my
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: life passion. Having like tidying up and making my bed
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: is not my life passion, but this is an example
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: of how you can turn something that's very trivial and basic,
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: but it helps my mental health. When I have a
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: tidy home, I have a tidy mind. I'm clearer with
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: my thoughts.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: I feel more relaxed. I feel calmer. If there's fucking chaos.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Material chaos all over me, all around my home, I
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: just don't feel good. So it's like, what are these
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: little things where you can say, I want to make
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: the process fun? I'm making tidying up fun. I'm making
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: work fun. I'm making all these things enjoyable. or at
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: least enjoyable enough that I'm willing to do it again,
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: that I feel reward after.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: Having done it.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: You might not even like it when you're doing it,
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: but the moment it's done, you're like, oh, that's rewarding.
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: So I want to do it again.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: This is where you're getting that release of dopamine.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: You need to find an ability to make this intrinsic,
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: this doing it for the process, because that's what's going
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: to sustain this thing. And like I said, dopamine is
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: the thing that makes you go back for more, back.
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: For more, back for more.
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: If you are feeling like it's a fucking slog and
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: if you've structured this goal in a way that's like.
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: Oh, I'll just make my bed fucking, oh, the fucking laundry.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: Oh, you're not getting dopamine release. There's no fucking chance
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: in hell. So it's something that you keep avoiding, avoiding.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: This is what happens when you procrastinate on a relatively simple,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: basic task. Okay.
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: You put it off, you put it off.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: Versus if you were to turn it into something that
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: you could actually do that would make you feel good
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: after having done it, like setting the timer and rushing
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: through all these tasks and getting it done and smashing
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: it out, your brain starts to genuinely release dopamine, like
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: I said earlier. The basal ganglia is giving you that
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: reward of like, God, that felt good having done it.
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: It's benefited my life. So I'm going to keep doing
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: more of the same, more of the same, more of
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: the same. Okay.
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: Very important.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: So the next one is related actions and unrelated supportive actions.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: So now that you've got your list of all these
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: things that you can be doing for success, you've broken
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: it down into tasks, you're making them intrinsic versus extrinsic.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: You're not, you have this one major goal in the
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: future that seems quite vague and difficult to achieve. It's
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: broken down into tasks and you can enjoy the process
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: of doing it. But now we're looking at what are
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: the supportive actions that might not be specifically related, but
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: it's going to make you a more well-rounded, calmer, happier person.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: So this is something that I was, you know, that
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: idea of happy wife, happy life, where people say, well,
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: if the wife or the woman of the household is happy,
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: then kind of by default, everyone else is going to
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: be happy because when she's in a good mood, kind
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: of all these other things.
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: Fall into place.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: Whether you believe it or not, that's like a saying
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: that I love, okay? My own version of happy wife,
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: happy life is happy mind, happy grind.
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: If you are happy and calm.
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: And rested or as rested as you can be and
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: you're feeling intrinsically motored and fulfilled, then working on the
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: big fucking goals in your life are going to feel
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: really good. If you are burnt out, have unhealthy relationships,
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: you're feeling like you are not taking care of your
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: mind or your body properly, you're always on social media
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: at night, then you have a really shit sleep and
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: then this and your mind isn't happy, then when you
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: try and do that quote unquote grind of like the
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: career and the work and the big dreams you have,
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: you're going to feel like dog shit, okay?
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: And then you're going.
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: To get this wave of motivation when you talk about
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: it and then when you try and action it, you
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: feel so depleted and so demotivated and you feel like.
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: You just have to throw in the towel.
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: Happy mind, happy grind. You need to think about all
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: these supportive actions that's going to make your mind this
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: breeding ground for ideas and intrinsic motivation and dopamine, okay?
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: So how are you going to do that? All these
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: peripheral things that are supporting your brain. Hard work becomes
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: more enjoyable and rewarding when you feel good initially. So
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: instead of stretching your mind so thin, being under so
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: much pressure and and your mind not being looked after,
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: what does it look like for you to have a
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: happy mind? How can we reduce drama in our lives?
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: How can we increase feeling calmer, improving our sleep? Obviously,
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: I'm going to be relatively vague on what I'm talking
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: about because I do cover all these concepts in isolation
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: in other episodes. But this idea of legitimate sleep hygiene,
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: feeling really well rested, having a tight, slick morning routine
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: where you're literally, like I do, I'll race against the
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: clock and I feel better than ever because not only
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: have I done more than I thought I would do,
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: but I've also completed the things that literally make me
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: feel better immediately after having done that. So all these things,
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: Effort doesn't always mean burnout. If I have a day
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: where I'm like really good with my time management and
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: I've like tidied my home and done this and I'm
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: playing with my kids and I've walked the dog and
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: then I'm... I've already done so much. but I feel
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: good about it. So I'm not like, oh, I'm fucking depleted.
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: I feel like shit. No, I have to work. No,
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: I'm in the zone.
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: I'm feeling really good because these are releasing dopamine. And
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: when you are releasing dopamine, it's your willingness to act.
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: It's your willingness to do something. So it's very important
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: that you structure how.
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: You do things with this.
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: Intrinsic thing of I'm enjoying the process of doing it.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: You want to more so look at, it's not like Oh, well,
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: I don't want to spend too much time tidying my
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: house or doing that because then it's going to cause
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: me to burn out.
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: That's not where burnout comes from. Burnout comes from like
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: real stresses. Emotional stresses is a big one for burnout.
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: So things that emotionally weigh you down. It's not doing
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: tasks around the house that's going to be the problem.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: The reason tasks around the house might feel like they're
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: weighing you down is because you probably have emotional things
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: that are weighing you down already and then the other
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: things are make it seem like that's the problem when
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: it's not.
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: So you want to.
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: Be looking at how can I have this harmonious mind?
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: And you've got to start doing the work on all
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: of that.
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: And it's not easy. It's easier said than done.
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: But if you can start doing the work on eliminating
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: anything that's like a trigger or a drama or something
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: that's a massive drain in your life or that really
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: unhealthy relationship or person that's always weighing you down that
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: you need to just walk away from, okay? Those are
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: the things that are going to make your mind a
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: lot calmer and happier.
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: It makes it a lot easier.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: To take action on things when you're in a good mood,
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: all right? And then lastly, the final point is automate
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: whenever possible. This is create those habits. I have a whole,
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: I've got a two-part series on the neuroscience of making
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: a habit and the neuroscience of breaking a habit. I
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: think this came out within the last year, I think.
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: Go listen to those episodes if you are yet to
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: really like lock in on how to do your own
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: habit formation or breaking bad habits. Highly recommend those episodes
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: for you. But these are the things that once you
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: start doing, the basal ganglia will take over. It takes
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: all that cognitive effort away from the prefrontal cortex and
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: it makes it more automated.
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: It makes it a whole lot easier for you to
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: do so if you.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: Are someone that like I said you want that happy
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: mind all of that etc one of the best things
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: you can do for that is automated processes you want
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: habits and routines in your lifestyle it is a game
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: changer for your mental health so in a nutshell sorry,
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: I'm trying, I keep unlocking my iPad because I put
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: it on low battery mode and it's doing my head in,
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: but I'm going to go through the five points again. Well,
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: I'll just quickly, I'll quickly summarize what I said earlier
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: about the skills that increase success is resilience, growth mindset, willpower,
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: ability to critique yourself, setting measurable goals where progress is visible,
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: patience and not an all or nothing approach, habits and
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: structures to automate processes and discipline. Then The key points were,
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: number one, define success. It can be in as many
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: areas as you want, but get clear and specific. The
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: second point is understand the motivator behind it.
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: We want to find the emotion. The emotion drives motion.
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: Number three, plan it out.
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: Write down the necessary steps, the things that are within
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: your control and the things that you can just influence
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: versus the things that are absolutely not within your control.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: Number four, how can we make this an intrinsic motivator?
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: How can we find reward in the process of doing?
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: Because it's going to make it more sustainable. We're going
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: to release more dopamine in the doing, and therefore we're
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: going to be seeking more of that same action or behavior.
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: Number four, five, five is related and unrelated supportive actions.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: That's that happy mind, happy grind. So what are these
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: related and unrelated actions that are going to support a
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: happy mind and good sound mental health? to make all
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: these other things easier to action. And the last one,
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: automate whenever possible, habits, habit stacking, routines, and where we're
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: going to put those routines. So that way we're leaving up,
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: we're freeing up that cognitive space for that creative energy,
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: for the decision-making and all of that. Guys, hopefully that
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: episode was beneficial for you. Hopefully you were able to
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: take one, two, or all the points and you can
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: start applying it to your life. And I hope that
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: understanding how the brain regions work and the networks can
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: show you that success is something that you can work
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: towards based on how your brain is kind of set up,
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: how you're wiring or where you're putting your energy into
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: certain regions and how they're being wired together, how we're
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: strengthening those like functional networks. loops between the prefrontal cortex
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: and the basal ganglia to make it more likely for
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: us to follow through with an action and be able
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: to repeat it, repeat it, repeat it, and stay disciplined
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: because of that intrinsic motivation that we have. That is
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: all for today's episode. Thank you so much for listening.
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: Please rate, review, like the episode, subscribe if you haven't already.
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: And that is all.
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: As always, remember, be kind to yourself, be kind to
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: your brain, don't take shit from anyone, and especially don't
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: take shit from yourself. Danke.