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Brandon Epstein (2025) - Mastering the Mindset for Peak Performance · The Joe Rogan Recap

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  Welcome to the Deep Dive. Today, our mission really is to
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  cut through all the noise and pull out the most important
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  insights from a really fascinating conversation you
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  share with us. We're diving deep into the Joe
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  Rogan experience to unpack some crucial stuff on health, peak
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  performance, and, you know, the incredible potential of the
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  human mind, often untapped potential, I should say.
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  So let's just jump right in this whole world of modern medicine
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  and Wellness, it feels like it's in such a complex place right
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  now, doesn't it? I mean, we've even seen doctors
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  getting their YouTube channels pulled just for talking about
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  health topics. It really makes you wonder, how
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  do we separate the good info the the baby from the bathwater and
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  healthcare? How do we navigate all that?
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  Yeah, it's a huge challenge, you know, because modern medicine,
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  it really does have this kind of dual nature.
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  On one hand, the advancements are just profound.
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  No question. We're living longer.
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  We're curing things that used to be, well, fatal.
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  Historically, you could argue it's the best system we've ever
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  had, though it does make you wonder what some ancient
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  civilizations may be. The Mayans or Egyptians new
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  intuitively, you know, but then on the other side, you
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  absolutely have to look at the financial incentives.
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  They're very real. And those incentives can push,
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  you know, unnecessary prescriptions or even shape how
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  studies are designed may be engineered for success,
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  potentially hiding side effects. All about those quarterly
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  profits. Sometimes it's.
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  It's tricky. It really highlights how those
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  incentives are just everywhere. And it's not just like the big
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  pharmaceutical companies. Isn't this whole cultural thing
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  of wanting a shortcut, that kind of fast food experience we've
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  all gotten used to? It seems like that bleeds right
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  into supplements, too. We're always looking for that
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  quick fix. Totally.
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  And that that brings up a really big concern who's actually
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  checking what's in these supplements?
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  A major issue is just the lack of FDA regulation.
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  It's pretty stark actually. You hear these stories
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  constantly about tainted supplements, you know, stuff
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  mixed in the same vats as steroids or other things you
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  definitely don't want. It's like a never ending game of
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  whack A mole for the people trying to regulate it.
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  Our sources even mentioned it's a pretty alarming claim that
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  maybe up to 30% of supplements on Amazon could be fakes.
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  Forgeries 30%. Yeah.
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  So the advice here is really crucial.
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  You've got to find companies that are like super legit, great
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  track record, long history. And this is key, they do robust
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  third party testing. Pure Encapsulations was
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  mentioned as as one example of a reliable one.
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  OK. So fundamentally, this really
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  just boils down to trust. Then when you can't fully trust
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  the labels or, you know, the market in general, people often
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  end up turning to specific individuals, influencers, I
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  guess you could call them, like Huberman.
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  And the absolute bottom line for that trust has to be just
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  honesty, right? Unwavering honesty.
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  OK, so we've talked about the external stuff, the pills, the
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  regulations. Let's pivot a bit.
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  Let's talk about maybe the most powerful tool we actually have,
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  our own mind. This seems to be where the real
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  magic of peak performance happens, especially when you
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  look at mental coaching. Our deep dive brought up this
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  example of mind coach Brandon Epstein in his work with UFC
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  fighter Sean Brady. Brady apparently had built this
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  whole identity around being unbeatable, right?
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  But then that belief just got completely smashed after he lost
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  to Balaam Muhammad and Epstein came in to help him basically
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  rebuild that core belief system. Yeah, and what's really
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  interesting about Epstein's method is how he talks about
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  tackling those shattered beliefs.
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  He uses this phrase like clearing out the mental bullshit
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  or maybe unproductive thought patterns is a better way to put
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  it. From the nervous system.
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  He says he does it at an energetic level.
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  And, you know, his own background is pretty wild,
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  totally unconventional. He described himself as
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  basically a meathead college football player.
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  When he was 18, he was actually looking for pro hormones stuff
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  like MAG 10, which was, you know, basically a full on
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  steroid, now banned. But instead he kind of
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  accidentally runs into this sensei figure who teaches him
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  breathing techniques, visualization, and later he got
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  into hypnosis and NLP, neuro linguistic programming.
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  Wow. Yeah.
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  So that was his like weird side door entry into mental coaching.
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  That's an amazing story, a total left turn really, and it brings
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  us right to visualization. Lots of us have heard of it, but
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  how does mental training like that actually impact physical
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  performance? Like in a way you can measure?
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  Got any solid examples from the sources?
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  Right. Because it can sound a bit woo
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  woo sometimes, can't it? But yeah, there are actually
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  specific studies that really back it up pretty rigorously.
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  So for example, there was this bicep curl study.
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  They had four groups, one did nothing, one just did physical
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  curls, one did curls plus visualization, and the last
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  group did only visualization. And here's the kicker, the group
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  doing just the visualization, they have the same strength
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  increase as the group doing only the physical curls.
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  No way really. Yeah, it's not just about trying
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  hard. It's about like directed mental
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  focus. Now, the best results, not
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  surprisingly, came from combining the physical and the
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  mental. But then there's another study,
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  this one on hip flexors and athletes.
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  Mental training alone increased strength by 24%.
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  Physical training was 28%, so almost the same.
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  That's incredible. It really shows your mind alone
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  can create physical gains. That kind of shifts how you
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  think about potential, right? And for elite athletes, this
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  stuff applies both short term, like in a fight camp, and those
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  small incremental gains over the long haul.
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  So yeah, definitely not just some abstract idea.
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  It's got real teeth. And this seems to connect to
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  Epstein's more holistic view too, right?
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  He talked about meridians and chakras, this whole energy body
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  system. For people listening who aren't
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  familiar, Those are concepts from like Eastern medicine,
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  energy pathways and centers. How do those ideas actually
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  translate into something practical like feeling grounded?
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  If you're a football lineman or managing that, you know that gut
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  feeling of anxiety in your solar plexus.
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  Yeah, he talks about it like a domino effect.
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  Belief is the very first domino, absolutely critical.
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  When that belief gets knocked over, it sets off real physical
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  reactions in your nervous system.
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  Think about like a really strong guy in jiu jitsu, maybe someone
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  who thinks they're super tough, right?
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  Then they get pinned down easily by someone's smaller but way
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  more skill, their self-image just shatters, and even if
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  they're physically fine, they might start hyperventilating.
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  That gut feeling, that solar plexus anxiety or needing to
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  feel grounded as a lineman, it connects right back to managing
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  that initial belief domino to stop the whole cascade.
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  That's a really powerful way to think about it.
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  The power of belief or Yeah, the shattering of it.
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  Yeah, huge impact. And Speaking of extreme
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  examples, the sources touched on David Goggins running 200 miles
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  with supposedly no knees. Doctors apparently called his
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  bone on bone situation theoretical.
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  He's like this torch bearer for his just bra human will, isn't
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  he? Oh, totally.
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  But he's he's unique case an outlier really.
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  Goggins seems to build belief through just sheer brutal
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  willpower. And that's, well, that's
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  incredibly rare. Most people just aren't wired
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  that way. And this brings up that really
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  important concept from Steven Pressfield's book, The War of
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  Art. This this idea of resistance.
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  Resistance is that, you know that internal force that just
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  holds you back. It's rooted in fear of failure
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  or maybe self sabotage. We're just not feeling inspired.
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  It's that invisible wall stopping you from doing the
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  thing you know you should do. We've all felt it right?
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  Oh, absolutely. That inertia.
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  Yeah, that voice saying just scroll for another hour instead
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  of starting the work. That's resistance.
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  Right. So, OK, for someone who isn't
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  David Goggins, maybe they feel stuck in like an anxiety pit of
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  despair, as the source put it, and they don't have a personal
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  coach. What are the actual first steps?
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  What can they do right now to start pushing back against that
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  resistance? OK.
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  Yeah, there's a pretty clear process you can try broken down
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  into steps. First is just awareness, like
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  set alarms on your phone throughout the day.
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  When it goes off, just ask yourself, OK, how do I feel
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  right now? And just sit with it.
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  Don't judge it, don't try to fix it immediately, just notice, OK?
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  Just notice second. Step Focus.
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  Keep doing the awareness thing, but then start asking what was I
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  focused on right before I felt this way?
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  Start connecting the dots between where your attention
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  goes and how you feel. Blinking focus to feeling.
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  Got it. 3rd, flip the focus. This is where you treat your
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  mind like a muscle you need to train.
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  Practice deliberately shifting your focus away from those
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  negative patterns, even if it feels kind of fake at first,
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  like you're lying to yourself. It's about building new mental
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  habits, right? Practice makes perfect, even for
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  focus. Exactly.
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  And 4th look for the low hanging fruit.
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  Be really honest with yourself and audit your life.
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  Are there obvious things holding you back?
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  You know if someone's drinking vodka at 7:00 AM, well that's a
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  pretty clear starting point. Make those small obvious changes
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  first. That's.
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  Super practical. Yeah, really actionable advice.
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  And it feels like physical activity is a huge piece of this
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  puzzle too, right? It seems like it can almost like
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  wring out the anxiety from your body physically, which then
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  helps clear your head. We all know about the runner's
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  high, but doing challenging physical things like jiu jitsu
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  has mentioned, that seems like it can really build confidence
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  and tap into that human potential, even for people you
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  might traditionally think of as nerds.
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  Yeah. It really highlights that
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  amazing connection between, you know, our physical state, moving
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  our bodies and also having a sense of meaning, something
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  challenging to work towards. The cool thing about something
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  like jiu jitsu is it's both intensely physical and this
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  incredible mental game. You're forced to deal with
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  anxiety, pressure, learning to stay calm when things are tough.
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  And you know, it's not just for tough guys.
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  Lots of really smart people, maybe nerds, thrive on that
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  physical puzzle and through mastering it, they build serious
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  confidence. They often become more
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  interesting people, actually. It really is a vehicle for
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  developing potential because it just constantly makes you face
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  things that are scary or hard. Totally.
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  OK, so Speaking of holistic stuff and physical health,
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  Brandon Epstein himself, the mind coach, he apparently had
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  this incredible journey healing his own hypothyroidism
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  naturally. What did that involve?
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  What can we learn from that about the body's own healing
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  ability? Yeah.
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  That story is pretty remarkable. What stands out is this
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  intuition he described, this feeling that guided him to
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  actually stop taking his medication, even though doctors
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  told him he'd need it for life. He used a really holistic
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  approach, gut cleanse, fasting, red light therapy, specifically
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  on his thyroid. And this seemed key, cutting out
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  caffeine to lower his overall stress response.
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  And it also shines a light on the placebo effect, doesn't it?
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  It's funny how we sometimes dismiss the placebo effect like
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  it's not real healing. But its benefits are measurable.
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  They show up in studies all the time.
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  And this also connects to that idea of psychosomatic injuries.
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  You know, those aches and pains that just won't go away don't
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  seem to have a clear physical cause, but might actually stem
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  from something emotional, which is totally different from, say,
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  a torn ligament that needs surgery, right?
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  Important distinction. And then there's the whole realm
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  of altered states of consciousness, like psychedelics
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  or deep meditation, even flow tanks.
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  How do they fit into creating these hard resets or boosting
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  neuroplasticity, that ability of the brain to change?
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  Yeah, these experiences can really push you beyond language,
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  as the source put it. They can have a profound impact.
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  There is a bizarre story shared about some cult leader in
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  Austin, apparently a former gay porn star and hypnotist.
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  Who could supposedly induce these incredibly profound states
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  of knowing or connection to God in his followers, seemingly just
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  through their sheer belief in him?
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  It was described as this kind of cosmic joke.
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  That this particular figure could wield that kind of power
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  just massively underscores how powerful belief itself is, how
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  it can shape reality and unlock these intense states almost
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  regardless of the trigger. It's wild that.
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  Is wild belief is clearly a powerful level, but what about
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  substances that directly affect the mind?
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  Let's talk cannabis. We heard Robert O'Neill, the
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  Navy SEAL credited with killing bin Laden, uses it for sleep,
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  for relaxation, and Epstein mentioned his own experience
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  with it. Neuroprotective effects,
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  enhanced sensitivity in boxing. Well, this really highlights
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  individual variability. You know, how stuff effects
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  people is just so personal. For someone like O'Neill, maybe
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  it genuinely helps quiet the mental noise, helps him
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  decompress, which is obviously critical for him.
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  For Epstein, he reported feeling, yeah, more sensitive,
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  better coordination, maybe even some neuroprotection in a small
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  study he mentioned. But the absolute key is being
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  honest with yourself. Like, what's your thing?
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  For some people, cannabis might just make them paranoid or
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  anxious. But for others, yeah, it might
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  genuinely help them kind of step back and get a different
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  perspective on things. It really comes down to
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  self-awareness. Being totally honest about how
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  it affects you makes. Sense super individual.
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  So OK, we've kind of circled around these uncommon among
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  uncommon men, these elite fighters with these
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  extraordinary mindsets. It's really a testament to what
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  the mind can do when it's pushed, isn't it?
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  Absolutely. And mental coaching.
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  In that world, it's about reprogramming beliefs.
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  Even when things go wrong, like losing a sparring round doesn't
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  have to trigger doubt. It can be reframed as, OK, I'm
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  learning, I'm getting better. And you see the huge mental
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  battles these guys face. Think about Chris Weidman after
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  that horrific leg break. The psychological recovery, the
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  scar tissue there is immense. Oh, yeah.
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  Or Deontay Wilder after his reported ayahuasca experiences
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  post Tyson Fury fights seeming almost too peaceful, maybe
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  losing that edge required to fight at that level.
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  The mind is just as crucial as the body, maybe even more so at
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  the elite level and. It's not just the mental
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  toughness, but the skills keep evolving too.
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  We're seeing these really unique fighting styles like point
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  fighting guys like Michael Venom Page and Raymond Daniels.
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  It's described as crazy, unique, bringing a whole new flavor to
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  MMA. Yeah, it just shows even after
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  30 years, the the sport is still innovating like crazy, driven by
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  these creative approaches. Definitely.
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  And Speaking of the sport evolving, huge news, right, That
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  UFC deal with Paramount Plus making all the pay per views
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  essentially free. If you subscribe to Paramount
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  Plus, that is going to absolutely explode the sport
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  prediction wise. It just lowers the barrier to
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  entry. So much for casual fans.
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  More eyes, more understanding of the mental fortitude involved.
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  It's going to bring in a whole new wave and really cement MMA
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  in the mainstream. Super smart move, that
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  paramount, yeah? Huge for accessibility.
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  What a time for MMA, and what a fascinating deep dive this has
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  been. So wrapping this all up, the
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  overwhelming message seems to be about the incredible, almost
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  limitless potential of the human mind.
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  Whether it's the extreme will of a Goggins, the targeted mental
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  programming of an elite fighter, or just finding your own
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  challenging path like jiu jitsu, the core idea is continuous self
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  improvement. Actively facing your fears seems
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  to be this amazing vehicle for growth and breaking down sources
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  like this, it really does help cut through the noise and pull
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  out insights you can actually use.
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  Absolutely, and understand your own internal code, you know your
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  own mindset and actively working on it.
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  That's not just for athletes. It can genuinely transform every
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  part of your life. It's about listening to those
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  natural inspirations, not suppressing that drive we all
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  have somewhere inside us to become more.
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  So thinking about all this, what resistance are you facing in
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  your own journey right now? And what's one small, actionable
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  step you could take, maybe even today, to start flipping that
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  focus and building the belief you need?