Bryan Johnson explains how he reprogrammed his relationship with pain to tackle hard workouts like VO2 max training. He says the critical move is the first baby step each morning: simply starting the day. He relies on his body's regulation and algorithms instead of willpower, since motivation is unreliable.
I actually have remapped my associations with pleasure and pain. When it's VO2 max day, I size that up and I have to mentally be ready. I love it. I just need to be in the right mind state for it. You just don't walk into it and be lackadaisical. You have to really get after it. I have trouble, like, motivating to get to that max stage. How do you actually get that motivation to do that? My day requires an enormous amount of energy. The only thing I have to do to achieve 100% is take the first baby step in the morning to just start like. My mind is cunning. It is deceptive. I basically acknowledge this to myself and said my mind is a really unqualified steward of my wellness and I want my body and an algorithm to take care of me.
