In this instructional video, concussion recovery expert David Brimacombe argues that successful post‑concussion syndrome (PCS) recovery hinges not on willpower but on well‑designed, low‑decision systems. He outlines five concrete systems that automate daily actions and reduce cognitive load: (1) Nighttime Setup – preparing clothes, supplements, water, and habit cues before sleep so the morning runs on autopilot; (2) Technology & Cue Outsourcing – using phone reminders, smart‑home alerts, or simple stickies to prompt breathwork, supplement intake, and other recovery habits; (3) Environmental Design – placing supplements visibly, stocking the pantry with whole‑food, low‑processing options, and surrounding oneself with supportive people; (4) Energy Batching – identifying personal high‑energy windows and clustering demanding tasks (e.g., errands, walks) into those periods while reserving low‑energy times for rest; (5) Command Center – a dedicated physical or digital hub to log micro‑wins, gratitude entries, and symptom improvements, providing measurable feedback and motivation. Throughout, Brimacombe emphasizes that “you fall to the level of your systems,” encouraging viewers to build predictable routines that make recovery effortless rather than relying on fluctuating motivation.
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Everyone tells you that to recover from PCS requires more motivation, more discipline, but that's wrong. What you need are better systems that require fewer decisions. By the end of this video, you'll know how to automate your life so it becomes simple, predictable, and even effortless. Let's begin. And welcome to the channel. My name is David Brimacombe and I am the host of the PCS Resilience Collective. After 20 years and 7 concussions, I've learned a lot about the lifestyle modifications needed to change your recovery state. Today we're going to talk about how automating your life will reduce the friction and therefore make it a lot easier. The first thing you need to understand is the problem isn't you. It's not that you lack the motivation, you lack the desire to change. Everyone who is at Their deepest state. Everyone who's at the, the rut of their recovery wants to improve. I'm not saying they don't, but what they don't have, what they lack, are the systems that are going to allow them to improve. Now, you don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the levels of your systems. So today I want to look at how can we create systems that are going to allow you to succeed and prosper and get out of that RUT of recovery. System number 1, your nighttime setup. Your tomorrow starts tonight. The easiest thing to do to reduce the friction in the morning when you typically have the lowest energy is to set and lay everything out so that it is ready when you wake up. This is clothing, this is supplements, this is actually filling a glass of water so it is ready for you to consume when you get up. These are going to reduce Reduce that friction, that thought in your mind, well, I don't really want to do this right now. I don't really want to go for a walk outside. Well, have your workout clothes ready for you when you get up. That's going to reduce that friction and create it easier for you to go ahead and do the things you need to do to recover. Another thing I like to do is to stack my habits. So if I know I want to do a gratitude journaling after I brush my teeth, I'm going to put my journal right beside my toothbrush. It's a visual reminder of what I need to do. System number 2, outsource ideas to technology. Now, the easiest thing to do to remind yourself of the— of those habits that need to form at the early stages is to create those reminders in your phone, on Google Home, where they're going to be telling you these things throughout the day. Okay, so What I would do, if you want to keep it simple, you can start with stickies, putting stickies all over the house, or you can put reminders on your phone. I would typically set up a reminder every 3 or 4 hours to do breathwork, or in the morning and night to have my supplements. But those reminders were cues. They were reducing that friction and reducing that decision fatigue of having to constantly think about what I needed to do in the given moment. Now, you might want to think, I don't want to automate every part of my life. That's fine. Figure out what part you struggle with the most. Do you constantly forget to take your supplements? Put a reminder on your phone. Do you constantly forget to do breathwork? Put a sticky right next to the spot where you sit. Now, it doesn't have to be high-tech, but what it does is it has to be a visual cue that's going to help remind you of those things that need to get done. System number 3, environmental design. Some things in life we have no say over, but our environment is largely changeable and in most cases going to have a huge impact on our recovery. So, some simple things we can do to change our environment. The biggest one I found was having my supplements out on my counter. Now, it might look like a bit of an eyesore to start, but if you have them all laid out or if you put them in a container the night before, It's easier to go ahead and take them in the morning. Okay? It doesn't require the effort to go ahead and open the cabinet up or to go ahead and count out what you need of each. It's simply that you go and take those supplements and you move on with your day. You're reducing that friction. The other thing that I think is going to have a great benefit in changing your environment is stocking the house with foods that you know are going to benefit you. So, go ahead and fill your house, your pantry, your fridge with foods that help aid recovery, not hurt your recovery. The easiest way to do this is the closer the food is to nature, the better it's likely going to be absorbed by your body. So instead of having something from the supermarket like an apple-flavored product, you're gonna go ahead and take an apple. Okay? So the simpler it is, the less ingredients it has, the easier it's probably gonna be for your body to take it in. The other environmental change is Who are you hanging around with? What kind of energy do they have? Now, it's hard sometimes to just completely leave your family and friends, but remind yourself that you are the average of the 5 people you hang out the most. So if you're with people who are constantly nagging, are negative, that seeps into your subconscious. It becomes who you are and how you behave. So change your environment, change the people you're around, or at least ask them, that as part of your recovery, they need to be more supportive and not so detrimental to your recovery. System number 4, energy batching. Now, I don't know about you, but I found during my recovery that I would have spells of time where I had more energy than others. For me, it was mid-morning, and I could do almost anything without becoming symptomatic. So what I decided to do is I was going to have all those highly intensive tasks During that time. Okay? So if I needed to go to the grocery store, if I needed to take the dogs for a walk, that's when I was going to do it because I had the energy there. So I was energy batching. I was using the time of the day that I had the most energy and actually applying myself to those high-energy tasks. Now, for the rest of the day, if I knew I was going to be fatigued after lunch and in the early part of the evening, I was going to make sure that all those stimulating tasks were done. I wasn't going to have to think about them because I've now tackled them when I had the most energy. System number 5, this is going to be the last one we're going to talk about. Okay, create a command center, create a common space where you can keep track of your wins. Now, I've talked a lot about on this channel how you need to record your wins. Those micro wins that you have every week compound over time. So whether this is in a journal, a calendar, The notes on your phone. I want you to keep track of those wins. So from week to week, you can see this week maybe I don't have the same sensitivity to light and sound, or this week I'm able to eat more carbs than I was last week. But you're keeping a tally, a track of your wins. You can't heal in chaos. Your brain needs a home base. So by providing yourself with a central space where you keep track of all of your micro wins, your, your daily forms of gratitude, it's going to make it a lot easier for you to know, am I actually improving? How much am I improving? That will give you hope, that will increase your belief, and therefore spur greater recovery along the line. You don't need to be perfect, you just need the systems to help you on those hard days. Whether it's meal prepping or creating a common command center where you have all your mini micro wins, create the systems that will allow you to be successful. Okay? Remember, you don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems. Okay? I hope you enjoyed this video. I hope it was impactful. Please leave some comments below and I will make sure to answer them. Enjoy the rest of your day.
