John Assaraf explains how your brain's frontostriatal pathway creates an unconscious income set point that keeps you at familiar financial levels. Visualization and repeated practice can retrain this circuit to make higher earnings sustainable. He walks through a 5-minute daily exercise to start rewiring your self-image.
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What I want you to remember is that practice is really the art of practicing until it feels more normal. Learning how to become the script requires focused attention and spaced repetition so that it really sinks in. Hey, this. John Assaraf New York Times Best selling Author of Having It All One question that people always ask me as I travel the world is this. Why do they get stuck earning almost the same amount of income year in and year out, no matter how hard they work, trying to make more money? Now, to most people, this is pretty frustrating, and brain science now has the answers that explains this problem of working harder and only achieving incrementally better results, if any at all. One of the first things that I tell them is that there's a part of their brain that predicts their income and lifestyle. And it's based on the latest brain research. You see, the part of your brain called your frontostriatal pathway is responsible for your hidden self image that unconsciously drives your behavior. And in most cases, it can even be stronger than your decisions and conscious desire to earn more income. Many scientists believe that this small yet powerful pathway in your brain is the reason why most people who win millions of dollars in the lottery tend to sabotage their success and lose all the money in a very short time. Let me explain. It's very hard for a person to consistently earn more income than the amount that is locked in their unconscious brain where their hidden self image and their income set point resides. The reason so many people get stuck earning the same income over and over again is not because they're not smart enough or that they don't have the talent or the skill. But it's because several parts of their unconscious brain has been trained and conditioned to expect a certain amount of income and a comfort zone year in and year out. Any income that they earn that differs from the income set point in their brain will trigger an alarm within the brain that maintains homeostasis. This part of the brain is called the hypothalamus. And just like a thermostat, the hypothalamus will bring them back to their original income and financial set point and their comfort zone by regulating their thoughts, their emotions, and their behaviors. Once they learn to adjust their hidden self image and their brain's financial set points, it becomes easier to earn more income and maintain it. Let me show you a few easy brain tricks to augment your hidden self image, and I promise you'll begin to earn the income you really are capable of earning. So for the most part, without you even knowing it, this frontostriatal pathway in your brain has been developing for as many years as you've been alive. All of the teachings from your parents, school, teachers, siblings, friends, your personal experiences have shaped this integral and for the most part, hidden part of you. The frontal striatal pathway is just like a muscle. And the more you reinforce certain beliefs about yourself, the stronger your self image becomes. Now I know that you have a conscious idea of how much income you want to earn. And I also know that you have a strong unconscious hidden self image and a financial setting that quietly sits in in the backdrop, unconsciously pulling all of the strings and causing you to maintain whatever level of financial achievement has been programmed into this part of your brain. The latest brain research, and I love working with the brain, shows that any change in the brain is interpreted as stressful. And by most brain FMRI functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have shown that when people are asked to make a big change, the activation, fear center and emotional center of their brain, the amygdala, causes most people to either freeze, fight the change or run away. So the question is this, how do you start to retrain your frontal spragial pathway so that your unconscious hidden self image matches the conscious image and the desire you have for earning more income and living a dream lifestyle? The latest research suggests that small changes in your thoughts or behaviors will not activate the fear driven amygdala. And that visualization of your bigger financial goals will activate the parts of the brain called the nucleus accumbens and insula. And these two parts of your brain drive your motivational center and they will trigger your feel good neurotransmitters. So you actually are motivated to take action on your goals. Let's have a little fun. I want you to imagine this scenario. You are sitting at a cafe or a restaurant of your choice and a famous Hollywood producer comes up to you and says this. Hi, I'm so and so and I just noticed you from across the room. I'm producing a new Hollywood movie and I think that you would be a perfect person to play a role in the movie. If you like the script and you agree to be in the movie, I'm willing to pay you $5 million. Now, chances are that you would be a little excited, a little shocked maybe, or maybe even a little scared, right? Well, I want you to play along and let's see where this goes together. Let's assume that after a couple of weeks of tests and discussions, you agree to accept this challenge and you agree to do your very best to please play this Role. You sign the agreement and he hands you the script. And now you have agreed that you are going to become that role. What do you do first? If you really want to nail the part and have people believe you when you act and the filming is on, I imagine that you would practice reading the role, acting the role. Imagine playing the role over and over again in your mind until it felt and you felt really comfortable. And I can imagine that with practice in your mind and through your behavior, you would start to integrate the role from the script that you are acting and you would start becoming the role because it would become more and more familiar to you over time. Right now, it's all the time that this happens. When you're trying to get a new role integrated into your brain. When you are working with your self image and you add knowledge, skill and ability, your goal and your vision become one. Your frontal striatal pathway now has this new image integrated with your old self image. And you have changed from the inside out. So with this said, what I want you to do every day for the next five to seven days, just you getting started on activating this part of your brain, is this. Sit quietly for just five minutes and start to see yourself already achieving the financial goals you have for yourself. First you see it in your mind's eye. Role play with yourself and use your imagination. That's where it all begins. Ask yourself, what am I wearing? Who is with you? How are you feeling? What are you doing? What is the entire emotion that you're experiencing? You see, the more detailed you are, the easier it will be for you to retrain your unconscious self image of yourself. And what I want you to remember is that practice is really the art of practicing until it feels more normal. It's just like learning the Alphabet or riding a bike. Learning how to become the script requires focused attention and spaced repetition so that it really sinks in. So does creating the new self image that you want. Hey, this is John. And if you like that video, watch the next video because it is packed with things that you can do right now to achieve success way faster than ever before.
