John Assaraf explains why your brain resists new behaviors: it conserves energy by sticking to familiar neural patterns. Growth means pushing past the point where you want to quit. When you feel resistance, do just a little bit more so stress becomes a signal to expand, not retreat.
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If you keep challenging and expanding your mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, financial comfort zones, you expand as a human being and you start fulfilling more of your potential than standing on the edge of it, hoping and praying and wishing that you can have greater, better results. Hey there. I hope you don't mind the casual look. I was just doing my morning workout in my home gym over there and it dawned on me that sometimes we don't have the right frames when we're doing something and we don't give things the right meanings. And let me explain what I mean to you by that. When we start something new, I think sometimes we forget that anything that is new to our brain may be exciting and may release dopamine, the neurochemical that, you know, is the reward neurochemical. And we feel good because we've taken on this new endeavor, whether it's a new language, whether it's retraining our brain, whether it's starting to exercise or eating better, or committing to doing something that's of benefit to us, or even stopping something. Now, the very nature of how our brain works is that patterns that have been repeated over, you know, months and years are the dominant patterns in our brain. And therefore it's easier for our brain to activate and follow through to completion on those patterns. It's like having a, you know, highway system that's been built. It's easy for the cars to go faster on the highway system. Well, the same thing is true with our brain and the neural networks and pathways. So the pathways are the easiest for the chemicals to travel across and release. The neurochemicals, you know, that make us feel good or make us feel fearful or make us feel apprehensive or doubtful, etcetera, are the ones that are the easiest for our brain to activate and follow through on. Okay, park bugs. So that means that a new pattern, meaning stopping something or starting something, requires a little bit more of the brain's energy. And the brain wants to conserve energy. So what is our brain naturally going to do? And the answer is it's going to resist. Why? Because it wants to preserve the energy that may be required in case there's a saber toothed tiger that comes around from, you know, the, the woods to try and kill you. So we're in this energy conservation mindset without even knowing it. Our biology is geared towards doing things that are easy for us, not things that require energy. Right. Glucose. So why am I sharing this with you? Well, as you're, you know, on your journey of brain training, upgrading your knowledge and skill, skills Taking actions, probably different actions that you are taking to achieve the results that you want more and better results from of it requires you accessing higher cortical functions and a higher level of awareness. Especially pay close attention, especially when you feel resistance. Now, I came out here, I still have my workout gloves on because as I was doing some ab work, as I was doing, you know, some bench press and flies for my chest, one of the things that dawned on me is most people do things that they are comfortable doing. But in order to get stronger from a cardiovascular perspective, you have to challenge yourself, mix up your routines. You've got to go a little bit longer, a little bit harder, you know, on the days that you want to expand your capabilities. So in the world of, you know, doing weights for strength training or building muscle, there are certain techniques to use and certain strategies to use, including rest. Right? Muscles build built in the rest phase. So let me explain what I'm talking about. I think you know where I'm going with this. When I, let's say, do a bench press or a fly or I walk up a hill, the place where it's the hardest, where there's resistance, where I want to quit and stop, and I'm breathing heavier, I just can't do another rep. That's the point of the growth. And the more you practice at that place, right, the resistance, the point of I want to quit, I can't do it anymore. That is how you expand your capacity. And resistance happens when you're at the edges of your capacity. Now, it could be mental edges, emotional edges, physical edges, financial edges. And how does it show up? It shows up as stress. Right, Stress. So stress happens when your current capacity. Let me repeat, stress happen. Happens when your current capacity exceeds the demand. Your current capacity exceeds the demand. So how do you increase demand? I'm sorry, how do you increase capacity? Well, you feel the edges and go one more. You feel the tension and keep doing it. You feel the desire to quit, but then you do as much as you can. And as you do as much as you can, you get mentally stronger, physically stronger, emotionally stronger. So when I feel like, let's say quitting, I just say just a little bit more. When I don't feel like it, I say, I know, but just do a little bit. Why? Because I want to override my natural. And your natural propensity to want to quit, to want to stop. It's natural, but I don't want to be natural. I want to be supernatural. I don't want to be ordinary. I want to be extraordinary. And that's that little extra. Does that make sense? So as you're training your brain, as you have videos to watch, to upgrade your knowledge and skills, as you have events to attend, you know, to, to connect to, to listen, to learn, to expand. If you catch yourself thinking or feeling. I don't feel like it. I'm too tired. Not today, tomorrow. That's the language, okay? That the brain uses, the rationalizations, the rational lies that your brain, my brain, everybody's brain uses to keep you in your comfort zone. Well, guess what? Everything you want financially, in your relationship, health wise, is just outside your comfort zone. And if you keep challenging and expanding your mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, financial comfort zones, you expand as a human being and you start fulfilling more of your potential than standing on the edge of it, hoping and praying and wishing that you can have greater, better results. I hope you enjoyed this, all from a workout. Have a great day. Hey, this is John. And if you liked 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.
