How to Prime Your Brain for Peak Performance

Today, we're going to break down one of my favorite things, which is neuro-optimization. And that's basically how I get my brain and my nervous system to be on point, to be in an all-star category where I feel sharper than I've ever felt before. And it's 3 core parts. The first part is let's remove the blocks, especially trauma and PTSD or just other unconscious stuck energy belief barriers that might be there. Second, neurochemistry optimizations. And that means we're going to go through some supplements. We're going to remove toxicity. We're going to talk about some of the most toxic foods for your brain. And then thirdly, we are also going to break down what's it look like to have peak performance in your brain, in your nervous system. Meaning, what role does visualization play into it? What role do your words play into it? What role does exercise even play into it? Okay. So, Let's talk about the first part, traumas and blocks to neuro-optimization. All right. So the psychological blocks, let's focus on that for a second. Psychological blocks will include things like, hey, I got it. I went through, like, one of my clients right now, she saw her pet have a horrific accident. And since, for about 8 months now, she has been battling PTSD. From this horrific accident. All right. And that has just created a nervous system breakdown where she's getting tireder and tireder and having difficulty focusing. And it's— she's got real PTSD from this and some trauma and flashbacks. And we can have that consciously or unconsciously. Like, she's very aware of it. But some of us have stuff that happened in our childhood that we just bury. Our nervous system, it was too overwhelming. She had learned to bury that. Trauma, right? And you see that happen a lot. That's why books like Healing Trauma, Peter Levine's great book right here, I really recommend that. That was the first book on trauma I read. Body Keeps the Score is phenomenal. I'm reading that again right now. It's unbelievable, breaking down, hey, how does trauma get stored in our body? What effects does it have in our body? And in, in some of the processes I use, we rapidly move through that. Okay, so I will use certain medicines that will double your neuroplasticity for up from anywhere from— obviously there's a heightened critical reopening period. And this is from research from my friends that are psychedelic neuroscientists like Dr. Ramesh Gouram. But when we need to move through something fast and there's something very difficult and very overwhelming, it's almost impossible. Like clinically, complex PTSD is typically considered an incurable mental challenge that you just learn how to manage and cope better. Treatment-resistant depression, same thing. Well, we can move through those pretty fast. Okay. With certain psychedelics, MDMA, psilocybin, even ketamine, which is readily available, right? Legally available in many, many, most parts of the country within obviously guided experiences. But when you utilize those substances, basically your neuroplasticity doubles. That depends on the substance, but for up to as much as 2 weeks. So, 14 days. And it basically gives your nervous system a fresh playground for us to be able to work in your nervous system and create a new paradigm. Basically reset, reset you back to factory settings. Okay. And when you go through those experiences, you don't just fall apart and emotionally break down. Okay. But all of us, like I had some entrepreneurial PTSD. I had some things that really difficult. And then when my wife's mental health journey, I had some things Like it, it was some PTSD from that part that I needed to work through. Otherwise I was going to be stuck. Okay. So I just invite you guys, if you're, if you have some stuck energy, there are ways you can move through it fast. I've got also my Claim Your Power NLP, which will work for about 60, 70% of participants in terms of removing some stuck energy. But for the more severe cases, you, it's almost like a velvet hammer is not going to work. You need a fricking jackhammer to bust through. That stuck energy with love and connection. Okay, so just let me make sure it's a loving jackhammer. I don't know if there is one, but like, you need love with that powerful tool. Okay, and someone who knows how to properly guide you on the other side of it. Okay, so let's break down neurochemistry. So if you move through some of the stuck energy and some of the stuck trauma, which is, you know, alter ego— also, I should mention alter ego process helps you get on the other side of some of it— parts therapy or parts integration, somatic psychotherapy, in family systems, all stuff I do, but also others will do to guide, you know, you can find a good therapist wherever you're at that can guide you through parts of it. But if you are getting stuck because of a severe trauma, there's more going on, right? And you might need something, a more powerful tool. And the psychedelics are the most powerful tool out there ultimately. But the next part I want to hit on is the neurochemistry side. You can— so Dr. Chris Palmer, he is a very noted psychiatrist out of Harvard Medical School. Been on a lot of big shows from Tim Ferriss to Huberman to Dax Shepard's show, countless other, Mel Robbins, I think he's been on her show as well. So, he basically talks about how when you're experiencing mental health challenge or suboptimal performance, it's often a metabolic disorder or metabolic dysfunction, right? And, he goes through how if you want to get your brain optimized, part of what you got to do is get the brain energy, function. And your brain makes up 3% of your body weight, uses 25% of your body's energy. So, 3% of your body weight, but 25 to 30% of your body's energy. That's a big difference. So, if you are deficient in the energy physically, your brain's really deficient, and it's going to be suboptimal. So, I'm going to give you 7 of my favorite supplements that you want to have on your radar to take because they will boost up your brain's natural energy. Now, before I go into that, some of the things you want to eliminate or reduce for your brain to function properly. Conventionally fried foods. That's the number one thing. It is a massive neurotoxin. Okay. Literally, I'll tell a story. One time in college, I was in this fitness sports program because I was playing college baseball. I was super lean. I was 6% body fat. I was challenged to not eat any fried food for basically the whole year. And I did it. And then, at the end of the year, I went and had Long John Silver's because that was one of my favorite things as a kid. Long John Silver's. And the next day, I felt so depressed. And I hadn't had any fried foods up until that point. No french fries, no fried chicken, nothing like that. I'm from Kentucky, right? We like fried chicken. Guess what? Because of that feeling of depression, it was like my brain was saying, "Hey, you know what? You were clean, and this is what you would ordinarily feel like, but you would be numb to it if you ate it." often enough that you weren't even aware. So, I highly encourage you avoid fried foods. Dave Asprey calls it one of the biggest neurotoxins in your nervous system. So, even like Chick-fil-A fried chicken tenders and french fries, which I like, I pretty much always avoid those, okay? I might have them once a year, all right? Secondly, alcohol is a neurotoxin. A lot of other substances, drugs, etc., are neurotoxins. Some forms of cannabis. Are neurotoxins, right? Even psychedelics technically can be a neurotoxin in too many— too much dosage, right? Or too often. You want to use them very sparingly and only in an ideally therapeutic medical type setting or transformative healing setting, not as recreational. Okay, that has some, some risk with recreational. But when you get— remove those neurotoxins so your brain can restore back to its optimal. The third thing you want to remove is conventional dairy. Conventional dairy creates inflammation in your nervous system, in your brain. Like, studies show, like, it really creates inflammation. Inflammation blocks your body from performing its best. Okay, so there's— and then the fourth thing I would say is sugar. Remove sugar or reduce it. All right, sugar is in so much American food. If you're in America, Western food, honey is sugar. I like honey right in my tea, so I'm not going to fully remove it from my diet. But you keep it at a low, much lower level. It keeps your brain function healthy. And basically what happens is sugar— if you think of crème brûlée, too much sugar in your body creates glycation. Glycation is like the browning of the crème brûlée. It's literally browning your blood. All right. You don't want that. It's accelerating your aging. And it's creating a breakdown, might lead to type 2 diabetes over time. Massive issue, okay? So, highly recommend Chris's book, "Brain Energy." Loved it. And again, trace back a lot of mental optimization will come down to neurochemistry optimization. All right. Now, I want to get into supplements. My favorite, most powerful one that I have experienced, Vitality Boost by Jen Finzi. This is from a leading scientist, Dr. Jen Shea. I work with a number of months consulting, growing their marketing and brand. But I really love the product. I bought like $5,000 or $10,000 worth of it when I had my clinic before my IV clinic. It works amazingly because NAD+ is a neurotransmitter, but it's also the key source for fuel for your cells in about 500 cellular processes. So, everything your body does uses NAD+. And if you're at a deficiency, which most of us are, if you're over 40, you're pretty much guaranteed to be suboptimal. Over 50, 100%. And many, many people, especially if you went through a lot of stress or exertion in your 20s or 30s and, and you're in it now, you're going to be in deficiency, more than likely. And they have a test. I've got a link there and a discount code, RESTORE20. Grab a bottle. I have dozens and dozens of friends on it. It's been a lifesaver for us. I feel 20 years younger, and I play 5 to 6 games of full-court basketball every Monday night when I'm in town, and I couldn't do that without the NAD+. So it's also very helpful for— you're coming down off of antidepressants, right? If you're tapering off of those, trying to get your brain to operate right, this will help counteract that. There's also plenty of IV clinics that medically treat for depression, like Springfield Wellness Center from down in Louisiana. For treating depression with NAD. Okay. Because it resets your brain's neurochemistry over time. And it's really, really powerful. It's one of the most important things that helped us get my wife out of the depression spiral was NAD coupled with psychedelic therapy. All right. Next one, magnesium. This is from Bioptimizers, really good brand. And magnesium is the most deficient nutrient that we have as a mineral. Like, more Americans have a deficiency in magnesium than anything else. This has all 7 types of magnesium. Okay, there's not just one type of magnesium. So that's why it's such a great product. Link is going to be below. Next one, I love vitamin Bs. Vitamin B is really important for brain function, for thinking clearly. Most of us are deficient. This is, you can see the bottle, this is B Famous from my friend Dr. Nigma Talib. She's got a great, great blend here. Love this product and you want to add that to your stack. Okay. Next one, gut health. The gut-brain connection has been proven to be a massive, massive connection and value. Like, if your gut is off, your brain is going to be off. So, and most Americans, because of the sugar, because of artificial sweeteners, artificial fake colors, et cetera, we have leaky gut, we have gut issues, celiac disease, whatever inflammation in our gut, and we don't have enough fermented foods, right? So Seed, this is a great product. It's probably the best probiotic blend out there because of, you know, it has a second layer that allows it to get deeper into the intestines. So, highly recommend that. That would be a top of the list for your probiotics. I would not take any others. Tons of great science behind that one, by the way. Next one is Ultimate Omega. These are really powerful. You want to get about 1,000 milligrams EPA fatty acids a day for healthy brain function, especially if you have a little bit of mental health challenges or just anxiety, depression, et cetera. It's the equivalent of an SSRI for about 60-something percent of participants according to research that Andrew Huberman, Dr. Andrew Huberman, the Stanford neuroscientist, cited. And then another one, beef liver. You can— a lot of us are not taking, eating liver. Like, my dad made me eat liver as a kid. I hated it. It sucks. That's not something I would— I'll never feed my daughter liver, right? But when we have a deficiency in some of these type of organ meats, what happens is, is we get deficiencies in other things like iron and other nutrients that your body really needs for optimal function, especially your brain. And this grass-fed beef liver from Ancestral Supplements, a really great product. My wife used it a lot, especially when we were pregnant. And she didn't have a lot of red meat in her diet, right? But it helped her help combat the iron deficiency. Really was a massive impact on her body and her nervous system. And I, I still take it regularly, and I take the MOFO, the male optimization one, which is really good. So that's one that you want to add to your stack. Link will be below. The last one that I'll mention is Genius Consciousness. Actually, I'm going to mention creatine too, but Genius Consciousness This is a great nootropic. Nootropics are phenomenal for helping the brain focus and get sharper. And I want to really encourage you to take this supplement. It tastes great. It works phenomenally. A lot of the ingredients on here are just absolutely killer for creating noticeable lift in your focus and your performance mentally. So you want to have that. You can get it on Amazon or my links below. I have a little discount code there too, but it's a really great product. I love, love that one. And the last one I'm going to mention is creatine. Creatine also acts as a neurotransmitter and it also acts as a battery pack for your cells. So, you think of, hey, if I add creatine to my stack, what's going to happen is I'm going to expand my energy, I'm going to expand my stamina, and it's also going to help along with NAD with this vitality boost, it's going to help prevent neurodegenerative diseases. So, keep you razor sharp, mentally. Actually, NAD, this also helps to combat brain fog. So, would highly, highly recommend that. So, that's the supplement stack for neuro-optimization. And third thing I'm going to mention, I'm going to be brief on this one. I'm going to mention a couple books, all right? "The Secret" being one of them, that's so good. "The Source" by a neuroscientist at MIT, Dr. Tara Swart, being another great one. The power of optimizing optimizing your brain, when I think of the visualization aspect, where am I going? And Viktor Frankl, Logotherapy, right, he talked about how if man has a strong enough why, he can endure any how. And, and at the end of the day, you want to be so connected with our purpose, so connected with our vision, that it inspires us. You can't get the most out of your brain, you can't tap into flow state, When you're in flow state, you release all 6 neurochemical cocktails and you're 500% more productive. You're not going to access it if you don't have a strong enough why or challenge to do so. So, I'm going to really invite you as the third layer. So, you've got the first layer: remove the blocks. Second layer: neurochemistry optimization for neuro-optimization. Third layer is get really connected with your vision and your why. I break down some of that in my book, The Genius Within, but also other great books like The Source or The Secret, where you just start visualizing. We want to start— you get connected with who am I, what on earth am I here for, which I break down in my book The Genius Within. And why is that important? If you get connected with that, then you can create and be driven or drawn to build something amazing and to show up in your best. When you have enough of an inspiring Like, think of why top performers like a Tom Brady, and he shows up in the Super Bowl and he was playing his best, right? Every single time he's on, he's locked in, right? So you need that extra challenge and that extra level to bring your best. So I hope that's helpful. Like this video, share it with a friend. Definitely like it, subscribe, give me some comments. Let me know what else you would like to cover. Let me know what questions you have about some of the supplements as well. All right. Much love. Have a beautiful day and we'll talk to you soon.