****I DO NOT CLAIM THIS AS MY OWN PERSONAL ADVICE BUT RATHER ADVICE I FOUND BENEFICIAL FROM AN OUTSIDE SOURCE AND WANTED TO SHARE
One day over break I was watching YouTube as usual (YouTube girls unite!!!) And I once again heard one of my favorite creators mention her favorite Podcast, The Huberman Lab. So, me, a girl who is a neuroscience major, thought what better to do over break than listen to a fellow neuroscientist’s podcast, so I did. I came across a catchy title soon discovering it was a very popular episode sitting at 17 M views, and I listened, and then suddenly, I found myself fully invested in this 2 ½ hour episode. Now I know why it has 17 M views. Andrew Huberman brought on David Goggins as a guest. Now I don’t know if I’m uncultured, but I didn’t even know who this was LOL, but I do now! Then, I got this urge to scream this special, powerful message through the roof so if anyone hasn’t heard about it, they will hear about it from me for certain, right here, right now through this article.
The podcast felt repetitive but real, and that’s because the basis of his message was that everything you do in life sucks and if you can face this reality that life is a struggle and also in turn ignore it you can be successful. However, he gives all of the advice on how to achieve this conquers mindset.
Path to self-discovery before success:
He likes to use the word haunted. Who’s haunted? You are…forever. By what? By what you are, however, honesty is the first step to self-discovery. Huberman adds that the unconscious mind needs to be unlocked along with things that keep you buried, and every day you tackle them headfirst, because this will foster growth and honest conversation with yourself. He tells us to undergo this process it takes willpower that is built in time, which he later describes. They go on to say you need to inspire yourself and ask yourself different questions every day to keep developing. You’ll often find that you are a multifaceted person, and others will be blind to this reality because they aren’t fostering this honest environment with themselves. He says many fall short because it’s uncomfortable. It unlocks who you are and who you aren’t. But the beauty within this is that when you know who you are, and you can be okay with someone not choosing you, and you can accept failure, as well as understanding how your passions are uniquely yours then nobody has the power to dismiss your truth. The biggest takeaway of this message is that spending time with yourself is of the biggest benefit because you become fully aware and fully capable.
Willpower:
He puts it simply. He said, “What are you willing to give up finding every bit of who you are as a human being?” The question to ask if you want to be the person you once were. If you’re okay with being that person, then that’s fine to sit pretty, but if not, act. Sometimes you must go back into the darkness you clean up every day because the information about who you are and what you want is there. He’s very clear that you’re not repeating darkness but using it as a weapon. You put a game plan in place about what you want and then you carry it out. If you imagine something you want to be, you’re not that. If you take inspiration, it didn’t make you who you wanted to be. He puts much emphasis on how this is not a mindset, it’s an action, and once you accept this way of living, you never go back because once you turn it off, it’s back to everything you’re not or not going to be. I think it’s important to add you don’t have to enjoy it to do it. You don’t have to feel a certain way about anything to do anything. If you add in feeling, this completely boxes you in and limits who you can be. Often times people correlate success to conditions. Many times, people look back at a moment they had success and say that the place in life they were at had to be a part of it rather than making it a lifestyle. He says sometimes people think life is already hard so why would they just make it harder, and it’s hard to change these people because what do you say to them if the reality is that it’s hard, and they know what to do they just don’t do it. The piece of advice he gives is to examine what you really want out of life and envision something more powerful than yourself. The idea is false because the truth is that it’s not really you, and the real you will always say it’s not you, so you challenge that every day. Interestingly, he promotes bringing all the voices because all of them ARE who you are, so you can’t be afraid of those conversations. Then again, back to the action of your chosen voice.
Then, Huberman takes a neuroscience approach and talks about the mid anterior cingulate cortex. Data shows that when engaging in tasks that one doesn’t want to do, the mid ACC grows in size demonstrating a connection to willpower, challenge, and the will to live. When using deep brain stimulation, it was found that people often felt like there was a storm coming that they wanted to go through. However, it is plastic so as quickly as it can grow it can diminish if we stop investing in things that are hard for us to overcome. It’s connected to the mentality of I don’t want to do it but I’m going to do it anyway. Most people say if this is what it takes then I’m okay with being average. Most don’t want to get up and go straight to work, they would rather keep living in the reward of one accomplishment, or they create this unrealistic time scale or starting on the hour when they could start now. You always make time if you want to be better.
Social Media and Relationships:
It’s dangerous because social media shows you the good, but they don’t show you that unconscious mind journey. If you have undergone the process, then you understand anyone judging you was who you used to be. People only say your dreams, or your lifestyle is crazy because they can’t imagine themselves doing it.
Often with relationships, the ones who love us just want to see us comfortable, but you have to be vocal about who you are and stop pleasing others at the expense of yourself. The things that are important to you, you must do, or you will live an unfulfilled life. You must draw clear boundaries and use that mind strength to stick to them and fully understand who you are. This should be a little easier since you’ve done the process.
Altogether, he says life is really a test of all of these things combined, so developing this utmost strength and understanding one’s entire self is only beneficial.
Podcast link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDLb8_wgX50