1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:04,720 Speaker 1: Seven things to tell yourself every morning. Let's start with 2 00:00:04,840 --> 00:00:08,280 Speaker 1: what actually happens when you wake up. Before your feet 3 00:00:08,360 --> 00:00:11,360 Speaker 1: hit the floor, before you check your phone, before you 4 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:16,360 Speaker 1: brush your teeth, your mind starts talking. It says, what 5 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:19,520 Speaker 1: do I have to do today? Did I reply to that? 6 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:23,520 Speaker 1: I shouldn't have said that yesterday? This is going to 7 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:28,360 Speaker 1: be stressful. I'm already behind. Before your feet hit the floor, 8 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:32,800 Speaker 1: your brain had already pulled up yesterday's unfinished argument, the 9 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:36,159 Speaker 1: bill you haven't paid, the thing your boss said, the 10 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:39,880 Speaker 1: weight you haven't lost, the text you're dreading, that low 11 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:43,640 Speaker 1: grade anxiety that just lives in your chest now. And 12 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:47,760 Speaker 1: here's what's terrifying about this. You didn't choose a single 13 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 1: one of those thoughts. They chose you. Your mind hijacked the 14 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 1: most neurologically valuable minutes of your entire day and use 15 00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 1: them to rehearse your fears. Most people don't wake up 16 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: and create their day. They wake up and inherit their anxiety. 17 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:08,360 Speaker 1: And the problem isn't that your mind speaks in the morning. 18 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:12,920 Speaker 1: The problem is that you let it speak unchecked. What 19 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:15,240 Speaker 1: you tell your mind in the first minutes of your 20 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:20,360 Speaker 1: day sets the emotional direction of the next sixteen hours. 21 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:25,920 Speaker 1: And that is not spiritual exaggeration, that's neurological fact. Most 22 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:28,720 Speaker 1: people think the morning is just the start of the day. 23 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:33,600 Speaker 1: It's not. The morning is the start of your operating system. 24 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:37,039 Speaker 1: What runs in those first minutes doesn't just affect your mood. 25 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:43,600 Speaker 1: It architecturally shapes how your brain will process every single event, conversation, 26 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:48,120 Speaker 1: and decision for the next sixteen hours. And the worst part, 27 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:52,400 Speaker 1: you've been handing over the keys to this process every 28 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:57,600 Speaker 1: single day, to anxiety, to dread, to mental clutter you 29 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 1: never asked for today. That stops. By the end of 30 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:04,520 Speaker 1: this video, I'm going to give you seven things to 31 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 1: tell your mind every morning, and I want you to 32 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:11,600 Speaker 1: wait till the last one because each one is propulsive 33 00:02:11,880 --> 00:02:14,840 Speaker 1: and helps the one before. Now I need to be 34 00:02:14,960 --> 00:02:18,640 Speaker 1: clear about something before we go any further. This is 35 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:21,880 Speaker 1: not positive thinking. This is not stand in front of 36 00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:25,000 Speaker 1: a mirror and say I am rich and abundant until 37 00:02:25,040 --> 00:02:29,400 Speaker 1: the universe delivers. These are not affirmations. They're not I 38 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:33,200 Speaker 1: am a powerful manifesting being of light. I'm talking about 39 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:38,280 Speaker 1: specific cognitive instructions, each one backed by peer reviewed neuroscience 40 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:42,600 Speaker 1: and ancient wisdom that understood the architecture of the mind 41 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:46,800 Speaker 1: thousands of years before we had brain scanners. The affirmation 42 00:02:46,919 --> 00:02:49,920 Speaker 1: approach can fail because your brain has a built in 43 00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:54,560 Speaker 1: nonsense detector, the anterior singular cortex, and when you say 44 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:58,680 Speaker 1: something you don't actually believe, it flags the contradiction and 45 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:03,919 Speaker 1: creates more into resistance, not less. Studies from the University 46 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:07,680 Speaker 1: of Waterloo found that people with low self esteem who 47 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:13,840 Speaker 1: repeated positive affirmations actually felt worse afterwards, not better. So 48 00:03:14,000 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: I'm not asking you to lie to yourself. What I'm 49 00:03:17,520 --> 00:03:21,320 Speaker 1: asking you to recognize is that you are already talking 50 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:27,560 Speaker 1: to yourself every single morning, NonStop. The question was never 51 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:30,680 Speaker 1: should I talk to my own mind? You don't have 52 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:34,800 Speaker 1: a choice. Psychologists estimate that we have over six thousand 53 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:39,520 Speaker 1: thoughts per day, and the vast majority of them are repetitive, automatic, 54 00:03:39,840 --> 00:03:44,480 Speaker 1: and unchecked. You've been running a script every morning for years. 55 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:49,600 Speaker 1: You just never wrote it. Someone else did. Your fears, 56 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:53,440 Speaker 1: your past, your parents, your failures, your social media feed. 57 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:57,280 Speaker 1: All I'm saying is if the conversation is already happening, 58 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:01,400 Speaker 1: if the monologue is already running, then you should probably 59 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:05,200 Speaker 1: be the one choosing the words. This isn't wu wu. 60 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: This is common sense combined with neuroscience. You're not adding 61 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 1: something new, you're replacing something that was already there and 62 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:18,640 Speaker 1: doing it with precision instead of accident. But first you 63 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:22,679 Speaker 1: need to understand why the morning matters this much, because 64 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:26,520 Speaker 1: once you understand the science and the ancient framework behind it, 65 00:04:26,960 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 1: you'll never waste another morning again. In the Vedic tradition, 66 00:04:31,440 --> 00:04:34,440 Speaker 1: one of the oldest continuous knowledge systems on the planet, 67 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:39,320 Speaker 1: there is a concept called Brumma Murta. It translates roughly 68 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:43,480 Speaker 1: to the Creator's hour. It refers to the period approximately 69 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:48,120 Speaker 1: nineteen minutes before sunrise, but the broader principle extends to 70 00:04:48,200 --> 00:04:51,960 Speaker 1: the first hours of waking. The ancient texts, including the 71 00:04:52,000 --> 00:04:57,000 Speaker 1: Ashtanga Rhythm and the Cherika Samita foundational texts of aobatic 72 00:04:57,080 --> 00:05:01,760 Speaker 1: medicine dating back over five thousand years, prescribed this period 73 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: as the single most important window for shaping the mind, 74 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:11,200 Speaker 1: not because of mysticism, because of observation. These traditions notice 75 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:15,719 Speaker 1: something through thousands of years of disciplined introspection. The mind 76 00:05:15,880 --> 00:05:19,600 Speaker 1: in the early morning is in a state they called sutva, 77 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:25,480 Speaker 1: a quality of clarity, receptivity, and stillness. It's the mental 78 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:30,159 Speaker 1: equivalent of calm water. Whatever you drop into calm water 79 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:34,880 Speaker 1: creates a clear, powerful ripple. Whatever you drop into the 80 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:40,440 Speaker 1: turbulent water disappears. The Yoga sutras of Patangeli describe the 81 00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:46,640 Speaker 1: untrained morning mind as having minimal mental fluctuations. The mind 82 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:52,080 Speaker 1: hasn't yet been bombarded by stimuli, social input, and reactive patterns. 83 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 1: This is why every serious contemplative tradition on Earth, Buddhist, Stoic, Vedic, Christian, 84 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: monastic Sufi, place their deepest practices at dawn, not by coincidence, 85 00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:08,880 Speaker 1: by design. They understood that the morning mind is not 86 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:13,880 Speaker 1: just fresher, it is structurally different. And now modern euroscience 87 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:18,520 Speaker 1: confirms exactly why when you wake up, your brain transitions 88 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:22,559 Speaker 1: through specific brainwave states. During the first twenty to thirty 89 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:26,799 Speaker 1: minutes after waking, your brain is predominantly in a theta 90 00:06:26,839 --> 00:06:30,560 Speaker 1: to alpha wave transition. Theta waves between four and eight 91 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 1: hertz are the same brainwave state used in hypnotherapy. Alpha 92 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:39,839 Speaker 1: waves between eight and twelve hertz are associated with relaxed 93 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:44,040 Speaker 1: but alert awareness. Here's why this matters. In this theta 94 00:06:44,120 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 1: alpha state, your brain's prefrontal cortex, the rational executive function 95 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:52,880 Speaker 1: center is not yet fully online, but your limbic system, 96 00:06:52,960 --> 00:06:58,240 Speaker 1: the emotional brain, particularly the amygdala, is already active. This 97 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:02,839 Speaker 1: creates a window where emotional when subconscious processing is heightened 98 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:07,119 Speaker 1: while your critical filter is still waking up. Doctor Bruce 99 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:11,480 Speaker 1: Lipton's research at Stanford on cellular biology, along with work 100 00:07:11,480 --> 00:07:15,600 Speaker 1: from the Laboratory of Neuroimaging at USC, shows that this 101 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:21,440 Speaker 1: transitional brainwave state is when the subconscious mind is most programmable. 102 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: It's the same reason hypnotherapy works reduced critical faculty combined 103 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:31,640 Speaker 1: with heightened suggestibility. But it goes deeper than brainwaves. In 104 00:07:31,720 --> 00:07:35,400 Speaker 1: the first hour of waking, your body produces a natural 105 00:07:35,560 --> 00:07:41,440 Speaker 1: cortisol spike called the cortisol awakening response or AR. Researchers 106 00:07:41,480 --> 00:07:44,920 Speaker 1: at the University of Westminster and the Technical University of 107 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:49,640 Speaker 1: Dresden have extensively studied this. The AR is not stress, 108 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:54,440 Speaker 1: it's your body's neurochemical preparation for the day. It enhances 109 00:07:54,560 --> 00:07:59,640 Speaker 1: memory consolidation, sharpens attention, and primes your hippocampus for learning. 110 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 1: But here's the critical finding. The content of your first 111 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:08,480 Speaker 1: thoughts interacts with this quartersole spike. If those first thoughts 112 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 1: are anxious, ruminative, or fear based, the car becomes fuel 113 00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:16,800 Speaker 1: for your threat detection system. The big dealer uses that 114 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:22,800 Speaker 1: cortisol to reinforce hypervigilance. But if those first thoughts are intentional, structured, 115 00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:27,800 Speaker 1: and directed, the car becomes fuel for focus, resilience, and 116 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:32,439 Speaker 1: cognitive flexibility. So the ancients were right. The morning mind 117 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:37,400 Speaker 1: is different. It's more receptive, more programmable, and more consequential 118 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:41,040 Speaker 1: than any other period of your day. And right now 119 00:08:41,040 --> 00:08:43,960 Speaker 1: most of us are flooding it with social media, news 120 00:08:44,040 --> 00:08:48,680 Speaker 1: alerts and unconscious dread. Let's fix that. The seven things 121 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:51,319 Speaker 1: to tell your mind. The first thing to tell your 122 00:08:51,320 --> 00:08:55,400 Speaker 1: mind in the morning is I am awake before my problems. 123 00:08:55,920 --> 00:08:59,560 Speaker 1: They do not get to speak first. Here's why this works. 124 00:09:00,120 --> 00:09:05,079 Speaker 1: Cognitive psychology has a well documented phenomenon called the zigaronic effect. 125 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:11,079 Speaker 1: The brain preferentially recalls unfinished tasks and unresolved problems. Your 126 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:14,640 Speaker 1: mind doesn't bring up yesterday's worries because you're a negative person. 127 00:09:15,320 --> 00:09:20,520 Speaker 1: It does because neurologically, open loops create tension that the 128 00:09:20,600 --> 00:09:24,040 Speaker 1: brain is driven to resolve. When you wake up, your 129 00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:27,959 Speaker 1: default mode network, the brain system most active during mind 130 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:33,280 Speaker 1: wandering and self referential thought, immediately starts cycling. Through these 131 00:09:33,400 --> 00:09:38,040 Speaker 1: open loops. Research from Washington University shows that the default 132 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:42,480 Speaker 1: mode network is what creates that stream of uninvited morning thoughts. 133 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:46,680 Speaker 1: By making a conscious declaration that you speak first, not 134 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:51,160 Speaker 1: your problems, you are performing what neuroscientists call a pattern 135 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:56,200 Speaker 1: interrupt You're inserting a top down prefrontal intervention into what 136 00:09:56,360 --> 00:10:00,680 Speaker 1: is otherwise a bottom up, limbic driven process. The Stoic 137 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:05,079 Speaker 1: philosopher Marcus Aurelius began every morning with the explicit practice 138 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:09,760 Speaker 1: of pre framing his day. In Meditations, he writes that 139 00:10:09,880 --> 00:10:13,720 Speaker 1: he told himself each morning he would encounter difficult people 140 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:18,280 Speaker 1: and difficult circumstances, not to dread them, but to strip 141 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:22,040 Speaker 1: them of the power of surprise. He chose to define 142 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:25,520 Speaker 1: the terms of engagement before the day could define them 143 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:29,320 Speaker 1: for him. See today, we're told say things like today's 144 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:31,880 Speaker 1: going to be a great day. And the moment you 145 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:34,720 Speaker 1: see evidence in your day that doesn't feel great, the 146 00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:38,440 Speaker 1: gray clouds, the person who didn't smile at you, your colleagues, 147 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:41,160 Speaker 1: who's in a bad mood, you think to yourself, it's 148 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:44,240 Speaker 1: not going to be a great day. Marcus Aurelius thought 149 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:46,760 Speaker 1: about it the opposite way. He knew they were going 150 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:49,600 Speaker 1: to be difficult encounters. What that did is it took 151 00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:52,880 Speaker 1: away the element of surprise and actually prepared him to 152 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:56,559 Speaker 1: be ready for it. Here's how to implement this. Before 153 00:10:56,600 --> 00:10:59,960 Speaker 1: you pick up your phone, before you check anything, play 154 00:11:00,240 --> 00:11:03,640 Speaker 1: your hand on your chest and say out loud or internally, 155 00:11:04,400 --> 00:11:08,760 Speaker 1: I am awake before my problems. I speak first. Today. 156 00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:11,800 Speaker 1: This should happen before your feet touch the floor. It 157 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:16,120 Speaker 1: takes three seconds. Those three seconds redirect the trajectory of 158 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:21,800 Speaker 1: the cortisol awakening response from anxiety into agency. Ancient wisdom 159 00:11:21,840 --> 00:11:26,640 Speaker 1: teaches self mastery over reaction. In the Bugga Ghita, equanimity, 160 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:32,280 Speaker 1: not emotionlessness, but steadiness is power. Today we think if 161 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:35,679 Speaker 1: I'm detached and disconnected, if I avoid in emotion, then 162 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 1: I'm powerful. The ancient wisdom tradition suggest it's not about 163 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:44,200 Speaker 1: being emotionless, it's about steadiness, and neuroscience agrees. When you 164 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:49,359 Speaker 1: pause before reacting, you activate the prefrontal cortex, which regulates 165 00:11:49,400 --> 00:11:54,400 Speaker 1: impulse and emotional response. Without intention, your amigdala drives the day. 166 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:59,000 Speaker 1: Here's a practical step. Stop starting your day with your phone, 167 00:11:59,559 --> 00:12:04,280 Speaker 1: because that's not checking messages, that's letting someone else's priorities 168 00:12:04,720 --> 00:12:08,760 Speaker 1: become your first thought. That's letting an algorithm decide what 169 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:13,920 Speaker 1: you feel before you've even decided how you feel. Stop 170 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:16,920 Speaker 1: starting your day with your phone because you didn't wake 171 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:20,320 Speaker 1: up anxious. You woke up neutral. And then you opened 172 00:12:20,320 --> 00:12:24,319 Speaker 1: a screen and borrowed everyone else's chaos and called it 173 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:37,800 Speaker 1: being informed. You weren't informed, You were hijacked. The call 174 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:40,240 Speaker 1: that changed your life. I want you to think about 175 00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:43,439 Speaker 1: a moment that many of us remember very clearly. Imagine 176 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:45,960 Speaker 1: the phone ringing and feeling your heart beat a little 177 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:48,880 Speaker 1: faster as you reach the answer. When you pick up 178 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:52,520 Speaker 1: the phone, someone says something that changes everything. Maybe it 179 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:55,280 Speaker 1: was the call telling you that you got accepted into 180 00:12:55,320 --> 00:12:57,920 Speaker 1: the school you'd been dreaming about for years. Maybe it 181 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:01,080 Speaker 1: was the call where someone unexpects offered you a job 182 00:13:01,360 --> 00:13:03,960 Speaker 1: that opened the door to a completely new chapter of 183 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:06,640 Speaker 1: your life. Or maybe it was the call where someone 184 00:13:06,679 --> 00:13:09,720 Speaker 1: called to say hi for the first time, and suddenly 185 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:12,480 Speaker 1: the world felt a little more exciting. When we look 186 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:14,800 Speaker 1: back on our lives, it is fascinating how many of 187 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:19,200 Speaker 1: the moments that change our direction begin with something incredibly simple. 188 00:13:19,559 --> 00:13:22,959 Speaker 1: They begin with a phone call. This year actually marks 189 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:26,040 Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty years since the very first phone 190 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:29,120 Speaker 1: call was made, which is remarkable to think about. For 191 00:13:29,160 --> 00:13:31,280 Speaker 1: more than a century and a half, people have been 192 00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:34,040 Speaker 1: picking up the phone to share news, reconnect with someone 193 00:13:34,120 --> 00:13:37,720 Speaker 1: they love, or tell someone something that truly matters. While 194 00:13:37,720 --> 00:13:41,440 Speaker 1: the technology has evolved dramatically since that first call, the 195 00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:44,560 Speaker 1: human experience of receiving a call has not really changed 196 00:13:44,559 --> 00:13:47,480 Speaker 1: at all. We still feel that sense of anticipation when 197 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:49,960 Speaker 1: the phone rings, We still feel that brief moment of 198 00:13:50,040 --> 00:13:53,960 Speaker 1: silence before someone shares important news, and we still recognize 199 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:57,640 Speaker 1: that instant when we realize something in our lives is 200 00:13:57,679 --> 00:14:01,320 Speaker 1: about to change. Those emotions are times, when you think 201 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:03,839 Speaker 1: about it, many of the most meaningful calls in our 202 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:07,720 Speaker 1: lives arrive unexpectedly. It might be the call that reconnects 203 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:09,679 Speaker 1: you with a friend you've not spoken to in years. 204 00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:12,080 Speaker 1: It might be the call where someone tells you they're 205 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:14,200 Speaker 1: proud of you, Or it might be the call where 206 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:17,280 Speaker 1: someone simply says they needed to hear your voice. So 207 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:19,920 Speaker 1: today I want to invite you to reflect on something 208 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:22,880 Speaker 1: for a moment. What was the phone call that changed 209 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:25,320 Speaker 1: your life. Maybe it was the moment you realized a 210 00:14:25,360 --> 00:14:28,120 Speaker 1: new chapter was beginning. Maybe is the moment you felt 211 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:31,840 Speaker 1: supported when you needed it most. Whatever it was, that 212 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:34,960 Speaker 1: moment likely stayed with you long after the call ended. 213 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:37,520 Speaker 1: Now I want to ask you one more question, who 214 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:40,000 Speaker 1: in your life might be waiting for a call from you? 215 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:43,680 Speaker 1: Because sometimes the call that changes someone's life is not 216 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:46,720 Speaker 1: the one we receive. Sometimes it is the one we 217 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:50,080 Speaker 1: decide to make. This moment was sponsored by AT and 218 00:14:50,120 --> 00:14:58,160 Speaker 1: T connection changes everything. The second thing to say to 219 00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:01,320 Speaker 1: yourself when you wake up in the morning is I 220 00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:05,640 Speaker 1: am not yesterday. My brain is physically different than it 221 00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:09,960 Speaker 1: was twenty four hours ago. Here's why this works. This 222 00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:14,280 Speaker 1: is not a pep talk. This is neurobiology. Doctor Eleanor 223 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:19,080 Speaker 1: Maguire's landmark research at University College London, along with decades 224 00:15:19,080 --> 00:15:23,080 Speaker 1: of subsequent work in the field of neuroplasticity, confirms that 225 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:29,120 Speaker 1: your brain physically restructures itself every single day. Synaptic Connections 226 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:33,640 Speaker 1: that were active yesterday are either strengthened or prune during sleep. 227 00:15:34,280 --> 00:15:38,960 Speaker 1: New proteins are synthesized, new neural pathways are available. You 228 00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:43,640 Speaker 1: are literally, not figuratively. You are literally operating on a 229 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:47,440 Speaker 1: different piece of hardware than you were yesterday. The person 230 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:50,720 Speaker 1: who failed yesterday, who is anxious yesterday, who could have 231 00:15:50,800 --> 00:15:55,200 Speaker 1: focused yesterday, had a different brain. This is measurable. The 232 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:59,480 Speaker 1: problem is that your narrative identity, your story about who 233 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:03,960 Speaker 1: you are, doesn't update at the same speed as your neurobiology. 234 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:08,880 Speaker 1: You're running old software or new hardware, and that old 235 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:13,000 Speaker 1: software says, I'm the person who always struggles with this, 236 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:17,640 Speaker 1: I'm the person who always felt I'm the person who's lazy. 237 00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:22,600 Speaker 1: Telling your mind I am not yesterday is a cognitive 238 00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:27,320 Speaker 1: reappraisal technique. Doctor James Gross's research at Stamford on emotion 239 00:16:27,520 --> 00:16:32,880 Speaker 1: regulation shows that reappraisal reframing a situation before the emotional 240 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:37,000 Speaker 1: response locks in, is the single most effective strategy for 241 00:16:37,160 --> 00:16:42,640 Speaker 1: emotional regulation. It is significantly more effective than suppression, distraction, 242 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:49,280 Speaker 1: or avoidance. Buddhism's core teaching of anika impermanence is not philosophy. 243 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:54,320 Speaker 1: It's perceptual training. The Buddha instructed practitioners to observe every 244 00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:59,800 Speaker 1: morning that the self they inhabited yesterday has dissolved. Clinging 245 00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:03,920 Speaker 1: to yesterday's identity was considered one of the primary causes 246 00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:07,480 Speaker 1: of suffering, not because it's a nice idea, but because 247 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:11,600 Speaker 1: it is observably true. You are a process, not a 248 00:17:11,640 --> 00:17:15,560 Speaker 1: fixed identity. Here's how to implement this. During your first 249 00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:20,560 Speaker 1: five minutes awake, take three slow breaths on each excel 250 00:17:21,080 --> 00:17:25,080 Speaker 1: consciously let go of one thing from yesterday, a failure, 251 00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:29,960 Speaker 1: a worry, a conflict. You're not suppressing it. You're acknowledging 252 00:17:30,000 --> 00:17:33,800 Speaker 1: that the version of you that experienced it has physically changed. 253 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:39,639 Speaker 1: Say that was a different brain. This one has new options. 254 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:43,280 Speaker 1: Do this consistently for two weeks and you will notice 255 00:17:43,320 --> 00:17:47,320 Speaker 1: a measurable drop in morning rumination. The next thing to 256 00:17:47,359 --> 00:17:51,400 Speaker 1: say to yourself when you wake up every morning is today, 257 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:57,160 Speaker 1: I direct my attention. My attention is not available for hijacking. 258 00:17:57,800 --> 00:18:01,600 Speaker 1: Here's why this works. Attention is not an abstract concept. 259 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:07,760 Speaker 1: It is a finite neurochemical resource, governed primarily by two neurotransmitters. 260 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:13,040 Speaker 1: Doctor Michael Posner's attention network research identifies three distinct attention 261 00:18:13,160 --> 00:18:17,879 Speaker 1: systems in the brain, the alerting network, the orienting network, 262 00:18:18,160 --> 00:18:22,399 Speaker 1: and the executive control network. Every time you check a notification, 263 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:26,159 Speaker 1: scroll a feed, or entertain an uninvited worry, you are 264 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:31,560 Speaker 1: spending from this finite neurochemical budget. Doctor Gloria Marks research 265 00:18:31,640 --> 00:18:35,399 Speaker 1: at uc Irvine found that after a single distraction, it 266 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:39,840 Speaker 1: takes an average of twenty three minutes and fifteen seconds 267 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:43,679 Speaker 1: to return to the original task, not because you're weak, 268 00:18:44,119 --> 00:18:49,080 Speaker 1: but because attention re engagement requires a full neurochemical reload. 269 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:53,240 Speaker 1: Here's what's worse. Your phone is not designed to inform you. 270 00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:58,560 Speaker 1: It's designed by teams of engineers using variable ratio reinforcement schedules, 271 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:02,679 Speaker 1: the same opera conditioned pattern that makes slot machines the 272 00:19:02,680 --> 00:19:06,199 Speaker 1: most addictive machines ever created. When you pick up your 273 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:08,920 Speaker 1: phone in the first hour, it's like walking into a 274 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:13,080 Speaker 1: Vegas casino, sitting in a slot machine, and playing the game. 275 00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:17,639 Speaker 1: You're placing your attention at its most valuable and vulnerable state, 276 00:19:18,119 --> 00:19:23,200 Speaker 1: into a system specifically engineered to extract it. In the Bugge, Ghita, 277 00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:27,840 Speaker 1: Krishna tells origin that the disciplined mind is a person's 278 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:33,199 Speaker 1: greatest ally, and the undisciplined mind is their greatest enemy. 279 00:19:33,320 --> 00:19:38,240 Speaker 1: The Sanskrit concept of darner concentration is described not as 280 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:43,320 Speaker 1: a talent, but as trainable capacity. The Yoga sutras explicitly 281 00:19:43,440 --> 00:19:48,360 Speaker 1: state that the entire purpose of practice is the intentional 282 00:19:48,440 --> 00:19:54,399 Speaker 1: direction of mental fluctuations. They understood that an undirected mind 283 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:58,040 Speaker 1: is not a free mind, it is a captured mind. 284 00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:01,679 Speaker 1: Here's how to implement this. Do not touch your phone 285 00:20:01,960 --> 00:20:05,880 Speaker 1: for the first thirty to sixty minutes after waking. Buy 286 00:20:05,880 --> 00:20:08,320 Speaker 1: a four dollars alarm clock so your phone is not 287 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:12,240 Speaker 1: in the room during this protected window. Decide with pen 288 00:20:12,320 --> 00:20:15,560 Speaker 1: and paper, if possible, the three things that will receive 289 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:20,199 Speaker 1: your best attention today. Write them down, not ten things, 290 00:20:20,480 --> 00:20:25,159 Speaker 1: just three. This single act of prioritization activates your prefrontal 291 00:20:25,280 --> 00:20:28,199 Speaker 1: cortex and puts it in the driver's seat before the 292 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:31,920 Speaker 1: limbic system can take over. Research from doctor Gail Matthews 293 00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:35,240 Speaker 1: at Dominican University found that people who write down their 294 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:38,960 Speaker 1: goals are forty two percent more likely to achieve them. 295 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:43,520 Speaker 1: You don't have a motivation problem. You have a you 296 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:46,840 Speaker 1: picked up your phone before you picked up your life problem. 297 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:50,520 Speaker 1: You don't have a motivation problem. You have a you 298 00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:55,400 Speaker 1: gave your best energy to your screen problem. You answered 299 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:59,120 Speaker 1: everyone else's agenda before your own problem. You don't have 300 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:03,560 Speaker 1: a motivation You have a you never protected the only 301 00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:07,840 Speaker 1: thing everyone is stealing from you problem. Remember that the 302 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:11,199 Speaker 1: fourth thing to say to yourself every morning is I 303 00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:15,679 Speaker 1: will not solve problems that have not happened yet or 304 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:20,520 Speaker 1: don't exist yet. This is why this works. This targets 305 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:24,679 Speaker 1: the single most destructive mental habit human beings engage in 306 00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:31,000 Speaker 1: anticipatory rumination. A landmark study from Harvard's psychologist Dr Matthew 307 00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:36,080 Speaker 1: Killingsworth and doctor Daniel Gilbert, published in Science, tracked thousands 308 00:21:36,080 --> 00:21:38,800 Speaker 1: of people in real time and found that the human 309 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:43,200 Speaker 1: mind wanders forty seven percent of the time, and critically 310 00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:49,040 Speaker 1: that mind wandering predicted unhappiness regardless of the activity. But 311 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:52,520 Speaker 1: it gets more specific. The brain does not distinguish between 312 00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:57,040 Speaker 1: a vividly imagined scenario and one that is actually occurring. 313 00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:02,159 Speaker 1: Neuroimaging studies from the University of Colorado Boulder show that 314 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:06,080 Speaker 1: when you mentally rehearse a difficult conversation, you're a Migdal 315 00:22:06,119 --> 00:22:10,000 Speaker 1: of fires. Your quarters are rises, and your body enters 316 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:14,480 Speaker 1: a low grade stress response. You are physiologically experiencing an 317 00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:17,200 Speaker 1: event that is not happening. Now. I want to make 318 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:19,840 Speaker 1: a caveat here. This is good if you're rehearsing it 319 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:23,280 Speaker 1: on purpose, if you're preparing for a difficult conversation at work, 320 00:22:23,520 --> 00:22:26,160 Speaker 1: if you're preparing for a difficult conversation with your partner, 321 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:28,679 Speaker 1: but not one that hasn't happened yet, not one that 322 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:32,960 Speaker 1: doesn't exist, not a problem that you've created, invented, imagined, right, 323 00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:37,439 Speaker 1: it's very different. Rehearsing for a play and a drama 324 00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:40,280 Speaker 1: that you're going to perform on stage, which is actually happening, 325 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:44,040 Speaker 1: is different from inventing drama that hasn't happened or might 326 00:22:44,119 --> 00:22:47,439 Speaker 1: not happen. You are paying the biological tax on a 327 00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:52,119 Speaker 1: problem that may never arrive. Seneca wrote two thousand years ago, 328 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:56,879 Speaker 1: we suffer more in imagination than in reality. This was 329 00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:59,919 Speaker 1: not a platitude for him, It was a diagnostic obserc 330 00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:05,880 Speaker 1: In Zen Buddhism, this is captured in the instruction when sitting, sit, 331 00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:11,399 Speaker 1: when walking, walk. Above all, don't wobble. The mind that 332 00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:15,479 Speaker 1: is rehearsing tomorrow while living today is wobbling, and a 333 00:23:15,520 --> 00:23:19,719 Speaker 1: wobbling mind is an exhausted mind. Here's how to implement this. 334 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:24,159 Speaker 1: When you catch yourself rehearsing a future conversation or spiraling 335 00:23:24,200 --> 00:23:28,800 Speaker 1: into a what if scenario, use a technique called temporal labeling. 336 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:33,560 Speaker 1: Say to yourself, that is a future thought. I am 337 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:37,760 Speaker 1: in the present. You're not suppressing the thought. You're tagging 338 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:42,080 Speaker 1: it accurately so your brain can deprioritize it. Practice this 339 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:45,239 Speaker 1: every morning, and it will begin to generalize across your 340 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:49,119 Speaker 1: entire day within weeks. You're not stressed about your life. 341 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:53,199 Speaker 1: You're stressed about a version of your life that hasn't 342 00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:56,080 Speaker 1: even happened yet. You're not stressed about your life. You're 343 00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:59,919 Speaker 1: stressed about the argument you haven't had, the rejection you 344 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:03,719 Speaker 1: you haven't gotten the worst case that only exists in 345 00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:07,560 Speaker 1: your head. Your body can't tell the difference. Your nervous 346 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:11,320 Speaker 1: system is paying full price for something that isn't real. 347 00:24:12,119 --> 00:24:15,840 Speaker 1: You're not stressed about your life. You're stressed by your imagination. 348 00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:40,240 Speaker 1: The fifth thing to say to yourself every morning is 349 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:43,679 Speaker 1: my body is not a vehicle for my head. I 350 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:47,080 Speaker 1: will listen to my body today. Here's why it works. 351 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:49,959 Speaker 1: The modern default is to treat the body as a 352 00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:53,720 Speaker 1: taxi that carries the brain to meetings. This is not 353 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:59,000 Speaker 1: just philosophically wrong, it's neurologically backwards. Your gut contains roughly 354 00:24:59,119 --> 00:25:04,200 Speaker 1: five hundred million neurons. The enteric nervous system sometimes called 355 00:25:04,400 --> 00:25:07,960 Speaker 1: the second brain. It produces over ninety percent of your 356 00:25:07,960 --> 00:25:12,080 Speaker 1: body serotonin and about fifty percent of your dopamine. The 357 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:15,760 Speaker 1: vagus nerve, the longest cranial nerve in your body, carry 358 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:19,240 Speaker 1: signals from your gut, your heart, and your viscera up 359 00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:22,520 Speaker 1: to the brain, and eighty to ninety percent of vagual 360 00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:27,160 Speaker 1: traffic flows upward from body to brain, not the other direction. 361 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:29,919 Speaker 1: What this means is that your body is not just 362 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:35,080 Speaker 1: reacting to your thoughts, it's informing them. Doctor Antonio Domascio's 363 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:39,360 Speaker 1: somatic marker hypothesis, developed through decades of work at usc 364 00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:44,359 Speaker 1: demonstrates that bodily sensations are not separate from decision making. 365 00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:48,080 Speaker 1: They are a critical input. People with damage to the 366 00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:53,800 Speaker 1: brain areas that process body signals make catastrophically poor decisions, 367 00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:57,920 Speaker 1: even when their logical reasoning is intact. When you ignore 368 00:25:57,960 --> 00:26:02,159 Speaker 1: your body signals, the tight your the shallow breathing, the 369 00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:05,240 Speaker 1: not in the stomach, you are cutting off a primary 370 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:08,879 Speaker 1: data channel that your brain needs to function properly. In 371 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:12,439 Speaker 1: traditional Chinese medicine and in the Vedic system alike, the 372 00:26:12,480 --> 00:26:16,280 Speaker 1: body was never considered separate from the mind. The concept 373 00:26:16,320 --> 00:26:21,159 Speaker 1: of prana in yoga life energy is tracked through the body, 374 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:25,199 Speaker 1: not the intellect. The Taoist tradition describes the body as 375 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,320 Speaker 1: the root and the mind is the branches. If the 376 00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:31,639 Speaker 1: root is neglected, the branch is with her, regardless of 377 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:35,680 Speaker 1: how much you tend to them. The Buddhi's foundational meditation instruction, 378 00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:41,280 Speaker 1: the discourse on the foundations of mindfulness begins not with thoughts, 379 00:26:41,640 --> 00:26:45,280 Speaker 1: not with emotions, but with the body. Body awareness is 380 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:50,000 Speaker 1: the first foundation, because the ancient contemplatives recognize that an 381 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:54,720 Speaker 1: unembodied mind is an unstable mind. Here's how to implement this. 382 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:57,880 Speaker 1: Within the first ten minutes of waking to a sixty 383 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:01,200 Speaker 1: second body scan. Are at the top of your head 384 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:06,000 Speaker 1: and slowly move your awareness down through your face, your jaw, 385 00:27:07,040 --> 00:27:13,879 Speaker 1: your neck, your shoulders, your chest, your abdomen, your hips, 386 00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:18,520 Speaker 1: your legs, and feet. You're not trying to fix anything. 387 00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:24,040 Speaker 1: You're simply registering what's there. Tension in your shoulders, note it, 388 00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:29,239 Speaker 1: Tightness in your gut. Acknowledge it. This practice activates the 389 00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:32,959 Speaker 1: insular cortex. Your gut has been trying to tell you 390 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:37,600 Speaker 1: something for months. You keep ignoring it and wonder why 391 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:40,760 Speaker 1: you feel lost. Your gut has been trying to tell 392 00:27:40,800 --> 00:27:43,560 Speaker 1: you something for a long time. That tightness in your 393 00:27:43,600 --> 00:27:47,439 Speaker 1: chest wasn't random, That not in your stomach before you 394 00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:52,679 Speaker 1: said yes, wasn't nothing? That exhaustion that sleep doesn't fix, 395 00:27:53,080 --> 00:27:57,320 Speaker 1: isn't laziness. Your gut is constantly trying to tell you something. 396 00:27:58,080 --> 00:28:01,480 Speaker 1: You just keep scrolling past the answer, looking for it 397 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:05,560 Speaker 1: in someone else's content. This next one is really important. 398 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:08,840 Speaker 1: I want you to listen in I choose one thing 399 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:13,359 Speaker 1: that matters over ten things that are urgent. That's the 400 00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:16,360 Speaker 1: sixth thing I want you to say. This principle attacks 401 00:28:16,400 --> 00:28:21,280 Speaker 1: the single greatest productivity illusion of modern life, the equation 402 00:28:21,600 --> 00:28:26,760 Speaker 1: of busyness with progress. The Eisenhower matrix, attributed to Dwight 403 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:31,879 Speaker 1: Eisenhower's observation that what is important is seldom urgent and 404 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:36,520 Speaker 1: what is urgent is seldom important, has been validated extensively 405 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:41,920 Speaker 1: in organizational psychology, but the neurological reality is even more stop. 406 00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:47,240 Speaker 1: Your prefrontal cortex, which handles complex planning and prioritization, is 407 00:28:47,280 --> 00:28:52,120 Speaker 1: a slow, energy, expensive system. Every notification, every quick question, 408 00:28:52,280 --> 00:28:56,200 Speaker 1: every email marked with an exclamation point activates the limbic 409 00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:59,800 Speaker 1: urgency pathway, and the brain, because it is wired for some, 410 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:04,680 Speaker 1: will always default to the urgent over the important. If 411 00:29:04,720 --> 00:29:08,600 Speaker 1: you don't intervene. The concept of swadharma in the Baga Ghita, 412 00:29:08,960 --> 00:29:13,160 Speaker 1: one's own duty or essential purpose is not about doing more. 413 00:29:13,680 --> 00:29:17,160 Speaker 1: It's about doing the right thing, even if it's difficult, 414 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:20,920 Speaker 1: rather than the comfortable or easy thing. The reason why 415 00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:25,200 Speaker 1: we do the urgent thing is because often it's easier 416 00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:29,280 Speaker 1: and comfortable. The reason we avoid the important thing is 417 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:34,640 Speaker 1: because it's harder and challenging. Krishna's instruction to urgent is essentially, 418 00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:39,160 Speaker 1: stop being distracted by all the things you could do. 419 00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:43,160 Speaker 1: Do the one thing you must do. In the Zen tradition, 420 00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:48,920 Speaker 1: there is the concept of ichigyo zamai single minded absorption 421 00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:53,960 Speaker 1: in one activity. This is one of my favorite Zen teachings. 422 00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:59,200 Speaker 1: The master does one thing at a time and completes them. 423 00:29:59,520 --> 00:30:03,520 Speaker 1: The beginning does many things at the same time and 424 00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:07,160 Speaker 1: never completes them. Here's how to implement this. Every morning, 425 00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:10,400 Speaker 1: before you open your email or your task manager, answer 426 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:13,640 Speaker 1: one question on paper. If I could only accomplish one 427 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:17,080 Speaker 1: thing today and everything else would be forgiven, what would 428 00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:20,680 Speaker 1: it be? Write that thing down, circle it. That is 429 00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:25,200 Speaker 1: your non negotiable. Everything else is secondary. Protect at least 430 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:29,040 Speaker 1: ninety minutes for that one thing before you allow anything 431 00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:32,680 Speaker 1: urgent to enter your field. Schedule it as a meeting 432 00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:36,320 Speaker 1: with yourself if you must. Research from the Harvard Business 433 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:40,000 Speaker 1: Review found that professionals who said a single daily priority 434 00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:45,320 Speaker 1: reports significantly higher satisfaction and performance than those who manage 435 00:30:45,400 --> 00:30:49,320 Speaker 1: long to do lists. You're not lazy. You're just busy 436 00:30:49,400 --> 00:30:53,880 Speaker 1: with the wrong things and calling it productivity. You're not lazy. 437 00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:58,120 Speaker 1: You answered every email, you sat in every meeting, you 438 00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:02,280 Speaker 1: said yes to everyone who are You were incredibly busy. 439 00:31:03,080 --> 00:31:06,840 Speaker 1: You just weren't busy with the one thing that actually matters, 440 00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:11,040 Speaker 1: the one thing you keep pushing to tomorrow. You're not lazy. 441 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:14,880 Speaker 1: You're hiding from the real work inside the fake work. 442 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:19,920 Speaker 1: And this last one will transform everything. Every morning, I 443 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:23,120 Speaker 1: want you to say, I will not measure today by 444 00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:26,520 Speaker 1: what I get, but by who I am while I 445 00:31:26,640 --> 00:31:31,000 Speaker 1: do it. Here's why this works. This final instruction rewires 446 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:36,600 Speaker 1: the deepest layer of your motivational system, your relationship with outcomes. 447 00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:40,960 Speaker 1: Doctor Carrol Dweck's research at Stamford on mindset theory, one 448 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:44,560 Speaker 1: of the most replicated findings in modern psychology, shows that 449 00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:49,840 Speaker 1: people who orient around a process a growth mindset, consistently 450 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:56,800 Speaker 1: outperform people who orient around outcomes a fixed mindset across academic, professional, 451 00:31:56,880 --> 00:32:00,000 Speaker 1: and personal domains. But the effect isn't just on performance, 452 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:07,000 Speaker 1: it's on resilience. Outcome oriented people experience failure as identity threatening. 453 00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:12,880 Speaker 1: Process oriented people experience failure as information. This is arguably 454 00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:15,320 Speaker 1: one of the most important teachings in the buggu Ghita, 455 00:32:15,840 --> 00:32:18,920 Speaker 1: chapter two, verse forty seven. You have a write to 456 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:22,240 Speaker 1: the work, but never to the fruit of the work. 457 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:25,560 Speaker 1: This is not passivity. It is the most sophisticated and 458 00:32:25,640 --> 00:32:31,800 Speaker 1: motivational technology ever articulated. It says, pour everything into the action, 459 00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:36,480 Speaker 1: release attachment to the result, not because results don't matter, 460 00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:40,480 Speaker 1: but because attachment to results degrades the quality of the 461 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:43,920 Speaker 1: action itself. You don't get better at something by wanting 462 00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:48,000 Speaker 1: better results. You get better at something by improving the process. 463 00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:50,400 Speaker 1: If you get better at the process, the results come 464 00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:52,840 Speaker 1: off their own accord. But if you don't get better 465 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:55,600 Speaker 1: at the process and you keep focusing on the results, 466 00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:58,840 Speaker 1: you just get mad at yourself. Here's how to implement this. 467 00:32:59,320 --> 00:33:01,720 Speaker 1: At the end of eyaar this morning routine, ask yourself, 468 00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:05,560 Speaker 1: what quality do I want to bring to this day? 469 00:33:06,160 --> 00:33:09,200 Speaker 1: Not what do you want to accomplish? What quality of character. 470 00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:13,960 Speaker 1: Do you want to embody patience, courage, honesty, calm, focus? 471 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:17,800 Speaker 1: Choose one word, write it on a sticky note, or 472 00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:21,000 Speaker 1: set it as your phone wallpaper. When you make decisions 473 00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:24,760 Speaker 1: throughout the day, filter them through that quality. Would a 474 00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:28,400 Speaker 1: patient person respond to this email right now? Would a 475 00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:33,000 Speaker 1: courageous person avoid this conversation? This isn't soft. This is 476 00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:36,360 Speaker 1: the hardest practice on this list because it means you 477 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:39,520 Speaker 1: can no longer blame your circumstances for who you are. 478 00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:45,760 Speaker 1: Stop chasing results and wondering why you're exhausted. Stop chasing 479 00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:50,360 Speaker 1: results because you can check every box and still feel empty. 480 00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:55,120 Speaker 1: You can hit every target and still feel behind. You 481 00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:58,760 Speaker 1: can win the whole day and still lose yourself doing it. 482 00:33:59,440 --> 00:34:03,520 Speaker 1: Stop check results. The question was never what did I 483 00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:07,520 Speaker 1: get done? The question was always who was I while 484 00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:10,720 Speaker 1: I did it? And who did I become in pursuit 485 00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:14,440 Speaker 1: of it. Every ancient tradition, the Vedic sages, the Buddhist monks, 486 00:34:14,440 --> 00:34:17,759 Speaker 1: the Stoic philosophers, the zen masters arrived at the same 487 00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:22,400 Speaker 1: conclusion through radically different parts. The morning is not the 488 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:25,960 Speaker 1: beginning of the day, It is the foundation of this self. 489 00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:30,200 Speaker 1: Modern neuroscience is now confirmed why your brain is more receptive, 490 00:34:30,280 --> 00:34:34,280 Speaker 1: more programmable, and more consequential in those first waking minutes 491 00:34:34,600 --> 00:34:37,719 Speaker 1: than at any other time, Because the question we've been 492 00:34:37,719 --> 00:34:41,560 Speaker 1: answering this whole time is who's in charge today. For 493 00:34:41,640 --> 00:34:43,759 Speaker 1: most of your life, the answer has been your anxiety, 494 00:34:43,880 --> 00:34:47,400 Speaker 1: your habits, your phone. Starting tomorrow, the answer is you. 495 00:34:47,760 --> 00:34:50,120 Speaker 1: Not because you say a magic phrase, not because you 496 00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:54,400 Speaker 1: manifest anything, but because you take the most powerful neurological 497 00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:59,880 Speaker 1: window your biology gives you, and you fill it with intentional, directed, 498 00:35:00,239 --> 00:35:05,200 Speaker 1: evidence based instructions that tell your brain exactly who's running 499 00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:08,160 Speaker 1: the show. If you love this episode, you'll enjoy my 500 00:35:08,280 --> 00:35:11,400 Speaker 1: interview with doctor Daniel Ahman on how to change your 501 00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:14,560 Speaker 1: life by changing your brain. They don't do things until 502 00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:17,760 Speaker 1: someone's mad at them to get it done. They need 503 00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:23,600 Speaker 1: stress in order to get stuff done, and that just 504 00:35:23,680 --> 00:35:25,759 Speaker 1: makes everybody around them stressed.