Speaker 1: You want to use willpower, which is consciousness, to then
Speaker 1: reshape habits because willpower is an exhaustible muscle. Welcome to
Speaker 1: the one you feed throughout time. Great thinkers have recognized
Speaker 1: the importance of the thoughts we have, quotes like garbage in,
Speaker 1: garbage out, or you are what you think ring true.
Speaker 1: And yet for many of us, our thoughts don't strengthen
Speaker 1: or empower us. We tend toward negativity, self pity, jealousy,
Speaker 1: or fear. We see what we don't have instead of
Speaker 1: what we do. We think things that hold us back
Speaker 1: and dampen our spirit. But it's not just about thinking.
Speaker 1: Our actions matter. It takes conscious, consistent and creative effort
Speaker 1: to make a life worth living. This podcast is about
Speaker 1: how other people keep themselves moving in the right direction,
Speaker 1: how they feed their good wolf. Thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1: Our guest today is a Nanavati and explorer, volunteer firefighter,
Speaker 1: former US Marine and master's graduate in journalism. He has
Speaker 1: been mountaineering all over the world, glacier caving in Nepal, skydiving,
Speaker 1: ice diving, cave diving, scuba diving, and spent one month
Speaker 1: dragging a one nine pounds sled three fifty miles across
Speaker 1: the second largest ice cap in the world. His current
Speaker 1: project is to run across every country in the world.
Speaker 1: His website is called Exists to Living and uses the
Speaker 1: principles of human psychology and neuroscience and a greater understanding
Speaker 1: of how we function as human beings to help you
Speaker 1: master your mind, body, heart, spirit and business. Before we
Speaker 1: get started, many of a regular listeners may know that
Speaker 1: Eric also does some personal coaching for people who would
Speaker 1: like a little more of a one on one experience
Speaker 1: with the one you feed. We thought, rather than Eric
Speaker 1: explaining what he does again on this episode, we would
Speaker 1: play you one of the testimonials from one of his clients.
Speaker 1: I kind of lacked that motivation at times, and I
Speaker 1: know that when confronted with a difficult decision, a difficult situation,
Speaker 1: a lot of the times I just do what's easiest.
Speaker 1: He helps me a lot, and kind of motivating means
Speaker 1: structuring my time and yeah, and helps me get a job.
Speaker 1: And here's the interview with Acu Nanabati. Hi, Actually, welcome
Speaker 1: to the show. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1: A real pleasure to be here. I'm excited to have
Speaker 1: you on and talk about your I guess I've heard
Speaker 1: people refer to things as big, hairy, audacious goals, and
Speaker 1: you're certainly would fall into that category. But first, let's
Speaker 1: start with the parable. Our show is called The One
Speaker 1: You Feed, and it's based on the parable of two wolves,
Speaker 1: where there's a grandfather who's talking with his grandson. He says,
Speaker 1: in life, there are two wolves inside of us that
Speaker 1: are always at battle. One is a good wolf, which
Speaker 1: represents things like kindness and bravery and love, and the
Speaker 1: other is a bad wolf, which represents things like read
Speaker 1: and hatred and fear. And the grandson stops and he
Speaker 1: thinks about it for a second, and he looks up
Speaker 1: at his grandfather and he says, well, grandfather, which one wins?
Speaker 1: And the grandfather says, the one you feed. So I'd
Speaker 1: like to start off by asking you what that parable
Speaker 1: means to you in your life and in the work
Speaker 1: that you do. Yeah, I absolutely love that parable. I've
Speaker 1: heard it some time ago, and I think what that
Speaker 1: parable means to me. It really expresses the fundamental concept
Speaker 1: of a free will, or actually, in actuality, the lack
Speaker 1: of it, and ultimately the two brains that we have.
Speaker 1: So I'll kind of explain what I mean by that.
Speaker 1: You know, we have our conscious brain and the subconscious brain.
Speaker 1: So the way I describe it is the human brain
Speaker 1: and the animal brain, and the animal brain responds to
Speaker 1: the world around us, and it we don't control what
Speaker 1: that response. First is neurosciences, neuroscientists have actually shown that
Speaker 1: they can predict up to seven even up to seven
Speaker 1: and ten seconds that the brain registers information before an
Speaker 1: action is actually taken. And now, because our brain is
Speaker 1: not trained to handle life in the modern world, we
Speaker 1: respond with in in ways that we're not that that
Speaker 1: that don't ultimately serve us. And this is essentially the
Speaker 1: evil wolf. Because the brain is not trained for a
Speaker 1: world where were essentially survival is not a concern. We
Speaker 1: create things that trigger our brain in the same way
Speaker 1: uh saber to tiger or an explosion might. So with
Speaker 1: with this concept, the our brain, our and our brains
Speaker 1: interability to respond to the to the environment, and the
Speaker 1: way that serves us that becomes the evil wolf and
Speaker 1: the good wolf is our ability to control that. That's
Speaker 1: where we have the highest point of control, essentially, where
Speaker 1: we can direct our human brain our consciousness to then
Speaker 1: respond to an interpret the meaning of our animal brains response.
Speaker 1: So let's say I get scared of the situation. I
Speaker 1: can choose how I respond to that fear, and that's
Speaker 1: the good wolf. So to me, that parable means it's
Speaker 1: really the how how. The ultimate form of formula for
Speaker 1: success in life is seizing control of our consciousness to
Speaker 1: regain and reshape the way our brain responds to our environment,
Speaker 1: which is ultimately that evil wolf. You have set a
Speaker 1: goal of um, not just visiting every country in the world,
Speaker 1: but running across every country in the world. So, UM,
Speaker 1: tell me a little bit about that. Sure, Yeah, that's uh,
Speaker 1: that's my big, heodacious goal. Uh. The goal kind of
Speaker 1: came about because I noticed, as I was getting involved
Speaker 1: in my business, I stopped doing what fulfilled me, which
Speaker 1: was outdoor adventure, pushing my mind and body through limits,
Speaker 1: serving humanity in a bigger way. So I decided to
Speaker 1: come up with something that would, essentially, like I said,
Speaker 1: give that good wolf direction for the rest of my life,
Speaker 1: seezed control of my consciousness and allow me to do
Speaker 1: the things that I really enjoy, which is traveling, exploring
Speaker 1: my own potential, engaging humanity, engaging different cultures, and serving
Speaker 1: humanity and that's how this came about. And and now
Speaker 1: I've already started. I've run across eight countries. The goal
Speaker 1: is to essentially show the world that no matter where
Speaker 1: we're from, no matter what our race, no matter what
Speaker 1: our religion, we're all the same. We go through the
Speaker 1: same forms of suffering. We all have these two wolves, right,
Speaker 1: we all go through the same suffering in the same
Speaker 1: joy and by doing that, ultimately hoping to shed some
Speaker 1: of the inhumanity that exists in the world. I was
Speaker 1: in the Marines and I served in Iraq, so I've
Speaker 1: got to, you know, got to kind of taste some
Speaker 1: of that, and I want to, Uh, I want to
Speaker 1: put an end to that. I want to help people,
Speaker 1: you know. I think if when we stop seeing differences
Speaker 1: in each other and we see us as one, then
Speaker 1: we can we can work together for the common good.
Speaker 1: That's kind of the inspiration behind the project, and running
Speaker 1: is my is my kind of art form to do that.
Speaker 1: And so where how far are you along in your
Speaker 1: your goal with what countries have you run across? Uh?
Speaker 1: At this point, I'm fairly early. I've crossed eight so far.
Speaker 1: The idea that the inspiration for this project just came
Speaker 1: actually mid last year or early to mid last year.
Speaker 1: So I've run across eight. The biggest one is Greenland,
Speaker 1: where I spent a month on the ice cap, dragging
Speaker 1: a nine pounds sled forty miles and temperatures as low
Speaker 1: as minus forty degrees. That was the most challenging one
Speaker 1: so far. And then I've started off with smaller ones.
Speaker 1: I've done fifty five miles across Luxembourg, thirty three across
Speaker 1: a Singapore, twenty eight across Andorra, twenty eight across Barbados,
Speaker 1: and twenty across Malta. And there's the thing one or
Speaker 1: two smaller ones in there as well. So I'm at
Speaker 1: eight right now. That's eight more than either Chris or
Speaker 1: I have done. I think we're we I think I
Speaker 1: drove my car part way across town. Uh the other
Speaker 1: day Chris Chris a eight pieces. Um. Now that's uh,
Speaker 1: that is a UM that is quite I'm sure you
Speaker 1: hear this all the time. Quite a quite a goal.
Speaker 1: But what I thought was really interesting about your goal,
Speaker 1: and um, you know, on this show we talk an
Speaker 1: awful lot about the idea of breaking things down into
Speaker 1: smaller steps, about starting where you are and starting with
Speaker 1: what you have and what I What I love about
Speaker 1: the way you approached this was that you just said, Okay,
Speaker 1: i'm gonna go. I'm gonna this is my goal, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go do it, and I'm gonna start with what
Speaker 1: I'm able to do. And so you started I think
Speaker 1: in Singapore, which is where your parents were, and it
Speaker 1: was it was a it was a you know, I
Speaker 1: think thirty three miles, which is not a reasonable distance
Speaker 1: to me, but it's a distance that's you know, in
Speaker 1: the realm of possibility, and you just kind of started
Speaker 1: there and you're kind of going after some of the
Speaker 1: ones that are um smaller because you know, logistic clear
Speaker 1: it product, it's less challenge, it's there's a lot of
Speaker 1: different reasons, but you're building momentum and getting experience. And
Speaker 1: I really like that approach of of starting, you know
Speaker 1: where you can, because you could say, well, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: wait and do America first, but you might be planning
Speaker 1: and getting to that stage for years instead of just
Speaker 1: going after a few things you can get done and
Speaker 1: and and getting moving exactly exactly. It's it's as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: the logistically, it's even more challenging sometimes in the actual run.
Speaker 1: So part of the reason for starting small is one
Speaker 1: to build up my own endurance and to just to
Speaker 1: learn how to manage this. I mean, when I went
Speaker 1: to Europe, I was supposed to run seven countries. Instead
Speaker 1: I only did five because I made a few mistakes
Speaker 1: and logistical planning. So you know, you learned kind of
Speaker 1: through the process, and I'm just I mean, the nature
Speaker 1: of this journey, you kind of have to take it
Speaker 1: one step at a time. Their moments. Sometimes when I'll
Speaker 1: get real excited, I'll get on Google Maps and start
Speaker 1: planning countries and I'm like, there's a lot of countries
Speaker 1: in the world, and some of them are pretty big,
Speaker 1: so it becomes kind of scary, and I'm like, can
Speaker 1: I really do this? So you really have to break
Speaker 1: it down one step at a time, take it one
Speaker 1: one one step at time, and ultimately I don't know
Speaker 1: when I'll succeed or even if I will, But to me,
Speaker 1: it's really more about the journey than it is about
Speaker 1: the destination. And that's really what life is, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it as absolutely isn't. That wisdom of one step at
Speaker 1: a time or or one day at a time is
Speaker 1: is so profound because very often it's it's so easy
Speaker 1: to get overwhelmed with the thought of, you know, the
Speaker 1: thought of how many miles you have to run to
Speaker 1: run across every country in the world. But really all
Speaker 1: you gotta do is do the next one exactly exactly.
Speaker 1: So that's why I just break it down one step
Speaker 1: at a time, one country at a time, and and
Speaker 1: not worrying about the Russias and United States and Canada's
Speaker 1: just yet. Yeah China, yeah, China too. So you are
Speaker 1: working on a book. You and I were talking before
Speaker 1: the interview, and you are kind of putting the finishing
Speaker 1: touches on the on the first draft of it. Can
Speaker 1: you tell me a little bit about your book? Yes,
Speaker 1: of course. My book is called The Other Side of Fear,
Speaker 1: and really what it references is this concept what I
Speaker 1: call fear of Vanna, and it's very similar to the
Speaker 1: idea if the two Wolves, in the sense that we
Speaker 1: have you know, with the two wolves, it shows that
Speaker 1: the evil wolf is is it's still a part of us, right,
Speaker 1: It's not something we can just get rid of. It's
Speaker 1: part of who we are, as the Grandfather illustrates. And
Speaker 1: in this concept of fear of Vanna. What it shows
Speaker 1: is how to seemingly opposed forces. This is fear and
Speaker 1: nirvana are in actuality one and the same. They work together,
Speaker 1: and we can use both these forces to achieve a
Speaker 1: fulfillment and pique performance. So what this book does is
Speaker 1: breaking you know. As I mentioned at the start of
Speaker 1: conversation about the parable, it uses the concept of free
Speaker 1: will and using neuroscience. It uses a lot of neuroscience
Speaker 1: and psychology to describe this concept of fear of Vanna
Speaker 1: and how we can use it to ultimately embrace our
Speaker 1: fears and do something with it, because fear, for example,
Speaker 1: constantly has a negative reputation. And I noticed everything I've
Speaker 1: ever done in my life that was ultimately worthwhile was
Speaker 1: prefaced by fear, and I had to learn how to
Speaker 1: manage that, how to move through it. And so that's
Speaker 1: why my wife actually came up with the terminology, which
Speaker 1: I fell in love with, and now is kind of
Speaker 1: defining this idea of fear of Ana and how we
Speaker 1: can and the way I actually define it is a
Speaker 1: state of unity and bliss without fear has only achieved
Speaker 1: through immersion in fear, and the book is essentially that concept,
Speaker 1: describing it, how to achieve it, and how to overcome
Speaker 1: our brains lack of free will, our brains inherent state
Speaker 1: of chaos, and all those evil wolves. So we can
Speaker 1: keep feeding the good wolf. Can you, um, maybe share
Speaker 1: a concept or two from the book of maybe some
Speaker 1: of a couple of the key points that I know
Speaker 1: you're gonna take a whole book to uh to lay
Speaker 1: it all out, but just you know, a couple of
Speaker 1: couple of small things that maybe we could give you
Speaker 1: the listeners to think about. Sure, of course, one of
Speaker 1: the fundamental concepts is in this book is this. It's
Speaker 1: a spiritual concept as well. But the Budda says that
Speaker 1: we are all plagued by two darts, and the first
Speaker 1: dart is the one that we have no control of.
Speaker 1: So this is either our brain's initial response to our
Speaker 1: situation or it's an event itself, and the real problem
Speaker 1: is a second dart. So, for example, let's say I
Speaker 1: stub my toe against the door. The first start is
Speaker 1: the pain. My my toe hurts, there's nothing I can
Speaker 1: do about it. The second dart is when I start things,
Speaker 1: start saying things like I am stupid, I the door
Speaker 1: is stupid, this house is designed badly, and I start
Speaker 1: kind of blaming myself or blaming the world. So that's
Speaker 1: what this book is all about, is acknowledging and letting
Speaker 1: go of those first starts by seizing self awareness and
Speaker 1: releasing that. And I'll give you a quick quick story
Speaker 1: too to explain this. So I'm not sure if you
Speaker 1: saw this in my thing in my in my blog
Speaker 1: or not. But when I came back from Iraq, the
Speaker 1: v A diagnosed me with PTSD, and I struggled with
Speaker 1: many of the traditional symptoms of PTSD. You know, I
Speaker 1: jumped when there's loud noises, I didn't like crowds, I
Speaker 1: struggled uh, I struggled with feelings of guilt, I struggled
Speaker 1: with sleeping. And when with the A diagnosed me with PTSD,
Speaker 1: I thought, Okay, you know what's wrong with me, and
Speaker 1: I have this mental disorder. And through learning more and
Speaker 1: more about the human brain and how it works, I
Speaker 1: realized that my brain's response to these to this experience
Speaker 1: like war in Iraq, was a very normal and natural response.
Speaker 1: It doesn't equate to a disorder. So all these things
Speaker 1: were happening with me were just these first starts to
Speaker 1: a situation as as as intense and as trump as
Speaker 1: you know, as as intense as war. And what I
Speaker 1: could do was reshape the meaning. I had to that.
Speaker 1: So I realized that the guilt. For example, I lost
Speaker 1: a very close friend in Iraq and I always felt
Speaker 1: to this day, I feel guilty that I wish should
Speaker 1: have been me and said of him. And ultimately I
Speaker 1: reframed the meaning by using you, by by feeding the
Speaker 1: good wolf, which I called a human brain. This is
Speaker 1: where you see consciousness, you know, the ability to be
Speaker 1: aware of our essentially say, I'm not just talking to
Speaker 1: you right now, Eric, but I'm aware of from talking
Speaker 1: to you right That's consciousness, that's our awareness. So by
Speaker 1: seizing awareness, I was able to reframe the guilt and
Speaker 1: tell myself that the guilt is a good thing. If
Speaker 1: I'm still guilty that I'm alive and my friend was not,
Speaker 1: then let me use this guilt to do something meaningful
Speaker 1: with my life. And that's how we that's how this
Speaker 1: whole book is essentially seizing control of consciousness to then
Speaker 1: not let these evil wolf or not let our animal
Speaker 1: brain run the show, because you know, there's I mean,
Speaker 1: I've heard some of fair their interviews and many of
Speaker 1: the people say similar concepts about how when the animal
Speaker 1: brain runs the show and when subconsciousness takes over we
Speaker 1: it intends to be chaotic, it tends to be negative.
Speaker 1: There's psychology calls the negativity bias. So we really have
Speaker 1: to to just to gain self awareness ultimately step outside
Speaker 1: of that negativity. And now back to AX. Give some
Speaker 1: other examples of maybe common fears that we have and
Speaker 1: how we then use those. It sounds like you're talking
Speaker 1: about using your fear in a positive way. M yeah,
Speaker 1: And actually, you know when when the when we when
Speaker 1: our brain goes through the experience of fear, anxiety, and stress.
Speaker 1: There I use those three similarly because they all have
Speaker 1: essentially the same neurological process. It actually, if we when
Speaker 1: we learn how to use it, actually releases a lot
Speaker 1: of chemicals that make us stronger, that make an experience
Speaker 1: very blissful and peaceful, which is why I do things
Speaker 1: like go cave diving, climb mountains and things like that
Speaker 1: because I feel terrified and then it makes me it
Speaker 1: makes me feel peaceful. So I'll give you another example.
Speaker 1: And actually, this is one of the tools that I
Speaker 1: created that I work with. When I work with my clients.
Speaker 1: I call it the element O piece cycle, and this
Speaker 1: cycle really helps you essentially step outside of your brain
Speaker 1: to train it to serve you. So the first step
Speaker 1: in that cycle is a label and language. So this
Speaker 1: is when you label the emotion. And I had a
Speaker 1: client I worked with who every time he sat on
Speaker 1: the computer would get anxiety. He would feel terrified that
Speaker 1: that you know that that essentially for his writing. So
Speaker 1: I had en labeled it, Okay, this is anxiety. The
Speaker 1: next step is shift your body language. And Amy Cutty
Speaker 1: has a great Ted talk where she talks about the
Speaker 1: power pose and how that shifts our biology as well
Speaker 1: as our internal physiology and what the effect that has.
Speaker 1: So we labeled little emotion and then we shift our
Speaker 1: body language by labor a little emotion it automatically. Neuroscience
Speaker 1: has shown that it actually activates parts of the consciousness
Speaker 1: and and disactive deactivates parts of that part of the brains,
Speaker 1: the subconsciousness. So the next step is m This is
Speaker 1: when we attribute. We we ask ourselves what is the
Speaker 1: meaning we've created to this experience that leads to this emotion.
Speaker 1: So for my client, it was that people are not
Speaker 1: going to enjoy my writing. People are gonna think it's
Speaker 1: garbage and so ultimately lead to anxiety. The end step
Speaker 1: is where I think it's a really revolutionary. Part of
Speaker 1: the process is where you tell yourself it's not me,
Speaker 1: it's my brain. So you you separate yourself again, you say,
Speaker 1: this is not me having anxiety, it's my brain stuck
Speaker 1: in a pattern as a result of habits, preconditioned forces,
Speaker 1: and all the years have been building these patterns, essentially
Speaker 1: ingraining these highways in the brain. So you say, this
Speaker 1: is not me, this is my brain. The O part
Speaker 1: is where you opt for a new meaning. So even
Speaker 1: if you don't subconsciously believe it yet, you can say
Speaker 1: that you know people will like my writing, and he
Speaker 1: was actually very successful in a prior life that you know,
Speaker 1: I've I've I've worked with the Pentagon, I'm very successful.
Speaker 1: People are gonna enjoy my writing. So you create a
Speaker 1: new meaning and in time this will start implanting into
Speaker 1: your subconscious. And the final part is p where you
Speaker 1: choose in line with your higher purpose and you take
Speaker 1: pre emptive strikes. So the choosing in line is taking
Speaker 1: an action in with your higher purpose. So that is
Speaker 1: ultimately sitting down and write, even if it's for just
Speaker 1: five minutes. And what that does is it's literally changing
Speaker 1: the physical structure of your brain. You're rewiring your brain.
Speaker 1: And preemptive strikes is when you preemptively prepare for obstacles
Speaker 1: you know will show up. So he knows that when
Speaker 1: he gets the computer he will feel anxiety or he
Speaker 1: would run off the TV. So maybe you hide the
Speaker 1: TV remote so you don't have that escape. So you
Speaker 1: preemptively prepare for things and and conditions you know that
Speaker 1: will that will hold you back. So this cycle, the
Speaker 1: element o P cycle, goes through a kind of step
Speaker 1: by step formula to ultimately help you reshape and step
Speaker 1: out side you of your brain to then regain control
Speaker 1: of your consciousness and ultimately rewire your brain. Excellent, that's
Speaker 1: a very UM. I like that L M N O
Speaker 1: PE because I can remember it. Yeah, exactly. I think
Speaker 1: Chris only got to M though in the alphabet, so
Speaker 1: he's gonna only get part of that. But it'll help,
Speaker 1: it'll help. Nonetheless. Nonetheless, one of your one of your
Speaker 1: blog articles, you talk about UM three bars that keep
Speaker 1: you imprisoned by the fear of failure UM, the negativity bias,
Speaker 1: the availability heuristic and the chaotic mind. Can you walk
Speaker 1: us through that? Sure, of course. So we touched on
Speaker 1: briefly the negativity bias and what that is is basically
Speaker 1: how our brain, as I was mentioning, how our brain
Speaker 1: is conditioned for a survival world. So the way you
Speaker 1: think about it is imagine our a cake and ancestors
Speaker 1: living in you know, the sort of the natural world.
Speaker 1: If they don't pay attention to the saber two tiger
Speaker 1: around the corner, they don't live to get food the
Speaker 1: next day. But if they miss a sunset, no big deal, right,
Speaker 1: We're still all around. So our brain is essentially trained
Speaker 1: to focus on the world. Reason the danger is because
Speaker 1: they keep us alive. But and in today's world that
Speaker 1: doesn't really serve us because we don't have those dangers.
Speaker 1: So now we just find and create them, and and
Speaker 1: working in conjunction with the chaotic brain, we essentially because
Speaker 1: neuroscientists have shown that the brain is a natural state
Speaker 1: of chaos, and you can think about it from if
Speaker 1: you try to meditate what happens right your your brain.
Speaker 1: It's it's hard to settle in on one on one thing.
Speaker 1: Our brain naturally goes all over the place and working
Speaker 1: with the with the negative negativity bias, what happens is
Speaker 1: that it it ultimately navigates to the negative point, right,
Speaker 1: and that's that's obviously not a good thing. So those
Speaker 1: are two of the forces. And in my book, I
Speaker 1: forget actually which one is the availability heuristic, because I
Speaker 1: I really I reframed it in my book, and that's
Speaker 1: kind of been uh, top of my consciousness. But and
Speaker 1: I talked about a few other cognitive biases essentially how
Speaker 1: our brain works, and and and the way that what
Speaker 1: happens in all these cognitive biases is our brain is
Speaker 1: finding ways to simplify a complex world, in a complex
Speaker 1: world that we're not essentially trained for. So I think
Speaker 1: the availability heuristic what I actually now called top of
Speaker 1: mind rule. Yeah, that's that's what it is. Is where
Speaker 1: we we we look to what is first on top
Speaker 1: of the mind. So when we surround ourselves with the media,
Speaker 1: like turn on the news, what happens we only see
Speaker 1: negative things bombarding us. That that those negativity for those
Speaker 1: negative forces become a top of our mind. And that's
Speaker 1: how we believe the world to be. So working with
Speaker 1: all these forces, a chaotic mind, the top of mind
Speaker 1: rule and the negativity bias. We ultimately just focus on
Speaker 1: negative and we and that's well, that's what makes it hard,
Speaker 1: so hard to feed that good wolf, and that's what
Speaker 1: makes that evil wolf ultimately dominate our consciousness. I was
Speaker 1: talking the other day about something similar to the you know,
Speaker 1: the availability heuristic, but the um human principle of we
Speaker 1: sort of tend to believe what we hear by default.
Speaker 1: Now then our conscious mind can kick in and and
Speaker 1: and start to question some of that. And how how
Speaker 1: part of the challenge a lot of us run into
Speaker 1: is when we get stressed or tired or all those things.
Speaker 1: Is that, to your point, those cognitive biases kick right
Speaker 1: in because the brain is looking for the simplest approach
Speaker 1: and uh. And so that that ability to kind of
Speaker 1: go back to trying to to think those things through
Speaker 1: a little bit more is always, um a very helpful
Speaker 1: thing to do, but often difficult to remember to do
Speaker 1: exactly exactly. I mean. Nobel Prize psychologist Daniel Kanem on
Speaker 1: great book he wrote, Thinking Fast and Slow, he says
Speaker 1: that the human brain is a is lazy And that's
Speaker 1: exactly what you said, that it ultimately retreat to all
Speaker 1: these easier forces, and when our cognitive biases take over,
Speaker 1: that's when that evil wolf gets continues to get foot fed. Right.
Speaker 1: The interesting thing about that book I found though, and
Speaker 1: I'm curious, um your your perspective on it, is he
Speaker 1: is he talks about sort of that that fast brain,
Speaker 1: um or the more chaotic animal brain, the one that
Speaker 1: that that but also very powerful brain, right, the one
Speaker 1: that allows us to walk without thinking about it, um,
Speaker 1: and then sort of that conscious brain or the faster brain.
Speaker 1: And he really lays out the value of both of
Speaker 1: those brains in in different things. And a lot of
Speaker 1: what you're talking about is really emphasizing that that conscious brain.
Speaker 1: How what do you think the role of the the
Speaker 1: unconscious brain is or are there ways to harness its
Speaker 1: strengths instead of kind of always going against it? Of course,
Speaker 1: I think the ultimately the goal is this is sort
Speaker 1: of the fundamental thesis of my whole book is ultimately
Speaker 1: the goal is to use our conscious brain to then
Speaker 1: reshape our subconscious brain, because like you said, we can't
Speaker 1: having the conscious brain be active is extremely burdensome. We
Speaker 1: wouldn't we won't be able to function. We can't. I
Speaker 1: mean just that talking to you or walking sitting in
Speaker 1: front of my computer. I don't want to have to
Speaker 1: think about that. I want to be able to do
Speaker 1: it just automatically and unfast. And that subconscious brain is fast,
Speaker 1: it's quick. It reacts to the world around us. But
Speaker 1: we want to shape it in a way that serves us,
Speaker 1: and that's where habits come in. So essentially, the way
Speaker 1: I mean to summarize it in more traditional terminology is
Speaker 1: you want to use willpower, which is consciousness, to then
Speaker 1: reshape habits because willpower is an exhaustible muscle. So that's
Speaker 1: that's why habits are so portant. You want to train
Speaker 1: your brain and something like the lement O P cycle
Speaker 1: where I mentioned the last step preemptive strikes, and I'll
Speaker 1: give you a quick example of how I did that.
Speaker 1: One day I knew I was I had said it
Speaker 1: in my schedule to go for a run, for a
Speaker 1: five mile run, but I hadn't slept much the night before.
Speaker 1: As I mentioned, I used to struggle with sleep issues
Speaker 1: and I had two client calls. So I work through
Speaker 1: my client calls and I knew that my subconscious brain
Speaker 1: because it's gonna respond to my emotional need for which
Speaker 1: I was fatigued it would retreat into into wanting to
Speaker 1: go to bed after my client call. So what I
Speaker 1: did was before my client call, I put on my
Speaker 1: running shoes, I put on a heart rate monitor, I
Speaker 1: sat with my iPod around my arm, fully ready to
Speaker 1: go for my run. And by the time my client
Speaker 1: call um ended, I made it as psychologically easy as
Speaker 1: possible to step out the door and go for a run,
Speaker 1: and slowly, by doing these kind of things, I make
Speaker 1: it a habit, and then ultimately I don't have to
Speaker 1: think about it anymore, and my sort of that subconscious
Speaker 1: animal brain can just react. It just says, okay, I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna go for a run. So I really think
Speaker 1: the subonscious brain is vital to the process, and ultimately
Speaker 1: we have to use the conscious one to to shape
Speaker 1: the subconscious one in a manner that serves us as
Speaker 1: opposed to in a manner that is just on autopilot
Speaker 1: and doesn't sir, we seem to have had a bunch
Speaker 1: of interviews recently that have really been nailing this idea
Speaker 1: home of the power of habits and routine in conserving
Speaker 1: that that cognitive budget so that you can use it
Speaker 1: on things like um, you know, the things that's supposed
Speaker 1: to and and taking you know, for me, taking as
Speaker 1: much of the moment to moment decision making out of
Speaker 1: certain things is really powerful because it does if I don't.
Speaker 1: If I don't, if I don't have a plan a
Speaker 1: lot of times for things, then I'll spend all my
Speaker 1: time thinking about what I should do. Like you know,
Speaker 1: the great example for me is going to the gym.
Speaker 1: I'm so much better when I know when I'm going
Speaker 1: and exactly what I'm gonna do. If it's more like
Speaker 1: I'm going to go to the gym sometimes today, Oh
Speaker 1: that can you know. I may eventually make it, but
Speaker 1: I'll have spent you know, at least an hour contemplating
Speaker 1: when am I going to go and what am I
Speaker 1: going to do when I get there? And and those
Speaker 1: very simple things can be very profound in allowing us
Speaker 1: to be more effective exactly exactly like exactly what you're saying.
Speaker 1: You want to make it a psychologically easy and sort
Speaker 1: of not let your brain retreat in wondering what to do.
Speaker 1: And that's why when you create a schedule, when you
Speaker 1: have clarity of purpose, and that's ultimately what led to
Speaker 1: my whole run around the world. I wanted something to
Speaker 1: a long term, lifelong project to just to give order
Speaker 1: to my consciousness essentially and give myself that direction so
Speaker 1: I always have something to focus on for the rest
Speaker 1: of my life and then it's just a matter if.
Speaker 1: And it just makes it that much easier to then
Speaker 1: have a desire sort of a why to then go
Speaker 1: out for the go out for a run, or go training,
Speaker 1: or write my book, or build my nonprofit foundation, all
Speaker 1: of those various things that I'm doing in in partnership
Speaker 1: with the run. Well, I think that should certainly take
Speaker 1: you the rest of your life, certainly exact and it's
Speaker 1: definitely a lifelong project. Tell me a little bit about
Speaker 1: your nonprofit foundation. Sure, I call it the fear Vanna Foundation,
Speaker 1: based on again that concept of fear Vanna and the
Speaker 1: nonprofit foundation is essentially my change making arm of my
Speaker 1: run around the world. So, for example, later this year,
Speaker 1: ideally I was supposed to do last year. Again, it
Speaker 1: just it's not going to all pan out as as planned.
Speaker 1: But I want to run across Rwanda and there's an
Speaker 1: organization I'm working with I'm partnering without there called Create
Speaker 1: Global Healing. They do fantastic work where they help genocide
Speaker 1: survivors heal from their trauma and then ultimately create economic
Speaker 1: sustainability and fulfillment from that. So when I when I
Speaker 1: run across a Rwanda, for example, and as my run
Speaker 1: continues to build more publicity, I want to then help
Speaker 1: this organization not just in terms of fundraising, but also
Speaker 1: in terms of getting on the ground and doing the work.
Speaker 1: So long term, the way I see it is we
Speaker 1: build partnerships with various nonprofits throughout the world, and as
Speaker 1: this this run kind of keeps growing and growing in
Speaker 1: the in the publicity for it, everything gets funneled into
Speaker 1: my nonprofit. And the way the way they have arranged
Speaker 1: it is that of proceeds will go towards the cause
Speaker 1: and the partner. The nonprofits we partner with they handle
Speaker 1: their administrative costs on their own. So even my book,
Speaker 1: for example, of my proceeds will go towards a nonprofit.
Speaker 1: So that's really my main passion is using the Run
Speaker 1: to serve the world, and the nonprofit foundation acts as
Speaker 1: that change making ARM acts as a service arm to
Speaker 1: to the Run. Ultimately, that's awesome. Yeah, I'm very very
Speaker 1: excited about it. It's kind of just being built. We
Speaker 1: just gotta finished applying for the five of one C
Speaker 1: three that should be that should be ready within the
Speaker 1: next eight weeks, and then the website and all of that.
Speaker 1: So it's all moving forward very very nicely. So we're
Speaker 1: near the end of our time. But I wanted to
Speaker 1: wrap up with, UM, I want to ask you about
Speaker 1: You've got something a guide that you call the driving
Speaker 1: force of all human behavior, and it's about asking yourself
Speaker 1: some of the right questions, um, because you know, the
Speaker 1: questions we ask ourselves shape our action. Can you give
Speaker 1: me an example of, um, what do you mean by
Speaker 1: the driving force of all human behavior? And what are
Speaker 1: a couple of maybe key questions that we could start with? Sure? Sure,
Speaker 1: So the driving forces all human behavior are essentially the
Speaker 1: desire to avoid pain and the need to avoid pain
Speaker 1: and the desire to gain pleasure. And when you really
Speaker 1: think about it, ultimately everything we do boils if you
Speaker 1: kind of break it down and dig deep to the
Speaker 1: reasons behind it, boil down to those those two forces.
Speaker 1: So when we ask ourselves questions, you know, when why
Speaker 1: these kind of self defeating things, we can we can
Speaker 1: ask ourselves questions that allow us to use these forces
Speaker 1: to our benefit. So for example, when I came when
Speaker 1: I came back to struggle with PTSD, I struggled with
Speaker 1: alcohol addiction as well, So you know asking myself questions like, Okay,
Speaker 1: what is this going to do for me long term?
Speaker 1: So essentially driving in the pain? If this what is
Speaker 1: the pain in this? How will this serve me? How
Speaker 1: will this um how will this make me? Make me?
Speaker 1: Allow me to run across the world? What is that?
Speaker 1: What is a long term consequence if I continue like this?
Speaker 1: So these are questions that are looking for pain points.
Speaker 1: So then ultimately, you know, drive away from that because
Speaker 1: it's also been shown that we will do more to
Speaker 1: avoid pain than we will to gain pleasure, and then
Speaker 1: ultimately asking us questions because I think Tony Robbins talks
Speaker 1: about this how all thought is an essentially a response
Speaker 1: to a question. So right now, even if you're agreeing
Speaker 1: with me or just agreeing with me, it's because your
Speaker 1: brain is subconsciously asking is that is that right? Is
Speaker 1: that wrong? Right? Or if I have to drive and
Speaker 1: I do I need to take a left? Do I
Speaker 1: need to care right? We're constantly asking these questions and
Speaker 1: our brain has to respond to it. So we can
Speaker 1: just again take proactively take control of this experience and
Speaker 1: ask ourselves, Okay, what is the value in doing this
Speaker 1: run around the world? How can I use it to
Speaker 1: serve the world. How does it make me a better person?
Speaker 1: What's the pleasure I can gain from it? And essentially
Speaker 1: so questions too then to to look for the pain
Speaker 1: point and look for the pleasure point, and then use
Speaker 1: both those forces collectively, because one one I think it's
Speaker 1: great if use one, or you know one or the other,
Speaker 1: but I think it's even more powerful if we use both.
Speaker 1: So right now, that's what keeps me away from that
Speaker 1: that sort of evil wolf of alcohol or drugs is
Speaker 1: seizing the pain point, acknowledging and remembering that pain point
Speaker 1: and remembering like, do I ever want to go back
Speaker 1: to that place? What was that place like for me?
Speaker 1: What was that dark place like? And then remembering it
Speaker 1: so I never want to be back there. So that's
Speaker 1: again drive using those two forces to drive your life
Speaker 1: forward and create UH to ultimately in service of the
Speaker 1: goals that you want to UH that you want to
Speaker 1: achieve in your life. Excellent, Well, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for taking the time to come on the show. I
Speaker 1: know you're busy with a lot of things going on,
Speaker 1: so I appreciate you taking the time. Thank you so
Speaker 1: much for having me. It's been a real pleasure and
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed our conversation. Eric. Yeah, and best of
Speaker 1: luck in all of your running. And if you're heading
Speaker 1: across the US and you're in Ohio, let us know
Speaker 1: and we will. We can, we can help out, absolutely,
Speaker 1: we'll do. Thank you so much. All right, take care
Speaker 1: of a great evening to Eric. All right, bye, have
Speaker 1: a good one. Bye bye.