3127: [Part 2] Stop Feeding Your Brain Mental Garbage by Michael Mehlberg on Better Decision-Making

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[00:01:00] This is Optimal Living Daily Episode 3127.

[00:01:03] Stop feeding your brain mental garbage, Part 2 by Michael Melberg of michaelmelberg.com

[00:01:10] and I'm Justin Malik.

[00:01:11] Happy Friday! Welcome to the old podcast, the OLD podcast, Optimal Living Daily,

[00:01:17] where I read to you like a big ongoing audiobook from many different authors.

[00:01:22] Today being a continuation from yesterday so I'd recommend listening to yesterday's episode first.

[00:01:27] But if you're all caught up let's get right to Part 2.

[00:01:30] And start optimizing your life.

[00:01:36] Stop feeding your brain mental garbage, Part 2 by michaelmelberg of michaelmelberg.com.

[00:01:44] It may be time for your brain to go on a diet.

[00:01:48] If we started at ground zero with no inputs whatsoever we'd go mad.

[00:01:53] Volunteers observed and Antarctic research stations where they were isolated in their

[00:01:58] facilities by dangerous temperatures and 24 hours of darkness, experienced high degrees of stress,

[00:02:05] feelings of torment, changes to sleep and appetite, and the inability to track the passage of time.

[00:02:12] Furthermore quote, studies confirm that loneliness isn't good for anyone's health.

[00:02:18] It increases levels of stress hormones in the body while leading to poor sleep,

[00:02:23] a compromised immune system, and in the elderly cognitive decline.

[00:02:29] From the conversation, humans need input.

[00:02:33] We crave interaction.

[00:02:35] And once we have fulfilled the base needs of human connection and mental stimulation to keep

[00:02:40] us stress free and on a normal sleeping and eating schedule,

[00:02:44] the rest of what we consume either enhances or detracts from our ideal state of being.

[00:02:50] It's a very reason we must put our brain on a healthy diet, or set another way we must curate

[00:02:57] our inputs. The television we watch can be a great source of entertainment, think stranger things

[00:03:04] on Netflix, a venue for deep thinking, think pan-made tale on Hulu, or a wellspring of information

[00:03:11] that changes how we view the world and what we think of others. We can't control what the

[00:03:16] networks create, but we can control what we allow to influence us.

[00:03:22] Similarly when the people we follow on social media show up in our feeds,

[00:03:26] we consume the information they create. We allow them to enter into our mind to influence us.

[00:03:34] And while we can't control what they publish, we can and should curate our feeds such that

[00:03:40] the people we allow in are the kinds of people that will nourish and inspire us to be who we want to

[00:03:46] be. The friends we keep, the books we read, the food we eat, everything we consume can be curated.

[00:03:55] By curating our inputs, we can enhance the quality of our thinking and being. In turn,

[00:04:01] this can lead us to make better, smarter, and faster decisions. We feel good about ourselves,

[00:04:07] our relationships, our world. We'll attain higher levels of focus, clarity and discipline

[00:04:14] and pursuit of our goals. Knowing what we want. Curating your inputs starts by knowing what you

[00:04:22] want to get out of your life. What is your why, your purpose, your reason for being? Knowing

[00:04:29] your why is fundamentally essential to changing your behavior for the better. Without knowing our why,

[00:04:35] you'll mindlessly consume the next television show, the next social media post,

[00:04:40] the next New York Times bestseller. All these inputs will change your behavior but because you're not

[00:04:46] aligning them with your why, your behavior will be changed at the whim of marketers and advertisers

[00:04:52] and news outlets, all of who have their own goals and objectives, none of which align with yours.

[00:04:59] When you know your why, you'll understand how who you follow on social media inspires you

[00:05:05] and forms you and guides you in the direction of your goals or doesn't. When you know your why,

[00:05:12] you'll understand which books you should read to produce the ideal version of yourself.

[00:05:16] When you know your why, you'll know which habits to create and what friends to keep

[00:05:21] to help you live the life you've always envisioned. Garbage in, garbage out.

[00:05:27] What goes in must come out. Of course, you can't control what other people's

[00:05:32] view out into the world. You can't take efforts to filter what you allow in.

[00:05:37] That means curating who you put in your social media diet, who you befriend,

[00:05:42] the books you read, what you watch on TV, it's a diet for your brain. Fill yourself with one

[00:05:48] free news article after another and you'll feel free. Surround yourself with miserable people

[00:05:54] and you'll become miserable. Read thoughtless books or listen to thoughtless podcasts and you guessed

[00:06:01] it, you'll think thoughtless thoughts. Do the opposite and you'll become the opposite.

[00:06:07] There's no excuse for not surrounding yourself with information that'll make you smarter

[00:06:12] and more effective. There's no benefit to spending countless hours sifting through social media

[00:06:17] articles posted by people you followed ages ago for reasons unknown. Reasons that don't align

[00:06:23] with your goals, reasons that don't help you become smarter, better, stronger, more empathetic.

[00:06:30] There's no reason you can't build a relationship with nearly anyone in the world,

[00:06:35] extending your reach and influence while increasing yourself worth. Control the inputs

[00:06:41] in your life, your friends, those you follow on social media, the books you read, the television

[00:06:48] you watch, the news you consume. All have an effect on you, maybe not immediately felt or seen,

[00:06:55] but an effect nonetheless. Why not make that effect a positive one?

[00:07:01] Quote, I don't know the books I read last year any more than the food I ate,

[00:07:06] even so they have changed me. Mark Twain

[00:07:10] You just listen to part two of the post titled Stop feeding your brain mental garbage by

[00:07:19] Michael Melberg of michaelmelberg.com and I'll be right back with my commentary. Being in control

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[00:09:07] Start today at N-D-T-C-O dot com. Thank you again to Michael. He pretty much summarized the

[00:09:13] purpose of this podcast pretty nicely and why I continue to read to you every day and from

[00:09:19] a bunch of different authors specifically as opposed to just one or a handful. We have hundreds

[00:09:26] of authors that have given us permission now and that's exactly what I prefer because like he said,

[00:09:32] read thoughtless books or listen to a thoughtless podcast and you'll think thoughtless thoughts

[00:09:37] do the opposite and you'll become the opposite. And that's definitely been true in my own life.

[00:09:43] I know I've mentioned it before but if I start watching a bunch of true crime documentaries or

[00:09:49] listen to a bunch of true crime podcasts, I start to become way too suspicious of the average person.

[00:09:56] It's not good. It's crazy to think about how something so small it seems just a show.

[00:10:03] Could have such a big impact in our lives and the way we think, but it's subtle.

[00:10:08] It's not super obvious unless you're paying attention. And like Michael said, curating your life,

[00:10:14] small changes can make a huge impact. So thank you to Michael for this reminder. I really

[00:10:20] appreciate you being here every day and listening and I really hope that the mission of this podcast

[00:10:25] is working for you, bringing a little bit of positivity so that goodness infiltrates our lives

[00:10:30] instead of the opposite. And it's with you listening every day that I can keep going every day

[00:10:35] and in that way you're making my life better too. So it's nice how that works.

[00:10:39] Have a great start to your weekend and I'll be back tomorrow and over the weekend so I'll see you there

[00:10:44] where your optimal life awaits.