4011: [Part 2] How to Increase the Volume of Your Brain and Make Optimal Decisions by Benjamin Hardy

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[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_03] This is Optimal Living Daily. How to increase the volume of your brain and make optimal decisions, part two. By Benjamin Hardy of BenjaminHardy.com. And I'm Justin Malik, the guy that reads to you every single day of the year. Now today's post is part two of a longer post. So if you didn't catch part one yesterday, I'd recommend listening to that first. But if you're all caught up, then let's get right to part two and continue optimizing your life.

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_03] How to increase the volume of your brain and make optimal decisions, part two. By Benjamin Hardy of BenjaminHardy.com. Extreme pain or extreme curiosity? What leads most people to change? Usually it's either extreme pain or extreme curiosity. Both is best. The problem for most people is that their life isn't so bad that it forces them to face some hard truths.

[00:01:55] [SPEAKER_03] As the world becomes increasingly industrialized, life becomes pretty comfortable for most people. People aren't necessarily happy, but they're getting plenty of dopamine through their addictions to technology, processed foods, and other self-defeating behaviors. Moreover, very few people are extremely curious. The type of curiosity that compels you to continually ask the hard questions. To question the common assumptions. To get to the heart of the matter. To figure out how everything is connected.

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_03] To see how far the rabbit hole goes. Most people don't want to face the hard truths. They prefer the comfort of what's cultural. They don't want to deal with the implications of a higher or different plane of understanding. The pursuit of excellence requires an intimate relationship with both pain and curiosity. Growth can't happen without pain. Nor can it happen without the insatiable desire to see how far it can go. The amount of time spent on an activity doesn't matter.

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_03] Some people spend 10,000 hours on something and don't really get any better at it. They're in routine. They aren't being pushed. They aren't digging into the pain. They aren't curious enough to uproot their current assumptions and replace them with more expansive ones. In learning theory, true learning is known as disorienting dilemma because it can be disorienting to have limited belief systems replaced with new ones. This only happens as, like the Beatles, you experience new information and experiences.

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_03] If you're not seeking to disrupt your own belief system, you're not curious enough to become a master at your craft. You're not curious enough to become a master of life. In the biography, Michael Jordan, The Life, author Roland Lazenby tells of when Michael really started to stand out as a player in high school. What surprised recruiters most was that the first thing Michael asked them was, how can I get better? You've wanted to be disrupted. And as Peter Diamandis has said, quote,

[00:03:48] [SPEAKER_03] If you're not disrupting yourself, someone else is, end quote. If you've decided to be stuck, that's fine, but others are going to blow past you. In the case of Michael, he was dealing both with immense pain and curiosity. He wasn't born a phenom. He became a phenom as he was driven by demons of his troubled childhood and as he desired to disprove parents and coaches who undervalued what he could do and be. The question is, are you willing to intentionally create pain in your life, the type of pain that

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_03] creates growth? To quote the poet Douglas Mallard, quote, Good timber does not grow with ease. The stronger the wind, the stronger the trees, end quote. Additionally, are you interested in life enough to become curious, the type of curiosity that will lead you to higher truths and more expansive connections? This level of curiosity becomes less black and white. To quote Brené Brown in Braving the Wilderness, quote, It's definitely messier taking a nuanced stance, but it's also critically important to true

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_03] belonging, end quote. You don't have to agree with everything someone says to take something from it. You don't only focus on a narrow slice of ideas or people. You're willing and open to both religion and science and everything else, and can see the pros and cons of all sides as you mature as a thinker. You're open and honest in your communication. You're fine dealing with messiness and emotions. All the while, you're still discerning and have grounding. Your worldview is moving forward, not just spinning in circles.

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_03] Every decision matters. The amount of choices you could make and information you could consume is extremely abundant. The amount of time you have is scarce. Who you become as a person is directly influenced by your ability to discern and decide which choices you make and information you ingest. What you consume determines who you become. What you consume in food, information, experiences, determines what you produce and how you act.

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_03] It determines the impact you have on the world and the lives of the people around you. How you act directly influences your personality. Your personality isn't a fixed and unchangeable thing you were born with. Your personality is something that continually develops. It develops as you change your brain. It develops as you change your environment. It develops as you heal suppressed emotions and traumas that freeze your personality and keep you stuck. There's a popular phrase that says, The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_03] The second best time is now. Although true, this quote ignores the fact that 20 years ago you were planting something. You did plant a tree 20 years ago, and 10 years ago, and 5 years ago, and 1 year ago, and last week. That tree is expressed in your current conditions and personality. Your past is powerful. It's showing itself in the person you are and the life you have. What have you been planting? Want something different? Then plant different seeds. Make different choices.

[00:06:44] [SPEAKER_03] Although powerful, your past isn't fixed, but fluid. You absolutely can change your past. Memories are inherently flexible and continually change based on new experiences. As you take in new experiences through your curiosity, your memories change permanently. Own your past. Take responsibility for it. Then change it by intentionally living to a higher level today and tomorrow. Don't get stuck in your past. Don't let it overly define you. Change it.

[00:07:14] [SPEAKER_03] Own it. When you realize how powerful your choices are, you become very discriminant about every choice you make. Every little choice determines who you become. Every book you read matters. Why? Because you could have been spending that same time reading something else. What you consume determines who you are. Every choice makes an impact, but not just on you, but the people around you. Your choice to work that extra hour has consequences.

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_03] You could work that hour or spend that hour with a friend or child or helping someone in need or playing video games. You could spend that hour deeply engaging with your child or you could spend that hour distracting on your smartphone. That decision determines who you are. It also determines your relationships, your context, and your environment. Are you consciously creating your environment or is your environment unconsciously creating you?

[00:08:07] [SPEAKER_03] When you start intentionally making decisions, knowing fully the gravity of what those decisions mean, then you can become who you want to be. Then you can create the environments that allow you the greatest freedom to transform yourself. Then you won't live a life of regret. Then you'll own your past. You'll own the trees you planted and the present reality you have. Additionally, your curiosity and imagination, combined with your increased ability to intentionally create and act,

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_03] will give you confidence in your ability to plant whatever trees you want in the present so you can more fully own your future. As you own your future, you more fully own your past because your new experiences reshape your past. What will you choose? You just listened to part two of the post titled, How to Increase the Volume of Your Brain and Make Optimal Decisions, by Benjamin Hardy of BenjaminHardy.com.

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[00:09:57] [SPEAKER_03] And thank you again to Benjamin. I don't think it can be argued when talking about nature versus nurture that our life choices and what we go through on a day-to-day basis affects who we are. It's pretty much a given. The question is whether or not our personalities that we seem to be born with, or at least the ones up to age seven, if those can be changed or if they're always stuck with us.

[00:10:21] [SPEAKER_03] And back to my commentary from yesterday, I was watching a documentary that tracked seven-year-olds every seven years. These kids are all grown up now, and you can see that in most cases, they all would agree that a lot of their personality can be seen from the very first video when they were seven years old. But does that mean we can't change? I don't think so. One of the kids was a bit shy and from a really small town.

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_03] When he was 14, he could barely show his face on camera. That's how shy he was. But by the time he was 21, he was already incredibly confident and working towards becoming a professor and a great speaker. He said it was something he had to consciously work on. And I think that's what Benjamin is talking about in this article. Most people will fight feeling uncomfortable and will stay in their bubble. But we don't have to. That's a conscious decision.

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_03] And changing our environment, even to make it slightly more uncomfortable every day or month or year, can help us get to where we eventually want to be. Or actually to who we want to be. Not really where, because as I always say, there is no destination. So I'd encourage both of us, really, to see how we can consciously create our environment,

[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_03] as Benjamin said, so that we're surrounding ourselves with encouragement rather than comfort and really stagnation. So a good one to think about today. Have a great rest of your day and start to your week. Thank you for listening every day and optimizing your life with me. And I'll see you tomorrow where your optimal life awaits.

[00:11:58] Thank you.