You Are Not Stuck, Your Brain Is: Featuring Neuroscientist Dr. Varunika Goyal

0:08 SPEAKER_03: Hi friends, welcome back to the Warriors Haven podcast.

0:11 SPEAKER_03: I'm your host, Jay, retired Army drill sergeant, and your favorite drill sergeant, of course.

0:17 SPEAKER_03: Today we are taking a field trip and we're diving into one of the most misunderstood topics on the internet.

0:24 SPEAKER_03: Your brain.

0:25 SPEAKER_03: Every day we're told rewire your brain, pack your brain, reset your brain, manifest a new brain.

0:35 SPEAKER_03: But here's the truth.

0:36 SPEAKER_03: If you've ever felt stuck, if you've ever kept repeating the same habits, if you've ever wondered why you know exactly what to do, but somehow don't do it, your brain isn't broken.

0:49 SPEAKER_03: It's doing exactly what millions of years of evolution designed it to do.

0:54 SPEAKER_03: Today, we're pulling back the curtain with neuroscientists to understand what is actually happening inside our brains.

1:03 SPEAKER_03: No gimmicks, no pop psychology, no overnight transformation promises, just neuroscience you can actually understand and use.

1:16 SPEAKER_03: Dr.

1:17 SPEAKER_03: Vatonika Guile is a neuroscientist, and she's joining me live on Zoom.

1:23 SPEAKER_03: Her research focuses on brain and memory formation, biological thoughts, sleep, and metabolism, exploring how these processes interact to influence health and disease.

1:37 SPEAKER_03: Beyond the laboratory, she also hosts the Why Research Matters podcast, where she speaks with scientists, innovators, and entrepreneurs from around the world about the discovery shaping medicine, technology, and society.

1:55 SPEAKER_03: Friends, let's dive into today's episode.

2:03 SPEAKER_03: Yay! Hi friends, welcome to the Warriors Haven podcast.

2:08 SPEAKER_03: I have a very special episode for you guys today.

2:11 SPEAKER_03: I want you guys to help me welcome Varu to the Warriors Haven.

2:16 SPEAKER_03: For many of you that are actually listening, this is a recorded.

2:20 SPEAKER_03: I actually have her live in person on the Zoom with me.

2:24 SPEAKER_03: So if you have a minute, jump over to YouTube and you're gonna be able to check out this video recording that I have with her.

2:30 SPEAKER_03: And we're gonna put Varu in the hot seat today.

2:33 SPEAKER_03: We're gonna talk about neuroscience.

2:34 SPEAKER_03: Varu is a neuroscientist herself, and I am so excited because it's always great to find professionals in the field over topics that we speak about.

2:44 SPEAKER_03: And it's just nice to have that professional on our podcast to really go in and explain really a lot of the topics and conversations that we have.

2:54 SPEAKER_03: So, friends, help me welcome Vadu.

2:56 SPEAKER_03: And Vadu, we're gonna jump right in.

2:58 SPEAKER_03: I know time is of an essence.

3:00 SPEAKER_03: You are one of our scientists, so I don't want to take up too much time, but I really want to dive into this episode with all the listeners.

3:07 SPEAKER_03: We are worldwide.

3:09 SPEAKER_03: So everyone all over the world is gonna be able to listen to you today and hopefully with this episode, really have some manageable takeaways.

3:17 SPEAKER_03: And that's always the goal for the Warriors Haven is as soon as our friends get done listening, things that they can immediately apply in their life, instantly, that they can start seeing transformations in a couple weeks, a couple months.

3:29 SPEAKER_03: So I'm excited, Vado.

3:31 SPEAKER_03: Are you ready?

3:32 SPEAKER_00: I'm ready.

3:33 SPEAKER_03: Okay, here we go.

3:34 SPEAKER_03: So let's start with the question.

3:36 SPEAKER_03: Almost everyone listening has probably asked themselves, I know what I should do.

3:42 SPEAKER_03: So why don't I actually do it?

3:45 SPEAKER_03: What's actually happening inside the brain when someone feels stuck?

3:51 SPEAKER_00: So, first of all, Jay, thank you for inviting me to this podcast.

3:55 SPEAKER_00: I'm very delighted to be here.

3:57 SPEAKER_00: And I hope I can contribute to your mission of spreading education and helping the people gain this knowledge.

4:04 SPEAKER_00: Now, coming to your question, so if I approach it from the context of a neuroscientist, we have evolved over thousands of years, and all that we do has been part of our evolution.

4:23 SPEAKER_00: So our ancestors they had to first of all take care of their survival.

4:31 SPEAKER_00: And they were living in a very wild ambience, like there were predators roaming around.

4:40 SPEAKER_00: So the brain learned to prioritize survival first, and for that we had to you know learn by our looking at our environment.

4:51 SPEAKER_00: Oh, there is rustling in the leaves.

4:52 SPEAKER_00: It could be a predator, or it could be just windblowing, right?

4:57 SPEAKER_00: And imagine two human beings who and the one who's able to distinct correct answer, like distinguish, okay, no, this is not rustling of the leaves, this is a wild animal, and he or she or he they were just there prepared to fight the wild animal or hide or run away, whatever response they took, they were able to survive, right?

5:19 SPEAKER_00: So this was a helpful thing for our ancestors.

5:23 SPEAKER_00: Now, over the time, what happened was we don't face the similar struggles.

5:28 SPEAKER_00: We live in the comfort of our home, the forests have reduced, the wild animals have reduced.

5:33 SPEAKER_00: We are we are not, but our brain maintains those patterns because brain also prioritizes survival first.

5:41 SPEAKER_00: But our issues are different.

5:43 SPEAKER_00: So we got to survive in office, we got to survive at home, we got to survive on the road when we are driving, and you being drill sergeant, so all these heavy life-saving and threatening things that were happening around you.

5:59 SPEAKER_00: So the brain just switches on those survival patterns.

6:05 SPEAKER_00: Now the problem arises when we are not able to switch off that thing.

6:10 SPEAKER_00: We are always in survival mode, and that's a bad thing.

6:14 SPEAKER_00: Now, what happens in the brain is there is a there is a circuitry for everything, like an electric board.

6:22 SPEAKER_00: So, first of all, there is a dorsal mode network.

6:27 SPEAKER_00: I don't want to be using too much technical jargon, but let's say there is a uh there is a part of the brain which recognizes there is a threat, there is a thing that happens that affects me, right?

6:42 SPEAKER_00: There's emotional crisis, something happened.

6:46 SPEAKER_00: And this part of the brain, the dorsal mode, uh, the default mode network, it only turns on when you are switched off from the external world, right?

7:00 SPEAKER_00: So let's say when you are lying in your bed, when you are in the shower, you're you can recognize a lot of thoughts come at that similar moment, right?

7:11 SPEAKER_02: Yes.

7:12 SPEAKER_00: Uh, when you are all alone in the house, or you have to spend a day by yourself.

7:18 SPEAKER_00: So all these thoughts come rushing to you.

7:21 SPEAKER_00: Oh, something happened in that meeting, they were not very nice to me.

7:26 SPEAKER_00: Oh, look at the guy who cut me off in the traffic, right?

7:30 SPEAKER_00: And so this is this is the part of the brain, the default mode network, which recognizes that there is a situation that you need to deal with.

7:39 SPEAKER_00: It could be a threat, it could be something that hurt you emotionally.

7:45 SPEAKER_00: It's not a threat, but your brain took notice, you didn't feel good about it.

7:50 SPEAKER_00: Right, and so all these things happened, and now you went into this rumination mode because this default mode network imagine various scenarios.

8:03 SPEAKER_00: Did I do something wrong to incite that response?

8:06 SPEAKER_00: Why were they nasty to me?

8:08 SPEAKER_00: Why did that guy cut me off?

8:11 SPEAKER_00: Oh, I applied to that job, but I haven't heard back.

8:15 SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine all these?

8:16 SPEAKER_00: So it's like, what if happens?

8:18 SPEAKER_00: What if that?

8:19 SPEAKER_00: What if they didn't like me?

8:20 SPEAKER_00: What if that happens?

8:22 SPEAKER_00: What so it's just rumination, rumination, rumination.

8:26 SPEAKER_00: Something about what happened in the past, like yesterday's office meeting, or something happened in the evening, and then there is another part of worry, like you can worry for your children.

8:36 SPEAKER_00: Oh, what will happen?

8:38 SPEAKER_00: What will happen to my parents?

8:40 SPEAKER_00: What will happen to my kids?

8:42 SPEAKER_00: What will happen if I run out of money?

8:44 SPEAKER_00: What will happen the hurricane season is coming?

8:46 SPEAKER_00: What will happen?

8:47 SPEAKER_00: What will happen?

8:47 SPEAKER_00: What will happen?

8:48 SPEAKER_00: You know, so rumination and worry past and future.

8:53 SPEAKER_00: These are the two things that get us overthinking, right?

8:57 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and somehow we have forgot to live in the present because this default mode network that keeps generating uh scenarios after scenarios after scenarios, and then there is a part of the grid brain which is called executive network, like the executive level of any company, which takes decisions.

9:23 SPEAKER_00: Oh, this happened with me in the meeting.

9:27 SPEAKER_00: Now, either you can forget about it, or the next time you can confront them, or you can answer in your own way, whatever the scenario demands, it makes a decision.

9:38 SPEAKER_00: Or let's say I'll not go on the on this way or on this street because the traffic there is crazy and I want to avoid all kinds of bad experiences.

9:51 SPEAKER_00: So there is a uh stimulus, or I should say there's a signal coming from the environment, and there has been a decision making about what you want to do it right now.

10:02 SPEAKER_00: These two parts need to be connected by a controller, like a traffic controller, right?

10:08 SPEAKER_00: Air traffic, okay.

10:10 SPEAKER_00: It should tell the executive part there is something that I need you to take decision about.

10:19 SPEAKER_00: So but when people are overthinking and ruminating or worrying about past or future, these scenarios that we generate in the default mode network part of the brain, what if this happens?

10:33 SPEAKER_00: Did they like me?

10:35 SPEAKER_00: What if that happens?

10:37 SPEAKER_00: These scenarios are never ending.

10:41 SPEAKER_00: And this doesn't allow the executive part to get turned on.

10:46 SPEAKER_00: Because every time it tries to take a decision, you go to another scenario.

10:51 SPEAKER_02: Right.

10:52 SPEAKER_00: Okay, uh, okay, money is taken care of, but what about this?

10:56 SPEAKER_00: Okay, uh, I got a car now, but what about the gas prices are so high?

11:00 SPEAKER_00: Will I be able to afford that?

11:01 SPEAKER_00: Will my kids be fine?

11:02 SPEAKER_00: Will my this and this is a never, never, never ending loop.

11:08 SPEAKER_00: And add emotion to that.

11:10 SPEAKER_00: My god, add emotion to that.

11:13 SPEAKER_01: Right.

11:13 SPEAKER_00: So let's say if you add uh fear, or you were afraid someone caught you in, oh my god, I just got saved, or someone honked at me, or I felt bad, they were nasty to me, and or you did something, I was not that good in the job interview, right?

11:34 SPEAKER_00: So you yourself were able to, and they haven't replied.

11:38 SPEAKER_00: Maybe they didn't like me, maybe my presentation was bad, bad, or something.

11:43 SPEAKER_00: So the thing is, if you could have taken a step or a decision about something that you're worrying, that thinking would stop.

11:53 SPEAKER_00: But you are not able to do that because there are infinite scenarios that your brain is generating.

12:00 SPEAKER_00: And how can I take an answer, uh, create an answer?

12:05 SPEAKER_00: Then the other part of the brain, how can I create an answer when you just don't stop for a second and give me time to generate an answer?

12:12 SPEAKER_00: That's putting it in the simplest way.

12:14 SPEAKER_00: There is a hell lot of technical jargon behind it.

12:19 SPEAKER_00: So that's the thing that happens when you talk about overthinking.

12:24 SPEAKER_00: We just ruminate, ruminate, worry, worry, worry.

12:28 SPEAKER_00: And it's not that I would like to add this point specifically.

12:32 SPEAKER_00: That if you notice, children don't do that.

12:35 SPEAKER_00: No, because children don't have experience of bad things, they don't have uh stored memories about something bad.

12:43 SPEAKER_00: Parents often make them realize that okay, if you do that, this will happen.

12:48 SPEAKER_00: So next time they can remember, right?

12:52 SPEAKER_00: But adults do that because you've applied to two jobs, one didn't go well because they were so now you will prepare more because you remember that, right?

13:02 SPEAKER_00: So memories also play a lot of part in your overthinking.

13:10 SPEAKER_00: So, okay, if I do this, maybe this happens, like last time I got this review, last time I got this feedback, last time they were nasty.

13:20 SPEAKER_00: So you create more questions based on your experience, so it becomes a never-ending loop.

13:26 SPEAKER_00: So that is what is happening inside the brain when you're actually overthinking.

13:31 SPEAKER_03: Wow, that is so fascinating! You know, you're I just appreciate how you were able to break that down because you know, as you're explaining everything, I'm like, it makes so much sense now.

13:42 SPEAKER_03: We continue to repeat past experiences, things we remember from five years ago, eight years ago.

13:50 SPEAKER_03: And so it makes sense as to why we have these moments where we feel stuck, but it's because we're not able to allow our brain to overcome those scenarios, whether they were good or bad, we continue to stay in that same rut.

14:08 SPEAKER_03: Um, so I really appreciate that.

14:10 SPEAKER_03: And, you know, sometimes we just have to stop, you know, just pause and like you said, allow the brain that moment to create that executive decision.

14:20 SPEAKER_03: Are we going to do this or are we going to do this?

14:24 SPEAKER_03: Um, and then that will then be able to kind of free up some of that mental space that we just kind of keep holding on to.

14:31 SPEAKER_03: And that just, wow, that is just such a revelation.

14:34 SPEAKER_03: Thank you for being able to explain that.

14:36 SPEAKER_03: And I want to follow up um with most people often think I'm lazy, um, I have no discipline, I just lack motivation.

14:48 SPEAKER_03: Um, are those accurate conclusions or is something deeper happening neurologically?

14:57 SPEAKER_00: So sometimes if I approach it again through the neuroscience point of view, uh let's say take an example of not being able to take a decision.

15:10 SPEAKER_00: Like you are procrastinating.

15:12 SPEAKER_00: Let's take procrastination is a big example.

15:15 SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'll exercise tomorrow.

15:18 SPEAKER_00: Doctor has given me uh warning that my blood lipid profile is not good, and uh I'm not in the best shape, I'm not in the best health, my tests are not looking good.

15:35 SPEAKER_00: And they said that if I don't change my lifestyle, something bad will happen with me, or this is a downhill path from here.

15:46 SPEAKER_00: Now, what happens is instead of going that way, that I need to take action here, all the other scenarios come to us first.

15:56 SPEAKER_00: You know, it's not uh you are motivated, not not motivated, or you are lazy or something, it's just that it's still not a priority enough, you know.

16:13 SPEAKER_00: And your brain need to recogn needs to recognize that it's a priority, like a survival, as I mentioned earlier.

16:21 SPEAKER_00: It is a priority because that is not going to happen today.

16:25 SPEAKER_00: If it would have happened today, I would have dialed 911, right?

16:29 SPEAKER_00: But if it's not happening today, uh five years, okay, I'll go to the gym tomorrow, I'll start working out later, I'll take care of this presentation over the weekend.

16:42 SPEAKER_00: Right?

16:43 SPEAKER_00: And by the weekend, what happens is because you haven't even opened your presentation or start building one slide, that anxiety builds up.

16:53 SPEAKER_00: So, what about if you make bit by bit daily some pieces?

16:58 SPEAKER_01: Right.

17:00 SPEAKER_00: And so this is something that we have to do externally.

17:04 SPEAKER_00: As I told you, you have to take a decision and execute it.

17:08 SPEAKER_02: Right.

17:09 SPEAKER_00: So it's also kind of reinforcement.

17:12 SPEAKER_00: If you get a good comment on your podcast or you get a good feedback on your podcast, it tells you you're doing something right.

17:21 SPEAKER_02: Right.

17:21 SPEAKER_00: Right.

17:22 SPEAKER_00: Let's say no comments, no likes, no views.

17:25 SPEAKER_00: We all struggle with that.

17:27 SPEAKER_02: Right.

17:28 SPEAKER_00: Even if you're doing something right, you your brain would start start ruminating again and again.

17:34 SPEAKER_00: So you sometimes have to take and take a decision by yourself, also.

17:41 SPEAKER_00: No, I think it's just not reaching people.

17:44 SPEAKER_00: You have to convince yourself also.

17:46 SPEAKER_00: Maybe I need to market more, maybe I need to, you know, approach more people, send messages, showing them my content.

17:55 SPEAKER_00: So that's what about I think uh motivation is like I use this analogy, it's like a bar.

18:03 SPEAKER_00: You have to take it daily.

18:06 SPEAKER_00: Right?

18:07 SPEAKER_00: You have to take it daily, you have to do the work daily, and this is something that you decide externally.

18:13 SPEAKER_00: If your brain is unable to give you feedback, or if you have to take that feedback externally, right, or you give yourself that feedback.

18:22 SPEAKER_00: So that is some kind of decision making, then executive network.

18:26 SPEAKER_00: Okay, this is not happening, but at least this is happening.

18:29 SPEAKER_02: Gotcha.

18:31 SPEAKER_00: So you have to realize how much priority it is.

18:36 SPEAKER_00: Brain should prioritize things.

18:39 SPEAKER_00: If it's just not important for survival, like today, right in the back.

18:44 SPEAKER_00: Okay, tomorrow I'll take care of it.

18:46 SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

18:47 SPEAKER_00: And that piles up, that leads to more anxiety, more loops, and that's something that I think is not good if you want to come out of this habit of overthinking.

18:59 SPEAKER_03: Right, yes.

19:00 SPEAKER_03: And I completely agree.

19:01 SPEAKER_03: You know, I think, you know, when you study individuals, and and so many people always have the question, you know, well, they're they're successful, you know, they're, you know, these athletes and these, you know, um performers, and you know, they've just they got lucky, you know.

19:18 SPEAKER_03: And so a lot of people always have those thoughts of, you know, when people are we see them so successful on the TV, you know, world tours, all these things, that they just they got a lucky break, and and we fail to understand that they did something a little different.

19:32 SPEAKER_03: They just prioritized what was important to them and then they kept executing, whether it was good or bad.

19:40 SPEAKER_03: They just kept going.

19:41 SPEAKER_03: And I think, you know, I use a lot of my my military and my my army experience in a lot of scenarios as well, when I talk to um other friends and doing podcasts and things of that sort, um, because I see how the military implements so many things where they make so many things a priority, and you just have to execute whether you feel good or you don't, it doesn't matter.

20:05 SPEAKER_03: You still have to wake up, you still got to put the uniform on, you still gotta go, right?

20:09 SPEAKER_03: Our military doesn't shut down.

20:11 SPEAKER_03: There's no days off, you know, no one is just at home, you know, no post is just vacant.

20:18 SPEAKER_03: There's always somebody on that installation somewhere.

20:22 SPEAKER_03: And so, you know, I just think that we have to, there's so many takeaways that we can learn from our environment and things around us.

20:28 SPEAKER_03: And so it leads me into another question for you.

20:32 SPEAKER_03: Um, when someone keeps repeating the same unhealthy patterns, um, what brain systems are involved?

20:40 SPEAKER_03: Is the brain protecting us, or is it simply following learned pathways?

20:46 SPEAKER_00: It's a bit of both.

20:48 SPEAKER_00: As I mentioned, first of all, it's survival.

20:51 SPEAKER_01: Okay.

20:51 SPEAKER_00: So brain always prioritize survival.

20:58 SPEAKER_00: And as I mentioned, there are three parts of the brain that are involved.

21:04 SPEAKER_00: That's the default mode network, which realizes that is this a threat?

21:10 SPEAKER_00: Is this something that needs urgency?

21:12 SPEAKER_00: What is the priority on this?

21:15 SPEAKER_00: And it kind of comes into play when you are by yourself and you're cut off from the external task.

21:22 SPEAKER_00: The second is the executive network, which does the decision making, decides what path you need to take forward.

21:27 SPEAKER_00: Should you make a list of what is going to happen, or you have to take care of these things, or you have to say this, or prepare more, whatever.

21:35 SPEAKER_00: And then the third part is the salience network that is a traffic controller, as I mentioned, in between them.

21:42 SPEAKER_00: So it tells the executive branch okay, this is the default mode network is having a problem, they have realized the problem.

21:50 SPEAKER_00: Now you need to do something about the problem.

21:53 SPEAKER_02: Right.

21:54 SPEAKER_00: And that's again, I would like to repeat that, but these scenarios that are Generated by default mode network are so many that executive network gets confused.

22:06 SPEAKER_00: Okay, is this important or this important?

22:09 SPEAKER_00: On the top, I need to take care of this also.

22:11 SPEAKER_00: So you know that that just happens.

22:14 SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

22:15 SPEAKER_03: And I think you know, I I fall into that because I'm a mom and I'm a single mom.

22:19 SPEAKER_03: So I'm always like, okay, I gotta go do this, but then it's like, oh yeah, but wait, I gotta do this too.

22:24 SPEAKER_03: And then it's like, oh, but then I gotta do this one, and this one's a little bit more important.

22:28 SPEAKER_03: And then it's like, but then I gotta keep my 10-year-old alive.

22:31 SPEAKER_03: So I gotta do this.

22:32 SPEAKER_03: And so, you know, it's always kind of like a ping pong of all the things that everything always seems to be so important, like everything seems to always have to be a priority, and so being able to find the difference as well of what really is a priority and isn't, you know, what what can really wait?

22:49 SPEAKER_03: And so I had to, it takes time.

22:50 SPEAKER_03: That's something I'm and I still have to, I still I'm still learning, right?

22:54 SPEAKER_00: As I kind of go through the process, but I would like to add something to that also, also the culture that we are in, it makes everything very urgent, right?

23:03 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, social media does not help, yeah, not even social media, just so social media, definitely, it's number one.

23:10 SPEAKER_00: But remember the times of a grandmother and grandfather, that's just one generation, right?

23:16 SPEAKER_00: Like our parents' parents, yes, they weren't having these high standards, and high when I say high standards, it means high standards of let's say beauty.

23:27 SPEAKER_00: You need to always dress like a celebrity.

23:29 SPEAKER_00: Why?

23:30 SPEAKER_00: Right, right, and for that, my hair needs to be a certain way, my uh, and then there's a culture of must-haves.

23:37 SPEAKER_00: Right.

23:38 SPEAKER_00: Oh, this is a must-have in your home.

23:40 SPEAKER_00: No, it's not.

23:42 SPEAKER_00: I decided this is a mess must-have.

23:44 SPEAKER_00: Right if I really need this, and then there's a insane standard of physical fitness, insane standard of working, going to office.

23:56 SPEAKER_00: You need to be able to be a multitasker and a fighter, and you know, all these things.

24:02 SPEAKER_00: You need to be a lot more than your grandparents or parents were supposed to be.

24:06 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that kind of confuses the brain.

24:10 SPEAKER_00: Oh, everything is that important, right?

24:13 SPEAKER_00: Okay, I need to do more work, right?

24:15 SPEAKER_00: Right, that's also causing something which is this state of confusion, overthinking.

24:23 SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.

24:24 SPEAKER_00: Someone told me, like, my five-year-old needs to learn coding.

24:28 SPEAKER_00: I was like, No, he doesn't.

24:31 SPEAKER_00: No, he doesn't.

24:33 SPEAKER_00: Let him be a five-year-old.

24:35 SPEAKER_00: So that's what his friends are doing, and so parents are getting in that competition, yes, and that's something that's hampering a kid's brain.

24:46 SPEAKER_03: Five-year-old, really, right, and I, you know, and I and I agree too, because you know, even in our in our podcast world, you know, we we see our fellow podcasters, you know, they have nine episodes that they're airing in a week.

25:00 SPEAKER_03: And it's just like that comparison of you need to have more, you need to do more, you know, if you're trying to reach X, Y, Z, and understanding that our missions are so different, you know, whatever your podcast mission is, that's the mission that you need to continue.

25:15 SPEAKER_03: And whatever your system is that you've built that works for you, you know, especially if you work a full-time job and then this is a hobby of yours to have your podcast.

25:25 SPEAKER_03: So you only record an episode on Saturday and then it airs on Tuesday and it's only once a week.

25:30 SPEAKER_03: If that's what works for you, then that's what works for you, you know?

25:34 SPEAKER_03: And so I think being able to stay true to self and understand, you know, this is what I've implemented and this is what feels good for me.

25:43 SPEAKER_03: This is what I'm trying to accomplish with my mission, my goal, and always keeping that in the forefront will always get you to supersede and surpass anything that you get to see on social media, the internet, the news, whatever.

25:58 SPEAKER_03: Um, and so, you know, I've I've had to catch myself, you know, being in different communities, being amongst so many successful individuals that are amazing.

26:07 SPEAKER_03: I love having conversations, learning, but then I always have to remind myself, Jay, you're a retired drill sergeant who has her podcast and is a single mom.

26:18 SPEAKER_03: And this is what I love to do and I love to educate.

26:20 SPEAKER_03: So, you know, bringing me back to my core of what my mission is.

26:26 SPEAKER_03: Um, and then people are able to resonate with that, right?

26:29 SPEAKER_03: Anybody all over the world, that's the authenticity that we always talk about.

26:32 SPEAKER_03: And so I think it's so important.

26:34 SPEAKER_03: So I want to follow up um and ask you for someone listening who's beating themselves up because they keep starting over, just over and over and over again.

26:43 SPEAKER_03: What's something you want them to understand about their brain?

26:50 SPEAKER_00: Um starting over can have different meanings.

26:55 SPEAKER_00: Are you starting over an artist can start over because they didn't like the painting?

27:02 SPEAKER_00: But someone who's a non-artist, they like the painting because they don't have that knowledge of perspective, all those shades and contrast, and uh you know, minute details that artists would like to put in their work, right?

27:16 SPEAKER_00: For me, it's perfect because I'm very bad at drawing.

27:19 SPEAKER_02: Yes, same.

27:21 SPEAKER_00: But yeah, so but an artist is starting over because they can judge their work better.

27:28 SPEAKER_00: So if you're starting over because you feel okay, this is not what I would like to put out into that world, and you have a list of things that you would like to improve, then it's okay.

27:41 SPEAKER_02: That's it, right?

27:43 SPEAKER_00: But if you're starting over simply because you couldn't finish what you started, and instead of okay, let's let's just start over, let's just start over, let's just start over.

27:56 SPEAKER_00: That is a problem because the thing is that every time the brain starts over, it again goes to that initial loop of rumination and worry, and you again encounter the same thoughts when you started over last time.

28:19 SPEAKER_00: Right?

28:19 SPEAKER_00: So it's trashy, I don't like my work, I don't like my dish, I don't like my painting, I don't like my exercise schedule, but I would like to continue and improve as I go on.

28:35 SPEAKER_00: That also gives brain a chance to learn new patterns, and new patterns not in the sense that you are making new stuff, but new patterns as an overcoming something.

28:48 SPEAKER_02: Gotcha.

28:49 SPEAKER_00: You know, overcoming something is again builds healthy connections in brain, which in simple terms is like you had the willpower to move on, right?

29:01 SPEAKER_00: You had the willpower to take over after, let's say uh having a break due to an injury.

29:09 SPEAKER_00: Yes, that case you're starting over because you lost strength in your leg because you were in the hospital, wherever, that's fine.

29:19 SPEAKER_01: That's fine.

29:20 SPEAKER_00: But if you're starting over, okay, one week I was lazy.

29:24 SPEAKER_00: Let me start over.

29:25 SPEAKER_00: One week I was lazy.

29:26 SPEAKER_00: Let's start.

29:27 SPEAKER_00: Then it's a problem, it's a pattern.

29:30 SPEAKER_00: So you need to overcome that, and that you can overcome once you finish that, even if it's bad, I'm telling you, you'll get a sense of accomplishment.

29:40 SPEAKER_00: Because brain made new connections, and you learn something about yourself, also.

29:45 SPEAKER_00: That okay, I can finish it.

29:48 SPEAKER_00: It still looks trashy, but this is how it is the version one.

29:54 SPEAKER_00: Now let's go to version two, in which I improve this, this, this, this, this, and then you know, um it's better that way.

30:04 SPEAKER_03: Oh, I love that.

30:06 SPEAKER_03: Yes.

30:07 SPEAKER_03: Thank you for explaining that.

30:09 SPEAKER_03: Because you know, sometimes I I catch myself, me personally, you know, I'm gonna I gotta start over, you know, I gotta start from scratch.

30:17 SPEAKER_03: And then, you know, I have to realize, wait, I still have a pretty good foundation.

30:23 SPEAKER_03: Let me just kind of pick up from this point, you know, and I and I also see that um in in the fitness world as well.

30:31 SPEAKER_03: And and I think, you know, using my military experience of being a former drill, you know, when we are conditioning and we have our weeks in basic training set to a specific way, it's it's a buildup.

30:45 SPEAKER_03: You know, we start from zero and it's a buildup until graduation.

30:49 SPEAKER_03: And so you can see where you're starting to transform in those weeks.

30:53 SPEAKER_03: It's not starting over, you're just kind of adding on to the week prior, and then you're kind of turning that dial just a little bit.

31:02 SPEAKER_03: So you're doing a little bit more.

31:04 SPEAKER_03: And so, you know, even having to use a fitness schedule, right?

31:08 SPEAKER_03: If you have a week where you design, hey, I'm gonna do my push-ups, my sit-ups, and then I have my cardio, and you do that routine, and it's for some reason probably didn't feel good.

31:21 SPEAKER_03: You it was probably not the right amount of reps.

31:24 SPEAKER_03: Um, starting over in that sense is going back and redefining what that routine can actually look like.

31:32 SPEAKER_03: So now you go into week two, and instead of 35 reps, well, maybe let me do 15 and make them correct.

31:40 SPEAKER_03: And then from there, you're able to kind of start and grow.

31:44 SPEAKER_03: So, in a sense of starting over in redefining what that looks like, it's very different from I'm gonna start working out on Monday and then you don't, and then the next week, okay, I'm gonna start working out on Monday and then you don't.

31:59 SPEAKER_03: And it's so that I want the listeners to really take that as a takeaway.

32:04 SPEAKER_03: And when we talk about starting over, those are the differences of you have a foundation and you're building off that and having to start from an ending point and continue, as opposed to saying you're gonna do, not do, and then saying you're gonna do and not do, and that being very, very different.

32:24 SPEAKER_01: Yes.

32:24 SPEAKER_03: So I want to segue into our next section um and really talk about brain.

32:30 SPEAKER_03: I'm just so fascinated, Vadu, about brain and just, you know, I don't think people are as excited as I am, and that's okay.

32:37 SPEAKER_03: Um, but the ones I think listening to the episode and to the podcast, I think they're following me on this journey.

32:42 SPEAKER_03: Um, so one thing I've noticed uh people will often choose what's familiar over what's actually good for them.

32:50 SPEAKER_03: Um, why does the brain seem to prefer certainty over growth?

32:55 SPEAKER_03: Can you explain that a little bit for us?

32:58 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because it's a simple thing.

33:01 SPEAKER_00: Certainty has worked before, it helped you survive, right?

33:07 SPEAKER_00: Yes, you are not so bad, even if you were not good, you survived that situation.

33:14 SPEAKER_00: You're comfortable in that situation, those neural pathways have already established them.

33:19 SPEAKER_00: The brain doesn't need to spend energy.

33:22 SPEAKER_00: So we have to always remember brain, the working of the brain is very energy expensive.

33:28 SPEAKER_02: Yes.

33:29 SPEAKER_00: So the first thing that happens when you are low on energy in the body or you lose glucose is you get a headache.

33:36 SPEAKER_02: Yes.

33:36 SPEAKER_00: That's a sign because the lack of glucose affects the brain the most because it's very energy expensive.

33:43 SPEAKER_00: So to do any kind of work, it has to spend more energy, more currency.

33:52 SPEAKER_00: Why spend that much energy?

33:54 SPEAKER_00: I remember this worked.

33:56 SPEAKER_00: I have a circuitry already established, a pathway already established.

34:00 SPEAKER_00: Instead of spending energy, taking away bodies' energy, which has been built by various chemical reactions, let me use that.

34:09 SPEAKER_00: And we all do that in our homes, also, right?

34:12 SPEAKER_00: Yes, we already have this.

34:13 SPEAKER_00: Why we need a new thing until and unless it is really urgent and we have to go out and buy a new car because the first one really stopped working.

34:24 SPEAKER_02: Yes.

34:24 SPEAKER_00: That's the similar thing that brain does, and that's the same thing for certainty versus uncertainty.

34:32 SPEAKER_00: I keep working in this job because I know my responsibilities, I'm comfortable with the teammates, I know my uh what are the benefits, what is the salary.

34:45 SPEAKER_00: I don't want to take risks and move to another city and leave my stable life here.

34:52 SPEAKER_00: That's too much for the brain.

34:54 SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

34:54 SPEAKER_00: So it tries to convince you don't do that, don't do that, right?

34:59 SPEAKER_00: So that's the thing.

35:01 SPEAKER_00: It's familiar versus unfamiliar, already established pathways, neural networks in the brain versus one that it has to establish again by doing so much energy-expensive work.

35:16 SPEAKER_00: So that's why brain loves solidity.

35:19 SPEAKER_03: Oh, that makes so much sense.

35:22 SPEAKER_03: Why we continue to do the same things we've done for 10 years because it's familiar and it's comfortable.

35:30 SPEAKER_03: So when we have to make a decision to do something different or we're forced to do something different, we're reluctant and we're a little hesitant.

35:40 SPEAKER_03: And, you know, unless this the situation calls for it, then we have to.

35:45 SPEAKER_03: And then the brain learns that new pathway of okay, now this is what's new.

35:51 SPEAKER_03: And see, I've always wondered because in the military, we move around a lot.

35:56 SPEAKER_03: Um, we're not in installations very long.

35:59 SPEAKER_03: Um, sometimes three years.

36:01 SPEAKER_03: Some of us can get lucky and do seven or ten.

36:04 SPEAKER_03: Um, but for the most part, it's three to four and we're constantly moving.

36:07 SPEAKER_03: And so I think that's what also makes us so adaptable in our line of work in the military, any of the branches.

36:15 SPEAKER_03: Um, because we are there for a little bit, we learn our brain, we start to kind of get comfortable, but we're not, we we can never get too comfortable because then we have to pack up and we have to go somewhere else.

36:25 SPEAKER_03: Um, and so again, that's another scenario and situation when I talk to friends that I like to use.

36:30 SPEAKER_03: Um, and sometimes that's really good.

36:32 SPEAKER_03: That's that's good almost like um nutrition and food for the brain, having to pick up and having to go somewhere new or doing something new that you haven't done before.

36:41 SPEAKER_03: It's almost a reset.

36:43 SPEAKER_03: And so, even, you know, civilians in in our everyday world, you know, go do something new that you haven't done before.

36:48 SPEAKER_03: Go take the trip that you've planned for five years and go do it.

36:52 SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?

36:53 SPEAKER_03: Go go to a new city and just go explore it.

36:55 SPEAKER_03: You know, it's resetting those neuropathways in our brain um for for new.

37:01 SPEAKER_03: And then you'll come back, and sometimes you have that refreshment feeling of, oh, ah, that actually felt really good.

37:07 SPEAKER_03: Um, and so I've been kind of feeling that um more.

37:10 SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, just like to add a bit here, neuroscience-wise, yeah.

37:15 SPEAKER_00: Brain doesn't prefer good or bad, ah, so it's like for you, it was good, and it became that you were moving one place to another, keep tunnel, and that became a normal for your brain.

37:30 SPEAKER_00: Yes, but if you decided to stay in one place, you will get this dread feeling.

37:36 SPEAKER_00: Oh, I haven't moved.

37:38 SPEAKER_00: Oh, what is new?

37:40 SPEAKER_00: I'm getting bold.

37:40 SPEAKER_00: I need to move, I need to move, I need to move because that is unfamiliarity for your brain now.

37:46 SPEAKER_00: Oh, so it is moving thing, is good for you, yeah, but you made it good, not the brain.

37:55 SPEAKER_00: Brain just realizes a pattern, or she moves every three years, or she moves every three years.

38:00 SPEAKER_00: So, this is the pattern of this person and this body in which I'm situated.

38:05 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but someone who have never left their town, stayed all life there, and if they have to take a trip, one-way trip abroad, they'll have a difficult time.

38:17 SPEAKER_00: Because that's not the brain doesn't realize it's good for me or bad for me, it just realizes it's a different pattern.

38:25 SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, it's a different pattern.

38:28 SPEAKER_03: Oh, thank you for that.

38:31 SPEAKER_00: That's why people to your former question, that's why people love certainty.

38:37 SPEAKER_00: Yes, and because uncertainty, the main brain makes this is new information, I don't know this.

38:43 SPEAKER_00: Right.

38:43 SPEAKER_00: Why are you trying to do that?

38:45 SPEAKER_00: I don't like this.

38:46 SPEAKER_00: Why are you changing this for me?

38:48 SPEAKER_02: Right.

38:49 SPEAKER_00: So this is a little caricaturish, but it's just brain realizes patterns.

38:55 SPEAKER_00: What does this person do?

38:57 SPEAKER_00: In whose you know, skull I'm situated.

39:00 SPEAKER_00: What does this person do?

39:01 SPEAKER_00: What is important for he or she?

39:04 SPEAKER_00: So that's something uh brain is just a pattern realizing, mostly pattern realizing uh part of our body.

39:15 SPEAKER_03: Wow.

39:16 SPEAKER_03: So I'm gonna piggyback off of that.

39:18 SPEAKER_03: Yeah can you explain prediction?

39:21 SPEAKER_03: Um, I've heard the brain is constantly trying to predict what's gonna happen next.

39:25 SPEAKER_03: How much of our day is actually driven by prediction instead of a conscious choice?

39:33 SPEAKER_00: I think most of our day is just unconscious choice.

39:40 SPEAKER_00: Conscious choices are something that again make the brain work.

39:44 SPEAKER_00: I'll take you and give you an example of driving.

39:46 SPEAKER_00: You leave your kid to school daily, you take the same route.

39:50 SPEAKER_02: Yes.

39:51 SPEAKER_00: If you are a new driver, it is a bit conscious thing for you.

39:56 SPEAKER_00: But after let's say a month or two or even six months, you don't even pay attention to where you're driving.

40:04 SPEAKER_00: Your brain takes over this automatic thing, and you don't you are listening to music or talking to someone on the phone and you keep driving.

40:13 SPEAKER_00: You don't need to consciously watch, okay, I have to take this turn or take care of that roundabout or stop at that red light.

40:21 SPEAKER_00: It just happens automatically.

40:23 SPEAKER_00: Yes, and so brain learns okay, she does that, and after the automatic system, autonomous systems take over.

40:34 SPEAKER_00: So and then you also spoke about prediction based on my experience, based on the memories that I have from, based on what I heard from someone, this is all stored in the brain in our cortical regions, and when we want to predict something, so let's say, okay, I'm going to Florida.

40:57 SPEAKER_00: What kind of clothes do I need to pick for my trip?

41:01 SPEAKER_00: What kind of shoes?

41:02 SPEAKER_00: Is it raining?

41:03 SPEAKER_00: So last time I was in Florida during this month, it was raining.

41:09 SPEAKER_00: Of course, you can check the weather app also, but on the basis of your experience.

41:14 SPEAKER_00: Oh, uh we took that lane, that street, but we encountered so much traffic.

41:21 SPEAKER_00: Why don't we this is prediction based on your previous experience?

41:25 SPEAKER_02: Right.

41:26 SPEAKER_00: Right.

41:26 SPEAKER_00: So prediction and conscious decisions again make you think.

41:31 SPEAKER_00: But for daily task, 90% of things that you do, brush your teeth, you take a shower, your brain doesn't spend time thinking about should I take a shower or should I put the water temperature hot or cold?

41:46 SPEAKER_00: These just happen, and you don't even realize when they're happening.

41:50 SPEAKER_03: Right, yes, so true.

41:52 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so because again, brain is saving energy.

41:56 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so these decisions go on autopilot.

41:59 SPEAKER_00: This will happen, this will happen, this will happen, this will happen.

42:02 SPEAKER_00: And now let's come to the important part, which I need to do consciously.

42:07 SPEAKER_00: I need to speak to that neighbor, I need to speak to that colleague, I need to talk to my kid about that, I need to talk to my husband about that, my wife about that.

42:15 SPEAKER_00: These are things that you consciously remember.

42:18 SPEAKER_00: So that's some that's the way the brain functions.

42:23 SPEAKER_03: Wow.

42:25 SPEAKER_03: And you know, I I want to kind of dip into is that why people stay in unhealthy relationships or in the jobs or the habits simply because they're just familiar?

42:35 SPEAKER_03: It's familiar.

42:35 SPEAKER_03: It's familiar.

42:36 SPEAKER_03: Wow, okay.

42:38 SPEAKER_03: So I want to talk about stress.

42:40 SPEAKER_03: You ready?

42:42 SPEAKER_03: Most people think stress only affects how they feel, but neuroscience tells us it actually changes how we think.

42:50 SPEAKER_03: What's happening in the brain during chronic stress?

42:55 SPEAKER_00: So, all the parts of the brain that I mentioned, and I would again mention shortly, the default mode network, which is doing the thinking part for you, the executive branch, the salient branch.

43:07 SPEAKER_00: Then it is stress and especially chronic stress, acute stress.

43:11 SPEAKER_00: Okay, you just do some action and then it's done.

43:14 SPEAKER_00: Yes, but a chronic stress, then these networks, the thinking network never stops.

43:22 SPEAKER_00: The executive branch can't function because there is no priority about which decision which task is important, about which a decision should be taken.

43:32 SPEAKER_00: So stress then affects your thinking pattern in a way that you get into this loop and can't take decisions in a timely way, in a speedy way, to a certain amount of certainty.

43:50 SPEAKER_00: We can't predict everything about what we have to do, but at least some part we can still predict, right?

43:57 SPEAKER_00: Yes, but when you You are stressed, you can't even predict that small part.

44:04 SPEAKER_02: Correct.

44:04 SPEAKER_00: You make more mistakes.

44:08 SPEAKER_00: You pick up wrong things, wrong ingredients, you press wrong buttons, you don't realize, oh, I missed the red light.

44:15 SPEAKER_00: That could be hazardous.

44:17 SPEAKER_02: Yes.

44:18 SPEAKER_00: So, and all this is because stress is keeping you fixated on that problem.

44:24 SPEAKER_00: Why did that happen with me in that meeting?

44:27 SPEAKER_00: Why were they so mean to me?

44:29 SPEAKER_00: Did I do something wrong?

44:31 SPEAKER_00: Don't I look good?

44:32 SPEAKER_00: Don't I speak nicely?

44:33 SPEAKER_00: Are my public speaking skills bad?

44:35 SPEAKER_00: What is happening?

44:37 SPEAKER_00: So, all these scenarios generated by our thinking part of the brain, they're never ending.

44:41 SPEAKER_00: And stress adds to that because stress is our way body telling us you need to do this to survive.

44:49 SPEAKER_00: Survival, survival, survival.

44:53 SPEAKER_00: So that's what stress does internally.

44:56 SPEAKER_00: Stress does a lot of bad things, bad, bad things.

45:00 SPEAKER_00: We don't even realize.

45:11 SPEAKER_03: So, why does stress make people forget things?

45:15 SPEAKER_03: Um, like lose focus, make impulsive decisions, or feel emotionally exhausted.

45:22 SPEAKER_00: Because your thinking loop, yeah, because your thinking loop didn't stop.

45:27 SPEAKER_00: Your brain needs to rest.

45:30 SPEAKER_00: And I don't say rest means it means it needs to sleep.

45:36 SPEAKER_00: Sleep is the best medicine for your brain.

45:40 SPEAKER_02: Gotcha.

45:40 SPEAKER_00: It needs to sleep.

45:42 SPEAKER_00: Second, it should disengage.

45:44 SPEAKER_00: But when if you're just fixated on that problem, same thing.

45:48 SPEAKER_00: I have a math exam today, I perform badly, and tomorrow I have an English exam.

45:55 SPEAKER_00: But I'm fixated on that math paper that is in the past now.

45:59 SPEAKER_00: So I'm not able to revise my content for the English thing, I'm not able to focus on that.

46:05 SPEAKER_00: I'm not able to shut my brain and tell it externally, stop, it has happened.

46:11 SPEAKER_00: Let's focus on this thing.

46:13 SPEAKER_00: So the decision making is not happening.

46:21 SPEAKER_03: What's one science-backed way someone can help regulate their nervous system today?

46:29 SPEAKER_00: Breathing.

46:30 SPEAKER_03: Breathing.

46:31 SPEAKER_00: Breathing.

46:33 SPEAKER_03: Can you uh just dive in just a little bit?

46:36 SPEAKER_03: What what what type of breathing?

46:38 SPEAKER_03: Regular breathing?

46:39 SPEAKER_03: Because I mean I'm I'm breathing right now, in through my nose, out through my mouth.

46:42 SPEAKER_03: No.

46:43 SPEAKER_00: So what I can judge from when I'm we are in this situation where you're asking me questions.

46:50 SPEAKER_02: Yes.

46:51 SPEAKER_00: And I have to be prepared, I have to answer everything, or at least that's what I'll try to attempt to do, right?

46:58 SPEAKER_02: Yes.

46:59 SPEAKER_00: And you are under pressure that you have to form questions for your audience so that they'll come out relevant.

47:07 unknown: Right.

47:07 SPEAKER_00: This is pressure, so we can't be breathing normally.

47:10 SPEAKER_00: We are breathing very shallow.

47:14 SPEAKER_00: But the breathing that needs to happen should engage your diaphragm.

47:20 SPEAKER_00: It should be deep.

47:23 SPEAKER_02: Okay.

47:24 SPEAKER_00: You must take a lot of oxygen, fill your lungs with oxygen.

47:28 SPEAKER_00: Brain needs oxygen.

47:31 SPEAKER_01: Okay.

47:32 SPEAKER_00: You get unconscious, you get you faint if there is a lack of oxygen.

47:37 SPEAKER_00: That's what happens when people die due to carbon monoxide exposure, right?

47:42 SPEAKER_00: So oxygen is constantly required.

47:46 SPEAKER_00: But if you're breathing shallow, there is no proper amount, proper level of oxygen that should reach the brain and the other vital organs of the body.

47:55 SPEAKER_00: And then they can't perform to their best level.

48:01 SPEAKER_00: And if they can't perform their best level, then all the things that we talked about, stress and overthinking, that can happen.

48:09 SPEAKER_02: Right.

48:10 SPEAKER_00: Breath work, take a break.

48:14 SPEAKER_00: Often you might have heard this theme in the meetings when they get very high tension.

48:18 SPEAKER_00: Let's take five, right?

48:20 SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.

48:21 SPEAKER_00: So take five, just five times breathe, inhale, exhale, and that really calms your nervous system.

48:30 SPEAKER_00: What it does is it brings your brain back to the present.

48:36 SPEAKER_00: Because when you're breathing, the brain engages in the process of conscious breathing.

48:44 SPEAKER_00: Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale.

48:48 SPEAKER_00: And that kind of calms the nervous system down.

48:52 SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

48:53 SPEAKER_00: And it might not solve your problems, but it calms you down, your stress level reduces, your cortisol level reduces.

49:03 SPEAKER_00: And at least you come back to present and approach the problem with a little bit more clarity, I must say.

49:10 SPEAKER_03: Oh, I love that.

49:11 SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I've noticed that, especially when I'm getting ready to speak or do, you know, an important um podcast or interview or anything of that sort.

49:20 SPEAKER_03: You know, obviously the the anxiety, right?

49:22 SPEAKER_03: The the little jitter, you know, critters that that kind of happen.

49:25 SPEAKER_03: And I always do my deep breathing, which I did in the military, and I didn't even know it was a I didn't honestly didn't know it was a thing.

49:32 SPEAKER_03: Started learning now that I've been out.

49:34 SPEAKER_03: Um, so many things that I had done that I didn't know of.

49:37 SPEAKER_03: Um and so it really does help calm and and like you said, bring you back into the present of yeah, I'm safe, I'm okay, this is gonna be fun, you know, and just those things that I also remind myself.

49:50 SPEAKER_03: So for our listeners all over the world, if you got a stressful event or you just gotta go back home to the kids in the car, just breathe, deep breathe, calm that nervous system, and then be able to attack the day you're gonna be able to.

50:03 SPEAKER_03: So, Vado, I want to ask you attention feels like it's under attack all the time.

50:09 SPEAKER_03: Attention, attention, attention, phones, notifications, social media, constant information.

50:16 SPEAKER_03: What does neuroscience tell us about attention?

50:21 SPEAKER_00: So attention is something that is given.

50:27 SPEAKER_00: Point one we are driving, we encountered tons of cars, tons of people.

50:36 SPEAKER_00: Do you remember which car passed you just this second?

50:39 SPEAKER_00: No, we weren't paying attention.

50:43 SPEAKER_00: But if a red light is there, you'll see that because you have been trained since schooling that okay, you gotta stop for a red light.

50:52 SPEAKER_00: Yes, and you paid attention to that thing.

50:56 SPEAKER_00: But nowadays, what is happening is you're driving, you are texting, listening to a podcast, listening to music, and you gotta, oh, I gotta stop at Kroger to grab that thing, and thousands of things are going in your mind, right?

51:13 SPEAKER_00: So state of confusion arises, and state of confusion is a very biological thing.

51:18 SPEAKER_00: There's an information overload.

51:22 SPEAKER_00: You really don't need to listen to music, at the same time, answer a phone call, at the same time, remember there's a red light approaching, at the same time, look at the map in your car, imagine, and if someone is sitting in the passenger seat, you gotta talk to them also, keep them engaged, whatever.

51:41 SPEAKER_00: Too much, too much for the brain.

51:43 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so your priority is get home safe, right?

51:48 SPEAKER_00: And your attention should be on that.

51:52 SPEAKER_00: But nowadays, the kind of world we live in, fortunately, unfortunately, a lot of things want to grab our attention, right?

52:00 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, buy this, buy that, watch this, breaking news, blah blah blah, blah, blah.

52:06 SPEAKER_00: And if we miss out, it's our fault also.

52:09 SPEAKER_00: If we miss out, we worry, oh, I'll have nothing to talk about in tomorrow's meeting where we'll discuss the soccer match that was going on on Saturday and that thing that they did, and um you know, so this fear of missing out is also causing us to do things where we don't give enough focus and don't approach uh task with absolute uh how to say attention that we always are in this, we don't know what is the priority again.

52:49 SPEAKER_02: Gotcha.

52:51 SPEAKER_00: Did I answer your question?

52:52 SPEAKER_03: It did, it did, and it it's actually bringing me to my next one, which you mentioned, you know, we're on the phone, we're listening to music, we're watching the maps in the car, we're talking to the passenger, we're looking at the 50 things outside the window.

53:05 SPEAKER_03: Can our brains truly multitask?

53:08 SPEAKER_03: Or are we switching back and forth?

53:11 SPEAKER_00: No, we can't multitask.

53:14 SPEAKER_03: So it's not a thing.

53:16 SPEAKER_00: It's not a we are forcing it to multitask.

53:20 SPEAKER_03: I should say that.

53:21 SPEAKER_03: We are because I tell everyone as a female I'm able to multitask, it's a special skill, yeah, and we are proud of that, right?

53:31 SPEAKER_00: But actually, we should not be proud of that.

53:36 SPEAKER_00: Wow, um, if you are able to say with 100% conviction that all the things you do did while you were driving, talking on the phone, uh listening to the podcast, remembering which red lights and turns to take, and but brain can't realize again that which thing needs my attention 90% versus 20% versus 80%.

54:06 SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying I don't multitask, I have to.

54:08 SPEAKER_00: The times are such, the demands are such, we have to.

54:12 SPEAKER_00: So it's not that I would say, okay, don't multitask.

54:16 SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you're short of time, the responsibilities are such, but that's something that that's not healthy for brain.

54:24 SPEAKER_00: Now, how to tackle that again?

54:27 SPEAKER_00: We have to prioritize.

54:29 SPEAKER_00: Uh, today I'll not listen to any music while I'm driving.

54:34 SPEAKER_00: Uh, I'll make a list, so I put my things that I need to remember in the brain what to grab from the grocery store.

54:42 SPEAKER_00: I have a list, so I don't need to actively remember, right?

54:45 SPEAKER_02: Right.

54:46 SPEAKER_00: So we have to try to unburden the brain or let's say take away some of the brain's load.

54:54 SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

54:55 SPEAKER_00: So that's why the task which actually requires our attention should get our 100% attention.

55:03 SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's so fascinating and interesting.

55:06 SPEAKER_03: So it's not good to have 30 things going on at once.

55:10 unknown: No, no, no.

55:12 SPEAKER_03: All right, y'all heard it.

55:13 SPEAKER_03: Vadu told us on the Warriors Haven.

55:16 SPEAKER_03: It's not good to have 30 things going on at once.

55:18 SPEAKER_03: We need to prioritize the one and give it 100%.

55:22 SPEAKER_03: Hey, it's Jay, your favorite Joel Sergeant.

55:24 SPEAKER_03: We're gonna get right back into the episode.

55:27 SPEAKER_03: But I just want to take a moment to tell you something I think you'll generally enjoy.

55:32 SPEAKER_03: Today's episode has you looking at science a little differently.

55:36 SPEAKER_03: Then you'll love Dr.

55:38 SPEAKER_03: Bobby's podcast why Research Matters.

55:42 SPEAKER_03: Every episode brings up outside conversations with researchers who are tackling real-world challenges from brain health and infectious diseases to cybersecurity, climate science, and art and technology.

55:59 SPEAKER_03: The goal isn't to overwhelm you with academic darkness, it's to help you understand the research that's shaping the world around you and why it matters to your everyday life.

56:12 SPEAKER_03: If you're curious by nature and love learning from the people doing the work, please go subscribe to Why Research Matters wherever you listen to podcasts.

56:25 SPEAKER_03: Let's get back into the episode.

56:27 SPEAKER_03: Um, so what's one thing that someone who wants better focus, someone that you know is is really trying to find this answer to have better focus, what's one habit that neuroscience strongly supports?

56:43 SPEAKER_00: There are several actually.

56:45 SPEAKER_00: So, first of all, that you can of course sit in a room with a lot of quiet, devoid of any kind of distractions, right?

56:57 SPEAKER_00: But then again, it's a choice.

56:59 SPEAKER_00: Even if you're sitting in a room with your phone switch off, with your TV switch off, music switch off, you yourself don't want to focus.

57:06 SPEAKER_00: So you should have that inner urgency again, realized by the brain, that I need I'm not getting up before I finish this presentation.

57:18 SPEAKER_00: Okay, I set my time and I block this amount of time on my calendar, and I'm not getting up before I finish this.

57:26 SPEAKER_00: So at that time, I'm not taking any phone calls.

57:30 SPEAKER_00: Best thing is don't distract yourself.

57:36 SPEAKER_00: Things all these things, uh let me tell you, they take time.

57:39 SPEAKER_00: You don't develop focus in day one.

57:42 SPEAKER_01: Right.

57:43 SPEAKER_00: New connections need to form in the brain, and eventually, brain realizes okay, the afternoon part of her life is for deep work.

57:54 SPEAKER_00: She's working on this presentation, and I need and then eventually it becomes a pattern.

58:01 SPEAKER_00: So you might have heard examples of people who go to their offices or mostly doctors and and scientists do it a lot.

58:10 SPEAKER_00: They reach office one to two hours before the buzz time starts.

58:18 SPEAKER_00: Yes, that time they do the thinking work because there is no one knocking on the door, no meetings have yet started, and stuff like that.

58:27 SPEAKER_00: So they've blocked that time.

58:30 SPEAKER_00: So that's really important, like blocking that time to avoid distractions.

58:34 SPEAKER_00: You can, of course, increase your focus by meditation.

58:40 SPEAKER_00: Meditation is known to change your brain activity.

58:43 SPEAKER_00: If you look at these MRIs and all these imaging techniques when you are meditating, the brain becomes really how do you say there is a the all the activity, all the buzzing that really comes down.

59:00 SPEAKER_00: If you are a good meditator, right, right, right.

59:03 SPEAKER_00: Right.

59:03 SPEAKER_00: In the beginning, of course, when you sit by yourself, thousands of thoughts arrive and all of this, but eventually you get better, right?

59:11 SPEAKER_00: And your focus increases, and some meditations are also like focus on one point on the wall or things like that, those are targeted towards increasing your focus, right?

59:24 SPEAKER_00: If you're not just breath work, but increasing your focus or repeating something in your mind, like or all these stuff, right?

59:35 SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

59:35 SPEAKER_00: So that is something that people can do to enhance their focus.

59:41 SPEAKER_03: Oh, I love that.

59:42 SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think for me, learning to limit my distractions was a big thing for me, and it was a big change in my world, my personal world.

59:52 SPEAKER_03: Um, taking the time, like you said, blocking that time became very important.

59:56 SPEAKER_03: And it's just now a part of my routine.

59:58 SPEAKER_03: It's just a habit now that I have, um, you know, that I just get up and my son's still sleeping, and that's, you know, my two-hour window, and that's just, you know, my reading time, my personal development time, my prayer time.

1:00:10 SPEAKER_03: Um, and it's just phenomenal what happens in that time.

1:00:13 SPEAKER_03: And it just really does give me the energy.

1:00:15 SPEAKER_03: It's almost like a fuel system um to just kind of combat the rest of the day.

1:00:20 SPEAKER_03: So um we're we're gonna kind of close up here.

1:00:23 SPEAKER_03: Um, we're coming close to our time.

1:00:25 SPEAKER_03: We're gonna have to do another follow-up segment.

1:00:27 SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna have to bring you back on and we're gonna have to continue because I have so many more questions for you.

1:00:32 SPEAKER_03: Like I said, this is probably one of my favorite topics.

1:00:34 SPEAKER_03: Um, but this, I think this one, this has to be probably one of my favorite questions is can adults, adults, actually change, or do our brains become fixed after a certain age?

1:00:50 SPEAKER_00: Uh, the answer is no.

1:00:52 SPEAKER_00: The brain is a very plastic organ of the brain.

1:00:57 SPEAKER_00: There's a term called neuroplasticity.

1:00:59 SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.

1:01:01 SPEAKER_00: So, of course, kids are in this environment when they are learning, learning, learning.

1:01:06 SPEAKER_00: They're going to school, learning sports, doing activity, and that's everything novel for brain.

1:01:11 SPEAKER_00: But as adults, we are set into our routines.

1:01:14 SPEAKER_02: Yes.

1:01:16 SPEAKER_00: So, since you were in the army, you realize okay, this is the time to get up, this is the time to go for drill, yep, and this is the time for, let's say, artillery training or whatever, right?

1:01:26 SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

1:01:27 SPEAKER_00: So your brain was set in that routine.

1:01:30 SPEAKER_02: Yes.

1:01:30 SPEAKER_00: If you are taken away from that routine, the problem will start to occur.

1:01:36 SPEAKER_00: But there's a way to track tackle this problem, and the brain is very plastic.

1:01:41 SPEAKER_00: So adults, to some extent, not actively like kids, but to some extent, can revive the brain, learn new skills, learn um to increase the plasticity, and the more plastic a brain, the better it is.

1:02:01 SPEAKER_00: That is why dancing is important.

1:02:03 SPEAKER_00: It teaches you new coordinated neuro coordination, right?

1:02:07 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this hand goes with that leg movement and doing puzzles, jigsaw puzzles.

1:02:14 SPEAKER_00: The harder, the better.

1:02:16 SPEAKER_00: I'm a fan of the hardest ones.

1:02:18 SPEAKER_03: Yes, those are so fun.

1:02:20 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and learning new skills, playing guitar, something that requires your brain to you don't need to take a single route to going to your grocery store.

1:02:31 SPEAKER_00: This time I take a new route without looking at the map.

1:02:34 SPEAKER_02: Right.

1:02:35 SPEAKER_00: Try to remember some numbers.

1:02:38 SPEAKER_00: So that's that keeps our.

1:02:41 SPEAKER_00: In fact, that was my PhD project that we were able to improve memories in mice, but we were tackling a human problem here, which were equivalent to 90-year-old humans.

1:02:54 SPEAKER_00: So you can imagine, like really age mice.

1:02:57 SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

1:02:58 SPEAKER_00: And we were training them on simple tasks, and the ones which were, you know, going through novel scenarios daily, they were able to tackle those tasks easily as compared to the ones that were just sitting ideally in the cage.

1:03:15 SPEAKER_01: Wow.

1:03:18 SPEAKER_00: So that is why the problem is we adults stop learning, doing new stuff.

1:03:25 SPEAKER_00: And it just doesn't mean that okay, simple task, engaging in challenging tasks, learning a new skill that you didn't learn in your childhood, or you know.

1:03:36 SPEAKER_00: So that's where you can keep your brain plastic.

1:03:40 SPEAKER_00: And yes, it is plastic.

1:03:42 SPEAKER_00: So neuroplasticity is really a thing.

1:03:45 SPEAKER_03: It's really a thing.

1:03:46 SPEAKER_03: Can you explain what it really what it really means, like without the internet height for a listener that's like, what is neuroplasticity?

1:03:56 SPEAKER_00: So basically, let's say by 20 you've learned whatever you need to learn to survive.

1:04:06 SPEAKER_00: Now you just need to execute it.

1:04:08 SPEAKER_00: So brain has formed certain connections and they stay.

1:04:13 SPEAKER_00: And you use them or retrieve them, or retrieve their functional use whenever you want, right?

1:04:19 SPEAKER_00: You've learned some basic skills like okay, walking, speaking, running.

1:04:26 SPEAKER_00: But then this is a limit for the brain, and the brain stops growing.

1:04:34 SPEAKER_00: The brain should be able to form new connections over the top of old connections, so these new connections can keep your brain active, otherwise, the old connections will age and your brain will lose its capability to learn new stuff.

1:04:59 SPEAKER_00: So that in layman terms is like neuroplasticity.

1:05:03 SPEAKER_00: Your brain should be able, if you look at these MRIs of especially the jugglers, you know, they learn to juggle walls and stuff.

1:05:13 SPEAKER_00: So there is an area of the brain that swells, it looks swollen in the MRI.

1:05:21 SPEAKER_00: It's not like a swelling because of an injury, it's because the new connections and new neurons have formed this connection there.

1:05:30 SPEAKER_00: Oh, the moment the juggler is out of the active learning phase and it gets into routine, that swelling goes away.

1:05:37 SPEAKER_00: It has learned something, so that area looks swollen.

1:05:41 SPEAKER_00: Similarly, for new language, uh new skill, anything that challenges your brain.

1:05:48 SPEAKER_00: So new connections are formed, new neural pathways are formed.

1:05:51 SPEAKER_00: And you can see that in the MRIs or these images.

1:05:54 SPEAKER_00: There are several over the internet.

1:05:56 SPEAKER_00: Learning expands the brain, and the moment The learning becomes retained, the brain goes back.

1:06:02 SPEAKER_00: Again, you learn something.

1:06:03 SPEAKER_00: So this is the plasticity that I'm talking about.

1:06:06 SPEAKER_03: Oh, I love that.

1:06:08 SPEAKER_03: Thank you.

1:06:08 SPEAKER_03: I haven't had anybody be able to kind of explain it the way you just did.

1:06:12 SPEAKER_03: So I think that really helps in knowing how our brain kind of expands and kind of goes back and the challenge, which is why they tell us to challenge.

1:06:21 SPEAKER_03: Challenge your brain, get it to grow, and then once it learns, it goes kind of back to like normal size.

1:06:27 SPEAKER_03: That's so fascinating.

1:06:28 SPEAKER_03: What's Varu?

1:06:30 SPEAKER_03: What's one misconception about neuroplexicity that drives you crazy?

1:06:36 SPEAKER_00: Oh, several.

1:06:37 SPEAKER_00: Don't get me started on that.

1:06:39 SPEAKER_03: What's one?

1:06:40 SPEAKER_03: Give us one.

1:06:41 SPEAKER_00: We will, we will just go on and on and never stamp.

1:06:46 SPEAKER_00: Like, so there uh once I heard a crazy thing about, you know, all these um DIY stuff that happens.

1:06:58 SPEAKER_00: I'm not a DIY, especially in terms of neuroplasticity.

1:07:04 SPEAKER_00: Take this or drink this, and this happens, and the brain is an organ that performs better when actively engaged.

1:07:17 SPEAKER_00: It's like muscle, you know, like eat as you mentioned, you need to develop it over time.

1:07:22 SPEAKER_00: You can't just say, okay, eat 10 grams of protein and neuroplasticity is going high, and uh, this is the hack for this.

1:07:31 SPEAKER_00: Uh and people take proud and uh not sleeping.

1:07:38 SPEAKER_00: People are very proud.

1:07:40 SPEAKER_00: I can survive without sleep of with sleeping just four hours.

1:07:45 SPEAKER_00: No, no, it will catch you up eventually.

1:07:49 SPEAKER_00: It will catch you up eventually.

1:07:51 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you need according to your own body.

1:07:54 SPEAKER_00: Okay, you could be a night owl or early bird, whatever, but this time your body needs your brain needs.

1:08:01 SPEAKER_00: So you know, don't develop these hacks for neuroplasticity, especially.

1:08:06 SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to name anything, but like drink this, eat this.

1:08:11 SPEAKER_00: It eventually helps.

1:08:12 SPEAKER_00: As you mentioned, it's nutrition.

1:08:14 SPEAKER_00: Yes, but brain needs to be actively engaged and it develops over time.

1:08:22 SPEAKER_00: So even if you need to get out of a loop of overthinking, you need to repeat those healthy patterns.

1:08:28 SPEAKER_02: Right.

1:08:29 SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

1:08:30 SPEAKER_00: Distract, don't distract yourself, actively shift your attention, move away from that place.

1:08:35 SPEAKER_00: If you are in the overthinking loop, get up, have a drink of water, you know, take do some breath work.

1:08:42 SPEAKER_00: So that way you can really uh but yeah, no, no hacks.

1:08:48 SPEAKER_03: This is not no hacks, and like you mentioned earlier, um, sleep very, very important.

1:08:53 SPEAKER_03: Um, it's the medicine, like you said, for the actual brain, um, and to actually actually get sleep, not being in bed for you know six or seven hours, but actually being asleep, getting into that deep sleep state, deep sleep, which which is what our brain really needs.

1:09:10 SPEAKER_03: I read that.

1:09:11 SPEAKER_03: I read that in a book, Vado.

1:09:12 SPEAKER_03: You'll be so proud.

1:09:13 SPEAKER_03: Um, okay, we're gonna do rapid fire and then we're gonna get ready to close up the section um and the segment for the episode.

1:09:19 SPEAKER_03: It has been such a pleasure.

1:09:21 SPEAKER_03: I'm so excited.

1:09:22 SPEAKER_03: We're gonna go ahead and do this again because I have so many more questions, and we're gonna do around two for sure.

1:09:28 SPEAKER_03: Rapid fire, Vado.

1:09:29 SPEAKER_03: You ready?

1:09:30 SPEAKER_03: Yeah, biggest myth about the brain.

1:09:33 SPEAKER_03: Go.

1:09:34 SPEAKER_00: Uh, you can hack it.

1:09:36 SPEAKER_03: No, no, can adults grow new neural connections?

1:09:44 SPEAKER_00: Yes.

1:09:45 SPEAKER_03: All right, coffee before or after focused work?

1:09:51 SPEAKER_00: Before.

1:09:52 SPEAKER_03: Before?

1:09:52 SPEAKER_03: Ah, that was for me.

1:09:53 SPEAKER_03: I needed to know that.

1:09:55 SPEAKER_03: What's one daily habit nearly everyone should have?

1:10:00 SPEAKER_00: Take out five minutes for breath work.

1:10:04 SPEAKER_03: Five minutes for breath work, okay?

1:10:06 SPEAKER_00: At least, at least.

1:10:07 SPEAKER_00: At least minimum.

1:10:08 SPEAKER_00: More great.

1:10:10 SPEAKER_03: Okay.

1:10:10 SPEAKER_00: Five minutes.

1:10:11 SPEAKER_03: Okay, minimum five minutes.

1:10:14 SPEAKER_03: One book you'd recommend.

1:10:18 SPEAKER_00: To read about brain.

1:10:19 SPEAKER_03: Yes.

1:10:21 SPEAKER_00: Uh we can read the book by Rahman Kayal.

1:10:26 SPEAKER_00: He was the founding scientist who the founders of neuroscience, how neurons are formed.

1:10:33 SPEAKER_00: Specifically about memory.

1:10:35 SPEAKER_00: I I don't remember the name of the book, but I can send it to you and you can put it in the description, maybe.

1:10:41 SPEAKER_03: I sure will.

1:10:42 SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'll definitely I'll put it in, I'll put it in the show notes for my book readers.

1:10:46 SPEAKER_03: I'm a big book reader, so I'm always looking to add to my collection.

1:10:49 SPEAKER_00: But I remember another one that is by Daniel Kahneman, and he received a Nobel Prize about it, and it's about thinking uh fast and slow.

1:10:59 SPEAKER_00: That's the name of the book.

1:11:00 SPEAKER_02: Okay.

1:11:01 SPEAKER_00: And it's about cognitive, yeah, cognitive biases.

1:11:04 SPEAKER_00: That's a totally different topic, but it's a good book to learn how we think.

1:11:08 SPEAKER_03: Oh, I love that.

1:11:09 SPEAKER_03: Okay, I'll definitely put them in in the show notes and in the description following this.

1:11:13 SPEAKER_03: One thing social media gets completely wrong about neuroscience.

1:11:20 SPEAKER_00: Again, it can be haggard.

1:11:22 SPEAKER_00: No, it's not computer science.

1:11:24 SPEAKER_00: It's not computer science.

1:11:27 SPEAKER_03: Um, and one thing you wish everyone understood about their own brain.

1:11:34 SPEAKER_00: You have to actively walk with your brain.

1:11:40 SPEAKER_00: It's not that it's not a default system.

1:11:44 SPEAKER_00: It's like working, it's something that you could do for your body.

1:11:49 SPEAKER_00: And I think I have seen tons, I can tell you, it's so sad.

1:11:52 SPEAKER_00: I've seen tons of healthy adults, 21-year-olds, 20-year-olds, healthy, healthy body.

1:12:00 SPEAKER_00: But they suffer from incurable brain diseases, and that's so sad to see.

1:12:05 SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

1:12:06 SPEAKER_00: I've worked in hospitals and they have these problems.

1:12:11 SPEAKER_00: So please take care of your brain.

1:12:14 SPEAKER_00: It's the single most, I think the most important asset.

1:12:19 SPEAKER_00: I'm a Sambias to the brain.

1:12:21 SPEAKER_00: So single most asset uh of your body that makes you think, makes you take decisions, go on about your life.

1:12:30 SPEAKER_00: So yeah, you have to work with your brain, challenge it, actively engage it.

1:12:36 SPEAKER_03: Oh, I love that.

1:12:37 SPEAKER_03: Before we wrap up, imagine someone listening today.

1:12:40 SPEAKER_03: They're overwhelmed, they're exhausted, they failed more times than they can count.

1:12:46 SPEAKER_03: They're starting to believe maybe they're simply wired this way.

1:12:50 SPEAKER_03: What would you want to leave them with?

1:12:54 SPEAKER_00: Okay, first of all, get up from that bed, just get up, and undertake small tasks.

1:13:04 SPEAKER_00: The smallest thing you can do is take a sip of water, take your breath, just one sip of water, one breath, and then do the most single most important task that you can do today, even if it's just putting clothes and laundry machine.

1:13:26 SPEAKER_00: Start small, your brain is real will realize that it can be done over the time, increase the intensity, over the time increase the intensity, and then start undertaking tasks which are more challenging slowly and slowly and slowly.

1:13:47 SPEAKER_00: Think about decisions you have to make slowly, not a whole big picture scenario.

1:13:52 SPEAKER_00: I have to make a one million follower podcast today.

1:13:56 SPEAKER_00: No, just create a YouTube YouTube channel today, just this much.

1:14:02 SPEAKER_00: Next day, come on, record a small video, post it, even if it's unpro imperfect.

1:14:08 SPEAKER_00: Don't care, just start.

1:14:10 SPEAKER_00: New connection again, post a small thing, again, again, and then you will see that eventually healthy connections are forming, better connections are forming, and you'll come out of that rut.

1:14:24 SPEAKER_00: That comes, but you have to break that pattern, even it's by just taking a single breath, getting out of bed, drinking a sip of water, break that pattern, shift from that overwhelming area and move away.

1:14:40 SPEAKER_00: That's uh that's what I want people to leave with.

1:14:43 SPEAKER_00: You can do that.

1:14:45 SPEAKER_03: You sure can do that.

1:14:47 SPEAKER_03: Yes, I love that.

1:14:48 SPEAKER_03: Thank you so so much.

1:14:52 SPEAKER_03: I know before we started recording, I had asked you um, did you have any you know projects coming up?

1:14:58 SPEAKER_03: Um, where can people find you?

1:15:00 SPEAKER_03: Um, how can we support you?

1:15:02 SPEAKER_03: Where can we connect with you?

1:15:03 SPEAKER_03: Can you kind of give us how we can get in contact with you just to know more about you or just support your journey of what you got going on?

1:15:11 SPEAKER_00: So people can find me over LinkedIn.

1:15:14 SPEAKER_03: LinkedIn?

1:15:16 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, my full name is Veronica Goyle, and uh I used to be a faculty at medical school.

1:15:22 SPEAKER_00: So if they are interested in knowing in depth about research of various kinds, they can check out my podcast, Why Research Matters.

1:15:34 SPEAKER_00: Uh, here I feature people who are actively engaged in academic or industry research and bringing out new treatments, new technologies to help people.

1:15:45 SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I think LinkedIn is the best way to reach me.

1:15:50 SPEAKER_03: Okay, I love that.

1:15:51 SPEAKER_03: So, yeah, I'll put all of the information again in the show notes and into the description for our friends to be able to follow your journey, support you.

1:15:59 SPEAKER_03: I will obviously give you some more shout-outs in the podcast because this has been absolutely phenomenal.

1:16:06 SPEAKER_03: So many amazing takeaways.

1:16:07 SPEAKER_03: It's always great to hear from the actual professionals, um, our doctors, our scientists, you know, those that are in the field actually doing the work, you know, because I'm just Jay.

1:16:19 SPEAKER_03: I'm just a retired drill sergeant.

1:16:21 SPEAKER_03: You know, I just I'm able to get on and share this information, but it's so much more meaningful when we're able to get professionals like yourself and your colleagues to come on and be able to really kind of explain more in depth for our friends all over the world to better understand and apply and implement.

1:16:40 SPEAKER_03: So um, what I loved most about today's conversation is this you don't have to fight your brain, you need to understand it.

1:16:49 SPEAKER_03: The more we understand how our brains actually work, the less shame we carry, the more likely we are to take action that's meaningful.

1:17:01 SPEAKER_03: And meaningful action repeated consistently is how real change happens.

1:17:07 SPEAKER_03: Remember, your brain isn't broken.

1:17:11 SPEAKER_03: Our friend Vadu just told us it's not.

1:17:14 SPEAKER_03: So it has been shaped by your experiences, your environment, and the patterns you've repeated over time.

1:17:21 SPEAKER_03: That means change isn't about becoming someone else, it's about helping your brain learn something new through consistent, intentional practice.

1:17:31 SPEAKER_03: If this conversation helped you see yourself with a little more compassion and a lot more clarity, share it with someone who needs to hear it.

1:17:40 SPEAKER_03: These are the conversations that can honestly change lives because they replace shame with understanding and myths with science.

1:17:50 SPEAKER_03: Until next time, stay disciplined, stay curious, and remember the strongest weapon you'll ever train is the one between your ears.

1:18:01 SPEAKER_03: Thank you so, so much, Varu.

1:18:04 SPEAKER_03: This has been amazing.

1:18:05 SPEAKER_03: We're gonna do round two.

1:18:07 SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna bring you back onto the podcast.

1:18:09 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it has been amazing for me.

1:18:11 SPEAKER_00: First of all, you have a very contagious energy.

1:18:15 SPEAKER_00: I wish I could learn from that.

1:18:17 SPEAKER_00: And um, I've been told many times I'm monotonous, but I think I learned this energy thing from you.

1:18:24 SPEAKER_00: I love that, yeah, and it's so positive and so energetic.

1:18:29 SPEAKER_00: And you asked me so many different questions, and most of the time, we scientists are just working in our labs, yeah.

1:18:35 SPEAKER_00: And it's good to explain the real-world applications of what the work we do.

1:18:40 SPEAKER_00: So thank you for giving me a chance to do that.

1:18:43 SPEAKER_00: Of course, it was a pleasure, and let me know when you need me again.

1:18:48 SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.

1:18:50 SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yes, our friends all over the world, you guys are listening.

1:18:54 SPEAKER_03: We're gonna go ahead and bring Varu back because we need her back because there's so much more friends that we need to cover and explain.

1:19:02 SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, we can read books, we can read newsletters, we can read, you know, all the things on the Forbes, but it's so much more fun when we're able to interact like this and actually have an expert on to explain things and break it down for us normal folks here in the world to really better understand.

1:19:21 SPEAKER_03: So, Vadu, I'm gonna go ahead and end the recording at this point, but we're gonna go ahead and stay on and we're gonna have some behind-the-scenes clips.

1:19:28 SPEAKER_03: So it's Jay, your favorite drill sergeant.

1:19:37 SPEAKER_03: Before you go, I want to leave you with one final thought.

1:19:40 SPEAKER_03: Knowledge is powerful, but knowledge without action changes nothing.

1:19:45 SPEAKER_03: If today's conversation helped you better understand how your brain works and gave you hope that real change is possible, then I'd love to invite you to take the next steps with us inside the Warriors Haven Inner Circle on School.

1:19:59 SPEAKER_03: It's a community built for people who are ready to stop living on autopilot and start building a life rooted in discipline, resilience, and intentional growth.

1:20:10 SPEAKER_03: Every week, you'll find practical coaching, mindset training, neuroscience-backed strategies, accountability, and a community of people committed to becoming stronger together.

1:20:22 SPEAKER_03: One decision at a time.

1:20:25 SPEAKER_03: Again, you can find the Warriors Haven Inner Circle on school.com.

1:20:30 SPEAKER_03: That's SKOL.com.

1:20:34 SPEAKER_03: And if this episode resonated with you, I'm excited to share that my first book, The Warriors Haven Edge, is scheduled to release later this year.

1:20:42 SPEAKER_03: It's everything I've learned from the military, neuroscience, leadership, and coaching combined into a practical framework to help you rebuild your identity, reclaim your energy, and create lasting change from the inside out.

1:21:01 SPEAKER_03: You can join the exclusive book wait list today at thewarriorshavenbook.com and be among the first to receive updates, exclusive content, and launch announcements.

1:21:13 SPEAKER_03: Again, that wait list can be found at the Warriorshavenbook.com.

1:21:19 SPEAKER_03: Thank you for spending part of your day with us.

1:21:23 SPEAKER_03: If this episode encouraged you, challenged your thinking, or helped you see yourself differently, please share it with someone who needs to hear it.

1:21:32 SPEAKER_03: Your support helps us reach more people who are searching for hope, clarity, and a path forward.

1:21:40 SPEAKER_03: Until next time, stay disciplined, stay curious, and never settle for the person you were yesterday.

1:21:48 SPEAKER_03: Your next chapter starts with the decision you make today.

1:21:54 SPEAKER_03: Until next time, stay strong, stay focused, stay ready.

1:22:01 SPEAKER_03: I'll catch you on the next episode.

1:22:11 SPEAKER_03: Hi friend, thanks for tuning in to the Warriors Haven podcast, where we turn discipline into freedom and help you build the body, mindset, and lifestyle you deserve.

1:22:21 SPEAKER_03: If today's episode fired you up or gave you just that little push you needed, don't stop here.

1:22:26 SPEAKER_03: Head on over to the WarriorsHaven.com where you'll find details on how to jumpstart the next version of you.

1:22:32 SPEAKER_03: Remember, it's not about being perfect, it's about showing up for yourself every single day.

1:22:38 SPEAKER_03: So until next time, stay strong, stay focused, and stay ready.

1:22:43 SPEAKER_03: I'm Jaycha Sutherland, and you're listening to the Warriors Haven podcast.