Untitled Flashcard Set
The key difference between ordinary and extraordinary: ordinary people start, extraordinary people finish.
Example: Many sign up for a marathon, but only those who train consistently and cross the finish line achieve the extraordinary.
Example: Starting a business is common, but building it into a sustainable venture requires perseverance.
Common obstacles include fear, overthinking, confusion, anxiety, and procrastination. These are symptoms, not the problem itself—just like a fever is a symptom, not the root cause.
Example: Procrastinating on a project isn't the real issue. It's often masking fear of failure or perfectionism.
Example: Overthinking a decision might stem from lack of self-trust or unclear values.
Stop fixing symptoms. Address the root cause. Nothing changes unless you tackle the underlying problem.
Example: Anxiety medication might help temporarily, but understanding and resolving the source of stress creates lasting change.
Example: Creating more to-do lists won't help if the real problem is poor prioritization or lack of clear goals.
<aside>
Ground rules—Q&A at the end of the class
Put your phone on silent so you don't get distracted
</aside>
Your brain learns not just from theory, but from stories and case studies.
Example: Reading about resilience is helpful, but hearing how someone overcame bankruptcy to rebuild their business makes the lesson stick.
Example: Understanding memory techniques theoretically is one thing, but seeing how a student used them to ace their exams shows practical application.
Being surrounded by ordinary people doesn't make you ordinary. Taking consistent steps toward self-improvement makes you extraordinary.
Example: If everyone around you settles for mediocrity at work, but you spend 30 minutes daily learning a new skill, you're choosing to be extraordinary.
Example: Your friends might spend weekends scrolling social media, but if you're reading, exercising, or working on a passion project, you're setting yourself apart.
Asking questions and taking immediate action makes your brain more active and open to new possibilities.
Example: Instead of passively attending a workshop, ask clarifying questions and implement one strategy immediately afterward to reinforce learning.
Example: When faced with a challenge at work, actively seek feedback and experiment with solutions to strengthen neural pathways more than just thinking about it.
Understanding where you are now, what brought you here, where you want to be, and why there's a gap is essential for meaningful progress.
Example: If you're unhappy in your career, map out how past choices led you here, define your ideal role, and identify specific skills or mindset shifts needed to bridge the gap.
Example: Someone struggling with fitness might realize their current state stems from stress eating, their goal is to run a 5K, and the gap exists due to lack of routine and accountability.
Become a driver of your own destiny rather than a passenger who lets life happen to them.
Example: A driver sets intentional goals and takes daily action toward them, while a passenger waits for opportunities to appear or blames circumstances for their situation.
Example: Choosing to invest in your education, seek mentorship, and take calculated risks puts you in the driver's seat, whereas complaining about lack of opportunities keeps you as a passenger.
Recognize Release Rewire
Autopilot – Your brain runs on autopilot throughout the day. Most of your decisions, habits, and reactions happen without conscious thought. Train your mind to pursue prosperity on autopilot by building positive habits and thought patterns.
Example: If you automatically reach for your phone first thing in the morning, you're on autopilot. Replace that habit by placing a journal next to your bed and making gratitude journaling your new automatic morning routine.
Example: Someone who automatically orders takeout after work can rewire their autopilot by prepping healthy meals on Sundays, making nutritious eating the path of least resistance.
Example: If negative self-talk is your default response to mistakes, consciously practice reframing failures as learning opportunities until this becomes your new automatic pattern.
Brain fog – A state where you lose the ability to think clearly, often accompanied by anxiety that leads to confusion and inertia. This mental cloudiness prevents you from making decisions and taking action.
Example: You sit down to work on an important project, but your mind feels scattered and you can't focus on any single task, leading you to waste hours switching between tabs without accomplishing anything.
Example: During a meeting, someone asks you a question and your mind goes blank—you know you have the answer, but the fog makes it impossible to retrieve the information or articulate your thoughts clearly.
Example: You feel overwhelmed by a simple decision like what to make for dinner, and the anxiety about choosing paralyzes you into ordering takeout again, continuing the cycle of avoidance.
Emotional regulation – Learning to manage emotional distress prevents it from controlling your decisions and derailing your progress. Developing healthy coping strategies allows you to process difficult emotions constructively rather than suppressing or being overwhelmed by them.
Example: Instead of scrolling social media for hours when stressed, practice deep breathing exercises or go for a 10-minute walk to process your emotions in a healthy way.
Example: When receiving critical feedback at work triggers defensiveness, pause and journal about your feelings first before responding, allowing you to separate emotion from the actual message.
Example: Someone who tends to emotionally eat when anxious can develop alternative coping strategies like calling a friend, doing a quick workout, or practicing mindfulness meditation to address the root emotion rather than masking it.
Trauma – Many challenges you face today stem from past trauma you haven't fully processed. This can include judgment, abuse (physical or mental), failure, or any experience that remains unresolved in your mind. Your current state is a coping mechanism. Your addictions are coping mechanisms. Whenever you remember those moments, you feel sad and angry, which disrupts the neurotransmitters in your brain.
Example: Someone who was harshly criticized by a parent for making mistakes might now be a perfectionist who procrastinates on projects, fearing judgment. Their avoidance is a coping mechanism protecting them from re-experiencing that childhood shame.
Example: A person who experienced betrayal in a past relationship may now struggle with trust issues and self-sabotage healthy connections, unconsciously protecting themselves from potential hurt by pushing others away before getting too close.
Example: Someone who failed publicly in their first business venture might now avoid taking any entrepreneurial risks, staying in an unfulfilling job because the memory of that failure triggers anxiety and floods their system with stress hormones.
Brain: the chemical factory – Your brain becomes disrupted by chemical imbalances caused by elevated adrenaline and cortisol, along with suppressed dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin. We need to restore this chemical balance through intentional practices that calm the stress response and activate feel-good neurotransmitters.
Example: Chronic stress from an overwhelming job keeps cortisol levels high, making it difficult to sleep and causing brain fog. Implementing daily meditation and setting boundaries at work can help lower cortisol and restore balance.
Example: Someone dealing with depression might have low serotonin and dopamine levels. Regular exercise, sunlight exposure, and practicing gratitude can naturally boost these neurotransmitters without solely relying on medication.
Example: A person who feels disconnected and lonely may have low oxytocin levels. Building meaningful connections through volunteering, quality time with loved ones, or even hugging a pet can increase oxytocin and improve emotional wellbeing.
Success or struggle – Your health issues are directly correlated to your success or struggle. Once you rewire your brain, you can also reverse health ailments by addressing the mental and emotional patterns that manifest as physical symptoms.
Example: Someone with chronic migraines discovers that their headaches intensify during periods of high stress and unresolved anger. By learning emotional regulation and processing past resentments, their migraines significantly reduce in frequency.
Example: A person with digestive issues realizes their stomach problems worsen when they're anxious about work performance. Through therapy and mindset work addressing their perfectionism, their gut health improves as their stress levels decrease.
Example: An entrepreneur experiencing insomnia and high blood pressure finds that these symptoms emerged alongside their fear-based approach to business. After rewiring limiting beliefs about money and success, their sleep improves and blood pressure normalizes as they operate from a place of confidence rather than anxiety.
Commitment and perseverance – Train your brain to follow through and complete what you start rather than abandoning projects halfway. Finishing builds neural pathways that reinforce discipline and self-trust, while quitting reinforces patterns of giving up.
Example: Someone who starts multiple online courses but never finishes any of them reinforces a pattern of abandonment. By committing to complete just one course from start to finish, they build the mental muscle of follow-through that transfers to other areas of life.
Example: A person who begins writing a book with enthusiasm but stops at chapter three can break this pattern by setting a commitment to write just 200 words daily until completion, regardless of motivation levels, training their brain that perseverance trumps fleeting inspiration.
Example: An entrepreneur who has launched three businesses but closed each one at the first sign of difficulty can rewire their brain by committing to work through challenges in their next venture for at least one year, learning that persistence through obstacles builds the resilience required for success.
Unconscious expectation set point – This is your brain's autopilot mechanism, similar to cruise control in a car. It brakes when you're moving too fast and accelerates when you're going too slow, automatically keeping you at your preset level of comfort and achievement. It's the internal expectation for reward—the threshold where you accept less than you deserve because you subconsciously believe that's all you're worth. You're aiming high but settling for less—like aiming for the stars but settling for the moon.
Three parts of the brain
The reptilian brain (survival brain) – Handles the fight-or-flight response, operating 24/7 to scan for threats, problems, and obstacles. Modern stressors—social media, public speaking, demanding bosses, societal pressure—trigger this ancient brain. It prioritizes safety over growth, which is why stepping outside your comfort zone feels threatening even when there's no real danger. You stay in your comfort zone instead of putting in effort to succeed because you constantly imagine worst-case scenarios. To escape these fears—fear of failure, fear of judgment—you fall into procrastination and anxiety. Your brain cares about survival, not thriving. When you're stressed, your reptilian brain consumes most of your energy, leaving little to think clearly and act.
Example: When you're about to give a presentation, your reptilian brain interprets the audience as a threat, triggering sweaty palms and racing heart—the same response your ancestors had when facing predators, even though you're not in physical danger.
Example: Someone receives constructive criticism from their manager, and their reptilian brain immediately activates defensiveness and the urge to flee or fight back, perceiving the feedback as an attack rather than an opportunity for growth.
Example: When considering a career change or starting a business, your reptilian brain floods you with fear and worst-case scenarios, trying to keep you in the familiar (safe) situation even if your current job makes you miserable.
The mammalian brain – Produces all the chemicals in your body, including the two key stress hormones: adrenaline and cortisol. Some stress is beneficial, but when you're flooded with these hormones, you become paralyzed. These chemicals are addictive—you find comfort in the stressed state and become restless when at peace. Your mind is wired to constantly chase people and places that offer the same problems and obstacles, keeping you trapped in a constant loop of stress.