Mastering the Mindset
Mastering the Mindset
The Mindset Shift That Rewires Everything
What if you could literally reprogram your brain? In this episode, we break down the science of neuroplasticity—how your brain changes, rewires, and adapts to the actions you take every day. From wild research on London taxi drivers who literally grew new brain structures, to how practice, failure, and even stress physically reshape your mind, you’ll learn how transformation is not only possible—it’s scientifically proven.
Discover why your struggles are actually signs that your brain is upgrading, how repetition rewires your habits, and how showing up—again and again—is the real key to lasting change. If you’ve ever told yourself “this is just who I am,” this episode will prove your brain can be reprogrammed to become whoever you choose to be.
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Losing myself and finding my strength came to the conclusion that I want it all. Feeling that pressure of tryna do better. I wanna reach heights, but too scared to fall. Too scared of failure, way more scared of feeling regret. I'm not even trying, that's terrifying. I understand that chasing my goals, I bury my clocks because it takes time. I gotta go. I already know if I wanna grow, you reap what you sow. That be the case. Planting my seeds and water my base. Yeah, I make mistakes. Yeah, I know you grow in your garden, but watch for the snakes. The people that act like you're crazy, but trying this, they far away. They don't think it's possible. I think it's possible. That is just hate. If they hate themselves, cause they on the shelf. While you create a life that you love.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:A life that you love. Loving the fact to improving yourself. Decided that you would not settle. Decided that you got the drive to do it. The road got bumping your foot on the pedal. You go up a level, you turn up whenever. It's time for you to go put in that work. I know my work, huh? I know it ain't gonna be easy, yeah. I know it hurt, but thing is for sure. Yeah. Until it put me in this earth. Before I ride in that hearse, I'm chasing my goals. I'm chasing my goals.
SPEAKER_01:Loving the fact to improving yourself.
SPEAKER_00:Hey, and welcome back to another episode. Thank y'all so much for being here. If you are listening, if you are on YouTube, go ahead and like and subscribe to my channel. If you are listening on a podcast platform, please leave me a review. Also, become a monthly supporter of the show. You can choose the monthly amount. It can either be three, five, eight, or ten dollars. And you can cancel at any time. But why would you ever do that? Let's go ahead and dive in. Today, let's talk about something that's called neuroplasticity and how to change your brain and the science behind it. And I think this episode is a really important one because one of the things I'm sure y'all all have heard somebody say is stuff like, Well, this is just who I am. This is who I always been, this is who I'm always gonna be. In reality, that don't have to be true. In reality, you can shape and mold yourself to be almost anybody you want to be. And we got goals, right? We got things we're working towards. We want to have growth, we want to make some changes to who we are, and we can change ourselves. We just have to take the right steps and the right actions to get us there. If we change the actions, the right actions, over time, those actions we take, those actions that we changed, they'll become habits. And that's where change in the brain comes, which will lead to the changes in who we are. So if there are areas in your life that you want to change, if you take different actions, eventually your life will start to be different. And it sounds so simple, and it really is. We can understand that concept, but easier said than done, right? Okay, so neuroplasticity. What that word means is the science of how your brain changes, the science of how to change your brain, how your brain changes and and recognizes itself. So let's dive in. And I'm gonna share some interesting studies I came across. And this one comes from an entrepreneur and life coach by the name of Rob Dial Dial. And in his book, Level Up, he talks about a few studies. And the first one I'm gonna talk about is a study done on London cab drivers. Now, in London, the cab drivers they can't use any navigation system. Literally, the government doesn't allow them to use any kind of navigation system, and it comes from a law way back in 1865 for horse carriages. Not exactly sure how those two correlate, but from what I read, that's where this law comes from. And it carried all the way into now. And so it's just the way it is now. The law prevents taxicab drivers from relying on maps. So all the cab drivers in London rely on memory only, just memory. And they have to and they all have to pass this exam. And the name of the test is called the knowledge. And they have to learn every street to be able to navigate around the city much better than the average driver. And check this London has 25,000 streets. 25,000, and they have to learn all the streets, and it takes some drivers up to four years to be able to learn it all. Ain't that crazy? That's like going to school. So you can imagine half of the applicants fail. Literally, half of them fail. So here comes a study. So uh neuroscientists studied the impact of this on the drivers' brains, and they followed 79 people who were wanting to become official cab drivers for four years as they prepared to take this test, the knowledge. And they did MRIs on all of them, and they found that all the drivers had around the same size hippocampus. And the hippocampus is the part of your brain that um excuse me. Excuse me. The hippocampus is the part of the brain that deals with the kind of memory you need for navigation. So again, they all had about the same size hippocampus, and after four years, 39 of them passed, so about half. And after those four years, they did a scan on all the drivers again, another MRI, and they found that the hippocampi, that's the plural for hippocampus, part of myself for learning that. They found that the hippocampi in the brains of the drivers who passed the test were larger than the drivers who failed. During those four years, those cab drivers' brains literally changed. They all started with about the same size hippocampus, but after four years, the ones who passed had larger ones. And they weren't born that way. But through dedicated action and practice, they changed the brain. And of course, the reason I brought this up, the reason I brought this study up is that no matter who you are, no matter who you are, you can change your brain to do things you need to do. If you are terrible, if you're terrible with your memory, you can get your memory to be better. If you're bad with focus, you can get your focus to be better. If you're bad with spatial recognition, you can get better with spatial recognition. If you suck at math, if you suck at music, you can get better with math, you can get better with music, you can change it if you want to change it. So let's talk about some of these changes that your brain will go through. So there are three steps your brain will go through when it's starting to change. And the first one is a chemical change, and the chemical change is a short-term memory type of thing. So let's say you start to learn how to play the piano, and you sit down with a piano teacher, and they teach you how to play Mary Had a Little Lamb. And let's say it's about an hour-long session, and after that session, you feel like, okay, yeah, I feel kind of good. I feel like I got this song down. You can play it pretty good after that hour. Now, let's say you take a week off, and then you come back a week later and you try to play that song. You're gonna realize, damn, I don't have it. I ain't all the way there yet. I'm not as good as I was a week ago. Has that ever happened to you? I took a keyboarding class in high school and I went through this all the time. Plus, I didn't really take it as seriously as I wish I would have now, but that's a whole nother story. But this is why a lot of times in rehearsal in the rehearsal process in theater, let's say we work on a scene the day before, and then we finish it. We get all the blocking done. And for those non-theater folks, blocking is what it's it's called when you determine your movement on stage, like where you stand, when and where you sit, when you walk across the stage, when you move and where. So we got the blocking done, and the next day, the director, they would just run that scene at the top of the rehearsal before they go on to the next scene, right? Just to get it back fresh in your mind. Because once you move away from it and you come back to it, it won't all 100% be there. It happens every single rehearsal process I've ever been in, where we block a scene and keep working on other scenes throughout the week. And let's say we get back to that scene on the fourth day of the week, back to the first one we worked, but back to the first scene we worked on in the fourth day of the week. We have to kind of almost relearn a lot of it or be reminded of what all we did. And this is a chemical change in your brain, a short-term change. The electrical signals in your brain didn't rewire, just a short change. That's why you can learn how to do something today and suck at it tomorrow. While you can learn a scene today and then come back to it after the weekend and forget where you're supposed to come on the stage at. Happens all the time. It's a short-term chemical change. And that ain't gonna change your brain. But how do you change your brain? By showing up consistently over and over again. Repetition will learn you any skill. Repetition is the mother of skill. When you do something day in and day out, it starts to change your brain, which goes into part number two, which is structurally changing your brain. The first step is chemical change, the short-term memory. And the second one, structurally. So if I show up to rehearsal and learn a scene and go through a full rehearsal process, which is usually six days a week for a whole month, and each time I do the scene, I go deeper and deeper into my character, I start learning to play more. I start to know my scene partner's lines because I done heard them so many times now. I even got the timing down from when my next line is coming. And the structure of my brain will have changed. The synopsis in my brain will have rewired. When you constantly do something over and over again, your brain will change. And you start to change the structure of your brain, and you start to become better at whatever that thing is you're doing. You're gonna be way better at playing Mary Had a Little Lamb after one month than you were for after an hour, right? And any any musician would tell you that. So let's go further. And that is to step three, which is the function of your brain actually starting to change. So one is chemical, two is structural, and the third is the function of the brain changing. And let me read a quote from Rob Dial. He says Researchers have scanned the brains of pianists when they play the piano and found that their brains pump less blood to the regions associated with fine motor skills compared to the average person's brain. This means that the brain doesn't have to expend as much energy to concentrate. Pianists weren't born this way, their brains developed over time with practice. So, okay. Hold up, let's talk about this for a second. Now you would think that when a pianist sits down, especially if they've been doing it for decades, that they're a man and they're a master pianist, you would think that their brains would be like, okay, I'm gonna send more blood to this part of your brain so you can focus and play better. But that's not how it works. It does that in the chemical and the structural change, but in the functional change, your brain requires less blood for you to be able to play. And this has all happened to us. As a matter of fact, we all do it, and you probably do it a few times a week, and I'm gonna prove it to you. How many times have you drove home from work or from a certain direction on the highway and you don't even remember the drive? You look up and be like, Oh, I'm almost home already. I forgot to stop and get milk. Or the opposite. When you're not going to work, but you head in the same direction as your job, then you end up taking that turn towards your job even though you don't even work that day. Your brain has done it so many times that you won't even have to think about it. It doesn't need as much to function. We all been that done that, right? This happens to me all the time. And let me read some more. So, uh, where is it? Another research discovered that experienced jazz pianists while improvising created different connections in the frontal lobe of their brains compared to those who didn't play piano. This part of the brain is responsible for problem solving, decision making, and also spontaneity, which means that these pianists could turn off parts of their brain that would automatically provide a stereotypical response that allowed them to play in a way that was a true representation of who they were and not copy someone else. And that makes so much sense if you think about jazz music and how it's all improv impro improvisational, right? If they've been doing it for a long time and they're really good at it, the part of their brains that has been changed are the areas responsible for problem solving, decision making, and spontaneity, which means that as they become better musicians, they get better at problem solving and decision making outside of playing the piano. So being a jazz player, right, they literally change the function of their brain, which goes to show you that if you want to change something, let's say you want to get better at pickleball. Random, but I want to learn, I want to play. It looks fun as hell. But let's say you want to get better at pickleball. Not only will you get better at it, but you'll start to change other areas in your life, in your brain, because you're going to change the chemical parts of your brain, the structural parts of your brain, and in the long term, the functional parts of your brain. Which proves that you need to continue to keep showing up. You need to do that thing over and over and over again. Repetition is the mother of skill, of all skill. And we know that for the most part, right? When you start to take something, when you start to learn something, it just takes time, it takes effort. So, what it comes down to, when you start to learn something, there will be a struggle. And in his book, he talked about how many neuroscientists say this that when you struggle to do something, it is the most important part. When you fail at doing something, it's more important than succeeding at doing something. And when it's happen what happens is it's gonna feel like stress, it's gonna feel like agitation. When you struggle, it feels like this because your brain releases something called uh ooh, ooh wee, what this word is acetylcholine. Aceticoline, which is an an epide an epine ooh weepinephrine. Okay, aceticoline and epinephrine. I'm not even gonna edit that out. But uh when you when you struggle, right, your brain releases uh acetylcholine and epinephrine, which is another name for adrenaline, right? They it releases that in your brain and it does this in order for you to focus. And this is the crazy part, the cool part, your brain will release aceticolon and and epinephrine in your brain at the exact point it needs to change. It basically finds where your brain needs to change and releases this, and it basically kind of marks it, right? It bookmarks it. So think about that. That feeling in your body when you release those chemicals in your body is stress and agitation, right? That stress and agitation is showing you that your brain is about to change itself. That the more you get to this point, the more you'll change. It marks those neurons that need to be changed. When you struggle at something to get better at it, this is one of the important things. This is one of the important ways that you get better. It's struggling. Your brain is working to change that for you. Think about it. And I use theater as an example again. Now I would love to tell you that I ain't never make a mistake on stage, and if I did, I would be lying. But I think the biggest mistake I ever made, and it was actually the first professional show I ever been in. I was in a play called called Broke Ology at Pillsbury House Theater. And basically the whole show comes to a point of a decision at the end of the play that my character had to make. He had to choose between going back to school and getting his master's or staying home to help his brother take care of their sick and dying father. And the decision was a tough one. The two brothers had been debating about it the whole play, right? The other brother wanted him to stay, but my character wanted to make um life different, better, not only for him, but for the family. And it's literally the last page in the play. So I'm supposed to say, I made my decision, I'm not staying, I'm going. Right? That's what I was supposed to say. What did I say? Of course I said, I made my decision, I'm not going. I'm I'm I'm I'm not staying, I'm going. And when I tell you, in that moment, the stress and agitation, when the wrong line came out my mouth, I beat myself up for like a week after that. But guess what? It never happened again. Every time I came to that part in the script, I had the most focus. My brain had corrected it. And my point is, when you're trying to change something or learn something or do things differently, going after a goal or changing habits, when you start to feel that pressure of messing up or struggling, it's a good thing. Your brain is marking that spot and will work at making it better. Eventually, just like the rest of all my other lines in the play, like driving home from work, you will be at a level where you ain't even thinking about it. But like I always say, it takes time, it takes effort and dedication. And again, repetition is the mother of all skill. So, again, you can change your brain on the chemical level, the structural level, and on the functional level as well. Okay, and now you know how. So, that's what I got for you today. Uh, thank y'all again so much for being here. Please share this episode on your social media if you thought if you feel like this was helpful, uh, that will help me out a lot. Also, become a monthly supporter of the show. You can choose that amount, three, five, eight, or ten, and you can cancel at any time you want to. But why would you ever do that? Let's go ahead and get to that get to this music. The song I got for y'all today is called So Alive. Let's ride out. Yeah. See, I feel so alive right now. You know.
SPEAKER_01:It will make the people.
SPEAKER_00:But you got this frown on your face. It's like, listen, you got to get right with yourself before you can get right with anybody else. That ain't game, Marcus Wilson said that. Uh I feel so alive. Had to put my little chain on. And I felt like getting dressed, so I got fresh. I ain't got no stain on. They wanna cut my wings and take my halo. They tried to get me, they came close. Police caught me slipping, got my knife in the system. Yeah, I be fine, I'm an optimist. In my prime, like optimist. I'm feeling alive. If you ain't feeling my vibe, I don't give a damn. That should be obvious. Dot, and it's my night. So I flip the switch, I turn on my limelight, shine bright. Like the stone ruin your eyes. But I can see clearly now. I'm fortunate to live from a high site, but I'll be outright. Yeah. And my bar's always cold as ice cream. Like what you do for a clutch dice. All I wanted was an audience. I just wanted my free times. You understand how hard it is. Chasing my dreams, baby. I gotta put my hull in this. You don't need a cardiologist. You can see I put my heart in this. Ain't nobody goin' hard as this. I know that when I started this. Yeah, I pick up this, my copy sticks. And I be writing prescriptions. It got me feelin' like a pharmacist. I do a bitch like a topheist. And I'm down for whatever, baby. I'm with the shit like a toilet lid. You piss me, I'll forget flush, but I feel so alive right now. Loving your vibe right now. We look so fly right now. Maybe cause I'm high right now. Your mind is a blessing. Feel like I'm in heaven, girl. I just die right now. I dive in your hole in water, but I'm on drown right now. Cause I feel some alive. Yeah.
unknown:I feel some alive. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:They in my way like TSA, but they when I stop this. Cause I'm like a pilot. I mean I'm flying Look at my outfit. Suck my cockpit. Girl, I know we both got options. So let's be honest and keep it up front like table of contents. I'm never the nonsense. I'm tryna move your baby. From Louisiana, better be careful. Look at that boodle, baby. Come back to the crib. I don't got table, but I got a boodle, baby. Come Netflix and chill with me. Don't lie, keep it real with me. I can tell you you feelin' me. Throw it at me, I will hit it. And I feel so alive right now. I'm so high off life right now. Bob this shit can drop right now. And my nigga just came in town. Yeah, we finna go take it down. Yeah, we finna go acting found. Don't record me, put your phone down. A cell phone, it's an eyewitness, that's snitching, man. I don't wanna be on Facebook for your Snapchat or your Instagram. I can't let this hit the net, acting like it's the wimpadin. I ain't saying I'm innocent, but I am a businessman. I got an image now. Yeah, and I got a drink in my hand right now, then I gotta finish. Yeah, I got a lot of patience, girl, but I got a limit. Yeah, I gotta show them I'm not really playing like I gotta script. I never hate them niggas, cause I'm not a bigot. Everybody wanna give their two cents. So guess what? I got a lot of penance, but so what? I'm already winning, I pull juice, and I get a penny. I make it juicy, you callin' me bigot. But that's later on when I call Uber to take us home. Cause girl, I feel so alive right now. Loving your vibe right now. We look so fly right now. Maybe cause I'm high right now. Don't matter if this feels like I'm in heaven, girl. I just die right now. I dive in your hole in water, but I'm gon' drown right now. Cause I feel some alive. Yeah. I feel some alive.