Your Brain Is Getting Weaker - Here's How to Fix It
4 Things to Help You "Bodybuild Your Brain"
Today I’m giving you four things that’ll help you “bodybuild your brain”.
Not your body…
Your Brain.
Because here’s the thing…
Most people spend more time worrying about their biceps than their mental strength, and then wonder why they crumble when life gets hard.
Let’s fix that...
#1 - You Don’t Need to “Go All the Way” to Be Happy and Successful
I recently read a poem by the late Charles Bukowski, and this is the first sentence:
“If you’re going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don’t even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind.”
This is the exact mentality I had 9 years ago, back in 2016.
I was “going all the way,” and by the end of the year, I almost lost my wife and mind.
This way of thinking is cute in your 20s…
But it’s a recipe for disaster in your 30s and 40s.
If you want to truly be successful, you need to define what success and happiness mean to you. Then commit to doing those things.
Things That Make Me Happy and Successful
My Family
My Content and Social Media
Having a Profitable Business
My Health and Fitness
My Freedom
My Commitments to These Things
Spend quality time with my family (weekends, evenings, holidays)
Show up every day and make people better with my content
Create the best products and deliver them to my clients and customers
4 sessions a week minimum (choose from gym, running, jiu-jitsu)
Measure and manage the above; it’s this that gives me freedom
Get a notepad and pen out, and do the same for your life.
Write down the things that are important to you and your commitments to make them a reality.
Stop trying to “go all the way” at everything and burning out.
Start being intentional about what actually matters.
#2 - Bodybuilding Your Brain
If you were to summarise how to “bodybuild,” it’s a pretty simple concept:
Place increasing amounts of resistance on your body parts and gradually increase it over time.
Spend just as much time on rest and recovery if you want to progress and stay injury-free.
The exact same concept can be applied to your brain, too.
Place adequate amounts of resistance over time (Problem-solving, facing your fears, doing uncomfortable things)
Increase that resistance over time (Bigger problems, finding more fears, increasing your levels of discomfort)
Rest and recover (7+ hours of sleep, plenty of days off, and lots of holidays)
Always remember: Stress + Rest = Growth in everything you do.
Most people only do the stress part.
Then they wonder why they’re burnt out, anxious, and can’t think straight.
Your brain is a muscle.
Train it properly!
#3 - The Compounding Effect of Compliments
We live in a world where people are focused on themselves and what they can take from the world, not give to it.
The simple act of complimenting others is the ultimate “cheat code” not only to benefit your life but also the lives of those around you.
I want you to think about the last time you got a genuine compliment from a stranger and remember how it made you feel.
Pretty awesome, right?
Here’s the thing about complimenting others…
It also makes the person giving the compliment feel good, too.
Positive emotions experienced by others create a ripple effect, and that person is more likely to be kind and giving to others they meet.
Hence, the compounding effect of compliments.
Research at Case Western Reserve University has shown that engaging in random acts of kindness once a week can reliably increase your personal well-being, and that spending money on someone else makes you happier for longer than spending money on yourself.
It doesn’t need to be a lot of money either.
Simply buying someone a coffee or paying for a stranger’s parking can be the ultimate mood booster.
Stop being so focused on yourself.
Start complimenting others and watch the ripple effect.
#4 - Do Something New for 30 Days
Ever feel like your life is on autopilot?
Doing the same things day in, day out, every single day?
Routine is important, but too much routine and certainty in your life can lead to unhappiness and boredom.
The solution?
Commit to a little “novelty” challenge of doing something new every day for 30 days and notice the difference it makes to your health and happiness.
Psychology Today says that:
“A sense of novelty activates the dopamine system directly. As a result, it enhances mood, a positive outlook, motivation, and goal-setting. A positive sense of novelty has also been shown to increase creativity in dealing with stress, lower perceived stress and anxiety, and lessen depression.”
Below I’ve listed a few things you can do each day in your novelty challenge…
Change Your Workout
Do something completely different with your exercise regime
(CrossFit, yoga, Zumba, jiu-jitsu, swimming, skipping) and commit to it for 30 days straight.
This might make you realise how stuck in your ways you are with your exercise routine and may unlock some surprising insights into how it makes you feel.
Talk to a Stranger
Every day for 30 days straight, you’re going to spark a conversation with a complete stranger.
This challenge, if you’re up for doing it, could totally change the game in your confidence and communication.
Learn a New Trick or Skill
Every day for 30 days, you’re going to master a new skill.
It could be juggling, solving the Rubik’s cube, shuffling cards, or mastering how to make your favourite cocktail.
Most of these, if you spend 15 minutes a day for 30 days straight, you’ll be able to master them in that time and show them off as your new party trick to others.
Your brain is a muscle.
If you’re not training it, you’re losing it!
Stop doing this:
Trying to “go all the way” at everything and burning out
Only stressing your brain without rest and recovery
Being focused on yourself instead of giving to others
Living on autopilot with the same routine every single day
Start doing this:
Define what success and happiness mean to YOU and commit to those things
Train your brain with increasing resistance, then rest and recover
Compliment others and engage in random acts of kindness weekly
Do something new every day for 30 days to boost mood and creativity
You wouldn’t skip leg day at the gym.
Stop skipping brain day in your life.
Jay Alderton