YOUR OWN BRAIN IS THE ENEMY (AND THE SAVIOR) OF YOUR EVOLUTION. LET'S WAKE UP YOUR INNER GIANT.

YOUR OWN BRAIN IS THE ENEMY (AND THE SAVIOR) OF YOUR EVOLUTION. LET'S WAKE UP YOUR INNER GIANT.

Let that sink in.

You're not battling external forces.

You're not inherently "lazy."

You are, right now, in a fight for your future. Against the most tricky, well-meaning, incredibly efficient "demon" you'll ever find.

It lives inside your skull.

And it's set up to keep things just as they are. That can make change tough.

This isn't just about willpower.

This is about the fundamental, paradoxical truth of your own biology.

I’m in it right now.

Deep in the trenches. Trying to build my group trainings.

Building this business.

Filling these coaching groups.

And to be really honest, a lot of days, I feel like I don't know what the hell I'm doing.

I'm surrounded by people who do.

People who seem to have the map. The secret handshake. The algorithm.

Yet, the demons I'm fighting aren't out there, are right here. In my own head. And the biggest one? It's my Default Mode Network. My DMN. My internal demon.

This is where we need to nerd out for a minute. A little bit of Nick Nowledge.

Because this is the core of everything.

If you're looking at transforming your life in any way, you have to understand this.

In my book, The Art of Accomplishment, I talk about the importance of being terrible at something.

I said, "In order to get what you want out of life you have to be willing to suck at something long enough to get good at it."

That isn't just a challenge. It's the pathway. The only way.

It's the way to create a new way of being. And that way of being is going to create everything in your life.

You want to change things? You have to first change yourself. That's a core.

I think about the man who wanted to solve the Rubik's Cube without any outside help.

I can solve that cube in about two minutes. Not too shabby for a novice.

Not world record speed, obviously. The world record for a human solving the cube right now is about three and a half seconds. So damn fast.

While I am no record holder, I can solve the Rubik’s Cube fast enough.

A lot faster than he ever did. Because this guy put all of his time, attention, and resources into learning how to solve it on his own. Mind you, this was in a time when YouTube existed. Books existed. Experts were everywhere, offering help. But he chose to go it alone.

It took him twenty-six years.

Twenty-six years he'll never get back.

His focused effort on solving that cube, by himself, ended up costing him some big things. His job. His relationship. It wasn't just how much effort it took to figure it out alone. It was the real impact of that choice. He could have learned from somebody else. But he didn't want to. He felt like he just had to do it all on his own.

And that was the cost.

Our brains are powerful beyond measure.

And one of the things we're equipped with are mirror neurons.

Little tiny neurological helpers. They see things in the environment.

Or in the people around us. And allow us to mimic, to mirror, their exact behaviors in our own minds. In essence we start to create wiring through simple observation.

Researchers found these mirror neurons are very helpful at learning from others' experiences.

But if we get so set in our ways? If we refuse outside help?

Then yes. We can go that route. But it will take a lot of time. And resources that many of us just don't have.

Part of what we battle isn't only our inner demons. Our inner DMN. Or the automations we prefer; the laziness and ease of doing what we've always done.

It's also learning from others. Witnessing others. And then, using that observation to rewrite our own inner programming.

Someone said the definition of insanity is to do the same thing you have always done while expecting a different result.

What the hell?! That seems like torture.

The Inner Universes: Where Your Reality Is Forged

Let’s nerd out a little bit. Let's dive deeper into how your brain actually works.

When you truly understand this. You understand your brain is wired to support you. Any way you want. For success or failure.

If you want to tell yourself you’re a failure and that you must do it on your own? Your brain will support that. It will build the pathways.

Or, you can learn from others. You can start to program that in. Using the power of your own neurobiology.

Your brain is not some static lump of grey matter.

It’s a living, breathing, three-pound universe of roughly 86 billion neurons, and over 85 billion glial cells.

Each neuron is a star of potential. Connected by over 100 trillion synapses. A network more complex than all the galaxies in the known cosmos.

And the fundamental law governing this universe?

Neuroplasticity.

It's the amazing ability of your brain to physically change its structure and function. In response to every single thought. Every emotion. Every experience you have.

Charles Darwin said that is not the strongest or most intelligent that survives; it's the most adaptable to change.

This is not a metaphor. This is your physical reality.

The thoughts you think. The emotions you feel. The actions you take. They are all physically sculpting your brain; moment by moment.

The core principle is simple: neurons that fire together, wire together. Simple enough, right?.

When you engage in a new thought or a new behavior, a faint electrical current moves between a set of neurons. It’s like a whisper. A tentative path in the wide neural landscape.

Do it again, and the path becomes slightly more defined.

With enough repetition, with focused attention, this process triggers a series of changes at a molecular level. Genes inside your neurons activate. New proteins are made. New synaptic terminals grow, creating stronger, and more robust connections.

At the same time, a team of tiny cellular workers goes to work.

Oligodendrocytes. These are the master electricians of your brain. They start wrapping that active neural pathway in layers of a fatty substance called myelin. This myelination process is the physical manifestation of habit. It’s like paving that footpath. Turning it into a slick, eight-lane superhighway. Thoughts and behaviors traveling on myelinated pathways are incredibly fast. Efficient. Automatic. This is why you can drive your car while your mind is a million miles away. Or why a long-held belief feels so instantly, unquestionably true. It’s traveling on a neural superhighway.

Microglia. These are the sculptor-gardeners. They roam this inner landscape. Constantly. Through a process called synaptic pruning, they act on the second half of the law: use it or lose it. The pathways you neglect. Those old habits you’re trying to break. Those negative thought patterns you refuse to entertain. They get marked for demolition. The microglia dismantle these unused connections. Breaking down the old roads. To free up precious resources. Resources for building new ones. To extinguish an old pattern is to consciously starve it of your attention until it is physically deconstructed.

Astrocytes. They’re the conductors of this entire neural orchestra. They manage the environment. They regulate neurotransmitter levels. They control blood flow. Ensuring that the active, developing networks get the energy and chemical support they need to grow. While the neglected ones simply atrophy.

This cellular ballet is the physical mechanism of transformation. To "get good" at something is to build and myelinate a neural superhighway for it. To "reprogram" yourself is to consciously, deliberately choose which pathways to build, and which ones to allow to be dismantled.

The Ghost in the Machine: Your Demon, The Default Mode Network

For much of your life, you are not the driver. You are the passenger.

The entity at the wheel, humming beneath your awareness, is your Default Mode Network. Your DMN. This isn't one brain region. It's a vast, interconnected network. It lights up the moment your conscious mind disengages from a task.

The DMN is the ghost in your machine.

It’s your personal "demon," not in the sense of being evil, but in the ancient Greek sense of a guiding spirit. In this case, one built entirely from the echoes of your past. The DMN is the automated repository of your childhood programming. Your past experiences. Your ingrained beliefs. Your unresolved conflicts. It is the architect of your autopilot.

You know you’re operating from your DMN when:

Your mind wanders aimlessly, replaying past conversations or rehearsing future anxieties.

You react to a situation with a familiar surge of emotion before you've had a chance to think.

You find yourself having the same internal arguments or justifications, day after day after day.

You perform a complex task, like your daily commute, and have no actual memory of doing it.

You feel a vague sense of being a spectator to your own life, watching it unfold without truly choosing.

This network exists for a very important reason: energy conservation.

Your brain, while only two percent of your body weight, consumes a significant twenty percent of your daily glucose. It is the most metabolically expensive organ you own.

Conscious, focused thought. The act of forging new neural pathways takes a lot of energy. Your brain, driven by an ancient need to preserve resources, created the DMN as a smart way to save energy. It runs on the well-paved, myelinated superhighways of your past. Requiring little to no conscious effort. This is your “Laziness.”

Your brain doesn't prefer "laziness" over "success." It prefers efficiency over inefficiency.

It prefers the low-cost automation of the DMN. Over the high-cost metabolic cost of conscious creation. The demon isn't fighting you. It's trying to save you energy. Based on a program written by your past self. And in its strong drive for efficiency, it can slow down your growth.

Summoning The Creator: Your Executive Control Network

The antidote to the DMN's automated grip is the Executive Control Network. The ECN. This is the network of your prefrontal cortex and other associated regions. This is The Creator. The Architect. The CEO of your brain. The conscious, present, aware You.

When you engage your ECN, you are, by definition, silencing the DMN. The two networks are like a seesaw. When one is up, the other is down.

You summon The Creator when you:

Focus your attention intently on a single point, like in meditation.

Engage in complex problem-solving.

Learn a new, challenging skill.

Consciously choose a different response than your automatic impulse.

Step into a novel environment that demands your full awareness.

This is the act of seizing the steering wheel. It is metabolically expensive. It feels like effort. It requires more glucose. This is the cost of conscious awareness. And it is the price of change.

Your body's preference for automation is the biological barrier. You must be willing to push against it. Every single time you consciously choose to engage The Creator. Instead of letting the DMN (Demon) run its course. You are paying the metabolic tax.

To build a new reality.

The Epic Saga of a Developing Brain

Your life is an epic story. Of these two networks vying for control. A story told in distinct neurodevelopmental chapters:

Ages 1-7: The Big Bang. The infant brain is in a state of pure potential. A "Big Bang" of creation. Forming over a million new synapses per second. It is almost entirely ECN-driven. Absorbing the world without the filter of a fully formed DMN. This is why childhood experiences are so foundational. They form the very first superhighways in the neural landscape. The bedrock of the DMN's future programming.

Ages 7-13: The Great Sculpting. The brain begins a massive pruning process. Experience becomes the chisel. The connections used for language. For social interaction. For survival. They are strengthened and myelinated. The connections that are not used are carefully removed. The initial form of the adult mind is being sculpted from the raw marble of childhood potential.

Ages 13-25: The High-Stakes Workshop. Adolescence is characterized by an overactive, highly sensitive limbic (emotional) system and a prefrontal cortex (The Creator) that is still under construction. This creates a period of intense emotion, risk-taking, and social sensitivity. It is also a second critical window of plasticity. The experiences of this period profoundly shape the DMN, solidifying the beliefs and habits that will form the "default" self of adulthood.

Peak development isn't a single event.

Processing speed may peak around 18. But emotional intelligence and wisdom. The ability to use The Creator to guide past the DMN's automatic responses. Can grow for a lifetime.

Adult neurogenesis, the birth of new neurons in the hippocampus, confirms it: your brain is never finished. You are never in decline. You are always in a state of renovation.

The Performative Self: You Are Not a Noun, You Are a Verb

This brings us to the ultimate question: What is identity?

From a neuroscientific perspective. Your identity is not a thing you have. It’s a process you do.

It is a performative self. An ongoing pattern of neural firing. That you enact moment to moment.

Your sense of "I" is the story your DMN tells you. Based on the well-trodden highways of the past. But it’s just that. A story. And you can change the story. You can write your GIANT life.

This is where the concept of reciprocal determinism becomes the ultimate tool for transformation. Your internal state, your external behavior, your environment, are all in a constant feedback loop.

The Old Loop (The Demon's Grip): Your DMN generates an automatic negative thought. This leads you to avoid a social situation. This reinforces your isolation. Which further strengthens the negative DMN programming. Proving its story "right."

The New Loop (The Creator's Revolution): You must consciously break the loop. This requires immense effort. You use your ECN to choose a new behavior. Despite the DMN’s screaming protests. You go to that social event. This forces you into a new environment. This new environment demands your attention. Further engaging your ECN. Silencing the DMN. In this new state, you may have a positive interaction. This experience provides new data. A new whisper of a neural pathway. That says, "Hey, maybe that old story isn't true."

This is how you change your identity.

You act as the person you want to become. You perform the identity.

You show up, pay the metabolic tax of conscious effort, and force your brain to build the neural architecture to support the performance. With enough repetition, the performance ceases to be an act. The new pathway becomes myelinated. The new behavior becomes the new automatic default.

The Creator’s deliberate choice becomes the demon’s new programming.

You change your world, and in doing so, you change your identity. You change your identity, and in doing so, you change your world. It is a reciprocal dance.

By understanding these mechanisms, you move from being a passive victim of your biological programming to becoming the conscious, active, and deliberate architect of your inner cosmos.

You learn to tame your demon, summon your creator, and build the Giant self you choose to be, one neural connection at a time.

Just like you learned to ride a bicycle. Or eat. Or use the bathroom without outside assistance. Good for you. You're adulting.

That’s how we learn everything.

That’s how we automate everything.

And automation is the goal.

Your brain prefers automation. Because it's so much more efficient than learning something new, or stretching into something more powerful.

It would rather be automated and "lazy." Than put in the effort of learning something new.

Your brain already consumes about 20% of your glucose stores. At rest.

Imagine when you put effort into it. It’s going to consume even more.

And it will. Until it doesn't.

Until that conscious effort becomes non-conscious. Until it gets programmed into your demon.

And now, your demon, instead of fighting you, is actually supporting you.

You start to rewrite your demons. Instead of fighting them.

You allow them to be present. While you create the new pathways.

This is the Journey of Non-consciousness in the 12 Journeys. When you understand how powerful your brain is. You start to work with it. Not against it.

Carl Jung said "Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate."

Researchers discovered something called the Zeigarnik Effect, a psychological phenomenon that suggests people remember unfinished or interrupted tasks better than completed ones. The tension created by the incompleteness keeps the task active in your mind, pulling your focus back to it until resolved. This is why open loops, unanswered questions, unmade decisions, unresolved emotions, can quietly dominate your mental energy.

Using the Zeigarnik effect on yourself, ask yourself these powerful questions:

1. What pattern or belief feels like it's “just the way I am”—and how might that be your Default Mode Network in disguise?.

2. What would it mean for your life if your biggest limitation was actually a well-rehearsed neural loop, not a fixed truth?

3. When do you most feel like a spectator in your own life—and what might that reveal about who (or what) is driving in that moment?

4. If you suddenly had full access to your “Creator” network, what’s the very first decision you would make differently today?

5. Imagine the version of you that fully lives from conscious choice—what patterns would no longer survive in that reality?

I love that you are following my journey as I fight my own internal demons.

Are you ready to step into your Giant life. We launch our next SG program on September 20th. We teach the tools for this kind of intentional, adaptive work in our program.

The link is in my bio or DM me and we will have the most powerful conversation of your life.

#FYP #Neuroplasticity #DefaultModeNetwork #InnerDemons #ConsciousCreator #PersonalRevolution