The Single Most Important Life Hack That No Guru (aside from Andrew Huberman) Will Tell You
I’m going to tell you what you don’t want to hear.
Anterior mid-cingulate cortex.
Don’t worry, I didn’t know what that was either until I listened to Andrew Huberman’s recent podcast with David Goggins.
Let me give you a quick rundown.
The anterior mid-cingulate cortex is a part of the brain that is crucial for the drive to live. Sounds important right?
It gets better.
This part of the brain is bigger in those who are obese and force themselves to go to the gym.
That’s because you can only grow that part of your brain by doing things that you DON’T want to do.
This breakthrough suggests that David Goggins is onto something when he yells at you to push yourself to do hard things.
Let’s dive a little deeper.
Willpower is more important than you thought.
Anyone who has built up good habits and has results to show for it will understand what I’m about to say.
You know when someone sees something you’ve accomplished, say you quit drinking or lost 30 pounds of fat, and they ask you, “How did you do it?”.
And then you have no idea what to say aside from: “I just… did.”
Yeah, same. All the time.
This is what happens when you have willpower. You do the necessary things regardless of if you want to do them.
When I was much younger, my grandpa who smoked every day since he was a teenager got diagnosed with colon cancer. He was told he should quit smoking and the next day he did.
That’s right. Decades of smoking daily, and he stopped on the stop. That’s willpower.
He didn’t want to quit. He loved smoking, hence why he did it for decades.
But, he quit anyway because he had to if he wanted to continue living.
By making the conscious decision to not smoke despite wanting to, he grew his anterior mid-cingulate cortex.
That means his drive to live increased.
Doing something you don’t want will test your willpower, but it’s great for you.
Everyone can do this.
The craziest part about this breakthrough is that it is something that anyone can do.
You can start growing your anterior mid-cingulate cortex today.
Life is all about overcoming challenges. If you don’t keep pushing yourself, you are taking away part of the beauty of life.
Another good example is if you are a regular gym go-er. I’m sure you push yourself, and occasionally, you even do a few extra sets to really push yourself.
But, that won’t do the trick. That’s because you DO want to do those extra sets. You want to do a few extra sets because you know it’ll benefit you and you’ve gotten used to pushing yourself so it’s all good.
However, there is a good chance you’ve been avoiding the squat rack, or doing cardio because you hate it… you don’t want to do it.
That’s where you can make the conscious decision to go out of your way to do exactly what you don’t want to.
This will require self-awareness though.
It’s going to be very easy to lie to yourself about what you don’t want to do.
Here’s another example for you.
I used to hate taking cold showers, I dreaded taking them. I would sit around delaying jumping in because I despised the freezing water.
But, I had set a challenge that forced me to do it, so I did it.
That action helped me grow my anterior mid-cingulate cortex.
Over time though, I started to enjoy it. What’s crazy is that now, I don’t like taking hot showers anymore unless I am sick.
Luckily cold showers are good for you regardless.
That means that my cold showers are no longer growing in my anterior mid-cingulate cortex – The hot ones might be though.
If I want to keep growing my anterior mid-cingulate cortex, I need to keep taking on bigger challenges. Challenges that I don’t want to do.
Simply put - it is beneficial to do what you don’t want to do.
Closing remarks
Looking at the suicide rates rising over the past few decades makes challenging yourself to increase your drive to live more important than ever.
If you ask me, this breakthrough should be told to as many people as possible.
To end off, read this quote.
“I was the sum total of the obstacles I’d overcome.” - David Goggins
You need to keep challenging yourself to overcome what you don’t want to do. That’s when your drive to live will increase and that’s how you can accomplish greatness.
Thanks for reading.