6 ways to increase your brain’s ability to learn while exercising

You cannot sacrifice yourself and expect to win. There's this amazing book by Jamie smart called the little book of clarity that talks about toxic thinking. But I see this all the time and I was the same way. There's this amazing book by Jamie smart called the little book of clarity that talks about toxic thinking. But I see this all the time and I was the same way. You're like, I want to sail my boat around the world and like awesome. That's so awesome. But every time you don't sleep, it pokes a hole in the boat. Every time you sacrifice yourself at post a hole in the boat, every time you ignore your health, it posts a hole in the boat. Every time you make reactive emotional decisions, it pokes a hole in the bow. And then you're like, no, I got it. You get in your boat to sail the world and you're exhausted, mentally fatigued, fogged. And then you end up stuck in the middle of the ocean and you drown.You can not sacrifice yourself and expect to win. And this includes my confession time. This includes in your authenticity, in your alignment to yourself, to your core beliefs and to your values, meaning that at the end of the day, the only relationship you have is the one with yourself. And it is the most important one. And to this day, I still find myself in moments or pockets where I go against my intuition, or I sacrifice my morals or values by just remaining silent or avoiding a situation because it's too hard or I'm not ready to stand in the resistance, but then I get upset then for the next week or month, I'm. Unhappy the results weren't there and I'm sad. And it's because I sacrificed myself. I sacrificed what I believed in. I sacrificed what was important and imperative to me. We would never let our children, our significant others, those that we care about sacrifice themselves, but yet. It's something that I watch us do over and over and myself included.I will forever help human beings unlock their potential in whatever form that is. But I also been hiding behind that. Cause I've been judging myself. Like I can't teach breathwork cause I'm not the best in the world. Editor. Who am I to say that because I'm still working on it and I'm still learning it. And I found myself accidentally falling back on that pedestal of perfection and in turn, silencing my voice out of fear of self judgment, and then not sharing who I really am. Like you haven't seen me post pictures of myself working out or many selfies because I got sad and I gained some weight. And I'm okay with that. And I'm actually proud of the fact that I'm working back in a healthy way, but I haven't shared it out of fear of self judgment, which prevents me being authentic in here.And one of my wives, his teacher said to me a long time ago, I was like, who am I? And he looked me dead in the eye and he said, name me one Olympic athlete that doesn't have a coach. And I was like, I can't, and he's, OCO named me one of the coaches that has a gold medal. I was like, I can't do that either. He's you don't have to master the game to know how to play it. You don't have to have performed every play in the book perfectly to be able to teach somebody. And I was like, wow. And he's share your journey. And I was like, ah, and I needed to be reminded of that. And so for me, part of sacrificing myself is it feels like a sacrifice when I don't share all parts of me, because it feels manipulative, it feels positioned, it feels like I'm hiding in plain sight.your focus is understanding that you will never win if you sacrifice yourself in the process. And so I'm going to be sharing in this episode, six ways to increase your ability to practice, to honor yourself, to get in touch with yourself, to find your intuition, to eliminate toxicity from your life and actually scientifically proven to increase your brain's ability to learn like super fuel your brain. If you ever saw that movie with Bradley Cooper limitless, you can naturally do that. There are ways in your life to utilize your super power, your brain and supercharge it. And so before we get there one of the tips that I'm going to share with you in silence, and I spent some time in silence today.And so in today's silence episode, what ended up happening? I want you to picture this. I get to the gym and it's leg day, right? So I'm doing legs. It's Monday. I walk up, I load the bar bell. I know I don't even load the bar barbell. I just had the bar, the 45 pound bar, and I'm doing warmups in doing 20 squats with a 45 pound bar. And then I put 95 pounds on the bar. Now I have giant tree trunk legs. Cause I'm a lighthouse. And so I have a solid base and structured and not move, but my legs are huge and I'm really strong. I can squat a lot. And so 95 pounds is nothing. It's like warm-up weight. It's I dunno, like 30% yeah. 30% of my max. So it's not hard for me.And so I put this weight on the bar and I'm in silence. I'm not listening to anything. I have my noise canceling headphones in, but not on, I just silenced the gym too. I just sit there in silence and I get under the bar in the moment. I feel the load on my back. Like the moment I feel that 95 pounds, it was like a metaphor story, a symbol for the weight that I've been feeling like the weight. And so I started to squad. And in the middle of my squat, like rep three, I started crying and I was doing 15 reps to warm up and I started crying like on the squat rack. If you're watching this video, I'm pretending I have a barbell on my back, but on the squat rack, 95 pounds, I start crying and I'm like tears running down my face and I'm like purging and getting it out.And I finished my 15, I went through it. I put the bar up and. I had to go sit for a minute. I'm like, what was that? And it felt great. I felt better. My body needed to purge and release. I was like, what was that? And I was like, how ironic that I had to place that barbell on my back. I had to place that barbell on my back. And then once the weight was on my back, I got sad and I had to think, and I was like, wow. A lot of the pressure I feel is weight that I put on my back. Not that it's placed on my back that I put on my back now that's placed on my back. And so I started to have this realization in this silence wow.I'm feeling things that aren't mine. I'm taking on things that aren't mine, but I'm taking on things that are preventing me from actually supporting the pressure from actually supporting people. And I was like, why? And I was like, wow, like I'm looking for ways to find my value. And I'm like, wow. Look at me trying to be the guy who can hold it all, trying to be the guy who can suffer more or endure more instead of just being the guy to live. And then it hit me and then it hit me. I realized that I was only looking for weight to bear, to try to find value because space was open because I haven't been celebrating my wins. Say that again. I figured out in my thinking myself, and you probably think I'm bat shit crazy at this point, but this is what happens in my brain. Hence why it's called the MInd of George. So I figured out that I was taking on other people's burdens and trying to endure and hold space for people and create codependent ties to people to hold their stuff. So they could be like, look, George can hold. He's valuable. He's valuable. And I was collecting my worth from that because. I was advocating my own responsibility to celebrate my own wins. Wow, you did good today. You did this look at all the amazing her husband. You are a father, like you made this. And because I wasn't actively celebrating my wins, there was this vacuum of space that I was filling up with things that didn't support my soul.And so today's silence reminded me to celebrate every one of my wins. And in that I realized that I haven't celebrated a lot of my wins because I feel like I'm unworthy to ask for help. I feel like I'm unwordly to celebrate now. That's not true. I know I'm worthy. I've do a lot of work on this, but my default still feels unworthy. And so you'll see that if you follow me on social or anything else, I don't ask for a lot of things a lot, and that's rooted in things that I'm working through, but I also eliminate the ability for people to support me and to be close to me because asking is intimate. Asking is vulnerable and if I'm intimate and vulnerable, and then you come in that my work might actually just have to be on who I am as a human, not in the things that I do. And then, we got a relationship, right? So the guy who teaches relationships, beating Algorithms needs, to gets to keep doing this work. And so that's where I got to, that's where I got to. And in this moment, right now I'm feeling so self-conscious, but at the same time, so proud of myself for sharing that because successes and internal game, these conversations like this one I'm having with myself is the same conversation I have with every one of my friends that is a massive high achiever. Billionaires sent a millionaires. Multi-millionaires this is the stuff we talk about. And it's hilarious. We laugh at each other because we take ourselves through our processes and we just witness and listen for the other person.But this is the game. And so this is the game because this and these distinction these feelings. Are the things that either accelerate my results. Or decelerate my results, because if I am not aware of these things, if I'm not practicing self-awareness and checking my check engine light, then this stuff is underneath the surface, going into everything. I touch every team call every social media post, every podcast, every video, which energetically. You can sense and it pushes people away. Versus when I'm clear and sharing right now, I'm in a place of confidence and freedom because I'm aware of what's going on so I can choose differently. And then that energy goes and gets put into my work and into my business and into my events. And the secret here is that we are always proactive in how we show up, not reactive to the things that are consciously happening or the things that are subconsciously happening, that we haven't given ourselves the space to explore yet. And so today in all of that, you can even remember all of that. Welcome to my brain, welcome to my brain on no caffeine and completely sober. I had to take a sip of coffee. That's where I got to. And so the two biggest takeaways for me from my silent workout were to number one, celebrate wins. Number two to ask for help. And so in full transparency, I'm going to practice right now and I'm going to practice by doing something I've never done. I am going to read a couple of reviews of this podcast because me reading these. Makes me feel extremely vulnerable. I'm celebrating my wins right in front of you. And then I haven't asked for you and I'm sure you can figure out what it is. And every episode forward, I'm going to read a review one, maybe two, and I'm going to celebrate my wins with you because I'm on this journey with you.This is a community like I'm being a lighthouse. I want you on my Island. I want you to be here if you want to be on the whole journey with me. And like I said earlier in my confession, I don't do well when I only share part of the journey. So this is me sharing the whole journey and being on a part of this journey is you being on my team. And if you don't want to be on my team, I got you. I will trade you. I will call your coach and captain, and I will give you a warm welcome over there.now I'm going to get into the six tactical ways, the six tactical, like these are six things that you can do to increase your brain's ability to learn. And I'm going to specifically focus on exercise, but movement in general movement. Is one of your secret weapons. It's your body's natural ability, natural way to detox. So like a lot of people don't know, like you have a lymphatic system in your body, but your body doesn't have a drainage mechanism, which is why rebounding is so powerful to see people bouncing on those mini trampolines. I'm pretending to be bouncing on one right now, even though there's not one under my desk, but it still works. Your lymphatic system doesn't drain itself and you have to drain it. Movement and exercise is what helps drain it. It releases endorphins. It helps detox your body. It's why we use it, but movement in general.Movement in general is an absolute gift to your body. Like you should sweat every single day. And so well doing that though. And while moving and well setting sweating, your brain is a lot more programmable. And I read a ton of studies on this brain studies, and I think it's 24 to 26% more impressionable when you're moving or sweating.So going for a walk, dancing, swimming, running, biking Anything that has an elevated heart rate increases your brain's ability to learn and function. And so with that, we have to protect that because our brain is our supercomputer and what we program into that brain determines how we show up in the world. And so if you're programming that brain with guns and bitches and crappy music and sad, and my life is horrible and blah, blah, blah, while you're working out, when you go into your day, that's programming that supercomputer on how to run. And so I have been really intentional for the last three and a half years to not listen to music with any lyrics that are negative. I only listened to music that is positive that has a good message. Has a good story. Helps me relate to myself. I only listen to audio books that are enlightening and uplifting. I only watch shows that are positive because I used to be stuck on like these murder shows and dramas and these bad videos and crash compilations.And I was like, why am I laughing at videos of people falling? And then wondering why I'm a skeptic or pessimistic, like I'm celebrating people's falls and injuries. And I was like, no, and it's something I actively practiced to this day to surround myself with positivity. But what I'm going to give you is six things to actively try every single day that you're moving exercises or doing anything that will increase your brain's ability to learn and grow and help you develop a deep, healthy relationship with yourself. So you can be proactive and work on yourself. So number one, and I alluded to it earlier. Number one is silence. Number one is silence. Try it working out. I don't like being in the gym without headphones, because I don't like the music and all the noise. So I actually have noise canceling any or headphones. This is not sponsored, but I have the Jaybird vistas and I put them in and I turn them on. And then I don't play music. And they canceled the noise and then it's literally dead silence. It's an isolation chamber. And I work out in silence. I go for silent walks out in nature. I ride my bike. I'll swim in silence. I go to the sauna in silence, but I work out in silence. So number one is you practicing any movement in silence? Okay. And some of the things that I'll add to the acts, I don't have it in here driving. When you drive in the car, be a hundred percent present with your thoughts, right? No music, no phone. Shouldn't be on your phone anyways. No music, no phone, no nothing, no radio, but try silence. You have a commute coming up, tried in silence. I want you to practice. Being in a relationship and nothingness, right?Boredom is a skill set. Like boredom is a gift. They say one of the greatest gifts for children is boredom because boredom breeds, intuitive creativity. Guess what? As adults boredom can breed the same. Intuitive creativity as long as we lean in to use it. Number one, the first thing that you can do is practice silence. And if you're watching this some video, I wrote these down on my notes. I'm looking at my notes over here. Practice silence. So try working out try it walking, try it driving, try it in the shower. Wherever you find yourself turning noise from the outside world on. I want you to now create space to turn the volume from your inside voice up.So no more outside noise to lower your inside volume. Turn up your inside volume by keeping the outside world silent. That's number one, number two, be very intentional about the audio books that you listen to be very intentional. When you are listening to somebody's words, into somebody's books that is programming your brain. And so I like to choose books that are a couple levels ahead of where I am. And I will listen to them as I progress and I grow. And I also have recognized that there's books that I've wanted to listen to, but I'm like, Oh, I have that. I know that I'll pick it up. I'm like, ah, and I was like, that's not doing me any good, so I won't listen to it.And so make sure you're very selective and intentional. About the audio books that you listen to, whether it's audio podcasts like this one, I'd like to think that I'm helping your brain and your soul audio books or anything. Be very intentional about what you're listening to. And I'm doing this in the lens of movement and working out, but this really applies everywhere in your life. Be very selectful and ask yourself, this is the question I ask myself, is this book, is this thing I'm listening to, going to help me become the person I want to be or further enhance a trait that I already have and make it better. And if the answer's no, I don't listen to it. I really don't listen to it.So thing number two is be very intentional about your audio books. Thing number three, I listen to shamonic music. And so what do I mean by shamonic music? There's a lot of deep meaning to that and it can mean a lot of things. I listened to ECOS. If you're not familiar, don't worry. But I tend to find music from people that are very soul centered. Heart-centered talk about self-forgiveness and the world and presence and consciousness. And then I make a playlist. Because their music, including their words, they make very intentional sounds with different instruments and frequencies to help program happiness and joy to the point where I have my four year old son. Listening to some of my favorite musicians. And I was like, baby, why do you love that song? And he's forward. He's it makes me happy. He's I just feel happy and I'll turn on this music and we'll make them dance. And he doesn't dance when there's radios out of the car and stuff like that. It's very intentional.But I want you to be intentional about what you listened to. And I'm going to say this because music will program you. Every time you listen to it, even if you're not consciously listening to it and you're cleaning or you're doing something else, it is programming your brain, which is intern programming, your nervous system, and influencing how you feel, how you show up and how you react.So thing number three is for me is when I'm practicing, working out or moving or any time I listen to shamonic music. So number one, silence. Number two, intentional audio books. Number three, shamonic music. Number four. Instrumentals like instrumental. So my buddy, Jim quick, who's been on the show has an amazing book out.Go listen to our episode on gyms on this podcast with Jim quick, but he actually talks about how to get your brain in a prime state by listening to opera music. And it's an absolute amazing thing because what you're giving yourself, when you listen to music with no vocals is space. You're basically putting a track out. That's going to pull your lyrics out, right? And it's going to create space for you to fill in the blank, but it's going to take you on a journey. The notes are going to modulate. They're going to go up. They're going to go down. Music is not balanced. It's harmonious. There's highs. There's lows, but blended together. It makes this journey. And when you listen to things like opera music or instrumentals, or very intentional music like this while you're doing is you're basically laying a foundational track, like a baseline that you, your intuition, your soul and your brain utilizes to stimulate your creativity, to stimulate your connection with yourself and your relationship with yourself to then write your track. And so number four is instrumentals.Number five. This is a secret weapon and I'm not joking. This is an actual secret weapon. If you do this, I guarantee you or rocket ship your results. Every single person that I know that's successful does this every single one of them, like I'm not making that up. Like it's not an anomaly. You could go through the Rolodex on my phone and text any one of them. And they would all tell you that they do this. And so number five is they listen or I listen to incantations or affirmations, incantations, or affirmations, positive affirmations, statements, commitment statements.Like I'm a loving man. I'm a good husband. I'm beautiful. Like I actually said that today, I looked in the mirror today and I saw, I posted a picture on Instagram and my stories fluxing, and I was like, I'm strong. And I am. I am, but listening to incantations or affirmations is an amazing way to do it. Now, there are tracks and tracks out there in the world of other people's incantations and other people's affirmations, which work, but I'm about to give you the secret weapon.I want you to write down on a piece of paper. A script for your future self, but I want you to describe it if you fast forward three years and you're like, who do I want to be? And you name it. I want this, I want the house here. I want this, my cool. What traits does that person exhibit? And you're like, they're committed. They're loving, they're passionate. They only work three hours a day. They do an hour of stretching every day. They do a half an hour breath or come. I want you to list all of those things out and you're like, okay, cool. And then when you list them all out, I want you to download this app and it's called subliminal, not sponsored.I use this app. It's called subliminal and I want you to record. That entire thing in an I am statement in your own voice. I am successful because I am loving, compassionate, and caring. I wake up every morning and I look at my horse ranch after my 30 minutes of breath work in my gratitude practice. I walk into the kitchen. I wrapped my arms around my significant other's waits while I kiss my kid's head. And I send them off to school because I only work three hours a day. And I want you to record the story of your life three years from now or two years or one or five, whatever. I want you to record it in present tense and only positive language.I want you to talk about the behaviors. I want to talk about the traits. I am blank. I am blank. I am blank. And I want you to record it in that app called subliminal. And I want you to listen to it every single, especially when you're moving, go for a walk and go listen to it, go for a walk and go listen to it. Okay. That's number five. And then number six Is empowering music. And I've been alluding to this the whole time, but I got to call it out. There is no way that your life is getting better and I'll be the bold one to say it. And your life is getting better by listening to sad, depressed drama, filled music. There's no way by listening to this person cheated here, and this one did this and this one stole this and this one did this, that, that is doing any good for your soul. Whatsoever. And so empowering music is anything that you can have an integrous conversation with yourself and be like, this is helping me move forward. This is helping me be better. This is helping me feel better. This is empowering me to do better. That's the music you get to listen to. So the six ways that you can increase your brain's ability to learn while exercising. Because that's what we're calling this, but moving in general and take these practices elsewhere, not only when moving, but in your calendar.Number one, silence, number two, audio books that propel you forward. Number three, shamonic music. Like I said, DM me and I will send you all my best playlist. My breath work, pray lists by meditation playlist. My favorite musicians for this, I'll send it to you just DME, and I'll send you a whole dump of it. Number four is instrumentals. Number five is incantations or affirmations. And the secret weapon is the ones that you record in your own voice. And number six, empowering music. Empowering music. So those are the six ways that you can set yourself up to win and increase your results by programming your brain with positivity. When it's in an increased state of reception while moving or exercising, which will catapult you ahead of everything else. So that's what I got. So here's my challenge for you. My challenge for you is to try one. My challenge for you is today. As you're listening to this to look at your calendar, when am I going to the gym again?When am I going for a walk again? And you have to pick the moment and then pick the modality. Is it going to be silence? I actually challenged everybody to do silence first. So I would challenge you to do silence first, but do silence and then incorporate this into being a part of your day, because here's the thing, what's the worst that could happen, right? What's the best that could happen. I want you to be consistent about this. I want you to try it. I want you to flex this muscle because here's the thing that I know you listening to this you're the gift. There will never be another you, your perspective, your paradigm, your inputs are what make your business successful.What make your life successful? It's your personality, and you need to spend time sharing your message more and the world's message less, which means we need to practice being in a relationship with our own message, with our intuition in the space that we create. So we can read our own story to the world because that's what makes us different