You brain *may* be lying to you
“Bar is loaded.”
She was the first one up.
Lisa walked onto the platform, stepped under the bar, and unracked it.
Silence.
She went for it…
…and missed.
You could see it immediately—the shift.
Shoulders dropped. Eyes changed.
Second attempt.
Miss.
Third attempt.
Miss again.
At this point, most people would mentally check out.
The voice creeps in:
“Maybe this just isn’t my day.”
“Maybe I’m not strong enough.”
But something happened.
The spotters took that last rep a little early, so Igave her one more shot.
One more chance.
I looked at her and said:
“You have a choice right now.
You can listen to that voice… or you can prove it wrong.”
She stepped back up.
The room got loud.
People were on their feet. Cheering. Clapping.
She got under the bar again.
Unracked it.
Paused.
Went down…
And stood it up.
BOOM.
The entire room exploded.
She dropped the bar and started jumping—smiling, laughing, almost in disbelief.
In less than 20 minutes, she went from feeling like she failed…
…to proving to herself she didn’t.
That’s what most people miss.
Confidence isn’t built when things go right.
It’s built in the moment you decide not to quit when they don’t.
And you can’t learn that from a book.
You can’t just hear it on a podcast.
You have to live it.
What I think
Your brain is a memory-recording machine.
It stores every experience you’ve ever had—and then uses those experiences to predict what will happen next.
Before you take action on anything, your brain runs a quick check:
“Have we done this before? What happened?”
Based on that, it makes a prediction.
The goal of that prediction?
To keep you safe.
To help you avoid pain.
If your brain believes something might lead to pain, it will create resistance—through doubt, fear, or hesitation—to stop you from doing it.
Take something simple, like touching a hot stove.
It only takes one time.
After that, your brain locks in the pattern:
hand on stove → burned → pain → avoid
So the next time your hand gets close, your brain steps in and says:
“Don’t do that.”
And in that situation, it’s doing exactly what it’s designed to do.
But here’s where it becomes a problem—
Your brain doesn’t just protect you from danger.
It also tries to protect you from discomfort.
Even when that discomfort is actually good for you.
Even when it’s growth.
Take failure.
When you step out of your comfort zone and something doesn’t go well, your brain records it:
try → fail → feel bad → avoid
So the next time you’re faced with a similar situation, it sends the same signal:
“Don’t do that again.”
That’s likely what Lisa experienced.
She stepped onto the platform and failed.
In that moment, her brain’s natural response would’ve been to get her out of that situation—to avoid the discomfort and protect her from feeling that again.
If she had listened, she would have reinforced that pattern:
step out → fail → avoid
And over time, that becomes a belief.
But she didn’t.
She stepped back up and created a new experience:
try → fail → try again → succeed
And that changed the pattern.
That’s how your brain rewires.
Not through thinking differently—but through experiencing something different.
Which is why your past does not equal your future.
Your past is just data.
And you have the ability to collect new data.
The one degree shift
Take a moment to think, "What beliefs am I holding onto that aren't true based on my past experiences?"
Write them down.
Take a breath.
Let them go.
Want to learn more?
One of the hardest things in the nutrition and fitness world is knowing how to fuel your body. It seems like everyone has a different opinion on it and it can leave many in confusion.
In this episode,I chat about how to fuel in the morning to balance your cortisol levels, gain more energy and eating a balanced plate. It's these small details that can make the biggest difference.
