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January 11th - The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

January 11th - The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

New Year, Same Brain ✨

January 11, 2024

There’s Nothing Quite Like A Fresh New Year 😎

Why is that?! Well … just like a new week, month or season, it’s a fresh start – a wonderful time for reflection and loaded with hope and optimism about what’s to come. According to research, the ‘fresh start effect’ is very real – when we kick off a New Year or set new goals with a memorable ‘timestamp’, we are intrinsically more motivated – our brain actually releases dopamine from the ventral tegmental area (VTA), creating a sense of pleasure and reward!

We’ve been reading (and loving) everyone’s goals, resolutions, predictions and musings for the New Year ranging from fitness to reading, spending time with neighbors and eating less Boston cream pie… to say we are excited about all of this would be an understatement! For all of you trying to create a fresh start, we see you.

As your mental fitness copilots, we want to help these goals stick for you so we can help you crush 2024. There are a few key reasons why most goals, intentions and New Year resolutions end up failing, which our friend James Clear reminds us here. When we don’t follow through, it’s because our goals are usually:

1. Too big: If you have a hard time exercising, committing to 30 minutes at the gym is … a lot. How about 10 situps in the morning to get your body moving.

2. Lack specificity: If you generally want to eat better, the brain, when tired, will reach for that Dunkin Donut every damn time. Getting very specific is a way for your brain to know if you “did it” or not which not only helps with the decision to eat or not eat that bag of sour cream and cheddar chips (ew - why did I do that) but also to feel good when you didn’t (thank goodness).

3. Missing an action plan: Our brains are around to keep us alive and manage our finite resources - so when new, non-essential things come up like wanting to read each morning, if we’re tired (who isn’t!?) our brain skips right over it. Without a pre-plan, we’re missing the neural pathway (we think of this as a mental instructional guide or pathway) for our brain to follow when it’s trying to manage a busy system (aka your body). You need a plan to actually follow-through. Motivation will not save you.

So, as always, here is a little exercise to help make sure you can follow through on the best of your intentions, this year or anytime:

Go back and read through your goals again. Pick one. Yes, only one!
Look at it and ask yourself:
- Can I make this smaller (and best case, blow myself and the world away because I actually did it…daily)?
- Can I make this more specific (because my tired brain needs a plan)?
- What are the 3-5 steps that I need to take to bring this to life, on a regular basis?
- Finally, is what I’ve planned achievable given my big and beautiful life as it currently stands?
Give yourself permission to change, shrink, shift or adapt your goal (if you need to reign it in, thats ok! It’s all part of the process).

If practicing mental fitness is part of your New Year Who Dis goals (we sure hope so!!), we’re kicking off the year with an exciting program that allows you and a friend to check out a 2-week mental fitness sprint together! In addition to our 1-1 programs (which are still available), if you and someone you know want to kick the year off with some mynd work, join us!

The MYNDY MOMENTUM Program kicks off every Monday in Jan + Feb

Commitment: You need to commit to 2 weeks @ 10 minutes/day (via. app).
Why you might sign up:
- If you’re having a hard time focusing and/or setting your New Year resolutions/intentions.
- If you’re feeling tired, overwhelmed and/or want to feel more energized.
- If you feel like you’re on a hampster wheel (that won’t stop spinning!).
Program Structure: You will get matched with a personal mental fitness trainer, set some goals, + get daily texts with mental fitness exercises pulled from disciplines like neuroscience, mindfulness and sports psychology. We’ll be tracking progress each week to make sure you (and your friend) are feeling better.
Price: $225 pp + (25%GROUP) discount.

If interested, let us know HERE and we’ll be in touch within 24 hours with more details 💥

- @chrisjudge @adailycloud

Inspiration

(Why we share this: This is a spark of info + research that

gets you excited to practice Mental Fitness)

“What you seek is seeking you”

— Rumi

Perspiration

(Why we share this: These are fun + small exercises to

work out your MYND for impact)

Can you spot the sneaky frog in less than 12 seconds?!

Celebration

(Why we share this: This is a way to celebrate your

MYND and the MYNDY community)

Today we’re celebrating the brain!!! Our brain sits behind our eyes, and so we forget about it. But let’s give this insanely talented, hard-working and fascinating thing a round of applause today! Did you know????

The brain is 73% water and as little as 2% dehydration an impacts attention, memory, and cognitive skills
Brain information is traveling up to speeds of 431km/h which is faster than any formula one car which top out around 390km/h.
Every single minute, between 750-1,000mls of blood flow through the brain, which is enough to fill a bottle of wine.

Final Thoughts! 🚀

We love Farnam Street! One of the best newsletters on the internet about the way we think. Check em’ out. We loved this from their Dec Newsletter:

“The story we tell ourselves is the most powerful one in the world. Eventually, we start believing it, even when it's not true. While a positive story by itself won't guarantee a good outcome, a negative one will certainly prevent it from happening.

‘If an idiot were to tell you the same story every day for a year, you would end by believing it.’

— Horace Mann”

So what story will you tell yourself this year? Make it a good one. Will ya?

How was the newsletter this week? We’d love quick your thoughts:

Loved it 🤩 | So-so 🙃 | Not for me 🥴