Mike Carruthers

So I can feel like I can grow at any age, but if I go down to the high school track and run 10 laps, I'm going to fall over and die from a heart attack, most likely, because I'm not 85, but somebody that old, you see, I mean, you still have, there are some limits to this, it would seem.

So I realize I just did something in this conversation right now.

I took an extreme example, a ridiculous example of you can't be 85 and join the Olympic team, and so therefore I'm trying to negate everything you've said, which I think a lot of people do.

Well, you know, here's an extreme example.

See, it's not true, and so nothing that you say is true.

And people who do that...

Well, I would have normally said another five minutes.

But as you just said, it's going to be some amazing number.

But I would have guessed, had you not said it's going to be an amazing number, I would have guessed another five minutes.

I hope to God that somebody saved that rat and let it live out its life on a farm in Vermont after doing that.

But wow, I mean, that really is incredible.

I'm talking to Nir Eyal.

He is author of the book Beyond Belief, The Science-Backed Way to Stop Limiting Yourself and Achieve Breakthrough Results.

So Nir, your rat example is...

What is the process, though, of... It's one thing to point at an example and say, okay, well, see, it worked for them.

But how do you pull this into your life and use this as a process to decide, do I do this?

Do I not do this?

How does it work in everyday life?

We haven't really talked about it and only have a minute or two left, but the whole idea of goals, aspirations of things, I suspect that this plays a big part in that, that we get what we believe we can get.

Well, this is fun and really eye-opening.