Nir Eyal

And in fact, unfortunately, I think the self-help industry has led many people astray by preaching this gospel of, well, just think positive, right?

Just manifest.

And I think that actually has some really negative consequences.

And the research backs this up, that it's not just about the end goals, but rather it's about the means, right?

that you have to prepare yourself for the inevitable pain that comes from that journey to get what you want.

That if you just think about the ends, you're never going to get them.

They've done studies where they connect people to blood pressure monitors as they are thinking about a future outcome.

I want a beach body.

I want money.

I want love in my life, whatever it is.

And it turns out that you become less likely to do the things you have to do to get those things

When you only think about the ends, when you think about the vision boarding and the manifesting, it actually can backfire.

So a much smarter way and the way that I am promoting is called mental contrasting, where you're preparing for the pain.

that pain is just a signal.

It's just data, just information.

And we have a tremendous amount of information at our disposal.

In fact, our brains are processing 11 million bits of information per second.

That's the equivalent of reading War and Peace every second, twice.

So you have tons of information entering your brain, but your conscious mind can only process about 50 bits of information.

So you're seeing life through this tiny pinhole of attention, and you call it reality when it isn't.