Are you ready to break through another barrier? Because if you are, you're in the right place. Welcome! Welcome to Take Action Tuesday here on the Sweet Spot. Yes, it's Tuesday, and yes, we are in a series here called Break the Barrier. This is episode two of the seven episodes we're going to be doing this week on breaking the barriers. This episode is entitled Cracking the Code. Who's Writing Your Story? Yesterday we sat together and we talked about turbulence, about that stress you feel in your body that's not your enemy but is actually energy waiting for you to point it somewhere. Today we're gonna go a bit deeper because I want you to ask yourself something, and I want you to be honest with yourself. Have you ever been your own barrier? I'm not talking about a job or money or relationship or some external circumstance. You have you ever been your own barrier? The voice in your own head, the story you keep telling yourself when nobody else is around. Yeah, that story, that secret, doubt, fear, insecurity, whatever it is, we're going there today. Because some barriers aren't made of pressure. Yesterday we talked about the sound barrier. We talked about our guy Chuck Yeager going through that sound barrier. But some barriers aren't external. Some barriers are not made of pressure, they're made of patterns. Let me tell you a story. You're gonna like this one. In 1953, two scientists, Watson and Crick, you know them, they're the famous Watson and Crick. They're the ones who cracked open the code for DNA, the structure of DNA. And to be real, they didn't do it alone. There was a woman involved called Rosalind Franklin, and we should mention her name. We should say her name because look, she was the one, she was the brilliant and uncredited one who first began this work and was first able to see those strands. And Watson and Crick, who get all the credit and they deserve it back in 1953. Look, they were also building on Rosalind Franklin's work. So technically, it's Watson, Crick, and Franklin. I just want to give the young lady her props. She's no longer with us, God rest her soul. But look, we thank you, Roslyn, for your contribution to the structure of DNA, the double helix for the code of life itself. The double helix, the code of life, that's what we're talking about. So these two scientists, Watson and Crick, they find it, right? Now, before that moment, doctors could not really describe exactly what was wrong with you from a genetic perspective. They could treat your symptoms, they could guess at what got passed down from your grandmother, but they couldn't really see the code of the disease or the condition underneath. But after that discovery of the double helix, everything shifted with this discovery of DNA. After they broke through the barrier of biology to find this DNA, everything shifted. Suddenly, you could screen for genetic risk, you could target cancer at its root, you could understand why your body processes a drug differently than somebody else because they have a different genetic makeup. You could look at your family history and actually make sense of it thanks to this discovery, thanks to them breaking through the barrier of biology. And here's the part I want you to hold on to this take action Tuesday. The discovery didn't just explain life, the DNA didn't just explain life, it made interventions possible. Once the DNA core was visible, you could do something about it. Now stay with me. What I'm trying to say, I want to bring this home. You you see, you have a biological DNA. Of course you do. You know that, we know that. But can I tell you what else you have? You have a psychological code, a psychological kind of DNA, an invisible script, and it's running right now beneath every decision you make. Every time you hesitate, every moment you second guess yourself, or you have that thought, you're running a psychological kind of script and DNA. Let me ask you this: when was the last time you caught yourself in a thought spiral you didn't even choose? How did I end up here? You just started thinking about one thing, and you ended up somewhere on some other pathway with your thinking. Maybe it wasn't just two minutes ago. Maybe it was late last night. You were lying in bed, you were staring at the ceiling, and you were replaying something someone said to you four weeks ago, or you suddenly remembered some random thing and it was just in your mind, and you started thinking about it, and you went down this path with it. Maybe you were in your car, the music was low, but your mind was all loud thinking about things, imagining something that could possibly worry you. Wondering if you are gonna have a problem or not have a problem, wondering if you're gonna get that promotion or not get the promotion, wonder you're gonna am I gonna start tonight in the game, or am I not gonna start tonight? What's gonna happen? When you are doing that kind of mental work, you are using a part of your brain called the default mode network. Your DMN. We've talked about it here on the sweet spot. It's a real thing, yeah. Your DMN is a real thing. Your default mode network is a real thing, it kicks on whenever you're not focused on a specific task. It's like a daydreamer, it pulls together all your memories, your sense of self. It tells you um how you think other people might be thinking about you or seeing you. It tries to predict what's coming next, it replays things. In other words, it's like your internal narrator, a voice telling you all the time who you are before you've even opened your mouth to speak. It's always on this default mode network. And here's the thing it does a lot of good. It helps you, it helps us learn from what happened before. So it's not a bad thing to have a default mode network. Let me just say that point blank. Brain structures are fearfully and wonderfully made, they're wonderful things. I'm just letting you know that you have this sort of automatic narrator in your brain that sets up some of the actions that you're going to take here on Tuesday. It helps you see danger before it even arrives. It gives you a sense of continuity, a feeling that you're like you're connected from one day to the next. So it's not a bad thing, it's not a flaw, but what I really want you to hear is that if you never become aware that you have a DMN, a default mode network in your brain, think about what is what they're calling it. Default mode network. Could it be any clearer? It's an autopilot, it's your default. It just runs an autopilot if you don't uh command it and take charge of it. It just plays whatever story you have rehearsed the most, and it'll just replay things. You ever been in a situation where like a certain thought just keeps coming back to your mind and you're just drifting from here to there? That's your DMN, that's your default boat network. We all have one. So let me ask you: what's on your replay today? Take action Tuesday. What's your secret replay? What's the thought that keeps coming back? Uh is it that I'm I always mess up or I never get things right, or you know, I'm not ready right now, or I'll just do it later, I'll just get to that later. Everybody's ahead of me, whatever. I don't belong here, I don't feel comfortable. What is the default mode network thought? Because every time that story plays in your head, every single time, you know what's happening? Your brain strengthens that exact pathway in the brain, and that's the neuroscience. That's the neuroscience, and this is how barriers form. Remember, this week we're talking about breaking through barriers. I want you to be aware of your default mode network because it sort of fills those gaps and puts a lot of thoughts in there. That if you're not conscious of it, it's just gonna run the show. And every time that story plays, your brain strengthens that pathway. And yeah, if you keep thinking, saying, I'm not ready, I'm not ready, then that's what's gonna happen. And that's how barriers form without anybody even laying a single brick. No concrete, no steel, just a repetitive thought, just the silence between your ears, slowly building a barrier, slowly building a wall that you can't see, but you can feel it every single day. Yeah, and it's important that we know this, that our thoughts could secretly build these walls or quietly build these walls. Jay-Z says in Legacy, Jay-Z puts it this way: You can't heal what you never reveal. Sit with that for a second. You can't heal what you never reveal. You see, the double helix, the DNA discovery from Watson and Craig, change medicine because the code, the DNA code was revealed. Your and my internal barriers can't be interrupted and fixed until the script that's running them is revealed. If you never name the story, like I'm not built for this, I always sabotage myself, I can't get things right, I never can't find the right person, I'm not that kind of person, you know, all of that. If you never name the story, you know what happens, it just keeps running in the background, it keeps running in the dark, and what runs in the dark runs unchallenged. You don't get a chance to challenge it, and that happens to a lot of us. We have these scripts that are running in the dark. Because you see, the moment you reveal it out loud, on paper, in prayer, in a counseling session with me or something like that, or even in your own meditative reflection in your stillness. Whenever you take that time, whenever you reveal the script that's running under there, you weaken its automatic power over you. Revelation always precedes intervention. You've got to know what's happening. Like Jay-Z said, like you can't, you can't heal what you never reveal. Revolution definitely comes before the intervention. So that's why you have to do an internal audit. That's why you have to look at yourself, that's why you have to figure out what's my DMN doing. Because your default mode network is just gonna run all kinds of things. Last night I was before I was went to sleep. I know my default mode network was all over the map. I don't even know what I mean. I was I I think I told my wife the other day I was thinking about some spaceships coming out. And she's like, spaceships? I said I might have been dreaming or whatever. It's just like you just don't know. You but you don't let your mind, you don't control these thoughts of the body, it can just go anywhere. Anyway, okay, don't worry. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not gonna leave you guys anytime soon on a spaceship, okay? So revelation precedes intervention. You gotta reveal what's going on, you gotta know what's going on with you. That's how DNA changed medicine because it revealed the code for what many diseases are gonna look like, or what course they're gonna take. That's how you change your life as well. Gotta do the x-ray. So let me ask you this real question today on Take Action Tuesday. What would it look like to break that barrier you're facing? It starts with something small you might not even think about, something really small. It always does when you want to break a barrier. The moment you recognize a thought as just a thought, not a fact, not a prophecy, not your destiny, like some of us do, not a dramatic happening, just a thought. If you can get to that place where you you can think about what you're thinking, wow, you have created a space, a little gap between the old story and the next choice you're going to make, right? Because if you can say, hey, that's just a thought. I don't like that guy. Catch it. That's just your thought. I'm not gonna pass this exam. Whoa. Catch it. That's just the thought. If you can just catch it as a thought, well, why are you thinking that? Then you're able to do that. So instead of just saying, I can't do this, it becomes I'm noticing the thought that I'm having that I can't do this. The minute you can catch yourself just having a thought, she don't like me. Whoa, slow down. That's your thought. That's your thing. The minute you can catch the thought, something can change. Now I know that might sound super simple, but from a neurological perspective, my friend, sweet spotter, this shift is massive. Why? Because it wakes up, you know who? The prefrontal cortex, the part of your brain responsible for decision making and self-regulation, the CEO of the brain, it wakes it up when you ask that question. You move from automatic thinking, automatic loop thinking into conscious choice. Because when you go into your already always way of thinking and you start down that path, it's like automatic loops. The brain has practiced all this negative thinking for a long time. So if you don't catch the thought, if the DMN, the default mode network, goes into default mode and it just starts running the show with all these thoughts, well, you're in the automatic loop, and who knows where you'll end up. So you want to interrupt that by thinking about what you're thinking, and that gap, that tiny space between the story and the decision you're gonna make is huge. I know I just said the tiny space is huge, but you know that's how English works. Because that's where the action lives, it's in that gap where you can catch it. That's where Take Action Tuesday actually begins, my friend. Not on your planner or in your calendar, it begins right here, right now, in your mind. What are you thinking now? Try to think about what you're thinking. Think it through. Think it through. What are you thinking? And that's take action Tuesday. Find the thought that's limiting you, find the thought that is creating a quiet barrier, identify it, name it, think about why you're thinking this way, and use it. Use it to break through to the next decision or action you're going to make. Because action breaks the inertia. One vote in the right direction for who you are, for the right kind of choice and decision changes your trajectory. You can think about your thinking, and if you were going to ordinarily do this, and this is the automatic way I respond, because I had thought about what I am thinking, I am going to not do that. I'm gonna try this. Do you get that? Yeah, absolutely, that's the way to do it. The Dhammapada says that, and that's that's a basically a Buddhist teaching. All that we are is the result of what we have thought. Ancient Buddhist teaching on mental discipline. All that we are is the result of what we have thought. Thought precedes trajectory. The barrier outside, the barrier outside of you often began as a pattern inside of you that was never questioned. You never questioned the pattern, you were on automatic, and you just responded the way you always do. And there are choices as to how you can respond to anything. Absolutely. So in the ancient wisdom, in Proverbs 23:7, it says, as a person, as a man thinketh, as he or she thinketh so within themselves, so they are. As he thinketh within himself, so is he. That's not about a part, that's not positive vibes or anything. That's that's um a kind of formation. The patterns you rehearse internally become the person you embody externally. Be careful of the patterns you're rehearsing, be careful of the thoughts you're thinking, because the actions are going to be tied into that. Clean the thoughts up, think about why you're thinking this way. Yeah. Epictetus, stoic philosopher, said, first say to yourself what you would be, and then do what you have to do. Love it. I love it. First, say to yourself what you would be, and then do what you have to do. Remember, Epictetus was a slave, he was born into slavery. He didn't he didn't have control over his starting conditions, but he controlled what he was thinking, he controlled his internal authorship, his internal author. He controlled it, he decided who he was going to become, and then he behaved in alignment with that decision. Are you doing that? Are you saying who you plan to become and then doing what you have to do? Or are you just doing it and doing it and doing it? Step back, breathe, take a nice deep breath in, slow it down, a long exhale, always make the exhale longer than the inhale. That resets your nervous system, and then ask yourself: who would I become? Who do I plan to be? And then what am I gonna do? Just make sure that becomes your thing now, that's what you do. Yeah, absolutely. Because either you're gonna stack more barriers up for yourself with your thoughts, or you're going to break them down with how you think. Absolutely. Because remember, in atomic habits, as James Clear said, every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. That's not just motivational talk, every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. Become from a neurological perspective, you're encoding something. What that means is okay, if you avoid the hard task, that's a vote for avoidance. If you step to it, step forward to it, like my mom steps forward to everything in life, you are voting for courage. If you scroll instead of sleeping at night, that's me right there, you're a vote for exhaustion. If you close the phone instead of scrolling at night and and go to sleep, or even lay there, meditate, pray, relax, whatever it is, that's a vote for discipline. And you know what? Votes accumulate. Each vote is a brick, and you're either gonna stack that barrier, like I said, higher, or you're gonna break it down based on what you're voting for. Yes, yes, yes, the revelation always precedes the intervention, like I told you. And that's why we're having the conversation here on Take Action Tuesday. Before you take any action, figure out what you're thinking. That's biology, that's psychology, and that's barrier breaking. You have been listening to The Sweet Spot. Thank you so much for joining me on this amazing series that we're having here about breaking barriers, breaking the barrier. Absolutely, we're doing it, and I'm proud of you. Will you join me tomorrow for Win It All Wednesday? I can't wait to see you there. And will you consider, if you haven't, subscribing to this channel? We're building a community of people who not only take action, but they break barriers. And if you know someone who needs to break through a barrier or who's working through a barrier right now, be sure to share this with them. Tell them, don't say it never works for me, because every time they say that, they repeat, they strengthen a neural pathway in the brain, and they give the amygdala too much ammunition to run. Okay? Alright now, love and blessings. I'll see you tomorrow. This is the sweet spot. I'm Dr. Derek Sweet. I'm your host here on the sweet spot, and I look forward to seeing you for Win It All Wednesday for science, for soul, and for success.