The Habit Mechanic - Unlock your Human-AI Edge

Why Current Coaching Approaches Fail in the AI Era (And What to Do About It)

• Dr. Jon Finn

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Podcast Description:

In this episode, Dr. Jon Finn draws on insights from his groundbreaking new book: 

'Train Your Brain for the AI Revolution: The Proven 4-Step System to Become Irreplaceable (No Tech Skills Required).

He explores why traditional approaches to cognitive performance optimization are failing in the AI era—and what needs to change. Drawing from chapters 11 and 12, Dr. Finn dives into the science behind why traditional methods like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and wellness programs are inadequate in a rapidly evolving, AI-augmented world.

Key Highlights:

  • Chapter 11: "Why Traditional Solutions Fail in the AI Era"
    Dr. Finn dissects why current methods simply can’t keep up with the demands of AI, offering real-world case studies and research that showcase their limitations.
  • Chapter 12: "Like Sport Science for Your Brain"
    Discover why adopting a Human-AI approach to cognitive performance—much like how sports science revolutionized physical performance—is the key to thriving in the AI-driven workplace.
  • The introduction of the Success Cycle, a transformative model that rewires habits and optimizes brain states, allowing professionals to thrive while managing AI tools effectively.

Unlock Peak Cognitive Performance in the AI Era: Dr. Finn explains how mastering your brain’s neurobiological energy patterns—your brain states—is the key to managing the complexities of the AI revolution. Through a sport science-inspired approach, Train Your Brain for the AI Revolution provides a four-step system that’s already showing results for people who apply it in just 30 days.

A Transformative Coaching Opportunity: In this episode, Dr. Finn also previews the exciting new role of the Human-AI Coach, and introduces the Habit Mechanic AI-Edge Coach methodology. This is your chance to lead the charge in helping organizations build Brain State intelligent cultures and help individuals optimize their cognitive performance for peak results.

Whether you’re looking to maximize your own cognitive performance or lead others through this transformative era, this episode lays the groundwork for creating a sustainable, AI-augmented future.

Listen now to discover why traditional methods no longer work and how mastering brain states with AI tools can unlock real breakthroughs in your professional and personal life.

Speaker 1:

Hello Habit Mechanics. It's Dr John Finn here. I hope you're having a great week. So far.

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This is our first podcast since we've released the audiobook version of Train your Brain for the AI Revolution the proven four-step system to become irreplaceable no tech skills required. Four-step system to become irreplaceable no tech skills required. So we've had our heads down um really focusing on creating a book, a mini training program. In many ways that makes it easier for individuals, teams, leaders, organizations to really understand the human challenges of the AI revolution and what we need to do to actually thrive in this new era. I know we've been hearing about AI for maybe about two years now AI for maybe about two years now but we're really starting to see the real term impact of how it can affect our lives, both positively and negatively. So the train your brain for the AI revolution book, the go-to document that will guide you through how to thrive in this new world. And the way that I'm thinking about ai is it's almost like a new species that has landed on our planet that and also entered our workplaces and our homes, and it's a species that is evolving almost on a weekly basis and it will continue to evolve and become cleverer and smarter, and it's something that can make our life very problematic if we don't know how to use it and we don't know how to Get the most out of it. Or is something that can make our lives much easier if we understand how to optimize our brain states, and I believe that humanity's most vital skill from now is going to be being able to master our three core neurobiological energy patterns, which we call brain states. Neurobiological energy patterns, which we call brain states, and the Train your Brain for the AI Revolution book essentially shows you how to do that. Now you can listen. The audio book is starting to pop up on different audio book outlets, so I see it's available on Barnes, noble and Chirp, but it'll be distributed to all those platforms. Just takes a bit of time for it to work its way to becoming live, but you can actually listen to the full audiobook for free inside the Habit Mechanic University app and on the Habit Mechanic podcast.

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We'll continue to talk about the theme from the book and release particular chapters from it, and I think one of the things that I want to talk about today, and I'm going to share some specific chapters, is that the specific chapters, is that the traditional ways that we've been thinking about being at our best, the traditional ways that we've been thinking about being healthy, happy, high-performing, which all center around optimising our cognitive performance, they're all becoming irrelevant very, very quickly because AI and the AI revolution means that we need, I would argue, a completely different approach to understanding what it's going to take to be at our best and what it's going to take to be at our best, and that's why this period of history is both challenging but also exciting and, as I will share in the next podcast, I believe that the key actually to thriving in this era is to become a human AI coach, first for ourselves and then, if we want to go there, we can also help individuals, teams, leaders, organisations by becoming human AI coaches to them and something that we call becoming a habit mechanic AI edge coach. More about that in the next episode of the Habit Mechanic podcast. But today I want to establish it's easy to say that the approaches we've been using have become irrelevant, rather than just say that. I want to unpack the science behind why I say that and I want to share with you in this, in this episode, two core chapters from the Train your Brain for the AI Revolution book. So I'm going to share chapters 11 and chapters 12. And they're going to follow. They're going to follow and the titles of those chapters are well, chapter 11 is why Traditional Solutions Fail in the AI Era.

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So I'm going to really unpack, step by step, why the way that we are traditionally trying to help ourselves also coaches, therapists, psychs trying to help others they just don't work anymore. The world is too fast and it's too aggressive and we can see the data is very clear that the way that we're traditionally approaching helping people to manage and improve their cognitive performance is failing. And in chapter 11 I go deep in this, sharing some, some quite frightening numbers about the ineffectiveness of um the traditional solutions. And then in chapter 12 it's called like sport science for your brain. I share why taking a human ai approach, like we show you how to do in train your brain for the ai revolution, why that is the key and why it's quite exciting, and how we've seen similar approaches take physical performance to a new level. And how we can use the habit mechanic AI edge system and the four-step process that we unpack in train your brain for the air evolution, how we can use that to take our cognitive performance to a new level.

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So those chapters will follow and then, in the next episode of the Habit Mechanic podcast, I'm going to share with you more details about the emerging opportunity to become a human AI coach Again what we call becoming a Habit Mechanic AI coach. This is unique coach. This is unique as ever. We have pioneered this, building on the best science that we understand, but also our 25 years of experience working and chapters 12, so you can get a better sense of the details behind what I've just been talking about and remember, you can get access to the full book for free inside the habit mechanic university app, which you can you can sign up for from the home page of the tougher minds website, um toughermindscouk, and I'll put a link to that in the show notes so if you want to access the full four-step system, you can learn about the four-step system in about three hours. So we've designed the book so you can learn about this stuff very, very quickly, and I know that if you put that system into practice over the next 30 days, you will start to see some significant results in your cognitive performance and how you're able to manage your brain states and how you're able to achieve the things in your life that you want to achieve much faster than we've ever seen before. But right now, here's chapter 11. Chapter 12 will follow Again. If you want to listen to all of this, go into the Habit Mechanic University app Chapter 11.

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Why traditional solutions fail in the AI era. Brain state optimization isn't a new challenge. Even before AI entered our workplaces, professionals struggled to perform at their best. Traditional approaches to improving human performance, from cognitive behavioural therapy to wellness programmes, have consistently fallen short of delivering lasting results. These traditional approaches are even less suitable for our AI augmented world, where optimising brain states becomes more crucial, yet more complex. Sarah's experience illustrates this perfectly. Not only was she dealing with the usual challenges of maintaining peak performance, but three new AI systems were placing extra demands on her lighthouse brain. Her brain states were constantly disrupted by switching between tools. Despite working longer hours, she felt less productive. Despite having AI assistance, she felt more overwhelmed. This reveals an impending crisis that most organisations haven't recognised yet. While billions are now being invested in AI tools and training, three crucial challenges are being overlooked. One how to optimise our basic brain states, something we struggled with even before AI. Two how to prevent AI tools from making this optimization even more difficult. Three, how to help people use these tools to make optimization easier.

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The traditional approach problem. Those who do recognise this challenge often assume we must have proven solutions. After all, modern medicine can fix most ailments with reliable treatments and predictable outcomes. Break your arm, medical experts can repair it with proven protocols, but when it comes to getting your lighthouse brain operating at full power, improving focus, managing stress, enhancing overall mental performance, the standard approaches are falling significantly short. Let's examine why by looking at what's considered the gold standard evidence-based approach Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, cbt.

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Most modern coaching, training and therapy approaches mirror CBT's principles and CBT has been extensively researched. What these studies reveal is concerning. The largest and most comprehensive peer-reviewed analysis ever conducted on CBT was published by Professor Pim Quijpers and colleagues in 2023. It looked at over 50,000 people across 409 studies, who were struggling with their mental wellbeing. The results are stark 58% of people who received CBT showed no meaningful improvement. Of the 42% who did improve, the research revealed that 19% would likely have gotten better without any treatment. In simple terms, only about one in five people benefit from CBT specifically. Remember, this is considered the gold standard treatment. Even more concerning when researchers followed up a year or two later, they found no real difference between people who had received CBT and those who hadn't.

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This reveals something fundamental about how our brains work. Even when people understand exactly what they need to change and are given specific techniques to make those changes, lasting transformation remains elusive. If traditional approaches struggle to create lasting change in relatively straightforward behaviours, how can they possibly help us master the complex demands of our AI augmented workplaces? We're not just trying to change a few specific thoughts or behaviours. We're aiming to fundamentally transform how our brain operates throughout the day. Let's look at four common approaches organisations are currently using to help employees adapt to AI tools. Each of these approaches illustrates why we need something fundamentally different. Why we need something fundamentally different An approach that aligns with how our brain actually works, not just what we think should work. Technical training Companies invest heavily in teaching employees how to use AI tools, but knowing how to operate a tool doesn't mean your lighthouse brain is optimised to work with it. It's like having a sophisticated new lens for your lighthouse, but never learning how to keep your beam steady.

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Traditional performance coaching and training programmes. These programmes focus on time management, goal setting, productivity techniques, leadership development and team performance. They provide valuable knowledge about what to do differently, but here's the crucial gap Knowing what to do isn't the same as doing it consistently. Just like most people know they should plan their day, prioritise important work, delegate effectively or build trust with their team, they still fall into old patterns. It's like knowing exactly how a lighthouse should work, but never mastering the day-to-day practices to maintain peak performance. Wellness programs While well-intentioned, these typically focus on stress management, better sleep or positive thinking. Again, they provide knowledge, but not the system for turning that knowledge into lasting habits. Most people already know they should manage stress better or get more sleep, but they don't consistently do what they know. They should manage stress better or get more sleep, but they don't consistently do what they know they should. It's like knowing your lighthouse needs a steady power supply, but never establishing the routines to keep the batteries charged.

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Flow-based performance approaches Again, these are well-intentioned but ultimately flawed in helping us succeed in the AI era. Flow training focuses on understanding how to achieve those rare moments when we operate on autopilot, executing well-practiced skills effortlessly for example, hitting the perfect golf shot to win the match or delivering the perfect presentation to win the business. But in our AI-augmented workday, optimising for autopilot moments misses the point entirely. Our work now demands continuous adaptation rather than perfection of existing abilities, from engineering AI prompts to collaborating with AI systems. Flow represents just a tiny, elusive slice of our cognitive performance, one that becomes less relevant as these dynamic demands require constant learning and evolution. And even if we understand the theory of achieving flow states, we face the same fundamental problem the theory of achieving flow states. We face the same fundamental problem Knowing how to get into flow doesn't give us the habits required to actually do it the root of the problem.

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All these approaches share the same fundamental limitation they focus on providing knowledge rather than building habits. This misses a crucial insight from neuroscience 98 to 100% of human behaviour, what we think and do comes from our habits, not from knowing what we should do. Your brain contains over 1 trillion microscopic biological moving parts, including neurons, synapses and neural pathways, all working together to drive your automatic behaviours. This vast network isn't controlled by conscious knowledge or willpower. Instead, it operates through deeply embedded patterns, which is why simply knowing what you should do differently rarely leads to lasting change.

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To transform how you work and think, you need an approach that can rewire these neural pathways, not just fill your head with more information. Think about something simple like maintaining a healthy lifestyle, that is, sleep well, eat well, exercise regularly. Most people know what they should do and have the skills to do it, yet knowledge alone rarely creates lasting change. We don't do what we know we should do. Instead, we do what we're in the habit of doing. Current approaches are like trying to learn to drive by reading the driver's manual, without ever getting behind the wheel. Sure, you get detailed explanations of proper steering technique, understand which pedal is the brake versus the gas, and know exactly when you should check your mirrors, but without actually developing the muscle memory and creating lasting habits through practice, that knowledge is fairly useless. The same applies to changing how your brain works. Understanding what you should do differently isn't enough. You need to rewire your brain's automated patterns. What we need is an approach that goes beyond just providing information, one that helps us actually build new habits and optimise our brain states for the AI era.

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Only then will real breakthroughs happen. Only then will real breakthroughs happen. These breakthroughs aren't theoretical. We're already seeing them emerge among professionals who've discovered how to work with their brain's natural patterns rather than against them. But the path to these breakthroughs often begins with struggle. Sarah's experience illustrates this journey perfectly. Despite having access to the latest AI tools, despite understanding good productivity principles and despite trying various wellness techniques, she kept struggling. But her story doesn't end there. Like many breakthrough moments in human performance, her transformation began with understanding how things actually work, not just what to do. Think of how sports science changed athletics forever by revealing the science behind peak physical performance. Now we stand at a similar turning point with artificial intelligence.

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The emergence of AI gives us unprecedented opportunities to enhance our cognitive capabilities, but to seize these opportunities, we need a systematic approach that works with how our brain actually functions, not against it. This is where the success cycle comes in. The habit-building principles that underpin it are based on our proprietary nine-action-factor habit mechanic system, which is, as far as we know, the world's only integrated brain-based behaviour change solution and the world's most advanced habit change system. It stands apart in several key ways. For example, our trait-habit loop reveals what truly drives human behaviour by recognising the deep evolutionary patterns that shape our actions, while other habit models stay on the surface. Trait helps you work with your brain's natural patterns rather than against them. Then our 9 Action Factor Model provides a complete framework for creating lasting change. Rather than focusing on just a few aspects of habit formation like other approaches, it brings together all nine of the essential elements that research shows matter most but are actually never considered in one systematic behaviour change blueprint. Explanations of these scientific foundations in the appendices, but right now let's focus on the positive impact the success cycle can have on your life Chapter 12. Like sports science, for your brain To understand what's possible when we learn to optimise our lighthouse brain's performance and get it working with AI, let's recall the dramatic examples we explored earlier.

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First, there was the brain state optimised and AI enhanced audiobook production that got the work finished 17 working days faster and 90% cheaper. Second, there was winning by design's prediction that AI will enable companies to operate core sales and marketing functions at just 2% of current costs while achieving better results. These aren't isolated cases. Among our clients who are learning to combine AI tools with optimized brain states, we're seeing similarly remarkable transformations across many fields. This combination mirrors the revolution that happened in sports performance through sports science.

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For example, sarah, who we met earlier struggling with traditional approaches, experienced this shift first-hand. Just as athletes move beyond simple, try-harder advice, when sports science revealed how the body actually works. Sarah discovered that understanding her brain states made all the difference. Before sports science, athletes relied solely on willpower and general training principles to develop their physical performance. They worked harder, trained longer and pushed through the pain. Similarly, before understanding brain states, professionals like Sarah relied on working longer hours, forcing focus through willpower and pushing through mental fatigue. But once scientists began understanding how the body works and the science behind peak physical performance measuring, oxygen consumption, tracking, muscle recovery, monitoring heart rates the transformation was unprecedented. Athletes could now train smarter, not just harder, achieving levels of performance previously thought impossible. We're at a similar turning point with cognitive performance. Just as sports scientists transformed physical achievement by understanding the body's inner workings, we can now transform cognitive performance by understanding how our brain works.

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With AR, this creates a powerful three-part transformation that can help you achieve your big goals faster than you ever dreamt possible. First, by optimising your brain states, you enhance your lighthouse brain's natural capacity. Just as athletes learn to monitor their heart rates and hydration levels, you'll learn to understand and optimise your brain's energy patterns. Like maintaining a lighthouse's power system, this optimization makes it easier to achieve and sustain periods of premium cognitive performance. Your lighthouse beam becomes naturally stronger and more consistent naturally stronger and more consistent. Second, with this foundation in place, ai tools then transform how you handle routine work. Think about all the tasks that typically slow your progress Writing emails, organising information, handling basic communications. Modern AI tools can automate many of these tasks, significantly reducing the drain on your system. It's like upgrading your lighthouse's basic operations to run more efficiently, preserving power for when you need that bright beam the most. Finally, building on optimised brain states and automated routine work, ai tools accelerate your progress toward big, challenging goals. When you're operating in a high-charge state, doing your most valuable thinking work, ai tools can work alongside you, extending what's possible. Just as modern sports equipment enhances an athlete's natural abilities, ai enhances your cognitive capabilities. Your lighthouse beam not only becomes stronger, but can now reach further than ever before, illuminating new possibilities while you focus on spotting key insights, developing strategies and making crucial decisions. Let me show you what this means in practical terms. Just as athletes, using sports science, exponentially improved their training performance and recovery, optimising your brain states with AI creates similar breakthroughs in cognitive performance.

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Most professionals today can only sustain one-2 hours of high-charge, high-impact work daily, with the rest of their time consumed by routine tasks. Through understanding how your lighthouse brain works. With AI, you can consistently achieve 5-6 plus hours of high-impact work while actually working less overall. Imagine what this could mean for you. Perhaps you're working on a book you've wanted to write for years. You could complete it in six months instead of 12, while still excelling in your career. Or maybe you're leading important projects at work. You could bring them to completion in half the time while maintaining better work-life balance. The audiobook example shows this isn't just theory. When you combine optimised brain states with AI tools, you can achieve significantly more while working less.

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Picture completing your most valuable work by early afternoon, having real energy left for family and personal goals. Imagine building your business or advancing your career without sacrificing the other parts of your life that matter. These aren't just dreams. They're the kind of transformations we're seeing when people understand how to get their lighthouse brain working optimally with AI. Sarah experienced this transformation first hand. Before understanding my brain states, she shared I would spend entire days feeling busy but achieving little. Now I complete my most important work by early afternoon, letting AI handle routine tasks. During lower energy periods, I have more impact at work and more energy for my family.

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This transformation extends beyond individual performance. This transformation extends beyond individual performance. Just as sports science revolutionised entire teams, understanding how our brains work helps everyone perform better together. Teams solve problems faster because people are at their best during important meetings. Work becomes more enjoyable because people tackle challenging tasks when they have the most energy, while letting AI handle the routine jobs. Most importantly, people feel better at work because they're working with their natural energy patterns instead of fighting against them.

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This brings us to a crucial moment. You've seen why traditional approaches fall short in the AI era. You've discovered how optimising your brain states can transform your performance. But just as reading about sports science doesn't make you a better athlete, understanding these principles isn't enough. You need a practical system to put them into action.

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So, that said, let's get back to the success cycle. You've already completed step one, but let's recap the four-step system again so you can consolidate what you have learned and confidently move on to step two and continue your journey to making positive and lasting changes in your own work and life. So I hope you find or found those insights interesting and instructive and exciting, because, again, I think that ai is actually giving us an opportunity to live the kind of lives that we want to live. Um, but that can only happen if we learn how to properly manage our three core brain states. You may want to go back and just listen to those chapters again, because there's a lot in there, um, and also if you want to hear those chapters in the context of the bigger book, you can do that absolutely free.

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You can go listen to the book inside of having the kind of university app. You can learn about the four-step system, the success cycle, in about three hours. So you can learn how to put this into practice for yourself. And again, I think we're already seeing people getting really big results in just 30 days of putting this the success cycle, the four-step success cycle into practice. So it's not just a theoretical model, it's real. You can use it in your own life and you might even start to think about helping others to implement it in their life and starting to.

Speaker 1:

So you're starting to wear that human AI coach hat, which I think is really exciting, and more about that in the next episode, where I'm going to share with you the three roles, the three dominant roles that I think will emerge in the workplace in the AI revolution, and I'm going to show you how you can start to actually help others use these approaches at a one-to-one coaching level, but I'm also going to show you how you can start to create what we call brain state intelligent cultures. So that is scaling these approaches across teams and organisations. So that's all for me for now. I hope you found those insights interesting. Remember, you can listen to the full book in the Hammond Mechanic University app, which you can access via the homepage of the Toughen Minds website, and I'll also put a link in the show notes. So thanks for listening and I will see you in the next episode.