The Habit Mechanic - Unlock your Human-AI Edge

AI, Your Brain, Your Edge

• Dr. Jon Finn

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In this episode Dr. Jon Finn (creator of Human-AI Performance Psychology) and his AI team show how to win the AI era by training energy and attention before tools. We unpack Recharge, Medium, and High Charge Brain States; the Daily 3:1 Reflection; and the four‑step AI-Edge Success Cycle, with real examples of time and cost gains from pairing optimised brain states with AI.

• Why recharge is the foundation for performance
• The pre‑reflection routine to prime positive circuits
• The Daily 3:1 Reflection to steer attention
• Shifting routine Medium Charge work to AI
• Expanding High Charge hours to four, five, six or seven daily
• AI as amplifier for High Charge work, not a replacement
• The audiobook case study and 90% cost saving
• The Success Cycle: measure, plan, optimise, automate
• Using brain‑first planning to reduce stress and reclaim focus

SPEAKER_01:

Hello, Habit Mechanics, Dr. John Finn here. I hope you're having a great week so far. So today I want to give you a real world example of how I'm using AI to save me time and I think to improve how we're able to explain our ideas to people. So what you're gonna hear coming up are two agencais, two AI agents that are um well, I suppose it's one AI agent, but it you think of it as two talking to each other, and they are designed very specifically to take um content insights from um experts and turn those insights into really friendly conversational breakdowns and explanations. So I gave this uh these AI agents, these uh podcast specialists, um chapters one and chapters two from Train Your Brain from the AI Revolution, Train Your Brain for the AI Revolution, um, and asked them to explain it and unpack it um in the style of a podcast. So that's what you're gonna hear. What are the benefits of me doing this? It saves me time, so probably saved me two hours just just using that tool. Um, and it's the first time I've used it. So when I do it in the future, it's gonna be even more effective. And that means that's two more hours today that I can do something else with. I can do what I choose um with that time. I could invest it into recharge if I want to, I could invest it into other high charge work, I could invest it into automating some other processes, um, I could invest it spending time with friends or family, and this is the point. This is what AI can do. AI is a supercharger for behaviour change because the biggest um barrier for changing any behaviour, whether it's building a better sleep habit, better stress management habit, a better productivity habit, a better parenting habit, whatever it is, is time, it's time and energy. So we can um outsource time and energy to technology. And I think actually technology doesn't really explain what AI is, AI is more like a species and it's evolving all the time and it's more like us than a traditional technology because it's designed to work like our brains, uh it's neural network AI. So that's what you're gonna hear coming up. I I think it's it's very um very good or actually excellent how the AI agents have been able to understand and then explain back the concepts, and they certainly got me thinking slightly differently about a few of the ideas, and I know that we'll do the same for you. Um so hope you enjoy it, but I hope it also gets you thinking about okay, if I can get better at managing my brain status and just building a a little bit of well, if I can just get better at managing my brain status, my life is gonna be a lot easier. But also, where's the opportunity where I can drop a little bit of AI into what I'm doing as well to speed up um and um accelerate the things that I'm working on in my life? So enjoy. Welcome to the deep dive.

SPEAKER_02:

Today we're cutting through uh all the noise around AI updates, the constant tech changes. We want to focus on the one thing that doesn't change in this revolution. You. Your brain, actually.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. We're looking at some really interesting work, uh, primarily drawn from Dr. John Finn. He's a specialist in behavioral science, performance, resilience, that sort of thing. And he makes this, well, almost counterintuitive point, doesn't he? That succeeding with AI isn't really about mastering every single new tool that comes out.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Ross Powell Okay, so if it's not the software, it's gotta be the hardware, right? Our own internal systems.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Ross Powell That's the idea. It's about focusing inward, optimizing what Dr. Finn calls our brain states.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Ross Powell Brain states.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Like uh fundamental energy patterns in the brain, neurobiological ones.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell Precisely. Think of it like managing your own internal uh cognitive fuel gauge, knowing when you're full, when you're running low, when you're in overdrive.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell Got it. So what's the mission for us today then? What are we trying to unpack here?

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Ross Powell Well, the mission is really to break down his core framework. There are these three brain states, and then a practical system he calls the success cycle. And the promise is that understanding and using this gives you that human AI edge we keep hearing about.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell Right. The three states. Okay, let's quickly map them out. First, there's recharge. That's the essential recovery mode, yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Ross Powell Essential recovery. Active rebuilding of energy, absolutely crucial.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Ross Powell Then there's medium charge. That sounds like the everyday stuff, routine tasks, efficient processing.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell Exactly. Your standard operating mode for simple daily things.

SPEAKER_02:

And finally, high charge. This is the premium stuff. Deep focus, complex problem solving, the sophisticated thinking.

SPEAKER_00:

That's your peak performance mode, where the really unique human insights happen.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell Okay, three modes recharge, medium, high. Seems logical. Where do we start?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, this is where it gets interesting. Dr. Finn argues pretty strongly that you have to start at the bottom. You must master recharge first.

SPEAKER_02:

Really? Not jump straight to boosting high charge. That feels backwards somehow.

SPEAKER_00:

It does. It feels counterintuitive. But his research and a lot of performance science backs this up, shows it's the absolute foundation. If you don't nail down that recovery piece, your medium and especially your high charge states, they just become unsustainable. They degrade.

SPEAKER_02:

So you end up inefficient, frustrated, basically running on fumes, even when you think you're trying to perform at a high level.

SPEAKER_00:

Precisely. You can't maintain geek performance if the tank is always near empty. It's just fundamental neurobiology.

SPEAKER_02:

All right. Foundational recharge. How do we actually do that? What's the practical tool?

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell The first tool introduced in the source material is something called the daily 3.1 reflection. It sounds simple, maybe, but its goal is quite profound. It's designed to intentionally calm your thinking, get you into that recharge state, and consciously guide your attention away from the usual threats and worries.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell And toward more helpful positive pattern.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. Redirecting that mental spotlight.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell Okay. A reflection sounds manageable. Is there more to it?

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell Yes, there's a critical first step, a kind of uh physical and cognitive ignition key. It's called the pre-reflection routine. Before you even sit down to do the reflection part, you need to activate positive circuits.

SPEAKER_02:

Activate positive circuits. How?

SPEAKER_00:

Two options here. First, you could take a quick five-minute walk, but the key is focusing only on slow, calm breathing during that walk.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, and mindful walk.

SPEAKER_00:

Or if you're short on time or need a bigger jolt, you literally jump up and down for say five to ten seconds, maybe a bit more. Just get the body moving, quickly interrupt the pattern.

SPEAKER_02:

Jump up and down. Seriously.

SPEAKER_00:

Sounds a bit silly, maybe, but it works. It's about intentional disruption. Then immediately after the walk or the jumping, step two.

SPEAKER_02:

Go on.

SPEAKER_00:

Quickly open and close your right hand several times. Just clench and release, clinch and release.

SPEAKER_02:

My right hand specifically.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. And while you're doing that, the third part, force yourself to smile, even if it feels fake.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell Okay. Walk or jump, right hand clench, forced smile. It feels a bit ritualistic. What's the science here? Why the right hand? Why the smile?

SPEAKER_00:

It's actually a neat little brain hack. It engages what neuroscientists call the effort-driven reward circuit. Basically, using the right hand tends to activate the left prefrontal cortex more.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Ross Powell Which is linked to positive emotions, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. And the physical act of smiling, even a forced one, sends signals back to the brain that can genuinely lift your mood or at least prime you for positivity. It's a quick, intentional, neurobiological nudge. You're basically switching off the threat scanner part of your brain for a moment before you start looking back at your day.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell Right. So you're priming the positivity pump before you even split a reflection itself.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Makes sense. Okay, so once you're primed, what's a 3.1 reflection?

SPEAKER_00:

It's really straightforward. Two steps. Step one, you rate yourself. Score yourself from one, meaning failed, to ten, perfect, on a very specific question. Which is how well did you do your best to be your best and achieve your goals today? And you must write or type that number down.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. Rate yourself, write it down. Step two.

SPEAKER_00:

Step two is the 3.1 part. You write down three or more if you like positive or helpful things about your day, anything.

SPEAKER_02:

Big or small.

SPEAKER_00:

Doesn't matter. Could be a good meeting, finishing a test, something rice someone said, even just enjoying your coffee. Three positives. And the one. The one is crucial. You identify one single actionable area for improvement in the next 24 hours. Something concrete you can do differently tomorrow.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, so right. Three positives, one improvement. The source mentioned an example, right? Sarah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, Sarah. She was apparently feeling overwhelmed by new AI tools, just constant cognitive drain, classic symptom of poor recharge. So when she started this, her early positives were things like um had breakfast with the family, or found one small way to use AI instead of just worrying. Really simple stuff.

SPEAKER_02:

And her improvement?

SPEAKER_00:

Her first one was literally get to bed 10 minutes earlier tonight. Tiny, achievable.

SPEAKER_02:

It seems almost too simple. Writing down breakfast and aiming for 10 minutes more sleep. How does that create calmness and clearer thinking?

SPEAKER_00:

That's the fascinating mechanic, isn't it? The power isn't necessarily in the content of what you write, especially at first. It's in the process. Remember the pre-reflection routine. That physical effort, the focus. It actually uses a bit of the high charge state focused effort to intentionally activate the recharge state.

SPEAKER_02:

Ah, okay. You're using focus to switch off the unfocused worry.

SPEAKER_00:

Precisely. And the act of writing or typing is critical. It forces your attention. You can't easily ruminate on anxieties while you're actively trying to recall positives and formulate an improvement. It's about directing that mental spotlight. It's training your brain, essentially, to choose its focus, which is the cornerstone of moving into recharge.

SPEAKER_02:

Right, securing the foundation. Okay, so we've mastered recharge, hypothetically. Now what about the performance states, medium and high charge? Especially with AI changing the game.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, this is where things get really dramatic. Let's look at medium charge first.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell That was the routine stuff. Simple emails, admin, standard problems.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. Simple, routine, not super demanding tasks. The kind of work that, let's be honest, fills up a lot of people's days. Necessary, but maybe not high impact.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell Okay, so what's AI doing to medium charge work?

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell Well, here's a staggering prediction cited in the source material. For functions like sales and marketing, AI is expected to enable them to operate at just wait for it, 2% of current costs.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell while getting better results.

SPEAKER_00:

While achieving better results. That's a 98% cost reduction for that kind of routine medium charge output.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell Wow. A 98% reduction. I mean, that basically implies that huge swathes of medium charge work could become almost free or fully automated.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell That's the profound implication, yes. It suggests a massive shift.

SPEAKER_02:

Does that mean jobs just polarize even faster? You either do the high-level strategy or nothing.

SPEAKER_00:

That seems to be the direction, doesn't it? But the positive spin is that it fundamentally frees up human potential for the high charge state.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, high charge. Remind us this is the complex strategy, the creative development, the deep thinking.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. Where your unique human capabilities, synthesis, nuanced judgment, true creativity, complex problem solving, high stakes negotiation really come into play. Your premium operating mode.

SPEAKER_02:

And the potential shift here. You mentioned most people only manage a couple of hours of this a day.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, the source suggests most professionals, often battling distraction and what Dr. Finn graphically calls invisible brain damage from chronic low-level stress, only get about one, two hours of genuine high charge thinking daily. The rest gets frittered away.

SPEAKER_02:

But with this optimized brain state approach, starting with recharge.

SPEAKER_00:

By consistently managing their energy using that recharge foundation, they can realistically push that up to four or five hours of true high charge thinking every single workday, consistently.

SPEAKER_02:

Four to five hours of your best thinking daily. That's a huge leap.

SPEAKER_00:

It is, but then you add the AI layer on top of that optimized brain.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. So the AI isn't doing the high charge thinking for you.

SPEAKER_00:

No, it's acting like an incredibly powerful amplifier, like an expert research assistant or a data cruncher or a first draft generator instantly available while you're in that peak high charge state.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and that gets you.

SPEAKER_00:

That combination, the optimized human brain plus the AI tools, allows professionals to achieve five, maybe even over six hours of really high impact, high charge output per day.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell Five to six plus hours. That changes everything. Is there an example of this kind of amplification?

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell There's a really compelling one in the material about producing an audiobook. That's definitely a high charge task, right? Requires detailed review, quality checks, judgment calls.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell For sure.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay, so one person using this optimized brain state approach and leveraging the right AI tools produced a full audiobook in just three days.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell Three days by themselves. How long would that normally take?

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell Well, the source compares it to an identical project done just a few years earlier, before these specific AI tools were readily available. That one required two people working flat out for 10 full days.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell Two people, 10 days. That's 20 working days total.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. Compared to three days for one person. So that's 17 working days saved. And the cost reduction was calculated at around 90 percent.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell And 90% cost reduction and 17 days faster on a complex project. Okay, that's that's not just incremental improvement, that's transformative.

SPEAKER_00:

It really is. It makes you wonder why isn't everyone doing this if the gains are that massive? It almost sounds too good to be true.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell But I guess leads us to the how. It's not just knowing about the states, it's implementing it consistently.

SPEAKER_00:

Precisely. You need a system. And that's where the source introduces the full roadmap, the success cycle. It's a four-step process.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, let's break down the success cycle. What are the steps?

SPEAKER_00:

Right. It's designed to really embed these habits, make them stick, like an elite athlete's training plan. Step one is measurement.

SPEAKER_02:

Measurement, like tracking time.

SPEAKER_00:

Deeper than that. It's a specific brain state analysis. It's designed to map your current energy patterns, find those hidden energy drains, see where you're actually spending your cognitive fuel throughout the day, reveal the invisible leaks.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, find the leaks first, then step two.

SPEAKER_00:

Step two is planning. Based on that measurement, you create a strategic roadmap. You consciously match tasks to the right energy state, putting high charge tasks in your peak slots, medium charge elsewhere.

SPEAKER_02:

And this is where you decide how AI fits in.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. You strategically identify where AI can enhance your capabilities, take over routine medium charge stuff, or support your high charge work rather than just being another tool you feel you have to use.

SPEAKER_02:

Makes sense. Map, then plan. Step three.

SPEAKER_00:

Optimization. This is about designing your daily rhythm, creating the actual physical and mental environment to protect that peak energy, scheduling recharge just as seriously as you schedule deep work, building routines that support your plan.

SPEAKER_02:

So actively managing your day around your energy, not just your to-do list. Okay. Yeah. And the final step.

SPEAKER_00:

Step four is automation. This is about building triggers and systems, what the source calls an excellence engine, to make this optimal performance more automatic, less reliant on sheer willpower day after day.

SPEAKER_02:

So using habits, routines, and even AI tools themselves to handle the routine energy drains, ensuring the tech supports your optimized brain instead of overwhelming it.

SPEAKER_00:

That's the goal. Make high performance the path of least resistance.

SPEAKER_02:

And Sarah from the earlier example, did she go through this cycle?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, the narrative implies she did. That initial simple 3.1 reflection was her entry point into measurement and planning. Within weeks, apparently, she was consistently getting her most valuable high charge work done by early afternoon.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell And using AI for the routine stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell Using AI strategically during medium charge periods, protecting those high charge hours, and crucially having sustained energy left over for her family in the evenings, not feeling drained.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Ross Powell So the outcome is pretty clear then. More peak state hours, less time on mundane tasks, and actual quality recharge time, it sounds like. Well, like reclaiming your focus.

SPEAKER_00:

Aaron Powell I think that's a great way to put it. And the core message, the primary takeaway here, seems crystal clear, doesn't it? That the real key to leveraging AI, to thriving in this new era isn't actually about becoming a tech wizard first. It's internal. It's about optimizing your own cognition.

SPEAKER_02:

Aaron Powell Starting with that foundational recharge state, learning to consciously guide your attention using simple, actionable tools like that 3.1 reflection.

SPEAKER_00:

Exactly. That systematic approach, the success cycle, is what ensures the technology becomes a powerful ally, helping you create the work and maybe even the life you actually want.

SPEAKER_02:

Instead of just another source of overwhelming pressure?

SPEAKER_00:

Right. It puts you back in the driver's seat.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, so a final thought for our listeners then. If getting to five, maybe six plus hours of high impact, high charge thinking is actually possible consistently.

SPEAKER_00:

Which the evidence suggests it is.

SPEAKER_02:

Then what's that really important project, that big strategic idea, that creative leap you've been putting off because you just feel like you don't have the mental bandwidth, the cognitive energy for it.

SPEAKER_00:

What could you realistically start, maybe even tomorrow, if you knew you could access that optimized energy?

SPEAKER_02:

It's something to think about. That's all for this deep dive. We'll see you next time.