Your Brain is Addicted to Comfort! Get it Free NOW!

ou ever sit down to work and suddenly decide now is the perfect time to reorganize your sock drawer? Yeah, me too. And guess what? It’s not your fault—your brain is literally addicted to comfort! In this episode, we’re breaking down why you procrastinate, how dopamine is keeping you stuck, and (most importantly) how to rewire your brain for action. Get ready for practical hacks and a fun challenge the end that’ll push you out of your comfort zone. Let’s stop negotiating with our lazy brains and get sh*t done! 

IG: @themrmindd

Transcript

Ryan Johnson (00:00):

Okay, so is it all right if we talk about something that we are all guilty of? Yes. Even you procrastination. You ever sit down to work and suddenly out of nowhere, you decide now is the perfect time to clean out my entire inbox. Now is the perfect time to reorganize my sock drawer. Well, me too. And you know what? It's not our fault. You see, our brains are literally addicted to comfort. So today we're going to break down why that happens and more importantly, how you can fix it. So grab your coffee, throw your phone across the room gently, unless you're listening to me on it. Get your Vegemite and let's dive. And then, hey, if you stick around to the end, what I'll do is I'll give you a fun little challenge to break free from your hidden addiction.
(01:06)
Thank you so much for tuning into the Mr. Mind Podcast, your twice week dose of living. Well, my name is Ryan Johnson. I am your mindset coach for today. Okay, so here is the deal. Your brain is kind of like that one friend who's always like, let's just chill today. And why? It's because it's addicted to dopamine. Now, dopamine is that feel-good chemical that rewards you for easy, pleasurable things. Scrolling on TikTok, binging Netflix, eating an entire pizza, and one sitting. No judgment. I'm not judging. Now, the problem, what is the problem with that? Well, the more easy dopamine you get, the less motivated your brain is to do the hard stuff like working out, like learning a new skill, or finally tackling that project. You said you were going to start six months ago. Your brain loves routine. It loves comfort. It evolved to avoid pain and conserve energy because back in the day, our ancestors needed to survive.
(02:14)
I mean, we still need to survive now, but you know what I'm saying? I mean, they weren't out there trying to be productive. They were trying not to get eaten by a lion. But guess what? We're not in the wild anymore. So if you want to break free from the comfort trap, you need to understand how to rewire your brain. I remember one time I fell into the comfort trap hard. I mean, heck, it happens. It happens a lot. I sit down and I want to do something. I want to work on videos. I want to work on scripts for this podcast, and oh my gosh, there's a notification. Look at that. I feel like a human cat. That's what I feel. Oh my God, is that a cricket right there? I can't believe there's a cricket on the wall. Let's clean. Oh my gosh.
(03:01)
Don't have to use the bathroom. I can't do that. Oh, after the bathroom. Let's scroll a little bit. Oh my gosh, who is that? Oh my gosh, what are they arguing about? This is stupid. Here, let me write my comment. These fool, don't you know what I mean? Right? And it sucks. It sucks. It sucks. It sucks. So why do we procrastinate? There's three big reasons. Fear of discomfort is one of 'em. I mean, we'd rather stay in our cozy bubble than deal with the stress of hard work, the deal with the stress of relationships that some of us might have. Oh gosh, the neighbors. I don't want to talk to them about their loud, noisy, barking dogs. I don't, but I will. I have to. Just not right now. Oh, hey, let's not forget about perfectionism. That is one that I struggle with daily.
(03:54)
And yeah, it sucks because honestly, if I can't do it perfectly, I won't do it at all. This video project has to be perfect. Does that sound familiar at all? Maybe this one. Will the old I'll do it later, lie future, use a mythical creature that does not exist. Let me tell you, oh, I'll do it later. And then when you say, okay, I'll do it later, you get that feeling that, ah, okay, yeah, that's awesome. Well, guess what, guys? That is the dopamine right there getting released in your body because your bodies and my body too loves comfort. And here's the real kicker. The more we procrastinate, the harder it is to start. And that's because every time we avoid discomfort, our brain reinforces the habit of escaping instead of facing the task. It's like training a puppy. You give it treats every time it does something wrong, and then suddenly it's showing up your couch. It's showing up your socks, it's showing up that slipper. Oh, not the slipper that doll you got for your daughter, a goodbye doll. Yeah, these are personal things that actually happened. Poops on a couch. What happened yesterday? So the question is how do we fix it? How do we fix it?
(05:15)
Let's talk solutions. How to trick your brain into actually doing the hard stuff. How do we do it? I've talked about this before one time, but in case you didn't get it, it's called a five second rule. What we do is we count down a five and then we start 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, start. Another thing that you could do is make it really easy. And again, I've talked about these before, but I love to reinforce. You need to make it easy. What do I mean by easy? I mean, if you want to start working out, just do one pushup. You want to read more, read one sentence. Once you start, you're more likely to keep going, and that's the secret. Once you start, you're more likely to keep going, but that's where we get really messed up. We just don't start. How about this one? Create a discomfort ritual.
(06:12)
Pretty much that's challenging yourself to do something hard every day, whether it's cold showers, reading instead of scrolling, writing for five minutes, anything that builds discipline. Now, my thing, what I'm trying to do, what I'm doing now is I'm trying to cut down on the scrolling, and instead, I have the Kindle, and I had just have so many books that I'm just ripping through right now. So that's what I'm doing, and I find myself, oh, okay, am I scrolling? As soon as I open up the Instagram, I'm like, oh, well, got to shut it off. And so what I'll do is I'll shut it off. I go to the Kindle and boom. Now it's like my cue to go to Kendall is opening Instagram. So I'm like, oh, boom. I open it and I'm like, oh, crap. Go to Kendall. Boom. Go to Kendall. And no, I'm not talking about Kendall Jenner.
(07:03)
That would be weird. There is another way as well, the whole accountability. Now, this is where getting a coach really comes in handy, and no, you don't have to get me as your coach. You can get someone else as your coach. In fact, you don't even need a coach for this. You can just tell a friend, just put money on the line that, Hey, I am going to do this, or you are going to get paid. Don't go to a friend. Go to someone you don't like and tell 'em, Hey, I'm going to give you a hundred dollars if I don't continue this. And figure out some way where they could track you to make sure that you are, maybe take photos in the gym if you're trying to work out or something like that. Now, I say, do it to someone you don't like because you're not going to want to give them money.
(07:45)
I wouldn't want to give them money. So maybe that'll light a fire, a bigger fire, and yes, you know what I mean? Just might just light it up. You never know. Me personally, I tried the dopamine detox. Just get off of Instagram, which is really hard because I actually use Instagram for both of my businesses. So I would just cut it off for hours. I would just have, okay, at three o'clock, I would look okay at three o'clock, and then 7:00 PM I would look, but your brain has a real funny way of tricking you into doing things. Okay, I'll post a reel. Okay, well, it's not three, but I kind of want to see how that reel is doing. See how many people clicked the link to come check out the podcast or whatever it is. So just be mindful of that. Your brain is, oh my gosh, it's so sneaky, and it knows exactly how to get you to do things that you don't want to do.
(08:41)
Trust me. And look, your brain might be addicted to comfort, but you are in control. The more you challenge yourself, the more resilient you become. You just have to start. Okay, so here's your challenge. Pick one thing today that makes you uncomfortable. Just one, and do it. Send that email. Do that workout. Have that tough conversation. You could do it. And when your brain starts to whine, because it will start whining, just tell it. We are not negotiating today. No, sorry, we are not. Now, I do want to hear your stories DM me on Instagram. That is the Mr. Mind. There's two D's at the end of that. You can bet that I will. Oh, yeah, I will message you back many A people message so far, and thank you for that, man. I'm going to start putting your stories up with your permission. With your permission.
(09:39)
Maybe I'll start doing podcast episodes like that. Oh, so-and-so asked this, and I will go ahead and answer it on, Hey, that's a good idea, huh? Lemme know if you think that's a good idea. 

Thank you so much for tuning into the Mr. Mind Podcast. Can you do me a huge favor? The very last person that you sent a text message to, can you send that person a text message and let 'em know, Hey, I hope you're having an amazing morning, even better day and a gorgeous night, because you never know. They just might need it. Aloha.