The Amygdala Hijack: Why Your Brain Fears Scaling Beyond Six Figures

The Amygdala Hijack: Why Your Brain Fears Scaling Beyond Six Figures 

Your brain thinks scaling to six or seven figures is dangerous for you. 

And until you understand why, you'll keep almost breaking through to your next level of income, but never quite getting there.

In this episode, I'm walking you through the neuroscience behind your current income, why your brain is wired to keep you exactly where you are, and the exact practices I use with my highest-level clients to rewire it.

You'll learn:

How cognitive mapping (your brain's GPS) sets an invisible income ceiling
Why your amygdala registers your next level of wealth as a literal threat
The fight, flight, freeze, fawn response that's quietly sabotaging your scaling
How to use simulation theory to bypass your brain's protection mode
Why nervous system safety is the missing piece in most wealth work
The prediction error method one of my clients used to catapult her income
A simple daily practice to normalise your next level identity before you hustle for it

This is for the high-performing woman who knows her income does not match what she's capable of, and is ready to do wealth the easy and relaxed way. Work on the inside first, and the outside takes care of itself.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Why Your Brain Thinks Six Figures Is Dangerous
1:43 The Neuroscience Behind Your Current Income Ceiling
2:38 Why Scaling To 7 Figures Feels So Hard (It's Not You)
4:25 Cognitive Mapping: How Your Brain Sets Your Income Set Point
8:15 The Amygdala Hijack Explained
10:04 Fight, Flight, Freeze, Fawn: Your Nervous System On Money
13:08 Simulation Theory: Visualising Your Next Level Income
14:27 Nervous System Safety + Gratitude For Wealth Expansion
18:43 The Prediction Error Method For Rapid Income Growth
23:56 Daily Practice To Normalise Your Next Level Identity

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

If you're an ambitious woman who's done everything right, the career, the family, the responsibilities, but still you feel like there's something missing. There's a sense of not quite being fulfilled. You are in the right place. I'm Tasha, serial seven-figure entrepreneur and founder of Dare Wealthy Me, co-founder of the Science of Getting Rich Academy. After years of overworking and proving people-pleasing, I finally discovered the truth. Real wealth, it does not come from hustle. It comes from identity. Now I show women like you how to combine science and spirit to create wealth with ease, joy, and freedom. Because this is your time, your wealthy era. Welcome to the wealthy me podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Your brain thinks that scaling to six or seven figures is actually dangerous for you. I'm going to say it again. Your brain thinks that scaling to six or seven figures is dangerous for you. So if you know you're looking around at your life and you're like, my income does not match what I'm capable of. And you've been trying to understand why it seems like you're almost always there, almost always, but you never can seem to break through to that next level of success or next level of income. This morning I want to talk through the neuroscience behind what's happening. I think for a high-performing woman, when you can understand the what, it just brings this next level of, okay, I got that. I can take that off the table and I know how to move forward. So we're going to talk about the neuroscience behind your current income. Why is this the number that you have, right? Your current income. And then it's going to help you understand why getting to the next level may not be happening, maybe with the speed and ease that you desire. And then we're going to end with so, how do you get your brain? If it's your brain, right, how do you get your brain to support you in achieving your next level income? Welcome to the Wealthy Me podcast. We gather here every week, and it's really just a space for high-performing women to acknowledge their desire for wealth with ease and to be supported with how do I have that? Because I think there's a lot of conversations out there around how to work harder, how to be more strategic, how to, you know, do more in essence. But what if we really just want wealth with ease? Is that possible? And if it is, how do we get there? So I'm going to start this morning by inviting you to type, to acknowledge, to create a new neuropathway by saying, type in in the comments, I am ready for wealth with ease. I'm ready for wealth with ease. If you're here, I'm going to jump into the chat. I'm going to make sure I'm ready for wealth with ease. Go ahead and type that, all those of you that are here so far. And then let us jump into the conversation. So, what makes wealth hard? And by wealth, I mean whatever your definition of it is in this moment. Maybe for you, it's getting to six figures. It's breaking through into multiple six figures, it's breaking into seven figures or eight figures, whatever your definition of it is. If we're here to talk about wealth with ease, what makes it hard? Why does it feel so hard to get to the next level of wealth? Simple answer, there's only one, which I love when there's only one answer. Don't have to try to figure this out. It's your brain. And I feel like for many of you, we've been having this conversation here. I feel like you know that, but I want to say it again because I don't think, even for me, I think I have to keep reminding myself wait a second, my brain is just doing its job, it is actually programmed at this moment to keep me at my current level of income. But here's where it gets scary, or less. My brain is the reason getting to the next level feels hard, or the experience of it seems to be hard. It is because my brain is doing its job. Its job, it is programmed, and we're talking about talk about this on a at a deeper level, but it is programmed to keep me at this current level of income or less, which is where for me I might I have a problem, right? Because I'm out here in the world doing all the things, all the things to get to the next level. And one of the hardest pills to swallow, I think, is that oh my gosh, the first threshold is something going on inside me. And not to make the brain a bad guy, it just is what it is. Once you understand it, we're guys we're going to talk about before we end this video. You are good, once you understand what's going on. I always like to say you start trying you start solving the right problem. When you don't understand what's going on, you try to solve the wrong problem. I I said on Friday, I did a masterclass and I said, it's kind of like you're aware you have a headache, right? So you're aware I'm not breaking through to the next level of financial success that I desire. It's kind of like it makes you, it actually does make you feel like you have a headache because you get frustrated, you're like, I can't figure this out, I'm doing all the things, I'm exhausted. So you kind of feel like you have a headache. And then you try to solve the headache by taking vitamin C. Vitamin C is not bad, kind of like strategy and working harder and building another funnel and doing all the things. Like that, those things are not bad. It's just that taking vitamin C for a headache is not the solution that will actually work. It's not the thing that's actually going to solve the pain that you're in. So I want to have this conversation and I want to say it repeatedly so that if nothing else, you understand what's going on and you take the right thing to solve it. So again, your brain is programmed to keep you at the current income or less. Why is that? Because for your brain, the same income equals safe. Your brain is programmed to keep you same. And I like to say it like this because I think you know, we've we've we've listened to a lot of videos, we've read all the books, and and the common way of describing this is my brain is programmed to keep me safe. And I feel like thinking about it like that might give you the warm and fuzzies, like, oh, my brain, it's so helpful. It just wants to keep me safe until safe means, right? You are staying the same, you're staying stuck, you are not advancing to the next level that you want. And then the question is, is that really safe? So I changed it. I stopped saying my brain is trying to keep me safe, and I actually say to you know, repeatedly, so I can get this. My brain is trying to keep me the same. Because to my brain, when I stay the same, that is safe, which is its ultimate job, is to keep you safe. But you have to understand that in order for you to stay safe, you have to stay the same. The same means the same lifestyle, the same income, the same worries about money, the same level of success. For your brain, when you stay the same, it does not care if inflation is rising, it does not care if the price of food is rising, it does not care if gas is six dollars a gallon, it does not care if you want to buy a new house and you can't, it does not care if you want that Chanel purse and you can't get it. Like to your brain, next level income, it doesn't care what it's gonna do for you. It just knows that is different. And what is the same to your brain is being at this level of income, worrying about money, worrying about, you know, like why you can't break through all the things that are a part of your reality right now, whether it's good or bad, for your brain, that is the same and it is safe. So I want to get through to, I love it. Those of you that are just now joining, we said we're gonna declare publicly I'm ready for wealth with ease. Type it in the comments. I'm ready for wealth with ease. So, from a neuroscience perspective, I want to explain to you what is going on and how it works. Uh, there's a body of work that has been published by a cognitive neuroscientist. Her name is Eleanor McGuire. And she says, when you imagine or you become consciously aware of your next level income. So if you're at six and you want to get to multiple six, if you're at multiple six and you want to get to seven, if you're trying to get to six, whatever the number is, it's the next level for you. Your brain creates what's called a cognitive map. Think of it as a neural simulation of that reality, the reality of your next level income. This is how your brain navigates what is your physical reality, what is your psychological reality, and what is your emotional reality. I want you to think of it like in simple terms of cognitive mapping is kind of like the GPS in your car. It has all of your past destinations programmed, right? Including your current destination, which is your current income. But it also has every level of income that you've ever had before. It's all programmed in this GPS, the cognitive map called your brain. And so it knows exactly how to take you to either where you are or where you've already been. So when you when you become aware of this new desire, your brain tries to build a cognitive map for it. And because you've never gone to that level of income before, the the think of it as the map starts looking at, well, let's look at the physical reality. Has she done the things to um achieve this level of income before? No. Uh psychologically, has she normalized psychologically this level of income before? No. Emotionally, is she has she normalized this next level of income? Like, have we gone here before? No. And so because this is a new destination for your GPS, it triggers the amygdala. And the amygdala is the fear center. And so to the amygdala, this new destination, it feels foreign. So the map, the GPS inside your car, just like what happens inside your car, is what's happening inside your brain. This is a new destination that physically, psychologically, emotionally, you have not been to before. And so the amygdala thinks of this as a threat. I know you want next level income. I know you want your six multiple, six, seven figures. I know you want it. You desire it, you're imagining having it. But I want you to understand cognitively what's happening. What has just happened is what's called a cognitive emotional conflict. You like it's a conflict because it doesn't feel safe. You've not been here before. You're emotionally in conflict, right? And so what happens is the amygdala triggers threat, which means it triggers your nervous system to go into protection mode. And what that does is it keeps you, we know this, fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. In other words, for the from a GPS perspective, it just keeps you rerouting. It keeps you rerouting and keeps you protected, keeps you going back to your current level of income or lower. It just keeps rerouting to where it's been before because that is safe. This new destination that you want to go to, it doesn't know it. It doesn't know it. Let me say that again. It doesn't know it to be safe for you. And no amount of effort, I'm gonna say this slowly, no amount of effort is going to outperform a brain that is trying to keep you the same. You cannot outwork a brain that is trying to keep you the same. So the question becomes, what is the solution? How do I solve this, Tasha? Like all of this makes sense to me. And so, you know, the title for today was the amygdala hijack, right? How your amygdala hijacks you getting to six multiple six or seven figures, like how it gets in the way and literally goes into protection mode. That's the hijacking. It literally just takes over where you are with your current income and the space in between where you're desiring your next level income, and it just hijacks that and keeps you the same, keeps you protected. So the solution is I'm gonna give you a few. Last week I talked about simulation theory, and I want to keep this as much neuroscience as I possibly can. So simulation theory says that your brain does not know the difference between if you're imagining a reality or if it's actually real. So, why does this help us? Because when you close your eyes and you visualize that next level income at that moment in time where you're visualizing yourself having the thing, you're in a safe environment environment. You're not trying to do anything physically to get to the next level. Emotionally, you're not trying to do all this work to get there. Physiologically, it doesn't feel like a threat. You're literally just closing your eyes and you're enjoying imagining you being at multiple six, multiple seven figures. Here is why that's a good thing for your brain. Now your brain does not know if you're imagining or if it's real, but physiologically, psychologically, emotionally, when you do it like that, your brain sees this as safe. It does not trigger alert, alert, alert. And it actually sees it as, oh, this is a destination that we've been to, right? So, simulation theory, in other words, visualizing is your best friend. It is the how do I, you know, uh bypass my brain trying to protect me and keeping me the same from a neuroscience perspective. The other thing is, and I've been doing this with my highest level clients, the women that are in my goddess wealth circle, the women that are in my two-day wealth identity recalibration. Literally, if you begin to practice allowing your nervous system to start to feel safe, like not when you have the six figures, the multiple six, or the seven figures, but if you sit literally for a few minutes every day and just bring into your awareness you receiving, having right, your business being at the level of six, multiple six, and you just think about it and you literally breathe and allow your body, consciously allow your body to think about that and feel safe. Like doing the breath work, taking a few deep breaths in and out as you think about it, and literally just affirming, I am safe, I am safe at multiple six figures, I am safe to receive multiple seven figures, like the conscious affirming and breathing and consciously choosing to create safety in your body. Also, again, now your amygdala is not going into threat, threat, threat, threat, threat. Notice nowhere am I telling you go hustle and grind to get to multiple six figures because you can do that and maybe you will absolutely will you get there? Yes, but I'm telling you, that is the long route. It is the long route. You want to do wells with ease, easy and relaxed, this is the work. Work on the inside first, and the outside takes care of itself. So, simulation theory, breath work, allowing your nervous system to feel uh safe at the next level. And then from a spiritual perspective, if you start journaling every day or even saying out loud, I am grateful for multiple six figures. I'm grateful for multiple seven figures. I am grateful. Like gratitude is the like super power. Super you want to talk about a hijack? Gratitude is a super hijack to your next level for your brain because gratitude signals neurologically all good feelings, all good vibes. I'm just not even gonna make it like super scientific. It just when you think about being grateful, it feels good, right? It feels safe. And here's the thing: when you are grateful as if you already have it, consider it done. So if you can get yourself into a state of gratitude as if you already have the six, the multiple six, the multiple seven figures, that is one of the most powerful things that you can do. And I would encourage you, just try it for 14 days. Every single day, just write out a gratitude statement for your next level income. Now, let's take this to the next level. If you want a really powerful, rapid transformation, and let me say this with caution your nervous system has to be ready for this. So the women that are in my high-level program, especially the ones that are right now doing the wealth identity recalibration, this is the work that they're doing right now. And one of them, she did this so beautifully. So remember, I said your brain has a map and it maps income-wise where you are and where you've been, and it sees that as safe. It wants to keep everything in that little map in your GPS. It wants it, keeps the programming, right? It wants to keep you going back and forth to the same destination every day or somewhere that you've been in the past. And so when you talk about a new desire, you are trying to put this new destination in your GPS. And the three things that I gave you, right? Simulation theory, getting your nervous system to feel safe, and gratitude, those are some, those are some from a neuroscience perspective, those are some ways that you can begin to imprint a new destination in your GPS. You can begin to have your brain cognitively map this new destination in a way that makes it feel safe to take you there. That is how you can get your brain in an easy way to support you in imprinting this new destination, which is your next level of income, and take you there. I want my brain to take me there. I don't want effort to do it. Okay, so I've given you that, but now if you're feeling brave, courageous, and like I'm going for it, there is like a super rapid fire way that you can start to create this shift. And it's called a prediction error. Because right now, everything that your brain is doing is mapped to what it knows. How can you in a fast way create uh, oh no, I am I am shattering all of this known stuff, and I'm gonna take my brain in a faster way, um outside of what it knows to predict. And so we call that creating a prediction error. And so one of the ladies in my wealth recalibration uh work, she decided, you know, we talked about her next level in her income and the wealthy version of her at that level. And of course, right now that sends her into uh what's the word? Like it it was it's scary for her, right? So fight, flight, freeze, or fawn, she's like, oh my gosh, this feels scary to me. And so we have to normalize how to do that, we have to create a rapid-fire prediction error. And she decided for the weekend, I am going to act like the woman who is already at that level of income, and so she booked herself into an uber luxurious hotel for the weekend, which her current income would say, you cannot do this. This is not responsible or reasonable. But this prediction error where she said, No, I am going to do a thing that uh causes my brain to shatter its prediction about what's reasonable for me, what's responsible for me, what's known for me. And I'm gonna do this one activity that's going to catapult me fast because my brain through this activity, once it's done, is going to go, oh, I guess we can do that. Oh, I guess we did that, and we're okay. So, what's interesting is she went to check into the hotel, and the hotel that she had booked, they had a fire and emergency situation. She couldn't stay. So she challenged herself even further. She booked a more expensive hotel. And yes, her brain, right, neurologically went into danger, danger, danger, threat, threat, threat. And she just breezed through it and she was like, No, we're doing this. And when I tell you, she shared pictures with us, and it was literally like looking at truly the next level version of her. And I'm so grateful she took pictures because now when she looks at the pictures, her brain again can go, Oh, we did that, and it was safe, right? So here's what I want to say. I am, I'm intending that this gives you some ideas, what's okay for you. Like, you know, I know when I say go do something like that is gonna create a prediction error for many of you, you're like, Tasha, I can't, right? I have, when I look back over my own journey, this is something that I have practiced. And every time I see myself going into I can't afford, I actually spend. But I know this is not for the faint of heart, but I'm telling you though, it works because when you do the thing that feels scary, and then you get through it, your brain goes, Oh, okay, new standard, right? Going from a Honda CRV to a Audi. Oh, guess we can do that. Sending my kid to a $400,000 university and going on a payment plan. And then she graduates. Oh, I guess we can do that, right? Going from a $200,000 home to a $600,000 home. Oh, I guess we can do that, right? Like after the fact, after I took the scary leap and did it, my brain goes, oh, I guess we can do that. And here's the thing: that becomes the new normal. That becomes the new normal. So sometimes it's not even about doing logical things in your brain to access your next level of income. It's more about getting your brain to feel safe with the next level of income. And then if you have the courage to do it, acting like literally acting as if you are already at that level of income in the choices that you make financially. I hope that helps. Here is what I want to share with you. I've been thinking recently about, you know, one of the things that I think the women in my world really appreciate is the way that I think and especially the way that I journal. And I, as you know, have been really committed to this body of work around can we act like the wealthy me? Can we become that version of ourselves and like be her and connect to her every single day? And I have a practice for doing this that I'm kind of toying with the idea. I wonder what it would be like if I started sharing my own journaling process, my own thinking process, my way of connecting to wealthy Tasha and some of the like blunt conversations that we have to have sometimes. I wonder if you would all like to get in on that. So let me know in the comments if I were to take us through like 31 days of sharing and just showing you all that. Would you be uh, yeah, I'd like that. Let me know in the comments because I'm I'm literally gonna use this month to decide if that's something I want to I want to share. Jacqueline's like, yes, yes, yes. Um, let me know in the comments because I kind of think sometimes, you know, like seeing is understanding, seeing is believing, but sometimes seeing is understanding. Some of my goddesses, when I share my journal entries, they're like, oh my gosh, I realize I'm not, you know, like superpowering my journaling. So the more blunt the conversation, the better, right? Exactly. Sometimes I gotta have some real heart to heart with my wealthy me. Like, yeah, wealthy me. I'm like, I'm ready. Where is it? Okay. All right, everyone, have an amazing Monday. And I'm looking forward to this month and all the things that are gonna happen for all of us. Let us practice allowing, giving our brains a chance to normalize the next level before we dive into hustling and grinding for it. Like allow our brains, you know, to feel safe with it, allow the identity to land at a nervous system level and just notice the difference, how much easier it is to get there. Well, have a great morning. Bye everyone.