The video explores a fascinating aspect of neuroscience related to the brain's anterior mid cingulate cortex, a structure that grows when humans engage in activities they naturally resist. This growth is not associated with doing more work, but specifically with the efforts put into tasks that are inherently unwanted. Remarkably, this part of the brain is smaller in obese individuals but gets larger when they diet, and is larger in athletes who overcome challenges.

The interview further discusses how this brain structure is essential in developing a strong will and resilience. The science behind constantly engaging in difficult, unwanted tasks is emphasized as the essence of building mental toughness and willpower. Real-life applications and stories, including references to the struggle against addiction, underscore the necessity of facing and overcoming challenges to nurture personal growth and strength.

Main takeaways from the video:

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Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. anterior mid cingulate cortex [ænˈtɪriər mɪd ˈsɪŋɡjulɪt ˈkɔːrtɛks] - (noun) - A region of the brain associated with willpower and the ability to take on challenges. - Synonyms: (-)

Most people don't know this, but there's a brain structure called the anterior mid cingulate cortex.

2. willpower [ˈwɪlˌpaʊər] - (noun) - The ability to resist short-term temptations in order to meet long-term goals. - Synonyms: (self-control, determination, resolve)

Scientists are starting to think of the anterior midcingulate cortex not just as one of the seats of willpower, but perhaps actually the seat of the will to live.

3. resilience [rɪˈzɪliəns] - (noun) - Capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. - Synonyms: (toughness, tenacity, fortitude)

That's something that you have to develop. You developed that over years, decades of suffering and going back into the sufferer.

4. friction [ˈfrɪkʃən] - (noun) - Conflict or tension resulting from two opposing forces. - Synonyms: (tension, resistance, opposition)

When you're trying to explain, the friction is the critical ingredient.

5. complacency [kəmˈpleɪsənsi] - (noun) - A feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger or defect. - Synonyms: (self-satisfaction, smugness, self-contentment)

Continual engagement in challenging activities is critical; complacency can reverse the growth of this brain structure.

6. fortitude [ˈfɔːrtɪtuːd] - (noun) - Courage in facing pain or adversity. - Synonyms: (courage, bravery, steadfastness)

And change yourself into something like me, you call it happiness, peace, whatever the fuck you want to call it.

7. neuroscience [ˈnjʊroʊˌsaɪəns] - (noun) - The scientific study of the nervous system and the brain. - Synonyms: (neurology, brain science, neurobiology)

This is one of the most important discoveries that neuroscience has ever made.

8. determinism [dɪˈtɜːrmɪnɪzəm] - (noun) - The philosophical doctrine that all events are determined completely by previously existing causes. - Synonyms: (predestination, predeterminism, inevitability)

What that looks like? It looks scary. Like your little scary lab I went in, scary to wake up every day and say.

9. fortitude [ˈfɔːrtɪtjuːd] - (noun) - The strength of mind that allows one to endure adversity with courage. - Synonyms: (stamina, endurance, perseverance)

My box wasn't even a box. It was a fucking little, like, little pinhole.

10. challenge [ˈtʃælɪndʒ] - (noun) - A task or situation that tests one's abilities. - Synonyms: (test, trial, ordeal)

It's especially large or grows larger in people that see themselves as challenged and overcome some challenge.

How to Build Willpower - David Goggins & Dr. Andrew Huberman

I'm gonna share a little neuroscience tidbit, but I think it's one that you'll appreciate. Most people don't know this, but there's a brain structure called the anterior mid cingulate cortex. As we pointed out before, that's a noun. It's a name. It doesn't mean anything. We could call it the cookie monster. But what's interesting about this brain area is there are now a lot of data in humans, not some mouse study, showing that when people do something they don't want to do, like add 3 hours of exercise per day or per week, or when people who are trying to diet and lose weight resist eating something. Right. When people do anything that they. And this is the important part that they don't want to do, it's not about adding more work. It's about adding more work that you don't want to do. This brain area gets bigger.

Now, here's what's especially interesting about this brain area to me, and by the way, I'm only learning this recently because it's new data, but there's a lot of it. The anterior mid cingulate cortex is smaller in obese people. It gets bigger when they diet. It's larger in athletes. It's especially large or grows larger in people that see themselves as challenged and overcome some challenge. And in people that live a very long time, this area keeps its size in many ways. Scientists are starting to think of the anterior midcingulate cortex not just as one of the seats of willpower, but perhaps actually the seat of the will to live. See, now we're talking. And when I learned about the anterior mid cingulate cortex, I was, like, almost out of my seat. And I've been in the neuroscience game since I was 20. We're the same age. And I was so pumped because I've heard of the amygdala fear prefrontal cortex. It's planning and action. I could tell you every brain area and every. I teach neuroanatomy to magical students. But when I started seeing the data on the anterior mid cingulate cortex, I was like, whoa, this is interesting.

And all the data points to the fact that we can build this area up, but that as quickly as we build it up, if we don't continue to invest in things that are hard for us, that we don't want to do, that's the part that feels so goggin esque to me that we don't want to do. Like, if you love the ice bath. Yeah, I love the ice bath. And you go from 1 minute to ten minutes. Guess what? Your anterior mid cingulate cortex did not grow. But if you hate the cold water, if you're afraid of drowning and you get into water and put your head under, then your anterior mid and survive, then the anterior mid cingulate cortex gets bigger. But if you don't do it the next day, or if you do it the next day and you enjoy it, because, hey, hey, I did it yesterday. Woohoo. Happy me. Merry Christmas. As you would say, merry Christmas. Guess what? The anterior mid cingulate cortex shrinks again. To me, this is one of the most important discoveries that neuroscience has ever made, because it's that I don't want to do something, but do it anyway. That's right. That grows this area.

And it's almost like, I have a friend. He's been sober 30 years from alcohol, and he always says, you know, the amazing thing about addiction is there's a cure. The problem is it only works one day at a time, and so you have to renew it every day. That's right. So the anterior mid cingulate cortex, to me, when I learned about it, two things went off in my head. Whoa, this is super interesting. And two, I gotta tell David Goggins about this. And I waited until now to tell you because I felt like I. Well, for obvious reasons, I wanted to tell you, and I wanted to tell you here. Well, I love that because that's how I've lived my entire life. I don't know anything about that. But people go, man, you have such a strong will. It's something that you build.

Like, I never forgot. I was on a podcast one time, and this dude goes, you were blessed with a strong mind. Like, the hell you talking about? It's blessed with a strong mind. That's something that you have to develop. You developed that over years, decades of suffering and going back into the sufferer. That's why a lot of people who graduate Navy SeaL training, they want to know, like, in my, I talk about it very openly all the time. A lot of guys don't go, don't want to go back into that water, don't want to go back into the hard stuff. Maybe not. Instead, anything hard, anything hard in life, once you get through it, it's like you become a PoW. Like, how many pows you know want to go back to POw camp? None. When something sucks so bad in life, this is on this that we're talking about now, very few people want to go back. They're happy they graduated. I realized I'm the same way. I don't want to go back.

I have to go back. I must go back, because that is exactly where all the knowledge of my life exists was, back there, in which you're exactly what you're talking about. Well, I didn't know anything about this, but how I grew a will was constantly doing these things to. Now it's just life. I wake up while it still sucks. It's just life. You don't sit back and like, oh, my God, like, I have days. I don't want to do it, but I know I'm going to do it. I know from years of just doing it. So that's beautiful. And this is why I came on here with you today. And I'm glad that you're talking about this, because human beings need to hear this.

Then he stopped hearing these hacks on this and that. There's no fucking hack, bro. There's no fucking hack. Yeah, you made this and that and saunas and all this shit that they. Yeah, it's great. There is no fucking life hack to grow that thing. How do you grow it? Do it, and do it, and do it, and do it. That's the hackley, the hackett's gonna fucking suck. And that's what I realized. That's what I realized. Life. That's why I wanted to come on here today. I didn't want to come on here and talk about no fucking passion and purpose and how to get the fuck out of bed and how to hit a fucking alarm clock and all this catchphrase bullshit. Because that wasn't how I lived.

That wasn't how I lived. I lived. I woke up like every human being does and goes, fuck, Mandy, I'm a fucking piece of shit today. How the hell is this gonna work out for me? And you fight that, and you fight that. You don't override it. It's no override button. It's the conversation in your fucking. In your head. So how do you do that? We don't have enough of these conversations about the real conversation that every human being is having. And they have no idea how to get out of it, but they do. It's that shit right there. Mandy. Yeah. Build your will. How do you build your will? Exactly what you said, man. Exactly what you said.

Well, I feel like knowing the name of something. anterior mid cingulate cortex. Doesn't fundamentally change us, but one thing I like about biology is that willpower. If somebody feels they don't have it, feels like this thing that other people have. But everybody, unless they're brain damaged like a hole through their head, has two anterior mid cingulate cortex, one on each side of their brain. Everyone has one. They have two. So I feel like it's just a question of opening the portal and the portal, what I, again, I'm saying ten times and forgive me, is I think people go, oh, I do hard things. I do sets to failure, and then I do four straps. I love training with weights. I love doing sets to failure. I even like four streps. But guess what? I like four straps.

So I'll tell you, they don't build my anterior mid cingulate cortex because I like to do it. Anything you like to do is not going to enhance this aspect of willpower. And it seems so obvious once you hear it, you kind of go, oh, yeah, of course. But I think you really close that loop for people when you share what you're sharing today and what you've shared elsewhere before as well. When you're trying to explain, the friction is the critical ingredient. And I think people think, oh, if it's effort, well, then I'm getting better. That's part of it. Necessary, but not sufficient, as we say in science. But the suck part, the being haunted, the stick, they're really unpleasant terms. Very. These are probably the most unpleasant terms we've ever used on this podcast. Very. Those are the levers, those are the gears, and without those, this thing that you're talking about, David Goggins as a verb, I sometimes make the joke, but it's not a joke. Goggins is a name and it's a verb. People go, I'm going to goggins that.

But that's, I think, again, I'm not a psychologist, but I think that's what you're talking about. The stick, the friction, being haunted. It's the suck part that grows this anterior mid cingulate cortex. So now you know why there's so many people that fail in this world. To figure out their purpose, their purpose in life. Where do I go? Because to grow that, while you may not look like me, how my daily life looks, it don't look fun. Don't look fun. So it's a choice that people have to make in life.

But what's so funny about it is even the richest of rich who have everything, they always ask me this question. I feel like I'm missing something. I don't feel like I'm missing shit. I don't have what you all have, but you'll never in my life. Hear me tell you I'm missing something. Everybody is. They're missing this feeling. I found it long time ago. I found it right there in that willpower thing.

When you're nothing, nothing. And change yourself into something like me, you call it happiness, peace, whatever the fuck you want to call it, people are missing exactly what went on with David Goggins. Why don't you smile? I do. I do. But I figure something out. That's why I am never. You'll never hear me say I'm missing something. I found it years ago. You find it in the suck. You find it in the suck, and you find it repeatedly in the suck to the point where you know exactly who you are. Most people are missing something because they don't know who they are.

They never examined themselves. They. They've never done this experiment on themselves. The lab rat. We're all lab rats. But you're also the scientist. You create your own self. Most people are missing something because there's so much trapped in there. I don't even want to say potential. I think that's word used out too much, too. There's so much in you that God, or wherever the hell you believe in, or if you are atheist in you, that you have not unlocked, that you walk around with this gorgeous wife or great husband and all this money like God. I feel like I'm missing something. Yeah, because it's about 75% of you is still fucking in there, still chained up, because you just didn't want to find your willpower.

Didn't want to find your soul, your will, your heart, your determination, your guts, your courageous. And what that looks like? It looks scary. Like your little scary lab I went in scary to wake up every day and say, I'm stupid, but I want to figure out a way to be smarter versus saying, man, I just can't do that. So you limit this box. So your box becomes so small of things you can do. My box wasn't even a box. It was a fucking little, like, little pinhole. And then through examining myself, getting some willpower, some courage, it became bigger than this table. But that's what we all do.

That's why I wanted to come here today and talk to you about real shit. Not no fucking, like hacks. There's no hacks, bro. It's you against you. You against you. And if you misunderstand that, you have a real problem. Real problem. I can understand you misunderstand me. Running on the street. Shirt off. Fuck this. Nah. Yeah, I can get it. I get it if you misunderstand what I'm saying right now. Today the problem is you, and you don't want to fix it.

Neuroscience, Motivation, Inspiration, Self-Development, Mental Toughness, Resilience, Huberman Lab Clips