What happens to the anterior mid singulate cortex when people do things they don't want to do?

Question

Is there an individual capable of distinguishing the anterior mid singulate cortex in individuals who are unwilling to perform certain tasks though they do them?

Answer 1

I can relate to David, my entire life has been getting up off the ground daily - . Multiple TBIs, PTSDs, broken bones, near death experience, learning disabilities, loss of siblings - courage, willpower and persistence

Comments

That is your blessing,use the pain positively !
We are lucky to be blessed with hard times

Answer 2

What a super special moment we all got to share in

Answer 3

Was written off at 50! Started training in crumbling garage lifting rocks doing pushups on paint cans pullups on beams got ripped af at 53 years old!!!

Comments

Just checked your channel garageman brutal training keep it up grandpa

---

Kudos to you man

---

As David Goggins' book title goes, "Never Finished". Proud of you, bruh!

---

That’s awesome

---

respect

---

Never give up never surrender

Answer 4

This was the best podcast I have ever listened to. Thank you so much David and Andrew for sharing this. David I love your honesty. You are someone we should all look up to. I want all young men in my community here in Ireland to look to for inspiration thank you again. I bought my son your book for his birthday he loved it and he's sharing it with other young men. ❤❤

Comments

But David doesn´t want us to look up at him. He´d rather see us putting up the work, the effort, the suffering. To express less admiration for the man and spend more time bringing out the best in us.

---

The are so many podcasts better than this one. What a waste o time

Answer 5

I came to this conclusion late in life while struggling with a severe, lifelong ADD procrastination problem. It's a simple, but profound truism. The less you do (in terms of putting effort into doing stuff you need to do), the less you're able to do. The more you do, the more you're able to do. Willpower/self discipline is like a muscle. It must be worked to grow stronger, and then maintained to keep it strong. And David is right, there are no easy hacks. I spent my life looking for them and trying them and reading all the books. It really comes down to the fact
that you have to suck it up and Just Do It.

Comments

The most underrated comment on this thread! Profound wisdom, thanks!!

Answer 6

I am a Goggins listener, book reader and fan and I can't tell you enough how much this blessed me. Thank you for posting this snippet from your interview with him.

Answer 7

My eyes welled up a little bit listening to this. Most of my 50 year life has been about the avoidance of doing the things that I need to do, but don't want to. I instead had settled snugly into my comfort zone: alcohol, nicotine, cannabis, video games, etc

It has only been in recent years that I've learned to understand that, for a better life, you must get comfortable doing uncomfortable things. To learn a new skill takes practice. And 'willpower' is simply just a skill. So practice it and it will get better.

Edit: THESE are the things we should be teaching our children. Inflation keeps us too busy to do so, and our education system is little more than an indoctrination system. Combine the two and it's little wonder we are churning out so many depressed, medicated, fat, no-purpose adults.

Comments

I’m the exact type of new adult you speak of except I’m not fat. I don’t smoke cigs and I barely drink. But in my 26 years of life I fucked it up with Weed and bad friends video games get an honorable mention I suppose. But it was really the weed and bad friends

---

that last paragraph tho

---

⁠​⁠@ch-yq5ynin this day and age with people having attention span of a tik-tok clip it’s very uncomfortable sitting with yourself in a silent room for like 10 minutes. So yeah. Anything new also pushes you out of a “comfort” zone, so OP is kinda onto something.

---

​@ch-yq5yn"manifesting" anything is just the placebo effect. Good on you if it works, but won't work for the vast majority.

---

No purpose adults that hit hard.

Answer 8

Notes:
- Anterior midcingulate cortex = will to life / willpower
- If you do things you hate, the anterior midcingulate cortex will grow, if you like hard things it wont grow
    - Example 1: If you dont want to go in an ice bath for 10 minutes and still do it, it will gow
    - Example 2: If you LIKE training to failure or like forced reps and do them, it wont grow
- You have to not like it, anything you like to do, will not enhance your willpower
- "I'ts the 'suck' part that grows the anterior midcingulate cortex"

Comments

So should it grow? What are the benefits of it

---

I was wondering the same thing. I think how you apply this is key. Dont just do massive reps because you hate it. There are way smarter ways to apply this.@@Huihui89078

---

 willpower to do hard and boring activities and willing to live at all

---

Who would have thought. Not like people been saying this since recorded time

---

this is very key information and I think that self discipline is the ground work to success but personally I think that you should still try to enjoy the hard things you do every day as much as you can to maintain a positive mental frame work. Because lets be real, even if you try to enjoy the hard things you're still not actually going to truly enjoy them. I guess all im trying to say is that if you want to add more suck into your life for extra will power do it by adding in additional things that you dont want to do or by physically making the tasks you currently do harder, not by restructuring your mental frame work to hate every single hard thing you do during the day. try your hardest to love and enjoy every single thing you do, and once you do love everything you do take that as the indicator to increase the difficulty. progressively over load and stay hard.

---

​@@jaxonschlutz1279 Exactly, I was also kinda confused if should now hate my workout or love it. I think its also about delayed gratification. Do the things that suck now because they will be better for you in the long run.

---

So then how do I find motivation to do things I hate?

---

i hate studying for college from bottom of my heart, does that mean each time I'm learning for college my mid cingulate cortex is growing a lil more?

Answer 9

Goggins truly is an inspiration, an example of how to truly unlock what is possible within you!

Answer 10

“if you don't understand what im saying today, the problem is YOU, and YOU don't want to fix it” is such a powerful phrase. I can't go by without typing this out

Answer 11

Been struggling with reactive living, gaming, watching anime and stuff for a long year. Trying to find willpower to do stuff and getting frustrated because i dont do stuff when i dont feel like it. Now finding out on paper it should suck and should feel like shit is gonna help a lot. Thank you for clarifying this for me and others

Answer 12

 I am mind blown! For all of my 53 years, I have struggled with the possibility that I didn’t have what it takes to do things that are difficult in life. I am coming to understand that societal conditioning and my own perceptions of life has erroneously formed these opinions.
this gives me hope that, more than the accomplishments, is that there is physical proof in the brain that doing difficult things actually works!
It’s not just powering through in life.  We don’t have to believe that we’re lazy or useless or less than. We’re not doomed to stay in our thoughts and/ or current state!
We now know that it is likened to a muscle that needs to be worked and that it takes time to build this!  Thank you both for this truth that all of humanity can benefit! Thank you, God and the universe!

Answer 13

00:04 The anterior midcingulate cortex grows when people do things they don't want to do
01:43 Building willpower through challenging activities
02:59 Building willpower is a gradual process
04:35 Facing hard challenges in life helps in developing resilience and strength.
06:25 Building willpower by addressing the real conversation in your head
08:04 Effort alone is not sufficient for enhancing willpower
09:34 Discovering willpower leads to fulfillment and self-discovery.
11:34 Unlock your willpower and reach your full potential

Comments

Thank you!

---

Thanks Haroon! JZK

---

Thanks!

---

Damn, I don’t want to listen to this video but I will to grow my anterior midcingulate cortex. But hey, I appreciate these notes.

---

Many many thanks for this

---

Thank you, so, were is the study? I wanna see it, how many people were involved, which kind of methods they used etc.

---

Why do people not have the attention span to just watch a video in the full?

---

Thanks man

---

Thanks Bro
Always searching for this guy in every important video.

Answer 14

I really hate exercise, and as I've been doing it more I've been a bit depressed that I might hate it forever. Now I know that's a gift

Comments

At some point you will get used to it

---

I love exercise actually.. sometimes its hard to convince yourself to do it, but when I do it I enjoy it

---

Just gotta find the right exercises/sports

---

When you start getting in shape you'll be lovin it at some point, as it will just be another part of your day. Just always do it, pack your bag and just go there.

Answer 15

Dr Huberman, and Mr Goggins, we love you, thanks from France !

Answer 16

This might be the most meaningful YouTube you have ever done...thank you !!! And of all people, thank you for having David Goggins on to punctuate this

Answer 17

Imagine how great the world would be if everyone worked as hard on themselves as David does every day, for years.

Comments

​@@yoeyyoey8937my guy. Goggins doesn't talk about you doing the same thing as him. Do YOUR own with the same WILLPOWER and DRIVE as him! That is to say be the Goggins of your own sphere, be the BEST at what you do. That's what he's preaching. I cannot fathom how something so straightforward flies by some peoples heads...

---

His Hamster wheel and your hamster wheel just look different but it’s the same

---

.g I don’t think it’s that straightforward. Running till your knees burst is straightforward. Most things in life aren’t like that. Especially in spheres where there no direct competition or the pathways to success are not linear

---

how about stepping off the hamster wheel and just being a realized human?

---

focus on yourself and what you can control. David had control of his knees so he burst them. Do the same in your endeavor. It's all about mentality!

Answer 18

I hope you do a full episode on the Anterior Midcingulate Cortex! This was one of my favorite episodes, though I love them all!

Comments

There already is! The episode is called "how to increase willpower and tenacity" Give it listen!

---

!

Answer 19

Although what they talk about seems obvious as a concept, it brings me great joy finding out about how this isn’t just a mental process but also a physical development.

In life we look for tangible evidence for our efforts and this definitely provides it.

Amazing podcast guys, truly brilliant

Answer 20

Listening to this in the bus on my way to school, because of pressure due to school was the right choice.

Comments

Nice!!!! Keep it going