Fitter, stronger, healthier under stress, pressure and with a busy schedule. The secret brain switch of high performers.

If your workouts vanish the moment life gets busy, it’s not because you’re weak, lazy, or “bad at discipline.” It’s because you’re treating exercise like a choice that requires motivation. High performers do something completely different. Do you need motivation to brush your teeth? We talk about what motivation really is, and how your brain constantly runs an effort-versus-reward calculation. We get concrete with the routine that’s kept me consistent with my fitness, not skipping a day fo...

• 0:09Speaker 00

  Hey guys and welcome back to another episode of Change Wired Podcast. My name is Angela Shorina, I'm your host, I'm your partner in personal and collective transformation, your executive master health, sleep, stress management, life and self-actualization coach, and just someone who's really passionate about upgrading ourselves, doing every day our best to show up as our best and to unlock more and more of our potential for our extraordinary lives and to create the most amazing world all around us. I'm a huge fan of humanity.

• 0:50Speaker 00

  We don't get, we don't always get it right or perfect, but I think if you look at the world around us, that is fascinating what we were able to create. And when we focus on what we can do every day, what we can create, that's where real magic happens, right? Like if you look at the world around us, AI and everything, that is like freaking magic. Who would have thought? So that's one of the things that drives me and I always ask myself, I don't have a perfect situation, nobody does, but what can I do with what I have, where I am, to make a positive difference in small and big ways?

• 1:36Speaker 00

  And today, guys, we are talking about habits again, automations of our brain. We're going to talk about why some people under stress, when life gets busy, when there is a lot of pressure, why some people get fitter and stronger and seem to be enhanced by all the load on them, and why some people get weaker and sicker and fatter when things get a little bit hot in the kitchen, using words of one of my guests, William Venter in Amazing Whose episode you can find right before this one, right? Why do some, why, why it seems like some people again get better under stress and load?

• 2:21Speaker 00

  And some people don't. So you're gonna learn about what you can do to become one of those people who gets better, not who gets worse and weaker. You're gonna learn a little bit of neuroscience, a lot of practice tools and strategies, things you can put into use right away. And I'm gonna also answer the question, how did I maintain my fitness habit for the past at least 25 years? And I'm not some superhuman, right? I also got, got sick many times and I didn't feel like it. And there were problems and there were stressors and there were nights when I didn't sleep that much. And there were nights when I had to fly.

• 3:06Speaker 00

  And I lived in 15 countries where I didn't always have the same or perfect condition. And yet, I can count literally, or if I take my fingers and toes together, that is approximately the number of times when I didn't, when I wasn't active, when I didn't exercise. And again, I'm also human, so I went through a lot. I am going through a lot. Well, maybe not every single day, but you know, quite often and consistently. So how, how did I manage? I had an accident when, well, that was probably the biggest gap in my training. When I had an accident and I couldn't walk for a week. But then after that week, even though I could not walk that well

• 3:51Speaker 00

  and I would get out of breath because my lung was punctured and was healing, I still did what I could. So now we're gonna get into practical stuff and into some stories, into some clients' conversations. But before we do this, guys, don't forget to rate this podcast, to review, write a comment to wherever you find this podcast on, to share it with at least one other person. So together. We create more positive impact by sharing the things that help us get better and improve. Right. That's gonna be the biggest gift you can give to me at any time of the day.

• 4:31Speaker 00

  And if you know me personally and you know how to link me or share a screenshot, hey, like I shared, that would make my day already. And now back to the episode and I wanna start with a client's conversation. That happened, I think like three days ago, it was Monday.

• 4:50Speaker 00

  The client said, I think it just, I just lost my motivation. I need to find it again to get back into exercise. And to which I replied with another question, do you need motivation to brush your teeth? I bet you don't jump out of bed every day thrilled to do it or looking forward to do it after a hard day. And yet, I bet you do it every day, twice a day, maybe more times a day. Every single day, whether you're sick or not, whether you feel like it or not, whether you have a flu or or not, whether you have, I don't know, sore muscles or not, whether you are going through hectic and stressful time at work and in life or not, right?

• 5:32Speaker 00

  You do it all the time. Like, why is that? That's what I asked my client. And the client said, it's just a habit now.

• 5:42Speaker 00

  And why, I asked him then, why do you think exercise should be any different? Like, what's, what's the difference there? Right? Why do you need, what do you feel? Like you need motivation for one and you don't have to have motivation for the other. Like, what's the difference? Oh, yeah, we'll talk about that. Exercise is obviously a little bit more energy and time and effort consuming. But ultimately, there are people like myself who do it as one would do brushing the beauty. So like, why is it? Before we jump into answering the question, I want to repeat again, as I did many times on this podcast,

• 6:25Speaker 00

  this idea that a lot of people get drawn about motivation. Motivation, some, a lot of people think that it's some sort of spark or energy or this like uplift that you get and you feel like you wanna do thing. But actually, that is a secondary thing. It comes in after this another thing, which is also a definition of motivation. Motivation, it represents the reason of why behind human actions, desires and needs. Your brain, in order to give you the spark to take action,

• 7:06Speaker 00

  needs first a reason, like why, what's the outcome, what's in it for me? Right? We're gonna invest energy into X, like exercise or brushing your teeth. Like, what's on the other side? Why the heck are we doing this? Your brain needs that reason first. In that case, the brain is very transactional and it always calculates this equation. Like, does the math compute? Do I get more or at least equal from the efforts that I put in? Ideally, more, obviously, to save more energy because your primary's objective, your brain's primary's objective to keep you alive. And energy is the currency of life.

• 7:47Speaker 00

  So that's why your brain is so concerned with effort versus what you get out of it. But anyhow, motivation is not the energy and the spark. Motivation and first is the reason to act. What's it in it for me? Why, why do I need to do this? And when people tell me that they lost their motivation. Again, they think that they're missing the spark. And what I found in eighteen years of my coaching and in my personal life and looking at people who do hard things consistently, no matter how they feel, even in places like concentration camps and they keep going.

• 8:28Speaker 00

  Those people have a very clear why it's important. And that reason might not be that accurate or that makes much of a sense to the rest of the world, to other people. As long as you truly believe that this reason is important to take the action.

• 8:49Speaker 00

  Like, why do you brush your teeth? Well, because you don't wanna go to to your dentist all that often. You don't wanna experience pain. You don't wanna, you don't wanna have rotten teeth. You don't wanna lose your teeth. You don't wanna lose your smile because, you know, you wanna be beautiful or handsome and have confidence and smile and attract other people, not have rotten teeth. That falling out, and that's why you do it. And also, it's quite simple and easy. So then you develop a habit and you do it.

• 9:19Speaker 00

  Now, when it comes to exercise, we don't always have that why that Simon Sinek talks about. You know, why that comes first and then how and the what follow. But let me, let me be talk about why you would want to do exercise to develop an exercise habit, just like brushing your teeth. Well, do you want to keep your muscles for life? Do you wanna be strong and fit in your, not just right now, whatever your fitness level you have, but in your, I don't know, forties, fifties, sixties, seventies, whatever, you know, that aspirational fitness age for you is?

• 10:01Speaker 00

  Do you wanna preserve your bones and avoid falling and breaking your bones? You know, one of the biggest reasons for people to die in old age is falling, breaking their bones, becoming inactive, losing a lot of their functionality, and then just dying faster, right? Do you want this? Do you want your mobility? Do you wanna be able to do things till the last day on earth, till your last breath? Do you wanna be an assistant or live an assistant when you are old? Or do you wanna become, or do you wanna lose your mind to some sort of dementia? Or become some sort of vegetable who needs to be cared for? Like, what do you want? You can have different outcomes depending on how much fitness you do every day.

• 10:45Speaker 00

  Do you want to enjoy your life with the people you love when you are older? Even take care of them for as long as you're breathing? Research also shows that exercise sharpens your focus right now, speeds up your thinking, improves your memory, stabilizes your mood better than therapy and medication combined. And yes, it's also a confidence boost because it boosts things like dopamine, which gives you the feeling of confidence. It also gives you, you know, the kind of admiration look on the beach or in the boardroom that you feel pumped by and like, yeah, I'm better and I can do this.

• 11:27Speaker 00

  These are just a few ways, strong enough to build a habit on. Something you do without thinking, like brushing your teeth. Exercise obviously is more complex than brushing your teeth. It requires a little bit more energy, a little bit more effort, but it doesn't have to be, especially at the beginning, all that much. What's really important is to build the habit and the habit. And your habit requires consistency. You build the consistency first and then you add intensity if needed and you scale it down when you're not capable of intensity, like when you're sick or when you have injury or when you don't have time. Right? The hardest, they say the hardest weight in the gym is the front door,

• 12:13Speaker 00

  which also means that the hardest thing is to make a decision and committing to building a habit because of all this reason that we just talked about, the quality of your life now and older, when you get older. The real work is in the decision to show up every day, rain or shine, mood or no mood. You know, today I was in the gym and there were not so many people and I'm like, I wonder why? Like, what makes some days busier? It's middle of the week, like not a holiday, so a regular day. And then somebody told me, well, maybe it's full moon. I'm like, you brush your teeth, whether that's full moon or not, like, what does it have to do with fitness?

• 12:57Speaker 00

  Like, you can move when it's full moon.

• 13:02Speaker 00

  That just always fascinates me and it just shows that most of the people don't ever build a habit out of exercise, something they do without decision making.

• 13:14Speaker 00

  So here is the secret that kept me exercising every day for more than 25 years now. Keep the routine and the time the same and build in options that makes keeping it almost impossible. Even when you're exhausted, injured, sleep deprived, slammed with work, running a slight fever or it's full moon. My whole routine, I wake up, I use the bathroom, I brush my teeth, I drink water, I meditate, I go and move. My minimum is 20 minutes. Most days I make it to the gym, other days it's a brisk walk or Tabata training at home, plus 20 squats, 20 lunges, 20 pushups, 20 burpees, 20 crunches, I call it the 100, or the yoga routine I learned 10 years ago.

• 13:59Speaker 00

  On the roughest mornings, it's a slow walk and that's it. That still counts. I keep my habit going, just like brushing my teeth. Then I have my coffee, my reward, and the day officially begins. If I have 4 a.m. flight, I still wake up 20 minutes early and do my thing, because those 20 minutes won't move the needle on my sleep, but they move the needle on the rest of my day. I would say they move the needle on the rest of my life, just like brushing my teeth every day.

• 14:32Speaker 00

  That's why you keep those habits forever. You don't get the benefits unless you take, you take it daily, just like shower, just like brushing your teeth, just like taking your multivitamins.

• 14:44Speaker 00

  Here is my challenge for you for this week or the whole month of August. What if you stop treating exercise like something you do when you are motivated? And started treating it like brushing your teeth? Mindset is everything, guys. How you look at things changes how things are. I never looked at my exercise as something is an option. Like I move because movement is life, literally. You stop moving, you start dying. And that is why I never understood like I didn't have energy to to move. Like, did you have energy to eat, to wake up, to get out of bed? Then you can move.

• 15:29Speaker 00

  Mindset is everything, guys. You don't show up to work because you feel like it. So you don't need to be in the mood to do what matters. Right? Some people say like, well, I didn't feel like it. Well, do you go to work when you don't feel like it? Hmm? Probably there were quite a few times when you didn't feel like it and you still did. So you have the ability to do the thing whether you feel like it or not. So that skill is transferable. And when you make a real decision that you're going to show up for exercise, whether you feel it all or not, whether you're in the mood or not, whether there is full moon or not, rain or shine, you'll figure the way out. Right? What if exercise got the same treatment as brushing your teeth?

• 16:12Speaker 00

  You'll be surprised how consistent you can get. And again, the secret for me is figure out the options that you can do at the same time uh every single day, ideally till the rest of your life, rain or shine, travels or hectic schedule or whatever that is. So whether you have the dream or you don't have the dream, whether you can get outside or you can't get outside, figure out all the options, create the routine that is repeatable every single day. And again, you'll be surprised how consistent you can get once you stop treating your exercise as an option and start treating it as brushing your teeth as a daily habit that needs to happen for you to have the kind of quality of life that you want.

• 16:58Speaker 00

  What else? I think actually what I also wanted to mention here, something that I Googled this morning as part of my research. I love Googling these days because it's AI enhanced and I can Google and then ask AI questions around what I'm Googling and sort of give me a summary for the answer that I'm looking for. So, stress and habits. You know, some people say like, when I get stressed, maybe I don't exercise, I don't sleep well, or I don't eat well. And here is the thing, what can be useful to eliminate this excuse and to start working on habit again, something that we've been talking

• 17:40Speaker 00

  for the whole episode, why forming habit is so important to get you the fittest, the healthiest, the strongest, even through the roughest season in your life. Stress makes you rely more on your habits. I'm reading this summary from Google. "When you feel stressed, your brain shifts activity away from goal-directed planning and decision-making, and your brain leans heavily into automatic routine and habits. This happens because stress drains your mental energy, physical energy, willpower, causing the brain to choose low-effort shortcuts, which are your habits when you build them."

• 18:23Speaker 00

  So, how the stressed brain changes? Weakened control, stress lowers activity in the prefrontal cortex, the thinking part of your brain, which is responsible for careful decision-making and long-term goals. Increased automation, the habit-driven parts of the brain become more dominant, more active. That's why, again, it's so important to build habits, not rely on decision-making. Turning familiar routines into your default mode of action. That's why people ask me, Angela, you seem to be getting fitter. And I say, I get fitter usually when I get super busy because I don't have time to think and I happen to have habits of a fit person. So, I just get fitter, no matter. And the busiest season is actually when I get the fittest.

• 19:08Speaker 00

  So, if you see me being super shredded, it means I have a lot going on and don't have to think about anything else. I just wake up, do my exercise, eat my meals, and the rest of the day is work and taking care of other life challenges. Energy conservation, what happens to your stressed brain? Your brain starts relying on automatic actions to protect

• 19:35Speaker 00

  actions which protects your overloaded nervous system for making too many deliberate choices, which requires energy. An interesting fact, good versus bad habits under pressure. Both sides get amplified. Research shows that stress boosts whatever your established patterns or habits are, whether they are positive or negative. Healthy defaults, if you already have strong routines like regular exercise or eating well, you're likely to maintain them on autopilot when stressed. Unhealthy defaults, if your automatic response to pressure is eating junk food, biting your nails or withdrawing from life, stress will push you deeper into those negative loops.

• 20:18Speaker 00

  What it means is when you get stressed, you do your habits. And that is why, you know, Navy SEALs have the saying, "We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training." They specifically talk about chaotic and stressful and under pressure kind of situations. When life gets busy and hectic, people do their automatic behaviors. So if you build a lot of fit and strong and healthy automatic behaviors or habits, you're gonna get fitter and more shredded, just like I do. And when you have no, when you do not have that many fit and healthy habits or automations, you're gonna do your worst, under pressure and under stress.

• 21:02Speaker 00

  And the more your life gets hectic and under stress and under pressure, the unhealthier and weaker and fatter you get. And since most people treat their exercise as an option, not a habit, that's what happens to most people. And that's what doesn't happen when you treat your exercise as a habit. You wake up, you do the thing, you do the rest of your day. And that's how, again, when life gets hectic, you get fitter, more shredded, healthier and stronger. That's the secret, quote unquote. I hope you found this episode useful, insightful, and if you did, again, please feel...

• 21:41Speaker 00

  Free to share, and again, it would make my day and share it with at least one other person or many people, rate, review this podcast to reach more people around the world. So together, we unlock more of our potential, create more positive impact and live our most extraordinary lives. Thank you, guys, for tuning in. Thank you for listening. And till next time, keep building habits. They are useful and keep growing.