all I know is that it exists and it becomes available only when a man is in that state of mind
in which he knows exactly what he wants and is fully determined not to quit until he finds it.
—ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL —
You’ve got latent deposits of energy available to you if you demand strongly enough that they be used. You’ll never access this energy by begging for it, you’ve got to take it by force and through action. You show your brain that you are serious about something through taking action, not by sitting in your room and thinking positively. These hidden deposits of energy, or reserve tanks if you will, cannot be accessed by the weak-minded. They’ll only be made available to those who are able to push way past the plateau and yet find themselves needing it.
You will find that there are countless examples of this phenomenon if you choose to study it more deeply; probably the most common example would be someone in a life-threatening situation – when it’s either do or die.
A few times when I’ve managed to break out of homeostasis in a particularly potent way I’ve felt absolutely unstoppable in terms of physical stamina; it’s been like I was being hooked up to an infinitely powerful generator from another dimension. One minute I’d be completely exhausted, and in just a few seconds I would feel replenished to go again.
The habit of going for five more minutes is crucial in regards to unlocking the reserve tank. It all starts and ends with that. You focus on five more minutes and persisting just a little longer.
If you invest your willpower into the habit of keeping it up for five more minutes during every day for at least a month it should be an automated response afterwards.
But why stop there? Make it a way of life!
You’re running on the treadmill and feel tired. Your body is aching and you’re gasping for air. You’re beginning to think you can’t make it. But then you remember to keep going for five more minutes.
BREAKING OUT OF HOMEOSTASIS
68
You will use this as an opportunity to break out of homeostasis; so you stop entertaining the thought of quitting and instead shut up and do it. And when those five minutes have gone by your concentration is suddenly peaking, your body is exploding with energy feeling absolutely euphoric.
You keep running for at least ten more minutes without any
difficulties, all because you had the resolve to keep going during the uphill struggle of those first five minutes of quitting.
69
Checkpoint
Do you think this is a masochistic or fanatical outlook on personal performance?
If so, I would speculate that you have a lot of work to do on yourself in the case that you want to break out of homeostasis and stop living in utter reaction to your brain. You’re not going to be able to do it unless you really want to, or desperately need to.
You will quit way before pushing through the plateau of bodily and hormonal discomfort.
Remember, to break out of homeostasis has nothing to do with executing in terms of absolute numbers. It’s completely different for each person depending on your starting point and the activity undertaken.
If you’ve ever watched The Biggest Loser you’ll find that perhaps 90 % of the contestants will give up very easily – almost as soon as they are faced with the slightest discomfort – which logically isn’t strange seeing as how they have let their willpower atrophy their whole lives as they were stuffing themselves with cookies despite their better knowing. Their bodies craved it and now that very same body is craving that they stop running. What do you think the
likelihood is that they will succeed this time if they’ve lost the battle for years on end before?
The body (brain) has way too much power over them. They have many, many thousands of reference experience in which they vividly remember losing this mental battle, and giving in to their addiction for junk food or sugar.
On the other hand, among the very few contestants who actually make it to the finals, you’ll notice that they all have the ability to go into a rage-mode, turning them into miniature Hulks (not the Lou Ferrigno version!), and literally scream in fury. That, old sport, is to truly fight the body and push through the plateau.
The reason that shows like The Biggest Loser are successful is
because people, think it’s entertaining to watch (fat) people struggle and fail; all the while they themselves are sitting comfortably in their living rooms eating snacks and feeling superior to those fatties. Ah, the irony!
Those fatties – even if they look hilarious – shouldn’t be laughed at or mocked, however tempting it might be. They should be respected for stepping up and taking responsibility for their lives and finally facing
BREAKING OUT OF HOMEOSTASIS
70
their, perhaps, biggest fear. While watching the mainstream media and laughing at fatties is a bonding experience for most people, reinforcing the ‘us against them’ paradigm while making us feel temporarily cooler, it’s not going to be very productive in the long- term. It only serves as a distraction because it is keeping you busy from doing the only work that actually matters – the work on yourself.
* * *
Do you still think that to break out of homeostasis is an unhealthy or exaggerated outlook on personal performance?
I’ll repeat what I wrote before because it bears repeating itself many times over, and I know it will be the sticking point for many people who read this book:
Don’t worry so much about whether you are exerting too much energy or pushing yourself too hard mentally. Don’t worry about suffering an allostatic load. Don’t concern yourself so much with reaching that sweet spot of optimal exertion.
Do concern yourself with putting in the effort consistently – to keep going for five more minutes when you want to quit. It adds up cumulative over time if you’re able to do it even once a week, not to mention every single day!
The body will make it known if you’re overexerting yourself
physically or mentally. If you work out too hard in the gym you will get tired and your body will ache, but you won’t die. Besides, you don’t go to the gym for sake of comfort do you?
Remember the quote from Marcus Aurelius that the book began with…
'Yes, but one must have some repose as well.'
Granted; but repose has its limits set by nature, in the same way as food and drink have; and you overstep these limits, you go beyond the point of sufficiency; while on the other hand, when action is in question, you stop short of what you
could well achieve.
Point being: don’t concern yourself with working too hard, but do concern yourself with mental anxiety and thinking too many destructive thoughts.
Julie Moss ran Iron Man in 1982 and collapsed numerous times; that however, is a seriously intense allostatic load. Look it up on Youtube. She got to the limit of the mental reserve tank and that is a very rare thing.