Dr. Celia
00:00 – 00:30
You know that feeling when you’re staring at your laptop knowing that you have a huge to do list, but instead you’re reorganizing your sock drawer? Yep, we’ve all been there. This actually reminds me of like a voice message that I got from a friend last week. She was like, Cel, help! I have to give this speech next week and I’m doing literally anything except for working on it. Like I’m cleaning my house, I’m scrolling Instagram. I know I’ll end up doing it at the last minute, but why am I avoiding this so much? I could hear the frustration in her voice and honestly, like I knew exactly what was happening.
Dr. Celia
00:31 – 01:09
See, as someone who’s studied brain science, like quick background in case you don’t know who I am, I’m a mindset and productivity expert with an MD and psychiatry background. I recognized this pattern immediately, like here’s what’s fascinating. And I told her this in my response. What she’s experiencing was not laziness or a lack of discipline. It was literally her brain trying to protect her. Think about it. When you’re facing something uncertain, like a big speech, or maybe like an important client pitch, two particular areas of your brain go overdrive. First, there’s your amygdala. Think of it as your brain’s emotional security guard.
Dr. Celia
01:10 – 01:45
It sees anything new or uncertain as potentially dangerous, and what does it do? It starts hitting the panic button saying, nope, nope, nope, let’s avoid this. That’s why suddenly organizing your sock drawer seems so important right now. Your brain is literally like, look, a safe activity. Let’s do that instead. But here’s where it gets really interesting. Like I shared this with my friend, three simple steps to basically hack her brain’s response. First, I told her to acknowledge what she’s been feeling, like just name it out loud, like telling your brain security guard, hey, I see you, I understand why you’re worried.
Dr. Celia
01:45 – 02:18
When you sit with that uncomfortable feeling and name it, something amazing happens. It actually starts to lower the pain response in your brain. See, when we need to calm down that emotional center, the amygdala, so your logical brain, the prefrontal cortex, can actually step in and make a plan. Second, we need to focus on shifting the story. Instead of seeing the speech as a scary thing, we start talking about, like, how awesome it would be. And guess what happens next? Your brain starts releasing dopamine, that, like, feel-good chemical that actually makes you want to start working on that speech.
Dr. Celia
02:18 – 02:53
This literally creates new pleasure pathways in your brain. And the third step, this is where the magic happens. By doing these first two steps, you’re actually creating space for your brain to think clearly and focus on a task. It’s like turning down the volume on the panic alarm so you could actually hear yourself think. But here’s something really cool that I told her to do after the speech, and this is crucial for long-term change. When you’re done with your speech, take a moment to write down or tell yourself how awesome the speech went and the impact that it made.
Dr. Celia
02:53 – 03:26
And this is not just positive thinking, it’s literally giving your brain evidence that the scary thing turned out great. See, because there’s like two active pathways in your brain, the pain and the pleasure. Every experience you have shapes whether your brain wants to do something similar again or not. So when you acknowledge the win and let that dopamine flow, you’re actually making it easier for your future self to tackle the next speech or presentation. A month later, my friend sent me another voice message and I couldn’t help smile. She was absolutely crushing that speech, like she did so so well.
Dr. Celia
03:26 – 04:04
But what made me even happier was knowing that next time, it’ll be easier for her because we literally rewired her brain’s response to these challenges. Here’s what I want you to remember. The next time you find yourself avoiding something important, pause. Remember, your brain isn’t broken. It’s just trying to protect you. But with these simple strategies, you could turn that avoidance into action. And let me tell you something. This does not get easier as you advance in your business. Like every successful mom entrepreneur I know still faces these moments. The big difference is they understand what’s happening and they know how to work with their brain instead of against it.
Dr. Celia
04:06 – 04:21
So next time you find yourself avoiding something important, pause, name what’s happening, shift your brain’s focus, and remind yourself that every challenge you conquer now makes the next one easier. You’re not broken, your brain just needs a new strategy, and that’s exactly what we’re doing here.
