Mark Bell's Power Project - EP. 587 - Do We Actually Have Free Will?

Episode Date: September 9, 2021

Tying our brains in a full on knot trying to figure out if we in fact have "Free Will". On top of that, Nsima finally made a shot into the trash can and we discovered the new Matrix 4 Teaser Trailer. ...Subscribe to the NEW Power Project Newsletter! ➢ https://bit.ly/2JvmXMb Subscribe to the Podcast on on Platforms! ➢ https://lnk.to/PowerProjectPodcast Special perks for our listeners below! ➢Marek Health: https://marekhealth.com Use code POWERPROJECT15 for 15% off ALL LABS! Also check out the Power Project Panel: https://marekhealth.com/powerproject Use code POWERPROJECT for $101 off! ➢Eat Rite Foods: http://eatritefoods.com/ Use ode "POWERPROJECT25" for 25% off your first order, then code "POWERPROJECT" for 10% off every order after! ➢LMNT Electrolytes: http://drinklmnt.com/powerproject ➢Piedmontese Beef: https://www.piedmontese.com/ Use Code "POWERPROJECT" at checkout for 25% off your order plus FREE 2-Day Shipping on orders of $99 ➢Sling Shot: https://markbellslingshot.com/ Enter Discount code, "POWERPROJECT" at checkout and receive 15% off all Sling Shots Follow Mark Bell's Power Project Podcast ➢ Insta: https://www.instagram.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ https://www.facebook.com/markbellspowerproject ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mbpowerproject ➢ LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/powerproject/ ➢ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/markbellspowerproject ➢TikTok: http://bit.ly/pptiktok FOLLOW Mark Bell ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marksmellybell ➢ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkBellSuperTraining ➢ Twitter: https://twitter.com/marksmellybell ➢ Snapchat: marksmellybell ➢Mark Bell's Daily Workouts, Nutrition and More: https://www.markbell.com/ FOLLOW Nsima Inyang ➢YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/NsimaInyang ➢Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nsimainyang/?hl=en ➢TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nsimayinyang?lang=en ➢Nsima's Coaching: https://www.breakthebar.com/learn-more Podcast Produced by Andrew Zaragoza ➢ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamandrewz #PowerProject #Podcast #MarkBell

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Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Are we on now, Andrew? Did you hit the right button? No. Yeah, we're good. Good. We're good. I had two Manhattans last night. You would.
Starting point is 00:00:08 The Manhattan filet. Those are delicious. I've never had them before. Super low in fat. Yeah. Like insanely low. I can't wait for the kebabs. After what you mentioned, I have like two, I have about four kebabs.
Starting point is 00:00:19 So you mentioned like there's a mixture of ribeye, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, I think it's like ribeye and filet. I forget what else they said, but it cooks up really good. And it's super tender. Delicious. I just got to say how grateful I am and how blessed I feel that I get to eat Piedmontese every day. Because it really like, we couldn't have, the meat is just too damn, it's really freaking good. Look forward to it every time.
Starting point is 00:00:45 Like I have no need to go to a steakhouse no need no none whatsoever yeah i went back to og went back to the classic the uh just the regular um uh ribeye not not the center cut not uh the tomahawk or anything like that you guys know about the ribeye cap i think you told us about that no i haven't tried it yet ribeye cap ribeye cap i don't think so it's really fucking good it's really really we gotta get on that exclusive list it's not real big it's not real big yeah it's normally like a gigantic steak probably wouldn't taste too good right yeah it's a little bit thick but it's not like uh not a not a real big, big old steak. 14 ounce ribeye is always like, I think it's the 12 to 14 ounce ribeye. It's always just,
Starting point is 00:01:30 uh, hit her. And that's the one that you cook frozen. I cook that. Yeah. Yeah. When Michaela gave us that tip, man,
Starting point is 00:01:38 she was on the money with that one in the air fryer, in the air fryer, frozen. Just cook that, cook that for 28 to 32 minutes. Perfect. Perfect. Gotta get in on that. Hopefully I don't sneeze as I'm finishing
Starting point is 00:01:51 this up, so apologies if I do. COVID. It's definitely coming. Hopefully I was talking over it. We don't have to edit that out. We're just talking about meat here, nothing else. Promise. But for more information or if you want to dive into a bunch of this uh amazing piedmontese beef um head over to piedmontese.com
Starting point is 00:02:11 it's p-i-e-d-m-o-n-t-e-s-e.com at checkout enter promo code power project for 25 off your entire order it's insane it's about a quarter off by my math. And if your order is $150 or more, you get free two-day shipping. Again, it's pedamontes.com, promo code POWERPROJECT for 25% off. Links to them down in the description as well as the podcast show notes. I was listening to some Andrew Huberman the other day. Huberman. I can't stop listening to the guy. He's, yeah.
Starting point is 00:02:42 He had a doctor on who was talking a lot about testosterone and the guy was talking about lots of other stuff. Whipping out study after study had a lot of great information. And then one of the things that he talked about was with these two rats. Rat number one. Rat number one was exercising whenever it wanted to. It had the option to like go on this wheel and like exercise i don't know exactly how they ran the study um and uh rat number one got all the benefits of exercise uh rat number two had to exercise every time rat number one exercised. Rat number two got all the negative side effects that happen with stress as opposed to rat number one
Starting point is 00:03:31 where rat number one had all the benefits of exercise. So I just found that to be really interesting and then they started kind of talking about, they went down this rabbit hole talking about free will and a bunch of other things. And so it kind of got me thinking about how many things do I like kind of force myself to do? And can you force yourself to do things? And like, what the hell is free will versus determinism and some of these things? And even just like on my walk this morning, I got up a little bit later than I wanted to. I started walking a little bit later than I wanted to. I halfway didn't want to do it, but I still did it because I think in my brain, I'm like, this is what you're doing and this is something that you determined is in your best interest. And so here you are doing it.
Starting point is 00:04:26 Um, if I didn't think it was that interesting to me, or if I wasn't that into it, uh, I wouldn't do it, but I'm trying to think in my head, like, do I even have any like, uh, free will over this? Do I have like agency over like whether I'm actually doing this or not doing it? So it just kind of made some of those things kind of go off in my head. And so that's what we're talking about today. Yeah. It's a really funny topic. I think it's a fun topic.
Starting point is 00:04:50 I think the first time I really heard or the idea came to mind was from the matrix when the Oracle was talking to Neo. And I think they were in her kitchen and she, he, he came to the kitchen and he broke a plate. Right. And she said something like, Oh, did you do that because of this or this? And then he was like, whatever.
Starting point is 00:05:10 I don't know. But she was trying to tell him that there is no such thing as having a free will to do anything. I think in that scene. And I was like, wait, what the fuck? What the fuck did I just watch? Because it was mad confusing. But I watched it a few more times. And that's when I first started thinking of the topic.
Starting point is 00:05:23 But then it was weird because I started like learning more about the ideas of free will from different people. Um, I got to a point where I was like, Oh shit, there really is no free will. But then there's a way that you can look at it as an individual. And then there's a way you can look at it to other people. And I think that is the really interesting aspect of it. Cause I think there's a dangers in there's dangers in the idea of there is no free will because if you if you think too deeply about that or you apply that too much then it you some people are just like put my hands in the air and let whatever happened happen right jesus take the wheel jesus take the wheel but that's not necessarily i think what we're
Starting point is 00:06:00 gonna what we're getting at things may be kind kind of preselected and maybe the things that you are, even the things that you're about to select, maybe there's just not that many of them, you know, maybe there's not as many of them as you would like to think, you know, maybe, um, you know, you deciding to go to the gym versus not go to the gym, or you deciding to, to lose weight, um, when you've been heavy most of your life or these different things. There's choices in front of you, but a lot of these choices are being made probably on the heels of all the other things
Starting point is 00:06:36 that have happened to you already, all the other things that you experienced in your life have probably led to you now being faced with this choice to do a or B or C. Um, but the fact that you have choices and, and there's, and they're probably fairly limited. Um, they seem like they're infinite, but they're just not there. They're usually only have a couple of choices that, that you're at least consciously thinking of. And so, you know, whether you decide to do this thing or the other, it's hard to like know whether it's determined or whether it's something out of your own free will. I think ultimately you're trying to find out like what's pragmatic,
Starting point is 00:07:20 like what's something that you could actually do and practice and, and what's a, what's a take home from, from something, some sort of thought process like this. I think some people can say, oh, there's no free will. So what's the difference? The hell with it. You know, but you got to kind of like back up for a second and recognize that no one knows why we're here. We most likely will never figure that out. We don't know why humans are here. Um, other animals don't have the ability to think the same way that humans do.
Starting point is 00:07:50 We don't, they don't have the ability to adopt stories like we have, like we've adopted stories of, uh, religion and we've adopted stories of, you know, religion is not part of our genetic code. Religion is not part of our genetic code. It's however we want to word that. But it's not something we are innately born with. I guess people that are religious would argue that. So understood.
Starting point is 00:08:24 And I'm open to anyone's interpretation of life and why we're here because I don't think that we'll ever truly get to the bottom of the bottom of that but some of my thoughts on it but trying to just to figure out like what's practical like how you know you you do have agency and control over the things that you believe that you have agency and control over so you may as well take care of those things the best way that you can i i mean i talked to both of you actually fairly recently because i had watched the the glitch glitch in the matrix and i had told both of you that like it almost feels like um i used to think this it feels like i'm actually in a movie right now um i guess it's just my interpretation of simulation theory and with that sometimes i feel like it kind of doesn't matter what i do because the script is
Starting point is 00:09:05 already written and you know I'm going to end up from a to b to c and so on and so forth but what I was telling in SEMA I'm like I I do believe in like fate and stuff but without actually doing something and putting stuff into action it's not really going to happen in my favor. So the example that I gave in SEMA was, you know, like I guess we'll say like the family that is struggling from paycheck to paycheck, something happens, car breaks down or somebody ends up in the hospital. They can barely make ends meet. But that next month, they somehow things work out. They end up with enough money to pay for whatever bill it was and that's kind of how I felt my life has been like no matter what stage I'm at I always somehow find a way to make
Starting point is 00:09:51 it through and that's because I've kind of always felt like oh it's just because I'm part of this movie and the script is meant for me to kind of win this scene or whatever but if I just believed that and I didn't actually do something with it or I didn't actually do something for it, then the movie would be different. So it's kind of like a weird thing. Like I always feel like I am sitting back watching the screen on this movie that's playing in front of me. And every once in a while I can kind of take one step back and look at that person that's watching it. And then all of a sudden, wham, I get pushed right back into that person.
Starting point is 00:10:25 And I try to take a step further back and further back. And I'm at the end of the, uh, the movie theater and I can't go back any further. And I'm like, mother fuck, like, just let me get back further so I can see who's watching this mother.
Starting point is 00:10:36 It's just so weird. Like I hate that feeling, but I can't figure out how to like wrap my head around whatever that is. I know it's more simulation theories talk, but like, that's kind of, uh, when you had mentioned like this free will thing that was my first thought was like yeah i kind of feel like like i the stuff's already written out for me but if i don't do something about it it's not going to actually happen you know it's the the the idea of like you know fate or things being written out for you what you said is really interesting there because I wasn't even thinking about that really.
Starting point is 00:11:07 But as you were saying that, I was thinking like, for example, as far as like how deep into the fitness rabbit hole I'm in right now. If my mom didn't put me in soccer at six and then put me in the gym at 13 and those cascading actions in terms of like falling in love with fitness, the gym, nutrition, etc. Those cascading actions in terms of like falling in love with fitness, the gym, nutrition, et cetera, all of those things cascaded me into my love of movement and fitness and all of that right now. And it also cascaded into a bunch of positive actions and decisions. The same thing with, you know, paying attention to self-development stuff. I started reading those types of books when I was either 19 or 20. I think the first book I ever read is Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. And then once those things started replaying in my head, it just led me towards a cascade
Starting point is 00:11:53 of thinking more about those things and paying attention to more things from those things. And the thing is, it's like, this is why the idea of like they're not being free will is kind of legitimate because the informed actions that I take, there's positive actions and there's negative actions. a lot of just if I had a lot of negative people around me, if these were the things that were going in my head, those things would inform the decisions I make, which would look like those decisions would most likely not be in my best interest. They would probably lead me down a negative path. But because I like to have those positive inputs, positive books, it leads me to make certain actions and certain decisions as far as my health, as far as my fitness, as far as my habits that lead me into a positive
Starting point is 00:12:52 cascade in terms of what I do. And those decisions are all informed from those things that I have input. But the other way that I look at this too is when I look at other people, like other people that may have been close to me or whatever, let's say that bad decisions were made. I really don't blame people for things anymore. As in like, I'm not like, Oh, they did this. Like, Oh, fuck that. That that's messed up of them. Blah, blah, blah. Because I can look at all of the things that led them towards making that decision, whether it be the way that they were raised, whether it be the things that they continue to consume, seeing all that and then seeing the decision they made that may have had a negative effect on me. I don't blame them for that. I'm not even mad at them for that because I understand that they had no other choice.
Starting point is 00:13:39 They really could have made because of everything that has led them up until that point. I think that's kind of a way to take anger out of yourself towards other individuals. It's like, it's a tough thing because you don't want to relieve somebody of all the responsibility of something, right? You can't do that. There is personal responsibility for yourself as an individual,
Starting point is 00:13:58 but there, if you blame people for things continuously because they do things to you, that that's also a weight on yourself. And you can take that weight off of you by saying that, hey, that person made that decision because they were uninformed, because they didn't have any other better decision to make with their circumstances. There's things that all of us do that go against the goals and the things that we love. And, you know, there's things that we do to set ourselves backwards from like a fitness perspective, a strength perspective. There's but, you know, we're human beings and you need like you you you need some polarity. You could say that by not doing any of those things, eating bad food, taking a psychedelic or using kratom or just whatever it would be, by not doing any of those things at all, maybe your life is too stiff and too rigid. Now, some people find enjoyment in that, where they stick to something so rigid that that's pleasurable for them. They enjoy that.
Starting point is 00:15:09 But for most people, they're going to want to have a piece of cake here and there or some ice cream here and there or something that is going to release some dopamine. It releases a lot of dopamine when you lift and exercise and stuff too. You know, it releases a lot of dopamine when you lift and exercise and stuff, too. But I think some people oftentimes you just want to kind of like put your feet up and just relax for a minute because the part part of the great thing about part of the great thing about kind of, quote unquote, forcing yourself to do a bunch of shit during the day is putting your feet up at the end of the day saying, fuck, yeah, that was awesome. Kind of like I view fasting that way. Like, I don't necessarily love not to eat, but I love to eat when the opportunity's there. That is exponentially heightened with fasting.
Starting point is 00:16:00 You're like so excited. It would be like if you didn't have sex for a long time and then now you reintroduce it. You went a couple weeks or something without it and now you got it again. You would be fucking pumped, right? Or just going with the good. Good one. Going without water is an awesome example.
Starting point is 00:16:27 Everyone knows what it's like to be really fucking thirsty. And then you finally get to drink some water. Right. So, um, I don't know. It's just, it, it, it just, it brings up a lot of interesting things. And when I think about this stuff and I think about like any choices I've made, they've been things that are based off of things that have happened, uh, in my life. Um,
Starting point is 00:16:49 I'm thinking about like stuff when I was a kid. Um, I just followed my brothers. My brothers liked to lift. They liked wrestling. Uh, they liked certain movies. I liked all the same shit that they liked.
Starting point is 00:17:01 Um, their bias came from, uh, pro wrestling, you know, watching pro wrestlers being jacked and power lifters and bodybuilders, um, things like that were just kind of prominent in our lives. And I don't know where that initially kicked off from, but I think it came from my uncle. Um, you know, and then where, where did his thing, but like, it's just, it's just the way human beings are. We adopt stuff from other people. Uh, we sometimes will cancel or get rid of certain things, uh, that are also from other people. Cause we recognize that that's not in our best interest to keep that around or do that any longer. But when it comes to some of these things that you might view in your life as being somewhat negative, you literally couldn't do the thing that you consider to be negative.
Starting point is 00:17:52 You could not. You could not just switch to that. Like, you couldn't do it. Like, Andrew, like, let's say that you like marijuana. You wouldn't be able to all of a sudden switch to tomorrow. You smoke weed and you're high as fuck all the time at your house you know you wouldn't be able to do it yeah you know you don't have you don't have the free what you you could potentially do it if someone's like dude i'm gonna give you 10 million dollars be high as fuck for the next month you could explain it and you say this is what i'm gonna do but you
Starting point is 00:18:20 recognize it's not in your best interest to do that doesn't make sense for you to be that way in your household and for the house to smell like weed all the time. Like people got a lot of questions going on here. So you don't have like we don't have nearly as much. You know, I have to be who I am every day. You guys have to be who you are every day. And then once you're not people, even on a smaller level, people are just like, yo, what the fuck's going on, dude? You okay?
Starting point is 00:18:46 What's happening, man? What happened to Encima? Like, you're not, dude, you seriously haven't been to jiu-jitsu in two months? Like, what the fuck are you doing? Okay, so then my, I guess, not counter-argument, but whatever you want to call it, to somebody, or you use me as somebody, I'm now a pothead all of a sudden and I want to smoke weed every day. We every day. Isn't it still my free will that determines or that says, OK, actually, wait, you don't want to do that every day.
Starting point is 00:19:22 And then I'd stop. So because I stopped, doesn't that mean I still had the free will to stop myself from that other thing, which was going to be me getting high every single day. Why'd you decide to, what made you come to the decision to stop doing it every day? Something, something, something absolutely did. Yeah. And then, then you made the decision to not do it every day so yeah you did choose that but at the end of the day something had an influence upon that decision that's the fucked up thing about it it's like every like every if you if you really think about every decision you've made what's the first domino exactly like like every decision that you've made had something, multiple cascading inputs that led to that decision. I was just like we've talked about like how, you know, you're like your brain's like a computer.
Starting point is 00:20:14 It's right. You can program it. And the programming is based off of, yeah, the way you were brought up, the things you pay attention to, the things you read, the things you watch, you can, you can program your brain in a certain way so that certain actions are taken over time that you don't really have to think about. Right. And you, you, you dictate that programming and then it can lead to either a desired outcome or an outcome that you don't want to happen. But at the end of the day, it does happen because of the things that you continue to input, right? We do have that power. We do have that control, but the decisions, the actual decisions that end up being made aren't not influenced by other things. And that's a good thing. That's a good thing to know. Like,
Starting point is 00:20:55 I think that's a very powerful thing to come to terms with that I can have the desired outcomes that I want as long as I set up the programming. And yeah, it might not be free will, but these are things that I like to happen, you know, it's not perfectly free will. It's like, I'm happy that those things are the things that are happening, that I have the habit of exercise, that I have the habit of fasting, right? Those are good things. Those are good outcomes. I don't care that if it's, I don't care if it's free will or not, you know? I think it's helpful just to kind of understand that it's easier I don't care if it's free will or not, you know, I think, uh, it's helpful just to kind of understand that it's easier to lean into stuff that you're interested in. That's true.
Starting point is 00:21:31 And, uh, so, you know, I, I, I do think that, um, I can see the argument, you know, to where there is like no free will, even in the thing that you're interested in. But real world just advice and just practicality of going through your day-to-day, you'll know how interested you are in something with how often you do it or think about it. You're a little less interested than you initially thought if you go to try to string together some weight training sessions and you keep falling off for whatever reason, you're not as interested as you thought, uh, whether that's, you know, forcing yourself to do it, as I pointed out with the rats earlier, uh, can be, can be something that's, um, your body can kind of interpret as being more stressful. Now, in the beginning, you might have to,
Starting point is 00:22:26 it might feel like you have to force yourself to do it, but you'll get to a point where it becomes a little easier. Like some stress is good stress. And over a period of time, your body will actually like that stress, that stressor. And you'll start to respond better to it every time that you do it. This isn't, the interest thing you mentioned is is really cool because i mentioned how like andrew and i we play video games every now and then but i've mentioned kind of vaguely that i
Starting point is 00:22:57 used to play a lot of video games when i was younger and i don't think people understand how many hours of gaming i used to do as a teenager in secret. Like there's this game called MapleStory. I used to play Counter-Strike Source. I used to play Call of Duty Modern Warfare. And I was very good at these games. Like I was very good because I put in hundreds and thousands of hours on MapleStory actually. Thousands of hours on Counter-Strike.
Starting point is 00:23:22 Counter-Strike was so good. Yeah. Is it still around? Counter-Strike. There's a newer one. I don't think people play source much anymore but i was very good like eight or ten hours a day sometimes sometimes um did you ever wake up before school and play sometimes yeah me too you see you see and my mom didn't even really know because i was really good at hiding when i was playing control out, delete, just typing from my homework. Right. I had a mad like video game addiction when I was a teenager.
Starting point is 00:23:51 And I, I literally had to quit before college. Cause I told him I had to delete my accounts because I was like, you're not going to be successful in life if you don't fucking get off of this shit. So I deleted it and I cried. But over the years after that that like i was by making other decisions right like i don't i'm not that person anymore i still like gaming every now and then but
Starting point is 00:24:13 it's like a lot of the games i buy i haven't even started or they collect dust right but i try to i try to get it in every now and then i have two games that are still in the the rap thing or whatever they're sealed yeah um i've had that in the wrap thing or whatever. They're sealed. Yeah. I've had that in the past many times, but this is for the new Xbox, and I'm not going to get to them. They're just going to be collectibles at some point, but yeah. But that's the thing. It's like the things that you're interested in, you can literally change your interests over time.
Starting point is 00:24:46 It used to be my big thing was gaming and being in shape like that that was cool like gaming and health those are my things but over time like i still like video games but it's not the biggest thing in my life now like i like very different things these days and it's it's it's initially difficult but that small shift can happen over time and it just turns into changing who you changing kind of who you are as an individual. It's because you're not playing VR games. Yeah, I'm not getting into that realm. Then it would be the thing you look forward to. No, I'm not getting into that realm.
Starting point is 00:25:13 It's a fumble. Back to what you were saying, some of the stuff that you were saying. Um, if I think about, you know, societal norms that we get used to, you know, when you think about, um, even just like the day, you know, it's easier to do stuff during the day than it is at night. You know, so it's easier to just be up when everybody else is up rather than being like nocturnal. Um, if you may, if you kind of back along the lines of what you were saying about not getting mad at people for making particular decisions, right? So somebody that lives most of their life between, I don't know, 2 a.m. and, I don't know, 3 o'clock in the afternoon or something has this random schedule, right? I think it's, if you take your scenario of like people making bad decisions and you're
Starting point is 00:26:10 being judgy of that, think of somebody that has this completely different work schedule and just think about how the smallest task, like going to the bank, which people don't have to really do anymore, but the smallest task of, you know, putting a letter in the mail or whatever it is they have to do just becomes exponentially harder. And I think sometimes we have a tendency to judge other people's lives and we don't have any idea or concept of how difficult something is for them. You know, I might say, hey, look, you know, walking is amazing, but somebody could have, you know, really bad ankles and knees and hips and just they're in tons of pain.
Starting point is 00:26:50 And they're like, fuck you, dude. Like, I can't even barely stand up, much less go on a walk. So I think if you kind of just think sometimes that the decisions, first of all, you shouldn't be too concerned with what other people are doing. But also you can look at your own decisions. Are your own decisions, you know, being made, you know, based off of a lot of the other things in your environment, a lot of the other things in your life are making things a little bit more difficult for you to get the things done that you should get done when you should get them done. There could be like a lot of hurdles that are in your way.
Starting point is 00:27:27 And there could also be some bad habits that you have. You might have a tendency to procrastinate a lot, you know, push things off, push things off, push things off. And now when you have a deadline to meet now, not only do you have to get all your work done for work, but you missed out on a week of training. You also didn't do your laundry and the dishes are piling up. You know, you got kind of all these things that are now, you know, going to probably further just make whatever it is that you're trying to do in your life more and more and more difficult. And it will kind of keep pushing you off task.
Starting point is 00:28:03 more and more difficult and it'll kind of keep pushing you off task. And it's a little bit off the topic of free will and determinism, but in the sense that if, if you are, if you're just picking these things off day to day, then they won't kind of funnel you or push you into things being like, I guess it, I guess my point is, is that it's, uh, taking away some of your degrees of freedom, in my opinion. Say that last part again.
Starting point is 00:28:33 In my opinion, it's taking away some of your degrees of freedom because you're now, you've now stuffed yourself into this, you're, you're bottlenecking yourself into this position. Um, you chose, you may have chose all those things chose, you may have chose all those things. You may not have chose all those things. It's hard to say on that part of it, but you did get yourself in this kind of circumstance that's going to be difficult to get yourself out of. When you do get yourself out of it,
Starting point is 00:28:59 it's good to be conscious of that and say, how do I make sure that doesn't happen in the same degree as it did last time? Because that didn't feel so great or that didn't work out so good for me. Yeah. And that's an interesting thing, getting rid of certain aspects of your freedom, because a lot of people would like maybe look at things that we do and think that that's extremely restrictive. That's extremely difficult. Like you're not free to eat what you want or like, but it's interesting. Cause I don't like tip technically it is that way.
Starting point is 00:29:28 Cause there are certain things that I'm not going to eat every day. Right. I just won't because of what I know about the bottleneck I've put myself in, in terms of nutrition and fasting, there are certain decisions I'm not going to make. And I wouldn't, I definitely wouldn't make just because I know the effects of it. But on the other side of that, that gives me massive freedom.
Starting point is 00:29:48 Because like I it's weird because I can do what I want. Like I have more freedom as far as my diet's concerned these days. It's not restrictive. Maybe I don't. It's weird because I feel like I do. Yeah. No, because it's easy. But your answer is exactly like my answer to like the smoking weed every day.
Starting point is 00:30:07 It's like, no, I know it's not good, so I'm going to not do it. So therefore, I have the freedom to not do it. Yeah. But your response was like, but that's still influenced by something. Yeah. So by you not, I'm just going to say eating carbs, it's your choice that's influenced by some experience or somebody. It kind of reminds me of reality TV. Let's take a bunch of really good-looking people, put them all together.
Starting point is 00:30:36 Love is blind. Let's give them tons of alcohol. It's not determined on what's going to happen. It's not necessarily completely not determined on what's going to happen you know it's not necessarily completely set up on what's going to happen but you know that the hothead ex-football player guy is going to get hammered and he's going to get into a fight with the attorney who's taller than him a little bit better looking and like you you know you just you know this shit not that i've ever seen in these shows but you know that nailed it though i think there's one i haven't seen it but there's shit that I've ever seen in these shows, but, you know, I nailed it.
Starting point is 00:31:06 I think there's one I haven't seen it, but there's one that's called too hot to handle that I think is like, you know, I think it's probably that premise of like put a bunch of people on an island and see how much sex they'll have. Like, I'm pretty sure like that's the premise. Let's see what happens. Like, oh, they all anyways but this is why some people um choose not to have certain inputs i'll give you an example um there are certain people that i would give certain books to because they were trying to figure things out or i'd link them to certain things and they would never read the books or watch the videos ever ever because
Starting point is 00:31:46 when you see something that doesn't leave your mind so you now have uh you now have some knowledge of something that you know if you did this it would this is the decision you need to make but if you're totally ignorant to it and you continue not to know about it and you continue being set in the things that you do and you continue being you. Honestly, you can't be blamed because you don't know any better. Right. So you and I think you smiled because I think you guys both know some people like that who like you continue to throw things at them, but they'll never read it. They'll never listen to it because they know that once they do, there's something there that they can never forget. Ignorance is bliss. It truly is.
Starting point is 00:32:31 It truly is. Ignorance truly gives you more free will. Now they have a responsibility. You know, they mention something to you. You're like, oh, I think this might be useful for you. They mention something to you. You're like, oh, I think this might be useful for you. And a lot of times, you know, I would say all of us a lot of times have a tendency to be resistant.
Starting point is 00:32:53 Like, no, no, no, no, no. You don't have the fucking solution to my problem. You don't understand. My problem is different. You know, that's how we kind of think. Like, I hurt my finger from jujitsu. So the doctor is not going to know about jujitsu. It's like, it doesn't matter what the doctor knows about jujitsu. You broke your fucking pinky.
Starting point is 00:33:10 You know, it's about a broken pinky. Go get it checked out. You know, that kind of stuff. We think our own issues are so special that we safeguard ourselves. Someone says, hey, I know you were talking about having some issues with your finances the other day, and I found this really interesting article and this really cool video, and it was exactly a lot of the stuff that you were talking about having some issues with your finances the other day, and I found this really interesting article and this really cool video. And it was exactly a lot of the stuff that you were talking about. And I think I found it to be helpful for me.
Starting point is 00:33:32 Maybe you would find the same. Yeah, they never touch it. Yeah. They never look at it. They don't want that pushed off on them. Now they've got to read shit or investigate. That's so strange, yeah. Or dig it up it's not strange
Starting point is 00:33:45 because i know certain situations where i've i've i've done that without actually know like without definitely realizing that i've done so like this isn't something that other people do that we've never done we have done this you know what i mean and there are still some instances where i can probably be like oh shit i'm doing that it's also right go involved i was just gonna ask i guess the ego ego, but yeah. Yeah, there can be ego. Yeah, definitely. Because like sometimes you don't, like, yes,
Starting point is 00:34:11 if somebody tries to give you a solution to your problem, you don't want to do that. But also there's just a, there is a level of being, fear. Fear of actually having to now attack said thing that maybe you know you should be attacking and you know you haven't been and with With this being in front of you you know that there's gonna now be a mountain that you need to climb and you might as well Ignore the information that's gonna lie to now do all the work to climb that mountain It's more comfortable to stay where you are and what about known people can't handle the truth
Starting point is 00:34:43 No, you can't It's very difficult and what about like r known people can't handle the truth no you can't uh it's very difficult and what about like ranting you know when you start ranting somebody else calms you down they give you excellent solutions if you're actually listening to them but because you're in this mode you don't hear anything they really said and then maybe after a while you're like oh fuck like i just i can't even believe i said all that out loud it's fucking stupid like they're totally right like the three suggestions they have i at least try one of them but i think uh andrew huberman again i keep referencing him but i've been just absorbing a lot of the information but he talks about how when you're in a stressful
Starting point is 00:35:19 situation how you literally can't even see straight. Like there's science behind it where, uh, you know, you put your phone on portrait mode and there's only one thing that you can see to the same exact thing happens when you're under a lot of stress in your life. So what can you see when you're under a lot of stress? Not much. And probably just your problem and you can't see, or you don't even want to fucking hear it from anybody else. They're not going to be able to solve your shit.
Starting point is 00:35:45 Your problem is way too complicated. Yeah. This is a practically, though, like practically, what can people take away from this? Practically, you still have choices to make. You still have, you know, agency over your mind and, and how you conduct yourself every single day. There's also a lot of things in this world that I would say, and I don't know if everyone agrees with this,
Starting point is 00:36:13 but there's a lot of unexplained shit, you know, like I, like I mentioned earlier, the fact that we just don't even know why we're here. That's, that's pretty fucking interesting. Um,
Starting point is 00:36:23 no one's been able to solve that riddle. I don't know if it will ever get solved or if it's even meant to be solved, probably not meant to be solved. But in thinking about that and just thinking about, okay, well, this is the life that we are given and just trying to figure out ways of making it the best life that you can.
Starting point is 00:36:44 And I think the things that you're currently doing are your current interpretations of doing the best that you can with the information that you have. What I'm obsessed with is finding new information and throwing a lot of conjecture at a lot of old ideas that I had that were just, quite frankly, kind of dumb. Yeah. And I'm glad that I left those in the rearview mirror. And there's things right now that I think that I'll be like, that was dumb. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:37:15 Can't believe I thought that way. So I'd like to try to continue to do what I think is evolve the best way that I possibly can. That's the same shit. That's what gets me fucking excited. Finding new shit that works and getting rid of old shit that doesn't work as well or may have just been really fucking dumb. And I'm OK to say it was really fucking dumb. That's cool. That's fine. You know what I mean?
Starting point is 00:37:36 But that that gets me tingling right there. I think I think the big thing, the big way that i look at it and this is helps me be happy just quite you know just very simply yes like it's it's the uh there's there's this like there's this kind of obsession with like consistent consistent personal development and you know what i i i had this thought the other day and I don't think it's I don't think it's a negative by any means. But there was someone that used to tell me, stop trying to be so perfect. You like you're not perfect. Stop trying to be so perfect. Right. They would tell me that in a very negative way. And first off, I know I'm not a perfect person.
Starting point is 00:38:45 And first off, I know I'm not a perfect person. No one's perfect. No one can be perfect. But I think that there is nothing wrong with striving for perfection in whatever it is that you're doing because you're striving for perfection every day. You're consistently improving. There's a consistent uphill that you're making, and that is not ever a negative. Like there are certain things that can, like there are things that can be upset, especially if like you put that expectation you have on yourself onto another person. That's not good. Like you're not trying to have another person do all the things that you're doing or whatever but for you as an individual if you're consistently trying to get better or reach for perfection even though we'll never be perfect that is not i don't see that as being a negative thing at all right and i think that as weird as it sounds as a what's that movie american psycho american psycho you guys seen a movie absolutely yeah a great movie, absolutely.
Starting point is 00:39:25 Yeah. The dude was like quite literally a sociopath. Remember the mirror scene? Oh yeah. It's a great movie. Christian Bale. Christian Bale, man. Yeah, American Psycho.
Starting point is 00:39:39 We're not talking about some American Psycho shit here. No, this is not what we're talking about. But consistently trying to reach a new level and reach new heights. Ain't nothing wrong with that. Try to be perfect. It's okay. we're talking about but consistently trying to reach a new level and reach new heights ain't nothing wrong with that try to be perfect it's okay they made a second one they made an american that's a lie yeah i mean probably direct to uh video or whatever that's called yeah yeah yeah but um i agree with that i mean there's a bunch of sayings around stuff like that where you you know uh reach for the stars and you'll end up in the clouds, you know,
Starting point is 00:40:06 why not try to just, you know, do the best that you can. Maybe if you're trying to, you know, I guess it can be kind of like it can be overdone, but doing the best that you can, if that's what's kept in mind, then it sort of can't be overdone because doing your best would also imply that you are utilizing information that you have to not overdo it as well. Yes. So like with training, you know, like I like to train every day. Somebody might say, oh, that's, you know, you're already built pretty good.
Starting point is 00:40:43 Like, well, would you, you know, why would you even worry about that? And, again, it's because I'm just trying to do the best I can every day. And it also just helps me to feel good, helps me to feel better. This is a little off topic, or it's a lot off topic, but something I've been thinking about the last couple days in sharing, you know, doing my 20,000 steps and trying to share stuff with people about mental health and some physical health as well. I was just thinking, like, what are some things that I do in a day that like, quote unquote,
Starting point is 00:41:14 make me feel better? And one of them was just a shower. I'm like, the shower is fucking great. You know, I'm fortunate enough to have like a sauna, too. So like I can go in sauna the shower but I shower twice every single day just because not because I think I stink or anything like that but I just um it feels good when I do that in the morning and then I go on my walk I'm my body's loosened up a little bit better and then I do it right when I get home from here every day
Starting point is 00:41:42 and it's kind of like a signal to me that like my day is winding down, you know, and I love that. And then I have dinner with my family and it's like, I have kind of a, a routine, but I think sometimes life is as simple as like, what are the choices that you have every day to, uh, not necessarily like you don't chase happiness, but like what feels good? You know, what are some things that you enjoy what are the things you like to do you like to listen to music you like to write like to play music even if you like to play video games if you're not able to play video games uh you know obviously you don't want to like only you know do something to the detriment of like everything else but if you're not able to play video games like twice a week you should figure out a way to play video games like twice a week, you should figure out a
Starting point is 00:42:25 way to play video games like twice a week. If you don't have an opportunity to read before you go to bed because you're not making time for it, but you enjoy reading like these are things you should really protect. These are important things that assist you to feel good every single day. So a quote I heard from Elvis Presley that I really liked that I shared, uh, the other day was we need something to, something to do, something to look forward to and someone to love. And I just thought those three things, I'm like, man, that's a fucking really awesome, uh, trio of things, uh, combined. And this, this someone to love thing does not always mean
Starting point is 00:43:03 that you need a significant other. I think that's where people go to right away is like, oh, well, fuck, I don't have that. No, it's just anyone. Like there's people in everybody's lives that we all have somebody in our lives that loves us or we love them. And or, you know, we love each other or whatever, however you want to say it. But I just thought that was really useful stuff. And then how do you, how do you have that in your,
Starting point is 00:43:29 in your everyday? You gotta be fucking proactive. Like the only way to have those three things in your life is like, you, you gotta be out doing shit. You gotta be proactive. You gotta work towards making good choices that are going to assist you to feel as good as you possibly can.
Starting point is 00:43:43 Yeah. Want to take us on out of here andrew i will i just need to double check and make sure this isn't bs but it's just perfect that it came up right now on this episode but uh looks like pedro sandoval asked us if we've watched the matrix 4 resurrection so excuse the trailer excuse me so i'm just, I haven't, do you make it? Nailed it. Nailed it. Every time.
Starting point is 00:44:08 What the fuck, man? You know what? Every time. I am closer. This is the day. This is the day. Let's go! Happy birthday!
Starting point is 00:44:19 Happy fucking birthday! Until next year, everybody. Happy fucking birthday! Woo! Woo! Woo! Until next year, everybody. Yeah, it's not going to happen again for four years. Dude, you got a one-year fucking average right now. Literally, that was the only time that shit's ever happened. Holy shit. Oh, my gosh.
Starting point is 00:44:39 Look at this. Oh, my God. Damn. This is important. And the Matrix. Is that real? That has to be fake. I'm not sure. 627. I the Matrix. Is that real? That has to be fake. I'm not sure.
Starting point is 00:44:46 627. I don't know what that means. That means 627 2022? I don't know. How many views does this have? 10 million. It's real! I'm going to have to take that off.
Starting point is 00:44:58 Oh my god. What the? Bruh! Oh shit! oh my god oh what the bro oh my god shit this is oh this is a good fucking day oh my god somebody knew it was your birthday oh man simulation theory is real as fuck oh my god How'd this guy find this? I don't know. Dude. Wow. Wait, is it coming out in two different days? It's probably going to come out in June 28, 2022, but we're going to get the trailer in two days.
Starting point is 00:45:35 Oh, yeah, you're right. This is a teaser, a short teaser. Hell of blue pills. What? Were those SARMs? No way. Holy fuck, man. Oh, my gosh. He's doing SARMs. no way holy fuck man he's doing SARMs MK677
Starting point is 00:45:51 oh my gosh it's happening 419 views according to our boy that tipped us off to it it just went up like an hour ago oh my god that's that's fucking crazy dang holy shit dude
Starting point is 00:46:08 i'm excited i'm so excited chills right now yeah probably because i have the ac on too much but that's because i don't have one at home right now the matrix trilogy is like my favorite trilogy of all time i've seen those movies over 10 times each i love those movies yeah i know good stuff i know no that's a great that's awesome. I think they're amazing movies. Yeah. That's so sick. They can thank us for getting them all this publicity. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:46:33 Maybe we'll get like a premiere ticket each. Maybe. Or one for Mark. And he'll tell us all about it. Anywho, thank you everybody for checking out today's episode and huge shout out to what was his name again? I think it was it. Anywho, thank you, everybody, for checking out today's episode. And huge shout out to, what was his name again? I think it was Pedro. Pedro Sandoval. Appreciate it, bro.
Starting point is 00:46:49 Thank you for that heads up. Shout out to Pete Montes for sponsoring today's episode. Links to them down in the description, as well as the podcast show notes. Promo code PowerProject for 25% off your entire order. Follow the podcast at MarkBowlesPower Power Project on Instagram, at MB Power Project on TikTok and Twitter. My Instagram and Twitter's at IamAndrewZ. And Seema, where are you at?
Starting point is 00:47:11 I am Seema Inyang on Instagram and YouTube. I am Seema Inyang on TikTok and Twitter. Mark. At Mark's Millie Bell. Strength is never weakness. Weakness never strength. Catch y'all later. Bye.

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