The Mindset Mentor - The Japanese System That Will Change Your Life

Episode Date: November 27, 2025

Are you under-challenged and calling it overwhelm? In this episode, I show you how the ancient Misogi challenge can reset your mind, body, and spirit by forcing you to meet your true edge. I break down how applied discomfort builds willpower, dissolves mental noise, purifies old emotional baggage, and reveals the stronger version of yourself you’ve been avoiding. Feeling stuck? It's time to take back control. If you're ready to master your mind and create real, lasting change, click the link below and start transforming your life today. 👉 http://coachwithrob.com   The Mindset Mentor™ podcast is designed for anyone desiring motivation, direction, and focus in life.     Past guests of The Mindset Mentor include Tony Robbins, Matthew McConaughey, Jay Shetty, Andrew Huberman, Lewis Howes, Gregg Braden, Rich Roll, and Dr. Steven Gundry.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to today's episode of the Mindset Mentor podcast. I'm your host, Rob Dial. If you have not yet done so, hit that subscribe button so you never miss another episode. And if you're out there and you love this podcast, do me a favor. Give us a rating and review however you listen to us. Reason why is because the more positive ratings and reviews that we get, the more that those platforms show this podcast to people who have never listened to it before. which allows us to grow and impact more people's life.

So if you would do that, I would greatly appreciate it. Today, I'm going to be talking about a Japanese strategy to build yourself into the person that you want to be. Let's be honest. You're not really stuck in life. You've just become soft. And I say this with love, but it's probably true. You've been avoiding the hard things in your life,

the scary things in your life, the things that would actually change your life. And so you might think that you're overwhelmed, but I really actually think you're not overwhelmed. You're under challenged. You don't need another quote, frankly, you don't need another podcast or another morning routine. You need a radical soul-shaking reset to your life. And this ancient Japanese practice is how you actually do it. And so we're going to talk about something that's called the Masogi Challenge. So Masogi is two words in Japanese. Misu, which is water, and Sogi, which is purification. So this used to be used hundreds and thousands of years ago as a water

purification process. It is basically, was water back then, but now it can be used in many aspects of your life. It is about a physical and mental and spiritual purification. Now, the Misogi process, as I said, usually involves water, usually involves very cold water, where they go into very cold water for purification, but this episode is going to be about other stuff besides just cold water. It's going to be about how to push yourself, how to grow yourself, how to grow your willpower by doing something that is extremely hard for you right now. And so it's about finding your edge and pushing past him or anything else. It's about going to the boundary of what you think that you can handle and then realizing that you can go further. It is the act of training your brain

and your nervous system to stop being so afraid of what you think is outside of your capacity and actually going past what you think is outside of your capacity so that you can train yourself to realize that there is more and you can get used to pushing past what is normal for you now. The idea behind this is to do something so hard, something that seems so hard right now that later on in life, when you start doing all of these things that are really hard, the big things in life that are big to you now won't be a big deal. So the idea is to expand who you are, to expand your mindset. And I want you to think of it like emotional weight training is really what it is.

The heavier the resistance, the more that your inner resilience will actually grow. The difference is you're not lifting weights. You're lifting your limits in this case. I think the more that we can push ourselves out of what we think is possible, the more we can grow our willpower and the less that we will just focus on the little shit that really doesn't matter. So many people have just not challenged themselves for so long. They get overwhelmed because the little teeny tiny things that aren't a big deal are actually driving them crazy. And so I want you to push yourself past what is actually comfortable and possible so that you

can realize that the little things that are stressing you out that are overwhelming you in your life mean absolutely nothing and you're going to get through all of them. I think the people who complain the most, and obviously this is a very general statement, but the people who complain the most are people who are not wanting to do things, but they really just want things done for them. You know, if you listen to this podcast, you know that you're the person needs to change. And the toughest people that I've met, the people that are just so ridiculously tough in this world are the ones who have been through some shit. But here's the thing. They didn't just go through it. They grew through it. And that's what this challenge is

all about, not chasing pain, but meeting your edge so that you can remember what you're made out of. It's this idea that's called applied suffering for the sake of growing yourself. And so, you know, the original Masogi and the way that it used to be in the way that you can do it if you want to take a part of it is you could do something so hard in one day that changes you. So, you know, Masogi also was water purification where you get cold water. It could be fasting for a few days. It could be doing some meditation for five hours straight until you meet your edge of what you think you can actually hold on to. It can be working out until you throw up. It can be running until your legs give out. It could be submerging yourself in cold water and, you know,

obviously in a very safe place. But it's a mental, physical and spiritual practice of purification. The mental purification, how does this help? Like how does submerging yourself in cold water or running till you throw up, purge yourself and clear yourself mentally? Well, you're going to be clearing out your mental noise, that constant chatter that says that you can't do it, or you shouldn't do it, or you're not ready, or you're not good enough. You're going to be clearing out all of that mental noise. You're going to be clearing out this self-doubt and this limiting beliefs that are just destroying your life and your capabilities. It's this clutter that keeps you stuck in thinking that you're small and acting small and staying small. You're going to be clearing out all of this

overstimulation and this distraction that you live with in your life, this addiction to scrolling and multitasking and never fully really being present. So it's like Masogi, the point of it is like I want to just take it and wipe it all off like it's a mental whiteboard. I just want to make it all clean. And so when you meet silence or stillness or absolute discomfort, all of the garbage that's kind of inside of your mind rises to the surface so you can face them, you can feel them, you can work through them, and you can let them go. How is it a physical purification? Well, you're shaking off a lot of things like your stagnation, the heaviness that plays with, you know, comes to playing it's safe for way too long, this tension, like the stress that's inside of your

body, the inflammation that's in your body, the energy that's stored in your body, this dependence that we all have on comfort, you know, wanting things to be easy, softness, staying in a routine, staying with your bad habits because you know your growth doesn't live there. And we will be right back. And now, back to the show. So the Musogi is like moving the energy through your body, sweating it out, crying it out, breathing it out, throwing it up, whatever it is that you end up doing. And then it's also, like I said, a purification like spiritually. You're releasing this ego, this part of you that's obsessed with like looking good or doing it right or being liked or staying in control, you're releasing this entitlement, this script

that's like, oh, I'm too old for this, or I shouldn't have to do this, or I shouldn't have to feel this, right? You're releasing this emotional baggage that you have that's probably old grief that's stored inside of you, old fear that's stored inside of you, resentment that's been living in like the basement of your soul for 15 years. And so this is where like the Masogi side of it become sacred for people. Like, it's not just hard. Like, it's just almost like this holy thing that you do for yourself. Like, you meet a part of yourself that transcends all of the noise and all of the

programmings and all of the conditionings that you've had since your childhood, but this part of yourself that's lived inside of you for so long. And so when I say something like purification, and, you know, that's what it is the actual act of purification, I'm not just talking about like getting clean, like taking a shower. I'm talking about getting clear, clearing out all of the BS that is not you so that you can meet your true self and getting clear on what it is that you really, truly want to do in your life, getting clear on who you are, getting clear on what matters, getting clear on what no longer serves you and that you're deciding in this moment to make the hard decision, you're no longer

going to carry these things with you. And so how can you take this Misogi challenge, which is this practice of pushing yourself so, so ridiculous. ridiculously hard that it changes who you are in a moment. Like, how can we use this? Well, like I said, it could be cold water if you want to do it. I do recommend cold. I hate cold plunges. I hate doing them. I hate every aspect of it. I hate the right before I do it. But then when I get done, I'm like, I'm so glad I did it. I recommend doing it often. There's so many benefits to it. You know, you can, you're going to, no matter how many times you do a cold plunge in 40 degree water before you're always going to have that inner bitch come out.

the part of you that says, no, you don't need to do it. There's nobody watching. It's not a big deal. Do it tomorrow. It's kind of, you got too many things going on today. You're going to meet that side of you. And you're going to go, oh, this is the voice that is destroying my life. This inner bitch is what's destroying my life.

I need to do the exact opposite of what it says. And what does it say? Don't get in the cold water. And then you get in the cold water. And it's even worse. And your brain goes, okay, you did it. Get out. Get out.

It's been 15 seconds. Get out. And you're like, no, no, no. I said, I was going to be three minutes, and you want to get out with every single fiber of your body, but you're like, I'm going to break this inner bitch that lives inside of me. That's the thing that's holding you back more than anything else in this world is that voice that's telling you to stop doing it, to not do it. The one that test your willpower, that right there is the reason why this Misogi

challenge is so important for people to go into. And willpower, yes, willpower is something that can be grown. And if you've been listening to the podcast recently, there's a part of your brain called the interior mid-singulate cortex, which is a part of your brain that they actually think your willpower lives in. And the more you do something that you do not want to do, something that is hard, something that is challenging to you, the more that that will-power part of your brain,

the interior mid-singulate cortex actually grows. and you actually become better at taking action and doing the hard things. So any time that you meet this inner resistance of I don't want to do this, I don't want to do this, I don't want to do this, I don't want to do this. And you do it anyways, that part of your brain grows. And the more that you do it, the more that willpower becomes easier later on in your life. The once you get that little inner bitch and you decide to crush it, the more that that part of your brain grows.

And you have to understand, that's the part of you that makes the excuses, that backs down, that tells you you're not good enough, that brings you your fears, that shows you all of your self-limiting beliefs so that you don't take action. That voice gets really, really quiet when you take bold action over and over again. You don't need to argue with it. You just need to outgrow it. So how else can we bring this idea into something in our life, like doing something that is so hard? You know, what is that that's a mental and physical and spiritual practice in our lives. How can we develop some sort of cadence around something like this? Yeah, we can use water, like I said, but we can use many other things, as I said as well. But the simple act is this. You want to do

something once a month, just one time a month, that is so hard that it challenges you and changes you in one day. Yes, I said it correctly. Changes you in one day. That's all it takes. Like we overestimate how much time transformation takes, but we underestimate how powerful. We underestimate how powerful one committed like full send experience can be now you smile said like can i really change myself in one day yeah if something is a very very heightened experience mentally physically and emotionally it can change you in one day now you might not be you know five years old anymore where your brain just changes and its neuroplasticity is just so high but many times somebody's brain and body and nervous system changes in one moment and how do you like i'll give you a great

example, right? If you go and you get into a really traumatic car accident at some point in time today, I hope that this does not happen. But if you were to, and then the next time, you know, you live through it, all that stuff, the next time you get into a car, you're going to notice your brain and your body reacting differently than it did the first time you got in, right? Because your brain and your body have shifted in a very heightened emotional experience. And so that's how we want to see it. Obviously, you don't want to get into, I'm not saying, I'm not. I'm not. not saying get into a car accident for your Masogi challenge. Please do not do that. What I'm saying is is that we think change is a gradual process, but it can also happen in an instant. There have been

many things that have happened good and bad in your life that changed your life in one go. And so the idea of this Masogi challenge is it gives you the opportunity to choose that moment instead of waiting for life to force it on you. When I said that, you know, the people that are the toughest people that I've ever met have been through a lot of stuff, usually they didn't choose those things. We can choose those things to push ourselves and to grow us. And so I'll give you a couple more examples that we can go into as we go through it. But really what I want you to think about as I'm talking about is like, what is something that can change you, change your mind, your body, your spirit, that challenges your skill set,

challenges your mindset, challenges your body. You know, like you could go on a really intense hike. Once again, make sure you're safe. Make sure you have water. Make sure people know where you are. but you could go on a really nice hike, not a nice little hike where, like, you know, you bring your iPhone and you take selfies the entire time. I mean something that challenges you where you're like, I don't know if I can do this anymore. Like something that is beyond your capacity. You could do that. You could do cold plunging.

You could start looking into sweat lodges. I've never done a sweat lodge, but I have many friends that have done sweat lodges and said that it is so freaking challenging. Obviously, make sure you're with somebody who teaches you how to do it. Don't do it on your own. but something like that can be done. It's one of the reasons why people who do psychedelics, and that's a whole other thing where you want to make sure you have people with you

and people are supporting you, but that can change your brain in one go. It could be going for a run that is well beyond your capacity. And I mean way beyond, like maybe you've only ever run two miles, and you're like, I'm going to run 20 miles today. And you decide to run as much you possibly can and you walk. And then you run and you walk, you do whatever it is. You know, David Gagans, who's considered one of the toughest men alive,

always talks about the law of 40%. When you think, think in your brain that you are done, you are usually only about 40% of your physical capacity. So when you show yourself, when you get to that 40% and you think you're done, you think you're done, and your brain tells you're done, and you push past it, you find how much you're actually made of. You could do a silent retreat if you want to.

I recommend them. I've done a few of them. They're great. You could do fasting if you want to. You could carry a heavy object over, a long distance. You know, you could get an 80 pound vest and you could put it on and say, I'm going to walk for five miles. You know, find something that kind of scares the shit out of you is really what you want to do. A lot of times you have to understand, we are capable, you are capable of so much more than you know that you are. But we settle for safe. And this idea, the Masogi Challenge can really

open you up to finding out who you truly are, to really open you up to believe. leaving yourself more. The idea is to do something that at this moment, you don't know if you can do. It has to challenge you. And if it doesn't challenge you, it's not going to change you. And so you have to find something where you're like, oh my God, even the thought of this scares the hell out of me. That's probably a really good Masogi challenge. Mentally, physically, you have to push through it so that you could see what you're truly capable of. And when you push past what you think is possible, you find a new version of yourself you didn't know exist in. Because here's the first. final truth of it. Your limits aren't where you stop. They're where you stop yourself. There's more

of yourself outside of the limits that you think is possible. And if you never meet that edge, you will live a life that is smaller than you were meant to. So this idea of the Masogi challenge is an invitation to just figure out who you are and to meet a version of yourself that you didn't know even existed. So that's what I got for you for today's episode. If you love this episode, please share it on Instagram stories. Tag me at Rob Dial Jr., R.O.B. D-I-A-L-J-R and with that, I'm going to leave the same way to leave you every single episode. Making sure mission to make somebody else's day better. I appreciate you and I hope that you have an amazing day.