Hi,

Over the last few years, self-development and wellness have been an increasingly important part of my life.

This week’s newsletter is a breakdown of a fascinating new episode of the Jay Shetty podcast featuring neuroscientist Emily McDonald. I’ve been following Emily’s work for a while, and the concepts in this episode felt super applicable to artists, creators, and professionals everywhere.

I’m also sending this a day earlier than usual because of Thanksgiving tomorrow. Happy holidays.

Let’s explore below.

Let’s dive in ⬇️

Emily is one of my favorite creators right now (her IG handle is “emonthebrain”) - her content is filled with tips and tricks for how to be more aware of your thoughts, rewire your brain, and live a healthier life.

Unlike a lot of so-called “online gurus”, Emily is an actual neuroscientist and qualified to speak on the topic (she has a Master of Neuroscience). I’ve found her content to be fascinating and super applicable in my everyday life.

Here are some of my favorite takeaways from the interview and how they can apply to artists, creators, and professionals.

1) Act like you already have it

When talking about ways to create your dream life, Emily shares that "science says you have to act like you already have it.”

She’s talking about the idea of predictive processing - a theory in neuroscience where your brain predicts your next action based on who it believes you are - in some cases this may actually be different from who you actually are. Our brains essentially follow the identity we create for ourselves.

As part of this theory, we need to embody the identity of the person that already has or is doing the thing we want. Our nervous systems and brain then align our habits, decisions, confidence, and attention to create the reality where it becomes real. Basically, we act in accordance with who we think we are.

Emily uses the example of falling asleep at night - we identify with falling asleep before the action has already happened. We close our eyes, relax, breathe slower, etc and our bodies make it so. Our identity of someone falling asleep sends signals to our nervous systems to make it happen.

Takeaway: if our identity dictates our actions and how we perceive the world and our actions dictate our reality, first we need to establish who it is we want to become.

If you’re an artist - what does that artist look like? What are they wearing? What do they stand for? What is their belief system? What kind of music do they make? Part of this identity might be as small as saying to yourself “I’m an artist” as opposed to “I’m trying to be an artist” or “Sometimes I’m an artist”.

If you’re a creator - what does your content look like? What is important to your belief system? What value are people gaining from consuming your content? It can also mean not waiting for feedback loops (for example, views or followers) to reinforce your identity. You’re a creator because you say so and as a result, you make it so. You don’t need external forces to validate that idea.

If you’re a professional or entrepreneur - who do you want to be? How do you treat people? Where do you live? What values are important to you?

The way you see yourself essentially helps dictate how you move through the world and what type of reality you create.

Your identity —> how your brain perceives information —> action —> reality created.

2) Desperation

One of my favorite parts of the interview was where Emily talks about the idea of desperation.

According to neuroscience, being desperate for something can actually make it harder to achieve it.

Being in a state of desperation produces cortisol which increases stress, raises adrenaline, and narrows attention. It’s almost the equivalent of your brain feeling like you’re in danger - that stress can actually shrink your perception and your ability to think about the situation.

It can become harder to see new perspectives, notice opportunities, and be creative. Acting out of desperation can increase the likelihood of bad choices because you’re literally acting out of survival.

When you operate from a non-desperate place, your brain signals safety and calm which encourages creativity.

Takeaway: so many people operate out of a place of desperation.

Artists desperate to get their music heard.

Creators desperate to get their content seen. Desperate for that brand deal to generate income because they need to make money.

Professionals desperate for their next win or opportunity.

I’ve been in this situation before too - feeling desperate for a big marketing win or to put points on the board and as a result, I end up not operating at my best. I never knew why until now.

It’s easier said than done but this is why having an abundance mindset is so important. Put in enough work and action that you can let the universe do its thing and let go a little.

Or...if you’re aware that you’re operating from a place of desperation, take that moment of pause and reset.

3) Not everyone is for you

One of the biggest gems Emily dropped in the interview was this quote:

“Sometimes you meet people not for the purpose of resonating with them but to show us what’s possible”.

If you’re in the entertainment, music, or sports industries it’s safe to say you’re likely going to meet a fair amount of people with big personalities. Some may resonate with you and some may not.

It’s okay to not resonate or even like some people - not everyone who comes into your life is there for the purpose of befriending them. Sometimes it’s just to observe a new way of doing something or see what’s possible.

This is important to keep in mind if you’re navigating an industry and feel like you’re not meeting a ton of people you resonate or identify with. Those interactions aren’t a complete waste of time and they don’t always need to result in close relationships being formed.

4) The game of life mindset

One of my last takeaways was the game of life mindset.

When talking about “not feeling good enough” for a specific task, situation, or project, Emily talks about the game of life mindset, which essentially looks at life like a game with different levels.

It’s so easy (and common) for people to feel like they’re not good enough or worthy of a specific thing, situation, or place in their life. Maybe it’s a new level in an artist’s career, a new job for someone, or a new brand partnership for a creator.

They find themselves struggling and immediately think “I’m not good enough”.

In the game of life mindset, whenever you start struggling, it just means you’re at the beginning of a new level in life. You actually are good enough because you made it this far. You accomplished all of the other levels in your life and that success got you here.

You wouldn’t be on this level at all if you weren’t capable or worthy.

So…you are actually good enough for that level, you just haven’t mastered the mechanics of that level yet.

In video games, very people advance levels without messing up at least once.

For example, let’s say you’re playing Mario Kart and you just reached a new level with a new map. Almost no one beats the level without messing up or making mistakes…how could you? You don’t know where you’re driving, what the road looks like, where the obstacles are, etc. Even if you do, sometimes bananas come out of left field and throw you off course. Life and the unexpected happen sometimes.

It takes trial and error, failing, and learning the course to gain the skills to beat the level.

Takeaway: it’s not about the level - it’s about the player. You, as the player, made it this far in life. You made it to this level - each level has its own nuances, challenges, and obstacles and you clearly figured it out because you made it here.

So if you’re an artist who went from playing 100 capacity rooms to 500 but haven’t found a way to sell those out immediately, it’s okay. You’re not supposed to right off the bat. You’re playing on a new level and need to learn how to beat it.

If you’re a creator who went from 10k followers to 75k and are now navigating brand deals, it’s okay to feel overwhelmed.

This idea applies to literally anyone in a challenging situation - you just haven’t learned the mechanics of that level yet, yet you’re still the same player who got there.

Feel free to watch the full interview below:

Hopefully this was helpful on your journey.

Thanks for reading, until next time.

_{The Vault}

 1) Emergent - my cousin actually introduced me to this one! It’s similiar to Lovable, a platform that can be used for building web applications with AI but Emergent has more integrations. For example, it recently just integrated with Claude Sonnet 4.5 More info HERE