Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Mindset programming

I'm a big believer in mindset programming of the sort Mike Cernovich teaches in his bestselling Gorilla Mindset. I've noticed that when I'm in a good mood, I tend to gravitate towards upbeat techno music, which then tends to enhance and underline that mood. Consider, for example, the lyrics of this club hit from the early 1990s by The Shamen:
I will not fail nor falter, I shall succeed
My perception is altered I do believe
Faith is so strong now nothing shall bar my way
From conviction, no fiction, this is my day

I can move move move any mountain
I can move move move any mountain
I can move move move any mountain

I walk so tall, ascending, I stand so high
Earth below me we both meet above the sky
I feel no fear to be here is oh so fine
Shining brightly like sunlight inside my mind
You literally cannot get more mentally positive than that. Throw in some catchy electronic riffs, a good programmed beat, and some unconscionably cheesy early 90s quasi-raps, and it's no surprise that it was a hit.

But put the cheese aside for the time being and try listening to it when you're going to an important meeting or heading into a difficult situation. I guarantee you'll walk in there feeling as if you unexpectedly find yourself meeting with a tiger, you'll just rip its balls off and stuff them down its throat.

Mood is momentary, but mindset is a choice. Learn to program the latter and you'll soon find yourself able to alter the former. And notice how the message is the direct opposite of the despairing, discouraging one that so many people have on autoplay in their minds. And the key to it all is the first part of the third line of the second verse: I feel no fear.

27 comments:

Booch Paradise said...

I do this as well. The only issue I have is that the more times I listen to a song the less power it has to alter my mood, and it's power really doesn't ever come back. And I find it difficult to find new songs that have that effect.

pdwalker said...

Wow, thats really cheesy.

But yes, music is a very powerful and easy to use mood modifier. I've discovered various kinds of dubstep has that effect on me. Dubstep! Of all things!

When I listen to it, it gives me an emotional high


So, you can control your emotional state with practice and the right music is an easy way to help with that.

In my opinion.

Anonymous said...

The link isn't working for me state side. Is this the same song? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PthnTuzKU3o

dnaworks said...

Try an alternate URL, guys - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PthnTuzKU3o

Ingot9455 said...

One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite albums.

Ingot9455 said...

The album is 'En-Tact' and there is also another CD with several different versions of the song, and sample-able drum tracks and loops and an instrumental version.

Quadko said...

More supporting data points:

Jeffry Gitomer talks about his "upbeat pre-(sales)meeting music", listening to things that pump him up so he enters the meeting excited, alert, optimistic, and read to win.

Tony Robbins has his "incantations", scripted verbal motivation talks you give yourself out loud to prep to go "on the field" in that powerful problem-solving and focused state.

Hearing affects us greatly! Don't neglect that tool in your toolchest.

Al From Bay Shore said...

I'll give it a listen. Techno is not exactly my thing but since you provided the lyrics, I don't have much of an excuse to not listen. Still gotta get Cernovich's book.

Jeff aka Orville said...

Since I read Mike's book about six months ago, I've been practicing affirmations every day driving to and from work. It really does work on your mindset. The two things I hated most, getting up early and going to the gym are now way different. Now I'm getting up at 4:30 and I actually like going to the gym. I brainwashed myself. I was using music at the gym, but I no longer need it. Posture and physical posing is yuge too.

Best Tools For Men

Stg58/Animal Mother said...

The Rocky soundtrack is my competition and lifting music.

YJLAW said...

I'd have gone with Gala - Freed From Desire if we were looking at 90's technopop, but that one wasn't bad. And yes, anything from Rocky for lifting.

Caedryn Stonelaw said...

You know, its funny because I came to the same conclusion recently as to why I've been on a huge eurobeat kick for the last year. It also happens to coincide with a kind of sloughing off of my shut-it shell I've been in since college and a rededication to my health and goals. I couldn't really point to what came first in all of the causes of the change, but it totally convinced me of Mike's momentum and mindset lifestyle. I now see in the past not the big changes (don't care, and i cheated getting the answers with hindsight) I could have made to recover from a failed engagement and a major and school I hated, but the daily things I could have done to rebuild my momentum and regain my pride. More importantly to me, I have instituted those things into my daily life now so that I consistently maintain the best mindset I can.

Music, I think, is a great part of the reprogramming effort, because it speaks a language without words. It's like when you hear a song from a different country, and even though you don't speak the language, you can actually kind of understand the point it's trying to make. I think it works deeper than our own words normally do, at least.

Palude1986 said...

It's magic, really in the literal sense of the word. It's changing conscience according to will, and yes, it's incredibly powerful.

Tim Ryan said...

One of my favorite inspirational tunes. I know you're not into Rocky III's Eye of the Tiger, but give Van Halen's "Get Up" a try. That one works fairly well, too.

Anonymous said...

My inspirational tune: Verve "Bittersweet Symphony."

PA

Stg58/Animal Mother said...

Shut up, Ray-Ray.

Aeoli Pera said...

Has anyone looked into the specific application of making oneself a better Christian with mindset training?

Aeoli Pera said...

Slash hypnosis, etc.

Aeoli Pera said...

Asking for a friend, I'm a great Christian.

Unknown said...

Cheese indeed. I never used to get Cernovich. To my mind, he always read and sounded a bit cheesy. But then I heard him on Molyneux the other week and finally understood. He's a tough little man who has grasped the concept of Inner Game so well that he knows how to project an image that appears much bigger and more powerful than the inner man actually is. I can see why VD has an affinity with him. This brand of man-up reminds me of that little guy at the gym who's there every day pumping himself up but who never lifts more than 150lbs. It may be a good way to start, but it's not enough.

The Alt-Right is full of reactive people selling ways of responding to the problems in the world. Cernovich is no different. He may get pajamaboy out of his onesies and into a suit or an incel into a cute girls pants but it's not enough to fight the roaring lion that's prowling around ready to devour the reactive. A man needs to learn how to BE strong in the skin of the creature God made him, not just to think strong. Transformation of the heart begins with a renewing of the mind, certainly, but it also means a man must resist being conformed to the world either pro-actively or re-actively.

Jeff aka Orville said...

Specific application? Do you mean how to, or is the friend looking for an explanation as to how its not new age stuff?

chronoblip said...

"The Scatman" is another catchy and gloriously 90's song with an upbeat and topical message:

https://youtu.be/y6oXW_YiV6g

Mr. B.A.D. said...

Here's music for people who aren't gay.
https://youtu.be/BcNyq8QtSh8

Aeoli Pera said...

Specific application? Do you mean how to, or is the friend looking for an explanation as to how its not new age stuff?

The friend is interested in killing both birds with one stone, given that any implicit contradictions would quickly become apparent in application.

Aeoli Pera said...

Nice read, by the way.

There are obviously good things in Gorilla Mindset. For example, the exercise of recording and listening to one's negative self-talk is a healthy, industrial-strength perceptual shift that I'd compare to mirror box therapy. But I worry about any psychology-altering practice that isn't explicitly Christian. I mean my friend worries.

Patrick said...

Blocked in my country. But I think I get the idea.

What 'you' tell 'yourself' is powerful. Perhaps this is the soul speaking to the mind, or the mind speaking to the body.

This has a similar effect for me: https://youtu.be/5yqb6h2wzME

Although this is more 'pure" (or at least cold): https://youtu.be/cyal3TpFcz4

When I watched a documentary of WWI, it had an old Belgian lady who said the Germans kept playing this little tune, da dat da DE, over and over and over again. Hypnosis to bypass previous moral programming.

Aeoli Pera, adapting the insights of the pagans is a time-honored Christian tradition. It's "we do that better than you", not "you're all wrong".

Patrick said...

Although this is always nice too if you're in a springtime mood: https://youtu.be/ipCpNvnkQQw

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