MENTAL METABOLISM

This essay was inspired by my last Genius Webinar on MENTAL METABOLISM.

This essay will be grouped into three parts to ensure context and understanding.

• Metabolism (a science perspective)

• Mental Metabolism

• Critical Mental Metabolic Factors

Metabolism: A Science Perspective

Before we delve into mental metabolism, it’s essential we explore metabolism from the world of science to aid understanding, context, and application.

Read slowly and think before cementing understanding.

Your body functions like a system, relying on operational engines to maintain output, strength, and mobility. One of these operational engines is what is referred to as METABOLISM—the science of converting food to energy that fuels your function.

Essentially, metabolism is the engine that keeps your body running efficiently. It allows you to perform daily activities, maintain muscle strength, and move with ease. It is the process that governs the effectiveness of your physique.

Let’s call it, your ENGINE.

The effectiveness of your engine is dependent on several factors including:

• The smoothness of your engine’s operation when it’s idle. This is known as the basal metabolic rate. That is, how well your body functions when there’s no activity eg, sleeping.

• The frequency with which your engine is engaged. Just like a car, if left idle for too long, it may develop issues. That is, how often you engage in physical activity and intentional movement.

• The quality of fuel (food) you put into your engine to support its performance. This is referred to as the thermic effect of food.

Now, depending on what you desire your body to look like or be used for, the kind of engine you’d build would be unique to you. For example, a bodybuilder or powerlifter would build their metabolic engine differently from a regular #fitfam tech bro.

Why? Their various lifestyle, goals, and body use would necessitate the kind of engine they desire and build.

Hence, you cannot compare yourself with someone whose metabolic engine burns calories at a ridiculous rate.

Let me give an example;

Have you met people who no matter what they eat never gain as much fat as another who eats similar or less?

I recall having a classmate in high school who could eat up a mountain yet was so trimmed and fit. It felt biased because this girl ate more than everyone but was fitter and slimmer.

Funnily, her sister at the time mentioned that their mother had told them that she ate with “reserve” so when she gave birth to a child, she’d become bigger. (Laughs in confusion)

What we didn’t realize was she had QUICK METABOLIC RATE. That is, the rate at which her body converted food to energy was high thus, making her burn calories way faster —even at rest!

Explains why a child may be eating so much yet not getting fat. The intense play they engage in aids quick metabolism causing them to be hungrier where they eat more but do not expand accordingly.

So, if you’ve been trying to lose or gain weight. There’s your answer.

I find that in the game of life, people are not akin to the metabolic process of their mind and cognition. Thus, limiting the monumental expression of genius.

Like your body, your metabolism defines the degree of your output.

Let’s delve in.

Mental Metabolism

Just as metabolism is the process that converts food to energy, mental metabolism is the process involved in how you think, learn, adapt, and evolve. It is how you convert information and experiences into knowledge, understanding, and growth.

Your mental metabolism shows;

1. How you process information

2. How you regulate your emotions

3. How you self-correct or self-destruct

4. Your behavior & patterns

5. How you make decisions

6. How you solve problems

7. How you interact with knowledge

You see, we are all not the same. This is why you can’t expect people to treat you in the same way you’ve treated them. That’s not how the mind works.

“Do to others what you want them to do to you” sounds morally upright but realistically? Of course, you should know what I mean.

The idea that we can all follow the same path and process and achieve the same progress(regardless of context) is unrealistic. You listen to people daily give counsel and advice stemming out of unconscious genius anchoring. That is, their accidental or unwatched process toward personal mastery and sovereignty becomes the template for others to follow. Where their experiences become principles and the blueprint they so excellently teach excellently fails in your own life because the well they draw from is one dug from unconscious genius.

They are smart in speech, skilled in craft, and deep in understanding so much so that they teach you what they believe to be right (which is FOR THEM) and you wonder why results vary. Of course, time is a factor. Ironically, time doesn’t offer anything but what you give to it. The accuracy of your consistent effort is what compounds into measurable shifts and results. Nothing more, nothing less.

Think about the subject of purpose for example. Many talk about purpose, some even argue about it yet fail to provide an actual roadmap or formula to help others uncover purpose. Why? The ease of a thing, especially when it is unwatched is difficult to teach because you expect people to “just get it”.

It’s the same with your strengths and abilities. The ease of your strength and the mastery displayed by what you consider common is difficult to teach to someone who lacks the ability. It’s easy to think they are not smart enough or not willing enough but failing to reckon the impact of GENIUS on your ability.

Have you listened to people teach so well that their attempt at knowledge transfer becomes an injurious information overload because while you are in awe of their accomplishments, you cannot quite transfer their seeming wisdom into your life for same-level results?

It’s called mental metabolism.

And, it varies from person to person.

Critical Mental Metabolic Factors

Just as various factors influence a person’s metabolic rate, there are critical mental metabolic factors that influence your mental metabolic rate. When you understand these and pay more attention, you’ll set yourself up for genius-grade results.

1. The Context of Your Life: I would explain this from two points. One, how you accept counsel, and two, how you regulate your emotions to streamline the focus of this essay especially as it relates to building mental sovereignty. However, this knowledge can be transferred as you see fit.

   Let’s begin.

   How you accept counsel: Motivation is great and Counsel is meaningful however, the context of your life should necessitate the edits of any idea. The reality of a person’s life no matter how badly painted would differ from yours in all ramifications. The essence of this is to engineer true results because when your context is wrong, the output will be wrong. It’s like solving an arithmetic equation with a formula that wasn’t required. You’d get an answer but it wouldn’t be the right answer.

   Your context captures your lived experiences, current experience, access to light, depth of insight, and access to certain necessities to aid implementation. When this is thoroughly understood, in the case where you lack what is needed to assist in executing a counsel, it becomes easier to improvise and devise means.

   People give counsel, disseminate information, and teach ideas from where they are and the context of their lives. It is the mark of intelligence to pay attention to identify their context and skillfully contextualize the counsel for personal use if needed.

   How you regulate your emotions: True freedom begins from awareness and attention. However, how you currently regulate your emotions is based on your life’s unique context. You may think that something is broken with you because how you feel in given circumstances seems abnormal or different from what you’ve heard or has been taught to you (especially religiously) but not so. Your current emotional response is a revelation of the content of your life’s history and the codes wired into your function. Awareness is freedom and power. Hence, the first step. However, it’s essential you do not compare yourself with another. How we respond is different and going by the awareness you have of yourself, you should give yourself time and space.

   Be aware to build mastery not to engender unhealthy comparisons.

2. The Cycle of Your Evolution: This speaks to how you grow, evolve, and adapt to change. Just like the caterpillar, you are constantly in a cycle of metamorphosis. You’ve got seasons of death and seasons of rebirth. Understanding these seasons is critical to your mental metabolism because what is required in one season may not be required in another. And, the demands in a season may vary from another. Similarly, there are markers of every season you only get to know through self-curiosity.

   Do you know when you are at an inflection point?

   Are you aware of your cycle of evolution?

   How do you grow?

   How do you change?

   How do you learn?

   What does your evolution cycle look like?

   How do ideas come to you?

   Mastery is great but one is supreme —SELF. Understanding your cycle of evolution helps in fostering meaningful growth!

   In fitness and bodybuilding, there’s a season of the BULK —a period where the primary goal is to increase muscle mass and overall body weight.

   And, there’s a season of the CUT—a period where the primary goal is to reduce body fat while maintaining muscle mass.

   These are various seasons within a training cycle DEPENDENT on a specific goal, influencing both activity and nutrition.

   Are you aware of your cycle of evolution? Have you engineered this cycle?

   Within your cycle of evolution would be times of exploration, consolidation, integration, transition, and reinvention. Knowing when you are building skin and changing skin is essential for your outlook. Understanding these cycles would help you understand your mental metabolism and how to engender measurable shifts and good growth!

   People speak of personal development being an investment and I agree however, it’s foolishness to flag a banner without understanding its context and how to apply it effectively in your life. This is why a lot of people pay for knowledge yet lack depth of understanding —they do not engage their cycle of evolution.

   In understanding these cycles, you wouldn’t fight yourself unnecessarily and seek motivation to do what you did in a season you are not in.

   Ask yourself: Am I currently seeking motivation to replicate the components in a season I’ve already left?

   Times and seasons, genius.

3. The Archetype of Your Frame: It baffles me how people would rather not exploit and advance their strengths than admit and accept their weaknesses.

   We all have weaknesses and it’s not a bad thing. It’s nothing to scream “God forbid” —that’s your religious mind teaching you to stay small and mediocre. It is NOT a statement of faith or positive confession.

   You see, the idea of rejecting a weakness is like a fish believing it can run on land because the orator of the jungle said so. Pathetic.

   The archetype of your frame reveals your personality, strength, ability, and competitive advantage. It shows you your actual frame and nature to work with.

   I’m a big-boned female and I do a lot of weightlifting and strength training. While my body weight allows me to lift heavier weights, it limits me from doing certain body-weight exercises. One time I tried a routine that involved me resting my weight on my knee and for weeks, it was torture. It wasn’t about ability but the frame. Understanding my frame influences my workout routine such that I target the muscle groups I desire without wounding myself in the process.

   Similarly, the archetype of your frame would show you how you best interact with knowledge, people, and experiences and how to spike your outputs by playing into your natural wiring. GENIUS!

   Trying to be everything makes you nothing.

   Nurtured Nature would trump mere nurture –anytime!

   Personality and archetypal tests should be your friend. It shows self-interest. Of course, these tests do not mean “cast in stone”, instead, they help you anchor your genius by playing into your strength and showing you how to manage your weaknesses.

   Genius isn’t in ability but in strength. It’s not doing what you can do but exploiting what you do so easily, that you think every other person is a joke.

4. The Design of Your Desired Lifestyle: We may all look like we are heading in the same direction but we are not. That’s an idea to hold close to your chest, every time.

   You must understand what your specific goals are especially as it relates to the kind of life you want to have and the lifestyle you desire to experience.

   The female who desires to lead multiple companies within the corporate world and another who desires to travel the world speaking and using her voice would require different lifestyles. While the essence of both pursuits may be the same, the design of their lifestyle would be different.

   This influences how each shows up and what they prioritize. None is wrong and None is the best. Lifestyle design is what feels most aligned with your path and mission.

   Without understanding, there’s the danger of mirroring a person whose lifestyle you wouldn’t want because you see the glam and are ignorant of the lifestyle you truly desire.

   Many journey on the path of self-actualization desiring the essence of a thing without paying attention to the shape and form they desire in their life. In genus expression, the essence is the same but the form would always vary. Understanding your form and designing your life according to that form is critical for meaning, mission, money, and mega-results.

5. The Dietary Practice of Your Desires: I already established that nutrition plays a great deal in your metabolism. You are what you eat. The level of investment and the quality of nutrition you give to your mind would be evident in what you produce.

   Based on the kind of mind and life you desire, it is essential what you consume reflects the output you expect to see.

   Read this essay and this essay to understand how to design your mind’s diet.

Building Mental Metabolism For Genius-Grade Results

Genius-Grade results? I wouldn’t assume you grasp the meaning of those words poised together.

Genius-Grade result is GENIUS GRADE. Not evident in that which is celebratory, decorated, aesthetically pleasing, or largely rewarded but in that which is born out of spirit, out of essence, and out of soul.

What that would mean is results created from the depth of your being. A signature of your soul and a signage from your spirit.

Genius isn’t in what is merely celebrated because anything can be celebrated but in that which a genius curates. Genius is spirit and before now, the word genius was used to refer to demons and spiritual entities that rest on people at certain points in time compelling them to create that which is purely divine and distinct.

Genius-Grade result is a result forged out of the depth and purity of your soul and carries a seal of your apostleship. That’s GENIUS!

J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter is GENIUS-GRADE.

And I saw this video…genius grade!

You get the point.

It doesn’t mean “out of the world”

But, out of YOUR world.

Now, how can you build mental metabolism for GENIUS?

I’d state four.

1. Determine the kind of mind you desire.

2. Pay attention to your cognitive process. Think on how you think, think on how you think you are thinking, think on how you act, think on how you learn, think on how you evolve —THINK!

3. Explore your curiosities. Allow yourself the freedom to BE.

4. Build mental muscle mass through execution

That was a lot. You may want to revisit this essay. This time, with a pen and paper to internalize.

Remember, in a world where you can be anything, be GENIUS.

- Faith Ohio

PS: I host LIVE genius webinars every month. This essay was the focus of last month’s webinar. They are completely FREE to attend as well as in-depth to help you build mental mastery and position effectively for the modern world. Register here to be a part of the next one!