I SPENT $100,000 Upgrading My BRAIN (Here’s What Happened)

Over the last 18 months, I’ve spent over $100,000 upgrading my brain. So in this video, I’m going to break down exactly what I did, what I spent my money on, the results I got, the lessons I learned and what I would recommend for you if you’re someone who’s looking to increase their energy, improve their cognition and upgrade yourself.

So there’s three categories of things I invested in. Number one is technologies and number two is education and skills. When I calculated it, it ends up being over $110,000 I’d spent, but I’m going to break down each category individually, as well as what I invested in in each category. Then I’ll break down the takeaways from each so that you don’t have to spend $100,000 to learn the lessons that I learned.

So before I talk about the specific things I did, I want to talk about why I decided to do this in the first place. About 18 months ago, I was incredibly burnt out cognitively. I was working seven days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day. We were growing, we were hiring. We were doing all of these different things. I fatigued myself so much that I couldn’t sit down to watch a movie on Netflix without losing track of what was going on.

So after some time off, I heard this analogy and it’s an analogy that stuck with me and it’s that of the million dollar race horse. So if you haven’t heard it, basically, if you’ve ever seen a million dollar race horse, you know it’s a million dollar race horse. It has a team of people that protect it. It gets daily massages. It gets a nutrition plan. It gets PMF. It gets security. There’s all these things going into this race horse because that horse has the earning potential of a million dollars.

The analogy is that if you’re a business owner or an entrepreneur, it is very likely at a minimum over your career, you will earn a million dollars, potentially much, much more. So if you look at the race horse and you look at yourself and there’s a discrepancy in terms of the level of care and investment that’s going on there, then you have a very big problem. Because as a entrepreneur, as a business owner, as a founder or a CEO, you are the most important part of your business.

If you stopped marketing for a month, your business would survive. If you stop making sales for a month, your business would survive. But if you disappeared for a month, there’d probably be no business when he came back. So that makes you the most valuable part of your business. When I heard this, at the time we were spending over $100,000 a month on marketing. We were paying $20,000 plus in commissions and wages each month. We were doing all these things. I was investing so much into the business but I was investing $0 into myself.

So I had this realization that if I wanted to continue this long-term, I had to start investing more into myself. So that’s when I started looking into things like biohacking and performance upgrades and coaches and mentors and all these different things, which I’ll be breaking down in this video as well as the results, the takeaways, and what I’m going to start focusing more on moving forward.

So the first category of things I invested into is what I’ll call technologies. These are different devices or therapies that I purchased to upgrade my brain, upgrade my performance. If you guys want to learn more about these things, I would suggest a YouTube channel. His name’s Matthew Farrahi. I think I’m pronouncing that correctly. He has all of these technologies in a lot more detail. That’s where I found most of them. So shout out to him. He’s got a great channel and he shares a lot of tips on these specific technologies. If you want to learn more, I suggest checking him out.

So the first device I invested into is this Vielight or Vielight. Basically, the way this works is it sits on your head like this and it has this thing which goes up your nose and it shines light into your brain. It’s a photo biomodulation device, which means it uses near infrared light to activate the mitochondria in your prefrontal cortex and other areas of your brain. That increases focus. It improves memory. It’s been shown to reduce things like dementia and Alzheimer’s. But for me, I found it gave me more clarity. It reduced mental fog. It was a great way to wake up. I use it nearly every morning.

But this has a price tag of somewhere around $3,000. So it’s probably not the best place to start. Yes, there’s a benefit in it. I definitely noticed it, but if you’re just starting out, I probably wouldn’t suggest starting with this one.

The next device is a Muse S headbands. Basically what this is, it’s an EEG reader. So what that means is it scans your brainwaves and you wear it when you meditate. The goal of meditating is to clear your mind and calm your mind and not think of anything. But what happens is when people start to meditate, they have these thoughts and that’s defeating the purpose of meditation. Meditation is you’re trying to not think of anything basically.

The problem with that is if you’re not used to meditation, you can be sitting there and then you have a thought and you don’t really catch it. Five minutes later, you’ve still got this thought. Or maybe you have this thought then you get up and walk around the house. Then you realize that you were meant to be meditating. So what this device does is it connects to your phone and there’s an app. When you’re meditating, it plays this sound and it can be rain for example. When your mind is clear, the rain stops. When you start to have thoughts, the rain picks up.

So instantly, you can hear when your mind starts to wander and you can pull it back on track. It’s kind of like going to the gym. The way you get strong is by doing reps. So when it comes to meditating, if you can pull your mind back more times or more frequently, you get a better result. So with a regular meditation session, you might only pull your mind back two or three times because it wanders and you kind of forget what you’re doing. But with this, you might pull your mind back 20 or 30 or 40 times in one session. So you’re strengthening that muscle. So this was quite useful in terms of meditating, which helps with focus. It helps with falling asleep quicker. So this Muse S was actually quite useful.

Another device was the Fisher Wallace Stimulator, which is a neuro stimulation device. It basically goes on the side of your head like this, and it shoots electrical currents into your brain. This helps with relaxation and reducing anxiety and helps you fall asleep.

Another kind of device is this. This is a tDCS or transcranial direct current stimulation device. This particular one actually ends up burning me on my forehead so I stopped using it. But the idea here is that there’s going to be a very simplified explanation of how this works. Basically, for your brain to fire, for your neurons to fire, there’s an electrical signal that goes through it. Let’s say that to make a neuron fire, it needs to go from zero to 10 units of electricity, right? Super oversimplified, but bear with me.

So for your neurons to fire, and these go from zero to 10 and it’s this process. What this does is it shoots a mild electrical signal into your brain so that it brings up your baseline from zero to let’s say five. So now for that neuron to fire, it doesn’t need to go from zero to 10. It only needs to go from zero to five. So it can fire quicker and that can enhance learning and memory and focus. I did find this useful, but it burned me so I didn’t keep using it, but that is one device to check out.

The next is the Oura Ring. So that’s this ring that goes on your finger and it looks like this. It tracks your sleep. This is very useful for making sure that you’re getting enough sleep, enough deep sleep and REM sleep every night. I really liked the Oura Ring and it’s probably the one thing I would suggest most people use out of all the things I mentioned, because knowing how well you sleep and then seeing how to improve your sleep is something that’s going to have a massive impact on your energy and focus each day.

Another device that I liked a lot is the Joovv Red Light Panel. This shines red light and the infrared light onto you. You stand in front of it. I’ve got a bigger unit on a panel on the wall in another room. But I would use this for five to 10 minutes each day. It increases energy. It improves mitochondrial function in all the cells of your body. I also noticed that it improved my skin a little bit. That’s an added benefit.

Some other things I did was I got a infrared sauna. I got a ice bath. I did IV vitamin infusions. Basically, they, with an IV drip, put vitamins into your blood, which is a better way of absorbing vitamins. I did a bunch of different vitamin cocktails, as well as a NAD infusion. I visited naturopaths and doctors and got blood tests and did all these different things.

But from all of the technology side of things, there’s two main takeaways, two things I learned. Number one and most important is that, yes, all these things do help a little bit, but if I have a bad sleep and I eat bad foods, I’m going to feel bad. It doesn’t matter how much of these things I use, if I don’t have a good sleep and if I don’t eat well, it doesn’t make a difference. On the other hand, if I had an incredible sleep, I had a good, healthy diet, I’m going to be 10 times more efficient and effective. I’m going to feel better even with all these devices.

So the first thing to understand is that if you’re interested in these things, that’s fine, you can use them. But if you don’t have a good sleeping schedule, if you’re not eating a healthy diet, it’s going to be wasted. So start there. You’ll get 95% of your gains from sleeping better and eating better. It sounds basic, but that’s the truth.

The second thing I discovered from using these technologies is the opportunity cost of doing so. So what I mean by that is every day, you only have so much time available. When I started using these devices, I would spend an hour or an hour and a half each day just using the devices. Yes, they made me feel better. But the amount of work I could have got done in that hour didn’t outweigh the marginal improvement in my cognition or efficiency throughout the day. So what I realized was that you can spend a lot of time and money on these things, but ultimately it can be a distraction on what you’re actually trying to do.

So now what I do is I’ll use this while I’m reading or studying. When I do the red light, I’ll use it for five or 10 minutes while I’m planning my day or looking over my notes. I’m doing other things. If you just focus on these things, yes, you might feel a bit better, but if your goal is improved output, you’d probably get greater output just by doing work. So understanding that, that these things do have a cost associated with them, not just the investment to actually purchase the thing, but to use it every day is going to take time. That time could be spent doing something that may be more beneficial for you.

The second category of investments I made was in educational learning or skills. So I did a bunch of courses and masterminds and programs. I did Sam Ovens mastermind and that allowed me to hit our first $100,000 month. I did Alex [Chefman’s 00:09:52] mastermind which taught me a lot about systems and hiring and management. I had coaches in mental math and mindset and memory and vocabulary. I did training programs in hiring and sales and marketing.

I read over 500 books, but through all of that, the main thing that I’ve learned about education and programs and courses and all these other things is that the main thing you get is perspective. So what I mean by that is when I started out, I thought that if someone was ahead of me, if someone was doing better than me, it was because A, they were working harder, or B, they knew a strategy that I didn’t have. They had some little tactic that I wasn’t aware of.

What I learned from talking to people who are very advanced is that it’s never about the strategy. The people who win, they have more skill. So there’s two things to think about, strategy and skill. What I find is most people when they’re starting out, they’re focused on the strategy. They’re trying to figure out what strategy is going to work best. But the people who are ahead, they develop the skill. So as the biggest piece of advice I would give someone if they’re starting out is don’t get too caught up on the strategy.

Figure out how can I develop skill. No one achieved lifelong success based on one strategy. They achieved it because they developed skill in different areas. So for me, the biggest takeaway from investing in different courses and mentors was that the people who are ahead of me, they know a lot more than me. They have more skill and they deserve it. So that gave me perspective and it also gave me belief that I can do better. I think if you don’t surround yourself by people who are ahead of you, then you think that you’re on the same level as them and that’s not true.

People who are ahead of you, they are more skilled than you. They know things you don’t. They have abilities that you don’t have. So rather than you just working hard with what you’ve got, you should focus on developing your skills, so when you do work, you get a greater outcome. That really is a massive key. What’s interesting about skill is that skill can be learned, but it can’t be taught. So what that means is I can tell you a strategy, but you need to put in the work to develop the skill.

What most people do, like I said, they try to find the best strategies and they don’t want to put in work until they found the strategy that they think is going to work the best, but that doesn’t really exist. Without skill, no strategy works. With skill, you can make any strategy work. So at the start, understanding that if you want to move forward, you have to change yourself, right? If you buy a program and it teaches you a strategy, which is an external thing, if your skill doesn’t change, you’re not going to be able to use that strategy effectively.

Instead, you want to focus on developing your skill, which is an internal thing so that you can take any strategy and make it work. So for me, the biggest takeaway I got from investing in education was that I got the perspective that the people ahead of me deserve it because they have more skill. That gave me the belief and hope that if I develop my own skills, then I can achieve greater success. So that’s something that I’m focusing on moving forward is how can I develop the skills to get ahead.

It’s kind of like this saying by Gary V., he says, “You can’t read about push ups. You have to actually do push ups.” So a lot of people, they’re looking for the strategies, but you can’t read about a strategy. You can’t be taught a strategy. You have to learn it yourself by doing the work. So I think if you’re looking to invest in programs or mentors, it’s a great idea to do if you understand what you’re trying to get out of it. You shouldn’t try to get out a strategy. I mean, you can get a strategy, but what you need to understand is by doing that, by investing in something, you need to take it, put in the work and develop the skill because that’s how you progress.

Too many people, they look for a strategy or they buy a program. They learn the strategy, but they haven’t developed a skill because they haven’t put in the work to actually develop the skills so that the strategy works in the first place. So I think the biggest benefit of investing in yourself and programs is that you gain perspective, which will give you belief that you can actually become better. When you do that, you see much greater returns from your time and effort.

So to summarize my takeaways after spending $100,000 plus upgrading my brain is number one, sleep, exercise and diet are most important. Number two, to develop your skill and progress, be around people who are ahead of you. But understand that to get ahead, it’s not about a strategy. It’s about developing a skill. You’ll notice that the people who are ahead have developed the skills. I’ve never seen someone who’s achieved success long-term, there are people who achieve short-term success and then lose it. That’s another story. I’ve never seen someone who has achieved success longterm who isn’t incredibly skilled in what they actually do.

They’re not using strategies. They develop skills. So if you want to progress, focus on yourself. Yes, invest in yourself, but invest in developing your skills because with the skill, you can make any strategy effective. Hopefully you’ve enjoyed this. If you have, be sure to leave a comment, subscribe, give us a like. If you have questions about any of the technologies that I mentioned, let me know below. If you’d like more videos or more detailed explanations on any of the things I mentioned, again, let me know. I’ll see you in the next one.