Clean Your F*cking House B*tch
Our minds are like houses. When they're new, they're empty. As we live our lives we acquire treasures that eventually turn into shit that creates clutter. Some of this stuff is useful, while some of it is simply junk which just creates obstacles for us. What if we could eliminate the nonsense we don't need, and create more room for useful things? Join us on this podcast where we discuss removing what we don't need, implementing beneficial changes to our minds, bodies and souls, to create a life of abundance and fulfillment.
Clean Your F*cking House B*tch
Ep. 126 - Ready Fire Aim For Your Brain
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Your brain can be the strongest engine you have or the loudest brake you fight every day. We sit down and get real about neuro wellness, the nervous system, and why so many smart, motivated people still freeze, procrastinate, and spiral into self-judgment when life gets busy. When the system is overloaded, it is not just “a lack of willpower” it is stress physiology, anxiety loops, and too much noise hitting your mind at once.
We start with what “neuro” actually means in normal human terms, from frayed nerves to neural networks, and how nervous system regulation shapes your mood, focus, and follow-through. Then we dig into the sneaky traps that keep people stuck: perfectionism, comparison, and the pressure of tracking everything like it is a competition. We also talk about a simple antidote that sounds obvious but works: start small, chip away, and let momentum calm the system instead of waiting for confidence to arrive first.
From there, we connect personal growth to the science. The past decade has brought more neuroscience, brain imaging, and research that backs up what mindfulness and personal development have said for years. We also tackle weight loss and health tools like GLP-1 drugs, bariatric surgery, and programs like WW, with one clear point: nothing is a complete solution without lifestyle modification, behavior change, and an internal mindset shift that you can sustain.
If you want practical motivation, less self-criticism, and a calmer way to build habits that stick, press play. Subscribe, share this with a friend who feels overwhelmed, and leave us a review so more people can find the conversation.
Welcome And The Big Promise
SPEAKER_00Hello and welcome to Clean Your Fucking House, bitch, with Nancy, Kevin, and Lou. In our program, we get real about the challenges of life and living. Your mind is the most powerful tool you have to ensure you are on your desired path for success and satisfaction. Yet, from the day you are born, you gradually and subconsciously fill it with tons of useless shit that gets in your way. Why is that? How can you clean that mess up? We'll show you how. Get ready to clean your fucking house.
Why Neuro Wellness Matters Now
SPEAKER_02I love that they're talking about it. Oh. All right. Neurowellness and the our ability to um regulate our nervous system sounds like it's an important thing for people to be considering today as we jump right into a topic.
SPEAKER_01Welcome back, everybody.
SPEAKER_00I I think Nancy's nerves were frayed just a bit there, folks, because yes, we jumped right into it. We're just having a little bit of a chat. What shall we talk about today? And Nancy brought up a very interesting topic about neurohealth. I was just trying to do it like a and then Kim's like, let's go with it.
SPEAKER_01And we'll do like a little fight fight.
SPEAKER_00It's like Nike, right? Just do it. But it is interesting. It's uh the minute you said I said, ooh, I want to know more. I hope our listeners would like to learn more too.
SPEAKER_02Right? I think well, we, the three of us, have been kind of um exploring the ideas of neuro wellness, maybe from a different perspective, um, but neuroplasticity and how you can change and you can create new routines in life and you can um reframe thoughts and shift energy and mood, and so that it's surfacing in the health and wellness uh official world, I think, is really valuable. So I will back it up even a wee bit further and share with our listeners that we were scanning through the top 10 wellness trends for 2026 that come from the Global Wellness Institute.
What “Neuro” Means In Real Life
SPEAKER_02So just just trying to connect ourselves with current um things in our world.
SPEAKER_01Well, what what is it exactly? What is neurology? What is what does any of those big words mean?
SPEAKER_02I mean, you're sounding like that should not be someone official.
SPEAKER_01I don't feel like no, no, just in general, right? Like I think the whole thing is. I find myself saying it all the time, but then it's like, is any of it going over anyone's heads? I don't know that we need a deaf like a medical definition, but like what does it mean to us? How do what comes to mind for you guys, I guess? I just wanted to name it so we could start there, and then I have a million different things that I'm thinking of of what it means to me.
SPEAKER_00Well, two things come to mind for me. The first is that Seinfeld episode where the words beginning with neuro were you tossed out like randomly when someone was, I think it was Elaine was talking about how someone was out of called in sick, whatever the case may be, something. Oh, what's he sick with? What's he got? And she hesitated. She knows, oh, neuralgia, neuropathy, neuritis. She like named off three or four words that begin with neuro. And that kind of piqued my interest. So I did a little Googling. Well, okay, it's all all to do with nerves. Now, who to in today's society can't relate to having some aspect of frayed nerves or nervousness or at any point, you know, not all the time, but here or there, some more than others. But nerve, if I just think of the word nervous.
SPEAKER_01I well, like I think like neural networks, like this vast network of synapses that we have in our brain. But I also am open to the idea that like it could also be like our nerd, like it is really our nervous system, right? When we talk about sympathetic versus parasympathetic, that relates to the neurology that we discuss as well.
SPEAKER_00Well, are neurons an the more technical term for nerves, or are nerves actually a different thing? Nancy?
SPEAKER_02I mean, again, you make me feel like you're looking for uh some kind of an expert, but what I'm doing is looking it up. So if we ask Google, a neurologist is a medical doctor with specialized training in diagnosing, treating, and managing disorders of the brain and the nervous system. So both are included. Oh, yeah. Included, but not limiting to limited to. And then they talk about the number of diseases that affect the nervous system or the brain. Um but I think the intention from the from the wellness institute, and I'll share with you their opening sentence for our readers, is thinking about it from this perspective.
Overload, Freezing, And Starting Small
SPEAKER_02So neural wellness is moving from niche to mainstream because people are realizing one of the biggest health bottlenecks isn't willpower. And this is so true. We know everyone, we've talked about a lot too. Commit to it, be consistent, take the action, but that's hard. And it's it's nervous system overload, and all of the things that come with it can create more anxiety than doing the thing itself. So sometimes it can be a block to making change.
SPEAKER_00It also seems like it's I don't know if self-perpetuating is the right word I'm looking for here, but when we feel like we're overloaded, we uh effectively sometimes freeze or just don't know what to do. So we procrastinate and uh again freeze and and just don't take action, and that makes it worse. So it almost it it it'll make us more nervous and more anxious.
SPEAKER_01Well, that in and of itself seems like something that maybe you could develop just the ability to not freeze and pause and need to analyze and think versus just kind of do like you and I don't know if it would be deemed healthy or not, but like if things pop up or you have some challenges or unexpected events happening around you, is it possible to create the habit of just attacking it head on? You know, versus try like just starting to chip away at something one step at a time versus like trying to analyze the whole thing, big picture, 30,000 feet, and like just almost getting down in the weeds, not mentally but physically, just start getting chipping away at shit. Because that I feel like is has a calming effect to begin with, is just feeling accomplished, starting to figure something out. The task doesn't seem as big once you're like attacking it.
SPEAKER_02I feel like I believe that there's a lot of truth in that, and and that is how people can find the ability to get started. And we've talked about it often, like you know, just take the baby steps, and the forward motion will build the momentum that'll get you someplace different than where you are. Um and I think what they're also saying in all of this is that the plans, like the tracking and the exercise plans and the comparisons and the competition create this added pressure that makes it hard for people because then they're in this self-judgment phase all the time. I didn't get all the minutes. This person was ahead of me. I didn't use this many weights, I didn't do it enough times this week. Like all of those things are impacting one's ability to just be okay with what they did do and what they can do.
SPEAKER_01That reminds me of the when I did that tournament and then I put that post on LinkedIn and you challenged me with like the not the result I wanted.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, because you finished it. I like that you went back to that because I think there's truth in that. Like you did a really big thing and new and different for you, and something you really wanted to do. And I think you were successful, happy about it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And and wasn't there an element to it where you shared it, it wasn't, I'm not gonna use the word perfect, but it wasn't how you wanted it to go, or it wasn't the result I wanted. Wasn't the result. Okay, so that might make someone think, okay, it wasn't perfect, like to use something loosely, a term loosely, if you will. But there's another aspect to what you just shared about just jumping in and what even if the jumping in is chipping away or jumping in and chopping away or jumping in and cutting completely, I'm kind of using a tree analogy here, away. It's all about just doing it and not worrying about perfection. I run into that practically on a daily basis with work when I'm doing reports and stuff. I'm like constantly fucking trying to figure out the right words and and stuff to make something sound as professional as it should be and as clear as it should, and all that stuff that goes into. I'm like, fuck that. Let me just throw some shit together.
SPEAKER_01What a blessing, Lou, that you have so much space at work to be able to be perfect with anything. Well, what a you should be so grateful.
SPEAKER_00What well, you know what? It's actually it's interesting you say that because some of it is a culture-driven thing.
Perfectionism At Work And In Growth
SPEAKER_00And what I mean by that is the type of company I work for, which is not for profit, part of the reason we can spend more time on things, or at least in the past, we're able to spend more time and kind of strive for a certain level of perfection is because we're not for profit. And we recently had a CEO of the not for profit? Yeah. Well, it's not that we're non-profit, there's like another type of organization where you don't keep the profits, it's not not for profit. Uh, what it means is like if we do make any profit, it has to get distributed back to the members that actually own us. Gotcha. Uh, almost like a mutual insurance company kind of uh business model.
SPEAKER_02Um we totally side rolled. I want to hear your thoughts completing that on having the time to think through the thing in the way you want. And then I have to do that.
SPEAKER_00Where I was going is we now have a new CEO that started about a year ago, and she's shifting that mindset. And I gotta say, I actually am completely on board with all of what she's sharing because we have folks that have been at this company 30, 40 years, maybe some even close to 50, that have had this 50-year-old mindset of moving at the pace we've been moving at and not caring about competition and things like that. And even though we are in a unique situation where competition is very rare, it doesn't mean it could never exist. And in other words, she's bringing a new sense of today's uh business thinking, even though, again, we're not for profit, but one of the main things is rather than ready, aim, fire, let's ready fire aim kind of mentality and and just jumping in and not needing two years to do a a business um uh design document or um project plan and all that stuff that typically goes with such things because these days speak to market.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, just because you have the time doesn't mean you should use the time.
SPEAKER_00Right. And I think Elon Musk is a great uh proponent of that kind of work ethic, even though in some cases it you have to be careful when you're producing certain products that have to work. You can't just produce something that doesn't work.
SPEAKER_01I think what Lou is really saying and tying this back into the topic is that similar to how the business operates with all the people, it's like a network, right? Just like our brains, right? The topic at hand. So how the shift is happening, we can also make a shift internally.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like you're can I ever share that sometimes I'll go down these long tangents and get away from the topic.
SPEAKER_01I don't know if I normally join you and Nancy. Nancy did such a good job pulling us back. I wanted to answer.
SPEAKER_00Well, I will say oftentimes when they lead down even more interesting paths, and I thank you, Kevin, for pulling me back. I'm like, where the hell am I going with this anyway? You know, end of the day.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna go all the way back to
A Future Self Lens On Fear
SPEAKER_02Kevin, though. Sorry, I'm totally over talking you two, because I want to ask, had you done that kind of competition before?
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_02Okay. So that was your first time out.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And it's not where you want it to be, but who does anything the way they want to the first time?
SPEAKER_01Well, here's the deal. And I feel like for me, perspective shifts or trying to look through different lenses has been very helpful for my growth. And one of the perspectives that I often challenge myself on is like when we look back, we think about the past all the time, we've talked about the statistics with it, right? I've never looked back and wished like I had not tried something or didn't like I wish I would have worked less hard at this thing that I was passionate about or wanted to accomplish. And then the mindset of like, you know, if I knew then what I know now, what would I change? Well, if I try to look through the lens of 80-year-old me, looking back to a time when I'm half that age, what would I change? And so I'm trying to like challenge myself to just know, like, I'll get older if I'm around still, right? And I'll be looking back on this time, and I'm sure I'll be thinking of how awesome it was and all the good things and this and that. But I want to honor that future me by just going out and doing the things and not get in my own head and try and fail and whatever it is, just still try and and and execute, you know. Time passing is one of the constants in in this life. So what do I have to lose? You know, like just go and do it, and then I'm not getting in my own head, and I've realized like all the challenges, all the things that happen around me, like I'm pretty okay with with it. I know I'll get things done, I'll get caught up, and then more shit'll happen. But it's like this constant flow of chaos externally. So if I can create some peace within and then try to just be grounded and also experience things, like even if something sucks, I try to embrace it and feel it fully because it means I'm alive.
SPEAKER_02Well, this is this is taking us even way back to yes, because this is taking us way back to the beginning of what what the I think the concept of the whole idea of neurowellness moving from a niche to a mainstream because it is you finding acceptance and peace and um uh staying connected to what it is that you want to be doing without all the noise, right? You're able to put the noise aside, and that's the hard part of it. And recognizing how important that is is a trend right now for many in a lot of ways.
SPEAKER_01Have they mapped out with any of the articles or anything? Have they mapped out like a framework or stages that you could work towards? I'm just because for it being something that we've been around for you know over a decade, we've been doing this, or we've been having these chats for 10 years now together, right? So we've been not this podcast, Lou, but like we have been we've known each other for over 10 years, I think, or just about 10 years. Um so we've been around this idea and concept, and we've pushed ourselves and challenged. And I don't want to take for granted how far we've all come, and I don't want to over I don't want to oversimplify just based on where we are now. I want to try to, you know, outline what maybe it could what could help the next person, what were the stages that we went through with being able to like shift perception and be okay with uncomfortable things and all the chaos in the world and still operate and function and be good and be loving and caring and empathetic and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So I'm gonna take so that with that, I'm gonna take the take the cycle right back to you again because I think with that, in thinking about your competition and what we heard from you is you were happy with it no matter what, because you knew you were stepping out to do something new and different that you wanted to do, and you're okay with your best at that time. And that's cool. And did I get that right? Yet the way that you posted it still presented yourself to the world, making it big, um, as if it was less than satisfactory. And that we can change our own neuroplasticity by the way we've talked about it before, the language we use, the words we use, they affect our emotion, and they also affect how others see us, and the way we put ourselves out there impacts what comes back to us. So being able, and you you're fine. This is no criticism of you, but just as an example that we're taking to the to the death, the opportunity could be damn my first time out, I could I did whatever, right? And have it be more celebratory than I didn't get where I wanted.
SPEAKER_00I I hope you take comfort, you being Kevin, though, in something else that I believe we talked about at least once, which is how quickly we get to where we want to go after that initial attempt. I'll call it attempt, second attempt, third attempt. We get very good rather quickly. It of course depends on the thing we're doing, but the brain is uh very good at, I guess it would be developing that neural pathway as quickly as it does through the repetitive nature of the task we're doing or whatnot. But like I've just in thinking back to my own experiences with things, how quickly I have um learned something, say, which of course there's still continuous improvement. Just simply as an example, when I first started taking piano lessons, and I'm like, oh my God, I can't do this. My fingers are like are like pretzels or whatnot. They're all over the place. They don't seem to hold on. I think after three or four lessons, I literally was playing three blind mice, whatever the heck the thing was that I was learning. Now, granted, that's a simple tune, but it's still just about you know a a certain bit of success, which is proper finger play, whatever. You know, like I don't I don't believe um that we can we can't or um that it's impossible to literally uh learn something or get us to a place um I mean after a few attempts.
SPEAKER_01You can do whatever it is, it's just the main barrier is getting started, yeah, right? Like that's the hardest part in the beginning, and then the hardest part is just being consistent, and then the hardest part is eliminating bad habits that are interfering, and then the hardest part is time, and then the hardest part is changing your environment and the people you you surround yourself with and what you do with your free time. Like, there's a lot of hardest parts, but as you as you tackle them, then you become the hardest version of yourself that doesn't accept defeat and doesn't accept excuses and all that. And we're all human and we all do it, but like I guess maybe I don't know. I just having those thoughts today, we haven't met in a while. I haven't really had a conversation like this with anybody since we last talked, right? We're our little we're our little buddy group, the three musketeers. Um, and it's just you know, it's not easy. It's not easy, but I know it can be harder when there's a lot of distraction. You know, what are you feeding your brain? What are you feeding your mind on a daily basis? What are you thinking about? How are you honoring yourself? Um how can you get yourself to a version of you that you can be proud of? And for me right now, you know, and I might look back in five years and be like, I was way off, but right now I'm mostly proud of how much. I get done. And I want and I'm treading the line of knowing that I that I have value without needing to be performing or executing things, right? Just as a human being, in and of itself, I provide value. I have value. But I feel good when I'm getting stuff done. I'm feel I feel good when I move around all day and I, you know, check a few boxes and deal with a few challenges. And I remember a previous version of myself where you know things would get hard and I would shut down. Not to say that being by myself and sitting on the couch isn't a way that I reset. It absolutely is, but it can't be the only thing.
SPEAKER_02But good to know.
SPEAKER_01Right. You know?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. Having multiple purposes and accomplishment of things that are important that you value or have to do and doing them and feeling good about doing them and also giving yourself time to just be.
SPEAKER_01It's just a good night's sleep. When you do something that's uncomfortable throughout the day, even if it's one thing that you put off for a little while, like it's a good feeling laying down in bed, like, holy shit, hell yeah, I kicked ass today. I'm a fucking rock star.
SPEAKER_02You are.
SPEAKER_01You know?
Science Catching Up With Mindset
SPEAKER_00You know, one of the things that I um find fascinating, I guess, is that you mentioned 10 years ago when we first connected and were going down this path of learning more about um personal development and what uh you know, how we can become the person we want to be. Everything you just kind of mentioned um in terms of personal development and how a lot of it was, I guess, more on the theoretical side. You know, folks had done some, I guess, trial and error testing along the way. Many, I can't think of any particular names, but people who have done work in what works, what doesn't work, say. But over the past maybe five to eight years, uh, just started a little bit after, at least for me, I learned a little bit more about the uh subject of neuroscience and how now much of what we've learned is backed by science.
SPEAKER_01That's what literally came to mind first, Nancy, when you were sharing that, which you know, obviously a subject we're all passionate about, but it's like of course, thousands of years later, now we're like, oh yeah, the monks were right, you know, like they had they had it down, just didn't have the science and the technology to back it. But they they had it, they had it all done.
SPEAKER_02So thought they knew better or newer was better than older, and were cycling back.
SPEAKER_00And we have like brain scan images, like literally things that you can look at that show reveal where there's activity or sparking or anything going on that shows um, you know, when something negative is said, how the image on of the brain changes versus when it's positive, just simple things like that. It's like they've shown uh uh pictures of that. I was like, wow, it's really fascinating how the science backs it up.
SPEAKER_01I guess it's kind of cool that you know people that you know maybe were non-believers or thought that it's a bunch of woo-woo meditation or whatever, you know, it's coming to light now that you know really up here in our brains, minds, consciousness, whatever, like everything stems from up here. You can approach the world with a uh a shifted mindset and different perspective, and everything can be completely different, even though nothing's changed. It all it all starts here.
SPEAKER_02The pieces are in different places and your perspective shifts, but it's all the same shit in there.
Weight Loss, GLP-1s, And Lifestyle Change
SPEAKER_00You know, and it it kind of reminds me a little bit, Nancy, of the of the weight loss program that is mindset shifting focused versus a drug.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You know, the program I'm I'm talking about. You know, we we over time we're all we've all been made aware, otherwise um know about different weight loss methods that have come and gone, all tangible, some tangible form, a drink, a pill, a whatever. And you know, then comes along something that's a little bit more in line with the uh uh our what we're talking about now, and and using the power of the mind to kind of help achieve a goal, whether it's working out, weight loss, whatever the case may be. And how that is very powerful, yet something like that, maybe getting back to Kevin's comment about well, some people still think it's woo-woo and all that kind of stuff, and not really um hard uh that it might not work. I can see this happening again with what is it, GLP1 drugs where their weight loss happening, peptides and GLP1s, it is happening. And but people, you know, will take those, may lose some weight, but if their mind isn't in the right place, either that weight's coming back or something. I I've heard of people get getting their stomach stapled or going through bariatric surgery and gaining weight later. And I actually didn't think that was possible.
SPEAKER_02It is. And going back to the GLP1s and peptides, I've supported a couple of different programs where there's so many different names, members. I'm gonna say clients, whoever have come to me, but they their doctor will not prescribe to them the medication until they spend some time doing lifestyle modification. And I'm really grateful for that because I think it's just an awareness that we need to build into what the process is. Yes, there could be a benefit from using them, but that that alone isn't the full answer. And unless you can embrace lifestyle modification, then you will potentially bounce back. Not everybody does, but a high percent. So yeah, it is cycling around in that way, and there is awareness to the benefits of adjusting. That sounds weird to say it sounds too technical, but adjusting your mindset.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, I mean I can understand because everyone I I think a lot of people will look at those things as quick fixes, and of course, when they don't fix quickly, they wonder why. And it's like, well, because what piece is missing? It's really the mindset shift.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Neural health.
SPEAKER_02Some combination, yeah. We have to take we have to embrace it all. It's it's and even a big a big celebrity said it's not one thing is all the things who is who's publicly gone up and down with her weight and struggled a lot with weight. Uh huh. I feel like I shouldn't name names, but um but knowing that publicly, this person could also say it was not one thing. People are like, What finally did it for you? Not one thing, multiple things, and you have to bring them all together. And I I I appreciate that that a celebrity figure would bring that to the public and say, You gotta you gotta.
SPEAKER_00That is one thing she brought to her own program is a a lifestyle modification aspect.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00In conjunction with other talking about WW. We are, yeah, yeah. There's like the life co the coach, the you have the weight loss coach and like different um uh uh lessons or course or whatever things that are based in behavior modification.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
Intrinsic Motivation And Final Takeaways
SPEAKER_02So I think where we started and where we're where we're at is that we just the idea of that we have to be well in our minds as well as our bodies, and it could start in our mind, but our mind will support us and help us move forward, and that we have to um you might know how to say it better, but like it can't be for competitive reasons, it has to be intrinsic. We need to find the intrinsic neuroplace of calm and desire and drive to pull us forward.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and also I would say like try to find ways to there there's so many ways to accomplish the same like result, right? We're and none of us are really fans of result goals, more action goals, but still we're working towards some type of vision. But find ways to get there if you can that align with you because you will be more intrinsically motivated then, instead of forcing yourself to do things that are that you just don't give a shit about that don't resonate with you.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. Phew!
SPEAKER_00Wow, okay. Well, neural health, that is the two-word topic of 2026, I guess. It's a top of the list as far as trends go. So we uh yeah, we touched on a lot of interesting aspects of of the topic, and yeah, as usual, we've we've gone down a couple of added paths on things, but you know, always uh always entertaining when it comes to the Kevin Nancy Lou show, that's for sure. So we hope folks that you enjoyed this episode, and we look forward to you joining us on our next one. Bye for now.