Identity Architecture | The Real Cause of Self-Doubt, Imposter Syndrome, and Overthinking | The Science of Frequency Training Mini-Series (Part 1 of 7)

[Music] What is up everyone? Welcome back to the We Are Encoded Podcast. Tons of comments coming in about the last episode that we did on the science of frequency training. I love it. Keep them coming. It has been a blast to continue to explore this and go deeper and then to be able to share it all with you. We are going to that first episode that we did was an overview. It covered a whole range of different topics all in one setting. Now we're going to take this opportunity to go deep in all these different areas. I expect that as we go through some of these light bulbs going to go off because a lot of people feel symptoms of not training their frequency. Those symptoms might be negative self-talk. Like a voice in your head that says you're not good enough or you're not smart enough. Self-doubt, anxiety, stress, feeling overwhelmed, emotional reactivity. These are symptoms that people feel when they do not have a strong frequency. Now the great news is that we can train our frequency that this is possible and these symptoms are not reflective of who we are. It is a reflection of how we're showing up at our current frequency. It's actually an incredible indicator that something is off and something to look deeper into. With all of that, we have a series of episodes coming up here that are going to go deep in specific areas that include the symptoms and the outcomes of those symptoms and the root cause, the real cause of why we feel something like self-doubt. Then we are going to get into how the encoded system and frequency training directly targets that root cause to strengthen that internal architecture and therefore reduce and eliminate the symptoms. Once those symptoms are gone, how we show up and everything that happens in our life changes. So, if you struggle with something like self-doubt, overthinking, overanalyzing, needing to call someone to get validation of your decision or needing to call a coach to try to figure out what's right for you or constantly questioning yourself, procrastinating, delaying certain decisions even though you know it's right for you, you somehow delay it and it takes a month, three months, six months a year to actually do something like leave a job, leave a relationship, move to a new city, start your company, something like that takes way longer than it needs to, the time between when you realize this is right for me versus when you actually take action on that delay, is known as decision delay. So, if you struggle with any of those things, the issue is not about discipline, it's not about just taking more action, it's not about learning more or being smarter and it's not about willpower. Those symptoms are caused by having a weak identity architecture. Now, we're going to go deeper into this on this entire episode. And so this episode explains what identity architecture is and why a weak identity architecture or not having training around our identity architecture leads to symptoms that include negative self-talk, inconsistency in behavior or follow through, anxiety, decision paralysis, paralysis, overthinking, and then we're going to cover how encoded intentionally build strength and strengthen our identity architecture using mechanisms that are 100% backed by scientific research. And so what identity architecture actually is, is the clarity, stability, and coherence of your internal self-model. Who you believe you are, what you expect from yourself, what you trust yourself to do, and why you're doing what you're doing. An important distinction here is that our identity is not our personality, it is not about labels, it is not about our character traits, it is the internal reference system that our brain uses to predict our behavior, interpret how difficult or easy something is going to be, decide whether the effort feels worth what we're going for, what we're trying to do, and to decide whether we can trust ourselves to accomplish or do something. It is all happening inside of us and it is our internal reference system. And so to ground it in research, there's a concept called self-concept clarity theory that shows that when our self-beliefs are unclear or are not stable, people experience more stress, anxiety, internal conflict, delayed decisions, and other symptoms like that. And so when our identity is unclear or not stable, everything feels harder than it should. And so now let's get into the root cause, the symptoms, and then the outcomes so we can work down this entire chain. And so from the research, the root cause is a weak identity architecture. This is caused by low self-concept clarity, meaning low clarity on who we are, what we do, why we do it, what we're going for, and whether we can trust ourselves or not. Low self-efficacy, meaning that we do not have a clear belief that I'm someone who can learn how to do this, I'm someone who can do this. Conflicting self-stories, like telling yourself a story about how you should be confident versus deep down, you don't think you can trust yourself. And that creates an internal conflict. And incoherence between who you believe you are and the actions that you're taking. And so common symptoms people experience from this direct root cause are and self-doubt. Second-guessing decisions, wondering am I doing the right thing? Is it too soon? Can I do this? Am I smart enough to do this? Self-doubt. Negative self-talk. Having a harsh inner critic, telling you you're not smart enough, you shouldn't do that. Who were you in posture syndrome? Making a big deal out of minor mistakes, overthinking or overanalyzing, ruminating, replaying conversations and wondering what you could have done better. Delayed decision-making, waiting for some level of certainty, having analysis paralysis, getting a spreadsheet and asking a bunch of people what they think you should do before you actually do it. Inconsistency and follow through, so having strong intentions for what you want to do, but then weak follow-through to actually do that thing. And then lastly, head trash, looping thoughts, mental noise, overthinking, inability to turn off this like cycling thinking. And the science connection here is that these symptoms map directly to low self-concept clarity, low self-efficacy, and preservative cognition, which is repetitive negative thinking. And so the downstream outcomes of those symptoms, right? So people have, people might experience and I have many times in my life, not anymore, but have, I know what it feels like, experience these symptoms, many people accept them. They say, this is who I am. I just have anxiety sometimes. I just have a voice in my head and I need to tell it to shut up or I just, I just need, I just go to therapy to cope with this situation like this, didn't, as they go to therapy, they realize that sure they're coping with it, but it doesn't go away, it doesn't change. And so those are the symptoms. Then they lead to downstream outcomes when we feel and experience these things, then these outcomes happen. Over time, a weak identity architecture leads to anxiety, stress, burnout, lack of momentum, feeling stuck despite having a bunch of effort. And none of this means that something is wrong. It means that the system is not stable yet, and that it needs to be trained in order to reduce or eliminate these symptoms. And when we have these symptoms, we do not have consistent follow-through, we do not feel creative, we have low clarity on our vision for our life, our work, our business, our family, our health. We doubt ourselves delay certain decisions, misunderstandings, misunderstandings, misunderstandings, misunderstandings, misunderstandings, these are the outcomes of the symptoms. And behavior change does not. not fix this without identity change. And so most systems and most approaches that people try to take or that they've read in a book or that someone told them about or anything try to change the behavior first. And those of you that are familiar with this podcast are very familiar with this truth, which is that starting at the behavior level is very unlikely to create sustainable change. It needs to start inside of us. It needs to start with awareness and identity and belief upgrades. And through those upgrades, the behaviors follow naturally, cleanly, predictably, and much more likely to succeed and sustain long term. And so the research foundation around this, there's a concept called identity-based motivation theory, which shows that people persist when behavior feels congruent with their identity and that they disengage or give up when it doesn't. That's about as clear as I can put it. That is a scientific paper that has been able to show that through cognitive behavior theory. And then we have self-efficacy theory, which shows that our belief in our own ability predicts our persistence more than effort or skill, meaning that we could be so talented and so good at something. But if we don't believe that we can do it, that is going to override our talent and ability. And so it is the truth that everybody, including myself, everybody, is way more talented, way more capable than they believe for themselves. And that is the main thing that holds us back. And so some examples are that you can want to be consistent. But if your identity is I'm inconsistent, and if you listen closely, people subconsciously, not aware of it, broadcast their identity, how they view themselves all the time. I hear it very intentional about it, I hear it all the time. I'm just an anxious person. I'm just someone who can't follow through. I'm just someone who is reactive sometimes. It just gets to me and I just need to do it. That is not reflective of who you are. It is reflective of who you believe you are right now. And because you have that belief, those behaviors and those reactions continue to perpetuate. And lastly, your brain predicts success or failure and pulls back effort automatically. If you believe I'm inconsistent, your brain will pull back the effort to confirm to you the thing that you already believe, which is that you're not consistent, even if you are capable and can do it. And so if your identity says this isn't me, then the effort to try to do something that doesn't match who you believe you are is going to feel really hard and really heavy. And so how we use the specific scientific mechanisms adding coded to rebuild and to strengthen our identity architecture comes down to a couple of core mechanisms. The first mechanism that we call clarity of self is a process of identity and green. The process trains a clear, stable self model through explicit IAM statements. There were repetitive handwriting process that rewires motor neurons executed on a consistent or even daily basis that creates coherence across our thoughts, emotions and actions. And why it works is that research shows and been demonstrated in hundreds of people who have tried the encoded system, shows increasing self-concept clarity improves emotional stability and reduces stress. And so the result is that we have less internal conflict, we have less second guessing and we make faster decisions because we have more stability and clarity on who we are, what we do, why we do it, what we're going for. And so this level of clarity and repetition creates a calm stability. The second mechanism is belief updating, which is taking advantage of a scientific principle known as cognitive filtering. Encoded and the process rewrites our beliefs that undermine our identity. Beliefs like, I can't trust myself or I always fall off, I try to do something and I get going and I start off strong but I always fall off, it just never works for me. Or I need certainty before taking action. I need to know this thing before I can do something. And the science around this is that our beliefs act as perceptual filters. Our beliefs filter and edit our experience to confirm the things that we already believe about ourselves and how the world works. That is a principle known as confirmation bias. And that updating our beliefs can directly shift and change our interpretation of whether something is difficult or easy, whether something is safe, or threatening, whether something is clear and calm or stressful, all related to our belief system. And so the result of this belief updating process means that we have less threat perception, we experience less stress, less negative self-talk, less overthinking, and we have more confidence, clarity and calmness even in uncertainty or perceived challenges. The third mechanism is known as action alignment. We call it a process that we call self-trust engineering. And encoded uses an intentional process without the daily routine, which again takes somewhere between 15 and 25 minutes on a consistent or daily basis that encoded a process of aligned actions, uses small aligned actions to create evidence for ourselves that we can trust ourselves to create predictability that these are behaviors that match who we believe we are and to generate on an ongoing basis internal credibility that I can trust myself and I can learn this and I can do this. And the science behind it is that self-ethocacy grows most reliably through mastery experiences when you see and experience yourself doing what you say you're going to do. That is what increases self-ethocacy. And the result is self-trust increases, doubt decreases, and momentum builds naturally. And lastly, the fourth mechanism is repetition and stabilization. And so encoded doesn't rely on just meditating or journaling or being aware that we should do something but not actually integrating into who we are. The encoded system takes advantage of neuroplasticity through daily repetition of identity reinforcement and stabilization loops. And the science behind this is that repetition strengthens our neural pathways for our thoughts and beliefs, for our identity, for our emotions, for our intentions, for our behaviors. These neurons can wire and refire in new ways through repetition. And that stable self-models reduce reactivity and inconsistency whether that's in follow through or behavior patterns or anything like that. As we have a more stable self-concept model inside of us, nobody else, some people can read it, some people can interpret it based on the things that you say about yourself without even thinking about it. But a majority is just happening inside of you. And the result is that our identity stops wobbling. We stop saying we're consistent, even though we really believe that we're inconsistent. We stop having this wobble that we start to have clarity and stability in who we are. That these new patterns begin to feel more natural, it becomes, becomes feel natural to be consistent, to be disciplined, to follow through, to not feel anxiety, anything that we want to accomplish can be accomplished through this process. And that old patterns lose their power because they no longer align with who we believe we are. For example, if you truly believe I'm a healthy person and I take care of my body, then you would, having an old pattern of smoking a pack of cigarettes a day would no longer align with your new identity. It would just fade away. Just like some drinking alcohol or not going to the gym or being distracted with your family at dinner over working or being scared to post on social media or anything that you want to accomplish. As we align our identity to the behaviors and results that we want to get those behaviors begin to feel more natural. and as it fully stabilizes those behaviors begin to feel automatic. And so, as we implement a frequency training routine and we build strength and stability in our identity architecture, our life feels totally different. Our life feels like almost accelerated. Decisions happen faster almost instantly. We know what's right for us. We trust ourselves and we go. Our emotions stabilize. Many people do not even experience negative emotions that they once used to consider normal or just part of who they are. Gilt, shame, doubt, anxiety. Those are not normal emotions. I'm not trying to talk down to anyone because I've experienced all of them as well. But I think it's important that everybody recognize or at least have the opportunity to recognize that while many people accept them, those are not normal. And through a level of training, those emotions can be significantly reduced if not totally eliminated from our experience. Our self-talk shifts from being negative to being positive self-talk. We don't have to say it out loud. It's not like you're in the mirror saying I can do this. It's just that when we experience something, instead of having a voice in our head, saying we're not good enough, we're not smart enough, maybe that voice says, "Wow, we're doing this is going to help so many people. We are capable of this. We can do this. This is going to be fun. It's going to be easy. Let's do it." Our confidence feels quiet, not forced. Most people that appear to be confident by societal standards are actually not confident at all. It is a forced confidence to create the illusion. However, real confidence is quiet and calm. Our effort feels lighter. It doesn't feel heavy to go on a call or a meeting or to have a tough conversation with someone or to go to the gym or to do the things that we want to do. The effort feels lighter. It feels more natural. The follow-through becomes normal. That doing the thing that we know we should do for ourselves just becomes what we do. The follow-through becomes natural because we have a high level of self-ethnicacy. This isn't like confidence that you see on TikTok or Instagram. It's confidence that I can predict that I can do this and that I can trust myself. The big idea here is that you don't need more motivation. You don't need to take another course. You don't need to get a coach to tell you what is right for you. You need to have a clear internal architecture of who you are. You need to build a level of self-ethnicacy that you can do. You can learn to do it. You can do it. You can trust yourself. Those two elements combined lead to the reduction or elimination of these symptoms. Imagine when all these symptoms are gone. There are high functioning executives, 7, 8, 9 figure entrepreneurs that experience these symptoms multiple times every week if not every day. When you get these things out of your way and you eliminate them from your life, it's like you have a rocket booster. It's so much more intention, so much more momentum, so much more clarity. Faster decisions, it's just like it's just incredible how much it can do by just getting these, basically, to taking these weights off of you. When our identity stabilizes our behavior aligns to it, when our behavior aligns to our identity, our self-trust grows. And when our self-trust grows, everything in our life gets easier. And so this is what frequency training or a component, one of the five major parts of our frequency training cycle. This is a major part of where we train and where we build strength and stability. It's the system that produces our behavior. And so I'm having a ton of fun with this. Honestly, I'm probably going to come back and do another episode on belief upgrades coming next. And we're going to be talking about breaking down all these different symptoms that people might experience breaking down. All of these different benefits that people will feel through a frequency training process and what that would feel like. Continuing to leverage frameworks and accessible principles and language to be able to show that this, any one can do this. And any one can dramatically improve their life through this incredibly simple daily or consistent routine. And I'm super pumped to share it with you. I hope you had some light bulbs go off. I hope you had some great takeaways to use. I hope you could do a couple exercises and try to explore what you believe about yourself right now and how compare that to how you're showing up and see where there's alignment or misalignment between who you believe you are right now, who you want to be, but aren't or don't believe about yourself yet. And the actions that you're taking and you can do an interesting exercise of just sort of triangulating those components and seeing where there's where there's outlines now. The encoded system has a dialed in process to be able to through a through a prompting and self reflection exercise be able to identify and illuminate all those things to you. And so feel free to try it for yourself if you wish, but if you're looking for the highway to be able to get you to that outcome much more quickly and onto a training routine. Feel free to explore the research and the details that you can even sign up at encoded dot AI. Thank you all for being here. We're going to come back for another one soon. Catcher for the next one.