전전중피질: 의지력의 자리

전전대상피질은 사람들이 하기 싫은 일을 할 때 성장하며, 이는 의지력과 삶의 의지가 있는 곳이라는 것을 암시합니다.

### 의지력 키우기: 도전 극복의 신경과학적 원리
* 🧠 전대상피질은 운동이나 유혹에 저항하는 등 하고 싶지 않은 일을 할 때 성장하는 뇌 영역으로, **의지력의 자리**로 여겨집니다.
* 🏋 이 뇌 영역은 비만인 사람에게는 작지만 다이어트를 하면 커지고, 운동선수에게는 더 커지며, **특히 중대한 도전을 극복한 사람에게는 더 커집니다.**
* 🧗 전전중격 피질은 **'삶의 의지의 자리'**로 여겨지며, 오래 사는 사람일수록 그 크기가 유지됩니다.
* 🔄 이 두뇌 영역을 구축하는 핵심은 단순히 좋아하는 일을 더 많이 하는 것이 아니라 **힘들고 하기 싫은 일을 꾸준히** 하는 것입니다.
* 💪 데이비드 고긴스는 **"인생의 핵은 없다... 핵은 좆나게 짜증날 것"**이라며 의지력을 키우기 위해 반복적으로 도전에 직면하고 **"짜증"을 받아들이는 것**이 중요하다고 강조합니다.
* 앤드류 휴버만 박사는 누구나 이 뇌 영역을 가지고 있지만 대부분의 사람들은 이 영역을 충분히 활용하지 못한다고 강조하며 **"자신에게는 이 영역이 없다고 느끼는 사람은 다른 사람에게도 있는 것처럼 느끼지만 뇌 손상이 없는 한 모든 사람은 두 개의 전전대상피질**을 가지고 있다"고 말합니다.
* 🔓 고긴스는 많은 사람들이 자신의 의지력을 완전히 발휘하지 못하고 자신을 돌아보지 않아서 인생에서 무언가를 놓치고 있다고 느끼며, **"대부분의 사람들이 무언가를 놓치고 있는 것은 그 안에 너무 많은 것이 갇혀 있기 때문"**이라고 말합니다(잠금 해제하지 않았기 때문).
* 🔁 핵심 메시지는 진정한 성장과 자아 발견은 **빠른 해결책이나 쉬운 해결책을 찾기보다는 지속적으로 도전에 직면하고 어렵고 불편한 일을 해나가는 데서** 비롯된다는 것입니다.

I'm going to share a little neuroscience tidbit. Love it. But I think it's one that you'll appreciate. Most people don't know this, but there's a brain structure called the anterior midcingulate cortex, as we pointed out before, that's a noun, it's a name, it doesn't mean anything. Right. We could call it the cookie monster. Right. But what's interesting about this brain area is there's now a lot of data, in humans, not some mouse study, showing that when people do something they don't want to do, like add three hours of exercise per day or per week, or when people who are trying to diet and lose weight resist eating something. Right. When people do anything that they, and this is the important part, that they don't want to do, it's not about adding more work, it's about adding more work that you don't want to do.

Yes. This brain area gets bigger. Yep. Now here's what's especially interesting about this brain area to me, and by the way, I'm only learning this recently because it's new data, but there's a lot of it. The anterior midcingulate cortex is smaller in obese people, it gets bigger when they diet. It's larger in athletes, it's especially large or grows larger in people that see themselves as challenged and overcome some challenge. Right. And in people that live a very long time, this area keeps its size. In many ways, scientists are starting to think of the anterior midcingulate cortex not just as one of the seats of willpower. Right. But perhaps actually the seat of the will to live. See, now we're talking. And when I learned about the anterior midcingulate cortex, I was like almost out of my seat. And I've been in the neuroscience game since I was 20.

Now we're talking.
And we're the same age. And I was so pumped 'cause I've heard of the
amygdala fear, prefrontal cortex. It's planning and action. I could tell you every
brain area and every. I teach neuroanatomy to medical students. But when I started seeing the data on the anterior midcingulate cortex, I was like, whoa, this is interesting. Yep. And all the data points to the fact that we can build this area up. Yep. But that, as quickly as we build it up, if we don't continue to invest in things that are hard for us,
that we don't want to do, that's the part that
feels so Goggin-esque. Yes, sir.
To me, that we don't want to do, like if you love the ice bath, Yeah, I love the ice bath, and you go from one minute
to 10 minutes, guess what?

Your anterior midcingulate
cortex did not grow. None. But if you hate the cold water, if you're afraid of drowning,
and you get into water and put your head under. Yep. Then your anterior mid, and survive, then the anterior midcingulate
cortex gets bigger. But if you don't do it the next day, or if you do it the next
day and you enjoy it because, hey, hey, I did it yesterday, woo-hoo, happy me, Merry Christmas, as you would say.
That's right, Merry Christmas. Guess what? The anterior midcingulate
cortex shrinks again. DAVID: Yep. To me, this is one of the
most important discoveries that neuroscience has ever made because it's that I don't
want to do something but do it anyway. That's right. That grows this area, and it's almost like I have a friend; he's been sober 30 years from alcohol.

and he always says, you know, the amazing thing about
addiction is there's a cure. The problem is it only
works one day at a time. Yep. And so, you have to renew it every day. That's right. So the anterior midcingulate cortex to me, when I learned about it, two
things went off in my head. Whoa, this is super interesting, and two, I got to tell
David Goggins about this. And I waited until now. I'm glad
to tell you because I felt like,
well, for obvious reasons, I wanted to tell you and
I wanted to tell you here. Well, I love that because that's how I've
lived my entire life. I didn't know anything about that. But people go, Man, you
have such a strong will. It's something that you
build, like I never forgot, I was on a podcast one
time, and this dude goes,

You were blessed with a strong mind. Like, the hell you talking about? I was blessed with a strong mind? That's something that you have to develop. You develop that over years, decades of suffering and going back into the suffer. That's why a lot of people who graduate Navy SEAL training, I talk about very openly all the time, a lot of guys don't want to go back into that water, don't want to go back into the hard stuff. Anything hard, anything hard in life, once you get through it, it's like you become a POW. Like, how many POWs you know want to go back to POW camp? None. When something sucks so bad in life, this is on this, that we're talking about now, very few people want to go back. They're happy they graduated. I realized I'm the same way, I don't want to go back. I have to go back, I must go back.

Because that is exactly where all the knowledge of my
life exists. Was back there and what exactly what
you're talking about. Well, I didn't know anything about this, but how I grew a will was
constantly doing these things. So now, it's just life. I wake up, while it still
sucks, it's just life. You don't sit back and like, oh my God, like I have days. I don't want to do it, but I know I'm going to do it. I know from years of just
doing it, so that's beautiful. And this is why I came
on here with you today, and I'm glad that you're
talking about this because human beings need to hear this. They need to stop hearing
these hacks on this and that. There's no fucking hack, bro, there's no fucking hack, yeah, you may this and
that and saunas and this, all this shit that they, yeah, it's great.

There is no fucking life hack. To grow that thing, how do you grow it? Do it, and do it, and do it, and do it. That's the hack, the hack
is going to fucking suck. And that's when I realized,
that's when I realized. That's why I wanted to come on here today. I didn't want to come on here and talk about no fucking
passion and purpose and how to get the fuck out of bed and how to hit a fucking alarm clock and all this catchphrase bullshit, 'cause that wasn't how I
lived. It wasn't how I lived. I lived, I woke up like
every human being does and goes, Fuck, man, I'm a
fucking piece of shit today. How the hell is this
going to work out for me? And you fight that and you fight that. You don't override it,
there's no override button. It's the conversation in your head.

So how do you do that? We don't have enough
of these conversations about the real conversation
that every human being is having, and they have no idea how to
get out of it, but they do. It's that shit right there,
man, you got to build your will. How do you build your will?
Exactly what you said, man. Exactly what you said. Well, I feel like knowing
the name of something, anterior midcingulate cortex, doesn't fundamentally change us. But one thing I like about
biology is that willpower, if somebody feels they don't have it, feels like this thing
that other people have. But everybody, unless
they're brain damaged, like a hole through their head, has two anterior midcingulate cortex, one on each side of their brain. Everyone has one, they have two. So I feel like it's just a
question of opening the portal, and the portal, again, I'm
going to say it 10 times.

and forgive me, is I think people go, Oh, I do hard things,
I do sets to failure, and then I do forced reps. I love training with weights,
I love doing sets to failure, I even like forced reps, but guess what? I like forced reps, so I'll tell you, they don't build my anterior
midcingulate cortex. Right. Because I like to do it. That's right. Anything you like to do is not going to enhance
this aspect of willpower. And it seems so obvious once you hear it, you kind of go, Oh yeah, of course. But I think you really
close that loop for people when you share what you're sharing today and what you've shared
elsewhere before as well, when you're trying to explain the friction is the critical ingredient. Right. And I think people think, oh, if it's effort, well,
then, I'm getting better, that's part of it, necessary,
but not sufficient.

as we say in science. But the suck part, the
being haunted, the stick, they're really unpleasant terms. Very. These are probably the
most unpleasant terms we've ever used on this podcast. Very. Those are the levers, those are the gears. And without those, this thing
that you're talking about, David Goggins as a verb. Right. You know, I sometimes make
the joke, but it's not a joke. DAVID: Right. Goggins is a name, and it's a verb. People go, I'm going to Goggins that. Right.
Right? But that's, I think, again,
I'm not a psychologist, but I think that's what
you're talking about. The stick, the friction, being haunted, it's the suck part that grows this anterior midcingulate cortex. So now you know why there's so many people that fail in this world to
figure out their purpose.

their purpose in life. Where do I go? Because to grow that, while you may not look like
me, how my daily life looks. It don't look fun, it don't look fun. So it's a choice that
people have to make in life. But what's so funny about it
is even the richest of rich, who have everything, they
always ask me this question, I feel like I'm missing something. I don't feel like I'm missing shit. I don't have what you all have, but you'll never in my life hear me tell you I'm missing something. And everybody is, they're
missing this feeling. I found it a long time ago, and I found it right there
in that willpower thing. When you're nothing, nothing, and change yourself
into something like me, you call it happiness, peace, whatever the fuck you want to call it, people are missing exactly what
went on with David Goggins.

Why don't you smile? I do, I do. But I figured something out. That's why you'll never hear me say, I'm missing something. I found it years ago. You find it in the suck, you find it in the suck, and you find it repeatedly in the suck, to the point where you know exactly who you are. Most people are missing something because they don't know who they are. They never examine themselves. They've never done this experiment on themselves. The lab rat, we're all lab rats. But you are also the scientist. You create your own self. Most people are missing something 'cause there's so much trapped in there. I don't even want to say potential. I think that word's used out too much too. There's so much in you that God or whoever the hell you believe in, or if you're an atheist, in you, that you have not unlocked, that you walk around with this gorgeous wife.

or great husband and all this money, you're like, God, I feel like I'm missing something. Yeah, because it's about 75% of you is still fucking in there, still chained up, because you just didn't want to find your willpower, didn't want to find your soul, your will, your heart, your determination, your guts, your courage, and what that looks like, it looks scary, like your little scary lab I went in, scary. To wake up every day and say, I'm stupid, but I want to figure out a way to be smarter, versus saying, Man, I just can't do that. So you limit this box, so your box becomes so small of things you can do. My box wasn't even a box, it was a fucking little like little pinhole. And then, through examining myself, getting some willpower, some courage, it became bigger than this table.

But that's what we all do. That's why I wanted to come here today and talk to you about real shit. Not no fucking like hacks. There's no hacks, bro. It's you against you, you against you. And if you misunderstand that, you have a real problem, a real problem. I can understand you misunderstand me running down the street, shirt off, Fuck this, yeah, yeah. I can get it, I get it. If you misunderstand what I'm saying right now today, the problem is you, and you don't want to fix it. [MUSIC PLAYING]

How to Build Willpower | David Goggins & Dr. Andrew Huberman

Welcome to the official Huberman Lab Clips YouTube channel. Here you'll find clips from the Huberman Lab podcast.

For full episodes from the Huberman Lab podcast, please visit https://www.youtube.com/@hubermanlab


Huberman Lab Clips

의지력에서 전전두중격 피질의 중요성

하기 싫은 일을 하는 것과 관련된 뇌 영역인 전대상피질은 운동이나 다이어트와 같은 원치 않는 일에 저항할 때 크기가 커지는 것으로 밝혀졌습니다.

이 뇌 영역은 비만인 사람에게는 더 작고 운동선수에게는 더 크며 도전 극복과 관련이 있어 과학자들은 이 영역이 삶의 의지가 있는 곳이라고 생각합니다.

데이터에 따르면 어려운 과제를 꾸준히 수행하는 것이 이 뇌 영역을 형성하고 유지하는 데 매우 중요하다고 합니다.

도전적인 경험이 뇌에 미치는 영향

두려움에 직면하고 불편함을 이겨내면 전전대상피질의 크기가 커지는 반면, 그 경험을 피하거나 즐기면 전전대상피질이 줄어들 수 있습니다.

이러한 뇌 반응의 발견은 신경과학에서 중요한 발견으로 간주되며 강한 의지와 회복탄력성을 키우는 것과 관련이 있습니다.

의지력을 키우는 것은 빠른 해결책이나 요령을 찾는 것이 아니라 꾸준히 행동하는 것입니다.

내면의 투쟁을 직시하고 이를 극복하기 위한 진정한 대화를 나누는 것입니다.

의지력은 보편적인 특성이므로 이를 강화하기 위해 포털을 여는 것이 핵심입니다.

웨이트 트레이닝이나 실패 세트, 강제 반복과 같은 어려운 운동을 하는 것은 의지력을 향상시키지 못할 수 있는데, 중요한 요소는 단순한 노력이 아니라 투쟁과 마찰이기 때문입니다.

불쾌하고 도전적인 부분, 즉 '고난'은 실제로 인생의 목적을 찾는 데 필수적인 전대상피질을 발달시키는 데 도움이 됩니다.

모든 것을 다 가졌음에도 불구하고 가장 부유한 사람들조차도 무언가 부족한 것처럼 느끼는 경우가 많은데, 데이비드 고긴스는 진정한 의지력을 키우는 투쟁을 경험하지 못했기 때문이라고 설명합니다.

자기 발견은 삶의 성취감과 목적을 찾는 데 매우 중요하며, 숨겨진 잠재력을 발휘할 수 있게 해줍니다.

많은 사람들이 자신의 능력을 충분히 검토하거나 활용하지 않아서 무언가를 놓치고 있다고 느낍니다.

자기 발견을 받아들이려면 용기와 결단이 필요하지만, 개인의 성장과 인생의 가능성을 넓히는 데 필수적입니다.