#3 - those voices in your head? lies.

Hey Y'all! :) Terri here... 

Are you stuck in your own head? Do the “voices in your head” keep telling you to wait, play it safe, or hold off until you feel ready? You’re not alone. In this episode of Thoughts of a Dreamer, Terri Nikki gets real about the mental mind games every dreamer faces when it’s time to stop dreaming and start doing.

We’ll break down what happens in your brain when you chase a dream: how the amygdala sets off alarm bells, why fear disguises itself as logic, and how your comfort zone tricks you into staying stuck. You’ll hear why confidence doesn’t come first—it’s built through action—and how micro-movements (the compound effect) help you outsmart overthinking and create evidence that fuels growth.

Whether you’re a creator second-guessing every post, an entrepreneur battling procrastination, or simply a dreamer who feels stuck, this episode will give you practical tools and mindset shifts to:

• Recognize self-doubt and intrusive thoughts for what they are
• Quiet the amygdala and engage your prefrontal cortex
• Use small, consistent actions to build real confidence
• Push past fear and step boldly out of your comfort zone

Stop letting your thoughts hold you back. These are just mind games, and once you see them for what they are, you can move forward with clarity, courage, and confidence.

I'll see y'all next week! Remember, keep moving. Consistency. Learning from myself here... 

The Compound Effect <---- For more info, click here! Good stuff! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome back to the Thoughts of a Dreamer podcast with me, Ms. Terri Nikki. This is season two and I'm calling this Out My Mind because now it's time to get out of our heads. It's time to actually do what it is we need to do. Now, will we stumble? Absolutely. Are we going to take a couple of steps back? Probably, but that's what this podcast is about. We're going to discover and recover whenever we stumble so that we can still achieve and live out these dreams. So let's go. Welcome back to the Thoughts of a Dreamer podcast with me, Ms. Terri Nikki. Okay, okay, so I'm about to have a real conversation. A real conversation. So if you're not ready to get real with what's going on, then you know you might want to hop to another episode. You might want to, as they say on TikTok, keep scrolling. But today I want to talk about something that I feel as though is rarely discussed. And that is... The voices. The voices, the voices, the voices. I am not speaking from a place of schizophrenia. I am speaking from a place of normalcy. I'm speaking from the place of where dreamers turning to executors. And that gray area right when you start making moves is when those voices are the loudest. And I want to talk about why, okay? As dreamers, we sit up in our heads. And we are leaping, frolicking in the field of our ideas. They're great. They're wonderful. They can change the world. They can make us all kinds of money. And as we're frolicking freely within the catacombs of our mind, We are gathering information on how it would feel to actualize these dreams, what it would mean to actualize these dreams, how important these dreams are, how great it would be once people actually see what it is that you have playing in your mind. It's safe, it's warm, it's comfortable, it's exciting. But as soon as you start to put action behind those thoughts, to give those thoughts a bit of oxygen, so to speak, in comes the voices. Here come the voices. They're loud. They are rambunctious. They are intrusive. And they are relentless. When going on my dreamer's journey, it was something that I really didn't know was normal. I had no idea. So in normal Terry fashion, I researched it. I just wanted to see what the big deal was. I wanted to see if I needed to go and talk to somebody, you know, or if this was a genuine thing that happens regardless. And to my surprise and to my relief, it was the latter. Okay, stick with me for a little minute. I'm going to get a little science-y, but it won't be long. It won't be long. Just stay with me. When we are encountered with something that's unknown, something that's new, we activate two parts of our brain. One, the amygdala, which is kind of like the smoke signal, the alarm, the beep, beep, beep. The world is going to collapse. It's on fire. What's going on? La, la, la, la, la. Rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah. And then the prefrontal cortex, which is our logical side, our rational side, our reasoning side, the planner. So depending on your own settings in your head, depending on your own wires, whenever you step out or even think of stepping out into something that is unknown, you are going to hear the conversation between the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. I guess it's think they talking to themselves silently but they're loud as hell in my mind they just just just loud just talking and one side is saying danger danger danger alert we don't know what's going on here what's wrong what's new what's this what's that is scanning for all the evidence that it can find to have or shed any light on this unknown while your logic is saying it's just a post it's just pressing play it's just chilling like trip chill in 1995 daniel goldman in a most Mentioned amygdala hijack. He coined this term and he said, which means your prefrontal cortex does not stand a chance. Logic gets pushed to the side. And that amygdala, the amygdala, its goal is not to grow you. It's not growth. It's not maturity. It's not even safety. It's comfort. It's comfort. Let's get back to what we know. Let's go back there. That's safe. That's comfortable. Let's go back there. There's no threat there. So let's get back to what we do know, which is being an observer, which is being in our heads, which is frolicking in the sea of dreams and ideas in our head. We're safe. These are the conversations at your head that the two parts of your brain are having that you are clearly being in on. That you're not supposed to hear, I guess. Those decisions, those conversations are making the decisions for you. And what's so crazy is it can sound like rationalizing. You're rationalizing yourself back to comfort. Our minds are wired for comfort. Not growth. No. Not realizing your dream. No. It wants to keep us safe. It wants comfort. Now we know. Now we know that we have two different activations that happen in our brain, the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex. They're having a conversation. They're talking to one another. If one is louder than the other, it determines how you actually move. Now, what do those conversations sound like? What is that? So let's make this a little bit relatable, okay? So does this sound like you? Man, what if I embarrass myself? Danger. You know what? I'm going to F this up. I'm not going to do it. Danger. I'm just going to wait. I'm just going to wait until I feel more ready. Danger. I can't handle this. This too much. This too much. I'm doing too much. Danger. You know what? I'll do that later. I'll do it later. Danger. You know, I'm just going to stick with what I know. I know that. I don't know this. Danger. Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm going to double check this one more time. Let me double check. Let me triple check. Danger. Oh, this is cringe. I ain't going to post this. Danger. I'm going to look stupid. I ain't posting this. I'm going to look stupid. Danger.

UNKNOWN: 7:17

Ah.

SPEAKER_00: 7:17

I'm tired. I don't feel like doing it. I'm just going to wait till tomorrow. Danger. What if I tell them how I feel? What if they walk away from me? I'm just not going to say nothing. Danger. Amygdala. That's your amygdala, okay? That is your head trying to push you back to a place where you are comfortable. You understand now that whenever you are going to make a step into the unknown, doing something in the unknown, there's a conversation that's going to take place. And within that conversation of your amygdala and your prefrontal cortex, depending on just how your head is wired, Determines how you're going to move. So if the threat that the amygdala is signaling to you is louder than your logic, louder than your rational thoughts, you are going to move back to a place of comfort. Now, I know the next question is, well, how do I get over this? How do I get over this? How do I move forward? What is the thing that I need to do in order to bypass these thoughts and just move forward, move ahead? Okay. Okay. Don't be mad. Don't be mad. Okay. I'm trying. Okay. Don't be mad. Don't be mad when I tell you this. But the thing... that is going to out way quiet down hush up this amygdala It's confidence. Confidence. Confidence. I get it. I get it. Wait, wait, wait. Hold up. Hold up. Hold up. I hear what you're saying. You don't have the confidence. That's why your head going crazy. Look. Hey, hey. I get it. Your amygdala is searching for any type of evidence to prove that it will be safe. It will not be a threat moving forward. And the only reason or the only way it's alerting itself is because there's a lack of confidence. There's a lack of evidence. But here is where we as dreamers, we get this thing wrong, man. We get it wrong. We have it in the wrong position because what people fail to realize is you don't get confident without action. So boom, here's the process. You want to do something unknown. You're thinking about it. Now you're freaking out. When you freak out, your amygdala is like alarm bells, alarm bells, alarm bells. Clearly it's overriding your prefrontal cortex. So now you're amygdala is looking and scanning all of the confidence and evidence that it has in order to suppress in order to suppress the fact that there is danger so now your amygdala turns a spotlight onto your confidence and onto your evidence both of y'all are looking at each other like the spider-man me pointing at each other you pointing at confidence evidence is pointing at confidence confidence is pointing at evidence i don't know what to do i don't know what to do you go first no you go first no you go first no you go first but the fact of the matter is we as dreamers have it wrong we have it backwards in order for confidence to do the job that it needs to do it needs evidence how do you get evidence you got to do it you got to do it fearful you have to do it afraid you have to do it despite you have to just do it now there is a way that we can just do it without alerting our amygdala as much and this is where i want to introduce the compound effect come on here compound effect loud front and center the compound effect was a book that was written by Darren Hardy. Inside of this book, he presents the idea that micro-movements towards a larger goal will place you further in achieving that goal than trying to convince yourself to do large chunks at one time, because that is honestly, honestly unsustainable. When I read this book, things just kind of like, light bulb, explosion. It It made so much sense to me. This is where I want you to test just how sensitive your amygdala is. In your land of dreams, in your head, pull one down and say, I am going to make action towards you, dream. You've already envisioned the steps that you need to take in order to get this thing done. I know you have. So first up, dream, pulling you down, pulling you up to the forefront. Let's just say your dream is to be Now, in order for you to be a viral sensation, you got to put yourself out there. You got to record yourself a video for people to see. Okay. So this is where you need to test just how sensitive your amygdala is. All right. Whatever step that you need to take freaks you out. Your alarm bell starts to ring. Everything's going on in your head. That smoke detector is beeping. You're like, oh no, danger, danger, danger, danger. Stop. Just stop and think about the step right before it. Engage how you feel. So for instance, You want to become a viral sensation. You know, in order to do that, you have to record and post a video. Now, the thought of you recording and posting the video makes you cringe, makes you sick to your stomach, makes you have night sweats and shortness of breath, and you have a slight panic attack. You don't know what it is you need to do. Pause. Pause. Stop. Instead of pressing publish, why not today? You record it. Just record the video and don't publish it. Oh, oh, oh, record recording freaks you out and you don't like how you look on camera you look big you look skinny you look like a platypus I don't know freaks you out cool stop stop What is the step before recording? Ideation. Sit down, think about logically what it is that you need to do in order to get it done. Oh, oh, it's too much. It's too much. It's freaking you out. I got to do way too much, way too much. Stop. Dial it back down and dial it back down and dial it back down until you get to a step where your amygdala is like, okay, I can do this. That ain't, that ain't no big deal. Where it's not a freak out. This is called a compound effect. When you dial your actions back down and you have these micro actions towards a larger goal than doing one thing every single day, whether it be small, super small, minute, can catapult you in the longer run than you trying to take big chunks at a time. And what this does, it allows your evidence to build your confidence to do the bigger things that what usually freaks your amygdala out won't even be a thing anymore because it has confidence. Because when you work yourself up to pressing publish, now you see, oh shoot, this wasn't even that bad. That's what I mean. having those micro actions, micro movements to get the ball and the needle rolling. And those small actions compounded have great effects. And you will be miles ahead than where you were if you just stalled and freaked out because that one big action made you have night sweats. Okay, so compound effect, number one. Number two. Distract yourself. Let's just say you are recording this thing and you are freaking out. Do something else to distract yourself, i.e. turn on some music, go for a walk outside, do something else while you're still in the action so that maybe your mind is diverted elsewhere and you can slide in those micro actions that doesn't freak you out, that your alarm bells don't go off, kind of sneak in that way, back though that thing. You get what I mean? Yeah. Do like a backdoor type vibe. Number three. Okay. Okay. You are freaking out about press and publish. Do you know somebody who already has? Do you have some sort of person around you in your life that has done it, that you've seen do it, that you've seen the efforts and the effects of their efforts? Lean on their confidence a bit. See that they've done it. See that they're still living and alive and well. They're not up and down. just forlorn borrow their confidence a bit borrow their experience see how they go use that to your advantage lean on that evidence and then go for it go for it you know um another thing that is very helpful your micro movements pat yourself on the back your micro movements call those out make that evidence. Put that evidence. Okay. Okay. Whenever there is any type of shout out or kudos or pats on the back or highlight or approval of something that you've done, it gives you a hit of dopamine. And you want to have as many of those as you possibly can. Put your deeds, put your micro movements on front street. Call that bit out. Like, yeah, I did that. I did that. And guess what? I'm going to do something bigger. I'm going to do this thing bigger. You have to make sure that you give yourself the kudos and the shout outs that you need in those moments so that you can calm that amygdala down and allow your PFC, prefrontal cortex, to move to the forefront. Okay, do that. Do that. And the last little tip that I have. Call out your amygdala. Hey, this is a feeling. This is not fact. This is a feeling. This is not fact. Calm down. Calm down. Don't do this. Don't trip out. Don't go off the deep end. We are not going to be hurt. There's not going to be any danger. It is just a post. It is just pressing record. You may feel discomfort in a moment, but chances are it's not that bad. It won't be that bad. It will pass. I can't tell you how many times i don't press post on something and i cringe after it i press post and then i walk away i put it down i just throw it down i send an email i walk away i just put it down i don't want to hit a response i just i have to at this point do it press post record it go keep it pushing keep it moving and let the chips fall where they may and nine times out of ten it is never as bad as i thought it was so maybe you just simply have to trick your mind and just say hey hush bully that thing hush up hush up like i said in the last episode you feel the fear and do it anyway you tell your amygdala tell your your intrusive thoughts tell those wild thoughts those thoughts just trying to pull you back to comfort a little discomfort ain't gonna hurt me it's gonna help me grow i need to be a little uncomfortable to get where i need to be Sometimes you got to tell yourself that. Okay. I think I said enough on one episode. This has been a little bit longer than anticipated or expected, but you know, I'm real passionate about this thing. I'm passionate about it. We got to talk about it. We got to get these things out. So thank you guys for listening this week. I will be back next week with more info and information. I going to tell you what it's going to be on because I know me, I change like the wind. So yeah, I'll see y'all next episode.