**Most people don’t need therapy.**They need to hear themselves think.Writing is how you do that. If you’re reading this, you’re probably included. you’re probably included Here’s the second hill I’ll die on: The smartest, most self-aware people are usually the most trapped.Because awareness without embodiment is just sophisticated suffering. You don’t need more information. You can already explain yourself better than 99% of people.You know the patterns.You can name the mechanisms.You understandwhy you do what you do. why And yet—there’s this massive, screaming gap between the person you understand yourself to be… and the smaller, quieter, less honest life you keep waking up in. How does someone this self-aware, this intelligent, this capable of naming every variable at play…still wake up trapped in a version of reality they don’t even enjoy? That dissonance isn’t a character flaw.It’s not bad timing.It’s not that you’re “not ready.” It’s your nervous system refusing to update the identity file while your body hesitates, tightens, and pulls the brakes every time your mind tries to move forward. Read that again. Read that again. If your stomach dropped a little just now, good.That’s the signal we’re finally past surface-level advice. I’m going to be very direct with you: What you’re about to read explains why you’re still not living the life you already know you’re capable of, even though you understand yourself better than most people ever will. I’ll break down the neuroscience behind that gap of who you are VS who you need to be, and I’ll give you the exact protocol I’ve been using to collapse that gap without waiting years for things to “click”. exact protocol In fact, if you actually apply this, your progress will feel suspicious..especially to the people who benefit from you staying the same. I am not that person. So buckle up. So buckle up. The model we were all taught The model we were all taught For the longest time, I assumed change was linear. Learn → understand → act → become. Learn → understand → act → become. And that makes sense, right? It’s logic. That’s how school works: You study the material → You pass the test → You get the diploma → You’re now “qualified.” You study the material → You pass the test → You get the diploma → You’re now “qualified.” Same with personal growth:You read the book → You gain insight → You apply the advice → You slowly turn into someone new. You read the book → You gain insight → You apply the advice → You slowly turn into someone new. This model feels safe because it’s orderly. We are taught to follow step one, then step two, then step three until you get a result. Cause → effect.Time → progress. So when change doesn’t happen, the conclusion is obvious:“I must not have learned enough.”“I’m not applying it consistently.”“I need more discipline.” That’s the logic everyone operates under. Including you.Including me. Let’s get something straight: this model actually works. You didn’t misunderstand it. You didn’t apply it wrong. You executed it exactly as intended. exactly as intended In fact, it gave the results that you have today: You got the job.
You built the company.
You became “successful” on paper.
You earned competence, status, and proof that you’re not an idiot. You got the job. You built the company. You became “successful” on paper. You earned competence, status, and proof that you’re not an idiot. Which is exactly why this is so confusing. Because the model worked. worked And yet…there’s this exhausting, permanent tension that never really goes away. You can see the version of yourself you’re capable of being, but you’re not becoming it. And that’s what makes this unbearable. In fact, I would argue that because of your awareness, knowing you’re meant for more is actually the most painful place to be. It was for me. knowing you’re meant for more is actually the most painful place to be. That’s what happens when learning outpaces embodiment. learning outpaces embodiment - Here’s the truth about change. It’s a biological game, not a motivational one. And biology has rules (constraints that don’t give a shit about your intentions or discipline). If you want to collapse the gap between knowing and becoming, you have to play by them, so let’s break it down. The actual laws of change The actual laws of change These aren’t feel-good principles or “what worked for me” stories. They’re hardwired constraints on how your nervous system updates identity. If you ignore them, and you stay stuck. When you finally respect them, change accelerates. First: Identity isn’t updated by logic or information alone. Your prefrontal cortex can understand a new version of you all day long. First But the nervous system (The one that controls your body’s felt reality) only rewires through repeated emotional and sensory experience. It doesn’t care about abstract insights. It responds to what feels familiar, safe, and present-tense.1 1 1 Second: The nervous system doesn’t fully distinguish between imagined and lived experience. When you vividly rehearse a future state with elevated emotion, it registers as “this is happening now.” Second Neural pathways fire identically, as shown in fMRI studies on athletes using visualization. Mental practice alone strengthens the same brain regions and even boosts muscle performance without physical movement.2 2 2 Familiarity builds.Safety locks in.Identity shifts. Third: The brain ignores future-tense intentions.It’s built for survival in the present.Promises like “I’ll be that person one day” get dismissed as irrelevant.No update happens.The body stays braced, attention narrows, and old patterns persist. Third That’s it.No mysticism.Just biology: embodiment over intellect, present signals over future plans, emotional repetition over one-off epiphanies. Why the way you were taught violates those laws Why the way you were taught violates those laws You weren’t taught wrong on purpose.The linear model: learn → understand → act → become—makes sense on paper.It’s how we’re wired to think: cause leads to effect, effort over time equals results. But here’s the fracture: That system is incompatible with how identity actually updates, because it operates in future-tense logic, while your nervous system is locked in present-tense reality. actually present-tense reality Linear change assumes:– Identity updates gradually, after enough time and action.– You “work toward” a future version of yourself.– The gap closes “eventually,” once you’ve earned it. But biology doesn’t work that way.Your nervous system doesn’t live in timelines.It doesn’t understand “one day.”It only registers what’s safe and familiarright now. right now So when you tell yourself:“I’ll be confident later.”“I’ll act like that person when I get there.”“I’m not that version yet.” You’re signaling: “We’re still the old identity. No need to change.”And it listens.Cortisol stays up.The brakes stay on.The gap widens. That’s why respecting linear time keeps you trapped.Not because time is the enemy.But because your biology wasn’t designed to evolve that way. This should now answer your question: If you already know who you want to become… why haven’t you become them yet? If you already know who you want to become… why haven’t you become them yet? How we actually need to treat change How we actually need to treat change If the laws demand present-tense embodiment, we need a system that delivers it.Not gradual effort toward a distant future.Not more information stacked on old identity files. We need to hack the nervous system into believing the new you is already real—now.Through vivid, emotional rehearsal that blurs imagined and lived.Through small, aligned actions that reinforce familiarity in the present.Through evidence that confirms the shift is happening, not waiting to happen. That’s not a tactic.It’s alignment with biology. And ignoring biology is exactly why you're still not living the life you want right now. This is theonly way to collapse the gap without wasting years on “progress” that never sticks. only The Protocol I promised you The Protocol I promised you I didn’t set out to invent anything fancy. I was just exhausted from knowing everything and changing nothing. I was the guy who could explain every pattern, name every mechanism, map the perfect future… and still wake up in the same smaller life every day. Once I understood the laws, there were only two options: keep suffering intelligently…or build a system that forced embodiment: Present-tense embodiment.Emotional rehearsal.Evidence that the shift is realnow. now For years, nothing moved. Under 8k followers total. Newsletter stuck below 900. Random book sales. No momentum. Within 2 months of using the protocol: 100k followers across platforms
25k newsletter subscribers
thousands of book sales
Publishers reaching out instead of me chasing. 100k followers across platforms 25k newsletter subscribers thousands of book sales Publishers reaching out instead of me chasing. I’m saying it because it’s the only way to prove this isn’t theory for me. This is what happened when I finally gave my nervous system present-tense evidence instead of future promises. This is what happened when I finally gave my nervous system present-tense evidence instead of future promises. Everything circled back to those two hills I opened with. Most people don’t need therapy. They need to hear themselves think, and writing is how you do that.
The smartest, most self-aware people are usually the most trapped…because awareness without embodiment is just sophisticated suffering. Most people don’t need therapy. They need to hear themselves think, and writing is how you do that. The smartest, most self-aware people are usually the most trapped…because awareness without embodiment is just sophisticated suffering. I’d spent years in sophisticated suffering that you are currently experiencing: Explaining, understanding, naming every mechanism, but never embodying. Then I built something that forced embodiment.And the suffering ended.The gap collapsed. That something is the Double Entry Protocol, because you log both identity (the future you) and evidence (real-world confirmation), like double entry accounting, but for reality. Double Entry Protocol It's a daily protocol that places you between the present and the future, then forces you to pull both toward the center. On paper. Every day. In under 20 minutes. It's a daily protocol that places you between the present and the future, then forces you to pull both toward the center. The result: time collapses, the gap disappears, and your nervous system has no choice but to make the new you real now. The result Here’s why it aligns with the biology we just covered (not the full how-to; that’s in the videos): It doesn’t ask you to wait for linear time.It forces the nervous system to treat the future identity as realtoday. today One side of the page creates vivid, emotional rehearsal. The kind that activates the same neural pathways as lived experience, building familiarity and safety without physical action. The other side grounds it immediately: small, present-tense actions that reinforce the new identity now, not later. now A third layer stacks real-world evidence throughout the day, training the reticular activating system (the RAS) to filter for confirmation instead of threat.3 3 3 Together, they do exactly what the laws demand: Present-tense signals.
Repeated emotional embodiment.
No reliance on future promises or gradual progress. Present-tense signals. Repeated emotional embodiment. No reliance on future promises or gradual progress. The result: the nervous system stops bracing, the brakes come off, and the gap starts collapsing; fast enough that it can feel suspicious to everyone still stuck in linear time: Synchronicities start showing up uninvited.
Conversations align without forcing them.
Opportunities land in your inbox like they were waiting for you to finally believe they could.
Results arrive with almost no effort, as if the universe is just catching up to the identity you’ve already wired in. Synchronicities start showing up uninvited. Conversations align without forcing them. Opportunities land in your inbox like they were waiting for you to finally believe they could. Results arrive with almost no effort, as if the universe is just catching up to the identity you’ve already wired in. But I have to warn you about one thing that will happen, and if I don’t tell you, this whole thing won’t work.. The moment progress starts moving faster than you thought possible… you will feel guilty. 4 Like you didn’t “earn” it. Like it was too easy. guilty 4 4 too easy That guilt is the ghost of linear time (The conditioning that says good things must take years of pain). Don’t let it run the show.It’s not proof you’re wrong.It’s proof you’ve broken free. It’s proof you’ve broken free This protocol isn’t for everyone.It’s for the self-aware overthinkers tired of knowing and not becoming.The ones who can name every pattern but can’t break them.The ones ready to hack biology instead of fighting it. I put together videos and documents so you can start this habit immediately. You'll get exact walkthroughs, concrete examples of a full day in my life using the protocol, and everything laid out so you can literally copy-paste and execute. This is the thing that finally closes the gap you've felt for years. This is the thing that finally closes the gap you've felt for years. You can access it here. You can access it here. You can access it here. Because I'm not here to keep you small. See you on the other side. Benoit

Why Smart People Stay Stuck (and How to Break It)

About Author

Comments

TOPICS

THIS ARTICLE WAS FEATURED IN

Related Stories

A “Don’t Do” List Can Change Your Life

Are You Behind In Life?

The Prison You Build While Trying to Prove You Belong

The Paycheck Era is Dying

You Don’t Need an Extraordinary Life to Write Compellingly

11 Habits that changed my life (and will yours too)

A “Don’t Do” List Can Change Your Life

Are You Behind In Life?

The Prison You Build While Trying to Prove You Belong

The Paycheck Era is Dying

You Don’t Need an Extraordinary Life to Write Compellingly

11 Habits that changed my life (and will yours too)

Light-Mode

Classic

Newspaper

Minty

Dark-Mode

Neon Noir

Minty

HN StartUps