
Most people think they’re stuck because they need better habits or more discipline. In this episode, Dr. JC Doornick reveals the real “glitch in your greatness” — the brain’s tendency to defend an outdated identity — and how developing cognitive liquidity and loosening your grip on certainty can unlock the next level of your life.
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Dr. J.C. Dornick
Whether it's something asking you a question or you at work or anything, everybody is just waiting and anticipating a fast, rapid response. That rapid response is something that we feel compelled to create and very often that's why we get caught up in the glitch without noticing it. Have you noticed that the world that we live in has been doing most of the thinking for you that your beliefs, perceptions, reactions, fears and doubts have been shaped by unsolicited outside noise? How easy it spin for you to slip into that default sleep walking mode and label it as life and reality? Yeah, that ends here. Welcome to the make sense with Dr. JC podcast. This is your opportunity to start thinking for yourself, reclaim control and step back into that role as the shock caller and dominant force of your own reality. It's when you change the way that you look at things that the things that you look at begin to change. So let's wake up, let's rise up and let's make sense of why and how shift happens.
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Makes sense.
Dr. J.C. Dornick
Great morning everybody. Great morning world. Great morning humans. This is your friend Dr. J.C. dornick and welcome to another edition of the make sense with Dr. JC podcast. The purpose of these rise ups are to give people the opportunity to do something that is becoming increasingly difficult in our world and that is to recapture reclaim control of our thinking. Now why would you think that you don't have the ability to think? Well, you have the ability to think. But we're living in a world that's moving very, very fast and that means that the world is, for the most part, doing the thinking for us. We're delegating and handing over our cognitive load to technologies, to algorithms, to society. I mean, God, if you're watching the news right now, I encourage you to step away from it every now and then, if you can, for a long time, if you can, and give yourself the opportunity to think about things that, like, matter most. You know, think about things that are happening in the present moment. There's a lot of worry and concern going on right now, and rightfully so. I'm not saying completely hide from it. Just give yourself some time to enjoy the thing that's actually happening, not this projection of a future that you really have little control over. If we spend so much time in the future, what happens is, is that we don't ever get to live our lives, which is only taking place right here in the present moment. So I very often talk about unwrapping the present moment. That's why they call it the present. It is a present. It's a gift. We're going to get started here with this episode, and this is called the glitch in your greatness. Why your brain fears the next version of you. So this is going to be a lesson in how we wake up, arm ourselves with the weapon of awareness. So there's a version of you, and there's a version of your life that you are not yet allowed to access. And I'm going to explain what that means. And that's not because you're incapable or unlucky that you're not able to access this version of your life, but because you are still practicing a version of yourself that no longer exists. Now, just think about what that means. This version of yourself that I'm seeing no longer exists. The question is, well, why does it no longer exist? How could a version of my life no longer exist? Well, what I mean by that is it's because this old version of yourself that no longer applies is still something that we're holding onto. It's reached its expiration date. So if you think about yourself as something like a computer that has an operating system, a lot of us are holding onto an old operating system rating system, which is concepts, beliefs, a perspective, and the way we look at things, the way we respond to things, that no longer applies to the version of yourself that you are today. So that's what's called the certainty Trap. This is a powerful concept to think about. Are you caught in the certainty trap? And if you are, it's not your fault. Right. That's the glitch in your operating system. So we're going to look at the idea of acknowledging that there's potentially a glitch in our operating system. So you think you're stuck in life? Humans very often come to me and they explain and sell me on why they're stuck. Because you need better habits, more discipline, and more strategy. Right? So as a health transformation coach, I. I coach a metabolic reset program. So a lot of people come to me and they want to get healthy, they want better nutrition and things like that, but they're very often explaining why they're stuck. So people think that they're stuck, and they think that they're stuck because they need to create better habits, more discipline, and more strategy. So that's why they come for help. But what you're actually stuck in is what's called a biological lag. So your nervous system is running an ancient code, an ancient operating system in a 2026 version of you, in a 2026 world. So think about it for a second. Your brain has evolved basically to survive uncertainty. So the evolution of your brain has evolved to survive uncertainty. That's pretty powerful statement right there. But the modern world that we live in today doesn't reward certainty. It rewards cognitive liquidity. There's another term, cognitive liquidity, and that means the ability to change your mind fast. You ever notice how, whether it's somebody asking you a question or you at work or anything, everybody is just waiting and anticipating a fast, rapid response? That rapid response is something that we feel compelled to create. And very often that's why we get caught up in the glitch without noticing it. So. And most people can't do that. And it's not because they're stupid. This is not a talent thing. It's because their identity is fused in their interpretation of reality, not in reality itself. Now park that for a second. When we say that our identity is fused with our interpretation of reality, remember we said the only thing that we can control is how we respond to things, to happenings? There's this saying, what you see is what you get. And yes, that's true, but does it actually equate to what actually is or is what you see and what you get an interpretation of your reality? That's what we're going to look at today. We're going to look at maybe getting a little bit closer to a truth that serves you better. So this is what some people call the architecture of reality. It's interesting to look at reality as an architecture so your brain builds a structure, a story, out of the input that it's got from our five senses or maybe six senses, our language. So we have a language, a way of interpreting things. And then, of course, there's the trauma. Very often I speak in the book, especially in the chapter called the Program, one of my favorite chapters, and a lot of people are telling me they love that chapter. And that's our MFTP se and that's our mothers, fathers, teachers, preachers, society, and the paying forward of evolution. So those are our programmers, and that includes society and what we're consuming every day. And it also includes the paying forward of evolution. A lot of the way we look at things and respond to things, therefore, are not necessarily the way we would choose to do it, but more the way we've been persuaded to. And then you move into that structure. Here's the trap. When we perceive things and we say, this is this, we move into that structure almost like it's a house. And in that house we set up camp, right? We put all of our furniture around and we set up in that house, which is really just a learned structure. And we surround ourselves, therefore, and this is where cognitive bias comes in. We surround ourselves with the right people and the right elements that support this house or this belief system that we've built. That's that certainty trap. The worst part about being certain about something, which is why I always remind myself by wearing this hat, which stands for haven't made up my mind yet about anything. And I don't think I ever will, because I want to remain open and curious. That will help me decode the game and start becoming the dominant force and shot caller, if I get to choose. But very often, if we're in that house, camping out in that learned structure, and we're protecting it with a certain group of people, our surroundings and elements, not only will you continuously bathe that certainty trap with all of those things, but you'll also find yourself blocking out everything else. We see this in religion, we. We see this in how we spend our time. We see this in politics, okay? So it becomes our identity. And when something sets in, that's the house camping out concept. When something sets in as your identity, then we're living in it, right? We're living in that space. And what we do is when we live in that space, you'll find yourself starting to defend that space. So we block out all things and people that don't live in that space. Why? If that house that we live in and that we believe in and that we protect and defend collapses. Well, then who are you? It's very scary to think about losing our identity. So instead of curiously allowing yourself to decode the game and which is really just saying, I wonder what else might be true, you start protecting your position in it. Are you protecting your position in life? Because if you are, that's the glitch in the game that I'm referring to in this session. So you think you're playing the game. So I love to look at life as a game. You think you're playing the game, but in reality, if you step back and you allow yourself to from an open and curious place, like we do here, if you allow yourself to look at it, you realize maybe the game is actually playing you. So we very often think we're playing the game, but then we find out that the game is playing us. And that's why I'm so passionate about recognizing phase one of the interface response system that we live in a world that's doing the thinking for us. You know, if you're involved in algorithms and social media and AI and the rat race and that rapid response that we all feel compelled to always have loaded well, then the game might be playing us. Well, in fact, it is. So most people are stuck in this need to be right thing. There's a chapter in my book called Right vs. Kind, which was a massive breakthrough for me. But the next level of consciousness to evolve from this need to be right thing is just to entertain the idea and become open to being writer. It's a lot of powerful things that happen when we put an er at the end of something like, are we ever going to be healthy? I have an amazing guest coming on Tal Ben Shehar. He talks about becoming happier. He says that we never become happy, but we can become happier. There's a journey. We're not talking about becoming morally superior or intellectually arrogant or anything like that, which very often people protect themselves from doing that. But I'm just talking today about allowing yourself, giving yourself permission to become more open, adaptive and curious. Probably the biggest power move a human being could ever do is not feel compelled to so quickly make up your mind. So that's why we have these hats. A lot of people are buying these hats now. If you go to my website, makes sensebook.com, that's where we have all of our gear and the book stuff. What we're talking about here is being positioned for growth when we're open, curious, adaptive versus rigid. What we're doing is opening ourselves for Growth. Because the truth is found in this amazing quote by Lao Tzu. And this is one of the pivot points that we move from Jacuzzi to pivotal right here. And he says this. The dao that can be spoken is not the eternal dao. Now, I want you to just step into this space right now and recognize that our language and the way that we explain and interpret things is very often where the problem occurs. Because that's when we start to dilute things further from the truth. And we start to use our programmed minds to identify what something is. And that's when we move into the house, right? So the dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao. Let me explain what Lao Tzu means by this. He reminds us that the moment that we try to compress the ultimate truth, which is too much for us to handle, but the moment that we try to compress the ultimate truth into the limited human language. Our language is vast and it's amazing. That we can communicate in our five senses are amazing. The human body and brain is amazing, but extremely limited. We know that we only get a slice of what's happening in reality and we make up the rest. So think about it. If we know that and we embrace that, as soon as we start using our language to compress the ultimate truth, what happens is, is we begin to shrink that truth. We move further away from the truth and we shrink it into a size that fits our needs at that time. Now, if that serves you, great success. But what happens to most people when we start to dilute it and shrink it to that size that meets our needs? If it's a programmed need, a need that somebody else taught us, it moves the truth further and further from its original authentic state. I love when people come to me and they say, this is this. My answer is typically, because I have my own silly knee jerk reflexes that I want to say all the time. I'm just like anybody else. But I insert that pause of but sometimes I'll respond to somebody telling me something that is and say something like, is that right? Interesting. It's very interesting to not challenge somebody for what they said, but give them the space to think about it. Because very often we don't think about it. So think about it. Language, identity and experience are filters. And when your nervous system confuses your filter. So if you have your language, your identity and your experience filtering reality, and when your nervous system that is in support of you, by the way, your nervous system is doing what it thinks you want it to do, and when it confuses that filter with the ultimate reality, well, that's where the friction starts. That's where the friction begins. Remember, this conversation is about empowering you to be the shot caller and dominant force of your reality. A reality bender, a reality designer, and I'm of the persuasion that we'll never, ever know the ultimate reality and truth. So if you're comfortable with your current version of it, that's fine. But if you're dissatisfied and you know that there's more, this is what's required. That's why the interface response system will be so helpful for so many people. So here's where it gets sticky. What happens is it also unveils the secret to decoding the game and leveling up in your consciousness. And that means accelerating towards your desired state. And what that means is, is that that moment where you realize that there's more and that you've been putting exclamation points behind things. And you also take note in phase one of the interface response system of that persuasive, programmed, conditioned mind. It's very unsettling because you realize you haven't been living your life. You've been living your life as you've been taught and persuaded to. But it also, in that moment, it unveils the actual place where leveling up your consciousness and accelerating yourself towards your desired state lives. So you have to go through that. So it begins with this. So this idea of leveling up, it begins with recognizing and acknowledging something I speak about all the time. I open up a lot of my talks like this, that everything that we want most in life seems to mysteriously and inconveniently have been placed on the other side of a big pile of shit. So think about it. I mean, all the things that you want in your life, the relationship that you want, sits on the other side of a hard conversation. I mean, if you're living comfortably right now, you're probably not moving towards anything that you really, really desire. Because if you are moving towards something that you desire, you're probably facing challenges and adversity. So this is this first observation that we have to make the body that you want. I'm a transformation coach. I coach this metabolic reset program. I've gone through that process myself. So a lot of people want to change their physical health in their body, but that sits on the other side of diet and exercise and also refraining from doing things that we're addicted to. How about the mission? The very calling and purpose, your mission, your destiny that you feel called to? Well, that sits on the other side of a host of speed bumps, tolls, rejections, letdowns and setbacks. So the unconscious sleepwalker, I always say, welcome to the uprising of the sleepwalking masses. But the unconscious sleepwalker learns to resent the pile of shit. So that's what it means to become a victim, a victim of circumstance. So the unconscious person that's not playing in this sandbox right now and recognizing that there's a game going on, there's a pile of shit sitting in between me and everything that I desire. But the unconscious person resents that pile of shit. They call it unfair. They refer to it as bad luck. I got a bad hand of cards in life. And they become victims of the unfortunate, what I call shit, circumstance. So here's some good shift. What if the pile of isn't the obstacle? What if the pile is the playing field? The adversity, the setbacks, the letdowns, the challenges, the unfortunate, frustrating things that show up multiple times yesterday and today and throughout our life. What if they're the playing field? Or what if they're actually opportunistically the portal and way to everything that we desire? Well, that's going to change the way you look at things. You know, Wayne Dyer always says, if we change the way we look at things, the things that we look at change. That's what it means. But if you resent the pile of shit and that's how you look at it, well, you're going to have to say, you're going to have to recall this conversation and be like a child that's playing a video game. So here's the way we gamify life. Children understand this. So for all of you that have been children before, that's all of you, for all of you that have kids right now growing up in this crazy world, children understand this. So watch a kid sometime playing a video game. I watch my daughter doing it all the time. They don't complain that the level is hard. They actually lean into the hard levels. They search. They flip every stone. They curiously look for tools, messages and elixir potions. They're not attached to being right about where the treasure is. It's actually a bummer. Once they get to the end of the game, they're more attached to completing the mission. So we talk a lot about this in our own world, that if you set your North Star and you have something that you desire, the likes of air, if your head is underwater, the how no longer creates a problem. But you see this happening with children playing games. They're attached to completing the mission, and they love the idea that all of the challenges are what they need to conquer to get what they desire most. And they also understand that mistakes, setbacks, letdowns and monsters, or the, as they call it, big boss fight that is at the end of every level, are part of the field of play and part of the game map. When we say decoding the game, it's not just about decoding the game, but we have to learn how to play the game. If we look at life as a game, it's a lot of fun. Now adults, we get embarrassed when we don't know something. I mean, if somebody asks you a question, you don't know it and you get embarrassed.
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Dr. J.C. Dornick
and it makes you recoil or makes you quit on something and try something else. That's not the way kids are playing games. So there's this thing called the cancel culture. And that means the idea that the culture is going to like cancel you out because you don't know something. So the cancel culture terrifies Our ego. So we cling harder. And the harder that we cling, the more that the glitch that I'm talking about locks in, the harder we cling to that fear of the cancel culture, the deeper that the glitch locks in. And at some point in my life, and I'll just share when I started to notice the game at some point in my life, and I would say it's probably the biggest breakthroughs happened when I started sitting with plant medicine. I started going out to the Amazon jungle and doing things like ayahuasca and sapo and peyote and all of that stuff. I don't know what you think about that, but I did it because I knew there was more. And I heard some friends talk about the fact that, you know, they experienced the augmented reality that exists outside of our limited senses, right. And the way our brain works. But I experienced something that felt like ego decoupling. So there's a. There's a term ego decoupling. I'm going to give you three steps today, and one of them is to practice ego decoupling. Now, a lot of people know that as ego death, and I hope that you don't have to experience that the hard way. But it was almost as if while I was using plant medicine, but also different times in my life where I allowed myself to step back. It was almost as if I was zooming out beyond this strand that I was stuck in and enabling myself to see the entire spider web. Does that land with you? So instead of defending one single perspective, I realized that I could sense how opposites and alternatives coexisted with the same architecture of all the happenings. So that means that I was looking at things and realized that there were other components outside of what I was normally persuaded to see that existed. Now I used plant medicine to figure that out. But I don't need to keep doing plant medicine because now I know can't unsee it. So I moved from the desire to prove things, and this is the creation of. I moved from the desire to prove things to that of simply observing them. I stopped feeling compelled to participate in anything. My thoughts, my feelings, and my knee jerk perspectives and perceptions of things and just sit back like I was watching a movie with popcorn and become an observer. So the protective nature of my mind started to settle down because it was no longer necessary. It was almost like I owned a nightclub. And I told the bouncer at the front door, hey, we're good, we're good. We don't need you to protect anymore. Because we know that it's not necessary. So I recognize that my past experiences and my memories no longer applied in the present moment. See, when you unwrap the present moment and you take note of it, that's the moment that you realize that a lot of your old programming, your old house that you lived in no longer applies in this present moment. The only thing that applies in the present moment is the present moment and experiencing it, which most people don't do. See, when you allow yourself to pause, and what I mean by that is pause your conditioned program mind and zoom out long enough, and I recommend that you say, why not say you don't have to know right away long enough that you stop fighting over the crumbs of evidence and start recognizing patterns and the whole meal, not just the crumbs. And that's when the pile of stops smelling and it starts looking like terrain, almost like a training ground. Remember we said that the whole game is one in the navigation of the, of the poop. Or even like a school, like an education that you're going through, you look at the challenges and adversities like that, or a place to learn and get stronger and wiser. Your strength and your wisdom and your intelligence and your skills have not come from having it easy. They've come from the difficult times. And when you let go of consulting your past in the present moment, I don't ask my past anymore about what it thinks about now. It knows nothing of the now. Now, my past has helped get me to where I am, but I've cut it loose. Because if I don't, then I'm not allowing myself to be open and curious. So I cut off that consultation of my past in the present. And your nervous system will always protect the past, right? It'll always protect the version of you that got you here, but now you'll be able to recognize that it cannot get you there. Your past can get you here, but your past cannot get you there. So true personal growth requires ego decoupling. There it is again. And loosening your grip on certainty. That certainty trap. And it requires something that we mentioned before called cognitive liquidity. And that begins with a conscious decision to decode the game instead of defending your position of the game. So here are three steps, and this is what I call the three step neuroplastic upgrade to begin rewiring your brain. So if you're interested in rewiring your brain, here are three great steps. Step 1. Locate the friction point in your life where you feel things like resistance, defensiveness, or maybe even a tightness in your chest. Locate them. So that's like somatic worth work sometimes. Identify the symptoms like worry, concern, and uncertainty. And don't look at those as things to evade. Identify them and say, oh, hmm, there they are. And consider with an open curiosity that they are not obstacles. Just entertain the idea when you notice them and you identify them that they are not obstacles, but the next level of the game. And they're blinking at you and inviting you to level up, just like in a video game, like we said with the kids. So the second step is practice that ego decoupling. Ask yourself, is this reaction that I'm having right now, is it protecting the truth, or is it protecting my identity? But then challenge yourself. Challenge your ego by responding to its projections that you now take note of by saying and looking at it. This is what the interface response system in the book is about. And remember, that's why we're going to do that monthly mastermind. So if you buy the book, makes sense how to rewire your mind and transform your life. You will get access to that mastermind. So make sure you reach out to me if you've bought the book and you're like, what mastermind? We're going to challenge our ego by responding to the projections, by saying and then placing it on pause to give yourself enough space and time to reflect. So that's the ego decoupling. The first thing you need to do is pause the ego's perception, perspective, and anticipated response. That's how you decouple from it rather than remain entangled with it. And then the third step is upgrade. Upgrade your system, your operating system to cognitive liquidity. Instead of asking, is that right? Or how do I prove this? Ask a different question, like, what else might be true, Dragon? What else might be true? And that's the one question that can begin to rewrite the entire architecture of your entire perception. What else might be true? Because the game of life isn't like some sort of a courtroom, right? You don't have, like a investigative light on you in life. It's not like a courtroom. It's more like a level map. And that's why I like to look at it as a game. Kids can always look at the grand scheme of the game as a map. They know where they're going, and they know all of these challenges are actually the way to get there. And the monsters, they're not there to destroy you in life. That's why I call myself the Dragon. I used to run from this concept of the fire breathing dragon, that which I feared, but I've brought that monster in because I've recognized that it was there to actually help me. The dragons, the monsters, they're there to strengthen and guide you, just like in a video game. So the glitch in your greatness that we've been talking about is not laziness or a lack of capabilities. So if you, if you're noticing this glitch right now, it doesn't mean that you're lazy or incapable. I think that everybody's highly capable, just scattered and confused and maybe doing a little bit of sleepwalking. It's not about that. It's a lack of certainty or too much certainty. So the only thing that I'm certain of is that I. I haven't made up my mind about anything yet. I haven't made up my mind about anything yet. And I'm certain of that now. I catch myself making up my mind, but I'm certain that I'm going to think about things first. And the moment that you loosen your grip on the need to be right and defend your outdated operating system, well, what happens next is you wake up and you become armed with the weapon of awareness. If you want to have some fun today, allow yourself to just be aware of what's really going on or what might be going on. There's a lot more going on than we think when we're in our program, in our default mode. So the truth is, what it is that you clung to will begin to hurt less and strongly, strongly begins to set you free. Makes Sense. That's it for today. To support the make sense with Dr. JC podcast. Be sure to subscribe, like and share as well as follow the Makes Sense substack for free daily quotes, live streams and blogs. And remember, learning without action is just another form of distraction. If something hit home and you learned something today, give it away. That's the only way it's going to stay. See you next time. Makes Sense.
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Dr. J.C. Dornick
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Podcast: Makes Sense with Dr. JC Doornick
Host: Dr. JC Doornick “The Dragon”
Episode: #150
Release Date: March 6, 2026
Dr. JC Doornick (“The Dragon”) delves deep into the “glitch” that holds people back from reaching their next level of greatness. The main focus is on why our brains are resistant to evolving and how our current operating system—a set of ingrained beliefs, routines, and social programming—keeps us stuck. Through metaphors, practical advice, and personal anecdotes, the episode gives listeners tools to recognize, decode, and rewire these subconscious patterns to reclaim control over their lives.
(Start: 02:10)
(04:30)
(08:20)
(13:50)
(17:20)
(22:05)
“If you resent the pile of shit and that’s how you look at it, well, you’re going to have to say, you’re going to have to recall this conversation and be like a child that’s playing a video game... They don’t complain that the level is hard. They actually lean into the hard levels.” (24:30)
(23:22 & 28:40)
(32:15)
Locate Friction:
Ego Decoupling:
Upgrade to Cognitive Liquidity:
| Timestamp | Segment | |-------------|--------------------------------------------------------------| | 02:10 | Introduction and reclaiming control in a fast-paced world | | 05:40 | The “certainty trap” and outdated operating systems | | 08:20 | Architecture of reality and the influence of society | | 13:50 | Are you playing the game or is the game playing you? | | 17:20 | Language as a filter and Lao Tzu’s wisdom | | 22:10 | The “pile of shit” – adversity as the field of play | | 24:40 | Adults vs. children: learning from video games | | 27:15 | Ego decoupling and observer mindset | | 32:15 | The three-step neuroplastic upgrade | | 34:00 | Closing remarks and call to take action |
Dr. JC blends conversational warmth, metaphor, and coaching intensity. He uses accessible language (“pile of shit,” “house,” “game map”), pushing listeners to self-reflect and shift from a victim mindset to one of empowered curiosity.
For more:
“Makes Sense.”