THE ED MYLETT SHOW

Episode Summary: "7 Ways to Crush Fear and Activate the Genius Within You" featuring John Assaraf & Dr. Caroline Leaf

Date: November 29, 2025
Host: Ed Mylett | Guests: John Assaraf, Dr. Caroline Leaf

Main Theme & Purpose

In this rich, motivational episode, Ed Mylett welcomes two of the world’s leading peak-performance and brain health experts, John Assaraf and Dr. Caroline Leaf, to break down the science and psychology behind fear, self-belief, mental rewiring, and unleashing your true genius. The show offers actionable insights, stories of personal transformation, and concrete strategies—including "inner sizes," visualization, the neurocycle, and more—to help listeners conquer fear, reshape limiting beliefs, and become the most fully expressed versions of themselves.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Understanding and Mastering Fear with John Assaraf (02:34–06:52)

• Fear as a Signal:
  Assaraf analogizes fear to an alert light in your car, designed to signal you, not to be ignored or suppressed.

  "Fear is a trigger in our subconscious mind that real or imagined danger has percolated... There's nothing wrong with fear. We can actually use fear as fuel." —John Assaraf (02:43)

• Einstein vs. Frankenstein Brain:

  • Einstein brain: Creative, imaginative, solution-oriented.
  • Frankenstein brain: Triggered by fear, worries, "what ifs."

• The Biological Fear Response:

  • Activates the sympathetic nervous system (fight, flight, freeze).
  • Objective is not to eliminate fear but to recognize and rewire reactions.

Innercise 1: "Take Six: Calm the Circuits"

"If you just did that six times—deep breaths in through your nose, out through a straw in your mouth—it would deactivate the Frankenstein brain and reactivate your thinking, imagination, Einstein part of your brain." —John Assaraf (05:15)

Innercise 2: "AIA: Awareness, Intention, Action"

• Step into pure awareness (no judgment, shame, or justification).
• Set an intention for how to use the next moments.
• Take one small action toward the desired outcome, not away from fear.

2. Commitment vs. Interest: The Mr. Brown Story (08:29–15:08)

• Pivotal Mentorship:
  At 19, Assaraf met Alan Brown, who shifted his life by asking, “Are you interested or are you committed?”

  "If you're interested, you'll do what's easy... If you're committed, you'll do whatever it takes. You'll upgrade your knowledge, skills, beliefs, and habits to match the vision." —Mr. Brown, via John Assaraf (10:52)

• Life-Changing Realization:
  Commitment paves the way for the “how” to reveal itself.

• Celebrating the First True Success:
  Passing his real estate exam was a defining moment in believing he could change.

3. The Subconscious, Self-Belief, and Identity (16:41–25:03)

• Limits Are Internal:
  After successfully scaling his real estate company, Assaraf noticed agents' income level plateaued at their subconscious self-image, not their skillset.

  • Solution: Daily brain “priming” with affirmations, visualization, and “inner game” training, resulting in major performance breakthroughs.

• How Beliefs Form & Change:

  "A belief is nothing more than a reinforced pattern in the brain... A script you repeat until it becomes part of you." —John Assaraf (21:13)

  • Conscious repetition rewires subconscious patterns.
  • Visualization—mentally simulating desired outcomes—physically wires new neural networks.

Fast-Track Brain Programming:

"Visualization is simulation… If you visualize yourself behaving in ways that match the new belief… your brain is creating a mental mind movie." —John Assaraf (26:06)

4. Tools for Lasting Transformation

Coherence & The Law of Attraction (29:12–31:31)

• Brain "Radio":
  Align your “frequency” (thoughts, feelings, beliefs) with your desired outcome for internal and external coherence.

  "Coherence just means locking your electromagnetic spectrum of your brain on exactly what you want." —John Assaraf (29:44)

• Deep “coherence” is the foundation for powerful goal-seeking behavior.

Vision Boards, Accomplish Boards & The “Crap Board” (32:45–38:03)

• Vision Boards:
  Clear visual triggers to direct your brain’s focus and attention.

  • Brain is a deletion/distortion tool; specify what you want it to filter in.

• Accomplish Boards:
  Celebrate wins—big and small—to boost confidence and counter negative self-talk.

• Crap Board:
  Identify and externalize current conflicts or obstacles.
  "I often say, there’s only four things that are holding you back as a human being... vision/self-image mismatch, limiting beliefs, fear, and lack of skill/knowledge." —John Assaraf (36:54)

• Master Change:
  Most people master “comfort” and disappointment; true mastery is mastering change and adaptation.

5. Dr. Caroline Leaf: The Neurocycle—A Scientific System for Rewiring the Mind (40:30–54:06)

Five-Step Neurocycle (40:30–54:06)

• Step 1: Gather Awareness
  Deliberately “gather” signals—emotions, physical sensations, behaviors, perspectives.
• Step 2: Reflect
  Ask “why” to gain deeper understanding of triggers. Avoid overwhelming yourself.
• Step 3: Write/Metacog
  Write out reflections in a non-linear, brain-mapping style, which activates both brain hemispheres.

  "Try to write dimensionally... not in lines. Try and just put it all over the page." —Dr. Caroline Leaf (45:07)

• Step 4: Recheck / Reconceptualize
  Look for triggers, patterns, and work toward reconceptualization and acceptance.
• Step 5: Active Reach
  Take a daily action (an affirmation, visualization, breathing, etc.) to reinforce healing and positive change.

Insight:

• This system applies not only to trauma and anxiety, but also to building new habits, skills, and goals—"brain building" for growth.

Visualization Technique: Highlight Reel (50:01–53:15)

• Mylett’s “Highlight Reel” technique: Activate visualization by first replaying real positive memories to set the emotional state, then visualize future desired events.
• Dr. Leaf calls this creating a neurological "insurance policy":

  "You are recalling those and using those to unmask your natural resilience." —Dr. Caroline Leaf (51:28)

• Positive emotional states prime your brain for creating new possibilities.

6. Sleep, Movement, and Technology for Brain Health (54:09–66:38)

• Connection Between Mind, Body, and Sleep:

  • Unresolved issues are often at the root of sleep problems.
  • Movement can help unlock emotions and encourage openness, especially in children (walk-&-talk).

• Screens & Social Media:

  • No universal "right" answer—monitor and manage based on individual needs.
  • Problem is less the technology and more the “immersion” without balance.

• Prayer & Mindfulness:

  • Prayer helps (children and adults) unburden anxieties and shift to a safe, restful state.

7. Medications & Mental Health: When Are They Needed? (67:37–72:53)

• Medication vs. Drugs:
  • Medicine treats biological causes (like insulin for diabetes). Most psychiatric prescriptions are drugs that affect brain chemistry but don't resolve core psychological wounds.
  • Temporary use may be appropriate in crisis, but true healing comes from empowerment, not chronic medicating:

    "A drug is something... they're not fixing anything, they're not restoring. They are providing temporary relief." —Dr. Caroline Leaf (71:33)

  • Always consult with professionals before altering medication.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Awareness is what actually gives us choice and choice is what actually gives us freedom if we make the right choices." —John Assaraf (06:48)
• "First you set the goal. You make a commitment to achieve the goal. Then you figure out how you're going to do it." —Alan Brown, via John Assaraf (11:41)
• "If you have these empowering beliefs, you have brain coherence between conscious and subconscious." —John Assaraf (22:10)
• "Visualization is simulation." —John Assaraf (26:03)
• "Most people prefer to master disappointment and comfort zones instead of mastering change." —John Assaraf (37:06)
• “You can change the external parts of your life by changing the internal or the ‘inner sizes’ that he teaches.” —Ed Mylett (28:10)
• "Keeping kids off screens is not as important as managing their immersion and helping them process experience." —Dr. Caroline Leaf (66:40)
• "Empowerment. You have to get a person empowered to change their relationship with themselves." —Dr. Caroline Leaf (67:58)
• "It's not the events of our lives, but the meanings we take away, and those meanings create an emotion." —Ed Mylett (81:40)
• "An emotion cannot exist long term without a story attached to it." —Ed Mylett (81:46)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:34] – Fear as a biological signal; The "Einstein and Frankenstein brain" concept
• [05:15] – Innercise 1 & 2: Take Six/Calm the Circuits and AIA
• [08:29] – The Mr. Brown story on commitment vs. interest
• [16:41] – Agents’ performance and subconscious belief systems
• [21:13] – What is a belief? Marbles and neural wiring metaphor
• [26:03] – Visualization as simulation; Creating new neural patterns
• [29:44] – Tuning brain frequency; Law of attraction and coherence
• [32:45] – Vision boards, accomplish boards, and the “crap board”
• [36:54] – The only four things that hold people back
• [40:30] – Dr. Caroline Leaf: Introduction to the Neurocycle
• [45:07] – Writing/metacog described in detail
• [50:01] – Highlight reel technique for visualization
• [54:09] – Five Neurocycle steps recap
• [54:30] – Physical movement and its role in emotional health
• [58:22] – The importance of sleep for kids and adults
• [63:31] – How prayer and screen time affect sleep and mental wellness
• [67:37] – Medication vs. drug use; Empowerment in mental health
• [81:26] – "Cost vs. worth"; Changing life stories and emotional attachments

Closing Reflections: Ed’s Solo Takeaways (74:08–End)

Ed delivers a stirring closing monologue about the real “costs” of living in fear and what’s at stake if we allow past programming, stories, or relationships to weigh us down. He challenges listeners to focus less on what change might "cost" and more on whether it's "worth it," reminding us that we meet the real version of ourselves through boldness, growth, and embracing our dreams.

"The price you will pay to become the real you... is infinitely smaller than the price you’re going to pay if you don’t." —Ed Mylett (74:41)

Takeaways & Practical Next Steps

• Practice daily “inner sizes” like deep breathing and setting intentions (John Assaraf, 05:15).
• Distinguish between being “interested” and being truly “committed.” Set your goal, then decide you’ll figure out the “how” later (11:41).
• Prime your subconscious with daily affirmations, visualization, and building a congruent identity.
• Use Dr. Leaf’s five-step Neurocycle to identify, process, and rewrite thoughts, emotions, and habits (40:30–54:06).
• Celebrate your wins (accomplish board) and acknowledge your obstacles (crap board) (34:39–36:54).
• Be intentional about movement, sleep, and wellness routines, for both yourself and your children (54:09–58:22).
• Reflect honestly: What are your fears or old stories costing you? Is it worth it to hold onto them?

For more in-depth tools, see John Assaraf’s "Innercise" and Dr. Caroline Leaf’s new book "How to Help Your Child Clean Up Their Mental Mess."