You Are Training a Chemical Addiction Either Way

by- Josh Bryant

Most people think their biggest obstacle is discipline. Or genetics. Or not having the perfect plan.

That is surface-level thinking!

The real issue runs deeper. Most people are not in command of their own subconscious. And the subconscious never sits idle.

If you do not give it direction, it takes orders from habit, fear, convenience, environment, and whatever voice happens to be loudest. Over time, those unchosen instructions metamorphosize into behavior, identity, and eventually outcomes. Not because anyone meant for it to happen, but because nothing else was placed in charge.

Jesus said it plainly: “By your words you are justified, and by your words you are condemned.”

Not symbolic. Not mystical. Observational. Mechanical. A statement about cause and effect.

The Subconscious Is a Servant, Not a Judge

Your subconscious does not evaluate truth. It evaluates repetition and emotion.

It does not care whether a statement is accurate, fair, or productive. If something is repeated often enough, especially with emotional weight, it is logged as instruction. The nervous system adapts. Behavior follows.

This is how people joke themselves into unhappy lives.

“I always mess this up”

“I can’t afford that. That’s for rich people.”

“I don’t have the genetics for that.”

“I’m a product of my environment.”

They think they are being self-aware or funny. In reality, they are issuing standing orders. The subconscious does not recognize sarcasm. It hears authority and frequency, and it obeys.

Your self-image is a mental portrait of who you believe yourself to be, and your subconscious works in lockstep with it. Its job is simple and relentless: keep your behavior consistent with that image. Whatever identity you describe, it enforces.

You may think a comment is harmless or sarcastic. The subconscious does not. Repeated language is interpreted as instruction. Over time, behavior adjusts to comply.

That is how casual jokes become internal law.

Self-Efficacy Is the Gatekeeper of Action

Albert Bandura called it self-efficacy. Belief in your ability to execute when things get uncomfortable.

Not believing that things will be easy. Belief that you can handle what is coming.

Before strength shows up, physical or psychological, belief checks the room and asks one question:

Can I survive this?

If the answer is yes, effort flows clean. If the answer is no, hesitation shows up, focus fractures, and avoidance becomes attractive.

That is why people with the same intelligence, tools, and opportunities end up in completely different places. Some step forward. Others step around. Others get run over. Not because of talent, but because of what their subconscious believes will happen if they stay in the fight.

Some people don’t need obstacles. They are chokers. They don’t know how to win because they have programmed themselves to lose. They invent problems, trip over them, then complain the world is rigged against them.

That belief is shaped daily by self-talk.

Electricity Does Not Care What You Believe

The law of electricity must be obeyed before it serves you.

Handled ignorantly, it will cook a man. Handled correctly, it will cook a man’s dinner.

Electricity does not care about your intentions. It does not care about your background or how badly you want results. The laws are the laws.

The subconscious operates the same way.

Ignore how it is programmed and it will quietly sabotage you. Understand how it responds and it becomes one of the most powerful tools you will ever control.

Most people do not fail because they lack information. They fail because they violate the laws of the subconscious every day with their own words and then wonder why nothing works.

Words Create the Internal Climate

Your words do more than express thoughts. They create the internal climate your nervous system trains under.

Consistent negative self-talk elevates stress chemistry. Cortisol rises. Focus narrows. Recovery slows. The body prepares for threat, not performance. Over time, that state becomes familiar. Then it’s addictive. You turn into a crackhead for chaos, wired but fragile.

High self-efficacy flips the switch. The stress response blunts. Dopamine rises. Calm under load improves. You stay in the fight longer. That chemistry becomes addictive too, but this one actually builds something.

Same brain. Same chemicals.
You just decide which drug you train on.

The brain follows belief like a loyal pit bull. Give it weak commands and it hesitates. Give it clear ones and it commits.

Get addicted to gratitude:

Confidence Does Not Come First

One of the most damaging ideas in modern self-help is that confidence precedes action.

It does not.

Permission precedes action.One of the simplest and most effective strength affirmations I have ever used is this:

“I give myself permission to…”

Fill in the rest with the action you have been avoiding.
Not the outcome. The action.

That sentence does not hype you up. It releases the internal handbrake. It tells the subconscious the attempt is allowed, that pressure is survivable, and that effort is no longer forbidden.

Action creates evidence. Evidence builds belief. Belief compounds into self-efficacy.
Permission is the first rep.

Your entire life you have been trained to ask for permission. Raise your hand. Ask your parents. Ask your boss. Ask the system.

At some point, if you want anything uncommon, you have to give it to yourself.

Permission precedes confidence.

Self-efficacy gives you permission to attempt. Attempt creates evidence. Evidence builds confidence. Reverse the order and you stay stuck indefinitely.

Strong people do not wait to feel ready. They speak and act as if readiness is built through execution, not through a vortex retreat in Sedona or a meditation camp in some place that smells like incense and excuses.

Taking Command of the Subconscious

Running the subconscious is not mystical. It is procedural.

It begins with language. Not hype. Not empty affirmations. Disciplined self-talk aligned with direction and reality.

Avoid identity-level weakness statements. You can acknowledge difficulty without surrendering authority. “I have not mastered this yet” keeps the door open. “I am just bad at this” slams it shut.

Rituals matter. Predictable preparation calms the nervous system and builds trust with yourself. Trust compounds into self-efficacy.

Environment matters. If you do not choose your inputs, media, people, noise, they choose you. The subconscious does not distinguish between entertainment and instruction.

Evidence matters most. Scale challenges so you can win. Repeat them. Log them. Own them. Belief updates through experience, not speeches.

Final Thoughts

The subconscious is always listening. Always learning. Always obeying.

If you do not run it, something else will. Circumstance will. Habit will.Fear will.

Electricity will burn the ignorant and serve the disciplined every time. The subconscious follows the same law.

Choose your words carefully. Choose your habits deliberately.

Because in the end, strength, like belief, is built one smart rep at a time.

Start one of my training plans with belief already on your side. Proven results.