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Hey friend,

Let’s imagine for a moment that your life is a company.

Your body? The workforce.
Your heart? The mission.
Your awareness? The board of directors.
And your mind?
Oh... your mind is the overpaid, anxiety-riddled CEO in a cheap suit who's been running the company into the ground.

Micromanaging every move.
Obsessing over worst-case scenarios.
Running fake fire drills at 3am.

And worst of all?

It genuinely thinks it's helping.

The Illusion of a Competent Mind

If your mind were a real person, you wouldn’t let it dog-sit your goldfish.

It changes its opinions every five minutes.
It catastrophizes when someone leaves you on read.
It once convinced you to stay in a relationship because “they might change.”

And yet, despite its erratic behavior and terrible track record, you still let it run the show.

Why?

Because it sounds convincing.

It uses your voice.
It borrows your memories.
It speaks in “logic.”

But really, it’s just your past dressed up in a PowerPoint presentation labeled “facts.”

Who’s Actually in Charge Here?

Here’s what neuroscience tells us (and what ancient traditions have been screaming into the void for centuries):

Your mind is not you.
​It’s a thought generator with a flair for drama.

But because it's been narrating your life since you were old enough to overthink what you wore to gym class, you've mistaken the narrator for the author.

Let me put it this way:

If your mind were the GPS in your car, it would constantly recalculate…
…to your childhood.
…to your fears.
…to that one time in third grade you said “here” instead of “present” and never emotionally recovered.

The Default Mode Network = Default Mediocrity Network

Let’s zoom in for a second.

There’s a part of the brain called the Default Mode Network, the DMN.
Sounds like a cool secret agent, but it's really just your inner bureaucrat.

Its job? To maintain your identity by looping the same thoughts, stories, and beliefs over and over.

It doesn’t care if those thoughts are helpful.
It only cares if they’re familiar.

So when you try to change like starting a new habit or breaking an old pattern, the DMN goes:

“Whoa whoa whoa. This isn’t you. You’re the anxious overachiever who thrives on chaos and guilt. Stay in your lane.”

And because we confuse "familiar" with "true," we obey.

Even when it sucks.
Even when it drains us.
Even when we know there's another way.

Fire the Mind. Promote Awareness.

So what do you do when your CEO is incompetent?

You don’t argue with it.
You don’t fight it.
You don’t hold a three-day retreat to heal it.

You fire it.

And by that, I mean… you stop letting it run the company.

You promote something else: awareness.

Awareness doesn’t panic.
Awareness doesn’t get triggered.
Awareness doesn’t spiral because someone on the internet is wrong.

It just sees.
Without judgment. Without commentary.
It watches the mind flail, and says:

“Ah, there you go again. Cute.”

Your New Practice: The Observation Promotion

Try this for a few days: (I know it’s kind of weird, but humor me)

1. Name the Mind – Literally. Give it a name. (Mine’s Mark (my middle name).)
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2. Catch it “CEO-ing” – Whenever it tries to hijack the moment with a spiral, say:
   “Thanks, Mark. Noted. Not needed.”
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3. Return to Awareness – Ask:
   “Who’s noticing this thought?”
   ​ That question alone kicks you out of the boardroom and into the board of awareness.

With repetition, this becomes a superpower.
You don’t stop thoughts.
You just stop letting them run your life.

Final Thought

You weren’t meant to live at the mercy of a glitchy internal narrator.
You were meant to experience life directly, not through a fog of commentary and overthinking.

So the next time your mind tells you you're not good enough, or that something bad is definitely about to happen, or that you should definitely not send that risky text…

Fire it.
Promote awareness.
And get back to running the company (your life) with clarity, presence, and maybe even a little joy.

After all, you're the damn founder ;)
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All the best,
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Nic (awareness first) Kusmich

PS. → Ready to remove the inner CEO and rebuild the system? Join the Neuroscience of Change - an online program rewiring what’s really running you. And right now, you can name your own price (Pay What You Can) as all proceeds go towards me helping to complete this film.

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