Have you ever wondered why the first days at the gym leave you shattered, but after three months you feel weird if you DON'T go? Or why the first time you rode a bike you wobbled like a cold little puppy, but now you pedal hands-free while drinking coffee? (Note: never do this, it's dangerous.) That transformation that happens between "it's so hard for me" and "I do it automatically" is literally the process of creating another reality for yourself.

And no, it's not a cheap metaphor from an Instagram coach. It's science, as usual.

Exercise as personal alchemy

Let's start with the basics: every time you try something new, your brain has to create connections that didn't exist. It's like when you install a new program on your computer and it's a bit slow at first, but after using it several times, it flies thanks to the cache.

And mind you, when I talk about "exercise," I'm not just referring to sweating it out at the gym. Setting boundaries is an exercise—those first awkward conversations where you tell your boss you won't work on the weekend. Saying "no" is an exercise. Stopping yourself from checking your ex's Instagram is an exercise. Asking for a raise is an exercise. Confronting that toxic friend is an exercise.

Anything that makes you break out in a cold sweat, quickens your heartbeat, and gives you the urge to run away, IS AN EXERCISE.

Neuroscientists discovered something amazing: neuroplasticity allows neurons to regenerate both anatomically and functionally and form new synaptic connections. In simple terms: your brain literally rewires itself when you practice something consistently.

700 new neurons are created in the hippocampus of healthy adults every day. Do you realize? It's not about "getting better" at something - it's about becoming someone different at a cellular level.

The stoics already knew

2000 years ago, without brain scans or scientific papers, the Stoics developed a system of spiritual exercises for personal transformation. For them, philosophy wasn't academic theory—it was a daily practice, mental exercises as rigorous as any CrossFit routine.

Marcus Aurelius would rise every morning and write his meditations. Not to publish them on Medium, but as an exercise in mental reconfiguration. The Stoics understood that acting the best we know how regarding what depends on us required constant practice until virtue became second nature.

Pierre Hadot identified that Plotinus' philosophy was imbued with philosophical praxis, where the exercise of internal conversion generated a metamorphosis of the external view. Meaning: you change your interior through exercises, and automatically see a different reality outside.

Why did James Clear's "Atomic Habits" become a worldwide bestseller? Why did Charles Duhigg with "The Power of Habit" make such an impact? Simple: 40% of what we do daily is the result of our habits.

Almost half of your life is on autopilot.

Clear explains: as we repeat an action, it becomes a habit. It's the same process I described above, but packaged in a bestseller format with four laws and minimalist design.

The Japanese have been applying this for decades with kaizen: constant improvement through very small steps. No dramatic revolutions. Just micro-exercises that accumulate to transform your entire reality.

This is where modern science backs us up. Physical exercise promotes physiological, biochemical, and anatomical changes in the brain, such as increased hippocampal volume, increased synaptogenesis, and angiogenesis.

Translation: when you exercise (physically or mentally), your brain:

• Creates new blood vessels (more oxygen, better performance)

• Generates new connections between neurons

• Physically increases in size in key areas

It's like upgrading your hardware AND software at the same time.

Carol Dweck demonstrated with her research on mindset: people with a growth mindset believe their abilities are malleable and that success can be achieved through hard work. It's a lie that we are hardwired. We are 100% reprogrammable.

Meta-studies are conclusive: analyzing over 44 investigations with 2,266 subjects, aerobic exercise produces an effect size on cognitive tasks of 0.478 for experimental groups. In statistics, that's a moderate-high effect. It's not a placebo, it's a literally measurable transformation.

The exercises no one posts on Instagram

Do you know which exercises are the most transformative? The ones nobody uploads to stories.

Setting boundaries: The first time you told your family you weren't going to Sunday lunch. Total panic. Calls, passive-aggressive messages, Catholic guilt level god. But the tenth time? "I can't, I have plans" and that's it. Your reality changed: now you're someone with boundaries.

Stop apologizing for existing: How many times a day did you say "sorry" for silly things that weren't your fault? Exercise: spend a week without apologizing unnecessarily. At first, it feels strange, almost rude. Then you realize you occupy your space in the world without asking for permission.

Charging what you're worth: That email asking for a raise or raising your rate with a client. The first few times you write 47 drafts, sweat, almost vomit before hitting send. Afterwards? "My current rate is X, let's discuss." New reality unlocked: you're worth what you charge.

Saying "I don't know": Especially if you're a man or work in tech. Admitting ignorance feels like social suicide. But when you practice it, something magical happens: people trust you more. Whoever admits they don't know something probably knows a lot about other things.

These “examples” of emotional and social exercise are what truly change your life. Because when an action is practiced consistently, the brain circuits start to reorganize, creating automation.

When the bug becomes a feature

Daniel Kahneman, the Nobel laureate in Economics, explained it perfectly with his two systems of thinking: System 1 (automatic) and System 2 (deliberate). Your transformation is literally the migration of processes from System 2 to System 1.

It's exactly like when you learned to ride a bike. Do you remember the panic of maintaining balance, pedaling, looking ahead, braking without flying off? The first few meters were pure existential terror. Now you ride hands-free while taking selfies. That's not "practice" - it's that you literally are someone else, with other capabilities installed in your biological operating system.

Or think about the first time you had to end a toxic relationship. The drama, the tears, the 500 text messages. Versus now when you simply say: "This isn't working, good luck in your life." Block. Delete. Next. You're someone else, with other response protocols.

Small consistent actions generate big results over time. Dopamine circuits reconfigure to encourage repetition until the new behavior is fully integrated.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (yes, that surname exists) discovered something beautiful: the flow state, where you lose track of time while fully absorbed in an activity.

Do you know when it happens? When the balance between the level of challenges and your skill level is perfect. Right at that point where exercise is no longer torture but not boring either.

It's the endgame of your transformation: when what was once conscious exercise is now pure automatic pleasure.

Hugo Zemelman was right when he said that reality is dynamic, articulated by processes and, whatever form creation of society takes, susceptible to change by the individuals who integrate it.

Your personal reality is not a read-only server. It's modifiable, hackable, transformable. But you need the right tools: the exercises.

All these authors - Clear, Duhigg, Dweck, Kahneman - are saying the same thing with fancy words: you're an open-source project. You can fork yourself and create an improved version. What will you choose to push?

A 12-week program of meditation and aerobic exercise showed significant improvements in resilience and empowerment in every participant. Twelve weeks. Three months. The same amount of time it takes to get used to a new job or overcome a breakup.

Scientific evidence, philosophical insight, and bestsellers converge on a simple protocol:

1. Consistency over intensity: Neuroplastic changes require regular practice. It's no good to set boundaries once and then go back to being a doormat. As Clear says: focus on systems, not goals.

2. Progressive stacking: Like in video games, you start at the tutorial. First, you say no to plans you don't want. Then to responsibilities that aren't yours. Then to relationships that drain you. Japanese kaizen understands this: micro-steps that accumulate.

3. Multiclass is OP: Multicomponent interventions showed significant improvements in balance, health perception, agility, aerobic endurance, strength, and flexibility. Combine physical exercise (gym), mental (learn new things), emotional (therapy or journaling), social (set boundaries).

4. Lag is normal: Structural changes in the brain take time. The first time you didn't answer WhatsApp immediately, you felt guilty for 3 days. Normal. It's not that it doesn't work, it's that it's compiling. Dweck confirms it: growth mindset requires patience.

Your current reality is just version 1.0

When you understand that individuals create society and it becomes an objective reality that, in turn, creates the individuals, you realize something powerful: you are not a victim of your reality, you are a co-creator.

Every exercise you do - whether it's learning to code, meditating, running, public speaking, cooking, whatever it is - isn't just a "new skill." It's a reconfiguration of your personal operating system. It's installing a new version of yourself.

When you run or walk briskly, more oxygen reaches the brain, new blood vessels form, and levels of serotonin, neural growth factors increase. It's not cheap motivation. It's hardcore biochemistry transforming who you are.

The directed neuroplasticity involves acquiring the tools as adults to enable this change. You no longer depend on your parents putting you in piano classes at age 5. You can rewrite your source code NOW.

What happens when you internalize that every difficulty is only a temporary exercise before it becomes natural? You stop fearing change. You stop thinking "I'm not good at setting boundaries" and start thinking "I haven't had enough uncomfortable conversations yet."

Transformation is not a mystical event. You don't need to buy a course. You don't need to go on a retreat to Costa Rica. It is a measurable, replicable, hackable process. Philosophers intuited it, neuroscience confirmed it, bestselling authors packaged it, and now you have the user manual.

Your current reality - with your automatic "yes," your inability to charge fairly, your fear of disappointing everyone - is just the starting point. Every exercise you choose to do is a commit in the repository of your new version.

It could be something as simple as not responding to messages after 9 PM. Or as complex as coming out to your family. As mundane as learning to cook without burning water. Or as profound as forgiving someone who hurt you deeply.

All are exercises. All rewire your brain. All create a new reality.

Eckhart Tolle says that the cause of our problems is not others, nor the world out there, but our own mind. But I say your mind is hackable. And the hack is called exercise.

The question is not if you can create another reality. Science says yes. Bestselling books say yes. The Stoics said yes 2000 years ago. The question is: what reality will you choose to build?

Because at the end of the day, paraphrasing the modern Stoics of the gym: it's not about having time, it's about making time. It's not about having boundaries, it's about setting them. It's not about finding your best version, it's about compiling it, uncomfortable exercise by uncomfortable exercise.

Welcome to the character creator.

What stats are you going to boost today? Physical strength? Emotional resilience? Skill to say no? Ability to be alone without scrolling? Courage to charge what's fair? Skill to cook something other than rice and eggs?

Everything counts. Everything is exercise. Everything creates new reality.

Your move, badass.