meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Rock Bottom With Ned Fulmer

Are You Gaslighting Yourself? Nir Eyal on Limiting Beliefs | Rock Bottom

Rock Bottom With Ned Fulmer

Fulmer Media

Society & Culture, Fulmer, Bottom, Comedy, Ned, Empathy, Health & Fitness, Inspirational, Curiousity, Mental Health, Rock, Personal Journals, Interviews

3.6 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 11 March 2026

⏱️ 61 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Author and behavioral designer Nir Eyal joins Ned to explore the hidden beliefs that keep us stuck—whether it's the diet that never works, the dream trip that never happens, or the chronic pain that won't go away. Nir's journey began with a devastating personal rock bottom: 30 years of yo-yo dieting, clinical obesity from childhood, and the shame of being the kid who never took his shirt off at the pool. After cycling through every diet imaginable—low fat, vegetarian, keto, intermittent fasting—he discovered the real problem wasn't finding the right diet. It was his limiting belief that there even was one "right" way. This realization unlocked a deeper truth: perseverance and adaptability matter more than intelligence or luck. But there was another rock bottom moment that changed everything. While spending quality time with his daughter, Nir checked his phone and missed her answer to a simple question. When he looked up, she was gone—he'd sent a clear message that his device mattered more than she did. This pattern of distraction extended to every area of his life, and he realized he needed to become "indistractable." His new book Beyond Belief: The Science-Backed Way to Stop Limiting Yourself and Achieve Breakthrough Results introduces a revolutionary framework: beliefs are tools, not truths. Through a powerful four-question process adapted from Byron Katie's work, Nir demonstrates how to identify limiting beliefs, examine them from multiple angles, and develop a "portfolio of perspectives" that unlocks motivation instead of destroying it. This episode covers essential concepts everyone needs to understand: why motivation isn't a straight line but a triangle (behavior, benefit, and belief), how all human behavior is actually pain management, why distraction comes from internal triggers 90% of the time (not your phone), the difference between traction and distraction, and how chronic pain often has nothing to do with physical damage but everything to do with fear-pain-fear loops. Nir also breaks down the real psychology of addiction (it's never just about the substance—it's the person, the product, and the pain), why to-do lists sabotage productivity, how making a $10,000 bet helped him finish his manuscript, and the liberating mantra that puts everything in perspective: "It's all prom." If you've ever felt stuck despite knowing exactly what you should do, this conversation offers practical, science-backed tools to finally break through.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

I used to be clinically obese. I was obese from a pretty young age. I was always the kid who never

0:05.0

took off their shirt. I would jump into the pool with my shirt on because I didn't want anybody

0:08.2

to see my belly rolls and my man breasts. And then I started dieting. And for the next 30 years,

0:14.1

my bookshelf became this graveyard of different diet books. And every diet would work for a while

0:20.6

until it didn't. And it didn would work for a while until it didn't.

0:23.3

And it didn't work as soon as my beliefs about the diet changed.

0:28.0

And that's why I would yo-yo diet for so many years.

0:30.7

It turns out that the most important attribute of who succeeds in life, in life,

0:35.5

it's not intelligence, It's not luck.

0:38.9

You know what it is?

0:41.9

Hello, and welcome back to the Rock Bottom podcast.

0:45.9

I'm Ned Fulmer.

0:47.3

My guest today is Near Aal.

0:49.7

He is an author who writes about the science of your attention, your addictions, all of the things

0:57.5

that create your energy and the choices that you make in life. He's written both from the

1:03.3

perspective of tech companies to how do they make their products more habit forming, as well as

1:10.1

from the perspective of people that want to change

1:12.4

their own approach to their attention.

1:14.4

Works like Hooked and Indistractable, his new book, Beyond Belief, The Science-Backed Way

1:20.0

to Stop Limiting Yourself and Achieve Breakthrough Results, is all about our internal narratives

1:25.0

of what we say and what we believe about the world, how

1:29.4

changing those can change your life. I'm very excited to have you on the show. Neer, welcome.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Fulmer Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Fulmer Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.