The Mercury Model of the Mind
Meet the Two Brains Steering Your Success—One is on the Gas… When The Other is on the Brakes.
Ever notice how the harder you push, the more you try… the more resistance you feel?
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It’s not just you.
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We often talk about “the mind” like it’s one unified thing.
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But it’s not.
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You actually have two minds.
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Each with a distinct and separate job.
The Rational Mind
The Rational Mind (a.k.a. the “conscious” mind) is the part that you know well.
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It’s the part of us that we are aware of as “thinking”. The “little voice” in your head where you “hear” your thoughts and inner dialogues.
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It makes plans, strategizes, sets goals. It evaluates options, calculates, measures and helps you identify your next moves.
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It writes out your 90-day roadmap.
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It listens to podcasts. It signs up for coaching programs.
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It speaks affirmations and gratitude, journals, and chooses to meditate.
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It’s driven.
It’s smart.
It’s trying to move forward.
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It’s the part that says:
“I know what I need to do, so why am I not doing it?”
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But here’s the kicker:
Your Rational Mind is only responsible for about 5–15% of your behaviors.
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The other 85–95%?
That’s handled by something far more powerful*…
*Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior, Leonard Mlodinow
The Deep Mind
Also known as the “subconscious” mind, it sits below your conscious awareness.
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It’s intuitive.
Associative.
Emotionally driven.
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It doesn’t operate from rational logic.
It’s the part of you that runs your body, operates your muscles, releases hormones that make you feel alert or tired.
It perceives the world around you through your senses—tone, color, texture, scent, sounds.
It decides how to interpret those signals to shape your experience of the world— what you notice and ignore, what you like and dislike.
It does all of that (and more) on autopilot, fast, before you even know it.
How long before you know it?
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Up to 7 seconds*!
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So by the time you realize you’re feeling anxious or have the thought that this isn’t the right moment to speak up… it’s very likely your Deep Mind had already decided the situation was unsafe, and chose a response for you.
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*Max Planck Institute “Decision-making May Be Surprisingly Unconscious Activity”
The Deep Mind’s Job: Safety, Not Success
Here’s where it all ties back to imposter syndrome and self-sabotage:
The Deep Mind doesn’t prioritize your goals.
It prioritizes keeping you safe, before anything else.
But safe, to your Deep Mind, doesn’t always mean what you’d describe as happy or successful.
And most of what your Deep Mind uses to determine what’s safe was programmed long ago*—between birth and age 3.
In a completely different environment, with different people, different rules, and a child’s limited experience of the world.
So when you set bold goals today…
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Launch the new offer
Ask for more money
Step onto the stage
Your Rational Mind might be all in.
But your Deep Mind sees unknowns. Unpredictability. Risk.
And it slams on the brakes.
But there’s a subtler part to it:
The quiet daily riding of the brakes - while your Rational Mind is pressing the gas.
Convincing you to delay your pitch.
Tightening your throat when it’s your turn to speak.
Making you feel too sick to perform.
Taking on more than any one human could handle.
Some of these might appear as procrastination or playing small but are actually an active choice of your mind to not do something to protect you.
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And by the time your mind recognizes that there is no real danger after all, the moment may have already passed. And with time, that opportunity cost becomes significant.
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*The cognitive unconscious in everyday life, John A. Bargh, Yale University
Chasing a Train That Has Already Left the Station
So, how do you fix this?
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A lot of advice suggests you should upgrade your mindset, reframe your beliefs and replace the negative ones with empowering thoughts.
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Beliefs like:
So by the time you realize you’re feeling anxious or have the thought that this isn’t the right moment to speak up… it’s very likely your Deep Mind had already decided the situation was unsafe, and chose a response for you.
“I’m not good enough.”
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“I don’t deserve success.”
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“I’m too young/too old.”
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“I’m not talented enough.”
Even Dr. Valerie Young says it’s a matter of thoughts.
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In her own words:
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“People who don’t feel like impostors are no more intelligent or capable than those of us who do. They just think different thoughts.”
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But here’s the problem:
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Thoughts are the language of your Rational Mind.
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By the time you’re trying to reframe that negative thought, the Deep Mind has already made the decision to behave in a certain way.
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So it’s like trying to catch a train that has already left the station. You may succeed, but how much energy would you have spent?
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So if the Deep Mind is driving most of your actions…
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How do you help it automatically choose the behaviours that actually get you your goals?
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How do you update the patterns it sees as “safe” so it stops holding you back?
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That’s where we go next.
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