Each year I get a little bit more focused on what I can be doing to get more out of my time and to increase the quantity of time left.
Even with a renewed focus on health, it isn't always easier. As my friend Ben Hardy says, Willpower Doesn't Work - you have to identify goals that are bigger than yourself, create consequences and rewards for achieving or failing to achieve those goals, and change your environment to make success easy.
I don't just want to be healthier to increase my time on earth, but to better support my family, my business, and to create a positive impact on those around me.
When you have a vision of who you want to be, and what you want to accomplish, achieving your goals becomes a lot easier.
When the goal is health, there are definitely some decisions that are proven to help. You can click to see the image in full-size.
On top of the science, here are some of my anecdotal opinions on living longer, healthier, and better:
Losing weight is as simple as calories in, calories out. It doesn't matter if you're on keto or eating only twinkies if you can keep your calories ingested below your calories burned
In life, and in diets, shortcuts end up hurting you long-term more than they help you short-term
Living "right" doesn't mean you can't let loose, it means that it's the exception instead of the rule. If your lifestyle doesn't let you have fun with your friends or family, it's probably not the healthiest lifestyle. Mental health is just as important as physical health
I'd love to hear your favorite "trick" to living better. Feel free to send me an e-mail.
Dave Asprey is perhaps the most well-known biohacker (he's even referenced in Merriam-Webster's definition of biohacker) and the founder of Bulletproof. For those that don't know, a biohacker is someone who uses drugs and technology to make their body/mind function better.
Dave and I shot a video where he discusses life and provides an interesting take on algorithms.
It's not surprising that biohacking has become as popular as it has. In a society that encourages (maybe even necessitates) an impossible balance between work, responsibilities, and self-care - it makes sense to want to increase efficiency.
Biohacking helps you do more with less. Biohacking is popular because you're trying to get peak performance via the path of less resistance.
Having trouble with sleep, but don't want to stop using your phone before bed? Wear blue-light blocking glasses.
While biohacking started as tricks like that - nootropics to help your mind, light and sound machines to decrease stress - it's becoming increasingly tech-centric and augmentation based.
Several months ago, I shared Gartner's hype cycle for 2018. Do-It-Yourself Biohacking was one of 5 encompassing trends for the year.
The future is bringing implants to extend humans past their perceived limits and increase our understanding of our bodies; biochips with the potential to detect diseases, synthetic muscles, and neural implants. - Howard Getson
It's estimated that over 100,000 people already have various types of implants. In Sweden, thousands of Swedes are inserting chips under their skin to speed up their daily routines. They use chips to open locked doors, to store contact information, and to get on to the train. Currently, chips are limited to simple tasks like unlocking doors, holding personal data, and tracking simple to record data.
Longterm, it's likely you'll see it moving toward exoskeletons, AR/XR experiences, and unsurprisingly to sex toys. It's also being used to create artificial organs and counteract memory loss. The two companies that are leading this movement are Neuralink, Biohax International and Digiwell. While it's currently being adopted primarily by fast-movers and technocrats, it's pragmatic to think there will be more widely-adopted versions of this as technology gets standardized and protections are put in place.
For all the excitement, it's necessary to remain skeptical and patient. DIY biohacking raises various ethical issues, especially around data protection and cybersecurity. As a reminder, when it comes to cybersecurity, you "the user" are the biggest weakness.
There's no stopping this train, but there is time to make sure it stays on tracks!
For Jews, it's Passover - the holiday honoring our exodus from Egypt.
For Christians, it's Easter - the holiday honoring Jesus's resurrection.
The overlap can be seen in DaVinci's Last Supper, a Passover Seder, and Jesus's last meal before his crucifixion.
For both, it's a holy and family-centric time. A reminder to appreciate what we have, and how we stand on the shoulders of our ancestors.
One of the memorable phrases from Exodus is when Moses says "Let my people go!" For generations, people assumed he was talking to the Pharoh about his people's freedom. After a week of eating clogging matzoh, matzoh balls, and even fried matzoh ... for many Jews "Let my people go" takes on a different meaning.
Hope you celebrated with family, food, and a reverence for all the blessings around you.
The US grounded the Boeing 737 Max after similarities between two crashes. It's good they did, safety first, but it definitely caused some headaches coming back from Saskatchewan. There's an interesting thought experiment here to understand the complexities that the airlines had to solve.
Imagine a 737 holds 200 people and does 4 or 5 flights a day. American has 24 737s in its fleet. That means each day ~24,000 people are displaced on American Airlines alone. They're replacing those planes with smaller regional jets – meaning more flights, more small airports, and more delays. The logistical/supply chain dynamics are a nightmare.
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.
America is big and pretty heavily populated. Surprisingly, 28% of the land is owned by the government (check out this YouTube video).
As you might guess, the eastern US holds almost no federal land while the Western US has states that are primarily federal land (Nevada is 84.9% federal land).
To start, can you guess what takes up the most space ...
Cows.
Over 41% of the land in the contiguous US revolves around livestock and livestock feed. The farmland used to feed us is an afterthought in comparison - it makes sense when people talk about cows' environmental effect.
Urban growth is outpacing other categories, but we're also doing a good job of repairing forestland. According to The Land Report magazine, the land owned by the top landowning families has grown to be larger than Florida - and is continuing to grow.
There are a couple extrapolations that you can make from this information - but I'm curious ... what do you take from this?
Tonight marks the first night of Chanukah - the Jewish festival of lights.
We light the Menorah (Chanukah candles), eat latkas (potato pancakes), we exchange gifts, we spin the Dreidel (a gambling toy), and we enjoy a sense of family togetherness for 8 days and nights.
One of my friends sent me this funny video of a Chanukah parody of Bohemian Rhapsody ... it's better than you would expect.
It's not too different from Christmas (though my kids were jealous Santa didn't come down our chimney).
The cynic in me beleives the gift part of the holiday was invented by merchants.
In our office, we have an "Elf on the shelf", the magical elf who reports who has been naughty and who has been nice to Santa, perching in a new spot each day.
And, we also have "Mensch on a Bench", who watches your Menorah to make sure you don't run out of oil.
Happy Chanukah ... or at least an early start to your holiday season!
Here Are Some Links For Your Weekly Reading - September 15th, 2019
Here are some of the posts that caught my eye recently. Hope you find something interesting.
Lighter Links:
Trading Links:
Posted at 05:28 PM in Business, Current Affairs, Food and Drink, Gadgets, Healthy Lifestyle, Ideas, Just for Fun, Market Commentary, Personal Development, Science, Trading, Trading Tools, Web/Tech | Permalink | Comments (0)
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