Passions - learning and education; finance; meditation; hiking and snowshoeing; traveling
Strengths - focused attention; passion for learning and growing every day; consistency; resiliency
Values - social connection; skill development and mastery; peace of mind and tranquility; freedom
Accomplishments I'm most proud of - completing a 10 day trek through the Himalayan mountains to Mount Everest Base Camp; completing 20 days of silent meditation retreats consisting of 200 hours of meditation
Goals for 2019 - broaden and deepen my social community; secure a job that I'm well positioned to excel in
Books that have had the largest impact on my life - "So Good They Can't Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for Work You Love" by Cal Newport; "The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living" by Ryan Holiday; "Mastery" by Robert Greene
In January 2018 I began working through a series of skill-building projects I designed to develop a diverse set of new skills. I decided to do this series of projects after reading Cal Newport's book So Good They Can't Ignore You, in which he argues that the key to having an impactful, meaningful career is to focus on developing rare and valuable skills, in contrast to more standard career advice such as 'follow your passion'. In the book, Cal says:
"The traits that make a great job great are rare and valuable, and therefore, if you want a great job, you need to build up rare and valuable skills"
In a recent study by RBC called Humans Wanted it was found that our economy is shifting from a jobs economy to a skills economy, and the way for an individual to build a mobile, resilient career is to focus on skill development over knowledge acquisition. As the author of five international bestselling books Robert Greene says:
"The future will belong to those who dedicate themselves to learning new skills"
I am using this blog post to track my progress on developing new skills. I plan to update the post every month or so.
Skill Building Projects – January 2 to August 2 2018
From January 2 to August 2 2018 I've been working on projects to build skills in finance, communication, computer programming, creativity, business, networking, and writing. These skill-building projects are outlined below.
I'm also interviewing experts in various fields to identify rare and valuable skills to focus on for future projects. The focus for August will be on completing a project to improve creative abilities. At the bottom of this page I review ways the projects I've completed to date could have been improved. I also outline the challenges and limitations of these projects and how I'm attempting to address those challenges and limitations. If you'd like to work on a project with me, or have feedback on how I could improve my approach moving forward, I'd love to hear from you at J.Fraser@mun.ca.
PROJECT ONE: FINANCE Actions Taken: 1) 70+ hours of research (books, online resources, podcasts,) on increasing income, cutting expenses, income tax, debt, savings accounts, and investing 2) Looked into various options for high interest savings accounts and moved my savings into an account that will earn me more interest 3) Took over control of my investments and now am controlling them independently 4) Opened up practice investing account with RBC and invested $3000 of fake money in the account 5) Made phone calls to my pension plan provider to learn more about the plan and begin to think about if I want to leave my money with them or control that money myself
6) Submitted termination form to my pension plan provider to get the process started of withdrawing my pension contributions and investing the money myself 7) Cut expenses by moving into a new apartment to reduce rent and transportation costs. Identified cheaper phone and internet options. 8) Defined my financial goals for 2018
9) Put goals on my fridge 10) Set up Meeting with RBC to discuss mutual funds 11) Set up meeting at H & R Block to learn more about taxes 12) Set up meeting with TD bank to learn more about investing and open an RSP investing account 13) Called EQ bank to ask about their high interest savings accounts / registered for an account 14) Discussed finances with parents 15) Started using credit card instead of debit card for all purchases to get cash back and delay payments by 21 days to increase money I have sitting in my high interest savings accounts collecting interest. 16) Calculated my monthly costs and income 17) Completed 'Finance For Everyone: Debt' online course from McMaster University 18) Attended a Deloitte information session on careers in finance 19) Attended an introduction to blockchain event at Memorial University 20) Attended effective tax strategies event at library 21) Attended a session on money management at Memorial University
PROJECT TWO: COMMUNICATION SKILLS Actions Taken: 1) Read books including First Impressions by Valerie White, The Charisma Myth by Olivia Fox Cabane, The Social Skills Guidebook by Chris Macleod, and Win Bigly by Scott Adams 2) Listened to 10 Blinkist book summaries (15 min audio summaries of books) for books in the communication skills category 3) Set up a recorded mock job interview at the local career centre and reviewed the video recordings of the interview to find areas where I could improve my communication skills 4) Submitted applications for two volunteer positions that will give me opportunities to interact with more people on a daily basis 5) Attended more than 30 social events to connect with new people 6) Wrote a blog post titled Social Media for Social Connection: Attending 100 Facebook Events in Newfoundland 7) Attended toastmasters 8) Completed a series of comfort zone challenges to get more comfortable putting myself out there (e.g. starting up conversations with strangers at the mall; asking questions during the question periods of lectures) 9) Attended an interactive public speaking event at Memorial University
PROJECT THREE: DATA SCIENCE Actions Taken: 1) Attended a two day Software Carpentry workshop at Memorial University to learn about automating tasks with the Unix shell, version control with Git, and R for reproducible Scientific Analysis. 2) Completed DataCamp course "Introduction to R"
PROJECT FOUR: CREATIVITY; BIG PICTURE THINKING; IDEA SYNTHESIS Actions Taken:
1) Read the sections on creativity in Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss
2) Spent a few minutes each day for three weeks reflecting on the question "what are the 10 most impactful, crazy things I could do this week?"
3) Read the book "A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future" by Daniel Pink, and completed the following exercises from the book: a)Volunteered somewhere in my community that serves people whose experiences are far different from my own (End Homelessness St. John's) b) Attended an online laughter yoga group c)Visited a labyrinth and did a walking meditation d)Took a Sabbath (set aside blocks of time when I gave myself permission to not feel like I needed to be busy) e)Listened to symphonies (e.g. Beethoven's 9th symphony) f)Hit a newsstand (spent 20 minutes browsing 10 publications I'd never buy and looked for connections to my own life) g)Storytelling - did research on how to conduct interviews and made a list of people I want to interview relating to my career and personal life ; Listened to ~1hr of StoryCorps interviews h)Empathy Challenges - took 3 quizzes (empathy quotient quiz; spot fake smile quiz; mind the eyes quiz); went to a busy public place and asked myself 'who are these people?' (made up stories about people in my proximity - Where are they going? What is their relationship to the people they are with?); eavesdropped on conversations in a coffee shop (imagined myself as one of them and asked what would I be thinking and feeling at the moment) i)Compiled a list of important changes I'd like to make in my life and what is keeping me from realizing them j)Brainstorming - reviewed halfbakery.com to get interesting ideas for new products, services, and businesses
4) Attended performance by Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra PROJECT FIVE: BUSINESS Actions Taken: 1) Attended a training event hosted by the Faculty of Business Administration at Memorial University and Bloomberg New York on how to use Bloomberg terminals for financial projects 2) Read The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business, by Josh Kaufman
3) Identified my seven favorite concepts from the above book and tweeted out about each concept on Twitter. The concepts are: a) Economically Valuable Skills (https://personalmba.com/economically-valuable-skills/) b) The Experimental Mindset (https://personalmba.com/experimental-mindset/) c) Personal Research and Development (https://personalmba.com/personal-research-and-development/) d) Importance (https://personalmba.com/importance/) e) Confirmation Bias (https://personalmba.com/confirmation-bias/) f) Four Methods of Completion (https://personalmba.com/4-methods-of-completion/) g) Reciprocation (https://personalmba.com/reciprocation/)
4) Implemented concepts from the above book in the real world: a) Economic Values - For both of the major purchases I made this month, I reflected on each of the nine common economic values that people tend to consider when evaluating potential purchases (Economic Values: https://personalmba.com/economic-values/). b) Hook - Created my own Hook to use for my social media accounts, with the aim of making a creative and attention grabbing Hook for my profiles (Hook: https://personalmba.com/hook/). c) Convergence - Convergence is the tendency for people who spend time together to become more alike over time because a person will naturally start to adopt the behaviours and norms of the people they are spending time with. I began utilizing this tendency by making a list of people who I admire and want to be more like, and would therefore enjoy spending more time with. These were especially people with any of the following characteristics: the courage to start their own businesses; warm and confident socially; dedicated to physical fitness. (Convergence: https://personalmba.com/convergence-divergence/). d) Resilience - Identified five things I can do to become more resilient in my life. These included becoming more resilient mentally by meditating daily and reading Stoic philosophy, becoming more resilient physically by making minor adjustments to my diet and workout routines, and becoming more resilient to events outside my control by preparing an emergency first aid kit. (Resilience: https://personalmba.com/resilience/). e) Four Methods of Completion - Completing a task is not the only way to 'do' a task. We can also delete the task, delegate the task, or defer the task. I've added these additional three sections to my daily to-do list, and each morning I try to move everything but the absolute most important few tasks out of the 'complete' category and into one of the other three categories (Four Methods of Completion (https://personalmba.com/4-methods-of-completion/). PROJECT SIX: NETWORKING
Actions Taken: 1) Read the book by J. Kelly Hoey called "Build Your Dream Network". 2) Read two blog articles titled "How to Network Without Losing Your Soul" and "Networking - The Best Investment of Your Life". 3) Listened to three podcast episodes: a) The Jordan Harbinger Show - Episode with David Brukus on How to Become a Networking Superconnector; b) Tim Ferriss Show - Episode on How to Build a World-Class Network in Record Time; c) Art of Charm - Episode with Ramit Sethi on Cold Truths about Success and Networking. 4) Defined my goal for networking as 'to identify new projects to work on in my life and career that are more challenging and impactful than my current projects'. 5) Approachability: I decided to start carrying one of my favorite books with me (4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss) wherever I went. I found this was a terrific way to get new people to start talking to me, especially the types of like-minded people I am looking to meet who are also into career/self development. 6) Set up an informational interview with someone who has a job that seems interesting to me. 7) Attended a workshop called 'Deliver' at my local college that outlined how to deliver our messages and pitches to other people more effectively. 8) Participated in a full day volunteer effort called Make Midterm Matter, with the goal of meeting at least five new people. 9) Reconnecting: I went on Messenger and sent brief messages to 5 'dormant ties', people who I had not talked to for at least a few months, to reconnect and see how things were going for them. PROJECT SEVEN: WRITING
1) Defining a clear measure of success for each project: The number one way these projects could be improved is by putting more effort into defining a clear measure of success for each project. Typically at the start of each project I have a very fuzzy project aim such as "I want to improve my communication skills" or "I want to become better at Data Science", but have a hard time defining a specific, measurable goal. As taught in the Top Performer course, at the beginning of each project I should ask myself "would it be possible for a friend to bet me $100 on if I'll fail or succeed at this project?". By setting a clear measure of success that I will either fail or succeed at, it will be possible to identify whether or not I'm actually making progress at the given skill. My above projects typically don't do a great job of passing this '$100 bet with a friend' test because I didn't have clearly defined goals but rather a vague aim to improve at the skill. Some examples of clear measures of success I could have used for past projects include "I will reduce my spending by $200 per month"; "I will increase my income by $200 per month"; "I will attend x networking events and talk to y people at each event"; "I will read book x and will take 5 real world action steps from the book"; "I will write 5 blog posts on topic x".
2) Reading this statement at the beginning of each project: "I claim that [the main activity required to succeed at this project] is one of the most effective and efficient ways to improve at [skill]". This is another idea I got from the Top Performer course. I love this idea because it is a great reminder to keep focused on high impact activities over low impact activities. For example, during my networking project, I think I may have focused too much on reading about networking, whereas if I had read the above statement I would have been reminded that a better approach may have been to put down the books and get out into more real world networking situations.
CHALLENGES AND LIMITATIONS
The two main challenges I've been encountering so far throughout this series of projects are:
1) Identifying which skills are rare and valuable 2) Designing projects that have some type of real-world component
I've been attempting to address these challenges by conducting interviews with experts from various industries to identify skills that led to their success and figure out how they got so good at those skills. I've conducted five interviews as of July 2nd 2018. The interviews have resulted in some key insights, and I hope that as I continue to improve my interview skills my future interviews will go even better.
For the past three semesters I've been seeking out courses to take at my local university that prioritize skill development over knowledge acquisition. Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to find any courses that do so. It is my hope that at some point in the near future our educational institutions will begin providing assistance to our youth in developing the in-demand skills required for building fulfilling, meaningful, mobile, resilient careers.
If you're interested in working on a skill-building project with me, or have an idea for a skill-building project I could work on that could provide value to your organization in some way, please get in touch with me at J.Fraser@mun.ca.
Onnit’s Iron Man kettlebells. Kettlebell training is 1 of 17 physical activities discussed in the present article.
"I’m wondering if anyone has a recommendation for a physical activity (or pair of activities) that efficiently accomplishes the following three things: -Get into a flow state -Improve flexibility/mobility -Increase strength/muscle mass"
The responses I received were of so much value to me in my attempt to maximize the mental and physical benefits of my time spent participating in physical activities that I decided to compile the responses into a blog article that I can share with my friends and anyone else interested in cultivating more flow in their lives and improving their physical fitness.
To begin, here is the definition of flow given in Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work by Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal: “[Flow is] defined as an optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and perform our best. Flow refers to those ‘in the zone’ moments where focus gets so intense that everything else disappears. Action and awareness start to merge. Our sense of self vanishes. Our sense of time as well. And all aspects of performance, both mental and physical, go through the roof.”
I received responses to my post from 32 people, including flow and physical fitness experts such as Flow Strategist and host of Flow Real Tone Floreal, three-time Ironman competitor Evelyne Cardinal, and 11 year personal training business owner/operator Emma Somerville.
The recommendations for physical activities that I received were an interesting mix, ranging from activities that are well known but that I hadn’t previously considered for both getting into flow and improving my physical fitness (e.g. swimming) to activities that are more under the radar that I had never even heard of before (e.g. MovNat).
Before jumping into the specific physical activities, I want to highlight a few comments I received on flow that I found to be particularly insightful:
One commenter described that flow is individual, so it is a good idea to experiment with various activities and discover what tends to get you more into a flow state as opposed to pursuing a specific activity for it.
Likewise, another commenter said that getting into flow depends on you and your background. He goes on to recommend:
“Match up your flow profile (crowd pleaser, deep thinker, flow go-er, hard charger) to the type of fitness: group/class, solo, chill, or goal-oriented. Crowd Pleasers need to be in a group; Deep Thinkers working out alone and self-directed; Flow Go-ers something meditative and repetitive; and Hard Chargers something pushing your body to the max like Crossfit/HIIT.”
I decided to take the free Flow Genome Project flow profile quiz to determine my own flow profile. It turns out that I am a Flow Goer, meaning I’m especially drawn to activities such as yoga, meditation, and personal growth retreats. I found the process of reflecting on the quiz questions to be incredibly helpful for getting a better sense of which physical activities I should test out, so would highly recommend taking it!
A final point before digging into the specific physical activities:
There is an especially strong focus on flow in the remainder of this article (in comparison to strength and flexibility), so if you have no interest in cultivating more flow in your life then this may not be the best article for you.
In some cases, commenters may have been biased towards focusing more on flow than on flexibility or strength since a) I mentioned flow first in the question I posted, and b) the responses I received, with a few exceptions, were from a Facebook group full of people with an especially high interest in flow.
Nevertheless, I did receive a fair number of comments relating to increasing strength and flexibility that I personally found to be very insightful, including helpful responses from experts in the fitness industry and high level athletes.
Top 3 Most Frequently Recommended Activities Out of the 32 responses I received, here are the 3 most frequently mentioned activities:
1) Yoga
Yoga was by far the most recommended physical activity, mentioned by 11 people:
Of these 11 mentions, 5 people said “yoga”, without getting into more detail on specifics. Emma Somerville said that yoga is one of the two modalities that she feels has been most effective for getting into flow states personally (the other modality will be discussed in the following section).
Hot Yoga — Three people recommended hot yoga, with one commenter saying “I find the heat and intensity helps with the meditation/flow part”.
Ashtanga Yoga — Three people recommended Ashtanga yoga . As one commenter described, “it’s an elegantly designed sequence of breath initiated standing and sitting postures. I call it my meditation in motion”. Another commenter said he has been practicing Ashtanga yoga four-five days a week for more than three years and believes it is great for flow.
Relating to selecting a yoga class to attend, one commenter described:
“Every class and every instructor provides something completely different. Some are good for flexibility, some strength, some spiritual, some heart opening, some for mind quieting. I recommend trying a variety of classes/instructors until you find something that resonates.”
2) Martial Arts
Four commenters mentioned martial arts:
Jiu Jitsu— Tone Floreal recommended jiu jitsu. Another commenter suggested it as well, adding that jiu jitsu had been described to him as an example of extreme physical problem solving.
“Training in [Brazilian jiu-jitsu] offers a powerful lens through which to examine some primary human concerns — truth v. delusion, self knowledge, ethics, and overcoming fear.” -Sam Harris, author and neuroscientist
Here is a fascinating introductory video to Brazilian jiu-jitsu from the legendary Gracie Academy:
Tai Chi — Emma Somerville mentioned that in addition to yoga, tai chi is the other modality that she feels has been most effective for flow states personally.
One other commenter recommended “martial arts” as a great flow generator, but did not elaborate beyond that.
3) Swimming
Three commenters mentioned swimming:
Evelyne Cardinal commented “mentally, swimming is very meditative. All you can do is focus on your technique and your breathing and everything else in your mind melts away”.
Two other commenters mentioned “long distance” and “open water” swimming.
Nothing in sports makes me want to get into a sport as much as when watching Michael Phelps swim:
Other Recommended Activities Biking
Three commenters mentioned biking, including two recommendations specifically for mountain biking.
However, Evelyne Cardinal mentioned swimming ahead of biking (and ahead of running, which is discussed in the section below) in terms of getting into a flow state, due to the intense focus on your technique and breathing while swimming. She went on to say though that she could easily argue for biking and running being good modes for flow, especially long distance and triathlons, which require huge mental strength training.
Although three commenters mentioned each of swimming, biking, and running, I included only swimming in the above “Top 3 Most Frequently Recommended Activities” because a) no one added any caveats when mentioning swimming, and b) from my personal experience doing all three activities, I personally found swimming to be by far the most mentally and physically engaging and challenging, whereas I have sometimes found myself not present in the moment while biking and running.
Running
Three commenters mentioned running, including both Emma Somerville and Evelyne Cardinal. One of these commenters recommended trail running specifically. However, some of these commenters included caveats in their responses.
Emma Somerville said that although she does a lot of running personally and trains a lot of runners and has found that long distance running does have the potential for flow, there is a lot of self talk that goes on while running that may be a barrier to flow.
As described in the biking section above, Evelyne Cardinal mentioned swimming ahead of running, although she does believe that running is a good mode for getting into flow as well.
Kettlebells
Tone Floreal and one other commenter recommended kettlebells.
Onnit describes kettlebell training as combining “ explosive strength with muscular endurance to provide an efficient and athletically optimized full body workout”.
Check out this kettlebell workout with Pavel Tsatsouline, a former physical training instructor for the elite Soviet special forces units, who is widely credited for introducing the kettlebell to the United States:
Gymnastic Rings
Tone Floreal recommended gymnastic rings.
As Ryan Hurst, co-founder of GMB Fitness explains,
“One benefit of the rings is their inherent instability. Independently swinging from a long strap, the rings will move at the slightest touch. This instability forces you to concentrate every second that you are on the rings in order to keep from swaying. It can be difficult enough to pull and press your weight on a fixed bar, let alone on two rings that wiggle around! This difficulty translates into building more strength and muscle in your upper body and core.”
Here is a very brief introductory gymnastic ring workout for beginners:
At animalflow.com, Animal Flow is described as a “fitness program that combines quadrupedal and ground-based movement with elements from various bodyweight-training disciplines to create a fun, challenging workout emphasizing multi-planar, fluid movement”.
Watching this video certainly makes me want to give it a try:
More more information on Animal Flow, check out their website here.
Surfing
One commenter mentioned surfing, adding that of all the things he has read, surfing tends to rank high for getting into flow.
As surfer and life coach Jiro Taylor explains,
“Surfing hits nearly all of the triggers for flow, meaning that we experience flow more than most people. As surfers we are at the forefront of flow state discovery. We are flow state pioneers. This puts us in a unique position to learn about it so we can add flow to all areas of our life.”
One commenter recommended going to a rock climbing gym.
Indoor rock climbing appears to be a relatively cheap and easy option to get into in comparison to many of the other activities included in this article (my local rock climbing gym has day passes including rental of equipment for $23.50, as well as introductory classes for beginners).
The first minute of this video discusses the physical and mental benefits of rock climbing, including describing rock climbing as a full body workout:
Relating to weight training, you definitely want to check out this fascinating new London Real documentary on Dorian Yates, winner of six consecutive Mr. Olympia titles:
Boxing
One commenter recommended boxing, at least for getting into flow and building strength, although a supplemental activity may need to be added to work on flexibility. He also mentioned that boxing is a good way to build confidence.
One commenter recommended Osho Dynamic Meditation, saying that it is a good way to increase flow states and improve flexibility/mobility. She describes it as “a 55 minute seemingly crazy process to remove rigidity (physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual)”.
One commenter recommended GMB Fitness, a series of online training programs described on the company’s YouTube channel as teaching “bodyweight exercise skills that develop real, functional strength, agility, and body control. You’ll get in shape while learning fun moves like handstands and cartwheels — without having to travel to a gym.”.
I’ve found that watching their YouTube videos on flexibility exercises over the past few days has been particularly helpful for me, and I have learned about a lot of interesting new flexibility exercises to test out. Here is one video with hamstring flexibility exercises:
For more information on GMB Fitness, check out their website.
High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)
HIIT involves repeated bouts of high intensity effort followed by varied recovery times.
Three commenters recommended HIIT, with one commenter describing it as “effective and efficient”. This commenter added that she uses apps to make up her own HIIT sessions (HIIT Timer, Seconds, UltraTimer). Another commenter said that he has found that HIIT followed by a cold shower puts him in flow. A third commenter mentioned that a positive aspect of HIIT is that it can pretty much be incorporated into any activity.
However, it is important to keep in mind a point made by Emma Somerville, that since HIIT is highly structured, consisting of efforts of intensity then rest, it may be challenging to stay in flow in the recovery period unless using a routine that can be easily transitioned through.
For more information on HIIT and its benefits, check out this video:
GymnasticBodies
One commenter recommended GymnasticBodies, described on the company’s Facebook page as “a system of exercise which utilizes the body’s own resistance to build world class levels of strength, power, agility, balance and mobility”.
The strength and flexibility of the guys in their Introduction to Gymnastic Strength Training video is pretty mind blowing:
You can check out their Gymnastic Strength Training online programs here.
MovNat
One commenter recommended MovNat, which he described as working out in nature, performing challenging but natural movements.
This video really makes me want to give it a try(!):
Conclusion Increasing Time In Flow And Improving Mental and Physical Health
I plan to do some yoga, martial arts, and swimming over the weeks and months to come, and then slowly get into some of the other activities on the list.
It is my hope that by putting more thought into how I spend my time doing physical activities I will find this time more fulfilling and experience increased benefits to my health and well being.
I hope this list gives you a few ideas for activities to test out to maximize the mental and physical rewards from the time you spend doing physical activities.
This list is a work in progress. I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below, and will update this list as I hear back with new ideas!
It is safe to say that the writing of Tim Ferriss has had a major positive impact on my life.
After reading The 4-Hour Workweek, I was inspired to book my dream trip to Nepal to do a 12 day trek through the Himalayan mountains to Mount Everest Base Camp.
After reading The 4-Hour Body, I made sweeping changes to my diet and fitness, which I have sustained for 4+ years, and as a result have experienced increased energy and muscle mass, and reduced body fat and number of sick leave days at my job.
Everest Region, Nepal. Peak of Mount Everest behind me (the darker colored peak directly above my head)
Near the end of 2016 I entered a New York Real TV giveaway contest for a free signed copy of the newest Tim Ferriss book, Tools of Titans. On the morning of Christmas Eve I found out from Olive, founder and host of New York Real, that I was the winner of the contest!
To ensure I get even more value out of Tools of Titans than previous Tim Ferriss books, I made a commitment to test out 52 things from the book in the 52 weeks of 2017.
What I want to accomplish by doing this 52 week challenge:
a) Get into the habit of trying new things and getting outside my comfort zone on a regular basis.
b) Identify the tools, tactics, and routines that i) have the largest positive impact on my quality of life, and ii) can be sustainably integrated into my daily life.
To hold myself accountable, I will write a blog post at the end of each month of 2017, outlining my progress for that month. It is my hope that by tracking my progress with blog posts I will have an opportunity to connect with those of you who are also working through the book and hear your key takeaways from the book so far.
Overview of the Challenge
Tools of Titans is a 707 page mammoth book consisting of the tactics, routines, and habits of billionaires, icons, and world-class performers, including neuroscientist Sam Harris, retired navy SEAL Jocko Willink, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and over 100 others.
The book is split into 3 sections — healthy, wealthy, and wise.
Since some items from the book can be tested in a single day and others will take several weeks, I decided that the most efficient way to test out 52 things in 2017 would be to split up the 52 challenges into 12 larger monthly challenges.
Each month I will try a minimum of 4 new things from the book, adding in a 5th some months to meet my target of 52 challenges for the year.
For each month of 2017 I will focus exclusively on one section of the book (healthy, wealthy, or wise), and will rotate between sections each month.
Areas of focus for January to December 2017
End of January Review (Challenges 1–4, from Health Section)
Challenge 1: Wishing for Random People to be Happy
This challenge was the easiest, and also the most powerful! It is a simple 10 second exercise, repeated once each hour throughout the day for 8 hours, for a daily total of 80 seconds.
Each hour, randomly identify 2 people walking past your office at work or wherever you happen to be at the time, and for 10 seconds think “I wish for this person to be happy, and I wish for that person to be happy”.
In the image below, Tim Ferress explains how he guides an audience through the Wishing for Random People to be Happy exercise:
Wishing for Random People to be Happy Exercise
I did this daily exercise 3 times over a 2 week period, and was blown away by how big of a positive impact doing the exercise had on my mood throughout the day, and for a time investment of only about 4 minutes total between all 3 days!
In the past I’ve done some related guided loving-kindness meditations, such as a meditation by the psychologist and meditation teacher Tara Brock (you can listen to her appearance on The Tim Ferriss Show here). The loving-kindness meditations typically involve closing your eyes for about 20 minutes and mentally sending goodwill, kindness, and warmth towards others. Although I have found the meditations to be incredibly powerful, what really takes the Wishing for Random People to be Happy exercise to the next level for me is the ease at which it can be integrated in real time into my daily life to cultivate the positive emotions of the loving-kindness meditations as I go about my day.
I am definitely going to keep doing the Wishing for Random People to be Happy exercise in the coming weeks and months, and would highly recommend trying it out for yourself!
Challenge 2: Wim “The Iceman” Hof’s Breathing Technique
Wim Hof is best known for his ability to endure the extreme cold for long periods of time. He holds more than 20 world records, and has completed some of the most incredible feats imaginable, including climbing past the “death zone” of Mount Everest wearing only shorts and shoes, completing a full marathon above the Arctic Circle in shorts, and remaining in an ice bath for nearly 2 hours.
I’ve been inspired and fascinated by Wim ever since watching Vice’s documentary called Inside the Superhuman World of the Iceman.
The Wim Hof Method combines cold exposure with breathing techniques and physical exercises. Here is how the method is described on Wim’s website:
The Wim Hof Method is a method that combines specific breathing techniques, cold exposure and mind-set techniques, coupled with physical exercises. It has been developed over the sum of thirty years by Wim Hof, who has taught and developed these in nature. It’s a natural method to improve health and well-being.
Wim claims that his method provides benefits including increased energy, better sleep, heightened focus, improved sports performance, and reduced stress.
In my present experiment I will specifically be trying out Wim’s breathing technique to see if it has an impact on the number of push-ups I can do and how long I can hold my breath.
I’m particularly interested to find out if his method enables me to hold my breath longer because I’ve heard reports of the breathing technique making it possible for people to hold their breath for a significantly increased amount of time, apparently because the technique expels carbon dioxide from a person’s system and bombards the system with oxygen.
I plan to use these experiments as a brief introduction to Wim’s method so I can decide whether or not I want to purchase his online training program sometime this year.
In the image below, Tim Ferriss explains how to do the push-up experiment (further down in the article I’ve included a video showing how to do the breathing technique):
Wim “The Iceman” Hof’s Breathing Technique Experiment
Doing the push-up challenge, I found that after doing the breathing exercise there was actually no increase in the number of push-ups I was able to do. I did in fact feel mildly lightheaded with some light tingling in my extremities, as mentioned in Tim’s explanation in the above image. Near the end of doing the breathing exercise I experienced a brief wave of euphoria wash over me for a few moments.
On to the holding my breath challenge. I decided to follow London Real host Brian Rose’s video, in which he guides us through the breathing technique (shown below). I did this challenge twice- the first time following exactly what he does in the video without timing myself, and the second time (about 1 hour later) doing the 25 breaths and then simply exhaling, starting a timer, and holding my breath as long as possible.
Before doing Wim’s breathing technique I was able to hold my breath for 40 seconds. After doing the technique I was able to hold my breath for 60 seconds. While doing the breathing technique I experienced a little lightheadedness, tingling in chest and limbs, and a sense of warmth.
There is a fairly good chance I could have held my breath quite a bit longer still after doing Wim’s breathing technique if I had really pushed it or had done multiple rounds of the breathing technique just prior to holding my breath.
After trying Wim’s breathing technique I am even more intrigued by the Wim Hof Method than I was before. I am especially excited about Wim’s cold exposure challenges, so look forward to experimenting with that in the coming months and then possibly purchasing his full online program.
Challenge 3: Asking “What Would Make Today Great?”
Over the past 2 years I have been tinkering with various morning routines, trying to find the best way to start my mornings off right. Presently the most important components of my morning routine are 15–20 minutes of Vipassana meditation, affirmations, reflecting on 1 page of The Daily Stoic, and reminding myself of 1 thing I’m grateful for (using the stoic practice of negative visualization).
For this challenge I decided to try out a component of The 5-Minute Journal, integrating it into my morning routine for 2 weeks. In The 5-Minute Journal, a question to be answered each morning is “what would make today great?”.
Since I have asked myself similar questions while doing morning journaling in the past, I decided to make a slight modification to the question, and ask myself “what action would make today great”. I made this slight modification because in the past when I asked myself the original question I found myself answering with things that were fully or partially outside of my control, such as “today will be great when I get hired for that job I interviewed for last week”, or “today will be great when I have positive interactions with every person I see”.
The morning section of 5-minute journal is shown here in this image:
The 5-Minute Journal Morning Questions
I found that asking myself “what action would make today great” each morning for 2 weeks strongly encouraged me to actually take action each day to get closer to my goals.
During this 2 week period I took 4 particularly significant actions that I don’t think I would have taken had I not been asking myself this question each morning:
Registered for the Top Performer: Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You program, a program that was a fairly large commitment of time and money, but will also hopefully be a key step in identifying and mastering important career skills.
Interviewed a senior statistician at work to get advice on how to advance my skills in this area.
Started a new fitness class at my local gym.
Finally booked some hotels for an extended vacation later this year.
Given how effective asking this simple question to myself each morning was in encouraging myself to take action towards my goals each day, I definitely plan to continue asking myself this question each morning for at least the next two months to ensure taking purposeful action becomes a strongly formed habit.
Challenge 4: Dr. Rhonda Patrick’s Heat Exposure in Sauna
A study presented in Tools of Titans found that a 30-minute post workout sauna session 2 times a week for 3 weeks increased running endurance by 32%, with an accompanying plasma volume increase of 7.1% and red blood cell count increase of 3.5%. In addition to impacts on endurance, heat exposure has been found to increase muscle hypertrophy and have positive effects on the brain, as outlined by Dr. Rhonda Patrick in a post titled “Are Saunas the Next Big Performance-Enhancing ‘Drug’?”. I was especially intrigued by sauna use after hearing Rhonda describe her experience using the sauna, which she credited for her ability to handle stress better and her overall reduction in anxiety.
For my final challenge for January I attempted to replicate the study highlighted in the image below, consisting of 30 minutes in a sauna post-workout 2 times a week for 3 weeks (a total of 6 sessions).
Sauna Use Protocols and Effects
I ended up only doing a total of 4 sessions in the sauna, with the temperature at 80C (176F) for each. In order, the session lengths were 27, 25, 25, and 15 minutes.
Although there were some clear benefits of using the sauna, after the 4th session I came to the conclusion that sauna use was not something I would continue with because a) due to the large time commitment this is not something I will be able to integrate into my life for an extended period of time, and b) the negatives outweighed the positives for me, mainly because I really don’t like the heat so found it to be quite uncomfortable staying in the heat for close to 30 minutes!
Saying that though, there were some positives for sure:
Social — The biggest positive was actually the social aspect. Usually at the gym I keep my head down and pay attention to my own workout, so haven’t met very many new people during my time at the gym. I found that during the 2 weeks of sauna use I had the opportunity to meet more new people than I did in 2 years of working out at the gym.
Meditation — I found that sitting in the heat gave me an interesting opportunity to try out my Vipassana meditation practice under different circumstances, specifically practicing paying attention to sensations of heat without reacting to the sensations with an urge to get out of the heat.
Muscle Soreness — I experienced reduced muscle soreness (almost no soreness) the days after working out.
Recharged — After each session I felt recharged, with more energy than I usually have after a workout. I found this very surprising because usually the heat seems to drain me of energy very quickly.
Despite the positives, for the reasons mentioned above I am not going to continue with heat exposure at this time. I think that cold exposure may be more at my pace, so I look forward to trying out a cold exposure challenge in the coming months.
January Wrap-up and a Look Ahead to February
It is a great feeling to have gotten back into the habit of trying new things each week.
The Wishing for Random People to Be Happy exercise and asking myself “what action would make today great” were both huge successes. Both were easily integrated into my life, were a very small time commitment, and had an immediate impact on my life.
Testing out Wim Hof’s breathing technique was a very interesting experience, especially finding that using the method did in fact enable me to hold my breath for an extended period of time. For a future challenge I will try out a cold exposure experiment and depending on how that goes may purchase Wim’s online training course.
For heat exposure in a sauna, despite some clear benefits I decided that this is not something that will add enough value to my life to justify the large time commitment.
Looking ahead to February, I will be moving on to the wealthy section of Tools of Titans and completing 4–5 challenges from that section. I have not even started looking through the section yet, but am excited to see what kind of insights are in there from titans such as Derek Sivers, Tony Robbins, and James Altucher!
