Category: Learned Today

what to optimize

MattLeave a comment

On the Tim Ferriss Show #668 he and Derek Sivers discuss the difference between “maximizers” and “satisfizers“, noting that satisfizers are happier. By satisfizers they mean someone who seeks good enough, or satisfactory, rather than optimal in all things.

By definition, you can’t optimize everything. If everything is a priority then nothing is.

Currently, I am aiming to optimize for energy.

Everyone has the same number of hours in the day; therefore, hours can’t be a significant differentiator. Energy is the currency and key differentiator for high achievers.

Focusing on energy is both simple and powerful. Distilling everything down to “does this energize me or drain me?” is easy to remember and act on, while at the same time affecting everything else automatically.

It’s the inverse of worrying about 1,000 different things, which is exhausting, hard to turn into action, and ultimately doesn’t really affect anything (because you’re too busy worrying, strategizing, theorizing to actually do anything).

Just optimize for energy and, outside of that focus, let the chips fall where they may.

SCD update: so far so good

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A few weeks ago I decided, on a whim, to try the slow carb diet. So far I’m pretty impressed.

All of these things are noticeably improved:

  • all-day energy (no afternoon crash)
  • satiety (rarely feel hungry, which is very new to me—I’m always hungry)
  • mood and self-esteem (pride in eating well creates virtuous cycle)

Here’s a summary of some other findings and results.

Continue reading “SCD update: so far so good” →

dark mode bliss

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I’m a big fan of dark mode on my device screens at night. It’s easier on the eyes and generally contributes to a more chilled out evening vibe. I set all my devices to change automatically from light to dark at sunset and this works great most of the time.

One place where it sometimes breaks is on websites that haven’t implemented a built-in feature to change to dark mode based on the system settings. This website is an example. I’m using a stock WordPress theme and it’s light mode all day, all night, regardless of the system settings on the device viewing the site.

Enter Dark Reader. I’m late to the party here, but just now trying this gem of a browser extension. Basically it turns any site into one with a lovely dark mode. You can add sites that already have dark mode to a list and it will ignore those, rather than trying to stack two dark modes together. It’s open source and has a really simple privacy policy that starts with “Dark Reader had never collected and will never collect any personal data, browsing history etc.”

So in the meantime until the whole internet has consistent dark mode implementation, check out Dark Reader if you’re a dark mode fan like myself.

Healthy One-Pot Lunch in a Rice Cooker

MattLeave a comment

If you’re in search of an easy, healthy, quick midday meal look no further than your trusty rice cooker. I’ve recently discovered that this humble appliance is more versatile than its name implies and it’s opened up a simple route to better eating.

For a while I was on a stir fry kick and my lunch was often some combo of sautéed veggies, beans and sometimes leftover rice or other grain if I had it from another meal.

I still love the stir fry meal in general. Lots of whole foods and great flavors, plus a hot lunch is always nice. It’s not too difficult and is pretty healthy but it requires a bit more time in the kitchen supervising the stove.

Earlier this summer we picked up a new, larger, rice cooker but I only just found it buried in the cabinets. When I took it out to try it on some farro I flipped through the instruction book and it mentioned using the rice cooker to make other meals like stews.

If it could make a stew, why not try throwing some other stuff in with my farrow? Could the rice cooker cook my “stir fry” for me while I was off doing something else?

To find out I chucked in whatever random veggies I could find in the fridge, a can of pinto beans, garlic and a few spices and let it go. Twenty minutes later I had a ready-to-serve farrow bowl and a newfound appreciation for the rice cooker!

Rice cooker all loaded up and ready to go.

One-Pot Rice Cooker Lunch Recipe

Here’s the very simple ingredients list and steps to put this together. Keep in mind there are no real rules here… add or subtract to your heart’s content.

  • chopped veggies (onions, peppers, carrots all work great)
  • 1 cup of some grain (farro, rice, or quinoa)
  • 1 can of beans
  • 1 can of chopped tomatoes or tomatoes w/chilies (like Rotel)
  • about a cup of liquid (water, vegetable stock)
  • garlic, spices to taste
  1. put all ingredients into rice cooker
  2. set rice cooker to “cook”
  3. there is no step 3, you’re done

That’s it—about 5 minutes of prep and you can walk away for the next 15-40 (depending on how much stuff you put in and what kind of grain), and when you come back your meal is ready!

It makes several servings so you could actually make this once and have a few lunches ready to go. Each serving probably costs about $1 for ingredients.

Enjoy!

Eat More Mollusks

MattLeave a comment

Over the last six months or so I’ve been trying to design my diet to be more climate friendly.

My first, minimally informed, effort was to go vegetarian. This worked out fine and I enjoyed learning some new recipes. I noticed that I was eating a lot more dairy, though, and wondered what the impact of that was.

I did some research and found that some meats are actually better choices than some non-meat protein sources. Of course, vegan is the gold standard for climate-friendly diets, but I’m not prepared to go there.

One of the best resources I’ve found is this New York Times page. I feel like they made it specifically for me as it answers exactly the questions I had. The information is presented clearly and is easily digestible (sorry).

From the article:

The world’s food system is responsible for about one-quarter of the planet-warming greenhouse gases that humans generate each year. That includes raising and harvesting all the plants, animals and animal products we eat — beef, chicken, fish, milk, lentils, kale, corn and more — as well as processing, packaging and shipping food to markets all over the world. If you eat food, you’re part of this system.

New York Times

A couple of surprising findings:

  • cheese can be a pretty bad choice in terms of climate impact (this was devastating news)
  • mollusks for the win!

So my cheddar intake is way down (oh so sad) and I’ve learned that yes, you can buy frozen scallops—and they’re pretty good!

I think the larger point is that there are a variety of eating choices that can help reduce your impact on climate change. Resources like this make it easier to make informed decisions.

What is R nought?

MattLeave a comment

With COVID-19 and the Coronavirus dominating the news I’m learning a lot about how viruses spread and steps we can take to help more people have better outcomes. This post from Vox is a fantastic summary of key info that everyone should read.

One new thing I learned from the post is the definition of “R nought” or “R0”, which “estimates the number of people an average infected person spreads the disease to.” Here’s an infographic from Vox:

This shows that COVID-19 is about 2x as contagious as the seasonal flu. That, combined with the at least 23x greater fatality rate of COVID-19 compared to the flu, helps to explain why all of these social distancing measures are important.

Read more here: 9 charts that explain the coronavirus pandemic

The WordPress App Works Offline

MattLeave a comment

Sometimes those little news blips in the WordPress dashboard are pretty useful! I saw one the other day about the WordPress apps now having better offline support. Here’s the full blog post.

From the article:

A WordPress app should give you a seamless, reliable posting experience, and you shouldn’t have to worry whether you’re online or offline while using WordPress Mobile. And if we’ve done our jobs right, you won’t have to! 

The WordPress.com Blog

I’ve gone back and forth about whether it’s better to write directly into WordPress (either in the app or in a browser) or use a dedicated writing app (like Ulysses), but haven’t come to any real conclusion. What I like about going directly to WordPress is it eliminates a step (at least) and seems to reduce friction to actually getting something published – which, after all, is the ultimate goal!

Cold Therapy is a Thing

Matt1 Comment

I’ve gone through cold shower phases on and off over the last couple years and have always found them to be invigorating. I like cold showers for a bunch of reasons, like:

  • I feel increased energy and focus afterwards
  • less energy use (to heat the water)
  • shorter showers

But of course cold showers are not exactly fun when you’re taking them. Depending on how cold is cold, they can be downright painful. So I waver in my devotion to the cold shower.

In any case I always thought it was just a weird habit of mine. But recently I’ve come to notice a lot more people talking about exposure to cold as a beneficial exercise.

Apparently there’s a whole school of thought around “cold therapy”. Of course there’s the practice of applying cold locally to reduce swelling (the ‘I’ in R.I.C.E), but various sources also claim anecdotal evidence of improved focus, energy and general health related to full body cold exposure.

One prominent example that comes up a lot is the Wim Hof Method. I don’t know much about the Wim Hof Method as a whole (maybe a topic for a future post) but anecdotally I’ve seen it mentioned frequently in the context of cold therapy.

But this idea of benefits coming from cold immersion is supported by other sources too. This article from Runner’s World states that:

…a 2009 study in The New England Journal of Medicine found that immersing yourself in cold water after lifting, running, or cycling improved muscle recovery and soreness.

Runner’s World

…and…

The adrenaline rush you get from immersing yourself in cold water creates a rush of norepinephrine, which helps increase energy, focus, and performance outcomes.

Aaron Drogoszewski, quoted in Runner’s World

Here are a couple more resources from some quick Googling, each linking to some references of their own:

It’s enough to give me motivation to keep experimenting with cold showers at least some of the time. Have you tried cold showers? What’s your experience?

Indian Classical Music

MattLeave a comment

It would be kind to say this blog has been inconsistent and unfocused. In an effort to remedy both of those things I’m going to try to write a post each day about something I’ve learned that day.

I think this can help with a number of things, including:

  • write more consistently
  • cultivate intentional curiosity and learning
  • contribute more value to the world

I may batch posts if I’m feeling particularly inspired and publish them later, in which case I’ll include the date that I wrote them in addition to the published date.

For today (3/9/2020) I’m going to start with Indian classical music. I was listening to the Tim Ferriss podcast #413 with Tyler Cowen and Mr. Cowen called Indian classical music perhaps the best music in existence. If that’s not the kind of endorsement that causes one to dig into something a bit then I don’t know what is.

I’ll admit I wasn’t sure what Indian classical music would sound like, but when I fired up the Indian Classical playlist on Spotify I immediately recognized the complex rhythmic sounds. I felt really energized and focused in my work as it formed the soundtrack to my afternoon.

Here’s an example from YouTube too:

A quick look at Wikipedia informed me that…

Indian classical music is the classical music of the Indian subcontinent. It has two major traditions: the North Indian classical music tradition is called Hindustani, while the South Indian expression is called Carnatic… Hindustani music emphasizes improvisation and exploring all aspects of a raga, while Carnatic performances tend to be short and composition-based.

Wikipedia

…and…

Indian classical music has two foundational elements, raga and tala. The raga, based on swara(notes including microtones), forms the fabric of a melodic structure, while the tala measures the time cycle. The raga gives an artist a palette to build the melody from sounds, while the tala provides them with a creative framework for rhythmic improvisation using time. In Indian classical the space between the notes is often more important than the notes themselves, and it does not have Western classical concepts such as harmony, counterpoint, chords, or modulation.

Wikipedia

So I’m a tiny bit smarter about music this evening than I was this morning and I’m happy for it. Check out some Indian classical music and let me know what you think!