Hey uguba ndubuisi, hope you're having a relaxing weekend!
Happy Father's Day to all of the wonderful dads out there, including my grandpa, uncle Joe, and cousin Jacob!
We have a lot to talk about this week:
- Tips to help you travel better, lighter, and smarter
- Helpful resources for health, longevity, and wellness
- Approaches for living a life with less booze
- Entry points for the confusing world of decentralized finance
- New ways that you can support the newsletter & get benefits
𧳠How to Travel Better and Smarter
When I was 23, I moved out of NYC, packing my life into a backpack with a new remote job and a one-way ticket to Cartagena, Colombia. I continued on that path and ended up in 40+ countries over four-years, all with the same backpack.
Along the way, I learned a bunch about what you need/don't need while on the road. I mostly learned that you don't need very much at all.
This week, I did two things to try to share this knowledge with you in the event that you're going to be traveling or generally enjoy learning about how to make the times you travel better.
Minimalist Travel Packing List: If you want to learn how to travel light or what to bring, I created this list of literally everything I brought with me over the course of my multi-year trip, including the explanations of why I liked the item or found it useful. It's a bit male-focused, but I think everyone will find a useful idea or two on the list.
Surprising Travel Hacks From Visiting 70+ Countries: Steph and I recorded a new podcast this week about practical tips of what we learned from spending years on the road. Rather than focusing on what to bring, we dove deep into how to think about where to go, how to think about accommodation, some tips for not getting scammed and having good personal finance practices, and a whole lot more.
By the way, now that our 30 pods in 30 days podcast challenge is complete, Steph and I are launching a new episode of the Shit You Don't Learn in School Podcast once a week on Thursday. So if you haven't listened or want to hear the latest, definitely go subscribe and let us know what you think.
π¨⚕️ Health, Longevity, and Wellness
My top goal for 2021 is improving my overall health, energy, and sense of wellbeing. This includes mindset, exercise, nutrition, tools, etc.
On the pursuit, I'm reading lots of books and running experiments to see what works and doesn't work. Here's what I've found helpful so far.
Huberman Lab Podcast
My friend Paul introduced me to the Huberman Lab Podcast, and it's AWESOME! It's hosted by Dr. Andrew Huberman, a Professor of Neurobiology and Ophthalmology at Stanford University.
Huberman dives deep into the science of how our brains and bodies work, with a focus on improving specific areas of our life – quality of sleep, pace of learning, improving healing and recovery, managing stress, increasing motivation, boosting energy, and so on.
I like the pod because Huberman helps you understand how things actually work, versus how marketers want you to think they work.
If you're new to the pod, I recommend starting with episode two, Master Your Sleep & Be More Alert When Awake. I took a bunch of notes and have begun experimenting with his advice.
Books
Own the Day, Own Your Life by Aubrey Marcus: I read this book a few years ago and am re-reading it since it's a good foundation for getting ideas about improving your overall health. It's filled with tactical, science-backed insights on how to live a healthier and energy-filled life, starting with learning how to master a single day. Many of my daily practices come from ideas in this book. Get it on Audible.
Lifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don't Have To: I'm half-way through this book, and it's a good introduction to the science of aging, with key insights on how certain behaviors and practices contribute to aging. My health focus is on feeling good for the long-term, so this book is helping me understand how to think about that. Get it on Audible.
Practices, Tools, & Equipment
I'm investing in habits, tools, and equipment that make it easier for me to get to my desired state of health. My favorites so far:
Quick Morning Routine. Immediately upon waking up, I do three things to jumpstart my day:
❶ Hydrate: I make 16-24oz of water, lemon, and dash of sea salt.
❷ Sunlight: I take my hydration drink and go for a walk to the beach to watch the surfers and get sunlight while hydrating.
❸ Jump Rope: To get my heart rate up, I do 60 seconds of jump roping when I get back from my walk.
This takes 15 minutes, and I feel way better than if I were to spend the same time lazing around and scrolling Twitter or checking markets, which were two bad morning habits I developed during Covid.
The routine is taken from the Own Your Day, Own Your Life book I recommended above. I like it because you end up more alert and energized with a relatively low time investment.
Peloton Digital Membership: A colleague gave me access to Peloton a few months ago, and I really liked it. I have the digital membership, which is only $12.99 a month to access the app and all of the classes. It has high-quality classes for all types of exercise. I'm using it to do 3-4 yoga/stretching classes per week. Peloton gives you a free 30-day trial, so it's easy to try. I really like how consistent their quality is and how you can filter for shorter and focused classes.
Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbbells: It's been a pain to find dumbbells since the start of the pandemic, but it looks like they're back in stock. I picked up these adjustable weights, which go from 5lb-52lb with a few easy clicks. They're great for a quick at home workout, and they don't take up too much space. They're listed on Bowflex's website at $399, but I found them at Dick's Sporting Goods for $349.
Oura Ring: I've been using an Oura Ring all year to track my sleep data. I really like it because it (a) provides useful data, (b) is really small, and (c) has really good battery life so that I don't have to charge it very often. I originally tried an Apple watch for sleep tracking, but I found it annoying to sleep with a watch and to deal with the short battery life. The Oura data helps keep me accountable for meeting my sleep targets and understanding how certain activities like drinking influence my sleep.
πΎ️ Living With Less Booze
In the last Life Reimagined, I mentioned that I'm trying to reduce my alcohol consumption and asked you for advice. Many readers reached out and gave super helpful responses.
I'm starting with a 30-day no drinking cleanse, and during that period, I'm trying out tactics that will lead to sustainable, long-term reductions. Some of the takeaways from readers I'm leveraging:
1. Non-alcoholic beer and wine: I had never tried a NA drink, but this weekend, I had the urge to drink. So I went to Trader Joe's to pick up some Athletic Brewing and Clausthaler NA beers. They were actually pretty good, and it kicked the urge. HOPWTR, Athletic Brewing, and Clausthaler seem like good options for beers. I also bought three bottles of Surely wines, which I'm excited to crack open. You can get $10 off with this link if you want to try them (I'll also get $10 toward my next purchase).
2. Books: Someone recommended Allen Carr's Quit Drinking Without Willpower. It reframes the idea of alcohol as a fun social lubricant to what it really is: socially accepted poison for your body. I haven't read the book, and it looks like Carr has written a few, but it's an interesting premise.
3. Create rules. Things like "I never keep alcohol in the house and only drink on Fridays if out with friends and have no more than 3 drinks." I'm implementing the rule of not keeping booze in the house, at least for the short term. This will stop me from casual evening wine sessions.
4. Understand the impact. Some readers mentioned that not drinking changed their lives in very profound ways. They were sharper, living by their values, more confident, and able to build better relationships. That seems like a pretty rewarding outcome.
5. Consolidate drinking. Try drinking only on 1-2 consecutive days in a week, and then give your body and liver 5-6 full days of rest. This approach might be useful if you have a few drinks every day or many times per week.
6. Use physical challenges: Sign up for a marathon or some other difficult physical activity. That way, you have an excuse for not drinking while out and a reason not to be hungover or destroy your body with booze.
π Thank you to everyone who shared their stories and tips. These ideas have been helpful for taking the idea of less booze more seriously.
If you're interested in learning more, Steph Smith and I interviewed Taylor Platt, a friend who quit drinking entirely. We dive into his story, some of the tips above, and how to overcome the social challenges of not drinking.
π How to Quit Drinking Alcohol and Still Be Happy
And if you want to add to the discussion...
𧡠Join the conversation on Twitter.
π The World of Decentralized Finance
While I've held crypto in my portfolio since the 2017 mania, I've never spent much time learning about the technology. In some ways, I felt that I was not smart or technical enough, and it didn't really matter too much since I was just parking cash and holding it.
But this week, I fell into the decentralized finance (DeFi) honeypot, which turns out to be a very interesting part of the crypto space.
I started with these articles by Nat Eliason, which are very accessible entry points for understanding some of the practical applications of the technology and how it relates to financial instruments that we're all much more familiar with:
- Creating a High Yield "Savings Account" with Crypto & DeFi
- Asset Allocation Autopilot: Earning 15%+ APYs in DeFi
- The Mind-Bending Magic of Self-Paying Loans
One interesting takeaway is that you can earn 8-13%+ yields via lending your crypto, which is great given how banks are giving you nada for your cash these days. There are a number of risks to this strategy, but it's actually quite an elegant and interesting set of applications that are being built to potentially transform the financial world.
As an experiment and forcing function for learning more, I took 10% of my free cash and put it into a few DeFi protocols. That led me to spend a lot more time thinking about the risks, listening to pods with people deeper in the ecosystem, and beginning to organize my nascent set of knowledge.
I'm not sure how it all will work out, but I'm interested in experimenting in this space for three reasons:
(a) If it works, I earn a nice return, potentially better than I could receive via other investment vehicles.
(b) Investing money into the Defi ecosystem is a forcing function for learning more about the world of DeFi.
(c) DeFi is still in its early stages, but it's clear that it has the potential to seriously disrupt the financial system. Whether or not this plays out and how it plays out are big unknowns, but I think it's worth understanding more about the space in the event it does end up being transformative.
I'll share more resources in the coming weeks/months as I learn more.
π Reimagining Support for Life Reimagined
Up to this point, you could support the newsletter and website financially in one of two ways – Becoming a monthly paid supporter on Patreon and giving $5 in one-off support via Buy Me a Coffee.
I made a few updates to the options, including new perks.
❶ If you become a Patreon in the $9.99 tier anytime before July 31, you will now receive lifetime access to Foundations, the growing digital library with all of my book summaries and notes.
❷ When I reach $500/month in Patreon support (currently at $42/month), I will create a $1,000 scholarship based on ideas from anyone who is a Patreon at that time.
❸ If you'd like to give a donation in crypto, which one reader did last week, you can send any ERC-20 token to lifereimagined.eth. Just give me a heads up beforehand.
Thanks for tuning in, and see you in two weeks.
Cheers,
Cal
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