Checkpoints and Constraints, Part II
Checkpoints and Constraints, Part II
The second of a 2-part series on how using checkpoints and constraints can significantly amplify your performance and results.
“In a probabilistic environment, you are better served by focusing on the process by which you make a decision than on the outcome” — Michael Mauboussin
Worth Listening To
Yes, I’ve become a tad obsessed with “How I Write” lately… What can I say? David’s podcast is helping me along this writing journey much like I am helping you along your health journey… except he has no idea who I am. But I digress.
Michael reminds me of the fabulous Einstein quote: “Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.” His objective is to get his readers to think.
When you find a “domain expertise,” you realize how much information in that domain is crap and how much room there is for new information.
Following the same core idea, the same thread, and doing interesting things can help you find an edge and set you apart. Like last week, “Aim not to be the best, but to be the only.”
I also have to include Kyla’s piece here because she is one of the best nonfiction writers of my generation, and this piece summarizes why:
Kyla Scanlon — Why We Don’t Trust Each Other Anymore
Her breakdown of the economy through the lens of language is exceptional, and like much of the content I share with you, she leaves the reader with cause for optimism.
Her argument — that our attention is constantly being manipulated and commoditized through confusing and often meaningless language — is simultaneously why I love my work at Envision Fitness and began writing on Substack.
We live in a world where our attention and focus are persistently being stripped from us without our being consciously aware. If I can help people like you and me avoid the oncoming tidal wave that’s a massive victory.
While she primarily focuses on the economy, her message is equally pertinent regarding our health. We see words; we’re bombarded with headlines to grab our attention; But we’re often only left in a state of greater confusion.
Then there is third part, the other part of the economic reality, the attention economy, in which our eyeballs are very expensive commodities. We have commoditized ourselves to the point where we sort of are what we consume. We’ve assetized our feelings too to give them “value” on a sociological marketplace. Of course we don’t trust.
It doesn’t help that we are using language to come up with words like “doom spending” (the idea that “it’s just easier to spend money on things that will bring you immediate fulfillment”) or things like quiet quitting which shapes the narrative in a weird way because like hello? What does that mean?
But it’s deeper than that.
It’s the teens being told to become specialists by the age of 18 so they can be cookie cutter perfect for college.
It’s the cars becoming monochromatic. Safety is found in standardization.
It is adjacent to the hyperoptimization required to exist in some elements of the digital world, as Rebcecca Jennings explored in Everyone’s a Sellout Now. She writes
“The commodification of the self is now seen as the only route to any kind of economic security.”
Strikingly similar to what it means to be healthy, no?
Conversations With a Personal Trainer
I met with this particular client three times this week. She deals with terrible, chronic neck pain. She also recently started running during the day to escape from her computer and move more. She told me when she runs, her neck hurts less.
On Thursday, she told me she hadn’t been running all week, and her neck had also been hurting. I suggested she go for a run later in the day.
She came in Friday morning and said she ran yesterday. I asked how her neck felt. With a big smile on her face, “So much better!”
Little consistencies go a long way.
Constraints: An Optimal Tool for Optimizing Health
If you’ve been listening to each week’s “Worth Listening To” episode(s), a common thread emerges. Whether the focus is on writing, nutrition, fitness, or happiness, each individual has a similar framework involving constraints. One observation is that, while different in application, their intended use is the same: better results.
It wasn’t until writing this newsletter I realized how many crossovers there are between, well, everything. Each week, you and I face a choice: There is always a part of me that says, “fuck this, what is the point?” Always. And I’m sure you can relate. That voice may never go away. But with each passing week, when we stay consistent, that voice gets slightly quieter. Like my previous edition about David Goggins and our internal dialogue, each of us faces a similar choice with our health.
How we suppress that “fuck this” voice is where most of us get tripped up. Just look at the fitness industry: In 2019, approximately 80% of January signups quit within their first five months. While that is staggering, it’s not surprising either. Learning a new skill is hard. Writing does not come naturally to me at all. As Kevin Kelly says, “I am a reluctant writer.” And he is one of the most prolific writers of all time! Why do I do it?
David Perell put out an excellent tweet which sums up why:
It’s a way of learning new things, connecting the dots, ensuring I remember where those dots originated from in the first place, and making room for new ideas. Like exercise, I do it because it’s good for me, and I feel better afterward.
Where do constraints fit in? Naval Ravikant has an exceptionally fitting quote about his morning workout routine:
“I do 20 minutes of cardio first thing in the morning, before I eat. It’s a great way to get the blood flowing, and it also helps me think better throughout the day.”
“The daily morning workout. That has been a complete game-changer. It’s made me feel healthier, younger. It’s made me not go out late…It’s pretty much every day. There are a few days where I’ve had to take a break because I’m traveling, or I’m injured or sick or something. I can count on one hand the number of breaks I take every year.” - Naval Ravikant
20 minutes every morning before eating and before working. Forcing yourself to accomplish your objective in a restricted amount of time.
The constraints that help me a) exercise and b) write this newsletter are very similar. Time. Prior to Covid I would spend two hours, or more, at the gym almost every day (What I could do with that kind of time now…). But, much of that time was wasted. Taking long rest breaks, getting water, and yes, the greatest destructor of all productivity, scrolling. Now, time is far more salient. I need constraints, or nothing gets done. Here is how I try to structure my day:
Earliest available 30-minute window in the morning: Complete at least 15 minutes of cardio.
Between 11am-11:30, read.
Between 11:30-12:30, work on my newsletter.
One hour before my first afternoon appointment, leave for the gym and strength train for 45 minutes.
Each window is very strategic:
Cardio in the morning increases circulation and wakes me up (and will hopefully boost my atrocious VO2 max score).
Reading takes my mind away from training and helps me pivot my focus.
Working daily on the newsletter helps prevent my “fuck this” voice from winning.
Strength training in the mid-afternoon gets me back into training mode.
Within each constraint, there are smaller constraints and checkpoints to help chunk each task. However, there is just one catch.
While these are my ideal constraints, I am far from perfect at accomplishing them. Case-in-point, I’m sending this newsletter out on a Sunday when another constraint I try to employ is my Friday deadline. Further still, while writing this, my wife is watching “Wonka” on Netflix and I just took a 10-minute detour down the rabbit hole of Googling Timothy Chalamet. Less than ideal.
However, these constraints are slowly taking shape, little by little. Three weeks ago, we discussed building your own time budget to spend more time on your health. This is mine. Where do you build constraints into your life to stay consistent and prevent your “fuck this” voice from winning? Where can you improve?
Other Learning This Week:
Securities by Lux Capital — Pivitol Pivots
An incredible piece on American foreign policy.
David Brooks — Chicken Littles are Ruining America
The danger of doomers on both sides and finding a middle ground.
Adam Grant — No, You Don’t Owe Me a Favor
Generosity is because not we want to, not for a favor in return.
Noah Smith — Defending the status quo is not environmentalism
Real environmentalism vs. “Not in My Backyard (NIMBY)” environmentalism.
Jerusalem Demsas — The Culture War Tearing American Environmentalism Apart
Minneapolis’ 2040 plan.
Tim Urban — Wait but Why: A Short History of My Last Six Years
The process he went through to write his recent book, What’s Our Problem?