Building a framework for my life
A new ambitious project — Framing the future of my life
After several turbulent months with many ups and downs, new people and learning opportunities as well as real progress on my personal character development journey, I decided to continue writing on Medium. I did write stuff during the past months, but it was all fiction and not meant for publishing.
If you want more background on why I started writing on Medium or want to get to know me better, you can start by reading this or follow me on Twitter. If you read this for my content suggestions, feel free to skip to the end of the article.
This article today will start a new series about an area I developed a strong passion for: Establishing a set of values/principles I want to use to guide myself and the decisions I take. My thesis is that crafting a framework for my decision making and priorities in general enables me to better understand who I am and removes friction from taking decisions in the future. Transforming many of my implicit assumptions into explicit ones helps manifesting them in my thought processes and daily interactions. In the Spirit of Benjamin Franklin, I wrote them down and will focus on incorporating them in the coming months. Every week, I will take a value from my list and optimize my thinking and behavior for it. I have already accumulated a set of 22 principles which describe the way I want to live. This list may change slightly in the coming weeks. I will share all of them in an aggregated list afterwards.
Why do I even share this?
There are several reasons. Firstly, writing it down and publishing it to the world forces me to think through my principles rigorously before I commit to them. Secondly, public scrutiny enables me to get feedback about whether or not I stay true to the stated values.
As a caveat, the other principles I write about will be more intellectually stimulating than the one today. I felt that this would be perfect to start with, though. Without further ado, the following principle is one of those meant to guide my life:
Health first — My health is the foundation for everything I want to achieve:
Health is important, most people are aware of that. I would argue that the majority of us, myself included, still underestimates how important it really is until something bad happens. My intention is to provide you with reasoning why I think that protecting one’s health should be one of everyone’s fundamental values and additionally give you some starting points for thinking about how you can live a healthier life. Paying attention to my own health physically and mentally is the building block for almost all of my other values and principles. If my health has deficits, my priorities shift by default. Just think about yourself hypothetically catching the flu. You would probably not get much done except trying to get back on your feet again as quick as possible. This is probably a smart move, since a fast recovery means that you can pursue your real goals earlier. While catching the flu may not change your whole life, other diagnoses like Cancer will. If a person or someone in his proximity has to deal with a severe detriment to their health everything else usually decreases in importance dramatically. If you want to read a great book about how such a diagnosis can change your life, I suggest When breath becomes air. While you cannot protect yourself against every disease, it is certainly smart to prevent what you can and also be mindful of the joy you should reap from the fact that you are healthy if that is the case.
Since it is a very sensitive topic, my advice in this article will be less direct than it usually is. I still try to convey what I see as crucial building blocks in that regard. You will notice that all of my initiatives are proactive and preventive. Avoiding the problem is better than dealing with it effectively after it has arisen. While one cannot prevent all medical problems, minimizing them should be of utmost importance.
How do I do follow that principle?
While the following list of things is not comprehensive, I find it to be a good starting point if you want to protect or improve your health.
Nutrition: This is usually the first thing that pops into people’s mind if they think of someone ‘living healthy’. While not being sufficient at all, it is a major factor for your health. There are hundreds of different diets that are promoted by their zealot follower groups. At this point, I would just like to point out that your health (and your mood) is directly affected by what you eat. A diet consisting of Coke, Vodka and Ice-cream is probably not the healthiest option you could choose. One piece of advice in that area is that it is often easier to say what you do not eat than what you eat. As an example, you could avoid eating stuff with added sugar. Moreover, it usually comes in handy to have a few standard recipes and food items you can fall back to if you do not know what to eat. For drinking, water is always a good option. If you have problems sticking to your diet, look into the footnotes. ¹
Schedule medical checks: I used to only go to a doctor if I was ill or injured in a significant way. From a risk-return perspective, not doing preventive checks is fairly bad. You sacrifice a few hours of your life and protect heavily against potential downsides of finding out about a diagnosis too late. Preventive checks on your health are tedious but can help detect illnesses in early stages and thereby prevent them from doing harm or at least reducing it. Depending on your gender, age and some other factors there are certain regular checks which are recommended. I am not qualified to give medical advice on that so feel free to google it or check with your trusted doctor.
Physical activity: Those who know me are aware of the fact that I like to work out regularly and that it is a fundamental part of my life. However, there are enough studies that prove how beneficial physical activity is for your health. My only tip here is an obvious one not many people follow: Choose a physical activity you like! I have several friends who hated going to the gym and therefore almost never went. While some of them still force themselves to go irregularly others found sports they really enjoy and now follow strict workout regimes. It does not really matter what you do, as long as you do something. You can move weights, do Pilates, play squash, go swimming, climb rocks or ride your bicycle. There are so many options, don’t make it harder than it should be and try something else if you hate the gym.
‘To enjoy the glow of good health, one must exercise.’
Gene Tunney (Boxing world champion in the 1920s)
Meditate: Health is not only physical. Your mental health is equally if not more important. Personally, I am a huge fan of meditation. It improves my mood, and there are empirical studies which suggest that it also benefits one’s overall health. Meditation can help you calm down from the daily stress you encounter and improve your wellbeing significantly. If you need a place to start, try Headspace or Calm. If you want to read more about the benefits, start here or here.
‘Calm minds bring inner strength and self-confidence, so that’s very important for good health.’
Dalai Lama
Sleep: Sleep deprivation is an international health and productivity crisis. Most people have very bad sleeping habits and either sleep too little or with too much noise and light in their rooms. Those people could easily improve their lives by sleeping enough and their excuses are usually shallow. However, almost anyone I talk to about this topic denies the (empirically proven) adverse effects of bad sleep and tells me that it is just a matter of ‘adapting’ to sleeping little or in bad environments. Try to sleep enough and keep lights as well as noises restricted to a minimum (or remove them completely if possible).
‘Sleep is that golden chain that ties health and our bodies together’
Thomas Dekker (English author)
There are more things that could be added to this list, but I think you get the gist of it. This article is more about the general message than the process behind it: Pay attention to your health!
Let me know what you think about my new project (I promise that the next weeks will be more intellectually stimulating).
Content suggestions
As always, I would like to add two content suggestions that are unrelated to the text above. This segment contains pieces of content (books, blogposts, podcasts, etc.) I really enjoyed and want to share with you. If you want additional suggestions you can always reach out to me, I got plenty.
How good is Google Maps really? (Very good it seems)
This blog article showcases how Google leverages data to make their own products better by describing the astonishing progress google maps made over the past years in the accuracy of their visual representation. It is one of the best blog articles I have read in a long time and provides insightful visuals as well as value-adding context. If you are interested in technology products or a regular Google/Apple Maps user, you should read it.
The life of the richest man in modern history
The second suggestion is the Rockefeller biography by Ron Chernow. John D. Rockefeller was the richest man in recorded history in the United States, maneuvering his company Standard oil to be an oil monopoly in the late 1800s. If you do not want to read the whole book but would like to read a well-written analysis of his character, you can do so at the blog of a friend of mine here.
¹ Footnote to Nutrition:
App suggestion: If your new year’s resolution is to stick to a new diet, consider using this app: Greater. It offers you advice in guidance in your diet journey and pairs you with 8 other people who match your interests and are on the diet at the same time. The idea behind it is to support each other and creating an extrinsic motivation to stick to your diet goals. I did not try it yet, but I do have trust in the founder.
