I’m Ripping Off Tim Ferris
“I organize my life into 6 month projects in a series of 2 week experiments.”
I heard this one off line on the Tim Ferris show. It seamed a simple instruction, so I decided to give it a try. I suffer from wanting to do everything at once in an attempt to concurrently improve all my life’s deficiencies. The problem is - it never works. The only things I have ever really become good at are the things I obsess over. I’m get captivated to the point I start blowing other activities off, which appears to be critical to being good at anything. Why not quantify that, which is why I decided to steal Mr. Ferriss’ methodology.
As for the what, I want to be jacked. More precisely, I want to be in premier physical condition. For a plethora of reasons I’ve made improving my body’s health and appearance my 6-month project. I know already that the major components of this will be diet and exercise. I need to develop the habits, one at a time, until my auto-pilot settings are that of an impressive physical specimen. Each of the habits, I will add 2 weeks at a time. The reason I will label these “experiments” is I can then ditch the phycological heft of “oh god, this has to last forever”. I can ditch anything after 2 weeks. Or, if it’s too difficult, I can tweak it to something more practical and attempt that modified version the next two weeks. I view it as a win-win. Best yet, I never have to think too hard beyond 2 weeks. Simplicity is the linch-pin of this operation.
Where to start? I’ve been standardizing breakfast and lunch with a base diet that is quick, simple, and ridiculously healthy. Life often gets in the way, but my life is fairly predictable for those two meals. It’s a quick win that can ground me in health. My core 3 meals that are the current experiment:
Breakfast: Smoothie in a Vitamix blender. This is simple Banana + Almond Milk + whatever I have else lying around. I usually buy a bag of frozen fruits to add, but being a Vitamix, I can add a clementine/ apples/ whatever fruit or nuts or anything I may have lying around. This also has an opportunity to improve, as I can make a future 2-week experiment to max out the nutrition of the smoothie. For now, I like the easy as all hell nature to my current setup.
Lunch 1: Vegetable stew cooked in a slow cooker. Inspired by Josh Spodek, I go to the farmers market and buy a gaggle of root vegetables. I mix it up and take a bite of each before I throw it in the stew. The goal here is to get a more intimate understanding of the different flavors of vegetables. I hypothesize I can teach my body to crave veggies, and this is the major means to do so. I also create a spice broth I throw in with lentils for heft and additional flavor. Its different every time, which creates variety necessary to maintain my sanity.
There is room to improve this process by getting a pressure cooker, as Josh Spodek does in the linked video. He can whip up a batch of stew in 30 minutes with such a tool, given him more control. This could be another experiment.
Lunch 2: I get lazy. A lot. Sometimes I don’t go to the farmers market because I decided to stay out a little too late. If such is the case, there is a cafeteria down the street from my work that makes everything half price after 2:30. I can go here and make myself a salad with veggies and a meat for taste. It’s a solid, healthy, and cheap backup.
I’ve actually been working these for a little longer than 2 weeks, but there have been many tweaks along the way. I’m going to run it back once more as my focus, then perhaps I’ll branch into dinner.
For dinner, I just do whatever. I have found, however, that focusing on health for the first two meals has a carry over the effect that makes me target healthier dinner options. That said, I only have so much mental currency in a given week. I’m close to having breakfast and lunch on autopilot, so perhaps dinner is the next frontier.
2 weeks ago I clocked in at 213 on the scale. Yesterday I was 208. Hooray improvement(For reference, I’m 6'3", so I’m not as fat as that weight might suggest, you judgmental assholes)! I’m already progressing tangibly towards my goal.
Please Note: My main goal is to document my health forays, so I may rush the posting at the expense of some grammar and higher quality writing. I need to learn to churn out words faster, and I’d love to condense these posts to one day a week. Wish me luck!