“5 Non-Intuitive Lifestyle Tweaks That Can Dramatically Improve One’s Wellbeing” With Petr Ludwig
An Interview With Dr. William Seeds
The more you exercise, the better your willpower is, and you will be able to use it in other domains like work, hobbies, and relationships. Another good reason to exercise is that the more we exercise, the better our cardiovascular health. Highly active individuals have a 27% lower risk of stroke incidence or mortality than low-active individuals.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Petr Ludwig. Petr Ludwig is a personal growth consultant, motivational speaker, science popularizer, entrepreneur, and author of the book “The End of Procrastination,” which has been translated into 15 languages. In his book and talks, Ludwig shows how insights gained from neuroscience and behavioral economics can be put into practice. More than ten years ago, Ludwig woke up with half of his body paralyzed. After recovering, he dedicated his life to fighting a different kind of disease: decision paralysis. Ludwig founded the company Procrastination.com to help individuals and businesses find their intrinsic motivation. He now works with Fortune 500 companies (including Google, HP, Microsoft, Cisco, Uber, etc.) and lives between New York, Japan, and his native Czech Republic.
Thank you so much for joining us, Petr! In your opinion, what is your unique contribution to the world of wellbeing?
My life’s mission is to help people overcome procrastination and live their lives to the fullest. The phenomenon of procrastination is growing, affecting us on a global scale. We live in a world full of distractions and are often overwhelmed. At work, we have full mailboxes, and every priority seems to be the most important.
In our private lives, we are distracted by social media, making our attention span the shortest in history. Fighting procrastination is one of the most important skills in the 21st century.
Can you share the most interesting story of your career?
In 2015, I experienced an emergency landing during a flight from Amsterdam to Prague. After taking off, the plane’s right engine literally blew up. It was scary, there was a blast of sparks, and then a fire erupted before the engine shut down. Everyone was facing the possibility of the worst. Luckily we landed safely after 15 minutes, but it became one of the most intense and crucial lessons of my life. Since then, I promised myself to live every day to the fullest and to help others do the same — to live their lives without procrastination.
None of us can achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
My company consists of a team of 35 people, and they are like my second family. I started my business 14 years ago during college, so many of my colleagues have been working with me for over a decade. A memorable moment was when my first employee, Martin, was married. He invited all of us to celebrate with him and his family. There was a long table of his wife’s relatives, another table of his relatives, and then a table of our colleagues.
When I saw how happy everyone was and what a strong relationship we all have, I felt very proud. Martin has been working with me from almost the beginning, and serves as a key programmer for our IT systems. He helps systematize our punk-based creative environment, and I owe him a lot. Thank you, my friend.
We all know that it’s important to eat more vegetables, eat less sugar, exercise more, and get better sleep, etc. But while we know it intellectually, it’s often difficult to put it into practice and make it a part of our daily habits. In your opinion, what are the three main blockages that prevent us from taking the information that we all know, and integrating it into our lives?
The first obstacle is big steps. We often want to change everything in one day. We set New Year’s resolutions; we want to start running, stop drinking so much, wake up without snoozing our alarms, etc. But in the end we fail because we want too much from ourselves. So remember, small steps — from a willpower perspective — are much more sustainable.
The second obstacle to changing our behavior is a lack of meaning. If we don’t have intrinsic motivation, we often fail to change. Many people want to exercise because others do. But this is the wrong type of motivation; instead, we have to find the courage to live our lives.
The last obstacle is the wrong attitude to failure. We all fail sometimes, but success is not defined by a lack of failure. Rather, success is about persisting even after we fail. Self-forgiveness is crucial to the fight against procrastination.
Can you please share your “5 Non-Intuitive Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Dramatically Improve One’s Wellbeing”?
1. The Japanese green tea “gyokoro” — This tea has three times more amino acids (like L-Theanine) than normal green tea. Those amino acids help decrease the risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease as well as the risk of breast cancer and prostate cancer.
2. Everyday gratefulness — The more selfish we are, the less happy we are. Being grateful for the good things in life and appreciating what others do is an evidence-based path to happiness. Being humble and selfless is a more effective way to a healthier, longer, and happier life.
3. Critical thinking — Wisdom means being able to say “I don’t know,” “I’m not sure,” or “I was wrong.” Complete certainty is often a sign of ignorance rather than intelligence.
4. Finding a balance between chaos and order — If we are too chaotic, we start to be irresponsible, we feel more stress, and we are often less responsive to others. On the other hand, being too systematic leads to a boring and stereotypical life. Finding a balance between chaos and order is key. For example, I was in a punk band and wishing to be “a systematic punk” — a person who can improvise and think outside of the box, but have his things and thoughts in order.
5. Long vacations — For the last six years, I make sure to have one month off, in a row, every year. I go to Japan, uninstall my Facebook, and visit no-tourist destinations. This kind of relaxation is the best investment for my productivity. After I go back to work, my willpower, energy, and thinking are on a much higher level than before my vacation.
What are the 3 benefits of daily exercise? Can you explain it?
Studies show that our willpower can be trained like a muscle. If you do 20 pushups every day and measure the size of your biceps, they will grow. If you use a brain scan like fMRI, you can see something similar occurring in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that exercises willpower.
The more you exercise, the better your willpower is, and you will be able to use it in other domains like work, hobbies, and relationships. Another good reason to exercise is that the more we exercise, the better our cardiovascular health. Highly active individuals have a 27% lower risk of stroke incidence or mortality than low-active individuals.
The last, but not least, benefit is happiness. Exercise is one of the best-known antidepressants and studies show that inactive individuals have a much higher risk of depression.
For someone who is looking to add exercise to their daily routine, which 3 exercises would you recommend that are absolutely critical?
Exercise should be fun, not torture. It is important to try many different types of exercise and different routines to find those that are the most joyful for you. Positive emotions are the best way to form a long-term habit. It is also crucial to set a routine, for example exercising every Monday at 8 am.
Routines can multiply the chances that we won’t procrastinate. Another useful tip is to have an exercise partner. If we are lazy and want to cancel today’s training, the barrier becomes much higher with an exercise partner. It’s much more difficult to excuse ourselves in front of others, than just in front of ourselves.
In my experience, many people begin an exercise regimen but stop because they get too sore afterward. What ideas would you recommend to someone who plays sports or does heavy exercise to shorten the recovery time, and to prevent short term or long term injury?
Always remember that sometimes less is more. Intensity is less important than regularity. It is much better to go running three times a week for 30 minutes each than to run just once a week and destroy ourselves by overestimating our abilities. Small gradual steps are the best to fight procrastination. The scientific term for it is a micro-habit.
Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story?
If I don’t count the impact my book has had on my life, I’d have to say Victors Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankl has a very curious and powerful life story; he was a Wiener psychiatrist who then lived through the Auschwitz concentration camp. After he survived, he founded logotherapy, the field of psychiatry that emphasizes the importance of purpose in life.
Recently, cognitive science research has provided strong evidence that purpose is a key ingredient to a long and happy life. Frank himself was a great example. He lived to his nineties. Man’s Search for Meaning can help move one’s values in the right direction.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
Definitely critical thinking. We live in a post-truth society where more and more people base their opinions on emotions rather than facts. We know that critical thinking can be taught. There is great research from Keith Stanovich about the rational quotient.
The ability to use logic, improve one’s argumentation skills, or even the simple ability to be humble is something that is not inborn in us. It is something that we need to cultivate. Critical thinking is like playing the piano. We can’t do it well if we are not trained.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?
“Follow the man who seeks the truth; run from the man who has found it.” My life experience and 14 years in business have taught me that you can find people that are a hundred percent certain about themselves on both sides of any binary. But the truth is almost always more complex.
We, as a global society, should give credit to the people and leaders that are able to doubt, and less to those who are certain about their opinions. We live in a complex system, and one definition of a complex system is that it is almost impossible to predict. So if someone thinks that they understand the world, they probably don’t understand the world.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the U.S. whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)
I missed the opportunity to meet former Czech president Vaclav Havel. He passed away in 2011, but he is still the most important symbol of my personal values. He famously said: “Truth and love must prevail over lies and hatred.”
His legacy is something that I want to spread in today’s world. Since his death, I find myself often missing his humble leadership and the moral integrity that he represented. We should find a way to respect the opinions of others, and find the things and ideas that unite us rather than divide us. Today’s divided world needs this kind of leadership.
What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?
Personal Instagram — @petrludwig
Procrastination.com Instagram — @endprocrastination & Twitter @procrast.com
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
