LETTER
Ask Better Humans Anything
Dear Better Humans reader,
Here’s something important you can do.
Starting very, very soon (within weeks probably), we are going to be adding an editorial budget to this publication so that we can get the very best, most trusted, most cutting edge, most inspiring information that will help you be your best. I have a very unique publication in mind that’s never been done before: trusted self improvement advice written that’s been tested by the author but is independent of any one branded guru. That’s going to take money, which we now are ready to spend.
So the question for you is: where do you want us to spend our money?
What we’ve published so far is fantastic. Better Humans is the 12th largest publication on Medium based just on a group of coaches volunteering time to share what they know about productivity, focus, health, goals, habits and so on.
But I want to pay our authors to do even better, to go deeper, to write the most thoroughly explained and tested advice on the internet. I want to be able to approach any expert on the planet with an offer they can’t refuse: I’ll pay them anything to tell us everything.
So, can you help me?
If you read this far and already know where you want us to spend our money, just leave a response. What follows are some prompts to help you realize what’s possible.
These are the topics and why’s that we’re interested in. Please highlight the parts you’re interested in too.
- Beyond Quantified Self. Most Quantified Self talks hit on a valuable life lesson. We want that life lesson turned into a tutorial that other people can follow that is then backed up by the Quantified Self data.
- How to edit your own writing. We’re all writers now who are acting without editors. We get platitudes like “Kill your darlings,” but how do you even recognize a darling. Most authors I know refer to specific goals of various editing passes, i.e. Tim Ferris first pass for grammar, second for fans, third for haters. I want to hear from a real writer how they help other writers edit their work.
- Adjusting Your Microbiome. I see a lot of “Might Help” style articles about the Microbiome. But I want to hear from people who actually changed something, measured the change, and correlated it to a change in their real life. The science is early, so I’m happy to start pushing anecdotes out to get more self-experimenters.
- Supplement real talk. I have two problems with supplements. Most of them have impossible to notice benefits. And then you can’t trust you even got the real supplement because the industry has so much fraud. We know some things you put in your body have an obvious effect: alcohol, caffeine, creatine. I’d like someone to make the Complete Guide to High Confidence Supplementation.
- How to organize research notes. For people who would like to write a book or have multiple research projects going on or you see an article, how do you track it and research it? There actually used to be a lot of writing on this from the days of Library card catalogues. What’s the modern take?
- Single-tasking and defending against the information economy. This series is based around the work of Tristan Harris and I need tactical pieces.
- PEDs for Normal People. The range of PEDs I’m interested in are brain drugs like adderall, steroids like HGH or Testosterone, and micro-dosed psychedelics like LSD. There are a few angles that I think need to be covered. Practical considerations like how to obtain these — I’m pretty sure I’m now at an age where there is a phrase I could tell my doctor that would get me a topical testosterone prescription. I’m suspicious of the types of people promoting these — I really want first-person accounts from people that can already claim to be well-rounded and functional.
- Brain benefits. Sleep & Meditation are getting a lot of published research that indicate direct brain benefits. How do we optimally train our brain or use our brain for peak performance?
- A vetted list of trusted news sources including radical ones. Who broke stories that ended up being right. Totally fair to include their biases. We just read the Twitter feed of William Gibson. Who are the key people for every topic? Health, productivity, leadership, mindfulness, relationships, business, culture, politics. Most news sources are some combination of dumbed down, inconsistent, incurious, narrowly biased. We would all be smarter if we had better inputs.
- Gonzo mindfulness practices from people you don’t think of as spiritual: greedy hedge fund managers, ultra-competitive athletes, poker players, soldiers. Possible cross over with the habits of extreme athletes: flight suit nutsos, free climbers, drag racers.
- Blood work you can get to measure your own health and what to do with the results.
- Whatever happened to transhumanism? A few years ago, people were implanting themselves with magnets, but that seems to have gone out of fashion. Is there a new wave?
- How to track writing ideas, organize them, and turn them into actual written products. There is something appealing about hearing about famous people always jotting down notes — but really, how does this work? What do people do with those notes? Author can reference other famous authors but I want the level of detail that can only be given by someone who has tried these practices.
- A really good guide to using Siri. All existing articles are actually the same trite examples over and over again. When Siri gets the text message wrong is there any way to recover? Can you spell or punctuate? How can you not be a distracted driver (possibly more targeted version of this). We always like to write from the perspective of applied usage. What benefits or challenges get faced by people who actually try our advice in the real world? Siri seems like it could be a huge productivity boon, but I want to know the reality of it.
- Current trends in hypnotism and persuasion. People are getting savvier about how they manipulate us. I’d like to be better at recognizing these tricks and maybe even use them for good. My imagination was sparked recently by a Scott Adams phrase, “Pace and Lead.” That’s the kind of insider tactics that I’d like to hear more about.
- 10x Performers Come From 10x Situations. In tech, and other places, there is this myth of a top performer who gets done 10x what other people get done. The part that’s a myth is that this person was born better. I’ve witnessed the creation of four different 10x performers and the key thing was always that they were put in a situation that allowed them to blossom. They went from solid to fantastic. So, rather than finding more geniuses, I want writing that’s focused on creating them. I have a particular love of this topic in the world of business.
And then as a reminder, Better Humans is a group blog based around collecting advice from people with applied experience. I want you to trust that every bit of advice has been tested by the author.
For that reason most of our authors are behavioral coaches. And there’s some affiliation with the app, Coach.me. But for the most part, we’re just trying to be the most trusted source of personal development information. And me? I’m the founder of Coach.me, editor-in-chief here at Better Humans, and a full on self improvement weirdo. I love learning about this stuff and working to on reaching my own potential (plus helping other people reach theirs).
Best,

