Becoming My Own Competition: A Self-Improvement Journey
Compare yourself only to who you were yesterday. Be your own competition.
2019 was a transformational year for me. I became fit, got married, began meditating, started sleeping better and learned how to code. I accomplished all this as I embarked on a quest for continual self-improvement that would become an obsession and one of my life’s priorities.
This all began with a blog post I read about a man’s biohacking journey (unfortunately, I lost the post). For those of you who don’t know, biohacking is “the practice of changing our chemistry and our physiology through science and self-experimentation to energize and enhance the body”. Specifically, in the post, this man walked you through the thorough and methodical steps he was taking to become much more productive and achieve his ambitious life’s goal — if I remember correctly, he wanted to create artificial general intelligence. His biohacking practice included a combination of micro-dosing, nootropics, exercise and some other practices I can’t remember right now.
In any case, this article aroused my interest and got me thinking about all the practices, techniques, habits, philosophies and ways of living that can help us live better lives but are often left unexplored. Furthermore, it inspired me (in a FOMO kind of way) to start trying new things to improve my life. This article is an exploration of what I’ve tried up until now, how it’s worked for me and what I want to try next.
Exercise
The benefits I’ve seen from the gym cannot be overstated. It has become the single most important thing I do every day. Physically and mentally, it has changed my life.
I began going to the gym just 3 days a week in a chill way. I was doing it to balance my new sedentary lifestyle — a result of enrolling in Lambda School, an online coding school. I just wanted to move my body after being sitting in a chair all day long in front of a computer. That’s how my fitness journey began.
I don’t remember exactly when it started becoming such a serious thing, but it gradually changed from being a three-day-a-week hobby to being an essential part of my life.
This happened as a combination of two different things that accelerated my results in an amazing way. One: I began eating better (which I’ll explore in the next section). Two: I started giving every session my 100%; my training philosophy became: If I’m going to make the effort of coming to the gym, I’m going to give every exercise (every single repetition) all I can.
All this became a virtuous cycle. As I ate better, I wanted to train harder and as I trained harder, I had more incentive to eat better. Beautiful. And the results didn’t wait to show up. As of now, I’m proud to say that I have achieved the bodybuilding goals I had set for myself at the beginning of the year. I’m not stopping here, though, but rather am doubling down on what I have achieved as this year’s goal.
As I said before, the benefits I’ve experienced fall into two camps: physical and mental. I’m not going to go deep into the physical benefits, which I think are kind of obvious. I’ll just say that they fall into three categories: better looks, greater confidence and better health.
Mentally, however, is where I’ve encountered the most important and unexpected benefits of hitting the gym. First of all, going to the gym first thing in the morning gives you a “sense of pride of having already completed a task in the day” (using US Navy Admiral William McRaven’s words — watch this video if you haven’t!), especially if you give it 100%. It gives you a sense of accomplishment and a sort of anti-procrastination boost to go on to complete more tasks throughout the rest of your day. It makes you much more productive.
Additionally, something I started noticing when I adopted the 100%-or-nothing philosophy was that whenever I gave it all in every exercise, I always arrived at a happiness high during my routine. A feeling of euphoria so good it becomes addictive — it’s a big part of what gets my out of bed each morning nowadays. “Like with the high that people get from taking opioid drugs, the runner’s high [or exercise high] feels exhilarating, easeful, and comfortable.” And if you don’t believe me, look at what science says:
Research indicates that the brains of people who exercise excessively get exposed to high amounts of drug-like opioids, creating an intense high. The desire to experience the feeling again drives them to continue to exercise in excess.
Now, imagine beginning your day with that kind of feeling. It’s crazy! It’s cheating!
On another note, the discipline you build while doing something hard several days a week, every single week, is unbelievable. I’ve always been disciplined, but going to the gym regularly has taken my self-discipline to a whole new level. Complex goals that seemed extremely hard to achieve before, seem reachable now, even easy to accomplish. This newly built discipline truly feels like getting new superpowers.
Finally, I’ve used my training sessions to not only exercise, but also meditate about my life. Indeed, my time at the gym has become a semi-sacred space in which I take advantage of being alone and in a beautiful state of mind to think about my life and solve any pending issues that may be bothering me. So far, it’s worked beautifully for me. It’s been the perfect complement to sleeping on any issue.
Nutrition
As with exercise, healthy eating began as an experiment and has now become an essential part of my life. While I obviously expected some benefits from eating better, the results I’ve gotten have surprised me in many ways.
The first thing I found out, and very quickly, is that there’s no body building without healthy eating. Before getting into this journey, I thought going to the gym and eating as usual worked — I thought you could get in shape without sacrificing anything in the nutrition department. Well, that’s totally wrong. While you can obviously see some improvements by hitting the gym and eating as usual, they will be nothing compared to an exercise routine coupled with a nutrition plan. I’m convinced, through my experience, that nutrition accounts for roughly 70% of my gym results; the pace of change and the quality of the results I saw when I changed my eating habits cannot be overstated. They completely catalyzed my body building results. It was almost as if I could see the gains day by day. Thus, if you really want to look as you’ve always wanted, you need to have a nutrition plan.
Now, a nutrition plan doesn’t need to be boring. Of course, it’s not like eating anything you want every single day, but it’s not the end of the world either. For me, it’s been basically lowering the amount of carbs, minimizing sugar intake to the lowest possible level and increasing protein consumption.
On any given day, my diet looks as follows:
- Morning: I have oatmeal or eggs for breakfast and then I have a protein shake after the gym.
- Afternoon: For lunch, I have some protein (meat or fish), a small side of carbs (smashed potatoes, rice) and a salad.
- Mid-afternoon: I have a greek yogurt — a low-fat and high-protein version.
- Night: For dinner I normally have tuna salad.
I allow myself a cheat-day one day a week. This day, I eat whatever I want: pizza, ice cream, burger, you name it.
That’s it, that’s my nutrition plan.
Now, I’m not a nutritionist or anything of the sort. I’m not going to dare to recommend you follow my plan; what I’ve realized during this process is that nutrition is a very subjective and delicate matter — so I don’t adhere to any nutrition philosophy nor pretend to know what I don’t. What I highly recommend, though, is experimenting; trying different nutrition approaches until you find the one that serves you well. Whether it’s a carnivore approach, a vegan diet or something in between, no one can tell you your approach is bad if it makes you feel great. That’s what I’ve done and so far it’s worked for me.
Besides catalyzing my body building results, I have noted another non-intended benefit. Before this nutrition plan, I suffered from acute heartburn. It happened almost every day. I had to be constantly taking heartburn medicine. It was very uncomfortable. With my new diet, however, it’s never happened again. It now feels like an old memory from the past.
Finally, as with going to the gym every day, eating right helps you build discipline and self-control. This isn’t something as tangible as the other benefits, which you start noticing almost immediately, but it’s just as important (or even more so) nonetheless. Over time, and very gradually, you start noticing some changes in your mind; in the way your brain works. You are more in control, you procrastinate less, you become more confident…
Meditation
I’ve been meditating for almost 6 months now. As with exercise and healthy eating, meditation has become a habit. I do it every single day and when I can’t do it (for whatever reason), I absolutely miss it. Even though it’s been only a few months, it’s already changed my life in meaningful ways.
I always had my curiosity about meditation. In big part because all the people that do it seem to have such high regards for the practice. It’s not uncommon to hear a meditator say it’s changed her life. Thus, for years I had the intention to try it. It was like one of those things you’ve always wanted to try but have never done so and think probably never will. Well, that was exactly my relationship with meditation.
Last year, though, I had the audacity to try it 😂. It happened as I was in the right frame of mind (looking to try new things) when I stumbled into a tweet from someone I respect a lot in which he praised Sam Harris’ new meditation app. So I downloaded it and just like that, my journey began.
The app, called Waking Up, is amazing for beginners. If you’re new to the practice, as I was, you begin by going through an introductory course that encompasses 50 meditation sessions, each 10 minutes a day. During this phase, Sam introduces you to the practice step by step. These 50 days give you a glimpse of what meditation is, how to do it and what it can do for you.
When you complete the introductory course, you’re free to choose between different guided meditation options to do every day. These sessions last between 10 and 30 minutes, depending on what you want.
In addition to the guided meditations, there’s a lessons section within the app. This section, which for me is as important as the meditation sessions, intends to teach the theory behind meditation: to explain why it matters. To say these lessons have been a hidden treasure for me is an understatement. In many of them I’ve felt that Sam is speaking directly to me; to address my current situation and solve my most pressing issues. What Sam explores during those lessons is so profound and life-changing that I try to listen to one of them every single day — even though I’ve already listened to them all. I usually do it in the morning before hitting the gym, and so far it’s been an amazingly liberating way to start my day.
The goal of the kind of meditation Sam teaches is twofold: 1) to be mindful and not let your thoughts be in charge of your life, and 2) to wake up and experience the fact that the self (what you are) is not something separate from the rest of the world, but rather is the world itself.
I’ve already been able to achieve the first goal, up to a certain degree. I’ve successfully incorporated mindfulness throughout my day, for brief periods of time. And the results have been amazing: I’m more relaxed, more thoughtful and happier. I now put problems into perspective, reminding myself that most don’t really matter in the big scheme of things. I’ve also been able to control my constant and unhinged overthinking, which used to torture me. In essence, I’m now more aware of my thoughts and as a result, have taken back some control over how I respond to them; I’m no longer a full-time puppet of my thoughts. This may not sound like much until you experience it, but believe me, it has been life changing for me.
The second goal of meditation is much more profound: to wake up; to understand there’s no self, but rather that you’re one with the world. It’s such a mind-bending concept that it’s hard to grasp. During the time I’ve been doing this I’ve been lucky enough to be able to “wake up” for some brief, fleeting seconds, but haven’t fully realized its meaning. It’s a strange feeling; like I’ve been able to peek inside, but haven’t been able to completely open the door. I expect this awakening to be a gradual process over several years, though. And am already all-in to discover what’s behind the door.
Sleeping better
My journey into sleep began when I read Why We Sleep, an eye-opening book that explains the importance of sleep in excruciating detail. The book is not that fun to read, but the information it contains is invaluable. I think it should be read by everyone. Simply put, it shows why sleeping 8 hours a night gives you superpowers, while sleeping less than 7 hours a night has unimaginable detrimental effects over your health and performance. To all those thinking, “I sleep 6 hours a night and I feel great”, please read the book!
I’ve always known sleep is important but I didn’t know just how important and fundamental it is. It basically permeates every single aspect of your life. The difference between a good and a bad night of sleep is radical, and can literally be the difference between life and death.
Thus, since reading Why We Sleep, I’ve adjusted my routine to be able to get the necessary 8 hours of sleep every single night. No exception. That has basically meant that my day now begins 1 hour later than before, no big deal. As a result, I now begin most of my days with a clear mind, eager to hit the gym and energetically tackle every single task the day has in store for me. In contrast, whenever something extraordinary happens and I can’t sleep my 8 hours (very unfrequent now), my day feels like an uphill battle since I open my eyes: my brain works painfully slowly and every single task becomes harder to accomplish.
I don’t want to get any deeper into sleep, since I feel everything is in the book and everyone should read it. Lets just say that if you’re one of those people that frequently sleeps less than 7 hours a night, you have an amazing potential to improve your life by sleeping better. Just read the book, try doing what it suggests and thank me later.
And a little bonus here: Haven’t tried any of these items yet, but I’m dying to do so…
Also, this one. 😍
Writing
This is the last habit I’ve incorporated into my self-improvement journey. I did so following several recommendations to do so, particularly by David Perell, who I closely follow on Twitter. His main argument in favor of writing online is that it’s one of the best ways to find serendipity on the internet. In his own words:
The best opportunities are the ones you never expected.
They’re serendipitous.
Serendipity is a state of mind. Serendipity births unexpected opportunities which fuel progress and push us in fruitful directions. By maximizing serendipity, you’ll accelerate your progress.
Serendipity is a skill, which means it can be learned.
And:
Writing is the best kind of networking.
By making it easy for people to find you online, you’ll create a vehicle for serendipity. Call on your vehicle when you want to manufacture serendipity, and you need some activation energy.
So, yeah. That’s basically it. That’s why I’m doing it. I want to maximize serendipity in my life.
So far, I’ve written 2 articles and cool things have already happened:
- I got contacted by two Medium publications and I’ve become a writer for them. This means I can publish what I write in their platforms and maximize my audience.
- I got contacted by a classmate from university who I hadn’t spoken to in years. It turns out he became a developer (as I did) and is now working full time in crypto, one of my passions.
Both these things would have never happened had I not started writing online, so theory proven. Now I’m all in; I’m convinced of the power of serendipity and will continue writing to maximize it in my life.
What I want to try next
Stoicism: I have been reading a lot about this ancient philosophy lately. I’ve been trying some of its concepts and think it has valuable insights into how to live a better life. I may even write a piece about it in the future.
As always, thanks for reading! ✌🏻
