Hello and welcome to 4-Minute Friday where I share, in four minutes or less, the latest things I’m doing to enhance my health, develop a better mindset, make day-to-day life easier, and other shenanigans.
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Visible & Realistic Weekly Goals:
Last week, I set a goal for myself to do 100 push-ups daily. No, not 100 straight… I broke them down into 4 or 5 (or 10) sets.
There were two significant realizations I had with this.
Making goals visible is powerful.
Instead of just reminding myself that I was to complete 100 push-ups daily, I wrote it on my whiteboard. Then I proceeded to make a checkmark after each day I hit my quota… which proudly ended up being all five of them.
Yet, there were multiple days when I was a few (or 75) shy heading into the final hours of the day and was reminded by my board that I “shouldn’t” – more accurately, “couldn’t” – turn in without earning that green checkmark.
Which brings me to my second insight – small wins add up.
Taking inventory of the week, I completed 500 push-ups which was, candidly, 500 more push-ups than I would have repped had I not formulated this goal.
If I were to continue, this would add up to 2,500 pushups weekly - and in less than 5 minutes sacrificed each day, would tally to 130,000 push-ups in a year!
(And yes, I understand 100 x 7 = 700 but the weekend wasn’t included in this impressive feat of physical prowess.)
Now think if you applied this same technique to journaling/meditation, walking outside, stretching, reading, and so forth.
Here is your action plan: next week… start small. Write down one daily action in a highly visible place that you want to achieve. Check it off each day you’re successful.
This week, mine was to only drink one (large) coffee per day, believe it or not.
Not the best timing with what’s to be discussed next…
The Daylight Savings Debate:
If you had a hard time getting out of bed this week, well, so did the rest of us normal folk.
With daylight savings time in full effect, the yearly conversation of whether this is a great or awful thing is now in full swing. And there aren’t many people in the middle… which seems to be a common theme nowadays.
Anyways, I digress.
Many thanks to the popularity of Dr. Andrew Huberman, followed slightly behind by the knowledge spread through HIB, we all understand how fundamental early morning sunlight is to our health. Our intrinsic circadian rhythm drives nearly every vital process in our body and morning light is indisputably the best route to regulating it.
Therefore, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to surmise that delaying morning sunlight (i.e., daylight savings) may not be the best for our health.
Even if it provides the opportunity for you to have a post-work cocktail on the patio while the sun sets.
In fact, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) has advocated for daylight savings time to be abolished and standard time to be in place year-round.
Here’s a snippet from the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine to drive home this point:
An abundance of accumulated evidence indicates that the acute transition from standard time to daylight saving time incurs significant public health and safety risks, including increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events, mood disorders, and motor vehicle crashes.
- (Rishi et al., 2020)
But since it is still in effect, continue to get outside whenever the sun peeks through to re-establish that daily rhythm!
Mindset from ChatGPT I’m Embracing:
Artificial intelligence in the form of large language models is taking the world by storm.
One of the most prominent of these being ChatGPT; it’s likely you or someone close to you uses this one (or another) on the daily.
Even large corporations are building their own unique models for employees to be more efficient in their daily tasks.
And while I don’t advise high schoolers use ChatGPT to write papers or finish their math homework in a flash, I think it can be used intelligently to expand our abilities.
For example, I set out to find what ChatGPT thinks it means to live a “good life” and then probed a little deeper by having the model condense it down into a few sentences.
Here is the final answer it generated:
Living a good life isn’t about always being comfortable. Growth, purpose, and fulfillment often come from challenges, discomfort, and pushing beyond your limits. True happiness comes from resilience, meaningful connections, and striving for something greater – not just ease or convenience.
I think we all would co-sign that sentiment.
Anyways, not sure where I was going with that but I highly recommend becoming familiar with these models – they aren’t going anywhere and can be incredibly useful!
What else?
Try taking a walk this week with no headphones or external input. Just enjoy the beautiful weather and whatever environment you’re in… see what comes up!
Seek meaning over comfort.
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DISCLAIMER
This is NOT Medical advice. Consult your medical professional before starting any supplement, diet regimen, or workout program.