Own the Day, Own your Life - Aubrey Marcus
Optimized Practices for Waking, Working, Learning, Eating, Training, Playing, Sleeping, and Sex
Goal of the book: Prepare for one optimal day and actually try to live that one day.
1. Water, Light, Movement
In the morning, want to hydrate immediately, seek light, and get moving to reset internal clock.
Car engines need some warmup for optimal performance and not breaking. Our body is the same.
Morning mineral cocktail: 350ml water, 1/4 lemon, 3g sea salt
Salt got bad rep for increasing blood pressure, but studies couldn’t show link between reduced salt intake and less risk of cardiovascular disease.
Circadian rhythm extremely important to regulate many physical processes. Best way to control it is through light. Want to get a strong light exposure right after waking up, both from nights sleep as well as nap (5-10min).
2. Deep Breathe, Deep Freeze
Ironically bad chronic stress weakens our willpower so much that we shy away from any good acute stress like cold exposure.
Wim Hof breathing can drastically reduce chronic stress while also inducing acute stress and releasing adrenaline.
Cold shock and oxygen deprivation release norepinephrine which reduces inflammation in the body.
Cold exposure also breads mental toughness.
Acute stress actually helps with chronic stress.
3. More fat, less sugar, or don’t eat
Many of us have sugar and fast carbs for breakfast, spiking our insulin, and then crashing and feeling foggy and wired/tired an hour later.
Should swap in fat for sugar!
[bq] “Universal Nutrition Principle Number 1: Sugar will fruc you up!”
When blood sugar rises it’s actually toxic and liver converts it to glycogen for energy. But once those stores are full, converted into fat.
[bq] “Universal Nutrition Principle Number 2: Fat is your friend!”
Actually no evidence that far consumption increases risk of cardiovascular disease. On the contrary, people with higher fat intake are healthier, more active, and ironically less fat.
[bq] “Universal Nutrition Principle Number 3: Skipping is better than cheating!”
Intermittent fasting can be good choice if no good breakfast is available or if weight loss is a goal.
4. Essential Supplements
We’re dealing with much more stressors than our ancestors and our environment provides much fewer nutrients, minerals, and good microbes. Hence supplementation makes sense even if it seems “unnatural”
Lack of fermented foods, germophobia, and liberal use of antibiotics are all problem for microbiome.
Supplements are not substitutes!
5. Drive Time, Alice Time
Commute doesn’t have to be a wasted and stressful time. Can use it to learn (e.g. podcasts).
Can also use it to practice mindfulness.
6. The Power Plants
Plants offer many wonderful benefits. Coca plant stimulates and can cure altitude sickness. Poppy seed can relax us. Coffee/tea also stimulates. Tobacco too. But often we take this too far, refine them, make them dangerous and eventually in various cases blame and ban the plant.
Caffeine:
L-theanine in tea, especially matcha, balances some of the jittery effects and boosts positive effects of caffeine.
Coffee has useful antioxidants and nutrients, supports the liver and improves gut health.
Fat slows down caffeine effect, preventing early spike and later crash. Best fat source: MCT oil
Need to be careful with tolerance and addiction and not disturb sleep pattern.
Nicotine:
Nicotine itself actually has many performance benefits: Gets you in the zone, flow. Improve fine motor skills, attention, accuracy, response time and memory.
But isn’t for everyone. Can lead to nausea and addiction.
Never smoke cigarettes! Want smokeless tobacco, e.g. snus. Nicotine gum or patch are best ways.
Huperzina serrate:
Plant nootropic that boosts acetylcholine production and improves memory and learning.
Don’t want ti every day, only or particular performance boost.
7. Don’t Work
How much time we work is irrelevant, it’s how effective we are during that time.
Happy people do better work!
Key factor for being happy with work: Having a clear mission!
Can use smells (e.g. essential oil) to set certain mood by associating them with certain states and use them as triggers.
Remember to keep a good posture and stretch regularly.
People’s mood and attitude rub of on you so be careful with who you surround yourself and what kind of “energy” they give off.
Laughter diffuses tension.
Need to say “no” more often.
Once you figure out your mission, write it down and put it somewhere prominent.
8. Eat a weird lunch
With a shitty lunch you end up spending the afternoon tired and with a foggy brain.
Want to get as much variety as possible. Foundation of macronutrients, variety of micronutrients, and avoiding “anti-nutrients”.
[bq] “Universal Nutrition Principle Number 4: Calories are Bullshit! Macronutrients matter!”
Protein is the fundamental building material.
3 types of fiber:
Soluble fiber: Gels and slows down nutrient uptake for more even delivery
Insoluble: Provides bulk and helps move it through digestive tract.
Fermentable: Provides food for gut bacteria, “prebiotic”
Carbohydrates are good as long as they uptake is very slow/controlled.
—> Need fiber with them
Fat increases feeling of satiety.
[bq] “Universal Nutrition Principle Number 5: Eat Weird Foods!”
The more diverse your food, the more micronutrients you’ll get. Also more diverse microbiota.
Antioxidants help with inflammation.
[bq] “Universal Nutrition Principle Number 6: Go to war with Anti-Nutrients!”
Anti-Nutrients lead to oxidative stress and inflammation.
Avoid trans-fats (hydrogenated vegetable oils) and burned foods.
9. The Binaural Nap
The truth is most of us don’t get enough quality sleep at night, and we often feel a slump after lunch. Often afternoon is completely unproductive due to this.
An extra nap actually more effective than same amount of time added to normal sleep.
Theta-brain waves are ideal for relaxation and what we want to have for quick/good sleep.
Binaural beats can be used to trigger particular type of brainwaves.
Take 30min nap with binaural beats optimized for theta waves.
10. Training
Goal is to be balanced and healthy, not overdevelop certain muscles.
Now common machines completely isolate muscle groups, not a natural way to train.
Want unconventional training: kettlebells, ropes, bands, maces, sandbags, body weight,… These not only improve strength, but also mobility and balance.
“Training Pyramid” for 50 min workout:
Durability (Flexibility + Mobility): 15 min
Cardio: 10 min
Muscular Endurance: 8 min
Strength: 5 min
Power: 3 min
11. Reset and Reconnect
Despite digital connectedness and hyperactive social lives, more and more people feel alone.
Spending time with a small number of close friends/family is best way to reset after a day of work.
Playing a musical instrument also great way to reset and disconnect.
After workout also best time to drink alcohol or smoke weed: Effects are stronger and at the same time gets metabolized quicker, so less “after effects”. Just don’t overdo it.
Play! Nothing better to staying young than just being silly and enjoying yourself.
Pets are really great for connection too!
12. Eat Dinner like a King
Want to have a dinner that supports digestion, supports sex, supports sleep, and sets you up for a great night.
Raw milk products (especially goat milk) can reduce allergies and asthma. Sprouted or sourdough bread, chocolate, and popcorn with grass-fed butter and sea salt also great for evening despite bad reputation.
[bq] “Universal Nutrition Principle Number 7: What you think about food matters!”
Nocebo effect is very real! Bodies response demonstrably different depending on whether we think something is healthy or not.
[bq] “Universal Nutrition Principle Number 8: Nutrition is only as good as digestion!”
Eat slow, chew hard!
Stomach acids important for digestion. Drinking cold drinks with food dilutes it and slows down digestion.
Ginger speeds up gastric emptying and makes you feel less full quicker.
[bq] “Universal Nutrition Principle Number 9: Cheat like a pro!”
Ultimate Hangover Cure:
Rehydrate: Have magnesium before bed and lots of water with sea salt after waking
Reduce toxic burden of acetaldehyde: Ideally supplement with molybdenum (300g) before bed and after waking. Can also get it from legumes.
Balance your neurotransmitters. L-theanine (e.g. from green tea) helps balance the GABA system.
13. More, better Sex
Have less and less sex and more and more anxiety surrounding sex!
Need to make sure to regulate our hormones, especially testosterone and estrogen.
Eating fat helps synthesize testosterone. Sleep also crucial! Lifting heavy weights signals body to produce more testosterone.
Masturbation is great but don’t overdo it, can quickly build hedonic tolerance.
Attraction basically comes down to genetic and immune system assessment, want partner to have different immune system.
Good communication and openly talking about sex and personal preferences is key.
Power-play often leads to better sex, as well as (surprisingly) overall health benefits.
Kegel training for men leads to harder erections and can be used to suppress ejaculation and prolong orgasm.
Nitric oxide key for dilation of capillaries and blood flow to genitals.
Be mentally present and in the moment. Relax!
Do “porn fasts” trying to avoid sexual material and even thoughts if possible.
14. Turn Off, Tune In
Phones are designed to release our brains’ favorite candy: dopamine
Takes us out of the moment and robs us from true emotional connection, as well as induces stress through cortisol
Turn screens off at night!
Use time for journaling. Write down mission plus 3 main objectives for next day.
Reading great to wind down and learn.
15. Sleep
We are sleeping less and with worse quality than ever before.
But learn more and more about just how important sleep is.
Need to do “sleep homework” and figure exactly what works for us and what influences our sleep.
Four phases of sleep, most important ones are Deep and REM sleep.
Total of sleep matters less than number of sleep cycles.
Conception that we need to sleep in one long block is wrong and only a very modern concept.
Sleep hygiene is crucial!
Lower temperature at night
Eliminate blue light
Ban electronics from bedroom
Add plants for better air quality
Don’t get stressed if you can’t fall asleep. Sleeping is weekly task, not daily, and can capture you later in the week.
[bq] “DO LESS, DO IT BETTER!”
16. Bring It Home
Any change comes with resistance, many voices (internal and external) telling us why we should give up.
Need to forgive ourselves and truly believe that we deserve everything positive that’s happening to us. We all fail sometimes and shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves if we don’t live up to perfection, or break a routine.
Sharing a goal makes you publicly accountable for it and more likely to stick.
Find a mantra and say it to yourself every day, even something stupid/ridiculous. Examples: “I’m not fucking around!” or “Go, hero, go!”