Here’s a short mental exercise to get your wheels spinning this week. Small actions repeated consistently over time have a tremendous impact on our futures. If this idea catches your mind and you want to reinforce some of its principles, I can’t recommend “The Compound Effect” by Darren Hardy enough. It’s a great book on getting the laws of compound interest working in your favor.

Compound Interest:

• Reading 20 pages a day is 30 books a year

• Saving $10 a day is $3,650 a year

• Running 1 mile a day is 365 miles a year

• Becoming 1% better per day is 37% better per year

Small habits are underestimated.

Brain - Adopting a Positive Mental Attitude (PMA)

Research has consistently shown that a positive mental attitude fosters better psychological and physical health. Studies published in the American Journal of Epidemiology have indicated that individuals with a positive outlook tend to enjoy longer life spans and experience lower rates of chronic diseases. Positive thinkers are also more likely to engage in health-promoting behaviors, such as regular exercise, balanced diets, and beneficial social interactions.

The psychology behind positive thinking can be explained through the broaden-and-build theory, proposed by Barbara Fredrickson. According to this theory, positive emotions broaden the scope of awareness and encourage creative thinking, resulting in increased resilience during challenging times. For example, someone who approaches adversity with courage and optimism is more likely to find constructive solutions rather than succumb to negativity.

One of my favorite quotes to lean back on in challenging times is “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

It’s so easy these days to be default negative. We are surrounded by people who are largely unhappy with their lives, unhappy with their bodies, news outlets that fish for the most divisive angle they can find to get clicks, and a social fabric that encourages us to lean into our negative emotions and feelings.

There are times in life to be genuinely frustrated and upset. It’s even okay to have periods where you would label your overall mindset as negative. That is human nature. The grain that we want to resist is the calling to find the negative light in most situations and instead look for the positive.

Take constructive criticism as an example. Someone who is a default negative thinker will take any criticism, constructive or not, as a harsh critique of their ability. A person with a positive mindset will take the suggestions as an opportunity to grow and develop.

You’re not always going to be super fired up about your job and your tasks for the day. It’s easy to let that snowball into a lingering sense of dissatisfaction with your job. The positively framed person will always view their current spot as 1) thankful to have a job in the first place 2) as an opportunity to prepare for their next career challenge and/or 3) take some ownership of the reasons they’re unhappy in the role. Maybe its a result of sub-par effort for an extended period of time.

Having a positive mental outlook is contagious in your life and in others. When you choose to look for the positive in the small things, that tends to bleed into other areas of your life. All of the sudden, you start to attract and encourage others around you to do the same.

At the end of the day, who would you like to be surrounded by? The constant negative person who is complaining about the color of the sky, or the person who just seems to brush things off as they come and always has a smile on their face? Be that person -

Body - Enhance Your VO2 Max with this “Sugarcane” Workout

Before we dive into this workout, a reminder of what VO2 Max is, and a reiteration of it’s importance: VO2 max is a measure of how much oxygen your body can absorb and use while working out. It's expressed in milliliters of oxygen consumed per minute per kilogram of body weight (ml/kg/min)

I was fully clueless about the idea of VO2 Max and its impact on our overall health and longevity until just a couple of years ago when I started to hear it mentioned in the content I was consuming around endurance sports as I attempted to learn the ropes. The simplest explanation of VO2 max is a quantifiable digit to measure how hard your body has to work to to function at a highly optimal level.

In running and other endurance sports, having a high VO2 max means your body can operate at a higher level of output (time/speed) while remaining at a lower level of perceived effort exerted. For longevity purposes, VO2 max gives individuals and doctors a metric to track as to what the current peak potential of their body is to operate at.

In general, the easiest way to extend VO2 max over time is to simply steadily increase your weekly cardio output. Once you have started there, the second step would be to increase the duration of your cardio outputs, often staying in what we label as “zone 2” efforts - or time spent at an output level that wouldn’t inhibit you from having a conversation.

Some new science also suggests that strategically placed max effort workout routines like this one below can have a significant impact on quickly improving our VO2 max. If I were to recommend this to someone, I would say to start with doing it once every 2 weeks. Start with a cardio form that is comfortable to you, and challenge yourself over time.

The Sugar Cane Method:

• 1st set: Go as far as you can for 2 min and note the distance. Ex. 600 meters in 2 min on the treadmill (can be bike, row, swim, whatever)

• 2nd set: Go for the distance from set 1 and note the time. ex. went 600 meters in 2 min 5 secs. Idea is to try and get as close to the 2 minute mark as you can, but if you did set 1 effectively, you will be tired.

• 3rd set: Go for time from set 2. ex. went 610 meters in 2 min 5 secs. Same principle as set 2.

Try and beat your distance from set 1 in set 3. If you go out too hard in set 1 you are punished in set 2 and if you go out too easy in set 1 you are punished in set 3. This forces your hand in maximal effort. It is a quick workout that will leave your lungs burning, but should stretch your top end capacity when it comes to cardio.

Book - A Reading List to Inspire Your 2025 Goals

December is finally upon us - the final month of the year! As we gear up for 2025 and begin to set our goals for 2025, I wanted to provide some material to help inspire you to raise your aspirations on what you are looking to do in 2025. Below are a few books under each bucket to help inspire you to think bigger as we head into 2025:

Fitness Goals:

1. Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins: The starting point for all physical achievements. Learn that you are capable of more and that it all starts between your own two ears.

2. Iron Cowboy by James Lawrence: James documents his journey of completing 50 Ironmans in 50 states in 50 days. It’s an incredible story that quickly puts into perspective how far away we all are from our unrealized potential.

3. Born to Run by Christopher McDougall: I have never once recommended this book to someone who read it and wasn’t inspired to start running, at least a little. It’s a powerful kick-starter to encourage you to start laying down some miles

Career Goals:

1. Empire State of Mind: How Jay-Z Went from Street Corner to Corner Office: If you are looking to pump up your “hustle” and drive as you head into 2025, lean on Jay Z’s story to get inspired. This is such a great biography and doubles nicely as a business book.

2. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson: Steve Jobs was a hard-nosed CEO with unreachable standards and a divisive leadership style on reflection. What can’t be argued about Steve Jobs was his vision and his mind. You don’t have to want to be Steve Jobs for 24 hours a day, but if you can channel a little Steve for a couple of hours a week, your output will increase, period. There’s also a ton to be gleaned from reading about the pitfalls of those who paved the way before us, so we don’t make the same mistakes.

Health Goals:

1. Good Energy by Casey Means: I have written about this book in a handful of newsletters so I won’t belabor the point - yet I will encourage everyone to challenge themselves to break down their diet and fitness routines to the bone. Seek to understand at a deep level. We can only formulate good game plans when we understand all of the variables at stake. This book is a must-read on health

2. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi: This is a beautiful but heartbreaking book about a surgeon who was diagnosed with an inoperable cancer. Perspective around health is the most powerful motivator, and this book is packed with it.