Happy Monday! Here’s a dose of morning perspective for you. Read it, read it again. Then move through the week with it in mind. Let’s have ourselves one.

“Sometimes, we don't appreciate the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory. We rush through days that some future version of us will ache to return to. And we overlook the beauty in what we already have, believing happiness lives somewhere else: in another milestone or season.

But one day; today will be one of those moments you wish you could relive. The people you see every day won't always be there and the version of you that exists right now, with these dreams, worries and hopes, will fade into memory too.

So slow down, look up and breathe it in. For life reveals its magic in the ordinary moments we're too busy to notice. And maybe that's the real secret to happiness: not in having more, but in seeing more of what's already here.” - Simon Alexander

Brain - The 30-Day Dopamine Detox

You know that feeling when you wake up tired, reach for your phone out of habit, and scroll before your feet even hit the ground? When coffee stops working, days blur together, and nothing feels quite as sharp or exciting as it used to? If you feel like you are sleeping well, this could be something other than burnout. You could simply be suffering from dopamine fatigue.

This very idea is one of the reasons this newsletter was started - We live in a world designed to hijack our brain’s reward system. Every ping, post, and push notification offers a micro-dose of dopamine, the chemical responsible for motivation and pleasure. The problem is, your brain’s “salience network” (the system that decides what’s important) starts prioritizing the cheap hits.

The science supports that over extended periods of time, your brain literally loses the ability to distinguish the difference in importance of things like a like on your IG post, the vibration in your pocket, the candy bar taste, or the feeling of finishing a large project at work. Your system begins to get up for all of them in the same manner. And after a while, that reserve tank is just empty.

The good news? Dan Koe is here to help us outline a 30-Day Dopamine Detox to rewire our brain, and give us an actionable protocol to truly diagnose if that lingering tiredness you (yes, you) are feeling right now is the result of this overstimulation.

Here’s the 30-day framework to reset your mind and reclaim your clarity:

1. Eliminate overstimulation

   1. Cut out the obvious offenders: social media, streaming, alcohol, junk food - anything that delivers pleasure without progress. You’re not punishing yourself, you’re clearing the static.

2. Walk 20 minutes after every meal

   1. Three short walks (about 10k steps total) improve digestion, spark creativity, and process the day. Morning walks reset your circadian rhythm, afternoon walks generate ideas, and evening walks bring closure. Movement is meditation.

3. Lift weights, don’t just “work out”

   1. Resistance training gives you a sustained dopamine release, the kind that builds discipline and confidence. You can’t think your way into feeling better; you have to move your way there.

4. Simplify your diet

   1. Try an elimination approach for 30 days - think white rice, red meat, eggs, potatoes, veggies, fruit. Not sexy, just effective. You’ll notice your energy stabilize, cravings fade, and brain fog lift. From there, you can layer back in foods with more control over your satiety palette.

5. Build one meaningful project

   1. Whether it’s your health, a business, or a skill, channel your freed-up attention into creation. Learn by doing, not by endlessly consuming.

6. Reflect nightly using 3-2-1

   1. Write down 3 wins, 2 lessons, and 1 intention for tomorrow. This closes mental loops and keeps you aligned with progress, not distraction.

For 4+ months, I was in a rhythm of social media only on Sundays. I got off that recently, and after only a few short weeks, it’s evident that I need to start again. So I will be beginning this challenge with you, this week. November 10 - December 10.

Reset your mind, rebuild your focus, and bring life back into color.

Body - The Real Dieting Hack - Volume Eating

The normal process for dieting goes like this - here’s what I currently eat, and here’s how much I currently eat of it. Now, let’s cut this, cut this, cut that, cut calories, cut that too. It’s as if the founders of dieting were punning us with the verbiage choice of “cutting.”

My personal weight journey has been covered at nauseum here, but the baseline is I have always had the body type that can put on size easily (good and bad size), and struggles to lose weight quickly. Blame my parents for my genes (hi mom). To combat this, over time, I have tried every which way to make dieting easier, and if I had to pinpoint one single strategy to make your dieting window as “easy” as possible, it would be volume eating.

The idea is simple. Instead of shrinking your meals, you upgrade the ingredients so your plate is physically bigger, more filling, and still calorie-friendly (Think swaps, not cuts).

This strategy works because of energy density. Some foods pack a ton of calories into a small space (oils, nut butters, pastries). Others take up a lot of room in your stomach for very few calories (leafy greens, veggies, watery fruits, egg whites). When you build meals around low-calorie, high-volume foods, you stay fuller, eat slower, and make the diet feel less like a punishment.

So as you start to think about dieting, consider these foods as additions to your meals that will make you feel fuller. That’s the trick. Convince your mind it’s not starving, even though your calorie deficit is forcing your body to slowly eat away at its own bad weight:

Start thinking of these as “add-ons” you can throw into almost any meal:

• Low-Carb Tortillas (Eat these every single day)

• Egg whites

• Lettuce / mixed greens / spinach

• Cabbage or coleslaw mix

• Zucchini (noodles, sautéed, grilled)

• Cauliflower rice

• Broccoli / green beans

• Spaghetti squash

• Salsa and pico de gallo

• Berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries)

• Watermelon and other high-water fruits

• Shirataki (konjac) noodles

• Broth-based soups / bone broth

A few plug-and-play ideas for your meal planning this week:

• Breakfast scramble bowl

  • Whole eggs + egg whites

  • Sautéed peppers, onions, mushrooms, spinach

  • Salsa on top
    → Huge plate, high protein, low calorie compared to a few eggs and toast.

• High-volume lunch salad

  • Base of lettuce, cabbage, and cucumber

  • Grilled chicken or turkey

  • Cherry tomatoes, pickles, cauliflower, a sprinkle of cheese

  • Light dressing or olive oil + vinegar
    → Makes 4–6 oz of protein feel like a feast.

• Protein burrito bowl

  • ½ portion of rice + big scoop of cauliflower rice

  • Lean ground turkey or chicken

  • Lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, salsa

  • Greek yogurt instead of sour cream
    → Same satisfaction, fewer calories, more fiber.

• Night-time “snack” swap

  • Instead of chips: air-popped popcorn

  • Or Greek yogurt + berries and a zero-cal sweetener

Part of burning fat is unavoidable - you have to feel hungry. That’s your body doing its thing. Add volume to your meals to feel less of the side effects of that lingering hunger.

Book - Wisdom Takes Work by Ryan Holiday

I finished the fourth and final book of Ryan Holiday’s Stoic Virtues series this week, Wisdom Takes Work, in which he tackles the virtue at the very root of them all: wisdom.

“We all want to be wise. But wisdom is not something you’re born with or something you stumble into. … It takes study, it takes reflection, it takes experience. Most of all, it takes work.”

I wrote a few weeks ago about this realization that you have when you begin to make your way through dozens of personal development books - you come to understand that there are a core selection of books that really resonated with you. That if you focused all of your attention on re-reading, understanding, and taking action on - you would likely see desirable progress from. This series from Ryan Holiday and the foundation of Stoicism is that segment for me, at this moment of my life.

Before this book, Ryan Holiday published these on the three other virtues at the center of Stoicism:

• Courage - Courage Is Calling

• Discipline - Discipline Is Destiny 

• Justice - Right Thing, Right Now

But the virtue that binds them all, that governs how you choose between courage and recklessness, discipline and rigidity, justice and dogmatism, is wisdom. Wisdom gives the map to use the compass.

He argues that in a world where noise, instant reaction, and impulse dominate, our culture lacks the tempering influence of true wisdom. “Of all the Stoic virtues - courage, discipline, justice, and wisdom - wisdom is the most elusive.”

Wisdom isn’t just intellectual knowledge. It’s the applied judgment that connects knowledge and action. It’s what stops you from simply doing more, and instead helps you do the right thing, at the right time, for the right reason. Holiday makes the point that intelligence or ambition without wisdom is dangerous. “He shows us how dangerous power and intelligence can be without the tempering influence of wisdom.”

Your current lens of life will dictate what you pull from this book. For me, one of the fascinating things I can’t stop thinking about is how well Ryan laid out the historical evidence and systems used in some of the world’s most prolific thinkers from their early education and the way their parents fostered and talked about learning. As a soon-to-be parent, it got my wheels turning in a good way.

A few other actionable ideas:

1. Read, Reflect, Repeat

   1. We often read to read - to check the box. True “wisdom” comes not from memorization, but from reflection and implementation. As you read this week, try to read a chapter, and then at the completion, as questions about what you just read. Words you didn’t fully comprehend. Summarize the chapter as if you were giving a sales pitch on its ideas. Write down memorable quotes and ideas in your journal or phone notes. Seek to understand.

2. Listen More Than You Talk

   1. Wisdom often comes through restraint. Holiday notes the value of listening, thinking carefully, and questioning one’s beliefs. In your job or with your spouse this week, try to be intentional about speaking less than 50% of the time. Que up questions beforehand, and listen simply to listen, not to speak or convince otherwise.

3. Embrace the “Slow Work” Habit

   1. Pick one task this week and do it at half your usual speed, focusing on fewer distractions and higher thoughtfulness. Then reflect - did slower mean better? Did any insights emerge that you’d have missed if rushed? The fastest path is rarely the deepest one. Slowing down explicitly creates space for insight, refining your mental muscles rather than merely your speed.

Stoicism is powerful because it teaches you to control what you can and let go of what you can’t, turning chaos into clarity and emotion into strength. It’s a timeless operating system for modern life, helping anyone make better decisions, stay grounded under pressure, and live with purpose no matter the circumstance. Wisdom is the foundational pillar that helps us navigate how to apply it all for lasting effect.