Volume 93 ended up on the longer side of the word count I like to keep these newsletters, so for the intro this week, I will keep it short. Thanksgiving is coming up next week. There are few better times in the year to refocus your brain on gratitude for what you have, and to orient your thought process around those things we often take for granted. Start your week off by thinking of 10 small things from the weekend you wouldn’t normally reflect as being grateful for, and get the holiday started early.

Brain - Rewriting First Impressions

It’s wild how much of our adult life is shaped by the way something first entered our world.

Ask someone if they like running and you’ll hear the same response on repeat: “Oh, no. I hate running.” But dig one level deeper and their first memory of running was probably a high-school coach screaming “On the line!” because the team missed a layup. In those moments your brain formed a link - running = punishment.

Ask someone if they enjoy reading and they’ll flash back to being forced through a novel they didn’t pick, with a book report due Monday. Reading = stress. Reading = work.

Psychologists call this classical conditioning, but you don’t need a textbook to understand it. Your brain is always pairing experiences with emotional meaning. When something new arrives bundled with discomfort, pressure, or embarrassment, the wiring sticks. It sets the tone long before we ever get the chance to decide how we actually feel.

And most of us never revisit that wiring. We carry it forward like an old injury we forgot to rehab.

Running? Still punishment. Reading? Still homework. Lifting weights? Still the thing we were bad at in PE. Cooking? Still that one time we burned something and felt stupid. Swimming? Still the memory of being thrown into the deep end “to learn.”

Reality uncovers that a lot of the things we “hate” are actually things we’ve never experienced on our own terms.

Where the Hesitation Actually Comes From

If you pay attention, you’ll see the pattern. It’s not the activity, it’s the introduction.

The first rep created the story. The story created the identity. The identity hardened into truth. But truths can be rewritten. They usually just need a new first impression, one that’s actually yours.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately as I get closer to becoming a dad. There’s this part of my brain that keeps circling back to how I want to introduce my kid to the world.

I don’t want their first experience of running to be someone yelling at them. I don’t want reading to be an assignment. I don’t want curiosity to be graded. I don’t want effort to be punished.

I want the early memories to be tied to discovery, not pressure. To play, not performance. To excitement, not expectation.

And while I can’t control everything, kids will always form their own associations - I am in control of the environment. I can make sure the doorway into a new experience feels inviting, not intimidating.

Lately, that idea has had me looking at my own aversions in a different light. How many things have I avoided simply because I met them under the wrong circumstances? And how much more full would life feel if I gave some of them another shot?

I have done some research on this “Classical Conditioning”, and have come up with some guidelines for myself, and hopefully for you too.

Here are a few simple ways to rewrite your relationship with the activities you think you dislike:

1. Create a new “first experience.” Not a big one, a micro one. Hated running? Go for a 5-minute jog at a pace so slow it feels comical. Hated reading? Pick a short chapter of a book you actually chose. Your brain just needs a clean slate to work from.

2. Separate the activity from the old environment. If running reminds you of punishment, change the conditions: different route, different time of day, headphones, no pressure. If reading reminds you of homework, shift to audiobooks, fiction, or something outside the school-style structure.

3. Attach the activity to something you genuinely enjoy. Pair running with your favorite playlist. Pair reading with coffee. Pair cooking with a podcast. This is emotional stacking, the brain starts associating the activity with the positive feeling.

This week, take one thing you’ve mentally filed under “not for me” and investigate it. Not to prove yourself wrong, but to see if the story you’ve been carrying is still true, or if it was someone else’s story all along.

Reintroduce yourself. You might be surprised what you actually like when nobody’s yelling “On the line!” anymore.

Body - An 11 Day Thanksgiving Plan That Actually Works

Thanksgiving doesn’t derail people because of one meal. It derails people because they panic beforehand, restrict aggressively, binge during, and then abandon their routines for two full weeks. The goal isn’t to “survive” Thanksgiving, it’s to build a framework that keeps you between the rails from now until the Monday after.

I have struggled with this exact balance for years. Thanksgiving is such a great holiday, but when a lot of your mental energy and weekly focus is poured into your diet, excercise, and physique, it can be overburdened by feelings of guilt and laziness. Based on my previous experiences, I laid out a no-BS, science-backed plan to enjoy the holiday and maintain your momentum. 11 days out today -

Phase 1: The 11-Day Lead-Up (Your Foundation Phase)

This week and a half is about stability, not punishment.

1. Lock in a Minimum Effective Dose Routine

Your brain loves consistency more than intensity. Research on habit formation shows that even 20–30 minutes of daily movement keeps your neural “identity loop” intact. Your only rule: move every day. Run, lift, zone 2, walks - doesn’t matter. Just don’t break the streak.

2. Hit 30–40g of Protein at Every Meal

Protein increases satiety, stabilizes blood sugar, and preserves lean mass, all of which reduce the desire to binge when the high-calorie stuff shows up. Your daily target: 0.7–1.0g per pound of bodyweight. Think eggs, Greek yogurt, chicken, turkey, tofu, whey. Build meals around protein first and everything else gets easier.

3. Stop “Pre-Restricting”

The worst thing you can do before a holiday is starve yourself. Huberman talks about how extreme restriction increases dopamine drive toward hyper-palatable foods. Translation: restrict now, binge later. Instead, focus on normal meals, normal calories, high protein, lots of fiber. No “saving up” for Thanksgiving.

4. Increase Steps by 2–3k Per Day

A small bump in NEAT (non-exercise activity) dramatically increases calorie burn without hunger spikes. This buys you flexibility later without feeling deprived.

Phase 2: Thanksgiving Week (Your Flexibility Phase)

The goal isn’t to be perfect - it’s to have a plan that prevents the “holiday free fall.”

1. Thanksgiving Day: The 3-Part Framework

a. High-Protein Breakfast Start with 40–50g protein. Amino acids blunt cravings and stabilize your appetite for hours. You’ll naturally eat slower and avoid the “I haven’t eaten all day” binge.

b. One Plate Strategy: Everything fits on one plate - whatever you want. Then wait 10 minutes. If you’re still hungry, go back for more. This interrupts autopilot eating and keeps you present.

c. Post-Meal Walk (15–20 Minutes) A short walk reduces glucose spikes by increasing GLUT-4 activation in muscle cells. Better digestion, better energy, less sluggishness.

2. The 5-Day Holiday Window Strategy

Because the real danger isn’t Thanksgiving Day, it’s Wednesday through Sunday.

a. Anchor Days Pick two of these days to be normal, boring, routine days. Hit your protein, hit your steps, get a workout in. These “anchors” prevent the slide.

b. Minimum Effective Workouts 20 minutes. That’s it. Lift two compound movements + 10 minutes of cardio. Signal to your brain: “We’re still this person.”

c. Hydrate Early, Hydrate Often A hydrated body regulates hunger better and reduces cravings masquerading as dehydration.

Phase 3: The Monday Reset

On the Monday after Thanksgiving, don’t punish yourself. Just return to your routine - same meals, same protein targets, same workouts. Your metabolism and identity snap back fast when the foundation is already in place.

Thanksgiving doesn’t require guilt or discipline Olympics. You just need a plan that respects the science, respects your goals, and still lets you enjoy the moments that actually matter.

If you execute this 11-day strategy, you’ll walk into December feeling strong, present, and proud, not like you’re clawing your way out of a holiday hole

Book - Foundation Series - 5 Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom

This week’s foundation spotlight is from Sahil Bloom’s 5 Types of Wealth, specifically the Mental Wealth section, and there’s one concept I keep coming back to because it’s simple, brutal, and completely transformative:

Protect the Inputs You Feed Your Mind.

Sahil writes, “Your mind is not a trash can. Stop letting people dump their garbage into it.” And later: “If you want a wealthy mind, curate the inputs that shape your thoughts.” He calls it “mental nutrition” - the idea that what you consume, intentionally or not, becomes the raw material for your beliefs, your worldview, your self-talk, and ultimately, your actions.

It’s one of those truths we all know on paper. But actually living it? That’s the hard part. And that’s why I revisit it. Because I’m constantly reminded that my mind reflects whatever I allow in - just like my body reflects what I eat and how I train.

When I take this seriously, my entire life feels sharper. When I get sloppy, it shows up fast: distracted thinking, low creativity, worse workouts, less presence, more stress. The quality of my inputs becomes the ceiling on my potential.

Huberman often talks about “cognitive load” - the idea that your brain’s ability to focus, regulate emotions, and make decisions depends heavily on what you expose it to. Doomscrolling, gossip, divisive content, cluttered environments - these things drain your cognitive resources before you even start your day.

“You can’t build a strong mind on a steady diet of mental junk food.”

Sahil makes the point clearly: “You are the steward of the inputs you allow into your life.” Meaning, nobody is coming to gatekeep your mind for you. You’re the one holding the keys.

How to Apply This — Starting This Week

Here’s the simple protocol I come back to again and again. Use it as your Mental Wealth audit:

1. Identify Your Biggest Negative Input. Not all of them, just the one doing the most damage. Social media? A news cycle? A specific person? An environment? Removing one creates a disproportionate return.

2. Replace, Don’t Just Remove. The brain hates vacuums. If you cut a negative input, fill the space intentionally. Swap morning scrolling for a podcast. Swap nightly news for a book. Swap constant noise for a 10-minute walk without your phone.

3. Set One Daily Input Standard. 

   1. One meaningful page of reading

   2. One 10-minute learning block

   3. One journaling prompt

   4. One conversation that energizes, not drains. Small inputs compound, every single day.

4. Treat Mental Inputs Like Nutrition Labels. Ask yourself: Does this make me better or worse? If the answer isn’t “better,” be ruthless.

Pick one input you’ll upgrade. Not five. Not a complete overhaul. Just one decision that your future self will thank you for.

Mental wealth isn’t built from one breakthrough moment. It’s built from the quiet, consistent curation of what enters your head every single day.

If your mind is the engine for everything you want to build. Feed it like it matters.