A Learning a Day

Growing up in India, one of the strongest associations I made with wealth was comfort.

In a country with a large population, help was easily available. And the wealthier someone was, the more they seemed to be able to afford help of all kinds. This in turn meant wealthy folks I saw didn’t have to do any chores within their home. The help did their shopping, cooked food, ran behind their kids, and so on.

Things were outsourced and got done.

It is worth pausing a moment to consider the word we use for household tasks. We call them chores – the definition of a chore is an unpleasant but necessary task. That means the equation is simple – the more chores we outsource, the better.

And while help isn’t as cheap in other countries, the gig economy has made it possible for us to outsource chores in ways we might not have thought possible. So, if you work with the assumption that comfort is the goal, we can outsource said chores to Instacart, a weekly help-service, and so on.

My biggest reflection since wearing the CGM / continuous glucose monitor in the past 2 weeks is just how much I’ve grown to appreciate chores. After eating a meal or a snack, I look forward to getting things done around the house. That movement ensures any glucose I’ve taken in gets metabolized.

I think this has parallels to every part of our life. It has never been so comfortable to let media or the internet take over our attention. And every indicator shows AI agents will only accelerate this.

Keep extending this trend and the state of the humans in Wall-E are suddenly not unimaginable.

While it is an exaggeration, I am not sure it is all that far off. Every statistic around obesity and chronic diseases borne out our sedentary lifestyles is sobering. It isn’t surprising – the more we solve for comfort, the worse our health outcomes become.

It turns out that we are just built for discomfort. We are built to stand and to move (a lot), to do things around our homes, to lift heavy things, to sprint, to buy and eat whole non-sugary food, to get out in the warmth or the cold and take in fresh air, to wake up with the sun and sleep once it goes down, and to use less toxins and chemicals in our lives.

So many of these things are the antitheses of the image of comfort we all might have in our minds.

But we’re built for discomfort.

Ironically, the more we embrace that, the more comfortable our life will likely become in the long run.

“I created the OASIS because I never felt at home in the real world. I didn’t know how to connect with the people there. I was afraid, for all of my life, right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it’s also the only place where you can find true happiness. Because reality is real.” | James Halliday (fictional billionaire creator of a virtual reality simulation), Ready Player One

In other words – log off, take a walk, smell the fresh air, give a hug, try things, fail… and live.

When we think about behavior change, we often think about creating new habits/systems. This is why new year resolutions are popular. “New year, new me” and so on.

However, we’re far more likely to be successful if we find ways to incorporate new behavior by amending existing systems.

For example, I know I need to drink more water during the day. The new system approach would be to set alarms to remind myself to drink water. The amending existing system approach would be to drink a bottle after I wake up, at the end of my workout, after lunch, and so on.

The reason amending existing systems works well is because it leverages existing momentum vs. attempting to create new momentum.

This is also how products that attempt to change user’s workflows are made. We are always better off tapping into existing workflows and then making changes vs. attempting to force people into new workflows (which rarely ends well).

Start by modifying existing systems. Then use that momentum to create new systems.

A friend shared a lovely note on developing an understanding of a domain.

Once you learn enough about a domain, you develop a deep appreciation and understanding for the complexity involved.

And as you continue learning more, you move past that complexity and develop the mental models that make everything simple.

You’re able to sift through the noise and find the signal.

There’s simplicity beyond the complexity. It is when knowledge becomes looking more like wisdom.

There are two key ingredients to finding creative solutions to problems – being clear about the outcome we want and to having a small list of things that we’re unwilling to compromise on along the way.

Clarity of outcome helps us both visualize success and rally people toward that goal.

The small list of things we’re unwilling to compromise on is the constraint function. This is why it works best when the list is derived from first principles. Such lists are small and ensure we don’t saddle ourselves with unnecessary constraints.

Together, these ingredients both define the goal posts and the length and breadth of the playing field. Once that is defined, it much easier for teams to figure out the best ways to put the ball into the net.

One of the toughest temptations to avoid when we’re building for our users is to ensure we’re always focused on acute problems that our users have.

When users have acute problems, they’re generally very vocal and are using workarounds to get their job done.

That ensures we don’t spend time building interesting solutions for problems we wish they had.

It is easier said than done.

Inspired by Good Energy, I’m trying out a CGM or Continuous Glucose Monitor for 4 weeks. It’s been eye-opening to see how my body metabolizes carbohydrates. A few early notes –

(1) Movement after meals helps metabolizes carbs. This is simple – but seeing it in action is eye opening.

(2) The absence of such movement results in carbs getting converted to triglycerides. Our body has evolved to do this to use as stores of energy during times of famine. That isn’t relevant today. And all we’re left with is heart trouble.

(3) That then leads to the next learning – eating foods with high glycemic index requires a lot of movement after the meal. So, eat as early as possible in the evening. For example, fully metabolizing a half cup of white rice takes an hour or so of walking. The process can take two hours or so. Red rice can cut this metabolism time by 25%.

I’ve reflected on this a lot as I had the bad habit of not moving after eating. Or worse – sleeping.

(4) The ordering of nutrients helps a lot. Starting with nuts, greens, or protein and then ending with carbs makes a big difference to these glucose spikes. Eating “naked carbs” – e.g., oatmeal with maple syrup – as a result contributes to crazy spikes.

(5) Metabolism works marginally faster during the day. This needs more testing. But it seems to be true so far.

I don’t think I’ll ever look at diet the same way again. More to follow.

“It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.” | attributed to Confucius

As the wise sage Dory noted – keep swimming.

In the long run, our wellbeing is proportional to the proportion of time we spend choosing discomfort.

Moving instead of sitting.

Eating greens instead of sugar.

Trying something new instead of choosing the familiar.

Going for the difficult conversation.

Leaning into learning.

And so on.

A good rule of thumb – the most useful life and career advice comes from people who empathize with your circumstances.