#1728 When Simple Is Best - Harps

much I can complicate shit. So me, the exercise scientist who owned multiple gyms and train thousands of people, and you know who is allegedly somewhat knowledgeable and moderately intelligent from time to time, how hard I can make shit? And it dawned on me, Well, it didn't dawn on me. My phone told me. So. I had no bloody personal epiphany where I just came to some realization. But I looked at my phone recently, which I hadn't looked at

for a while in terms of my step count. And if you've got a well i've got an iPhone on no phone, guru, But I think most phones, if you're carrying them, kind of count your steps, and it told me that. My phone told me. It came up and alert and it said you are walking less steps than on average this time last year, or something to that effect. And I went, what the what does that mean? And so I went in and went into the old bit,

behind the front bit, the back bit. If I get too technical, like I'm very tech savvy, you might not be, so I'll keep it simple. I'm being facetious, of course. So I went in and it told me that I was doing on average. I don't even want to say this, four and a half thousand steps a day for the last two weeks or something. Now, I will admit that lately this is no excuse. This is just part of my reality. Lately, I've sat a lot. I've been at my desk a lot. I'm at my desk right now.

Every time I record a podcast, I'm at this desk. I can stand, but generally I sit down and ask why I just fucking do? I should stand more? And with my research, with my study with Zoom, meetings, with the plothora of things that I do on a given day, even when I go and I meet somebody for a caf for a cafe for a coffee at a cafe and a chat. Of course, it's a sit down affair, and then you think on top of that, you lyne

down Friday hour tonight, give or take. Even when I go to the gym, generally speaking, I'm sitting on a motorbike or sitting in a car, and so on and so on, and then even sometimes between sets I'm sitting. Bottom line was I was. I just became aware of how little steps I was taking and made a decision to change that anyway, So I set myself a goal straight away. I went, this is shit. I should be

doing more than this. And my goal was I'm just going to walk rock bottom ten thousand steps a day, and I said, I'm going to do it for a week, obviously with an intention. Well not obviously, of course. Some people just go a week and that's it. I said, I was going to myself, I was going to do a week, and that was going to be a platform. My intention was to go beyond the week. So this was I think it was now twenty days or nineteen

days ago. It was a while ago. I could look in my steps, but it's somewhere past two weeks, not quite three weeks. But anyway, my steps have gone from just under five thousand to around fifteen thousand. Some days, I'm doing twelve some days. Yesterday I did nineteen and a half thousand, just because I did. I was had and lots of things that I could do that I could do walking. I'll explain that in a moment. But anyway, I've about on average tripled my steps. Now here's what

I love. And I know this is not fucking groundbreaking, but the truth is that most of us just don't do it like I know that it is more than obvious to say that walking is good for us. And I don't have any data on this, but I would think that as a generation, probably this generation walks less than the previous generation, and that generation probably walked less than the one before. Because life these days, and I'm generalizing here, but it is so easy, it is so convenient.

We have so many things that allow us to not walk, to be able to sit or lie or be at some kind of workstation or whatever whatever resource or tool that helps us to be less active or stops us from being more active. I guess what I've done is I've started to get up. So I'm generally at the cafe at six fifteen six point thirty at the latest. So what I'm doing is I'm getting up earlier and i'm I'm I'm either riding my scooter or one of my bikes to the When I say scooter, I don't

mean the stand on bloody silly things. I mean a motorbike, scooter or one of my bikes. Anyway, I get to the cafe and then from there I go for a walk or I just walk to the cafe, but because the cafe is near the beach, often I'll just ride down there. Then I'll go from there, I'll do a thirty minute walk to the beach and around them back, and then I still arrive at the cafe at sixteen or six fifteen, and I do my things, sometimes another

little walk after that, then I'll come home. If not, I'll walk there and do that and walk home as well. The bottom line is by breakfast most days, so by around eight eight fifteen most days, I've now done or I'm now doing on average about rock bottom seven sometimes ten thousand steps by the time eight o'clock comes. Typically I would think it's closer to eight thousand, and I've been thinking about so, how do I just increase my movement?

How do I just walk more without because obviously walking takes time and we don't we can't all go, you know what, I'm going to walk for two and a half hours a day when we don't have two and a half hours a day spare on top of our current engagements and priorities commitments. So a few a couple of weeks ago, it was about so I'd done a fair bit of walking and I had a I think it was a seven fifteen. I'd been out early earlier, I got up earlier, I walked about five or six,

had mccaffee. I was back home at seven and I think I had a seven fifteen to eight fifteen coaching session with someone that I coach periodically, and it's on Zoom. Most of, not most half my coaching sessions are on Zoom. And I sent this person a message and I went, hey, would you be okay if instead of we do it on zoom, we do it on WhatsApp video WhatsApp, I have What'sapp? And they went, yeah, no drama. So I headed outside. It was a beautiful day. I rang them

or a video, called them on WhatsApp. I had over ear headphones on. Yes, I paid attention to the road and traffic, but I didn't walk on the road. I walked on paths. Ended up going to the beach. I did about a five or six k loop from my house and back. I spoke to that person for an hour. I walked in that time, I would think around seven thousand steps or something like that, six and a half, seven thousand steps. I got paid quite well for the hour. So I got home and I thought to myself, it's

eight fifteen. I've had a coffee, I've done two walks. One of the walks I got actually paid to go on. Here's another thing I was thinking. I had an awareness. And I've done this pretty much every day since. Where I'm I'm now doing meetings, I'm now doing coaching sessions. I'm now doing study. I'll explain how I do that. I'm now studying while I'm walk walking. And here's the thing that I didn't expect. I didn't think about. I guess, well, therefore I didn't expect it. My brain, in some ways,

my brain is better when i'm moving. I feel like I'm a bit sharper. I feel, you know, like even when I present. I did a gig three days ago for AGL as I record this three days ago, and if anyone was in that audience and listening to this, they will tell you that I do not stand still. I do not sit down. I do not stand still. I move the whole time. And I find when I am. I don't know why I didn't fucking apply this to my other work earlier, but I find when I am moving,

I think better, I have more clarity. I think my cognitive function is five or ten percent better. I think I have more creative ideas, maybe just because my brain works a bit better, because maybe I'm getting a bit more oxygen because I'm moving my limbs and I'm not sitting in a chair, and also I'm out and about, non connected somewhat to the environment, and I think that also puts me in a different biochemical state. I think I'm a bit happier. I think there's a few more endorphins,

a little bit more dope. I mean, because I'm not sitting in a fucking chair looking at a fucking gigantic screen like I am right now. Maybe I need to do podcasts move there's a thought. But anyway, I'm out and about and while I've got I'm holding a phone and I can see what someone's face and they can see me. The audio is good, the video is pretty good. Everybody that I've done this with has been more than

happy for me to do that. I tell them what I'm doing and why, and it makes no difference to them. They still get now with me. They still get coaching with me. We still connect and talk, spend time together. There's no disadvantage for them. And one of the dudes that I do it with now I've done two sessions with him, he's now doing the same. So instead of sitting in his office or at home on zoom, he's now every time we would walk together and do it, but he's in an hour away from where I am.

So he's out and about on his phone. He's getting in six or seven thousand steps. We're having an hour together. I'm doing the same for me. It's been a game changer. It's been a game changer. I'm tell you how I'm doing my research and my study. So you might think, well, how on earth can he Obviously there's some stuff I can't do. But what I have asked myself is what are all of the things that I normally do at

a desk? What are the things that I normally do at a desk or sitting on my ass or standing still? What are the things that I could potentially do? Obviously we can't do everything in that capacity, But what are the things that I can do walking, walking and talking, or walking and listening, or walking and connecting in some way without compromising the quality of what I'm producing, creating

or doing and in fact, maybe even enhancing it. So when I get back from a one hour walk and talk or walk and coach or walk and meeting, when I get back, my energy is generally better than before I started the hour. I come back energized. I come back energized. And what has happened to me over the last I think it's nearly three weeks. Me, have a look at my phone. Just let me just ting up right now? Wait, what's it? Heart? Health, health, brows activity.

I'm looking, I'm looking. I know this is terrible. I know this is terrible. Okay, So I started on I started on November eighteen, So what is that that is that? Well, and it's December seven now, so it's I guess it's the best part of three weeks. But what has happened over the last I've done nothing different. I haven't increased my food or decreased my food. I know what my resting heart rate is. Normally, my resting heart rate is normally around seventy, which is not great. It's not terrible.

My resting heart rate is normally around seventy sixty eight. It can be seventy four, but generally it's about but my resting heart rate, and I've only done this the last three mornings, just out of curiosity, not because it's a concern or a worry. But my resting heart rate has been closer to sixty five each day, and it's just because I've I've gone from from move I've literally tripled my movement in terms of walking. My energy expenditure,

of course, has gone up. I can't I can't verify this, but as somebody who's measured thousands of people's body fat, including my own, I would say I'm about two percent leaner. I would say I've lost one to two percent of body fat. I've also lost a one point five kilos, which I probably didn't need to do, but I was eighty five. Give you'll take. This morning, I weighed myself out of curiosity. I was eighty three point five, same

time a day, same class, those same protocol. So the weight loss is real, and I think I'm I think nearly all of that is fat. Not that that's a big thing, but I suffer from I navigate high blood pressure, which is genetic. It's not lifestyle related, of course, but I know when my blood pressure is lower when I take medication. I take a thing called Averpro every day, which is a blood pressure medication, and then after I take that, sometime later, I start to feel lightheaded and dizzy.

And that's because my blood pressure has lowered itself naturally because of all of the additional movement I'm doing and the energy expended through the day, the ban on my feet, the walking, and so I'm going to see how that tracks for the next two or three weeks. But if that prevails, if that can keeps happening, where I start it to feel like And that's because on top of my blood pressure being lower, I'm now taking maybe too higher dose of Averpro, which is, like I said, my

medication which might need to be adjusted. Thanks Mum and thanks Dad for those high blood pressure genetics. Anyway, I feel, and this is going to sound like a sales pitch, I feel happier. I don't really get a lot of stress anxiety, but I feel maybe calmer. And yeah, for me, it's just been a good thing. Oh yeah, and sleep. I'm sleeping like a fucking world champion because I'm moving, because I'm walking about three three and a half times more.

Yesterday I did, like I said, just under twenty thousand steps, so which is almost four times what I was doing. Just because it worked out that way, I think I'm more productive, I'm more efficient, even though I'm taking more time to walk. Nearly at the very least, I'm listening to a podcast or an audiobook that's teaching me something. Every now and then, it might be something just for

entertainment and amusement. Generally, it's something that I want to listen to because it's a topic or a subject matter or an area that I want more knowledge on. So I'm learning, I'm learning and walking. I'm coaching people and walking. I'm doing business and walking. I'm studying and walking. Oh yeah, I was going to tell you how I do that.

So what I do is I take notes or I you know, like I'm working on multiple papers at the moment, and a whole lot of different concepts and terminology, and I'm always reading and rereading things from certain papers, and sometimes I might have to read and reread a couple of paragraphs a ten or twelve times because it's reasonably complicated to let it sync in and to really get

it and to really remember it. So I have a bunch of stuff like that which I need to keep going over, and even with my own systematic literature review that I'm doing, which is going to be one of the papers that I publish, you know, writing my introduction, writing my methodology, writing, you know, all the different bits and pieces that make up that paper. So what I'm

now doing is I'm recording. So instead of reading the one paper or the one page or the two pages, instead of reading them fifteen times, I'm reading them out loud into my phone. I'm recording it. And as I read, I pause as I'm reading, and I give commentary and I explain and I talk about the connections between these different ideas and concepts and you know, my research and different outcomes, and it's it's like I'm giving me a seminar.

I record that, and then I go and I listen to that, and I can listen to it again and again, and what I wish I thought of this earlier, by the way, But one of the things that is true for me is that I'm a better experiential learner and auditory learner and kinesthetic learner than I am a what's the term, but by reading, you know, so where a lot of people can read something, understand it, remember it, and then bibbity bobbedy boo, that shit's locked in. Well,

that is not me. That is not me. For me, it takes longer to maybe to understand it. I'm okay, I can understand it, but to remember it and then to have it on instant recall. I remember about a year ago I was reading about a thing called the false consensus effect. And I've spoken about this multiple times here, and it's just false consensus effect is just the idea that I think that everybody thinks like me, So everyone thinks like me. That's a consensus. But it's called the

false consensus effect. That is a flawed idea. And I remember reading that. I remember reading about how people think that other people think like them, and I went of course they do. I've experienced that so many times, where people just operate on the assumption that what they're thinking is what someone else is thinking, or that what they're they're thinking and saying will be easily understandable for someone else,

And that's not always the case. It's kind of like that my intention will be their experience paradigm, which ain't the truth anyway. So that that idea in psychology is called the false consensus effect, and I remember reading that and thinking, oh, yeah, I'm going to use that. The next day, I was doing a talk and I went, so, there's this thing in psychology, there's this idea and it's called and I couldn't remember it. I couldn't remember it. I knew it, I knew what it was, I just

couldn't remember the term. And I'm I reckon, I reckon. It took me two weeks, befo, I could even just remember that fucking term remember and so, and that for me happens many times. But here's something also weird about me. Once I do remember something like once it's in, it pretty much never leaves. And that's a that's a good thing and a bad thing. I mean, there's Literally, there's stuff that I learned twenty five years ago in my first degree, not twenty five, twenty yeah, wow, twenty three,

twenty four, twenty two years ago. Really there's stuff I don't need it anymore. I could, I could, I could delete those files. I don't need them day to day. I never think about that stuff or talk about that stuff. I don't need to refer to it. I don't need to bring it up, so to speak. But that shit is still in there. So I'm some times a slow learner,

but once it's locked in, it's locked in. But anyway, my long winded story is this new kind of protocol that I'm using where I'm reading, but I'm reading out loud and I'm asking questions. So rather than just writing the question down, what is the relationship between you know, this focus or this construct or this idea and meta accuracy? Rather than just reading that and contemplating that, I'm reading that out loud and then I will answer that question

in real time. I will record my answer and my thoughts around that, so that then when I'm out walking, I can listen to that and keep pondering that. So I'm still studying. I'm still focusing on my research. I'm still exploring and investigating ideas, albeit not sitting at my desk.

And so for me, and again I'm not recommending that you should do that or that this is great for you, But I got to say, I'm just really enjoying this new thing, and I get excited because for me, as you know, I'm sixty one, and for me, life is just an ongoing experiment. And I think I think every one of you who listen to this you want to

be better at something. That's why you listen. You want your life, or your health, or your relationships, or your mindset or your results, or your mental health, or your operating system or your habits or your lifestyle or your actions behaviors. You want those or some of those to be better. And the way that we create better is by sometimes trial and error. Let's try this. Let's try walking and talking. Let's try walking and studying. Let's try

walking and coaching someone. This is what I've done. Anyway, I'm not suggesting you do the same. Maybe your simple idea or your simple concept is not walking. Maybe it's something else, but I can't see any I don't want to commit to forever, but as I record this today, seventh of December twenty twenty four, two fifty one in the PM, I can't think of any reason why I'm going to stop this other than I can't walk, Like, why would I? Why would I stop doing the thing? One?

It's free. Two it's increasing my energy mentally, emotionally, and physiologically. There are benefits to this. The people that I'm talking to are getting the benefit from having me in a better state when I'm coaching them. So there it is. It's my simple idea. Maybe you want to try a version of that, Maybe you want to implement that kind of idea with a different kind of behavior or a different kind of variable, But nonetheless the concept is the same.

Sometimes simple is best, all right, Tim, have a great die? Yeah, love y'all, eh,