Boredom
• Boredom is an essential part of our evolution, helping humans see the world in a new way and invent pretty much everything. But we are in danger of losing all of those boring, productive moments.
• In the Harvard Business Review, Arthur Brooks writes about the Dan Gilbert study where subjects chose to shock themselves rather than sit in a room and suffer boredom. Boredom is uncomfortable: “When you think about nothing while your mind wanders and thinks about, for example, big questions of meaning in your life. What does my life mean? You go to uncomfortable existential questions when you’re bored.” So we invented a boredom killing device: the smartphone. Brooks encourages us to go to the gym without it, take a walk without it, commute without it. Become skilled at boredom and you might find meaning and happiness.
• Billy Oppenheimer’s recent newsletter describes advice from writer Robert Greene: the skill of suffering through boredom separates successful people from everyone else. Seinfeld used it: “‘If you turn the music off, turn the TV off, put the phone away, and just stare at an idea you think is funny, your brain will get so miserable that it will crack the code on the joke.” Einstein drifted on a small wooden boat to achieve “free-floating periods of thought.” DaVinci would stare at a single painting for half a day. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin described a boring night in a tiny apartment: no plans, no TV, no books or magazine, broken stereo, but Sorkin had a working typewriter. He had no other choice than to start typing … “Out of pure boredom, I stayed up all night writing, and I feel like that night has never ended, like I’m still in that night.”
When you finish reading this newsletter, see if you are tough enough to go sit for 5 or 10 minutes and do nothing.
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Creatine
• The creatine hype might be dying down some, but we can’t argue with the benefits to muscle, brain, sleep deprivation, etc. I have sent links to a handful of creatine products over the past few months; flavored powders, gummies, sweet tarts, etc. But my go-to remains plain Ghost Creatine (with Creapure). No flavors. Mixes well.
Caffeine
• I have tried over the past year to narrow down caffeine sources to mostly coffee and tea. No more pre-workouts. Rare energy drinks, and when I have them I usually get Bum brand with only 112mg of caffeine. But if you want to mix things up, here are two fun sources of caffeine:
• Spylt – 20 grams protein. 60mg caffeine. Very low carb. The cookies and cream flavor literally tastes like Oreos and milk.
• Gatorade Fast Twitch – They used to sell little 12oz bottles with 200mg caffeine. They tasted amazing. I haven’t been able to find them anymore, but you can buy packets. Fairly high caffeine, but otherwise clean, tastes like regular Gatorade, modest amounts of sodium and potassium.
DEXA scan
• Most healthcare professionals know that DEXA scans measure bone density, thus helping to predict who is at risk of fractures (osteopenia and osteoporosis).
• But DEXAs can give much more information. DEXA is the gold standard test for body fat percentage. It can provide data on visceral fat, lean mass, appendicular lean mass, muscle symmetry, and several other variables.
• I had a scan yesterday at Fitness Insights of Louisville. You download a phone app on and get a bunch of data that can be exported. You can then repeat the test in 6 months or a year to track progress. No need for a doctor’s order.
Financial case for burnout prevention
• Guest post from White Coat Investor on how “expensive” burnout is. Not only does the doctor/nurse/student/PA/etc. feel morally defeated. But we then fall into a downward financial spiral with things like: Reduced Productivity and Earning Potential; Career Detours and Early Exit; Impaired Financial Decision Making; Increased Spending as Coping; Relationship Strain and Divorce; Risk of Errors, Liability, and Malpractice; Missed Wealth-Building Opportunities.
• Develop as many positive habits as possible to take care of yourself in medical school and residency.
IM8
• This new supplement serves as an alternative to the many greens powders on the market. Retired soccer player David Beckham has some involvement, I can’t tell his exact role. It is more of a “Reds” powder, as it has a lot of fruit extracts and fewer of the “greens.” It therefore tastes much better! For the sheer number of quite impressive ingredients, the price is not bad (similar to AG1).
• Thanks Jason for the tip. You can purchase on Amazon or from their website.
“IM” stands for “I AM,” a powerful declaration of self-empowerment and identity. The number “8” symbolizes balance, infinity, and continuous improvement, reflecting our commitment to ongoing personal development and well-being.
Quote
Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them — work, family, health, friends, and spirit — and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls — family, health, friends, and spirit — are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same.
– Brian Dyson
**OK now go sit somewhere and see if you can handle 10 minutes or boredom.
