The Biology First Path to Success

You have a major deadline due tomorrow. It’s 11 pm and you really need to get it done. I guess it’s another all-nighter.

You’re tired the next day. You need a pick me up. Coffee will get you through the day. Oh, hay, a donut!

You’re too tired from work. It’s easier to order take-out. A salad isn’t going to cut it.

This might be you, this might not be you. I’m not here to shame you for your decisions. Instead, I want to discuss the “biology first” path to success.

When things become difficult, what is usually the first thing to go? It’s usually things that don’t offer immediate value in our lives. What good is sleep when you can’t get anything done? A healthy meal doesn’t pay the bills.

That’s how most of the people in the world behave. And that’s where you can gain a significant advantage.

If you were training for a marathon, how effective would you be if you didn’t sleep, didn’t eat well, and were awake solely due to refined sugar and caffeine? I’d imagine not so great.

Why is the rest of life any different?

Any meaningful endeavor requires the best out of us. This spans from athletics, to academics, to entrepreneurship, etc. If there is competition, it requires your best to succeed. And if your competition is sleep deprived, suffering from gastrointestinal inflammation, and/or nutritionally deficient, how easy would it be to surpass them if you had a biology first approach?

Your brain is housed in your body. Your brain is the source of your thoughts and emotions. If you’re feeling bad, the negativity will bleed into your thoughts. Do this long enough and you’ll start developing self-sabotaging behavior. That’s why biology comes first.

A lot of this is “obvious” but difficult to implement in real life. So I’ll make a very simple action suggestion for you. Pick any area of your life you wish you could improve in a physical health standpoint. It could be sleep, exercise, nutrition, etc. I want you to spend 1 week doing the thing you normally do. Jot down your thoughts, how you feel.

Then I want you to make a small change of your choice. Maybe you’ll commit to sleeping a full 8 hours a day, maybe you’ll make sure to eat healthy for a week, maybe you’ll commit to 15 minutes of exercise for a full week. Doesn’t matter. Try it. Then I want to jot down how you feel.

Do this over and over again until you become superhuman. If you find you don’t become superhuman, let me know, I’d be happy to help.