The Power of the Underestimated
17 principles to leverage or fade at your own cost
Don’t overlook the simple for the sexy.
Placebo’ing
If you think an intervention is going to fail you - you’ve already got your result.
A striking example of the power of the placebo comes in a famous 1972 study involving fifteen male varsity athletes informed that some would receive anabolic steroids (Dianabol) based on their initial strength training progress. Instead, six selected subjects were given placebo pills.
During the initial 7 weeks of training when the 6 participants were not taking any placebo, their one-rep maxes increased on average by 4.3 kg in the bench press, 0.7 kg in the standing press, 2.3 kg in the seated press, & 2.7 kg in the squat.
However, after 4 weeks of taking daily placebo pills, their one-rep maxes showed greater improvements. The average increases were: 13.3 kg in the bench press, 7.6 kg in the standing press, 5.3 kg in the seated press, & 18.94 kg in the squat.
In a 2000 study by Maganaris et al., 11 nationally ranked powerlifters participated in an experiment led by their own coach. Initially, their average one-rep maxes were 189 kg (bench press), 257 kg (squat), & 260 kg (deadlift).
In the first test, each lifter took placebo pills they believed were fast-acting steroids. Immediately after, all subjects set new personal records: increases averaged 9.5 kg (bench), 12.2 kg (squat), & 10.9 kg (deadlift) - all enough to elevate their status from national to international caliber.
At the second testing session, some were told the truth: the pills were just placebos. Their lifts dropped significantly: down 7.5 kg (bench), 11 kg (squat), & 12.5 kg (deadlift). Those who remained unaware of the placebo maintained their initial performance gains.
Concern yourself less with the mechanism and more on the outcome.
Forgiving Yourself
Kamal Ravikant put it best recently:
There’s an emotional drift associated with our regrets. We say what’s in the past stays there, but we don’t act in accordance with that same mantra. This manifests itself in the form of holding the idea we’ve started on a path too late. Or should’ve never entered into the toxic relationship to begin with.
Self-forgiveness isn’t about self-comfort. It’s about humility & self-compassion. In the context of virtue ethics, self-forgiveness becomes a practice of acknowledging human fallibility, fostering resilience & moral development - the components that make us uniquely human.
Nietzsche rationalized this very principle in Ecce Homo:
“My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati: that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity. Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it—all idealism is mendacity in the face of what is necessary—but love it.”
We need a reframe: Accept that everything you’ve done up until this point has prepared you for what you’re about to embark on. You’re right where you need to be only because of what you’ve done. Now go.
Positive Internal Dialogue
You will always be the person you spend the most time with. An inescapable reality.
A perpetually toxic internal dialogue is just a byproduct of a lack of self-forgiveness normalized over time. The narrative is broken. We grow furious when others disrespect us, yet when we lack courtesy to our own selves repeatedly we give that voice a pass. Odd, isn’t it?
Of everything encompassed within this list - this will be your biggest challenge.
Create the internally positive as your default state.
Eating Without Screens
When I was growing up, Grandma Phys had one hardline rule at the dinner table: no screens. It wasn’t until years later into adulthood I realized what she was accomplishing by enforcing this:
Spiritual vector: Look back at the cultural history of any reputable civilization and you’ll see the sacrosanctity of breaking bread communally. Even today, we’ve got strong stratified data supporting the concept that those eat socially more often feel happier, are more trusting of others, & are more satisfied with life. Every opportunity to cultivate a social connection with those you love is an opportunity worth taking. The distraction of a screen eliminates that sacredness.
Neurohormonal vector: The more practical, yet overlooked angle here. Digestion begins before you even take a single bite of your meal. The cephalic phase primes your GI tract for optimal digestion by stimulating saliva & other enzymes to properly break down food. Distracted eating disrupts the required sensory experiences leading to dysregulated neurohormonal signaling and less than ideal nutrient absorption.
Less time with things that don’t matter. More time with people that do.
Digital Fasting
The inflationary dopamine crisis is one governed by a mismatch between output & the reward. The issue lies in the incessant pursuit (& immediate receipt) of cheap dopamine - what many correctly consider the modern devil.
Consider this more aligned with social media fasting. As popular as nutritional fasting has become, it’s surprising (disappointing) we haven’t placed more emphasis on this phenomenon. To cite the most based doctor on Health X/Substack (
):
But it’s more than just the cheap dopamine we need a hormonal spamming hiatus from. In our most primitive forms, looking out the window meant seeing ~150 others in a village. Today, that window has exploded into the billions across the planet.
Within the social media space, we constantly play comparison games - but unidirectionally (upwards). Yes - we may be doing better than 99% of the population, but it’s not quite enough. We are hardwired this way after all. We need to be on high alert for threat detection. As an apex predator, the lion doesn’t concern himself with the ant colonies. He’s focused on the pack of hyenas & leopards who pose a real danger. In the digital space, there are no scarcity of threats.
To sensitize - you must deprive.
Indifference Towards Most Things
Take most recently. Tariffs come around. The person who learned the word on Monday is a global trade expert by Wednesday. Odd isn’t it?
What was formerly the media’s job has now become a part-time role for anyone on social media as well: every problem is your problem.
Remember Malaysia Airlines?
Oceangate?
Epstein files?
I’d wager most of us had conversations with friends & family theorizing what happened in each case. It’s a natural tendency as we’re 1) drawn to the uncertain/mysterious & 2) crave for any opportunity to validate our competency.
Every notification. Every scrolling session. Every phone pick up. These are votes for who you’re electing as your future self. Fortify the walls of your OODA loop & ensure the barrier to entry is enormous.
Your attention is finite and therefore sacred. You can just not care about nearly everything.
Next time you’re tempted, ask yourself: What does 10 yr older me win from my time & attention investment in this?
Hawthorne Effect
When you’ve felt like you were being watched in the past - whether it be at work, school, or by family - you’ve likely felt the pressure to be dialed in. That’s the Hawthorne effect at play.
My favorite example of this psychological phenomenon came via a 6-month randomized weight loss trial in 2019. 81 overweight adults were split into two groups: one group self-monitored their diet via a mobile app and the other group wore a fitness wearable device. At the conclusion of the period, the app tracking group lost an average of 15 lb compared to the wearable group only losing 6.6 lb.
There’s a reason even the most elite bodybuilders & athletes generally hire coaches: authentic accountability.
Employ an accountability mechanism to leverage the Hawthorne effect.
Going To Bed ~10 PM
You’ll continue to hear me say this ad nauseum: sleep regularity > sleep quality > sleep duration.
We’re not arbitrary balls of meats wandering around the universe. We’re instead perfectly timed beings governed by natural biological rhythms. When we habitually uncouple ourselves from these circadian rhythms, we become mismatched to the environment we reside in and so too with it our cells. Every one of our ~40 trillion contains a peripheral clock. Our bodies, like nature itself, love synchronicity among thee clocks & our central clock. And when each cell isn’t timed properly, we break.
“But why 10 PM?”
Some of the strongest data we have to support this is a result of a UK Biobank cohort study across 88,000 subjects. The findings revealed that individuals who fell asleep between 10 PM - 11 PM had the lowest incidence of CVD. In contrast, those with sleep onset times before 10 PM or after 11 PM exhibited a higher risk of developing CVD - even after adjusting for sleep duration and other risk factors.
The importance of an earlier bed time becomes even more apparent when we observe the variation of growth hormone secretion between those who are well-rested & those who are sleep deprived. Notice below the timing of the spike in the sleep phase. 10 PM - 2 AM is when our deepest sleep (slow-wave sleep) occurs and along with it the substantial pulse of GH we obtain within the same time period.
Caffeine Cycling
In 2015, the average daily caffeine intake was 165 mg. Today, that number has shot up to 210 mg/day. But the increase in average intake isn’t the concern. It’s those on the margin. A decade ago the top 10% consumers were taking in 380 mg/day compared to 520 mg/day today. A period of caffeine inflation.
In the health space, we associate caffeine as a performance enhancer - both a cognitive & a physical one. But to fuel your curiosity, ask some folks who don’t exercise what their typical intake looks like daily. You’ll be surprised at how many walk you through this answer: “2-3 cups of coffee before work. Celsius in the afternoon.” Over 400 mg for the day to fuel desk performance. Sneaks up on most.
A simple way not to fall into the trap of this persistent spamming is by way of the caffeine cycling method. To get the most out of the drug, we need to cycle its usage. And we can do it without max pain.
My favorite 7-day protocol I like to use when a big event is approaching andI need to hit peak performance or I simply want to program a caffeine “reset” (i.e. 2 cups of coffee feels like nothing):
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