Over-optimization may be your downfall!

Controversial, maybe! But hear me out.

I’m not saying you should never meditate (it’s actually great). And if you find cold showers are helpful for you… go for it!

But I think it’s useful to stop and weigh up the benefits of some of these things versus the costs. Not to mention the whole philosophy of optimising every last detail of your routine.

Certainly don’t feel any pressure to take off your shoes and go outside in the morning if it’s not practical because you’re a busy parent.

We have a bit of a tendency to over-simplify the human body. We see a study that shows X supplement raises testosterone, or that shows that doing Y behaviour boosts dopamine.

But we forget to ask the important questions: what else could you do to get that same effect? Does that change actually have a noticeable impact? Is the study even reliable? How practical is this?

For example: it might sound great that a certain supplement raises testosterone, until you learn that the study was on people with a specific condition and may not apply to the general population. Or until you realise that a tiny boost in testosterone actually isn’t gauranteed to noticeably impact your muscle mass, energy, or mood (the body is far more nuanced than that).

Likewise, cold showers might build discipline. But so does exercise. And exercise doesn’t involve blasting yourself with freezing morning. Warm showers are nice - enjoy them!

Ice baths, meanwhile, take forever to run. And cost a fortune. And waste water.

They may raise dopamine, but not necessarily in the specific parts of the brain linked to productivity. And so, too, does chocolate, coffee, and countless other things. And a traffic jam can still completely change your mood.

If someone is telling you to only hang out with people who are high achievers… I mean that’s just desperately sad as far as I’m concerned. And who defines an “achiever” anyway?

The list goes on. It’s not to say don’t do these things if they work for you. It’s to ask if you really NEED them. Because at a certain point, you’re just spending hours and huge amounts of cash all so that you can send a few more emails.

I’m all about fitness and human performance. I think it’s cool. But it’s okay to just enjoy stuff sometimes. To just relax. Not everything has to be optimised.

Especially seeing as half of it barely works, anyway.

And if you think all these optimisations are going to turn you into some hyper-productive chad that everyone respects… I’m sorry to say it doesn’t work like that.

And that’s probably not the right goal to begin with.