Green Pill 017: Scoreboard as Motivation | You Live in Paradise | What Motivates You - Carrot or Stick

"If You’re Not Taking Care Of Your Sleep, Exercise And Nutrition, You’re Not Giving Yourself A Fighting Chance Against Depression And Anxiety."

Author

Alex Shinkarovsky
June 22, 2023

Happy Thursday, fitfam! Back on the newsletter tip.

This week's resources to improve your life, and get you where you want to be.

P.S. see if you can find my easter egg on GETTING HOTTER. 😂 

Clue: it has a fire emoji 🔥

  1. Green Pill Announcement

  2. Green Pill Story: Gamify Your Life

  3. Weekly Quick Recs: (Meme, Your Gut Bacteria Will Die, Quote)

  4. Deep Dive: Get Your Motivation Right

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Are you going to take the Green Pill? by Green Pill Health

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Green Pill Stories - gamify your life

If you are figuring out your motivation, you’ll find this useful:

So, clients who come to me tend to be pretty data-driven.

EACH OF THEM is super interested in their SCORE.

Wearables are great in that they have given people the all-important scoreboard to their decisions. Ah you know it's a lot more fun to go to bed at. 9 30 and not have a glass of wine if I get a good score the next morning for doing so I've certainly found the scoreboard incentive to be a lot more powerful than the insight benefit in most wearables. Ah, maybe that's a [solo experiment] for me, but certainly my friends and family would agree.

Kiva Dickinson, Selva Ventures, investor in early stage tech cos

How can you implement a scoreboard to reach your goals?

  • Side hustle: hire a therapist or business coach to meet weekly

  • Weight Loss: Get a smart scale + Apple Watch to increase your activity levels by 10% daily and reduce body fat by 0.5% in 1 month

  • Looking Hotter: 🔥 Go to the club. See who checks you out. Get hotter. Go again. See if anything changes.

    • [this is for my real ones who read weekly hahah you found it]

  • Closer with Family/Friends: Track # of calls and hangouts on a spreadsheet.

As a quick summary, I use wearables a lot to keep people accountable to their goals, and track their biometrics after we change things (like supplements, habits, etc).

I have 5 people right now. Each of them has a wearable. We meet 2-3x a week and review their data + their action items for that week.

The scoreboard really helps

Highlights of the Week

Meme of the Week:

Health Hacks I’m Testing: Not feeding bad bacteria

You hear this a lot.

Why?

There is so much freakin’ advice out there:

  • only eat meat

  • don’t eat gluten

  • no dairy

  • no carbs

  • no animal products

You can find anything which suits your narrative.

Why? People are multifarious in their views and social media indexed creators’ opinions to be findable.

That is why I like to get back to fundamentals, if they are at all distillable.

Most people would argue that highly processed food is unnatural and not health-promoting.

In fact, scientists at Stanford who work on the gut microbiome realized that when you eat a fairly processed diet, the ‘good’ bacteria in your gut DO NOT GET FED AND DIE.

What proliferates instead? BloSSum (Blooms or Selected in Societies of Urbanization/Modernization) which EAT YOUR GUT LINING.

You then get permeation in your gut lining which allow microbes to get into the body cavity.

To put it simply, this causes persistent inflammation in the body, as if a fire alarm is always going off, even if there is no fire.

Inflammation cascades lead to pain, misallocation of resources and sensitivity to foods that would otherwise be okay to eat.

How are plants involved? Fibers in plants skip the stomach and feed the ‘good’ bacteria in your gut, which allow for less BloSSum to proliferate.

Learn more here:

Quote(s) I’m Loving: You live in paradise

Bringing this one back.

I follow world news a lot. We have it pretty good. I know that does not resonate with a lot of Americans , especially those working jobs just to keep health insurance, in medical bankruptcy, without a living wage, or suffering from bias in policing, schooling and corporate companies. My friends who skew more liberal will typically cite poor education, poor healthcare, no social safety net, racism, women’s medical rights, unclear social security, gun policy, poor infrastructure and more to say that our country is breaking down. Those are all true. Still, I think a lot of immigrants and children of immigrants, and those who work with colleagues abroad, appreciate the US a lot more than 2nd and 3rd and +++ generation Americans.

Sponsored by…me!

Feel like you know exactly what to do to be “on it” - and feel your best - but need accountability?

That’s where I come in. My clients already know what to do, typically, but appreciate having someone:

  • track their biometric data

  • keep them accountable

  • give them action items

  • supporting them with encouragement

Alex Loves Health

www.alexloveshealth.com/alh-system

Deep Dive - Motivation

What motivates you, carrots or sticks?

David Goggins has a concept, treat every day like an interview.

I believe in a bit more balance than that, but I think most of us coast too much.

I used to be a huge procrastinator.

Productive procrastination, specifically.

Need to get a project out?

Well, let me Clean My Desk, Eat a Snack, Drink a Coffee, Go for a Walk, Pay My Credit Card, Clear My Inbox, all to reset my headspace.

That is useful if you are entirely useless and can’t get shit done in that moment.

Otherwise, you are too addicted to the pressure of deadlines.

It’s important to understand what motivates you.

When do you do your best work? When do you absolutely crush it?

For many people, that’s either due to a carrot or a stick.

Find out what gets you cracking, and use it to your advantage.

*P.S. Many people accountability via therapy or coaching to be beneficial - typically as a “stick”.

Why? Because you need to meet with Coach Alex or Therapist Jessica, who will say, “so how was working on your side hustle last week?”

Thanks for reading.

Your feedback really helps! This takes me an hour to put together^^

You may find out more about my lifestyle adjustment & coaching services at my site, or read a Case Study here.

Check out detail on the Green Pill Podcast here, or on podcast platforms.