Originally published March 2020 in Immortalists Magazine Issue #3:
The performance potential of any human being, especially that of dealing with the stresses of the modern world, has suffered greatly.
The reasons are varied, but for the purpose of this article I will cover the obstacles most easily remedied for substantial improvements in mental performance.
The Body – Starship of the Mind’s Crew.
While it seems a bit of retread in the age of new neurological advances, the consideration of the human body as the support vehicle for the brain cannot be forgotten and must be addressed first in any performance improvement regiment. The biggest culprits slowing down our performance in the modern age are inflammation and unawareness of the body’s energy production cycles.
Body Issue – Inflammation – The 90% Disease.
This obstacle is far more insidious than many realize. Even in those individuals who appear to be free from obesity or “puffiness” may be suffering hidden inflammation at the cellular level that reduce their energy output and strength of willpower. For this, my recommendation is simple and proven effective for centuries…Intermittent Fasting.
Body Fix – Intermittent Fasting – Ancient Evolutionary Power.
This way of eating is the technique that finally helped me lose weight after decades of diet and training regimen attempts. Intermittent Fasting, or IF, simply put, is extending the time period before you “break fast” reducing the window of time in which you eat daily from 16 hours to 8 hours or less. This runs contrary to many of the popular dieting recommendations that mistake bad science for possible shortcuts. The process of why and how this works can be long and complicated, so to briefly explain and dissuade those naysayers who think they could not possibly forgo eating for that long or wonder “how would they have energy if they didn’t eat right when they got up”, I repeat an analogy told to me by my spouse upon her understanding of why IF works: Human Beings are not herbivores. We, like the Lion, are predators, and thus have inherited a predator’s feeding and hunting cycles. Lions do not graze, they do not get breakfast, they do not eat three square meals a day. What they do is hunt when they are hungry, and their bodies, like ours must produce energy for that hunt despite their last meal being many hours before. To do this, we have both evolved an ingenious dual power source for our energy production, food AND fat. When the lion eats, it gorges; food is digested to power the body, but also stored as fat reserves. Hours later, as hunger sets in and the digested food has run out, the body switches from storing fat to withdrawing it. This produces a different energy chemical than the food, and the adapted body quickly switches over to burn this alternate fuel. This is the power that lies dormant for most of us in the days of constant snacks and 24-hour fast food. Most will never feel the power that comes with the body switching to this hunting model: the strength, the alertness, the mental focus, the drive, and all of it is kept at bay by a constant influx of poor quality, inflammation-causing foods. This is also why so many people have trouble losing weight, as hunger keeps us eating and eating frequently, and despite workouts, or shakes, or drugs, we never switch over to sourcing fat as fuel. To aid those who are interested, but have difficulty fighting the hunger I can offer one other tip to get started. High quality fats, specifically Medium Chained Triglyceride (MCT) oils, can be consumed and quickly converted to the fat-derived fuel giving the body a head start while simultaneously lending the brain an energy boost to increase willpower and reduce hunger. And because I get asked about brands so often, my current choice is Bulletproof Brain Octane Oil. The Brain Oil also improves brain function which leads us to the mind.
The Mind – I think, therefore I…am distracted…
The brain and the mind it houses contains our next obstacles. The object of much recent research has proven there are many techniques old and new to streamlining its operation and focusing its power.
Mind Issue – Psychosomatics – Who is in charge?
A feeling of dread, an undeniable hunger, an unknown impulse to react, these are some of the symptoms of the body sending signals to the mind, which in turn reacts as if they are its own conclusions. Separate from “gut” feelings in which your unconscious mind is trying to tell you something, these are signals from a body no longer under your mind’s full control, and they can rob you of the energy and willpower to act as you would.
Mind Fix – Meditation – Training the mind-body sense.
Meditation has been touted as a remarkable tool for training the mind, but only recently did I fully grasp its potential for training the mind-body connection as well. Even in short durations, the act of breathing mindfully, becoming aware of the body’s signals, and gently addressing them allows you to break the feedback loop they cause. As you continue to mindfully breathe for several minutes, the body, receiving no feedback from the mind, cycles out the triggers that caused the signal, and you are released to continue with a clear head. Over time this repeated overruling of the body function becomes stronger allowing you a greater pool of willpower to draw from. This feature of meditation is what I believe to be one of its most powerful yet underemphasized during the coaching of its practice.
Mind Issue – Intermittent Flow – We have all felt it, but it remains elusive.
Flow. Flow has become a buzzword in the community of biohackers. The ultimate mindstate. A condition in which the mind shuts down all extraneous functions, such as time sense, self-doubt, and in extreme cases, the sense of where you end and the universe begins, all to provide as much processing power as it can muster toward a single goal. Most have felt it, from the athlete seeing the perfect play, or the soldier watching bullets fly in slow motion, to even being in an engaging conversation in which time just evaporates. It often remains a powerful memory, impressed by a feeling of great elation. We have felt it, but thought it merely a unique moment, and it does not occur to us that this state might be triggered voluntarily.
Mind Fix – Flow Training – Harnessing the Mind.
This cannot be a straightforward tip that I can offer, as what triggers the flow state can vary from person to person, and training to reach it involves learning what triggers work for you. So rather than a long explanation of the how and why, I will just explain the basics of what has worked for me in hopes that it helps similar-minded individuals develop their own programs. So, for me:
Step 1: Choose a biologically optimal time. For me, as a night owl, this has historically been late afternoon or late evening. But with continued training time of day has been less of a constraint.
Step 2: Pump up the body. Many flow states are triggered under extreme physical duress, so warming up as you are about to fight often helps me.
Step 3: Remove distractions. This does not always mean focusing on only one thing, as multitasking flow is an actual thing, but the removal of all that might disrupt your flow with other kinds of mental engagement.
Step 4: Music to get the brain up to speed. While researching binaural beats to improve concentration, I found that many kinds of EDM music worked even better and so I now use a Cognitive Enhancer mix to get my mind racing with energy.
Step 5: Profit! This is usually all it takes now to get me into a solid creative flow state for a couple hours. Your mileage may vary.
Flow is the supreme brain function we can currently hope to achieve, as it puts so much of our mind’s power on a single objective. It may be considered the peak of Human Performance (at least until the Man-Machine hybridizations begin), and I hope my tips can get you started toward achieving it more often.
