Becoming Fit for Life #039: Health Blind Spots, Stockdale Paradox, Meaningful Data
👀 How you get trapped in your own thinking, The balance between faith and realism, What sense you are neglecting, and a question about what you might want to learn
This week in building health 👇
The 3 Big “Health Blind Spots” I’m Constantly Dealing With
Do you ever find yourself looking back and thinking about how much healthier you were before?
I do
From 2005 to 2010, I was one of the best college track and field athletes in the country.
Look at how young and carefree I looked back then!
BUT
It all ended in 2011 when I injured my right knee.
And even though on the outside, I still looked healthy and fit– then next 10 years would keep me stuck in a mental trap
I was always thinking to myself “I wish I were as strong, fast, and powerful as I was back in my college years”
Today, I can look back on that and say:
I was stuck in “Health Blind Spot”
By staying Stuck in Past I couldn’t work on my health based on my actual reality TODAY.
It was only after taking a step back and reflecting that I was able to see what was keeping me stuck.
This week, I’m sharing 3 other health blind spots that I’ve seen in myself
Maybe you can notice these in yourself too
→ Read the Essay here (6 mins)
My favorite health things for the week
// one
What is the ‘Stockdale Paradox’ and how does it apply to health?
8 minutes | ModelThinkers.com
This is a story of Vietnam War veteran who went though 5 years of being in prison camp.
When asked: How did you survive those 5 years?
He said
“I never doubted not only that I would get out. But you must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”
Somehow you need both
The belief that you will overcome your challenges
But also the discipline that you need to face your current reality
This is a great complement to what I talked about last week— which is the problem of simply being (naively) optimistic about your health
// two
What is Your Most Neglected Sense?
7 minutes | Gretchen Rubin
I found this fun little quiz that helps you become aware of your 5 senses, and which one you might be overlooking.
Personally, I find it easier to stay active if I’m able to immerse myself in an experience
That’s probably why I’ll take a trail hike any day over running on a treadmill. It’s just a fuller experience.
// three
A Framework to Make Better Use of Wearables Data
16 minutes | Marco Altini
This one is longer and for the fitness nerds
I’ve written here and here about fitness trackers in the past, and I honestly think it’s a discussion that could go on forever.
Marco is one the smartest guys I know when it comes to making MEANINGFUL sense of health data out there.
So it’s great to hear his latest thoughts on what kind of tracking makes sense.
Quick TL;DR from the essay
Measurements need to be taken at the right time to be meaningful in terms of interpretability,
Despite the push to “measuring all the time”, often a desperate attempt to keep you “engaged” with their toy, there is often no use in this approach.
In short, you don’t need to be tracking 24/7. It makes sense to track during the right time in the right way instead
Until next time
Last month, I was asked by a company to give a few health webinars.
It was a pretty fun experience, and I enjoyed making the presentations and running the webinars.
It reminded me of my teaching days in university! (In many ways, I’m still a teacher at heart ❤️)
Here’s what I presented:
I had a thought though…
Is this something you’d be interested in watching too?
I have rough recordings of the sessions, and I’d need to clean up the presentations. But I figured this could be something I share with you also.
Would you be interested?
Hit "Reply" and let me know which one of these looks interesting to you. I can find a way that I can share it.
Thanks and Have a healthy weekend,
Javier Gomez