Quit your yakkin’ and get busy. Quit wasting time obsessing about pimping your ass and checking your stats. Instead, MAKE stuff. Make AMAZING stuff. Make stuff that is so good that people have no choice but to find out about it. Otherwise, you REALLY are just wasting your time. This game is already TOO hard and TOO BIG a time suck to fritter away on what is, for the most part, a big ol’ distraction.
At this point, I have left all of the online social networks. I’m busy spending all of my time working on The Work—or at least trying to figure out what The Work is for me— cultivating my mind, writing and spending time with those whose company I enjoy. Unfortunately, that last one is nearly impossible since the vast majority of people are too busy.
I suggest you make a list of what’s important to you. It does not need to be ordered by priority. Simply make a list of things which are important. If that is hard to do, you’ve just learned something important; “Figure out what’s important to me,” would be a good item for your list.
I check my list occasionally to see if what I am doing in some random moment is aligned with my list. I checked recently, and social networks no longer made the cut.
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Ryan Ford: Coaching methods, talent hotbeds, and cryptocurrency →
What are the strategies and philosophies that guide building inclusive, innovative communities and leveraging multidisciplinary skills for growth?
Ryan Ford shares his thoughts on his Parkour EDU program, various coaching methods, and his experience of building a community. He discusses the idea of a talent hotbed, how and why it occurs, and how to apply those ideas, before delving into the world of crypto-currency. Ryan explains what crypto currency is, why he’s so interested in it, its potential for growth, and the similarities he sees between crypto and parkour.
The art of reinventing yourself and learning new skills is essential for the future.
~ Ryan Ford (23:16)
The conversation begins with an exploration of Ryan Ford’s work in developing a Parkour Strength for Adults program, which focuses on physical training as a gateway for adults into parkour. He explains his approach to making training scalable and welcoming, emphasizing community building through inclusive practices and partner interactions. The discussion touches on his inspiration from various movement disciplines and coaching methodologies, such as those by Ido Portal and Christopher Sommer.
Later, the conversation shifts to Ford’s interest in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. He highlights the parallels between parkour and crypto, such as decentralization, freedom, and global accessibility. Ford shares his experiments with using blockchain for parkour community projects, like decentralized bounties, and reflects on the potential of blockchain to democratize finance. The discussion concludes with reflections on balancing entrepreneurship, training, and innovation.
Takeaways
Parkour Strength for Adults — A program designed to make parkour accessible to a broader demographic by focusing on physical preparation.
Inclusive community-building — Encouraging partner interactions and mixing diverse skill levels in classes to foster engagement.
Parallels with blockchain — Exploring how parkour and crypto share principles of decentralization and freedom.
Scalable training methods — Techniques for adapting parkour training to different age groups and abilities.
Multidisciplinary inspiration — Drawing from varied fields like gymnastics, mobility training, and movement culture for parkour innovation.
Freedom and agency — Using parkour and crypto as tools for personal and financial autonomy.
Creative combinations — Leveraging diverse skill sets to create unique, impactful contributions.
The rest of the year we would call this feeling abundance. It’s not a feeling particular to Christmas, but for a lot of kids Christmas morning represents the abundance feeling at its peak concentration. The first days of Summer break gives a similar high, but it’s spread over a much longer period and so it’s never quite as dazzling. There is also a minor spike in the fall, the evening of Halloween. In each case the abundance feeling is glorious, but fades quickly.
I want to say I have everything I want. It’s certainly true that I have everything I need. Despite this, I do things frenetically all my waking hours with seizures of exhaustion and depression and escape to entertainment.
Clearly what I feel I don’t have is an abundance of time.
It’s impossible to do all the things I think of, and I don’t mean ideas of entertainment or escape. I mean ideas for projects, businesses, changes to improve things and so on. I know that I have to stop trying to solve so many problems. I know I need to simply find something that fulfills me and tinker.
But my obsessive nature—or is it only a habit?—leads me to try to fill every waking moment with effective effort.
After too many readings to remember, I’m still at a loss to summarize my thoughts. The difficulty is that this is an area of my life with which I currently struggle daily.
There is a basic challenge-level to reality: There is a stone in my shoe. It’s time to mow the lawn. This bill should be paid. I’m great at handling huge numbers of these basic sorts of challenges. Unfortunately, the positive thinking of chapter 17 doesn’t give me a handle on solutions to basic challenges. …and I am completely swamped with these sorts of basic challenges.
Don’t conflate basic with easy. All of the easy, basic challenges I have under control; They are already done, or are managed by reliable systems. What I’m left with are the remainders—a pile of difficult, basic challenges. Things for which positive thinking still gives me no purchase.
I don’t have much of a grasp on this chapter. But then, that’s why I’m studying this book and using its chapters as jumping-off points for my thoughts.
Most obesity “experts” assume (erroneously) that the big equal sign between the blue and red terms implies a direction of causality. In other words, they assume that an increase in fat mass (the blue side gets bigger), was CAUSED by the red number being bigger than the green number.
Yes, physics always works. Yes, the First Law of Thermodynamics is always true. Yes, “calories in” always equals “calories out”. But that does not explain why we get fat. The equals-sign in the calories-in equals calories-out does not tell you anything about causality.
As with every single thing Peter Attia writes, you should go read this. Twice.
Whenever I’m playing with my phone I am only shortening my life. A smartphone is useful if you have a specific thing you want to do, but ninety per cent of the time the thing I want to do is avoid doing something harder than surfing Reddit. During those minutes or hours, all I’m doing is dying.
The whole article is full of great truths, many of which I feel comfortable saying I’ve learned. But on this one in particular I was guilty, until very recently.
About a year ago, I picked up the idea of clearing my phone’s home screen and re-learning to always use the search to explicitly launch the app I wanted. I also disabled all notifications and converted the phone into a tool which I use—the phone never uses me.
Was there some amount of value I was getting from Facebook? …certainly. Given that all things take up time, resources, and/or just space in my mind, what’s the cost-benefit analysis?
Sometimes I stumble upon things like this—in this case, from Maria Papova—and I’m not quite sure what to do with them. There’s something to this which scratches at the back of my mind.
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Amos Rendao: Journaling, nutrition, and self talk →
What does it take to balance creative passion, personal growth, and professional responsibility while navigating life’s unpredictable journey?
Amos Rendao reflects on what music means to him, flowing vs planning, and the benefits and importance of journalling. The conversation turns to the idea of success and what that means, before moving to Aikido, and information activism. Amos shares his insights on diet and nutrition, his journey with injuries and recovery, and how he manages self talk.
Journaling is such an important way to develop a relationship with yourself.
~ Amos Rendao (49:50)
The conversation covers the relationship between creativity, self-reflection, and structured productivity. Amos reflects on his deep connection with music, sharing how his early experiences in bands shifted to a hiatus as parkour and business took priority. He revisits his passion through home recording, finding renewed joy in music’s restorative power. This leads to broader discussions on the interplay between freeform exploration and the necessity of structure, reflecting on how Amos balances spontaneity with highly organized systems to maximize productivity.
Amos and Craig explore the transformative impact of journaling as a tool for self-awareness and growth. They discuss the challenges of maintaining consistency in habits, diet, and personal health while navigating entrepreneurial and athletic commitments. The dialogue also touches on the influence of aikido in shaping their movement practice, drawing parallels between martial arts and parkour. The broader theme highlights how embracing both structured goals and open-ended exploration can lead to deeper personal insight and development.
Takeaways
Journaling – A powerful tool for developing self-awareness, tracking personal growth, and identifying patterns over time.
Creativity and Flow – Revisiting creative passions can restore mental health and balance, even after long hiatuses.
Structured Productivity – Building organized systems around sleep, diet, and time management can significantly enhance efficiency.
Freeform Exploration – Spontaneous, unstructured days can lead to valuable experiences and insights, balancing out rigid schedules.
Movement and Recovery – Insights into how parkour, aikido, and other movement practices contribute to long-term physical resilience and injury recovery.
Diet and Performance – Experimenting with diet, fasting, and biohacking to improve mental clarity and athletic performance.
Community and Connection – The importance of community involvement, both in local parkour initiatives and broader projects like USPK.
Resources
APEX School of Movement — A movement school co-founded by Amos Rendao focused on parkour education.
Parkour EDU — An educational platform designed to teach parkour principles and coaching techniques.