Inbox Zero 2.0

In my previous post on Inbox Zero, I listed my top tips for emptying your inbox so you can focus on what you need to get done. However, you likely have more to do than you could possibly get done each day. Also, clearing out your inbox often leads to a full sent box, and no guarantee that your emails are being responded to or acted upon.

New Additions to My Inbox

I recently added a .To-Do folder to my Inbox and several sub-folders. Each sub-folder contains emails that pertain to tasks that I must perform Today or defer to Tomorrow, emails to which I am waiting for a response or some action, and emails pertaining to tasks I wish to perform "Zomeday" (so that is last in the order). This relatively simple folder system has magnified the clarity of an empty inbox, but adding another dimension: when

Your Inbox is Not Your To Do List

It should be no surprise that I have incorporated this system into Evernote as well. I have written a couple times about Evernote, my organizational tool of choice. Not all of my tasks are generated by email, so I rely on Evernote to capture and organize all of my tasks. This seems to fly in the face of the "Your Inbox is Your To Do List" ideology, but I see this as the next step in my email evolution. 

Stay well engineered,

Devon

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These statements or products referenced are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

5th Annual Bulletproof Biohacking Conference, Day 3

Day 3 was shorter at the request of many of 4th Annual Bulletproof Biohacking Conference attendees to facilitate afternoon travel arrangements, but the talks were some of the most inspiring of the conference. 

What is your MVT?

Peter H. Diamandis has a unique way of seeing the world. While the major news outlets often reflect all that is wrong with the world, Peter sees business opportunities. "If you want to become a billionaire, help a billion people." While the news reports about the scarcity of resources, Peter sees abundance. In sharp contrast to only one hundred years ago, we have more energy, better communications, reduction in all cause mortality, except cancer, and even now with CRISPR that too may be a thing of the past. Peter believes that we all have an MVT (massive transformative purpose) and that we will only achieve it through "moonshot" thinking.

What is really in your stool?

Naveen Jain is a board member of the XPRIZE and founder of several companies, including a company with an actual moonshot in their future. Despite Naveen's humble beginning in rural India, Naveen is very grateful for what he and his siblings have achieved stating "God has been very kind to us." Naveen's newest venture is VIOME. VIOME uses a process they call "Metatranscriptome Sequencing" which they claim is able to sequence the RNA of "iruses, archaea, yeast, fungi, parasites, and bacteriophages" which they claim is superior to the 16S test used by other genetic sequencing services, which only can detect bacterial RNA.

 Your Internal Pharmacy

Dr. William Sears ended the conference with an interesting presentation that even a child could understand, he has been a pediatrician for decades. According to Dr. Sears, the lining of our blood vessels, the endothelium, are capable of a number of useful antioxidants, neurochemicals, hormones, and other "medicines", essentially your own internal pharmacy. Naturally, unhealthy eating and exercise practices produce "sticky stuff" that covers the endothelium, closing your pharmacy. I look forward to reading how "The Dr. Sears T5 Wellness Plan" can keep our pharmacies open.

I was very impressed with this year's presenters and the vendors in the Tech Hall and I look forward to the 2018 Conference with eager anticipation.

Stay well engineered,

Devon

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These statements or products referenced are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

5th Annual Bulletproof Biohacking Conference, Day 2

Dave's Day 2 welcome touched on three junk words: need, can't and try. "Need" is often used to describe things we want, but do not actually need. "Can't" detracts from your power of choice. "Try" pre-declares failure...going back to Intention as he spoke about the day prior.

What's Your Purpose?

A good portion of Mastin Kipp's talk focused on purpose. Purpose, Kipp reports, has the side effects of financial gain, improves immune function, lowers A1C, raises HDL cholesterol and lowers LDL cholesterol, and so much more. "Purpose is an emotion that you cultivate within yourself and express to others in the form of service." His talk transitioned to fear, which he described as unhealed emotional trauma that leads to Low Level Coping Mechanisms (drugs, alcohol, junk food, etc.) and High Level Coping Mechanisms (diet, exercise, biohacking, etc.). In the end, barring actual mortal danger, Kipp's recommendation is point yourself in the direction of the thing you fear as this is likely your purpose.

Nitric Oxide Dump and So Much More

Dr. Joseph Mercola is no stranger in the health and wellness community, but his presentation on his favorite Biohacks was a cornucopia of knowledge, much of which people may not be familiar. The biggest take away was the Nitric Oxide Dump that he credits Dr. Zach Bush with creating. Nitric Oxide is related to everything from longevity to the cure to erectile dysfunction. The NO Dump has four basic movements that you perform 10 times per side and repeat three times as fast as you can (video):

1. Air Squat
2. Marching Arm Swing
3. Big Arm Circles
4. Air Military Press

Information + Emotion = Lasting Memory

I ducked out of Jim Kwik's talk early to grab lunch and walk around the Tech Hall some more, but I found his concept of how lasting memories are formed to be so true. The joy and gratitude I felt during this conference will ensure that this conference will be a lasting memory for me.

The Future of Love, Lust and Commitment

Who would have thought that I would have made a friend standing outside the Main Hall waiting for the keynote speaker Ester Perel? My intention of "community" personified in a person I just met. We ended up spending the balance of the day together. Ester pointed out that previous generations lived in small communities around a church, and that everything from waking up to church bells, to getting married in the church, and dying was centered around religion. She indicated that now that many single people live in major cities, that the role of the church in the relationship has diminished, but she did not seem to have a good substitute for it, perhaps a reflection of the current state of relationships apart from God, apart but otherwise ill-defined. She had other good points, The Four Horseman of Relationship Apocalypse (criticism, defensiveness, stonewalling and contempt) and her definition of "trust" as "a shared experience...helping us to live with risk (fear)" gave an insight to why people have trust issues, they have fear.

Dr. Joseph Mercola Q&A

As if the morning session with Dr. Joseph Mercola was not enough, the afternoon session was so filled with information, that he had not time for questions at the end. I could write an entire blog post about his slides, I will summarize the highlights below:

• Methylene Blue for Youthful Skin
• "Letting Go" by Dr. David Hawkins
• Oura Ring
• Eng3 - Inhaled Structured Water
• NOVOTHOR whole body light pod
• Joovv Red Light Therapy
• HRI Glyphosate Test
• Restore

The Microbiome

Dr. Zach Bush is the creator of Restore. The reason he created was immediately apparent. As he pointed out there are approximately 7 Billion "souls" on earth, or approximately 70 Trillion cells. Among these souls, the rate of Autism has grown to 1:45 and Cancer to 1:2 souls in just a couple generations. Why? According to Dr. Zach Bush it is the preponderance of Glyphosate (A.K.A. Round Up) in the world. What is wrong with Glyphosate? According to the research of Dr. Bush and others, Glyphosate destroys the tight junctions between the intestinal cells, the hallmark of "leaky gut" feared by the Paleo and Bulletproof communities alike. Leaky gut is the mechanism by which undigested food passes through the intestinal walls into the blood stream. Your body mobilizes white blood cells to attack the invaders. The only problem is that cells of beef look awfully like your own cells, so your white blood cells start to attack your own cells, the beginning of auto-immunity.

The Future of Smart Drugs

Dave Asprey is no stranger to Nootropics (AKA "Smart Drugs"). His use of Provigil and members of the racetam family is well-documented, but that is old new. Dave has now adapted a layered approach:

1. Change Your Environment
2. Mindfulness, Breathing and Brain Training
3. Everyday Nootropics
4. "Big Gun" Nootropics

Change Your Environment is the basis of the Bulletproof Diet. Understanding how everything from how you eat, sleep and move affects your gene expression. Mindfulness has recognized benefits. Anyone familiar with the Wim Hof Method knows the power of breathing. Off-handed ping-pong is brain training?! Everyday Nootropics come from some unlikely places such as:

• Coffee (and other polyphenols)
• Nicotine (sublingual please, no smoking)
• CoQ10
• Methylene Blue
• Creatine
• Acetyl L Carnitine
• Magnesium L-Threonate

In the end, Dave returned to Gratitude. Finding any reason to be grateful is sure to put your mind at ease, and leave more margin for great thoughts.

Stay well engineered,

Devon

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These statements or products referenced are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.