Your potential is determined by the quality of your health. If you’re sleep deprived, overweight and running on caffeine, how can you expect to produce your best work?
Most of us focus on the wrong things when we try to eke out more productivity or be more creative. We work harder, pound the coffee, and start working nights and weekends to get more done as we slouch over our computers expecting this extra effort to result in a better outcome. What if instead of squeezing blood out of a stone, we actually expanded our reservoir of energy and creativity and spent more of our lives on our A game?
One of the indirect mentors that’s had the biggest impact on me is the renowned strength coach and Olympic trainer, the late Charles Poliquin. Though I’ve learned a vast amount of things from his work, one of the biggest and perhaps surprising impacts he’s had on me is how I think about knowledge work and recovery. Charles was fond of framing energy as being a balance between the yang energy, and the yin reserve. As he might describe it, the yang energy is the flame and the yin reserve is the oil. While coffee and pre-workout might be excellent tools to acutely improve focus and flow in a well rested and nourished individual, no amount of stimulants or sugar rushes can make up for an empty tank.
When we start to focus on the yin reserve rather than merely on the intensity of the flame, the game completely changes. By focusing on the way we eat, sleep and move as someone like Peter Attia might say, we make it possible to be more effective and get significantly more done in less time. If you simply had more energy and resilience to work with, than you wouldn’t need to work nights and weekends to scrape by in the first place.
If you expect to perform at the highest level, like an Olympic gold medalist in the realm of creative work, than you must eat, train and live accordingly. In real terms this means, 7-9 hours of high-quality sleep, actually feeding yourself whole foods a caveman could’ve gotten ahold of, staying hydrated, and getting some sun and some amount of exercise and movement. This might sound incredibly boring and uncontroversial and that’s because it is. Without the fundamentals all of the hacks and tricks simply don’t matter. There are no shortcuts when it comes to your health. It may not be fun to give up booze, or sour patch kids in the short-term, but your mental and physical health, wellbeing, and performance will rapidly thank you for showing up for yourself.
“The rule is: the basics are the basics and you can’t beat the basics.” — Charles Poliquin
FourthEye 
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