Lesson From Books: The 4-Hour Body
The 4-Hour Body entails everything from how to lose weight, build muscle, build strength, improve your endurance, heighten your sexual experience, and decrease the chances of injuries. Each section relies upon a few key principles which Tim Ferriss unpacks thoroughly. It’s the principles that are universal.
MED
“The minimum effective dose (MED) is defined simply: the smallest dose that will produce a desired outcome.”
The concept of MED is simple and straightforward. Pick something that you want to change and find the smallest action you can implement right now that will result in a meaningful difference. In terms of health, if your goal is to lose weight, instead of overhauling your entire diet or hiring a coach who will run you down to the ground, you could simply start by increasing your daily number of steps.
Once that dose becomes ineffective, then you can manipulate another dose to keep you moving toward your desired result.
This can be seen as counterproductive in our current hustle culture where everyone is looking to do more and more.
“More is not better. Indeed, your greatest challenge will be resisting the temptation to do more.”
To do less is indeed a great challenge. We lack the patience to stay still and to trust the process. We think by doing more we will get our desired results quickly but that isn’t always the case.
Change takes time.
To do less can be viewed as a sign of confidence. Often, we act out of a lack of confidence. We try to hide our insecurities by being busy. If we keep acting, then eventually something will happen, right?
Maybe.
There is an argument to be made that some things simply require an obsessive amount of volume to get the desired result. But here, once again, we need a degree of self-understanding.
“Take adherence seriously: will you actually stick with this change until you hit your goal? If not, find another method, even if it’s less effective and less efficient. The decent method you follow is better than the perfect method you quit.”
The volume trigger aka how much you do is the easiest to manipulate as long as you are giving the proper effort. So, start slow, control your volume output, and increase it as time goes on and if there is a good, logical reason to do so.
This concept can be applied to everything from your work to health, hobbies and even relationships.
The smallest positive change is all you need.
Cycling > Balance
In terms of dieting, Tim Ferriss describes the concept in the following way:
“The top bodybuilders in the world understand this and, even when in a pre-contest dieting phase, will cycle calories to prevent hormonal down regulation. The daily average might be 4,000 calories per day, but it would be cycled as follows: Monday, 4,000; Tuesday, 4,500; Wednesday, 3,500, etc.”
He caps it off by saying:
“Forget balance and embrace cycling.”
This concept can also be applied to other areas of our lives. In an attempt to live a balanced life, we can limit ourselves.
Take work for example. Some days work is extremely slow and plodding. Other days you hit a flow state and it feels as if you can do anything. But if we approach both days the same way, then we are limiting our potential.
Instead of feeding the fire, we put it out and hope the embers are around to fan the following day.
With cycling, you can increase the intensity of your output and go beyond what you originally had planned for that day and then the following day, you can take the foot off the pedal and slow it down. Or, you can keep the intensity cycle up for several days in a row or even weeks before taking a deload.
The pursuit of having a well-balanced routine, a well-balanced day, and a well-balanced week can lead to mediocrity.
Cycle in a dose of passion, intensity, and obsession.
Why People Fail To Meet Their Goals
According to Tim Ferriss, there are two main reasons why people fail to meet their goals.
“1. Most people have an insufficient reason for action. The pain isn’t painful enough. It’s a nice-to-have, not a must-have. There has been no “Harajuku Moment.””
The Why isn’t strong enough. People like the idea of change but it is not a necessity. They haven’t hit rock bottom or been slapped in the face by the reality of life.
They can skate on by with their current habits and attitudes and make it work. The effort to change isn’t worth the trouble.
2. There are no reminders. No consistent tracking = no awareness = no behavioral change. Consistent tracking, even if you have no knowledge of fat-loss or exercise, will often beat advice from world-class trainers.”
People don’t bother to analyze themselves in a scientific manner. You have to track progress and the variables involved so you can see what’s working and what’s not.
To put it simply, people don’t care enough to change. If you care about something, you would obsess over it, be detail-oriented, and keep tabs on it.
“If you are very overweight, very weak, very inflexible, or very anything negative, tracking even a mediocre variable will help you develop awareness that leads to the right behavioral changes. This underscores an encouraging lesson: you don’t have to get it all right. You just have to be crystal clear on a few concepts. Results will follow.”
Perhaps one reason we don’t track as diligently as we should is because we don’t want to see ourselves fail or regress. That’s a harsh blow to the ego. It’s easier to hope than to will the change you desire.
The latter requires constant iteration and effort.
Principles Of Behaviour Change
1. “Make it conscious.”
To change, you need to know exactly what you’re trying to change. You have to shine a light on the ugly part of yourself that is causing the rest of you to rot.
2. “Make it a game.”
It’s here where measuring is important. In terms of working out, there is a concept of beating the logbook. Meaning, that you write down your workout each day and how many reps and sets you did along with the weight you used. And each week, you try to beat your previous numbers.
However, the concept of balance applies here. The balance is you are trying to beat your old record or add to your consistency streak or sobriety streak without attaching your self-worth to it so even if you fail, you can simply get back on the horse and keep playing the game.
Instead of wallowing in misery and thinking you’re a failure.
Again, the key is a balance between wanting results and being detached from them at the same time.
3. “Make it competitive.”
Like a good story, even your behavior needs stakes. So, a friendly wager with a friend or spouse can lead to a higher chance of successfully changing your behavior rather than relying purely on your willpower.
Or you can even make it competitive with yourself. Separate yourself. There is an ideal version of you and there is the current you. Beat the current you.
4. “Make it small and temporary.”
A small change is easier to implement. If you combine that with a deadline of sorts, such as for the next 4 weeks you’ll have salad for lunch, you are more likely to stick to it because there is an end in sight.
So, apply K.I.S.S wherever you can. Keep It Simple, Stupid.
Originally published at http://learnedliving.org on January 7, 2024.