life hacking

January came and went, and lo and behold, I discovered that I was engaging in some life hacking activities.

Every year, I learn how to drive my body and brain a little better, and I’ve finally come to the conclusion that resolutions just don’t work for me. That is, big-R Resolutions, the ones where you go through months of torturous introspection, step back, and solemnly declare to start doing X, get me all excited for about 4 weeks, and then I just fall off the wagon. Call it a brain jam, deep-seated character flaw, or just plain laziness — whatever — the number of times that sort of thing has worked for me in my entire life can be counted on one hand.

I’m discovering that things stick better when I impulsively trick myself and just start doing stuff without over thinking it.

Some things I’ve been doing recently…

Crossfit. I’d had it in the back of my mind to join the local xfit gym for a while now, but kept on making convenient excuses for myself. It’s too expensive. It’s too far away. My shoulder isn’t ready. And then early in January, my friend Lindsay mentioned off-hand that she had signed up for the intro class and that I should join her. So I did.

And here I am. Excuses are just that — excuses. Valid or not, it’s important to recognize them for what they are, which are reasons to say no. And when you get sick of saying no and start asking why the hell not, good things happen.

I don’t really have a goal in mind with crossfit. Maybe I’d like to be able to do a muscle-up by the end of the year. Why the hell not?

Paleo nutrition. Another lifestyle that I’ve been flirting with on and off for a while now. The activation energy to get over the hump on this one came from the crossfit intro class. Oh, and the fact that rotisserie chickens at King Soopers are both inexpensive and relatively healthy — the price per convenience per health ratio of a rotisserie chicken can’t be beat. Really. Thank you rotisserie oven for giving me delicious hot food in 0 seconds when I’m exhausted. If I believed in idolatry, I’d cast a gold version of you and kneel at your MSG-enhanced altar every day.

But yeah, I know crossfit seems cultish in how it just takes over your life. Well, if you can ignore the cult part, it turns out that there are still good ideas to be had. So get over the image and just start doing the stuff that sounds good to you. I won’t judge, I promise.

Today, I weighed in at an ass-staggeringly heavy 160 lbs. I’m not actually expecting to lose weight while eating paleo, since I’m lifting heavy things all the time now, but I do expect my body fat composition to change. Let’s just throw a number out there, say getting to below 10% body fat by the end of the year. Why the hell not?

Paleo hygiene. Now this started more as a joke than anything else, but in for a penny, in for a pound, right? I heard about a guy who stopped using soap and shampoo and thought why the hell not? I’m about three weeks in and the experimental results so far are indicating that this is a winner.

Even with my currently longish hair, the experiment is going well. Skin isn’t breaking out and doesn’t feel typically winter dry, hair is both non-greasy and naturally coiffed, and I can’t smell my own junk.

[On that last item, note that I didn't make the much stronger claim that my junk doesn't smell. Rather, it's a combination of a) not being flexible enough to bend over and do a close olfactory inspection b) whatever else might be going on, it's not strong enough to waft up and register on the smell-o-meters in my nose and c) I'm usually somewhat congested in the winter time anyway.]

So there you have it, a few experiments I’m trying on myself. How many long does it take to form a habit? I’ve heard anywhere between 3 and 8 weeks.

Check back in at the end of February for an exciting update of the life and times of your favorite internet wanker.