Smorgasbord #1
Flow, longevity and a short story
Hello friends! This is Peregrino, a newsletter about the journey. Today, I’m trying something new. Inspired by James Clear’s “3-2-1 Newsletter”, and
“5 Quick Things,” I bring you Smorgasbord!—a self-service buffet of ideas. A—brief—weekly email in which I’ll share a few things that have caught my attention and are not necessarily personal essays.I hope you enjoy it. Let me know in the comments. Okay, love you, bye! You’re the best. xoxo -W.
Flow
I was listening to this conversation between Joe Rogan and Firas Zahabi, and among other things, they talked about flow. I knew this concept as being “in the zone.” However, I got a better visual thanks to Firas. Imagine a graph where on the Y axis you have “level of challenge,” and on the X axis you have “level of skill.” Both of these levels go from low to high. The line formed by all the points where the level of skill and level of challenge are the same is called “The Channel of Flow,” this is where you want to be.
If you play Tetris, Firas says, and you play at the easiest level, you’ll get bored, or if you play at the hardest level, this may cause anxiety; you may play for five minutes and then say, “I’m done, this is not fun anymore.” But if you find that level that matches your skill level, you could have a lot of fun playing Tetris.
What I liked about this concept is that you can apply it to any other aspect of your life. I was thinking about parenting and flow and how, most times, my level of skill is always a bit lower than the challenge. But over time, I have developed new skills where things that felt unattainable (i.e., taking care of my four children by myself for more than 24 hours) are now a reality.
The Ultimate Elixir
My friend Otto shared this video where Peter Attia, M.D., talks about how high fitness (VO2 max), muscle mass, and strength are paramount for longevity. If you’ve been around for a while, you already know I’m trying to drop some pounds and get healthier to reduce the adverse effects of being obese.
As someone turning forty soon and wants to live another forty years with the best quality of life possible, changes will be necessary. Bringing back Firas Zahabi, he has an interesting concept about training; he says you shouldn’t be sore the day after training. Firas mentioned the Russian’s approach to training as “volume, volume, volume” but at 70% capacity. I’m thinking of implementing this in my exercise protocol, and it’s very simplistic. I will try to row 2000 meters (about 9 minutes) and perform 100 kettlebell swings daily. Add to that one Brazilian JiuJitsu class per week, and that’s it. I have some cardio and strength built into the routine, and it is enough to break a sweat but nothing too hard that I can’t move the next day.
Ghost Puncher
A while ago, Brandon from Inkledeux asked me to read a short story he was working on and give him some feedback on the Catholic elements of the story. It’s not necessarily a Catholic story, but it happens around nuns and a Monsignor. So, I guess you can say I was a consultant for this short story (?).
The point is that Brandon and his cousin AJ (my ex-roommate) have the mission to create the second iteration of “The Inklings,” hence why Inkledeux, by having meaningful conversations with delicious beverages. Brandon roasts coffee, which they sell on their website, and they also sling words with their blog and podcast. I should probably tell them to move everything to Substack, right?
You can read the first 1200 words of “Ghost Puncher” here, and if you like it, it is available for purchase in the Kindle store.
Thank you for reading Smorgasbord! Feel free to share if you think someone may find this helpful or entertaining!
Sobremesa
What are some other applications you see for flow in your life?
What’s your go-to exercise?
Do you have your Halloween costume yet?
2. Full body three days a week. Heavy weight low reps 4-6. Only five movements and variations of them. Dead lift, squats, bench, overhead press, bi’s/tri’s. Some people get a good feeling from Cardo, but it just makes me tired and depleted. But that full muscle pump is a great feeling for me. Been going at if for a few months now. Seeing good results. Based on a program called Naturally Enhanced. I did it 6years ago before my wedding. Loved it. Trying to change this dad bod I got going since then haha.
I might go listen to that podcast episode. Some of the MMA guests are really interesting even though I’m not super into MMA. Also, Dr.Peter Attia is great. I always learn something from him.
Flow is really important to me in my current role at work. I’m an SSR for Cintas. Getting into a flow or rhythm is how I work best. That means working at a good pace, not too fast, but quick enough to do all my necessary tasks but still make time for conversation. If I can be in and out of the business I’m servicing In about 20 minutes, I’m in a a good flow.
My go to exercise right now is getting out and shooting some hoops. I have a couple routines, drills I run to basically just get my heart rate up and keep it up for a while. I love resistance training and mobility drills and exercises but with work and the young children I’m doing well to shoot around twice a week.
I do indeed have my Halloween costume. My daughter (2 years old) is thing 1, my son (4 months old) will be thing 2, my wife is mother of the things, and I am Father of the Things.