Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - 281: Strange Secret Habits Of Successful People | Ear Biscuits Ep.281

Episode Date: March 29, 2021

From naked air baths to almost purposefully drowning, R&L discuss some strange secret habits of some of history’s most successful people in this episode of Ear Biscuits! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is Mythical. Now at Joe Fresh, get 20% off children's activewear. Only until Wednesday, August 14th. Shop smart with one cart and check everything off your back-to-school list all in one place. Now that's some smart shopping. Conditions apply. See in-store or joefresh.com for details. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, the lifelong podcast where... The lifelong podcast?

I mean, that's quite a commitment. I mean, do you wanna do this until we die? Welcome to Ear Biscuits, the podcast where two lifelong friends talk about life for their entire lives. I'm Link. And I'm Rhett. This week at the Roundtable of Dim Lighting,

we are talking about some of the habits of successful people. Now, I'm not talking about like that book, the seven habits of successful people. We're talking about things that you may or may not have ever thought about. We're kind of talking about the weird secret habits of successful people. Yeah, because the weird secret habits of successful people.

Yeah, because just the normal habits of successful people, that's boring. I mean, we wanna go strange, but I do think that there's gonna be some takeaways from this. They may not be direct to what we're talking about. They may be the opposite of what we're talking about, or maybe you do wanna jump in and into a pool

and almost drown yourself. I don't know, we'll have to find out. But sometimes it's just helpful to take a step back and evaluate, is there any new practice that I can incorporate into my life? Some new helpful habit that might become the key to accomplishing something, you know? Kind of over promising at this point.

I don't think anybody, does anybody listen to our podcast so that they can become successful or do they, they listen, I kind of feel like people listen to our podcast to escape from thinking about success and things like that. This was your idea. Yeah, just only because I thought it would be interesting

to talk about. So you can do something like sweep up your child's art project that they just dropped on the ground. That's what people do. That's not a habit. No, people, I'm saying, people listen to Ear Biscuits while doing other things. And so for the person who's sweeping up

your child's art project that you accidentally broke, first of all, don't tell them, they're gonna forget about it. Did this happen to you today? No. Maybe you'll wanna become more successful from listening to this, but that's not the intention. The intention is to have an interesting conversation. But listen, maybe we'll discover something

that is the exact opposite. Maybe you need a practice to help you accomplish less and enjoy life more. Yeah, I'm promising big on this, man. Well, okay. This is big. Well, then you better deliver. I'm not backing down at all. Today, we're gonna look at habits of successful people

that are strange and may or may not have contributed to their success or their wellbeing or their genius or their fame, but maybe there's something in it for us. I'm just saying, let's approach it with an open mind. Maybe there's something- Oh, I approach all things with an open mind. Maybe there's something that- My middle name is open mind.

Can revolution, well, that would be two names, revolutionize our experience. Well, I gotta go ahead and say preemptively that at least three of these are things that I was already zeroing in on, but I think maybe this is gonna take me to the next level. Again, I'm not saying it so that you'll do it. I picked all of these because they sounded crazy,

not knowing that you did any of them. Well, I'm doing three of them. So that kind of adds up. For what, I don't know exactly why you're listening. I think Rhett and I have different ideas today of what will keep you listening, but as long as you keep listening and as long as you buy stuff from our sponsors,

just kidding, not kidding, but we're happy. Just hang out. We're gonna get to that in a second though, but you know what? Something pretty monumental is happening. We have a four-way group text with the two of us and our wives. And in that group text this morning,

I think, well, I think maybe it was a text from your wife to my wife who was like, "'Hey, you know, today is our 10 year anniversary "'of being in Los Angeles.'" And I was like, no, it's not. It's not today, it's two days from now. And I was like- So you knew the actual date?

Well, because- The reason why she said that is because something popped up on her, it was either Facebook or one of those Google photos or something where it's like, 10 years ago today, this was happening. Well, here's how I know, because. And she ended up being two days early. Me and you, of course, drove across the entire country.

We got to Los Angeles one day before our wives and children showed up on a plane. And I have a picture that I took from the balcony of the apartment that we rented. Yeah. And there's a date on that, March 11th, 2011. And then Jessie was like, well, did we come the next day? And then she brings up her phone

and she finds the video that she took in the RDU airport when they were all getting ready to get on the plane. And she goes around with the phone and she asks all five kids, what do you guys think? Where are we going? And she starts with Lily. So this is 10 years ago. So Lily was seven years old.

Almost eight. Almost eight. And it was just so crazy. Four weeks away from being eight. Like when I think about how long we've been in Los Angeles, I'm just like, it doesn't feel like we've been here that long. No. But then when you see our children.

I watched the video and yeah, I was thinking the same thing. I was like, when we moved here, first of all, we rented furnished apartments, we didn't move everything. We kind of did this like staggered approach to kind of ease into it. And that way when we left, we could tell our family and friends that-

This might not be permanent, just six months. Our furniture's still in our homes. Of course we were thinking, we're gonna make this happen. In success, we're gonna stay out there. Or not success. That was what I was thinking. That's what you thought. And I was too scared to think that at that point.

But yeah, I really didn't think of it as like, we're doing that thing where you move to a new city. It was like, we're going and we're doing this, we're making this show and we just happened to have to be in this city to do it. And this is, it does feel like some dreams coming true type of thing. And that kind of makes-

There was so much going on that it wasn't just about relocation. Well, that's why the kids didn't say, we're moving to California. That's why Lily was like, we're going to California. And okay, now did you notice that, so it's so amazing how indicative of their personalities all of them are in this video.

So you got Lily, who's like, kind of like, she's gonna answer the questions, she's gonna engage, she's gonna be like, we're going so and so and so. And then they go to Lincoln, and he's got this funny look on his face. And Jesse's like, how do you feel about traveling today? And he was like, I don't know what that means. Yeah.

And then she goes to Locke and Locke is standing up, turned away from the camera. And you know why he's doing that? Because he was, first of all, he's a challenger, but he was very upset about moving. He did not want to leave North Carolina. And in fact, in the first couple of weeks that we were in Los Angeles,

he said, I would rather be a doorknob. That's like one of his famous quotes is, I would rather be a doorknob than be in California. I don't know how he thought. But did you know, and so do you notice in the video where Jesse's, he's facing away, and then he says something like, we're gonna go and,

Jesse's like, we're going to go see your dad in California. And he says something like, we're gonna go and Jesse's like, we're going to go see your dad in California. And he says something like, I'm gonna insult my dad. Or he says something like that. And then she turns around, he turns around and he's just so upset about it. And of course, Shepard and, I mean, Lando was like, fresh from the womb, it seemed like.

He's so little. Yeah, he was one. One. Yeah. That's fresh from the womb, it seemed like. He's so little. Yeah, he was one. One. Yeah. That's fresh from the womb in my book. But she panned a shepherd and he was, she would tell him what to say and then he would say it. California? He was super cute.

Is that all the kids? Did we leave on? That's it. That's all the kids, yeah. That's all the ones we brought with us. We don't talk about the ones we left in North Carolina. They're currently being raised by another family. I mean, their lives are defined by here. You know, their whole experience.

How's that make you feel? Has been defined by, I feel good about it. Well, the answer to that question is, I don't know what you mean. I don't know what that means. I don't know. What do you want me to do? Like develop thoughts and responses to questions? I don't know what that means.

Yeah, but 10 years, man. 10 year anniversary in Los Angeles. Like I said, it just went by so fast. But I do think about it from the perspective of the kids. It's like, yeah, we made this choice because of what we were doing and what we wanted to do. And the effect was, all right, our kids are from California. I mean, that's how they think about it.

And they're doing just fine. They're doing great. Yeah, I think they are. I mean, they're doing great. They're doing great. They're doing great. No, they are doing great. It's just, when I think about how they're doing right now,

I still think about the fact that they're not yet back in school. Yeah, they've got their challenges. I want them to be back in school as soon as possible. Not because I'm tired of dealing with them at home, online school, I'm just saying, they're tired of online school. They're the ones who are tired of it.

10 years, man, congratulations. Let's celebrate. Let's celebrate by reassessing our lives and seeing if there's something else we can incorporate into it, some new practice that's gonna change everything or nothing because that's not why you're listening. Right, let's just get started with Ben Franklin. Why not?

Let's go there. Take a naked air bath is something you might wanna consider doing on a daily basis because Ben Franklin did that. He would sit naked in the cold air for a half hour to an hour each morning because he believed that cold water was too much of a shock to the system. Well, the way you put because in there is misleading.

As opposed to doing the, he believed that being in the cold was gonna be helpful, but he thought that the air would be better than the alternative, which would be cold water. I stand by what I said. I've talked about it before on this podcast. I told you that I was assembling the different parts to make my own ice bath.

So the ice bath thing, especially since Wim Hof, the Iceman, kind of made this concept popular, is something that's in the popular culture. It's in the vernacular now where people are doing these, athletes taking ice baths, whatever. And so there's all these, there's all this research that suggests that first of all,

saunas have all these health benefits. So I'll go, let me go to the hot side first, right? I'll go with you to the hot side now. All kinds of evidence is piling up that people who spend like four to seven days, four to seven times a week, and they studied all these guys, and it's very popular in the culture of the men

in the like Sweden, Norway, Scandinavian dudes. Very big for them to take, to go into saunas all the time. A lot of times like public saunas. And they followed, there's multiple studies, but one of the most famous studies shows that people, and again, this is kind of a cultural thing. So more men were doing it.

So men are the ones that have been studied, but this probably affects everybody in a positive way. If you take a sauna, if you take a sauna bath of like 20 minutes or so at 175 degrees, four to seven times a week, it has all these incredible health effects. Like basically reduces your all cause mortality. That's like dying of anything by a large percentage.

Now you can go look up the study to get the specifics. I don't have it in front of me, so I'm not gonna give you the specifics, but it's also shown to have effects on like mood and all kinds of things, makes you feel good. So because of that, when we redid, I've always loved being hot in general, but when we redid the outdoor area,

I got a sauna installed, because I was like, I'm gonna do this. And I am basically doing it every night. Every night? If I'm at home, I'm doing it definitely six times out of, six times out of, six times out of 20 minutes. So I've, first of all, I go for, I have a, like a manual, I have a timer that's an hourglass

for 15 minutes. And what I do is I go 15 minutes and I get out and I'll talk about that because I'm coming back to Ben Franklin, cool off and then I go back in for another 15 minutes. So it ends up being about a half hour. And currently I'm oscillating between 195 and 205 degrees is where I've gotten to.

Your tolerance builds up pretty fast. So when I first got the thing, it was like 140. I was like, it's hot in here. And then over the course of a few months, I'm already over 200 degrees. So you can do it and you begin to crave it. But what I do is I go into the sauna, then I get out of the sauna and I get into the pool,

which like last night was 46 degrees outside. Okay, so it might be 55 degrees? Low 50s, I think it was 52 degrees. In the pool. Get in the pool and I hang in the pool for about five minutes. Good gosh, that's hard to do the first time. You begin to crave it.

Like when we watched that octopus. My octopus teacher. He talked about how he began to crave the cold. I was like, this dude's nuts. He said it took him a year, but that water was frigid. He was way colder than I am. And then I get out and you get back into the sauna and you get back into the sauna

and it's like 205 degrees and it takes you about five minutes to realize that it's hot because you were just so cold. And then I go for 15 minutes and then I get out and I get back in the pool and then Ben Franklin, coming back to Ben Franklin, I get out of the pool and I stand outside for at least 10 minutes. Last night, I was wet out of the pool in a wet bathing suit, it's 46 degrees.

But it's colder outside of the pool than in the pool. But something about coming out of the cold water because of the heat transfer, the water feels colder. So I came out and I just stood next to the pool and was like continuing to listen to the podcast that I had going. And I just stood there for 10 minutes before I began to feel uncomfortable.

It's revolutionary. Have you noticed how I haven't been wearing a jacket? Like it'll be cold in our office and like me and you used to be like, man, it's cold in here. We put on a layer, we put on another jacket. I've been thinking, I'm hot. Like I don't, I haven't worn a jacket.

I haven't worn a jacket except maybe one time when we went over to your house to hang out in the backyard the other night, I wore a jacket. I was like, this is the first time I've worn a jacket in a while because my body has adjusted. Do you notice any other changes? I mean, I feel good, but I don't know if that has anything to do with it.

You're not dead. You didn't die of any cause. I feel good. I haven't tested know if that has anything to do with it. You're not dead. You didn't die of any cause. I feel good. I haven't like tested, it's supposed to like lower your blood pressure, which I kind of had like borderline blood pressure, but I haven't tested that in a couple months. I probably should test that.

Well, you know, I'd be interested to try that. I highly recommend this. I'm not coming over to your house every day to get you a sauna. You should get one of those infrared saunas, man. I would have to try it before I go all in, but being really cold is something that I don't like. That's why I'm liking this Ben Franklin thing

because it's not a cold shower or a cold pool plunge. It's just cold air. He's like, you know what? I'm gonna do something. So he's sitting outside for just naked. Naked. In the cold for an hour every morning. Well, and there are two things.

He was onto something. I mean, science has proven him correct and said, you need to go further, Ben. Yeah, I wonder if he understood what was happening, if he just had a sense for it, because the science of this is that what's happening with, so there's this stuff called brown fat, right? Which is like, it's fat that I guess under a microscope

looks darker because it's got- It's kind of already gravy. It's got more mitochondrial elements to it or something. And this isn't like, you can't see this fat. It isn't like, oh, I've got a lot of brown fat and you can see that I'm overweight or whatever. No, this is like fat that kind of concentrates in your neck and your shoulders.

And if you go back to like pre climate controlled times, so we're talking like thousands of years ago, everybody had way more brown fat and they were able to regulate their temperature and be cold and not really have a big deal with it. But now we've lost all our brown fat because we've got hoodies and jackets and climate control. And so you don't need it and so you quickly lose it.

But there's all these studies that show, in fact, there was one study I was looking at, there was these guys who they slept, I think uncovered out of a blanket and at 68 degrees. So like 68 degrees without a blanket, you'd be like, this is a little uncomfortable, a little too cold, right? Just a little bit too cold. Yeah.

And these men did this for like six weeks and they all had some very noticeable increase in the amount of brown fat. And what that ends up doing is you become way more tolerant of cold very quickly. And then the moment they went back to sleeping regular, like within a few weeks, they lost the brown fat. So you gotta keep doing it, but Ben Franklin

had a bunch of brown fat because he was doing this, I'm telling you. And you know, I mean, he was way ahead of his time. Brown fat Franklin. Yeah, that's his nickname. Brown fat Ben Franklin. BF. Telling you, man, it's a like,

just come over to my house, get in there. My wife got in there for like the first time last night, as a matter of fact, because she was like, I just don't want to get in there. I feel like I'm going to faint or whatever. I was like, let's just do 175. Put her on 175. She was in there for 15 minutes, sweating like crazy.

It's kind of sexy. And then she came out and she was like, I feel good. I was like, all right, we'll do it again tomorrow night. You tell me. I'm going to live forever, I feel good. I was like, all right, we'll do it again tomorrow night. I'm going to live forever. I'm not. But, well, one of us is going to live longer than the other, and they're going to have to keep doing this podcast.

Yes, you're committed to doing it for our entire lives. Shop Best Buy's ultimate smartphone sale today. Get a Best Buy gift card of up to $200 on select phone activations with major carriers. Visit your nearest Best Buy store today. Terms and conditions apply. All right, this is one that came to mind immediately when we started tossing around this topic. And it's one that we keep coming back to because we're fascinated about it. Wear the same outfit every single day. because we're fascinated about it, wear the same outfit every single day.

Of course, Steve Jobs, most famous example of this, wore the same black, well, I don't think it was the same black turtleneck. He wore the same outfit, but it was probably different. He probably had- I think he had a closet full of turtlenecks. A closet full of black turtlenecks, blue jeans, and New Balance sneakers. Okay? Yeah, very particular choice.

Of course, it became his signature look and a part of like the Apple aesthetic. And his rationale when asked about it was that he had a finite capacity of brain power to make well thought out decisions. And he wanted to minimize his decision fatigue. A minute more a day using his brain power to decide which T-shirt to wear is less brain power

he would have to think about his company. Many people have fallen into this, because this has been out, everybody's known this for the past 20 years or so. Obama did it. He only wore gray or black suits, except for that one time that he wore the brown suit and everybody wanted to- The tan suit, yeah.

The tan suit, wanted to talk about it. And yeah, he told Vanity Fair that he wants, he's trying to pare down decisions. He said, I don't wanna make decisions about what I'm eating or wearing because I have too many other decisions to make. And just as a side note, I totally relate to that. We've asked Jenna just to,

if the crew is ordering food for us, just get whatever we've gotten before, whatever you know we'll like, because stopping and making a decision- Stopping and making the decision about what to eat. In the middle of making a bunch of decisions. So I do think this- It's demoralizing.

Maybe this is like, if your job is defined by making constant decisions would lead you to consider something like this. Yeah, and the whole idea of a president, I mean, first of all, the president is gonna wear a suit every day. So that feels like if you have a closet full- Not after the pandemic, man.

He's gonna be wearing sweats just like everybody else. But I'm saying-'s gonna be wearing sweats just like everybody else. But I'm saying- Biden gonna be wearing them sweats like all the college basketball coaches like we talked about. They ain't going back to suits either. But the idea, the president, the idea doesn't really attract for me

because they're already just, they're just wearing a suit. Like it's not like, it's like, yeah, I have a closet full of suits and shirts and ties. Doesn't Jimmy Fallon- And just put it on. Like it's not like, it's like, yeah, I have a closet full of suits and shirts and ties. Doesn't Jimmy Fallon- And just put it on. All the late night show hosts, I mean, they're just given a suit to wear. I mean, if they don't like it, I'm sure they won't wear it,

but they're not going through and picking it out every day. Oh, yeah. When you have to wear one every day. No. But this, but so- But I'm surprised that it's not someone's job to pick out the president's suit every day. I had to believe it was, but the way that Obama talked about it,

it seemed like he wanted to simplify it. Well, I- Because I guess if you're wearing like, oh, this is a tan suit, oh, you got me in this thing now, then even though you're not making the decision what to wear, you have veto power over it and you're still assessing it. You're giving attention to it.

So it does make sense to me, I guess, that a president would be tempted to allocate mental resources to that. Okay. But you like the idea of pulling a Steve Jobs. I've been, okay. I do not. I've been trying to land this for myself

for the past couple months, okay? Now, when I say land this, I don't mean get as specific as same exact shirt. He had multiple black turtlenecks, but they were all black turtlenecks and all blue jeans of the same color. Dennis the Menace. And all New Balance sneakers that look the same.

But I have been thinking about creating like a couple of options. Like if it is between X and Y degrees in a certain day, then I know what I'm gonna wear is these jeans, this shirt, and maybe just a couple of choices of shoes. And then if it's a little bit warmer, I'm gonna wear this T-shirt. Why?

Now, for me, it has less to do with decision fatigue. The lunch decision is very much about decision fatigue because me and you will be in a conversation about something. We're making decisions. Our job has largely become making decisions, right? We got a little bit better at kind of making it where we're actually doing creative things, but we're managing a lot of things.

So, when Jenna comes in and does that, it throws us off. But in the morning, it's kind of like, all right, it's not, it's almost like a buffet. Like I've got all the clothes there, but for me, it's my body type, it's my height. And so it's very difficult. 90% of the clothes that I own, once you wash them once, I have to be really careful about how I wash them

because shirts get too short or shirts get, you know, shirts that are long enough or too big, shirts that are tight enough or too short, pants. You can, it's just being an unusual body type. And so I've been on a hunt for just a T-shirt that I can reliably wear every single day. Now, you see I wear the T-shirts that we sell in the Mythical store all the time, right?

Here's the issue with those shirts. An extra large is a little bit bigger than a shirt that I want to wear. And a large looks perfect. Until you wash it. Until I wash it. And our shirts don't even shrink that much, but I'm dealing with such a small margin of error here. Tall man problems.

And so like, I've tried multiple like tall fitting T-shirts and this is like, I can't quite, because again, I just want to have like a closet, not the same color, just like, okay, there's 10 different colors of t-shirts, just blank t-shirts with nothing on them. To me it's not about, yeah, so it's not about, it's about fit, it's about you having something.

No, but it is, it's about the time, because when you have an issue with things fitting, you know what's gonna happen is you go in your closet and you know you're gonna put something on and there's a 75% chance you're gonna put it on and be like, I'm not really comfortable in this because it's not fitting in this way. And so you've added time to your day.

And so it is about time for me. And so I've got these- And then if you run out of time, then you might, you lack confidence. See, that's the thing, like, because you know, I'm not trying to rub your nose in this, but for me going into my closet is like, all right, I'm getting dressed for the day.

This is my opportunity to express myself and to embody what I'm anticipating or what I'm feeling or the mode I'm going into. And if I have some new clothes, then there's also something to get excited about. Oh, I can't wait to get out of my pajamas today. It's like, sometimes you need that motivation. So for me, it's like the self-expression,

excitement, variety of it. But there are times when I'll put something on and I'll go in front of the mirror and I just won't be happy and I'll start over. Or I realize that that doesn't match or whatever. And then I do get frustrated. And if that happened to me every day or multiple times a week, I could start going the way

of jobs. Well, and I think that it coincides with, there's two things that, there's two sort of prevailing things that are happening that have led to this decision. The first is that, the body shape thing that I've just dealt with my entire life, just not being a normal size. But then the second thing is the age that I'm at, right? You know, okay, 43, even though I said I was 42

in that sketch we did on Instagram, I forgot how old I was. I'm 43. And, you know, this latest iteration of like things going back to the 90s. And we talked about this, I think maybe on an episode where I quit caring so much about the trends when I started realizing that I was dressing

like my children. So it's like, okay, oh, now I've got this like man in my house, this teenage man, basically, you know, in my son, Locke. And if like we're wearing the same clothes, it's like something just feels off. And then I'm like, I just kinda don't wanna keep trying that. Like, there comes a time, I think, in most people's lives,

where you just say, okay, I'm checking out of remaining with the trends. Now, if we had stayed in North Carolina and worked as engineers, we would have checked out at like 24. You know what I'm saying? And then you like kind of just keep dressing the same way for the rest of your life.

And the 25 year old engineer and the 55 year old engineer could trade clothes and nobody would know. Right. That's a phenomenon that happens in a lot of workplaces. Yeah. But because, hey, we moved to Los Angeles and oh, and we're also on the internet and we're trying to like be relevant and cool,

you end up kind of wearing things that represent like, oh, these guys understand fashion and what's in style. And I just think my appetite for being on that edge is just waned over the past, like since I hit 40 really. And so now I'm just like, I'm not saying I wanna look like I'm out of touch. I'm just saying, find something that fits your body that you feel comfortable in, that makes it look,

I mean, it looks cool, whatever, doesn't look like you're trying to be cool. It just looks like you are cool. 10 of them. And wear it every single day. So I'm zeroing in on that. Haven't figured it out yet. Especially if, I mean, if it's about fit

and then there's a number, you can get a couple of different colors. Like I can feel that. Wherever you're going, you better believe American Express will be right there with you. Heading for adventure? We'll help you breeze through security. Meeting friends a world away?

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Benefits vary by card. Terms apply. All right, I've been waiting to talk about this one. All right, something else that we could consider doing to improve our lives is to drown yourself, almost. Could lead to lots of success, at least if you're an inventor. Prolific inventor, Dr. Yoshiro Nakamatsu,

he patented the floppy disk in 1952, but I didn't have to tell you that. He's also patented over 3,300 inventions in his 74 years on this planet. And here's what he would do. According to his own accounts, many of his ideas hit him while he was close to drowning. Now you might think, well,

he just needs to be more careful around bodies of water. Or, you know, it's like, why does this do drowning so much? But he would do it intentionally to quote, "'starve the brain of oxygen, you must dive deep "'and allow the water pressure "'to deprive the brain of blood. "'0.5 seconds before death.'" How do you time that?

"'I visualize an invention.'" So he may be dramatizing this thing. Hold on, it says, then he jots his idea down on an underwater notepad? He may be dramatizing this thing. Hold on, it says then he jots his idea down on an underwater notepad? Yes. And swims back to the surface. He's almost dying, he has the idea.

He doesn't come up, gasp for air and say, oh my God, I almost died, but I've got this invention, give me a sheet of paper. No, he does that while he's still dying. Let me just, I mean, listen, I don't want to. Underwater notepad. I don't want to be the skeptic here, but if you almost die, okay, I'm just gonna do some math here.

If you're half a second. 0.5. If you're literally half a second from death, and then you're still underwater, how do you then write it down? Doesn't the death part come? Doesn't really add up. Something about this doesn't add up.

But I mean, 3,300 inventions adds up. Yeah, I mean. The notepad part had to be made up. This is, I don't know where you got, I see you got the source linked there. That's right, because I knew that you would be like this. I'm just saying this, that last part reeks of like internet creative liberties.

Well, Rhett, it comes from the website talgroupinc.wordpress.com, 2015 slash 0611. And it's got Martha Stewart on the website. Okay, I take it all back, it must be true. Yeah. No, but the idea of- Talgroup.net cultivating growth. But the idea of almost dying.

I mean, I didn't, is that him writing on his underwater notebook? There's a picture of him right there. See, he's writing. Everything other than the.5 seconds from death. Maybe that was just a little tidbit that he threw in. Maybe that's just what he feels. Don't do this, by the way.

Oh yeah, please. We didn't have to tell you that, right? I mean, okay, so this, I mean this- Underwater notepad, man. I haven't tried this, but there is something to the whole idea that, in fact, I started watching, there's a Netflix show that I didn't really commit to it,

but I watched like an episode where it's sort of the, it's the whole, the moment of death and all the research and ideas that come, that moment of almost dying and the release of DMT into the brain and all this stuff and the experiences that people have. I don't know what the worldview of this particular show is, but they spend a lot of time like talking to, there's like a research institute

that basically just believes that yes, your soul survives, there's definitely life after death. And they have all these, they have like a compendium of all these testimonies of people who've experienced these things. Flatliners. Yeah, but it made me think about the movie Flatliners for certain, but it isn't people getting ideas,

but this made me think, I've heard Einstein did this thing where he would, he said that he came up with a lot of his sort of breakthrough ideas in the liminal space between sleeping, between being awake and being asleep. And that moment, I get, I don't, there's a technical term for it, it's like hypnagogia or hypnogoat, it's, you know the hypnagogic jerk,

or I'm probably saying the word wrong, but it's that I'm falling asleep and then you catch yourself and people are like, it's because we used to be in trees, they don't really know exactly what happens, but. And if you have an underwater notepad and when you do that jerk, you'll write down like an equation. Right.

But he. Or if you're Keith Richards, like the riff to start me up. Right, yeah, so he did the same thing. So because Einstein. Or satisfaction, I can't remember what it is. Had this happen to him so often that he started doing this thing where he would sit in a chair

and I can't remember, he had like a pencil that he held above a plate. Basically he had this built in alarm so that he would start to fall asleep and then when he did fall asleep, he would immediately wake himself up. It sounds kind of like it would drive you crazy, but he did this multiple times during the day

for two reasons. Number one, he said that these mini naps, like falling asleep and then waking up immediately, happening over and over again in the day was something that he needed. He also slept like 10 hours a night. So Einstein got a lot of sleep. But it was also because in that moment

of almost falling asleep, he was getting these insights that he would then write down. I mean, I haven't tried this. I mean, I'm interested in it. If you're doing something so heady as like trying to solve equations or have some sort of breakthrough with a problem. Or yeah, it does apply to songwriting.

You know, if your entire existence is really bent towards solving a problem or creating something in a very focused way, we do so many different things, but we do have problems we're trying to solve and some things that are kind of like nagging and kind of give me anxiety. And I wonder if there's a way to take a dive in my pool

and think about it, or as I'm falling asleep, do something that's gonna wake me up and just have an intention of trying to solve these things. Well, you know, it's interesting. Solve the problem. Now that we're talking about this, I do, it has hit me that while in the sauna at these really high temperatures, I'll be listening.

I usually put on a podcast or a book or something like that. And I feel like I'm having some higher level of insight into something and I'll come up with an idea and I'll get out and I'll, I need a, I need a, like a sweat proof notebook. Because I mean like going out, cause I can't bring my phone in there cause it's too hot. Sweat proof notebook.

And then I like wipe my hands off and type something. You need a Yoshiro Nakamatsu. He's probably, that one would probably work. The underwater pad would also work as a sweat pad. But I was, there's this other book I was reading, I can't remember what it was, but the guy was talking about how there's a bunch of thinkers in history who have insisted

that walking is how you come up with ideas. That you've gotta be in motion in order, like a bunch of people, it was like, he quotes all these people, I was like, I've never thought about this. I mean, I've had ideas while walking and sometimes you're like, let me take a walk on this. Well, I don't know the science behind it,

but the idea that you're in motion, you kind of get your body and your mind kind of doing something and then something cracks open. Well, I mean, my theory is, yeah, I like to do a lot of thinking when I'm riding my mountain bike. I've started doing that more often, just kind of taking, found this one trail I can do

in less than an hour. And I know the trail and I know it increasingly better. So I can devote more of my active attention to just not to dying or falling off the cliff or where my tire is, but on other things. But the way that I think about those things is it's a little bit different where my tire is, but on other things. But the way that I think about those things is, it's a little bit different than I would think about them

if I was just sitting down at my desk trying to solve the problem or trying to work something out. You know, it ruminates and I think, you know, when you're in your body, I do think that you think differently. Oh yeah. And so you can approach problems differently or a creative exercise differently.

So, but, cause for me, a lot of times I've noticed, you know, you get so much in your head about, well, I need to accomplish this, or I gotta solve this problem, or I really wanna create this thing right now. And then it's kind of self-defeating when you're just 100% focused on it. Because then you have all this self-awareness

of like the pressure you put on yourself. But if you're doing something else, or it kind of relieves that pressure, at least for me to say, you know, I don't have to solve this right now. So I can kind of play with the idea. It's the difference between working with an idea and playing with an idea.

And so I don't know any of the science really behind it, but I've observed that the best solutions or ideas come from left field when you least expect it or when you give room and remove the pressure of having to show and prove. I kind of experienced it as a balance between, like if I sit down and I'm like, okay, I need to write this thing.

Yeah. And like, okay, this, you know, I need to write 20 pages. Like, and you kind of have to, there is sort of a work sort of focus that happens. And I tend to be like, all right, I, you know, there's certain problems that I'm gonna come to in this process. There's certain holes, there's certain problems that I'm gonna come to in this process, there's certain holes

and there's certain unanswered questions. But when I come to those unanswered questions, I'm not going to spend a lot of time just sitting there thinking about the solution. I'm going to arrive at a solution, put it as a placeholder, maybe it ends up being the final decision, and then I'm gonna keep moving. And that way I'll be able to say,

hey, you sat down for two hours and you wrote this much. But then what I'll find is if I've done that, if I've laid the track and that track has some problems in it, right? Then when I'm doing something completely unrelated, like sitting in the sauna, thinking about something else, listening to something else, all of a sudden, the solution to that problem that I created a hole.

And then all of a sudden, the solution to the problem pops in in those other spaces. And then I go back into that, now I'm back into work mode and I take that solution that came to me in a different phase and sort of the play phase. Yeah. So I mean, I have never really even thought about that being, I don't do that intentionally.

It's just as you talk about it, I realized that's what I do. Naturally is just to kind of be like, all right, I could sit here for the next 30 minutes thinking about this one problem, but I'm a little bit ADHD. So I'm gonna end up getting on the internet or doing something else. But if I just be like, no, so I'm gonna end up getting on the internet or doing something else. But if I just be like, no, just move past that, get to the next thing, the solution to that will come later

while you're doing something else, like walking, riding the bike in the sauna, whatever. As long as you don't start breathing before you come up for air. That's the key. Yeah, I didn't say that. That is how Yoshiro Nakamatsu died. Oh, he drowned? Really?

Yeah, he drowned. I wonder what he was coming up with. It must've been so good, he couldn't come up. I'm lying about that. No source. Link is a source. Hold on, so you're saying he might still be alive? Yeah.

Well, okay. Because you can black out pretty easily and you definitely shouldn't do anything like that. First of all, just don't do it. But if you are gonna try to do like like holding your breath don't do it by yourself do it in the presence of someone else who can pull you out of the water dq presents picture this picture the reese's extreme blizzard back for a limited time reese's peanut butter cups and reese's pieces blended together with world famous soft serve in one blizzard treat

it's a dream treat for choco peanut butter lovers wait are you dreaming well check are there any dinosaurs around are you riding a unicorn are you back in high school no then oh yeah this reese's extreme blizzard is real hurry into dq today dq happy tastes good I got another one for you. This one's especially for you. Pythagoras, you know, with his theorem and all that stuff. I don't know, from like 500 BC, give or take. Greek mathematician. I didn't know this about him,

but he's credited with popularizing a meatless lifestyle, dubbed the father of vegetarianism. So, he was a mathematician, but there was so much philosophy and politics and all of these thinkers, Greek thinkers and philosophers and mathematicians and astronomers, we're figuring all this stuff out and thinking about all these things,

but a lot of it was very contentious as I'll get to in a second. But even though he did not eat meat, he just ate veggies, he hated beans, he hated legumes. And he had followers, he had people that he was teaching and that were like learning from him and I guess being allegiant to his beliefs. He even forbade them from eating or touching beans.

What's wrong with this guy? We don't know if it was for health or religious reasons, but here's what happened. He did die, he is no longer alive, Pythagoras. Yep, I guess that. And there's all these different accounts of how he died. One of them, which I'll call a legend, is that there were these attackers who attacked a house

that he and some of his followers were in for, I mean, again, for that political contention and it got to the point where they were killing people. And as he fled this house, he was getting away, but then he encountered a bean field and he refused to run through the bean field. And then, so he was getting away, but then he encountered a bean field and he refused to run through the bean field and then so he was caught by the attackers and killed. He got what he deserved.

This is ridiculous. So if you wanna be a successful mathematician, you should avoid beans. I never liked the Pythagorean theorem. I always questioned it. A squared plus B squared equals C squared. I did hear the question mark as you said it. I mean, it's like, really?

Yeah, really. Really? Yes, yes. I don't know. Yes. I honestly don't know. It is a theorem. This is a strange position. I understand the not eating meat, okay? But most people who don't eat meat,

It's weird that they- Who sell the idea to me are like, well, you can eat beans all the time. Yeah, mental flaws could not tell me why he hated beans. But there is this whole health meets religion meets, you know, all of these ideas are floating around. All of these ideas are floating around. Yeah. I mean, I could see- Fava beans.

I could see, what about them? I think that was the field. Oh. I got this- If you wanna know how to do triangle math, avoid the beans. We don't need to talk about it anymore, we can move on. I just wanted you to know, Rhett.

Well, no, but I just, I feel like I got this, I'm not gonna say what brand it is because I don't know what I think about them yet, but they've got a bunch of fake meat. And again, the principle of eating less meat, I'm all on board, I get it. I understand the impact on the environment. And so, and also just the impact on lifestyle.

So the idea of minimizing meat intake is something that I'm personally interested in. The fact that I like beans makes that somewhat easier. The idea is something you're personally interested in. The practice is a little more difficult. The practice is more difficult because- Because of the whole meat part of it. Yeah, I'm with you, man.

Well, okay, I'll be honest with you. I'm kinda holding out for fake meat, like real fake meat, like lab-grown meat, like meat that's actually meat, but that was grown in a lab. Yeah, yeah. Because they're gonna be able to do that with so much less environmental impact,

and obviously it's gonna be considerably more humane because it won't require slaughtering any animals. And by not becoming vegetarian or vegan, we both. I can make it to that, we can cross that bridge. Well, we're actually creating an environment where that can succeed. We're making an incentive, we're incentivizing them. Cause you're not gonna get the world

to just decide to stop eating meat. The whole world's not gonna, right. But you might be able to get them to eat lab-grown meat. Right, that's why I keep eating meat, to demonstrate the demand for meatless meat. This is quite a theory. That's what I'm doing. I'm doing, it's a long play for the environment.

Okay, well, I appreciate that, but I got this meat that's made from beans, and this doesn't happen when I do like a Impossible Burger or like Beyond Meat. I don't think it happens, but I got this- Are you gonna talk about poo poo? This meat that had been made with beans and other things. And they send you like a pack of it.

And it's, there's taco meat, there's sausages, there's hamburgers, all these different fake meats. And, you know, I like to do the scramble thing on the weekend. I make a scramble for my wife and I. That's not correct grammar, by the way. My wife and me. I'm losing you. You're losing you, man.

But I made this taco scramble with this fake taco meat. Didn't work. And the whole weekend, it was just this past weekend, Saturday and, I came over to your house on Saturday night. I didn't wanna talk about it, you know, but I was in like bloat pain the whole time I was there. You were grimacing. It was just like very bloated, very like not,

and I guess maybe you would adjust over time, but I eat a fair amount of beans. It's just, it's like, why isn't the human body, if the human body is supposed to only eat vegetables, then why is it so difficult for me to digest the vegetables? Well, it's because you wear hoodies, man. It's the same thing. It's like the brown fat's gonna go away.

You gotta get used to it. You're saying I'm maladjusted. You're soft. I'm maladjusted. You're soft. But what's your point? Just I'm saying I want to not make a full switch, but I wanna minimize meat.

I wanna eat some of that meatless meat on GMM. The lab-grown meat is where, and I know it's gonna be difficult to convince people because they're all scared of things from the lab, but we'll get there, we'll get there. I wanted to put one in here that wasn't so strange, but I just thought it was so personally impactful. Speaking of impactful, that's Sunday afternoon, man.

One of the things- All those beans came out. One of the things, one of the habits that you can incorporate into your life that I have incorporated, this made a difference that's popped up on these lists that we looked at was me time. Or according to one Ted speaker named Steven Kotler, he calls it non-time.

I did not watch the Ted talk because I read this sentence and that's all I needed to know. He discusses the importance of downtime that is just for you and here's the key. It doesn't require you to think about anything at all. Einstein did this, Steve Jobs did this. Dwayne The Rock Johnson wakes up early for a quiet time. Now we woke up early for quiet times

or at least that's what we- But it meant something very specific. Yeah, that was like a- Bible study and prayer time. Yeah, it was a Christian spiritual exercise. Now- And we also weren't very good at it. Not very consistent.

Now, I have me time, I aim to have me time every morning. I'm such a, you know, I have this sense of what I ought to be doing. And I certainly have this sense of like, if I'm not meeting my own expectations as a perfectionist. And so I always have this, you know, that voice in my head that's like,

should I be doing something different? Should I be doing better than this? Am I meeting my standard? Am I contributing? Or am I being lazy or whatever the case may be? So it's actually scheduling time where the goal and the task is to do nothing, have no obligations. So, I set my alarm 30 minutes earlier,

and then I'll go down, I'll drink my coffee, and I'll just sit on the couch. Now, when I'm done with my coffee or done with enough of my coffee that I'm ready to move on to the next thing, that's when I actually do a meditation. And I do consider meditation as part of this me time, because I mean, the practice of mindfulness meditation

is to- To not think. To not think or just to acknowledge the thoughts that you're having, but not to obligate yourself to engage in those thoughts. So it gives you space, it gives you headspace. Now, I mean, I've tried lots of different meditation apps and they're all good for different reasons,

but headspace is a great introductory one and I'm glad that they're a sponsor. Again, they're not a sponsor right now, but since I'm talking about it, and if you are interested, you can use our code EAR. It's headspace.com slash EAR, and then you gotta put in the coupon code EAR to get, I can't even remember what it is right now. It's a good deal.

It's a deal. It's a good deal. And it helps us in any way. I'm not great at it, and we've talked about it in the past and how we've, you get into it, you have seasons of being in and out of it, but whether you're actually learning and practicing mindfulness meditation,

or if you're just taking time to where it's like, you know what, I'm drinking my tea, I'm drinking my coffee, I'm just gonna sit here and I'm just going to notice myself. I'm gonna notice here and I'm just going to notice myself. I'm gonna notice what I feel like, I'm gonna notice if I'm, am I experiencing anxiety or whatever the case may be, and just give yourself freedom to just not have to engage. But the way that my brain works,

I really do think it's making a huge difference in my capacity to then go on with my life for the rest of the day. Yeah, it's really tough for me to do it in the morning. I think I've replaced it, and I know most of the time I am listening to something, but I'm getting that half hour pretty much every day in the sauna,

and I've thought about making that into meditation, but it's almost the heat is so intense that- You need a distraction. I need something to kind of focus on, but it is a very meditative time. And when I get out of the thing, kind of in between them and the pool, whatever, but I've been working out in the morning

and there was a time when I was meditating and then working out. And it's just like, I have to get up so early in order to, cause my workout is like an hour. And so it's so tough. But that's what it is for me. Are you saying, cause I was, I did wanna just flat out ask,

what is the one practice that you would point to for you personally that is the key to your either success or personal wellbeing if you were to nail it down to one thing? I think for me, it is that me time. And then I think a corollary is beginning to see exercise as something that allows me to get out of my head and get into my body.

And so it's not just about all the other things you associate with working out, but it's just about, it gives my brain a break to actually engage in rigorous physical activity. So I think that's my answer. Well, I mean, one thing before I give you my answer is Eckhart Tolle talks about how mindfulness is kind of a misnomer,

that it's actually a mistranslation because his whole deal is about how the mind is the problem. You know what I'm saying? Like thoughts and your mind feeling like it has to be active and it has to be doing something and identifying yourself with your mind is like the key to all suffering essentially. He does a much better way of talking about it.

It's also, his voice is very intoxicating. But so mindfulness is actually about not thinking. Like, yeah, the reason that you focus on your breath or you observe a thought is actually so you won't think about those things and you won't go down a rabbit trail and that's why you keep bringing your thoughts back to your breath so you don't think.

So I mean, I find meditation to be very helpful in that even though it's so difficult for me to stop thinking because even when I do meditation, it's so difficult for me to stop thinking because even when I do meditation, I keep reframing it according to how well I'm meditating or it's like, this is a very common problem for anybody who's trying to get some gets into meditation. If that makes you feel better.

And so, but what I found is that I have to, because I'm forced to because of my back, I have to, every single morning, I have to get up, and now I go down to, because we've kind of redone the garage area and it's kind of like a gym and I've got like a yoga mat down there. I play some like peaceful music,

some like Spotify meditation playlist. You know, I've got so many, and I know I keep promising putting this on the site and I will someday, but my stretching sort of yoga, sort of back essential routine every single day is about 20 minutes every single day. And so, and I'm not thinking about anything at that point other than what I'm doing to my body. You know what I'm saying? It's just like, I'm stretching in this way. I'm stretching thinking about anything at that point other than what I'm doing to my body.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. It's just like, I'm stretching in this way. I'm stretching in this way. I'm doing this move. I'm doing that move and I'm playing this music or whatever. So I think that's kind of become my meditation time. Yeah.

And I have to do that in order to stay healthy, but I also have to do that in order to then work out without hurting myself. So it ends up being about an hour and a half total time, every day pretty much of doing the half, 20 minutes or so of the stretching and then like a workout that's about an hour long. I think that that's become pretty essential

and it's become so, so much of a rhythm in quarantine that I'm kind of nervous about life going back to the way that it was. I mean, a lot of people have been talking about this lately. They're like, oh, now that life seems like it's about to return to normal and everybody's gonna be vaccinated and we're gonna start doing all the things

that we were doing before. There's this anxiety that a lot of people are having about, some people it's like social anxiety, like I haven't been in a crowd, I'm kind of nervous about that. I don't, that's not me, that's not how I think about it. I think I have an anxiety about being pulled out of these rhythms that I've been able to establish.

That like, yeah, I can, if we go to New York City, I can do the back routine on the hotel floor, right? But if you wanna work out, you're like, well, I'm gonna go to the hotel gym, and what are they gonna have? And what am I gonna do at night? I can't go, I can't go get my sauna. You know what I'm saying?

It's like, these are privileged problems, but I just have this anxiety about not, this has become such a part of my existence at this point. I haven't thought about it in these terms, in this non-time, but I think it's probably one of the reasons that I feel good right now and feel kind of healthy because I've got these things that I'm doing almost every single day that are pretty consistent

and not focused on doing, doing, doing, doing, doing. I think that's why now is a good time to have this conversation because as things start to change, it's like, okay, is there something new to incorporate or something that you started to incorporate that you want, that there's a new priority associated with it that you're gonna protect that? that you're gonna protect that.

I hope that's true of me that I'll keep getting up and taking that time. Well, I mean, the good news for me is the fact that I have, like if I don't do the stretching, I literally can't go on about my day. Like I will, I'll be in pain for the rest of the day. So that's kind of the blessing of a lower back injury or chronic pain or whatever it is, is that, okay, if we're traveling and we're like, okay,

we gotta be at this interview at seven o'clock or something like that. I'm like, okay, well, I've gotta get up. I've gotta have at least 20 minutes to sit there and do these stretches and you can't go faster than the stretches allow. And so I guess that's a good thing. Sometimes there's, you know, pain can be,

an inconvenience can be a blessing if you turn it into something that ends up being sort of meditative. Hashtag Ear Biscuits, let us know if any of that resonates with you. You got a rec for us? I do. Sure we.

This is gonna be in the category of things that are old or at least not current that most of you probably didn't watch when it was around. And so maybe like me and you, you can discover it for the first time. The HBO show, The Watchmen, based on the graphic novel, which was probably the only graphic novel I've ever read and I really liked it.

This is, I mean, what, it's been like four years or so? Three years? I don't think it's that old. Of course, we've been in LA for 10 years. I wouldn't believe that either. But hold on, there was only one season. It was like a limited series, right? Or is there gonna be a second season?

I haven't heard about a second season, no. Okay, well, maybe it's not as old as I thought it was and maybe there is gonna be a second season. But anyway, excellent television show. And the same thing that happened to me happened to you when you were watching it, which is, halfway through the season, you begin to think, is this, it started really good,

and then halfway through the season, you're kinda like, is this getting to be too complex? How are they gonna bring this all together? And I don't like super complex shows, and so I'll end up, I started to almost kind of lose interest. And then the way it all came together in the last two episodes was just some of the best television that I've ever seen.

I would say that the penultimate episode is one of my favorite episodes of a show. It's the first episode of a show that I've watched. And then I sat down the next night and I watched that same episode again before, even though I could go to the finale. In the way that it weaves. And that redeemed the whole thing for me because-

Well, I thought that- As a season as a whole, I'm like, it's really good, but that was just mind blowing. The second to last episode was so good that I thought that the season was over. And I told Jessie, I was like, that was incredible. And she was like, what about that storyline and that storyline and that storyline? Isn't there gonna be, I was like, that was incredible. And she was like, what about that storyline and that storyline and that storyline?

Isn't there gonna be, I was like, oh yeah, there's probably, oh yeah, there's another episode. But the way that they kind of explore these science fiction concepts in a fresh way, but then also weave in the issues of racial justice in a way that doesn't feel reaching or forced. You know, a lot of times people might be like, well, I'm gonna do this thing that doesn't feel reaching or forced. You know, a lot of times people might be like, well, I'm gonna do this thing

and it's gonna have this social justice issue in it. Yeah. And I'm gonna do it in a way that feels preachy or whatever. They do it in a way that is very compelling and very relevant to the story and very effective and just makes it that much better of a story. So The Watchmen on HBO.

HBO just, I mean, they've been a sponsor before. They do so many things right. I like HBO, man. Just do it right. All right, y'all. We'll keep talking. Every day is another day of your life. Thanks for making us a part of some of those.

And once a week, let us be a part of your life. Well, on this show, and there's another show pretty much every day, you know, there's a lot of stuff, a lot of content. Let us take over your life.