Good Life Project - A Faster Path to Peak Performance: Optimize the Core

Episode Date: March 17, 2016

There are times it makes sense to throw money at a problem, and times when that's not only the worst thing you can do, it's also the least effective.When we think about performing better, whether it's at work, in sport, even relationships, we often focus first on the things that are easiest to "tweak."Without fail, those things are less about the "core of the matter" and more about 'optimizing the margins." And, if we can do it by buying our way to better, investing in higher-end gear, apparel, equipment, supplies, materials or technology, we try to replace work with money.Thing is, that's often the least effective way to get where we so desperately want to go.What if, instead of spending all of your time, work and money optimizing the margins, you focused instead on optimizing the core? Not by purchasing your way into it, but by working your way into it?That's what we're talking about in this week's Good Life Project Riff. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you're looking for flexible workouts, Peloton's got you covered. Summer runs or playoff season meditations, whatever your vibe, Peloton has thousands of classes built to push you. We know how life goes. New father, new routines, new locations. What matters is that you have something there to adapt with you, whether you need a challenge or rest. And Peloton has everything you need, whenever you need it.

Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at one you need, whenever you need it. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever. It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping.

And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you 8 hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series X. Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations, iPhone XS or later required, charge time and actual results will vary. Mayday, mayday.

We've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman. I knew you were gonna be fun. On January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing. Mark Wahlberg. You know what the difference between me and you is? You're gonna die. Don't shoot him, we need him!

Y'all need a pilot? Flight Risk. This week's Good Life Project riff is all about what I call optimizing the core before you optimize the margins. So there's this really interesting phenomenon that I see all the time, and I'm absolutely sure I've been guilty of many, many times as well, because, hey, I'm human just like you are. So I wanted to throw it out there because I wonder if it might resonate with you. And this is, I think there's a great story about that kind of came out of back in the days when I was a pretty hardcore mountain biker and I would travel around the world and do these pretty fierce adventures.

And there's an interesting thing that happens in the cycling community. And if you've ever been a part of a community where there's a really deeply embedded culture, and a part of that culture is not just a particular activity, but it's also the gear that revolves around that activity, you'll probably understand this. And the cycling community is very much that. Whether you're a road cyclist or whether you're a mountain biker, I actually started out my very early days in college as a road cyclist and racing. The year that the first mountain bike came out, I switched to mountain biking and rode this. It must have been like a 50-pound clunker through the woods, but I was completely hooked. I love riding fast in tight, windy woods. But there's this really interesting phenomenon that happens in the culture of an activity where gear is part of the equation. And that's this.

Pretty quickly, people become, let's call it somewhat maniacally obsessed. I know somewhat maniacally obsessed is a little bit of a, doesn't make sense, but you get what I'm saying. Maniacally obsessed is a little bit of a, doesn't make sense, but you get what I'm saying. Maniacally obsessed with performance. And so you start to figure out, okay, let's take mountain bike, for example. So I want to be able to ride faster in tight, windy single track, which single track is sort of narrow trails that go very often in the Northeast and in the United States and in Canada, where there's

an amazing single track. It's really windy, really tight turns, ups and downs. You're in the trees, so if you're going quickly, you know, if you hit a tree, you're in a lot of trouble. So you have to get really, really good at handling. Very often, there are a lot of roots and bumps and rocks and things that jump over and things that will take you out very quickly. There are also hills. So if you go into the bigger places, you'll find these maniacal, long, winding, super steep uphills. And you'll also find long, crazy downhills. And for the long, windy uphills, what a lot of people have come to realize is that the

weight, total weight actually makes a really big difference. So the lighter you and your bicycle are, as a general rule, you know, the less total weight you're pushing up a hill, and the easier it becomes. So it takes less out of you, and you can keep your speed going faster, you have more control. And if you're riding in a group, or if you're even racing, you know, that's a huge advantage. And even if you're not, if you're just riding with a whole bunch of friends on the weekends,

you kind of want to be able to hold your own. So what starts to happen is we start to, and here's the other side of this, is that the biking community is loaded end to end with gear. There are shops, there are magazines, there are websites, and there are more bells and whistles and shiny objects and doodads than you could ever imagine. And each one promises, it's going to shave two grams off of this. And you have the titanium and then you have the carbon

fiber. And the whole thing is it's not only stiffer, but like each one of these things shaves a few grams off. So you could end up spending $3,000 more to take two pounds off your bicycle. I mean, legitimately to do that. And you think to yourself, whoa, that's incredible. I just took my bike from 22 pounds down to 20 pounds. So that's a pretty substantial reduction. And that can make a huge difference in my performance. But that's what I call optimizing the margins and forgetting about the core, because your focus is on trying to get the greatest amount of performance by focusing not on you, but on your gear. And the thing is, that's the thing that at the end of the day makes the absolute least

difference in performance. The single biggest shift in performance comes when you actually focus not on optimizing your gear, the things at the margins, like the tweaks and the little tiny things, but when you focus on optimizing you. So if I show up, and if I become a little older, if I become a weekend rider, and I haven't been as active as I've been and I show up after winter, I've got 20 extra pounds on my body. There are a couple things that I could do. I could focus on optimizing the core, meaning me as a human being,

or I could focus on trying to optimize my bike, the margins, the little tweaks that really don't make a whole lot of difference. Most people focus on optimizing the margins because A, it's fun. B, you can spend money instead of suffering labor and action. And C, if you're in a culture where gear is part of the culture, there's a little bit of ego involved and being able to flash around, you know, like your shiny, cool new stuff. But the truth is, if you're really, really, truly a believer in wanting to be able to operate at the absolute top level to optimize performance, you have to start at the core and the core is you. So my, I would be much better off instead of, you know, trying to find the best gear to shave grams off of my ride. I would be much better off spending the first two to four weeks actually

really focusing on a committed routine to get fit and to really dial in my nutrition. Because after a month, if I can drop a pound and a half to two pounds a week, then that's six to eight pounds that I've just shaved off the entire package of me and the bike. So after a month, I'm now eight pounds off the ride and eight pounds compared to two pounds. And by the way, probably $3,000 kept in my pocket by doing that. And I'm a whole lot healthier and stronger and more powerful. It makes so much sense, but it's harder and it takes a lot more commitment and a lot more effort to do that. So a lot of times we don't do this.

One of the other areas that we see this happen a lot in is the world of photography. And I've had some really interesting conversations with my friend Chase Jarvis, who you may know, he was a recent guest on the podcast. He was world-class travel and action sports photographer. Literally, there's almost nothing that he hasn't done or traveled to or shot. And he also is the founder of Creative Live, a giant sort of virtual education venture. And I was hanging out with him because he has a ton of gear. He has studios, he has massive, massive truckloads of gear, and he has people wanting to give him stuff all the time. And he's like, you know, dude, it's the biggest lie in the game. He's like, it's not about the camera. It's about the person,

you know, and we forget about that. You know, we get so maniacally focused on optimizing the margins on the gear, on the tweaks, on all of the stuff that exists outside of us that we forget about optimizing the human, the core, to make the biggest leap in happiness and performance and success. So when you're thinking about if there's something you're interested in right now, and you would really love to be able to perform at a higher level at it, that would be meaningful to you. Think about these two things. What's the core? And what are the margins? What are the things around the edges? And before you go spending time and money and energy optimizing the margins, and that's very

often with gear and things you spend money on, start with the core. Almost always, that's you as a unique human being. Optimize that as much as humanly possible. And what you'll very often find is the margins don't matter a whole lot. So coming full circle back when I was mountain biking, at one point, years and years into it, I finally ended up building my own custom bike that I love. But until that day, I would always ride this beat up hardtail mountain bike. And I would show up on the trail and it looked like a junker and it wasn't all fancy and it wasn't full suspension and it wasn't all that expensive, but I didn't care because what I cared most about was it let me really just focus on my own body. And it almost like kept me from diluding myself into what the writing was really

about, which was about me immersing myself in an activity that I love, and be getting as good as I could get at it, not getting my equipment to be as good as it could get at it. So I hope you find that useful with whatever you're exploring and bring your energy to these days. As always, it's fun hanging out with you. Thanks so much for listening to today's episode. If you found something valuable, entertaining, engaging, or just plain fun, I'd be so appreciative if you take a couple extra seconds and share it.

Maybe you want to email it to a friend. Maybe you want to share it around social media. Or even be awesome if you'd head over to iTunes and just give us a rating. Every little bit helps get the word out and it helps more people get in touch with the message. I'm Jonathan Fields, Peloton's got you covered. Summer runs or playoff season meditations, whatever your vibe, Peloton has thousands of classes built to push you. We know how life goes.

New father, new routines, new locations. What matters is that you have something there to adapt with you, whether you need a challenge or rest. And Peloton has everything you need, whenever you need it. Find your push. Find your power. Peloton. Visit Peloton at onepeloton.ca. The Apple Watch Series 10 is here. It has the biggest display ever.

It's also the thinnest Apple Watch ever, making it even more comfortable on your wrist, whether you're running, swimming, or sleeping. And it's the fastest-charging Apple Watch, getting you eight hours of charge in just 15 minutes. The Apple Watch Series X. Available for the first time in glossy jet black aluminum. Compared to previous generations,

iPhone XS or later required, charge time and actual results will vary. Mayday, mayday. We've been compromised. The pilot's a hitman. I knew you were gonna be fun. January 24th. Tell me how to fly this thing. vary.