last week, i forgot to eat.
i know that sounds like a joke, but sometimes i get so caught up in what i’m doing that i don’t notice how hungry i feel.
usually, i can snap out of it quickly.
but last week was different.
on Monday, i was behind on work, so i wanted to hit the ground running & pay off my ‘productivity debt’ that was piling up.
the problem was, i hadn’t bought groceries yet or prepared my meals for the week, & i still wasn’t back on my normal sleep schedule.
to make matters worse, Emma & i hadn’t done our ‘weekly review/preview’ either.
i told myself i could just deal with all of those things later.
but it turns out,
‘later’ is just a recipe for a pretty rough week.
on Friday morning, i found myself in one of my deepest slumps ever. the whole week had passed, & what did i have to show for it?
my phone’s screen time was the highest it’s been in months
i was sleeping in almost every day
my energy was so low that the idea of exercise didn’t even cross my mind
& i didn’t really move the needle on anything important
basically, i felt like shit.
& i was sick of it.
which is why what happened next still sounds too good to be true as i type this:
just a half-hour later, i was full of energy, in a good mood, & doing the work i had been putting off all week.
so what changed?
well, i’m gonna go through all of it, step-by-step, in what i call
the 30min slump-buster.
starting with the tweet that set it all off:
the way i see it, every human is kinda like a big fancy computer.
our ‘hardware’ is our body — the stuff that actually does the work.
our ‘software’ is our mind — the stuff that tells the hardware what to do.
just like hardware & software in a computer, our body & mind both rely on each other to do their jobs.
this creates a ‘chicken & egg’ scenario, where if something stops working, it can be hard to tell which thing broke first.
like, if your phone screen won’t turn on, there are 2 likely causes:
the software is frozen
the battery is dead
that means until you do something to figure out which problem it is, you’ll waste your time guessing.
the same is true when you’re in a slump.
for example, there were 2 likely causes of my low energy:
i was burnt out mentally (software)
my body didn’t have enough fuel to do its job (hardware)
with our computer analogy, finding where to start should be difficult.
but that’s where the tweet from above comes into play.
if you’re not sure what to do first, start with your hardware.
this is exactly what the 30min slump-buster does.
so without further ado, here’s the exact protocol:
step by step guide
hard reset
movement is the only place to start. wherever you are, stand up. you’re not allowed to sit for the next few minutes. grab a glass of water, even if you’re not thirsty. try to eat something fresh. take a quick shower. put on nicer clothes. if it’s late, get a good night’s sleep & do all of this tomorrow morning. the purpose is to give yourself a clean slate to build from.touch grass
go outside. the weather doesn’t matter. time of day doesn’t matter. go for a walk if you can — even 5-minutes will do. it’s a lot easier to get out of your head when your thoughts have a big open space to escape to. fresh air & sunlight are the 2 most underrated ‘life hacks’ i know of.write
what do you write? anything. the purpose isn’t to write something good. the purpose is to sit with each thought long enough to process it. the act of physically writing down what you think is the easiest way to do this, since writing is always slower than thinking. if you want ideas on what to write, try answering any of my ‘36 questions to ask yourself before it’s too late.’do your ABZ’s
this is an idea i came across recently that has changed my life. instead of worrying about the whole alphabet (i.e. all of the things you should be doing), just focus on 3 letters:
A → where you are now.
B → the next step you can take.
Z → the direction you want to go.start as small as it takes
once you know your next step (‘B’), ignore everything else. you have 1 task:
take that step. in my case, it was literally ‘open the notes app on my computer.’ if you’re not embarrassed by how small the first action is, you’re not thinking small enough. slow motion beats no motion every single day.
one of the toughest parts about being in a slump is the fact that it’s a self-reinforcing cycle. that is, the deeper you go, the harder it is to get out.
that’s why the 30min slump-buster works so well for me.
it’s not about ‘locking in’ or making any massive leaps of progress. it’s about solving the hardware problem first, with the smallest steps possible, in the shortest amount of time.
of course, the ‘software’ stuff (steps 3-5) is equally important, but in my experience, it must come after the ‘hardware’ stuff (steps 1 & 2).
when you hear every guru talk about how ‘your body is a temple’ & ‘health comes first,’ this is why they say it. through trial & error (& maybe a bit of luck), they learned that if you don’t take care of your body, everything else falls apart.
if you want evidence of that, consider this old proverb:
‘a healthy man wants a thousand things. a sick man only wants one.’
last week, i forgot to eat.
& for a few days, i let that one small fuck-up turn into a week i’m not happy about.
but it doesn’t have to be that way.
next time you’re in a slump & you can’t figure out why,
stand up.
drink some water.
freshen up.
go outside.
move your body.
write something.
find the next step.
take that step.
& only then should you take your bad mood seriously.
some things i learned
a helpful way to process emotions
emotions are like weather. things can feel cloudy right now, but that doesn’t mean the sun won’t come out again. similarly, sunny days also won’t last forever. since you can’t control the weather, control what you do about it.the human body is magic
when women are breastfeeding, their nipples have tiny holes in them to absorb their baby’s saliva. based on vitamin levels in that saliva, women’s bodies then produce extra nutrients that the babies are lacking.all of the best things in life require a degree of embarrassment
‘or at least the possibility of it. dancing, singing, sharing art, cooking food, having sex, holding hands; there is risk in it all. you could burn dinner or sing off key; no act of self expression or love is exempt from this danger.’
cool stuff i found
a water bottle with a built-in phone mount
i know this will be a game changer for someone reading this:
as always, this isn’t sponsored! i just thought it was a cool product lol 
The Black Sea at Night, by Ivan Aivazovsky how to live an asymmetric life
this is one of the best talks you’ll ever listen to. i just discovered it today, & i wish i found it sooner:
that’s all for this week!
it’s crazy how fast the time goes by. i caught the flu a few weeks ago, & i’m only just now getting back up to full speed.
despite the slow start, i’m feeling great about what i’m building behind the scenes. i’m aiming to have the first ‘prototype’ up & running at the end of this week, followed by my biggest push ever on YouTube.
i can’t wait to watch (& make) it all unfold!
go make yourself proud this week.
~ liam (:
PS - try my life calculator if you haven’t already
‘things that have never happened before happen all the time.’
~ Morgan Housel