FINAL DAY of The October Challenge: Podcast Learning & Performance (31/10/2022)
Reflections, lessons & announcing my November Challenge.
My report for Monday 31st October 2022 - the final day of my October Podcast Learning challenge.
This report structure will be a little bit different. I’ll start with my reflections & learnings from this challenge in the form of:
My lessons & reflections from carrying out this challenge,
My improvement points if I were to replicate the challenge,
My practical actions I’m taking into the future even after this challenge has finished.
I’ll then talk about my November challenge, and finish with my ‘experience’ of the day (as I do in all posts).
October Challenge Reflections:
My intention was to listen to podcasts for at least 10 minutes per day, and to summarise my learnings from them here.
Overall, I managed to do this every single day.
Majority of the sessions were in the 10-minute range, especially as I had a very busy past 2 weeks with workshops & talks.
So, let me summarise 5 lessons from this challenge:
Conversational podcasts are nice for driving & walking. Educational podcasts require me to sit and give them 100% of my bandwidth.
Conversational podcast (e.g. Diary of a CEO) - a few key ideas that you can capture in your head while on the go. Very little technical language.
Educational podcast (e.g. Huberman labs) - need to be fully present, making notes, capturing the technical jargon he uses.
Huberman Labs is the best podcast I have ever listened to.
I learned so much, so quickly.
I’ve already been using his teachings in client sessions to explain the neuroscience behind certain activities.
YouTube transcripts are the best feature of podcasts uploaded there.
I learn far better when I read than when I listen.
I’m also a very quick reader, which expedites the process.
I could listen on 1.5x speed, but I wouldn’t pick up anything from a podcast as technical as Huberman Labs.
Most of the summaries you saw from Huberman Labs came from me reading through the transcript & capturing the key ideas.
10-minutes per day was a reasonable time to listen to conversational podcasts, even during this busy period.
Breaking down Diary of a CEO into 10-minute podcasts (or, better yet, listening to the 10-15 minute ‘Moments’ episodes) was very realistic.
Easy to listen to while driving, on the train, or in the supermarket.
But Huberman Labs required actual focused attention.
The coolest thing I took from this month was not related to the podcast-side of things, but in writing my learnings up on this Substack.
Writing them up allowed me to really ingrain the knowledge I was learning - I still remember most of the technical neuroscience-based information from all the Huberman Labs episodes I listened to.
Finding 20-30 minutes per day (on top of podcast listening time) to write this Substack in the busiest few weeks of my career showed me how much my time-management has improved.
I’ve been very focused the last few weeks. And I still feel like I was leaving time to replenish (just about).
When this year finishes, I hope to use the Substack time for other writing-related work.
What I would improve on if I were to do this challenge again in the future:
A time to listen to podcasts daily. I comment this on every challenge, and then I don’t do it. For this one, it was fine as there were many ‘windows’ during the day. But in general, if you want to maintain a habit, set a specific time!
Keep using the YouTube transcripts for educational podcasts. It works for me for Huberman Labs, and I’d far rather spend 45 minutes ‘reading’ and absorbing the information as opposed to listening for 2 hours without it having sunk in.
1 Action Points from this challenge that I will take with me into the rest of 2022:
Aim to listen to one podcast episode per week out of any I like. It could be one in a whole day, or split up over 7 days. The learning from the podcasts I chose are too good not to utilise.
Where I am now with past challenges I’ve done in 2022:
January Challenge: Eating Whole-Foods Plant Based
Still eating plant-based and feeling strong. Mostly whole-foods. Some dark chocolate and olive bread. Include protein powders in my morning oats breakfast.
Body in good shape. Somewhere in the 12.5-13.5% body fat range - very nice maintenance amount at my bodyweight (between 59.5-60.5kg). Ring handstands better than ever.
February Challenge: Sleep Optimisation
Much better this month! Fiancée and I committed to sleeping before midnight, and have achieved this on most days. On her work days, we were sleeping before 11pm on some nights!
March Challenge: Reading
None. This month has been about implementing my learnings through workshops, and learning through podcasts.
April Challenge: Meditation
Has been happening, but less consistently than last month. 6 times this month meditating for more than 10 minutes. That’s just over one a week. Would like to do more.
However, I have been doing mindful walking for 5 minutes each time I walk. No music, just being present with my senses.
Also still been doing my 5-minute Wim Hof breathing practice daily. It’s not quite meditation though.
May Challenge: Running
Realised I wasn’t going to hit my 1000km in 2022 target. Stepped it up. Just under 100km this month - need to average 104km over the next 2 months to hit the target.
Not going to be fun given the crap weather, but we’ll make it happen.
June Challenge: Social Media
LinkedIn. Eased back into it by sharing a post per week on talks/workshops I was doing.
TikTok. Got back on academic videos 2 weeks ago before my first school talk - did 2 videos. Follower count up to 780 now despite infrequent posting, and crossed 200,000 views (and nearly 20,000 likes!). Will aim for one post per week going forwards.
Instagram. Damn, I haven’t made a single post!
July Challenge: Stretching.
Still stretching daily. No more than 10 minutes, which isn’t ideal, but body has been feeling decent.
Had a few injuries this month. A slight issue with the back and also with the pecs, but doing much better now.
August Challenge: Curiosity Calls.
None really. A few business development calls, but mainly just actual work - client sessions and workshops.
September Challenge: Learning Spanish
Did it everyday! Duolingo makes it so easy to work on my Spanish - each lesson takes around 7 minutes (if they’re harder), and I just do 1 lesson per day.
As much as I hate to admit it, it’s been very satisfying building on my streak - though I’m not retaining the new things I’m learning in Spanish as well as last month.
As I’m not reflecting on it with the same intensity, I’m not learning words as effectively though.
As with anything, the more you intentionally engage and review it, the quicker you learn.
So, what’s the challenge for November?
November Challenge: COLD EXPOSURE!
If you listen to Andrew Huberman for too long, 2 things will happen:
You’ll start going outside for 10-20 minutes within 15-30 minutes of waking up.
You’ll start taking cold showers/ice baths.
I’ve been doing number 1 this month - it’s been helping to reset my circadian rhythm for early sleeping, and generally been a great habit to get into.
And now it’s time for number 2.
I will be experimenting with different lengths of cold exposure on a daily basis. This will include:
Cold showers - minimum 2 minutes, perhaps as long as 5 minutes or more.
(Cold showers aren’t really that cold, so need a bit more time in them to have positive effects).
Most of these will not involve getting my hair wet.
Plunge pool - as long as I can handle.
We’ve got a plunge pool at the spa at my gym - water temperature is around 10-12 degrees, which is pretty damn cold!
It’s also not the most hygienic…
I can’t go there every day (time constraints), but will try and make the most of it.
Andrew Huberman recommends a total of 11 minutes of cold exposure per week at a temperature that is uncomfortably cold but safe.
So, why am I exposing myself to cold torture…I mean exposure?
Read this article by Andrew Huberman - below is my summary of it.
It’s really uncomfortable, especially in the winter.
Never a bad thing to train one’s discomfort tolerance.
For stress inoculation - if I control my breathing while exposing myself to the cold ‘stressor’, I’m increasing my ability to withstand stress.
The neurological benefits.
Big spikes in adrenaline, noradrenaline (alertness, calm focus) and dopamine (reward)
The physiological benefits.
Reduced inflammation, especially when alternating with ‘hot’ temperatures in shower or in a sauna.
For fat loss (not my intention) - if I shiver, I’m activating ‘brown fat thermogenesis’.
Though it’s not ideal to do cold exposure after strength, hypertrophy or endurance training as it can mess with benefits (due to reducing blood flow to the muscle) - ideally will do it before exercise, rather than after.
A bit of a masochistic challenge, but one that I look forward to reporting on, especially with regards to:
Time of doing it.
Will try to do it before 5pm - don’t want to create alertness late in the day when I’m meant to be going to sleep!
Perhaps an ideal time would be when I have my mid-afternoon dip.
Mood after doing it
Hypothesis is that it’ll be horrific while doing it, and great after.
Energy after doing it.
Hypothesis is it’ll be a weird blend of very calm & focused.
General reflections on mindset.
So, that’s the November challenge. Let’s see how it goes!
Thank you as always for your continued support!
My Experience (Monday 31st October 2022):
Reflections on My Podcast Learning Challenge:
Reflections on My Podcast Learning Challenge:
Listening to The Diary of a CEO episode
Moment 76 - The Number One Cause Of Anxiety Today: Tom Bilyeu
Time Spent Listening: 10 minutes.
On an afternoon walk.
Reflections:
Nice to listen to the podcast while walking.
Moments episodes are so convenient.
Couple of small insights:
If Tom could do one thing that helps him with anxiety, it’s optimising his diet (i.e. no energy drinks, lots of whole foods).
Biggest contributor to both Steven & Tom’s anxiety is high-importance attached to outcomes.
Aside from that, they both agree that social media is a double-edged sword - anxiety around negative feedback (i.e. how many likes you get) and comparison to peers (i.e. how your life compares to theirs).
We’ve made it to the end of the October Challenge! Thank you so much for reading - I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Hope that you have an amazing day ahead.
Until tomorrow,
Kam