Do the Opposite - Lack of Sleep as Procrastination Technique,1% Better, Body Language

Hello friends,

Welcome to the newest issue of the Do the Opposite newsletter, sent every Monday! If you like it, please forward this email to your friends or share this link with them: tinyletter.com/dotheopposite

If you want to share any resources, articles, books or anything else with the community, please reply to this email with your recommendations!
_________
Getting More Sleep (Or "sleeping less as a procrastination technique")
After featuring the video on why getting enough sleep is crucial to our health and performance, I've been making some changes in my own life. I've always been a 'night owl' with my best work window from 11PM to 2AM.

I don't think everyone should be an early riser. However, I think we should be getting enough sleep no matter what. In my case what happened is: I would often go to sleep at 2am or later, but the time I had to wake up at did not change, which just meant that my sleeping window grew smaller. I would only get 5 hours of sleep or so. I didn't feel amazing (obviously) but I would rationalize it by thinking: "Well, at least I don't waste precious hours of my life on sleeping - I use that time"

I've recently realized that going to sleep very late is just another way I procrastinate; the Resistance has made me believe that it's a way to succeed - by staying 'online' for more hours. In fact, I would waste a lot of time during the evening - not doing any useful work or fun activity (like sports, running, etc.) but instead just 'passing the time' and thinking - yes, when it gets late and everything is done for the day, I will start working on that project, that app, etc. Often, I'd work for an hour or 2 and then watch some mindless TV series online.

So by sleeping less I didn't become 'more productive' as my brain so seductively convinced me. I would just keep pushing the real work later and later, performing 'time filler' activities.

I've realized the negative impact that behavioural pattern has had on my life so far, and started doing something about it. Another big factor was memory - for my work and life plans I have to be learning a lot, and remembering. Lack of sleep prevents short term memory from becoming long term (I've actually noticed this somewhat in my retention levels).

I've been going to sleep earlier for the past week, and going to continue adjusting to that schedule. The plan is to go to sleep at midnight and sleep until 7am (thus getting 7 hours of sleep - unheard of for me previously). My mood definitely has improved, and overall I feel better. I am also trying to organize my morning routine better - but that is a topic for another newsletter (+ I will collect more info based on my experiences)

P.S. I've also started having dreams again - before I guess I slept too little to dream :) + Tonight I am going to sleep later as I had a bit more commitments than usual this week - oops! I will keep adapting to the new schedule though!

Block Distracting Websites
I've also started using a browser extension called LeechBlock which allows one to block websites, according to a specified schedule & rules. I've started blocking Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit from 7am to 9pm. I still use Twitter on my phone - as this is my 'main' social network that I use to connect with people. However blocking it on the laptop helps not to open it mindlessly and waste 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there. Try it out and see if you are able to rescue some time!

LeechBlock is the most customizable of such extensions I could find.
LeechBlock for Firefox
LeechBlock for Chrome

Articles:
1) "This Coach Improved Every Tiny Thing by 1 Percent and Here’s What Happened" by James Clear
The title of the article is a little clickbait-y, but don't let that deter you from reading it! James shares a a great story of the transformation of the British Cycling team, after they'd hired Dave Brailsford as its new performance director. By searching for areas (often these areas were overlooked before as unimportant) where they could make a tiny improvement, they were able to rise to win 60% gold medals in the road and track cycling categories in the Olympic Games held in Beijing in 2008 (previously the British team had won Gold 110 years prior).

This is especially interesting as the idea of 1% improvement is often discussed and praised, but here we have undeniable proof that it works. What area of your life you'd like to commit to improving in by 1% every day? or every week?

2) "It's Not Just Salt, Sugar, Fat: Study Finds Ultra-Processed Foods Drive Weight Gain" by Maria Godoy
It's not just the big three - Sugar, Salt and Fat; in fact, eating processed foods causes us to constantly over-eat. This leads to a number of health issues. In every day, normal life it's almost impossible to completely avoid processed foods, but we can try to increase (and keep increasing over time) the percentage of the real, unprocessed food that we eat.

Videos:
Former FBI Agent Explains How to Read Body Language | Tradecraft | WIRED
An absolutely fascinating (and maybe a little unnerving) talk by Joe Navarro, a former FBI agent, where he not only explains how to read the body language of another person, but also exposes many misconceptions we have about certain behaviours, gestures and signs and what they mean. I have to admit that I've had a few false ideas, picked up from TV and elsewhere, which this video has helped me clear up.

Tweet that resonated with me:

This is a recording of Steve Jobs answering a question from the audience (seems to be asked by one of the developers working at Apple) on how to not get frustrated with the press that doesn't see, or is slow to see, the progress that that company has been making. Jobs' response is very smart and useful to us. He compares the lag with which the public and the press respond to changes in the company to the way people in our lives don't always notice the changes we've been making as we improve ourselves. Let's say we have been doing some self-reflection and focused on improving ourselves for a year now. Still, the people around us have their formulated opinion of us, which causes them to see us through that 'frame', ignoring anything that doesn't fit what they expect to see. Steve says that it's OK, there is always going to be that lag, that delay - from when we make the change to people taking notice of it; the time will fix that for us.

Ethos:

Quote:
"Until we have begun to go without them, we fail to realize how unnecessary many things are. We've been using them not because we needed them but because we had them."
― Lucius Annaeus Seneca, "Letters from a Stoic"
_________

TELEGRAM CHANNEL: Do the Opposite has a public Telegram channel. The content there is a little different than in the newsletter: faster to consume, a bit more random - basically anything weird or interesting that catches my eye - articles, tweets, videos, images, etc. Hope to see you there as well! :) Here it is: t.me/dotheopposite

If you find this newsletter helpful, please consider forwarding this email to to your friends! Or just give them this link: tinyletter.com/dotheopposite

Keep doing the opposite,
Alexander Kallaway
Website: dotheoppo.site
Twitter: twitter.com/ka11away