I hope life is treating well.

You may have noticed that I did not publish a newsletter last week.

My 4 year streak of never missing a newsletter came to an end.

I also turned 59 on September 23rd.

As such, I’m going to take the month of October off to rethink what I’m doing, what I want to accomplish for the coming year and how I can bring the most value to you.

I will be back November 4th my friend.

Keep being awesome,

Dean

Just walked 4.5km to my former university. Sitting here now doing this newsletter.

I’ve already done more work in the past 3 hours than I did for the entire 5 years I was here.

Hard to believe that was 36 years ago.

OK! Enough reminiscing. Here is today’s 3-2-1!!

1/ Wise words.

This wisdom is courtesy of designer Brian Collins.

While he is taking about this in the context of design, the principle holds true for personal transformation as well.

If you do what everyone else is doing the best you can be is average.

If you have the courage to step out and explore original solutions, you skew the odds of creating something remarkable for yourself.

2/ Thinking in pieces.

Alex Hormozi has blown up in the past few years. His YouTube channel has over 2.7 million subscribers. He shares sage advice on building a business.

In this YouTube short, he states how he pieced together his gym owner knowledge to build a multi-million dollar gym business.

The takeaway I would like to leave you with is that complex problems — like weight loss — are solved in pieces, not nicely packaged all-in-one solutions.

The secret is to follow Alex’s approach of picking the brains of those who have achieved what you want, stealing the gems that mean something to you and putting them together in a way that allows you to create a unique solution geared specifically for your needs.

3/ Using things in unexpected ways.

I came across this steel diaper pail the other day.

It’s a beautiful design.

As a former cat owner, it occurred to me that would also be a great solution for disposing kitty litter.

The bigger takeaway is that tremendous opportunities exist to find ways to use things outside the context in which they are presented.

For instance, most people think a workout has to happen in a gym. But it can happen anywhere your feet are, if you have the ability to use what’s in your environment in ways others simply can’t.

1/ Fixing shoulder pain.

Not sure when this happened, but my left shoulder has some sort of impingement that creates tremendous discomfort when I attempt to raise my arm to the side.

To try and fix it I am returning to a reliable source — Ben Patrick.

Here are his 3 go to exercises I am doing on a daily basis to reverse out shoulder pain.

2/ How to get what you want.

A story from hostage negotiator Chris Voss.

The tactic I am stealing from this video is the power of being playful in a moment where most others are highly agitated and emotional.

A book recommendation.

Here’s the latest book I’m reading.

As a mindset guy, this is right up my alley.

Here’s an excerpt that tells you exactly what the book intends to do for you.

That’s it for this week’s edition my friend.

Steal shamelessly and share selflessly.

To transforming yourself,

👀See you again next week.

PS → 🥳Enjoy the newsletter? Please forward to a pal. It only takes 30 seconds. Writing this took me just under 3 hours.

Did you know?

I do premium one-on-one coaching for those looking to lose at least 10% of unwanted body weight.

I have lost 23% of unwanted Dean and it has transformed my entire life.

Imagine how your life would change if you could lose 5%, 10% or more of unwanted you.

Let’s book a time to chat.

To learn more start here.

It’s amazing to me how many of my own ideas I share in this newsletter that I have forgotten about.

So I am resharing one that I loved.

Enjoy it my friend.

1. What’s your problem???

“Every problem, at its root, is a question that hasn’t been answered yet.”
— Noah St. John —

A counter-intuitive way to solve our most pressing problems is to work backwards to determine the best question we should be asking ourselves.

And the better the questions, the better the results.

To Ponder…

Don’t ask, “How can I lose weight?”

A better question is, “What mindsets, habits and false beliefs do I presently possess that prevent me from successfully losing weight?”

Discuss amongst yourself.

2. Mentors trump DNA.

“The apple doesn’t fall from the tree, but that doesn’t mean it can’t roll to a new location.”
— Dr. Joe Dispenza —

Here’s my take.

We don’t get to choose our parents or the DNA we inherit, but we can choose mentors who can help us succeed on our weight loss journey regardless of the genetic hand we’ve been dealt.

To ponder…

Find someone who has defied their DNA to lose weight and keep it off. Then immerse yourself in everything they have to offer so you can do the same.

3. Maximize your ROE.

ROE = Return on Effort

The question you should always be pondering is how to do as little as possible to get the greatest return on your effort.

For Example

Return on Effort is why I only have to train 10 minutes a day.

I’m constantly on the lookout for difficult movements that offer a greater return on the effort I exert.

For instance, I could do 5-minutes of ab crunches or I can get the same or better results doing 30 seconds of L-sits.

I get a 10X ROE on the L-sits and get to use the remaining 4.5 minutes to do other high leverage exercises that also deliver a great ROE.

To Ponder…

To maximize your ROE, decrease your time commitment while simultaneously increasing your level of intensity.

ROE = Decreased Time x Increased Level of Intensity.

1. How to know when to say no.

“If it’s not a ‘Hell yeah!” then it’s ‘No.’”

I stole this simple, yet beautiful mindset from Derek Sivers.

But I put my own twist on it.

I don’t just use this when it comes to making decisions about future commitments, I also use it to decide if a habit is worth adopting, a food is worth eating or an item is worth purchasing.

If the habit, food or purchase doesn’t spark a “HELL YEAH!” then I don’t adopt it, eat it or buy it.

To Ponder... 

A “Hell yeah!” means that thing sparks joy. And joy scales long-term.

Everything else is some measure of misery. And misery, no matter how small, doesn’t scale.

2. How to improve faster.

Take selfie videos then take a screenshot that you can mark up and learn from.

The best athletes study lots of film of their past performances so they can maximize their improvement.

This skill is critical to adopt on the weight loss journey as well.

— For Example —

Here are the notes I made for myself on my L-sit.

The screenshot allows me to see where I am presently at, gives me a sense of where I could be by the end of the year and how I can improve my form in the meantime.

To Ponder…

Video selfies and the screenshots you scrap from them are a powerful tool for expediting self improvement and success.

1. The power of a body weight scale.

I have a stack of apps and tools I use but the most important is my body weight scale.

Why?

Because, by weighing myself every morning, it allows me to catch eating mistakes instantly and take small corrective actions today to get back on track tomorrow.

To Ponder…

Consider getting yourself a scale so you can begin catching and correcting your eating mistakes immediately.

I would also suggest you get one that is thin enough so it can travel with you. Mine cost $32, is about the size of my laptop and easily fits in my backpack.

That $32 purchase has been the greatest investment I have made on this journey.

That’s it for this week’s edition my friend.

Steal shamelessly and share selflessly.

To transforming yourself,

👀See you again next week.

PS → 🥳Enjoy the newsletter? Please forward to pal. It only takes 30 seconds. Writing this took me 3 hours.

Did you know?

I do premium one-on-one coaching for those looking to lose at least 10% of unwanted body weight.

I have lost 23% of unwanted Dean and it has transformed my entire life.

Imagine how your life would change if you could lose 5%, 10% or more of unwanted you.

Let’s book a time to chat.

To learn more start here.

Welcome to a late 208th edition of this newsletter.

It was a hectic week for me.

My brother and his wife were visiting from China — he is building a LEGO land theme park in Shanghai.

I played chauffeur for the past 5 days, driving 5 hours on Tuesday to pick them up at the Toronto airport and immediately turning around and bringing them to Sudbury.

On Friday my chauffeur duties were reversed.

I felt the impact of all my driving yesterday. I got to bed early though and feel much better today.

Here’s this week’s 3-2-1 newsletter that I hope will help you skew personal transformation success in your favour.

1/ Design habits that work on your worst day.

Fact → We have far more “bad” days than we realize.

Problem → We adopt habits that only work on our good days, but fail us miserably on our bad ones.

Solution → Flip the script. Design habits that work on your bad days. If it works on those days, it will work on all days regardless of how life decides to treat you.

Example → Don’t set the goal of walking 10,000 steps, which is easy on a good day, but hard to achieve on a bad day. Instead, set the minimum at 5000. Having a minimum makes it more likely you will consistently achieve your desired outcomes.

2/ Create eating habits that scale long-term.

The simplest way to do that is to steal this mindset best selling author Austin Kleon uses when it comes to books.

But instead, your mindset will be…

I will not eat foods I don’t like.

Takeaway → A diet is easy to stick to when you love what you are eating.

3/ Fix your weak links.

Fact → When life throws you an unexpected curveball, you do not rise to the levels of your greatest strengths, you fall to the depths of your greatest weaknesses.

Problem → Weaknesses are like holes in your roof. They get exposed when conditions turn ugly.

Solution → Identify weak links — ie. poor food discipline, highly volatile in stressful situations, easily crushed when receiving critical feedback — and do the work to start repairing them so when conditions turn nasty, you rise to the occasion.

1/ Failure is self-inflicted.

2/ Steal these eating principles and philosophies.

For the record, I don’t eat like Jeff does.

But, what I love about his video is that he shares the principles and philosophies that guide his eating decisions.

I share many of the same, but I apply them to a different eating framework that I have found works for me.

There is a lot of wisdom in this video that you can steal and apply to your own “Diet for One” approach.

PS → And if you watch to the end, you will hear Jeff talk about why he doesn’t have cheat meals. I also have the same mindset around this. It’s a mindset you should definitely consider stealing.

1/ I love this.

I mentioned a few newsletters ago I was considering buying something to organize my weights and other equipment I had.

I had 9 questions I asked myself to ensure I was making a good decision.

I then waited 10 days before I decided this was worth purchasing.

And I love it. It took me about an hour to set up, but I have found the organization of my equipment has taken my training to a new level.

Here is the amazon link if you are interested.

🙏 Thanks for reading my friend.

👀See you again next week.

PS → 🥳Enjoy the newsletter? Please forward to pal. It only takes 30 seconds. Writing this took me 3 hours.

Did you know?

I do premium one-on-one coaching for those looking to lose at least 10% of unwanted body weight.

I have lost 23% of unwanted Dean and it has transformed my entire life.

Imagine how your life would change if you could lose 5%, 10% or more of unwanted you.

Let’s book a time to chat.

To learn more start here.

Welcome to the 207th edition of this newsletter.

It’s the labor day long weekend here in Sudbury.

Hard to believe a new school year starts on Tuesday.

Tomorrow is also the start of a new week.

It’s a chance to turn the page on the week that was, especially if it didn’t go as planned.

Here’s a few ideas from today’s 3-2-1 to help skew success in your favour.

1/ Put yourself first.

Conventional wisdom suggests you put others first at the expense of yourself. While that sounds noble, it’s terrible advice — especially if you have kids.

When you don’t take care of yourself your eventual, and often, unnecessary suffering becomes the burden and responsibility to all those that are closest to you.

There’s nothing noble about that.

What I am proposing is a new way of thinking.

I call it The Selflessness of Selfishness.

The idea is to put yourself first.

When you take care of yourself, when you attend to all your needs, you have more to give to everyone else in your life.

And you can do that giving longer and better.

2/ Live your life in 24-hour blocks.

It has been 2.5 weeks since I moved in with my dad.

Everyone I meet asks me how it’s going.

Everyone gets the same answer.

I’m now living my life in 24-hour blocks.

Each morning I wake up with the intent to make it the best day possible for myself and for him.

Some days are great, some days aren’t.

On the not-so-great days, we find ways to get through them and pull out any lessons that will help us going forward.

But the mindset remains the same each morning.

Lets do everything I can to make today a great day.

3/ Invest in belief.

Belief is not something you have.

It’s something you acquire over time.

And one way to acquire it is to invest in people who believe in you, even when you might not believe in yourself.

Because belief is contagious.

You can catch it from others.

It might be a partner, a parent, a teacher, a mentor or even a weight loss coach such as myself.

The key is to find those people whose belief in you is so contagious that it will inspire you do great things.

1/ The dark side of belief.

Tua Tagovailoa is the starting quarterback for the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. As a result of having a career year last year, he just signed a 4-year $212.4 contract extension.

But 3 years ago, his career was in jeopardy.

His head coach at the time, Brain Flores (pictured above), had no belief in Tagovaliloa and let him know it every chance he had.

Here’s how Tua described it.

"To put it in simplest terms, if you woke up every morning and I told you [that] you suck at what you did, that you don't belong doing what you do, that you shouldn't be here, that this guy should be here, that you haven't earned this right.

I don't care who you are. You could be the president of the United States, you have a terrible person telling you things that you don't want to hear or probably shouldn't be hearing, you're going to start believing that about yourself. And so that's what sort of ended up happening.”

Belief — good or bad — is contagious.

But Tua’s career transformed after Flores was fired in 2021 and the Dolphins brought in Mike McDaniel as head coach in 2022.

One of the first things McDaniel did when he was hired was to show Tagovailoa a 700-play highlight reel of what he believed the quarterback did well.

And that belief has begun to pay dividends.

Tua is now considered one of the top quarterbacks in the league and the Dolphins have been to the playoffs the past 2 years.

And all that happened because McDaniel believed in Tua when Tua did not believe in himself.

Click here to read the entire story.

2/ Critical Thinking Cheatsheet.

Here are some really great questions you can use on your health and weight loss journey.

These were my 3 favourites.

• What can I do to make a positive change?

• Where can I go for help with this?

• When will I know I have succeeded?

Find 3 or 5 that you can use on your journey to personal transformation.

1/ Book to get.

This is next in my queue to read. It’s currently ranked #1 on Amazon. Click here to download a free sample.

🙏 Thanks for reading my friend.

👀See you again next week.

PS → 🥳Enjoy the newsletter? Please forward to pal. It only takes 30 seconds. Writing this took me 3 hours.

Did you know?

I do premium one-on-one coaching for those looking to lose at least 10% of unwanted body weight.

I have lost 23% of unwanted Dean and it has transformed my entire life.

Imagine how your life would change if you could lose 5%, 10% or more of unwanted you.

Let’s book a time to chat.

To learn more start here.

Welcome to a very late 206th edition of this newsletter.

I just got back from a whirlwind weekend at a friends’ cottage.

It was hectic, but amazing. There were also a few lessons learned that I will share in today’s 3-2-1.

1/ Get back on track — the very next day.

Every Sunday for the last 205 weeks I have published this newsletter.

But I missed yesterday’s deadline because I was away at a friend’s cottage for the weekend.

There are 2 ways I can deal with this missed deadline.

• I can just forget about this one and get back on track next Sunday.

• or I can send this out one day late.

I am choosing the latter.

What I have found with human behaviour, specifically mine, is that once we give ourselves permission to miss something once, it begins to happen more frequently, until it stops happening all together.

It’s like this with all habits.

These “one-time failures” have the power to quickly morph into full-time failures if we don’t commit to get right back on track the very next day.

So with this in mind, I’m going to noodle on what I can do differently to make sure this never happens again, and I going to send this out about 16 hours late.

Lesson to learn → One-time failures quickly morph into full-time failures if you don’t commit to getting back on track the very next day.

Ps. That was me working at the Saturday afternoon corn roast where my buddy’s band was playing. Apologies for my “Oh sh*t! I just got caught stealing money from the till” smile.

2/ A simple way to improve self-discipline.

Don’t keep anything in your house that you can’t consume responsibly.

Instead, turn it into an event.

If you want to have it, you have to travel to it.

Travel as a buffer does wonders for improving self-discipline.

To try → What’s something you struggle with that you should stop buying and turn into an event that you must travel to instead?

3/ Say what you are thinking.

If you want to transform your life and the lives of others, say, out loud, the positive things you are thinking about others.

1/ The power of your beliefs.

This is one of my favourite stories about behaviour change, told by the late Trevor Moawad.

My takeaway → Your brain believes what you belief to be true - not what is true, what you believe to be true. So choose to believe things about yourself that open up possibilities for the remarkable to happen.

2/ Interpret reality so you win.

This was a story that former President Ronald Regan loved to tell.

My takeaway → Pessimists see the manure. Optimists do the work to wade through it to find the pony. 

1/ Make cooking fun.

My sister let me test out her electric grill. I opted to put it out on my dad’s balcony and cook our dinners out there.

There is something about cooking outdoors that sparks tremendous joy for me.

I’m going to continue to do this, hopefully during the winter months as well.

Your takeaway → What is something you can do or invest in to spark more joy with your cooking? Remember joy scales long-term, misery does not!

🙏 Thanks for reading. my friend.

👀See you again next week.

PS → 🥳Enjoy the newsletter? Please forward to pal. It only takes 30 seconds. Writing this took me 3 hours.

Did you know?

I do premium one-on-one coaching for those looking to lose at least 10% of unwanted body weight.

I have lost 23% of unwanted Dean and it has transformed my entire life.

Imagine how your life would change if you could lose 5%, 10% or more of unwanted you.

Let’s book a time to chat.

To learn more start here.

My new life in Sudbury has officially started. Got here on Thursday and am slowly and methodically getting myself and my living space in order.

This move is teaching me a lot.

I’ll dive into some of those lessons in today’s 3-2-1.

1/ We are hardwired to be hoarders.

Our DNA evolved from a place of scarcity.

Almost everything essential to our survival was extremely difficult to find. So when we did stumble on abundance, we looked for ways to store it for later.

But that scarcity gene does not serve us well in today’s world of overabundance.

People don’t know how to let go of stuff that is no longer essential — so they spend gobs of money to store it for a “later” that never comes.

Suggested takeaway → Invoke the 3-month rule.

If you have not used/worn something in the past 3-months then get rid of it. It’s not essential to your life.

Your brain will scream at you to keep it because you “might” need it later.

When it does, remind yourself that 99% of the time, “later” never comes.

2/ Physical books are not practical.

The items I had the most difficulty dealing with were my physical books.

I have always preferred reading those to eBooks.

But trying to dispose of them made me realize just how impractical and inefficient they are.

What I discovered is…

• They take up a ton of space.

• I almost never reread a book. Most of the 200 I had, had been sitting on my book shelf for 23 years unopened.

• The notes I scribbled in the margins were never transferred to an app where I could refer to them easily at a later date.

• They didn’t age well making them impossible to give away/donate.

So I decided to shift to reading eBooks moving forward.

Here is the case I built for myself…

• I can download a free sample to see whether a book is worth buying.

• Amazon allows me to return a book if I don’t like it.

• They are much cheaper than physical copies.

• I can easily access my highlights and any notes I create.

• I can carry my entire library in my pocket.

• I have access to them 24/7 which will allow me to read more often during free moments that crop up during my day.

Extension → This thinking works for other physical items like journals, cookbooks, bills, mail, videos and tax returns to name a few.

3/ Contributing less to landfill sites.

Before I left Toronto for good, I had to make a trip to the dump. It was both cathartic and horrifying.

Cathartic because I had reduced what I owned — and what owned me — by about 50%.

Horrified at how much waste humans (Dean included) mindlessly dump into landfill sites on a daily basis.

So moving forward, I’m working at being more mindful of my purchases.

Let me share an example to illustrate the process.

I’m looking for something to help me organize/store my dumbbells and free weights I have strewn about in the room I now inhabit.

I’m thinking of buying this.

But before I buy anything, I’m training myself to ask these questions.

• Is this something I want or something I need?

• Why is this better than my present solution.

• Is there a simpler/cheaper solution that exists that would work equally well?

• Is it possible to get this used?

• Will I get great value for the price I pay?

• Does it come apart/travel easily?

• Is it composed of toxic materials?

• Would it be easy to sell? or give away? or recycle? or would I have to toss it in a landfill?

• Does this simplify/improve my life?

After addressing all these questions, I believe this is a good purchase to make.

But I’m going to wait a week, review the answers to the questions again and see how I feel.

If I still feel great about the purchase, I will pull the trigger.

Suggested takeaway → Try using these questions for your next physical purchase — shoes, clothes, furniture, exercise equipment etc. — to improve your decision making, while reducing your environmental footprint on the world.

1/ Use things in ways others don’t.

Two thoughts I had after watching this clip…

One. Humans tend to only use things within the context that they have been presented to them. As a result, few would ever think to use a “tool” bag as a gym bag.

Two. Tremendous opportunities exist for those who have the imagination to use things in ways others won’t.

For instance, I don’t read weight loss books. I read business and marketing books and use the lessons to influence my own behaviour.

As a result, I have discovered weight loss solutions most others never hear about in the traditional weight loss space.

2/ Better ways to assess your sleep.

Now that I’m living with my father, the demands on my time are going to expand exponentially.

So improving the quality of my sleep is going to be critical.

As a result, I’m actively consuming more content around sleep quality.

I found this clip with Tim Ferriss and Dr. Andy Galpin helpful.

Here are a few things that Andy said that really resonated with me.

• We should be treating sleep as a high performance tool.

• For most people, caffeine messes with their sleep architecture.

• How you think you slept is more important than what your sleep tracker might tell you.

If you are interested in watching the entire interview, click here.

1/ Donate something you don’t need to someone who could use it.

I gave away my couch and chair to my sister, who also lives in Sudbury. She loves it and I feel great about giving her something that will transform her basement.

Her cat seems to love it as well.

Most people wait until they have to move to start decluttering.

Don’t wait. Start now.

Throw out stuff that is garbage. Put things out on the street that others will give a new home to. And donate things to family, friends or organizations who could benefit from your item(s).

🙏 That it for this week my friend.

Thanks for reading.

👀See you again next week.

PS → 🥳Enjoy the newsletter? Please forward to pal. It only takes 30 seconds. Writing this took me 4.5 hours.

Did you know?

I do premium one-on-one coaching for those looking to lose at least 10% of unwanted body weight.

I have lost 23% of unwanted Dean and it has transformed my entire life.

Imagine how your life would change if you could lose 5%, 10% or more of unwanted you.

Let’s book a time to chat.

To learn more start here.

I’m back in Toronto packing things up in preparation of my move back to Sudbury to help out my dad.

And while I used the word packing, the truth is about 50% of this move is about subtracting the unnecessary.

I’m getting rid of anything that is not essential to the life I want to live.

It’s the same mindset I use with building a successful body.

It’s all about getting rid of the unnecessary to focus on the vital few.

Speaking of vital few, lets get into today’s 3-2-1.

• 3 ideas from me

• 2 ideas from others

• 1 recommendation

1/ Think of habits like Bic pens.

What you are doing in 2024 are things you should still be doing in…

• 2025

• 2030

• 2040

• 2050

This is counterintuitive, but to create change you need to focus on habits that won’t change.

2/ A story you never hear.

“My life was sh*tty until I discovered alcohol and then everything magically improved.”

There is nothing redeeming about alcohol. It impairs decision making and reaction time.

It wreaks havoc on our sleep and emotions.

And it’s a masking agent that allows us to hide from who we are and what we are struggling with.

A good rule of thumb to remember is if something impairs your ability to drive a car, it’s going to impair your ability to live your life.

3/ The secret to happiness.

It’s simple. It’s the ability to systematically solve your own problems.

• lose weight ✅

• recover your health ✅

• build a body you are proud of ✅

• create financial freedom ✅

• invest in rewarding relationships ✅

• remove the toxic — people, mindsets and things — from your life ✅

• develop strength of mind ✅

• build self-discipline ✅

• live with purpose ✅

• be seen for who you truly are ✅

Unfortunately, this is not something you have ever been taught how to do, but it’s a skill you can learn at any age.

I know. I’m doing it.

That’s what this newsletter is all about.

1/ A strategy from Peter Attia

3 thoughts I had as a result of watching this…

1. Peter mentioned he has multiple therapists. It’s a reminder that everyone — no matter how successful — has problems that are bigger than they can handle on their own.

2. Victor Frankl, who wrote “Man’s Search for Meaning,” said something that mirrors what Peter talks about. Between stimulus and response we have the power to choose. Peter’s therapist took that idea a step further by sharing how to harness that power of choice.

3. Everyone — including yours truly — should have a therapist. We all need a neutral third party to help us navigate our self.

2/ A mindset from Ed Sheeran.

Ed compares song writing to turning on a tap. “Sh*t” water will come out when you first turn it on, but eventually clean water will flow out of it.

To get good at songwriting, you need to get “sh*t” drafts out so that the great stuff can emerge.

I think the same advice applies to the learning of habits. Our habits are going to be “sh*t” in the beginning when we first “turn them on.”

But if we keep showing up everyday, eventually those habits will turn into something beautiful.

1/ Twitter thread from Dominic Frisby.

Dominic shared 12 habits that he feels contributed to his weight loss success.

A few things that resonated with me…

• Dominic created these changes after he was 50. I love the “change after 50” narrative, being that my transformation started when I was 53. People need to know that change can happen at any age.

• He not only lost weight, but his training has allowed him to transform what his body looks like and what it can do — all after 50!

• While I don’t resonate with all his habits, Dominic has done what we all must do — create our own program that works for us.

🙏 That it for today.

Thanks for reading.

👀See you again next week my friend.

PS → 🥳Enjoy the newsletter? Please forward to pal. It only takes 30 seconds. Writing this took me 4.5 hours.

Did you know?

I do premium one-on-one coaching for those looking to lose at least 10% of unwanted body weight.

I have lost 23% of unwanted Dean and it has transformed my entire life.

Imagine how your life would change if you could lose 5%, 10% or more of unwanted you.

Let’s book a time to chat.

To learn more start here.

Welcome to ✈️ Flight #205. Estimated flight time = 2.5 minutes.

Here’s the flight plan.

• 3 ideas

• 2 mindsets

• 1 recommendation.

We’re cleared for takeoff. Lets gooooooooo!!!!!

1/ Three questions to ask when things don’t go as planned.

• What did I fail to anticipate? What caught me off guard?

• Did someone or something trigger my poor behaviour?

• What narrative/mindset/false belief am I telling myself that is holding me back?

2/ Doodle your diet.

If I slide a napkin across the table you should be able to doodle what your diet looks like.

Your doodle should capture how you eat so a 5-year old could understand it.

Here’s mine. Hmm. It looks like a 5-year old drew that.

PS. In case you can’t decipher that…

• M1a → Fruit + Fat

• M1b → Protein + Veggies + Fat

• M2a → Fruit + Fat

• M2b → Protein + Veggies + Fat

• M3 → Fruit + Fat

PSS. If you can’t do this, then you don’t know how you eat — and that’s a problem.

3/ Environment anchors.

Use your environment to cue desired behaviours.

I was reminded of this based on something my father does every night.

To remember to take his blood pressure medication in the morning, he puts a small glass of orange juice on the night table by his bed.

That glass acts as his cue. And an empty glass lets him know he took his medication.

I’m using the elevator in my dads building as a cue.

He lives on the 17th floor.

Whenever I am in it alone I do push ups.

I get at least 50 extra push ups a day as a result.

1/ How Tim Cook dealt with the volatile Steve Jobs.

“What I learned about Steve (Jobs) was that people mistook some of his comments as ranting or negativism, but it was really just the way he showed passion. So that’s how I processed it and I never took issues personally.”

Tim is using what I call The negativity flip.

• Step 1 → Identify something everyone sees as a negative.

• Step 2 → Flip it so you see it as a positive.

• Step 3 → Reap the rewards.

Jobs ended up naming Tim cook his successor as Apple CEO. I have no doubt Tim’s ability to see Steve differently than everyone else played a big role in that decision.

2/ Tom Cruise advice that changed actor Glen Powell’s life.

How great is that take?

Cruise doesn’t choose great roles. He chooses great movies and makes the roles great.

This is the opposite of how most actors think.

And he has built a legendary career as a result.

There’s a common thread with greatness.

People like Cook and Cruise do the opposite of everyone else and reap remarkable rewards as result.

This is a great bookmarking tool to track everything that is important to you.

I just starting using it and I love it.

It’s going to improve all aspects of my life.

🙏 That it for today.

Thanks for reading.

👀See you again next week my friend.

PS→ 🥳Enjoy the newsletter? Please forward to pal. It only takes 30 seconds. Writing this took me 5 hours.

Did you know?

I do premium one-on-one coaching for those looking to lose at least 10% of unwanted body weight.

I have lost 23% of unwanted Dean and it has transformed my entire life.

Imagine how your life would change if you could lose 5%, 10% or more of unwanted you.

Let’s book a time to chat.

To learn more start here.

In today’s post I am going to build a case for the power of logging your foods

Let’s jump right to it.

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Logging my foods is one of the most powerful daily habits I have adopted on my journey to build a highly successful body.

I’m biased, but it is my belief that anyone who struggles with their weight and their eating should be logging their foods.

Here are 14 reasons why you should consider making this part of your essential daily habits.

1/ It’s accounting, but for the body.

Building a successful body follows the same principles as building a successful business.

Successful businesses, such as Apple, do not estimate their revenue and expenses. That would a recipe for bankruptcy.

They keep a detailed accounting of everything that’s coming in and going out and that informs how they behave.

The same holds true in the building of a successful body.

A food log is accounting for the body and that will influence how you behave.

2/ It provides valuable data.

Food logging reveals your daily calorie totals, you macro profile and your food choices among other thingd.

That info can then be used to audit key biomarkers for success like body weight, fasting glucose etc. to see if you are trending in the right direction.

3/ It acts as a historical document.

I presently have over 5 years of food logging data. I can go back to any day over that time and see exactly what I ate, how many calories I consumed, and what my macro profile looked like.

The best lessons I have uncovered on my journey occur when I analyze my past and use it to influence my present.

4/ It creates awareness.

Logging your foods provides insights that are normally hidden.

The biggest insight is finding out how many calories you consume in a day. What most people discover is they consume far more calories than they ever imagined.

The second is how many calories “harmless” foods have. It’s shocking when you discover your daily Starbucks drink has 400 empty calories and is loaded with artificial sweeteners that wreak havoc on your blood sugar levels.

5/ It removes guessing.

People are horrible estimators of their own behaviour.

Logging eliminates this bugaboo in your operating system by creating certainty.

6/ It eliminates overeating.

By tracking your calorie consumption and comparing it to your weight, it provides you with an opportunity to discover a calorie sweet spot that will allow you to achieve your ideal body weight.

7/ It teaches you moderation.

Once calorie counts are exposed, you can’t help but moderate excessive eating.

8/ It allows you to templatize your eating.

Most people just eat stuff. That’s super hard to log because their eating anything and everything. A food log allows you to simplify your eating by creating an eating template you repeat every day.

Here is what my present template looks like.

9/ It improves decision making.

Once you know the calorie cost of things, you will make better decisions over time.

The eating template also improves your decision making because you know what you are eating and what you aren’t and can quickly say no to anything that does not fit your eating philosophy.

10/ It reduces decision fatigue.

The average person is making hundreds of eating decisions a day.

Decision making burns a lot of mental energy so the fewer you make around your eating the more energy you have for more important tasks like training, parenting etc.

My template means I only make 12 decisions a day. That takes up about 2 minutes of my time.

11/ It builds discipline.

When you know what you eat and why, it’s easier to say no to temptations that don’t fit your template.

12/ It reveals clues.

Once you have enough data, you will start to see patterns in your eating.

Those patterns will reveal insights and discoveries that will lead to huge breakthroughs that will reduce your weight, improve your health and increase your energy.

13/ It lets you decide in advance.

Most people eat then try to log. I do the opposite. I plan my eating the night before.

By deciding in advance, I improve my discipline, remove unnecessary decision making and improve the chances of achieving and/or sustaining my success.

14/ It creates eating consistency.

A template allows you to eat the same way everyday.

That consistency is what allows you to see if your eating plan is working.

If it isn’t, you can make small tweaks and keep testing until you land on something that works.

So what’s in this for you?

Logging is an incredibly powerful habit. It’s so powerful, I created a law for it.

It’s the law of logging

When you log you learn, and when you learn you lose.

It’s the only time in your life where you would be proud to call yourself a loser.

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading my friend.

To being a big loser,

How I can help!

If you are struggling with weight loss, I can help.

If you want to transform your body and mind to get results like that clients results shown below, click that big blue button to book at free call.

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Today’s post is pretty personal.

So let’s jump right to it.

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Yesterday I made a really hard decision.

But before I share that, let me give you some backstory.

I have been visiting my mom and dad here in Sudbury for the past 3 weeks.

They are no longer married, but they remain good friends.

Usually, I bounce back and forth spending equal time at both places.

But I have spent all but one night living at my dads.

He is 83 and is experiencing some challenges that come with age and not being able to drive anymore.

I have been looking into the best solutions to help him deal with those.

But my dad is a unique character and I realized that the solutions that do exist and work for many others won’t work for him.

But I do know of one that would work very well.

If I move in with him.

But there is only one problem.

I love Toronto. I love where I live. I love my neighbourhood. I love the life I have there.

But yesterday I gave notice to my friend and landlord that I would be leaving my apartment of 23 years on September 15th, 2024 to officially move in with my dad.

This is all rather sudden, and not something I had ever imagined happening.

I thought I would share 7 ways I’m thinking about this situation.

1/ I’m a believer that you can’t experience happiness doing something you don’t want to do.

While this is not something I had anticipated, I know I will find a way to fall in love with my decision.

Just like I found a way to fall in love with taking refined sugars out of my diet.

It’s all about the mindsets I choose to develop.

I choose to see this as a wonderful new adventure that will yield beautiful exotic fruit.

2/ I don’t believe in sacrifice.

I’m not sacrificing my life to help improve the quality of my dad’s.

I know I can still do everything I want to do and become everything I want to become while simultaneously attending to the things I know will improve the quality of his life.

I will definitely need to be more organized and productive with the time I have, but I can have the best of both worlds.

3/ I will need to work hard to carve out Dean time.

One thing about being single is that I had LOTS of time to myself.

Dean loves his Dean time.

I will need to work hard under this new arrangement, to carve out that time.

I won’t get nearly as much as I had before, but quite frankly, I had too much of it.

This will force me to find my Dean Time sweet spot.

4/ I will focus on the wins this will lead to.

Most things in life boil down to how we choose to see things. I can either choose to focus on what I am giving up or what I am going to gain.

I choose the latter.

• I will get to further build my relationship with my dad

• I will be able to spend more quality time with my mom

• I will also be able to spend more time with my sister and her 3 children

• I will be able to connect more deeply with my cousins who are here

• I will be able to reconnect with high school friends who are here

• I believe my business will be better

• I think I will be much more productive

• I think I will be more creative

• It will open up new possibilities that I could never have imagined

• I will be more social → I tend to isolate myself

• It will make my relationships with my Toronto area friends stronger as I will work harder to stay connected with them

I believe the wins will be exponentially more impactful than any “losses” I might experience.

5/ I will use this opportunity to enhance my personal growth.

By placing myself in a situation I really haven’t been in for the past 35 years, I will discover all kinds of new things about myself.

And not everything I uncover is going to be great.

But I am eager to be better than I am today, and this situation will accelerate those growth opportunities.

6/ I will focus on gratitude.

I’m lucky I can do this. Not everyone can. I am not married. I don’t have kids — that I know of (really Dean?? You had to go there??)

And I am built for this. Not everyone is.

7/ I will have no regrets.

Toronto will always be there. My father won’t. I don’t want to look back on my life and know I could have made a difference and chose not to.

So what’s in this for you?

The main thing I am hoping you take from this is that when you make a decision to do something really hard like…

• take refined sugars out of your diet

• quit alcohol

• get married — Falling in love with someone is easy. Falling in love with marriage is hard.

• train every day

• log your foods

you have to find a way to fall in love with it.

If you don’t, you default to bitterness, and that’s a toxic way to live.

And bitterness doesn’t scale long-term.

But…

Do you know what does scale?

Love.

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. 🙏

To falling in love with hard things,

How I can help!

If you are struggling with weight loss, I can help.

If you want to transform your body and mind to get results like that clients results shown below, click that big blue button to book at free call.

Book a free call

I’m still in Sudbury visiting my folks.

Getting to spend long periods of quality time with them is something I know I will always look back on fondly. And fortunately for me, my parents are easy and enjoyable to hang with.

I know we don’t get to choose our parents, but I got lucky with the ones I got.

Consider giving yours a call just to let them know you are thinking about them.

Ok I’ll stop my nagging!!!

Enjoy today’s post.

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This is a mental model I created for myself.

When it comes to training, I think of the body like a Swiss Army Knife.

It has 6 essential components and my training needs to address each to truly reap the benefits of a highly successful body.

Let’s break down each component.

1/ It must look and feel amazing.

The body you build for yourself should look and feel amazing to you.

The “to you” part is important. This is a very personal journey.

It must meet the unique criteria you have set for yourself.

• what number do you want to see on the scale?

• what % body fat do you want to achieve?

• what size and style of clothing do you want to wear?

• how muscular do you want to look?

• how lean do you want to be?

Is that vain? Absolutely! But it’s a positive vanity that fuels your self confidence and self-esteem.

The “feel” part comes from your clothing.

When I struggled with my weight, I would buy baggy clothing that would hide my overweight body.

Even then, I was extremely self-conscious and was always aware of how fat I felt in my clothes.

I used to hate sitting down because I could feel my love handles hanging out over the waist of my pants.

When my body started to change, I began buying proper fitting clothes that made me feel much more confident in the body I had created.

That “feel” positively impacted how I carried myself.

I began walking with my shoulders back, I had a bounce in my step and it put a smile on my face because I no longer felt self-conscious about how I looked.

Takeaway → Pride in your aesthetics is an important component of self-confidence and a successful body. 

2/ Be pain-free.

Pain impacts our movement, which impacts the activities that we can participate in, which in turn impacts the quality of the life we are living.

We should be training to eliminate pain by…

• strengthening weak links

• stretching tight links

For example, for the past 25 years I have lived with a wonky left knee that makes it difficult for me to do a full squat without experiencing discomfort.

The knee is also extremely tight when I attempt to sit my butt on my heels during child’s pose.

By not properly strengthening and stretching that weak link, other surrounding muscle groups are now tight and weak.

That’s the thing with pain. When it is neglected it migrates to surrounding areas causing even move problems as the years compound.

Fortunately there are people like Ben Patrick, from ATG Fitness, who are creating programs and exercises like the ATG split squat, that are helping people strengthen and stretch weak and tight links so they can get to a point where they are once again living pain free.

Takeaway → Do a body audit. What weak links do you have? What tight links do you have? What’s the first step you can take to begin addressing both of these?

3/ Prevent injuries.

We should be engaged in a training program that actively focuses on preventing common injuries people suffer from.

For example, lower leg training like tibialis raises and calf raises helps build the muscles that focus on deceleration, which are critical for stopping and fall prevention.

Falling is such a big problem for the elderly, not because they are old, but because they have neglected to train the muscles that help prevent falling in the first place.

Takeaway → Training for injury prevention is the best way to protect yourself from injuries in the first place.

4/ Promote health and longevity.

We want to invest in activities that keep us from dying prematurely.

Walking, running, tennis, pickle ball, cycling, and hiking are examples of activities that build heart health and VO2 max.

Both factors are key to skewing the odds of a long healthy life in your favour.

Takeaway → 2 or 3 times a week invest in activities that get your heart pumping and your blood flowing.

5/ Perform critical skills.

A body should be strong, mobile and flexible enough to perform a standard set of critical skills.

Here is what’s on my to-do list…

• do a minimum of 5 pull ups without coming off the bar

• do a minimum of 20 push ups with good form without stopping

• jump up on something that’s knee high

• jump down from something that’s knee high

• climb up and over obstacles like fences and trees

• swim a kilometer

• sprint 100 meters in under 20 seconds

• run 400 meters in under 2 minutes

• hike a mountain

• sit in a deep squat

• get up off the floor without using my hands

• touch my hands to the floor with straight legs

You should have our own criteria of critical skills you expect your body to be able to perform based on the context of the life you live.

Takeaway → What’s on your to do list?

6/ Save your life or someone else’s in an emergency.

Lastly, a successful body should be able to save a life, either yours or someone else’s, in an emergency.

Here’s a few scenario’s to consider.

• could you swim 1 kilometre to safety if a boat capsized?

• could you carry a child and run to safety if gunfire broke out

• could you drag a body out of a burning car or house

• could you sprint from a potential mugger

• could you break free from someone trying to take you against your will

Most people don’t think about training in this capacity, but adopting this mindset just might save your life or someone else’s.

Takeaway → Think about life-threatening scenarios you might encounter, determine the skills you would need to survive and incorporate them into your training.

In summary…

The problem for most people and their training, if they are doing any at all, is they are just doing “stuff.”

My goal is to plant that image of a Swiss Army Knife in your head with the hopes you will start visualizing and addressing the 6 components of a highly successful body when you train.

If you do, your body becomes a valuable tool that will serve you and others well for decades to come.

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. 🙏

To building your successful body,

How I can help!

If you are struggling with weight loss, I can help.

If you want to transform your body and mind to get results like that clients results shown below, click that big blue button to book at free call.

Book a free call

I’m still in Sudbury visiting my folks.

For the foreseeable future I will be experimenting with long form content.

Enjoy!

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I’m presently reading “The Way of the Champion” by Paul Rabil, who is considered one of the greatest lacrosse players of all time. He is also the cofounder of the Premier Lacrosse League.

One of the very first stories he shared that transformed his life was about the power of taking 100 shots a day.

I am sharing a lightly edited version of that story below and then I will show you how I have adapted that idea for my training and how you can do the same.

Paul Rabil’s story…

“In the summer going into my freshman year of high school, I was at a lacrosse camp. The players packed into an auditorium for a talk from one of the all-time coaching legends, Tony Seaman.

He began with a simple question: “Who here wants to play at a Division 1 school?” Every kid in the room raised their hand. “I’ll tell you how to do it,” he said. “And on top of it, I’ll tell you how to get a full scholarship to play at a college of your choice.”

“It’s a simple formula. From this day forward, through your senior year of high school you have to shoot a hundred shots a day. That’s it. You shoot a hundred shots a day from now through your senior year of high school, I guarantee you will get a full scholarship to the Division 1 college of your choice.”

“Do you know how long it takes to take a hundred shots? Thirty minutes.”

“But here’s the caveat. You can’t miss a day. Not a holiday. You can’t miss when it’s pouring down rain. You can’t miss because you had a game the night before—or the day of. You can’t miss a day because you’re on vacation. You have to find a way.”

I don’t know about the other kids, but I walked out of that auditorium and did what Coach Seaman said. Every single day, rain or shine, I practiced. Everywhere I went, I would find a wall to throw against. A goal to shoot on. From my home state of Maryland to New York, California, and Washington, to England, Italy, Spain, Israel, and France—me, a stick, and a ball. For twenty years.

And he was right. I was offered a full scholarship to over a dozen universities.

One hundred shots on net, two hundred words on the page, three hundred push-ups. Whatever reps are in your sport, business, or chosen field, you do them until you hit the magic number.

But there is only one caveat: You can’t miss a day.”

I love this and I think this way of thinking can work really well for creating a training program that can produce remarkable results.

But instead of 100 shots a day, your goal would be to do 100 reps a day.

Using Paul’s write up as a guide, I have taken the liberty of creating a manifesto to consider adopting because I think the “100 reps a day” template is an easier more attainable approach to creating a body and a physique you love.

The “100 Reps a Day” Manifesto…

If you want to create a body and physique you love, the formula is simple.

From this day forward, you have to do 100 reps a day.

That’s it.

It could be 100 push ups.

It could 50 push ups and 50 body weight squats.

It could be 25 push ups, 25 pull ups, 25 sit ups and 25 body weight squats.

There is no end to what exercises you can do on any given day to get your 100 reps.

You just need to do them everyday.

And do you know how long 100 reps takes?

About 10 minutes.

You only need to carve out 10 minutes a day to get your 100 reps.

You can do them all at once.

Or you can squeeze them in throughout your day — my preferred method!

The option is yours.

But, here’s the catch, because there is always a catch.

You can’t miss a day. EVER!!!

• Holidays

• Vacations

• Sunday

• Travel

• Lousy weather

• Hung over

• Low energy

• Injury

• Sh*tty sleep

• Illness…

You have to find a way to get your reps in every single day.

Because when you do, magic happens.

So starting today, find a way to…

Do 100 reps. Every day. No matter what.

Preaching what I practice…

Let me share what my version of “100 reps a day” looks like.

When I first designed my program 5 years ago, the goal was 100 push ups a day.

After the first month, once that became a habit, I added 5 pull ups.

Over time, as my skill and discipline began to improve, I started adding other exercises to build a more athletic and aesthetic body.

After 5 years, my training has evolved.

I now do at least 200 reps a day, NO MATTER WHAT!

Here is how I presently track those reps in my 5-year old spreadsheet.

I currently have 8 categories I am looking to hit over the course of a week.

1. Pull ups. I have this as a separate category because I believe they are the ultimate strength exercise.

2. Back. There was nothing higher than 20lb dumbbells in this particular gym, so I had to get creative. I managed to use what was there to cobble together a 55lb “dumbbell.”

3. Chest. Any exercise where the chest is the primary muscle worked. For example, I consider dips a chest exercise even though it’s a great shoulder and tricep exercise as well.

4. Shoulders and arms.

5. Lower body.

6. Flexibility. Anything where I spend time in a deep stretch.

7. Core.

8. Backwards walking.

Just a quick note about the backwards walking.

When I was 33, I had left knee surgery as a result of a torn ACL and MCL ligament I suffered while playing softball. I never properly rehabbed that knee. As a result, it has limited mobility and provides some discomfort when I squat or sit on my knees.

After discovering Ben Patrick and his ATG principles, I now believe I can heal my knee and one of the movements that is highly beneficial is backwards walking.

In June I decided to include 5 minutes of backward walking everyday. In Toronto, I do it outside, but at present, I’m in Sudbury and my dad’s building has a treadmill which I have been using.

Random Rules…

Here are my rules for achieving 200 reps. These are in no particular order and they are not set in stone. This is an organic document that evolves as I evolve.

• I seldom do my training all at once.

• I do what I call squeeze training.

• I squeeze it in over the course of my day.

• I don’t have a specific program I do each day. Most of the time I wing it with the goal of doing a total body workout.

• Equipment is not needed, but I use it when I have access to it.

• When I am travelling I use whatever my environment provides to get my reps in.

• Long range movements like a pull up, push up and squat are considered 1 rep.

• Short range movements like an ab crunch or calf raise are considered 0.5 reps.

• 1-minute of flexibility is considered 5 reps.

• 1-minute of backwards walking is considered 5 reps.

• A rep is a rep whether I do them fast or slow or with weight or not — ie. 5 pull ups or 5 pull ups with a 25lb weight are both counted as 5 reps.

• for anything unusual, I can make up a rule on the spot.

• for exercises like the DB row above, where I work the left side and then the right, it’s the rep count for the one side that I record.

Again, these are my rules designed for my 5 Ps…

• philosophy

• psychology

• personality

• physiology

• principles

If you adopt this idea, create rules that fit your 5 Ps.

In summary…

The best training program is the one that you will stick to. The “200 reps a day” approach is the thing that has finally allowed me to create a program that…

• I enjoy doing

• works no matter where my feet are

• does not require a gym membership

• can be done without equipment when none exists

• I have been able to stick to for the past 5 years

• has generated results that make me an outlier for someone who is 58 years old.

If you have had difficulty creating something that sticks, I you might want to give this philosophy a try.

Just remember, you have to find a way to…

→ Do 100 reps a day.
→ Every day.
→ NO MATTER WHAT!

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. 🙏

To your success,

How I can help…

If you are struggling with weight loss, I can help.

If you want to transform your body and mind to get results like that clients results shown below, click that big blue button to book at free call.

Book a free call

I’m in Sudbury for the next two weeks visiting my folks.

But I made a promise to myself almost 4 years ago that I would publish this newsletter every week no matter where my feet are.

With that said, here are this weeks best ideas to help you transform you body, mind and life.

Enjoy!

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3 things I’m thinking…

[1] On self-control.

Deciding in advance is the most powerful way to improve self-discipline.

Takeaway → Discipline is not a magical power that descends upon you in moments that matter. It’s a practice where you anticipate potential hotspots then mentally rehearse how you will respond long before the actual event occurs.

[2] On change.

Part-time habits lead to part-time success. Lifetime habits lead to lifetime success.

Takeaway → To create change, invest in habits that won’t change.

[3] On habits compounding.

Success is the compound interest you accumulate from being consistently good at your daily essential habits for weeks, months and then years and decades.

Takeaway → Like money, daily habits compound over time.

2 ideas I’m stealing…

[1] From author Gretchen Rubin.

Failing smaller…

Takeaway → Shorten your failure cycle.

*Source → Better than before.

[2] Dealing with bears and fears .

This is a wonderful strategy for dealing with bears and a wonderful metaphor for dealing with fear.

Takeaway → Like bears, fear retreats when you confront it.

1 audio…

My answer. Enjoy!

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and listening. 🙏

To your success,

How I can help…

If you are struggling with weight loss, I can help. My mindset approach has been very effective at helping my clients lose weight.

If you want to transform your body by transforming your mind, and get results like those shown below, click that button below to book at free call.

Book a free call

I’m experimenting with a minimalist version.

Enjoy.

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3 mindsets from me…

[1] On possibility.

It’s not impossible if someone else has already accomplished it.

Belief happens in stages. The first stage is knowing what you are attempting to do is possible. If someone has done what you are looking to do then it’s possible.

[2] The Don’t List.

Don’t think or say anything about yourself you don’t want to be true or come true.

Thoughts become things, whether we want them to or not. Choose to focus on those that give you more of what you want in life.

[3] Flags.

Spend more time looking for and celebrating green flags rather than red flags.

Life is so much more enjoyable when you attune yourself to see the good in others vs the negative.

2 mindsets from others…

[1] Actor Ryan Reynolds

On the importance of talking about your failures, especially with your kids.

[2] Air BnB CEO Brian Chesky.

Sometimes the best people in your life will be people who see potential in you that you didn’t see in yourself.

My suggestion → Be that person who sees and points out the potential in others.

1 mindset audio.

Two counter-intuitive thoughts about this Bruce Lee journal entry.

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. 🙏

To your success,

How I can help…

If you are struggling with weight loss, I can help. My mindset approach has been very effective at helping my clients lose weight.

If you want to transform your body by transforming your mind, and get results like those shown below, click that button below to book at free call.

Book a free call

Here are this week’s 7 ideas worth stealing.

[1] Where there’s a why there’s a way.

This is something that has helped me improve my discipline. I focus on Why-Power rather than Will-Power. When I have a strong why, I don’t need a strong will to do what I must.

For example, I have not had any refined sugars since July 19th, 2019. To my surprise it’s been relatively easy and that’s because I have a strong why. Refined sugars mess with the brain hormones designed to keep us lean and active. By not consuming them, I allow my brain to do what it’s designed to do and, in turn, I get all the glorious benefits — weight loss, improved health, fit body, and boat loads of self-confidence — doing much less than the average bear. It’s the ultimate productivity hack!!

👍 To steal → Improve your why-power to improve your will-power.

[2] Wise words.

This is another one that has profound layers to it. I think excuses are a cognitive trick we use to make it seem like we are committed to something we really aren’t. We want the outcome, but deep down we aren’t prepared to do the work necessary to achieve it.

I also think excuses are a symptom of a weak-ass why.

👍 To steal → Listen to yourself. Are you an excuse maker?

[3] A jewel from Jewel.

I recently listened to Guy Raz interview singer/songwriter/entrepreneur Jewel. At one point she shared a discovery she had that helped her manage her depression and anxiety. I found this so powerful that I have shared it with a number of different people over the past few weeks.

This 2 minutes might change your life or that of someone else who’s struggling.

👍 To steal → Jewels metaphor about emotional impermanence. 

[4] Training motivation.

Write out your workout on a whiteboard.

I stole this idea from Geoff Reed who healed his knee problems using Ben Patrick’s ATG training protocol. He is now dunking a basketball at 47.

I think this could be a cool strategy to use for training motivation as well.

👍 To steal → Whiteboard your daily workouts. 

Ps. I follow Geoff on Twitter. I recommend checking him out.

[5] The power of writing.

Writing has a way to clarify our thinking that thinking alone cannot do. I also think it’s the great healer. It’s very effective for combatting weight loss, anxiety, grief etc.

I have mentioned previously that each morning I write in what I call my 3-2-1 Journal. I reflect on…

• 3 wins → Things that sparked joy

• 2 improvements → Things I am trying to get better at

• 1 discovery → Something I learned

It’s the most powerful thing I do and it helps me be a little bit better each day.

👍 To steal → Start writing so you can connect your dots.

[6] A motivation tip.

When you don’t feel like doing your scheduled workout go to Instagram or any other social media channel you like and type in key words like…

• fitness motivation

• calisthenics

• body weight workout

And then just start binging content. Eventually you will come upon someone who will inspire you to get your lazy ass in gear and do the workout you said you would do.

When I typed in “Body Weight Workout” I came across Sandy Skylar. She’s super fit at 46 and shares training ideas that require minimal equipment.

I quite like her stuff. The thing that has influenced me the most is how controlled each movement is that she does.

👍 To steal → Use social media to find workout inspiration.

[7] A Steve Martin insight.

I just finished reading his autobiography “Born Standing Up.” When I came upon this quote I wrote in the margin of the book, “Same as weight loss.”

It’s easy to have great days. But it’s hard to be consistently good day in and day out at the habits you know will lead to weight loss success — especially under less than ideal conditions and temptations.

👍 To steal → Don't be great. Strive to be consistently good.

That’s it for today my friend. Thanks for reading. 🙏

To your success,

Whenever you are ready, here is how I can help you…

→ One-on-one coaching ←

If you are interested in getting results like those below, click here to book a free call.

It’s never too late to become great at losing weight.

Here are this week’s 10 ideas worth stealing.

1/ A Joseph Campbell mindset.

This is a big one for me. One of my goals in life is to be seen for who I truly am. No pretending. No faking it until I make. Just Dean with all his gifts and glorious flaws. I believe that is one of several secrets to happiness.

👍 To steal → The privilege to be yourself.

2/ A cheap way to remove pesticides from produce.

This comes from Bobby Parrish and Dr. Paul Saladino, who recently took a shopping trip to a Walmart in Florida to demo how to make healthy food choices. The tip is super helpful for those who can’t access organic produce.

👍 To steal → Use baking soda (1 Tsp/Litre of water) to remove pesticides from your produce.

3/ Why you need to get really good at reading labels.

This was from the same video. It made me realize how much better I need to be at reading labels so I don’t get tricked by food companies who hide their sneaky tricks in the small print.

👍 To steal → Become great at reading everything on the packaging so you can uncover deceptive marketing tactics.

4/ How to make better chicken choices.

This was something I didn’t know about chicken. Bobby explains the difference between air chilled vs. water chilled chicken.

👍 To steal → Don’t buy chicken that has been water chilled. 

*Source → You can watch the entire video here.

5/ Exercise to bulletproof your knees.

Another Ben Patrick recommendation. I have added this to my lower body training.

👍 To steal → Add the reverse step up to your lower body training program.

6/ Question to steal.

This comes via Sara Blakey, who is the billionaire founder of Spanx.

👍 To steal → If you are not failing, you're not trying. And not trying is the ultimate failure.

7/ A Bruce Lee mindset.

I have not been able to stop thinking about this since I came across it.

I see this as…

The Law of Expectation → Life does not give you what you want. It gives you what you think you deserve.

👍 To steal → The Bruce Lee Law of Expectation.

*Source → The Marginilian

8/ How to think about your brain.

This is a mental model I use that reminds me that I am not my brain. It has it’s own agenda that is often counter to what I want. So I have to train it — just as I would a dog — to do the things I want such as being disciplined with my eating, getting up when the alarm goes off and never consuming refined sugars.

👍 To steal → This mental model of your brain being like an untrained dog.

9/ An awesome summary.

Someone on Twitter created this beautiful summary of the book “Influence” by Robert Caladini. Not only am I stealing that summary, I’m also stealing the framework to use for ideas and summaries of my own.

👍 To steal → This framework to creatively capture your ideas and summaries and other creative extensions you may have.

*Source → Reads with Ravi

10/ A simple workout strategy.

Put a piece of workout equipment out somewhere, like push up bars, and every time you pass by them, the rule is you have do a set of push ups. There’s lots of creative ways to vary this. Today I made the rule that every time I came into my furnace room I had to do 5 pull ups — that’s where my pull up bar is. It’s a fun little game to play to mix up your work out routine and incorporate some training throughout your day.

👍 To steal → Some version of that work out strategy for yourself.

That’s it for today my friend. Thanks for reading. 🙏

To your success,

Whenever you are ready, here is how I can help you…

→ One-on-one coaching ←

If you are interested in getting results like those below, click here to book a free call.

It’s never too late to become great at losing weight.

Here are this week’s 10 things I found incredibly valuable.

Steal any you think will help you create remarkable transformation in your life.

1/ Ryan Reynolds on what makes a long lasting friendship.

Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman interviewed each other for People magazine.

It was great, but this 53 second clip contained so much beauty that I just had to share it with you.

Here were 3 things I loved…

1. The beautiful sound Hugh Jackman makes at the 25 second mark when Ryan says “I’m genuinely rooting for you every time — all the time.”

2. The phrase “I want you to win.” AWESOME!!

3. How Ryan thinks about his wife Blake Lively and why he says they are so connected.

👍 To ponder → Imagine designing a life around helping other people win. [Click on Hugh's sound effect for affect👇]

2/ Grocery store audits.

Over the past few months I have been making incremental changes to my diet. Last month I switched from buying farm raised salmon to wild caught salmon.

This month I decided that I would buy grass fed beef whenever possible.

That’s challenging in Toronto. Not many places carry it. So I have been doing audits where I go into different grocery stores (ie. Costco, Metro, Loblaws, The Big Carrot, and Whole Foods) to see what grass fed, wild caught and organic products they have.

Here’s what I have discovered has the best value/selection/price point for me…

• Costco → Grass fed butter, wild caught salmon, grass fed lamb, raw milk cheese

• The Big Carrot → Organic pasture raised eggs and chicken, grass fed/grass finished ground beef (sometimes), organic fruits and veggies

• Metro → Grass fed beef, grass fed beef patties, grass fed steak

  

👍 Suggestion → Do an online grocery store audit by going to any store website and typing in a key word like "grass fed," "wild-caught" or "organic fruit." 

3/ Something I struggle with.

I’ve been exploring the idea of adding an organic, raw, unpasteurized honey to my diet to capitalize on the health benefits it offers. In fact, I had it in my cart during my last visit to Costco, but when I got to the check out, I opted not to buy it.

Why? Because I don’t trust myself to eat it responsibly.

That, and I realized I didn’t actually know why, when or how I would incorporate it into my diet.

So I‘m building my case as to why I should buy it, along with how and when I would consume it, and putting safe guards in place so I don’t eat the whole frickin’ thing in a day — which has been done before!!

When I feel I have a something reasonable in place, I will buy it and see how things go.

👍 A good rule of thumb → If you can't consume a food responsibly you should remove it from your diet and not reintroduce it until you have a plan in place you are confident you can adhere to.

PS → Speaking from experience — I’m taking to you almond butter — if your plan goes horribly awry upon reintroduction, then you need to remove that food from your diet — AGAIN, and possibly for good.

4/ How I think.

This is my mini-manifesto for being one-of-a-kind in a world full of copycats.

👍 To noodle on → What do you see that others don't? What do you think that others won't? What could that let you create that others can't?

5/ Exercise equipment I made.

A “sled.”

This was inspired by Ben Patrick, who recommends backward walking to help heal knee pain.

Rather than buy a sled I might never use, I decided to make my own version to see if I would actually use it.

Here is what I came up with.

Here are the components…

• a 33lb tire → taken from someone’s garbage.

• a blanket so it slides easily

• 120lbs of dumbbells inside the tire for a total weight of 153lbs

• a harness I had when I used to be a fat indoor rock climber

• and a strap I had with that hook at the end

My apartment is not that big so I can take about 15 steps backward before I have to come back. But 5 minutes of sledding ends up being about 1/4 of a kilometre.

And the verdict?

I love doing the exercise. My knee feels great after I to do it. I might buy a sled at some point, but at this time I like my primitive invention.

👍 Takeaway → When possible, create your own crude prototypes of exercise equipment to see if you would actually use it.  

6/ Rethinking napping.

Nick Littlehales is an elite sports sleep coach. In his book, Sleep: The myth of 8 hours, he shares this insight on how his athletes think about naps.

“We don’t call them naps in sport — we call them Controlled Recovery Periods (CRP). We take ownership of opportunities during the day to extract maximum benefits from them — we learn to think not in terms of sleep but, instead, of the process of mental and physical recovery.”

👍 Takeaway → This is a great example of using the power of language to reframe something in a more empowering context. I will definitely be adding some CRPs to my day to assist in my mental and physical recovery.

7/ A documentary I want to watch.

This looks like an amazing film about the power of therapy.

Here is the description…

Meet Jonah Hill’s friend and therapist, Phil Stutz. Directed by Hill, this film invites you to explore Dr. Stutz’s Tools for life — a unique visual model of therapy — in an effort to get real, get personal, and get better.

👍 Takeaway → As a visual guy, I'm really interested to see what tools I might be able to incorporate into my life.

8/ How to make your heart 20 years younger.

It’s call the Norwegian 4 x 4 and in this interview Dr. Rhonda Patrick explains what it is, how to do it and the benefits of doing it once a week.

👍 Takeaway → I like the idea, but I'm not at a point in my life where I am ready to do anything with this. So at the moment I'm just going to put a pin in it and revisit it (maybe) another time.

9/ Image I loved.

I’m fascinated with Japanese culture. I have talked about Kintsugi here before. The other principle I’m really intrigued by is Ikigai.

But if you look at the bottom you will see this image was designed by Victoria Repa. I was curious to learn more about her so I did some googling. Turns out she’s a big deal. She created an app called Better Me, which caters to physical and mental health. It has over 150 million downloads on the App store, and she won a Webby (an Internet Oscar) a few weeks ago.

Takeaway → Victoria is another example of someone who solved her own problem and then sold that solution. That is the new model for entrepreneurship and the best path to creating immense impact and financial freedom.

10/ Ice cream for bears.

There is a company that makes an ice cream I would actually eat. It’s called “Ice Cream for Bears.” I love the everything about this company.

Sadly, I can’t get this in Canada.

It only has 4 ingredients.

👍 Takeaway → You could also make this yourself. I have my own version I call Nature's Ice Cream, which is organic frozen blueberries, bananas, organic heavy cream and vanilla extract. Whenever I am ready to try that honey, I will add it here as well.

That’s it for today my friend. Thanks for reading. 🙏

To your success,

Whenever you are ready, here is how I can help you…

→ One-on-one coaching ←

If you are interested in getting results like those below, click here to book a free call.

It’s never too late to become great at losing weight.

Welcome to the 194th consecutive edition of this newsletter.👏

Here are 10 things I really wanted to share with you this week.

PS. If the email gets cut off in your inbox you can go online and read it here.

1/ Something I watched.

I pulled this 36-second clip from Jerry Seinfeld talking about belief in himself when he first started in comedy. What he says will surprise you.

Takeaway → Here's my take. Belief happens in stages. This is the first stage. Someone else believes in your abilities before you do. So pay attention to what others reveal about you.

2/ Something I have started to do.

I’m not sure why this took so long to figure out, but I have started to bulk grill my veggies. This works well for me because I find everything tastes better when it has camped out in my fridge for a day or two.

Your takeaway → Bulk cooking saves a lot of time, and skews the odds of eating healthy in your favour.

3/ Something that sparked joy.

One thing I’ve been trying to do on my walks is keep an eye out for things that spark joy. And nothing sparks joy like dogs.

This little guy’s home backs onto the trail I walk on. His owners have a big wooden fence around their property. But there is a 3-inch gap at the bottom of the back door which, when said doggie pancakes himself on the ground, allows him (or her) to watch all the people and dogs that pass by. GENIUS!!!

Takeaway → There are many positive benefits to walking, but seeking things that spark joy might be the most beneficial, but least talked about.

4/ Something that made me laugh so hard I cried.

While at my friend’s cottage last weekend, something happened that made me laugh so hard I cried.

There is a bit of backstory to this photo that I need to explain. This is the cottage I was at recently. Back in 2021 all the seating in the living room was taken so my good buddy Colin (featured above) and I had to sit on the same love seat together. I’m not sure what we were doing, but after everyone had left the living room someone came back in and joked that we were still sitting in the same love seat together. It’s been a running joke ever since.

Flash forward to this week and I sent that photo to my mom before I realized she doesn’t know the back story to this running joke. Here is the audio message I sent to Colin when I imagined what my mom was thinking when she saw that photo.

Takeaway → I’m creating a Joy File where I will store videos, photos, emails, screenshots, audios etc that spark joy. That way, on days where I might be a bit “off” I have a place to go to spark some joy.

5/ Something I heard…

I can’t remember who said this to me, but I thought it was such a clever insight.

6/ Something I’m trying to fall in love with.

The L-Sit → Video from January 2023

I do not enjoy that exercise because it’s freaking hard.

But here’s the thing. It works 6 different muscle groups simultaneously and to their maximum capacity.

• Core (which is why I was doing it)

• Shoulders

• Chest

• Triceps

• Hip Flexors

• Quads

But what I realized is it really helps reshape my lower pecs (chest muscles) which are a weak point for me.

So I’m working on building a case to fall in love with this exercise. And one strategy I’m using to make that happen is to say, “I love this exercise” every time I do it.

Takeaway → You can’t sustain anything you don’t like doing. The secret is to build a case for that thing so you learn how to fall in love with it.

7/ Something I believe to be true.

I believe a good portion — but definitely not all — depression, anxiety and stress is caused by our inability to solve our own problems.

And the truth is, we have never been taught how do that. There are zero courses that teach you a framework for solving your own problems.

I have gotten really good at doing just that and will be sharing more insights, stories and case studies to help you do the same.

Takeaway → The secret to happiness, in this Canadian’s opinion, is the ability to systematically solve the problems that are holding you back from living the life you desire.

8/ Something on Twitter.

This is Sarah Larsen. She’s a self-described introvert who once suffered from crippling anxiety. But she was able to solve that problem and she is now sharing and selling her solution. That screenshot is from May 24th, 2023.

Two days ago she posted this…

and it went bananas on Twitter. She has added over 20,000 followers as a result.

Takeaway → Sarah is a “Solve ‘n Sell Entrepreneur.” She solved her own problem, started sharing what she had learned on Twitter and is now selling that solution to help others. I recommend taking a look at her hacks and her story.

9/ Something I saw.

Takeaway → This is a lovely reminder that what we lack/struggle with allows us to appreciate what we get.

10/ Something I read.

This is from Ben Patrick. These are the 10 basic exercises Ben believes everyone — man, woman and child — should be able to master.

→ CSU Fitness Routine

Takeaway → This is a great body weight training program any one can do with minimal equipment and skill.

That’s it for today my friend. Thanks for reading. 🙏

To your success,

Whenever you are ready, here is how I can help you…

→ One-on-one coaching ←

If you are interested in getting results like those below, click here to book a free call.

It’s never too late to become great at losing weight.

Welcome to the 193rd consecutive edition of this newsletter.👏

It’s the May long weekend here in Ontario. I’m writing this from a friend’s cottage.

This is the view from the room I am writing in…

Here are 3 things I really wanted to share with you this week.

1/ Something I will purchase.

Last week I mentioned that my blood pressure, which was taken at my doctor’s office, was high. I do not believe that result was accurate, for reasons I stated here, so I am going to start keeping track of my own blood pressure over the next few weeks to find out if my suspicion is correct.

One company Dr. Peter Attia recommends, that produces automated blood pressure cuffs, is Omron. Turns out Costco carries this brand in their pharmacy section and it is cheaper than anywhere else. I will buy this as soon as I return from the cottage and begin running my own 2-week blood pressure experiment.

To think about → Consider making your own investment in an automated blood pressure cuff so you can start monitoring this yourself. The new science coming out suggests this is an important predictor of health and longevity.

2/ How I’m running my own blood pressure experiment.

One of the mindsets I review everyday in my Mindset Manifesto is…

As mentioned above, I’m going to run my own blood pressure experiment using the same protocol Peter Attia uses with his patients.

If you are interested in running this experiment yourself — which I highly recommend — watch this clip of Peter explaining how to properly take your blood pressure.

Below I share the blood pressure protocol I have created for myself using Peter’s suggestions. Feel free to copy it if you find it helpful.

My Blood Pressure Protocol →

• Take my blood pressure twice a day

  • after my shower and before my coffee in the morning (7:15am)

  • about 30 minutes before bed time (10:00pm)

  • Set two alarms to remind me to do so

• When it’s time to take a measurement…

  • Put the blood pressure cuff on

    • it should be 2 inches above the elbow joint

    • arm should be resting at the same level as my right atrium

  • Set a timer and sit for 5-minutes with no stimulation. That means…

    • No talking

    • No phone/reading/texting

    • No movement

  • During that 5-minutes, inhale for a 4 count, and exhale for a 6 count

• At the end of the 5-minutes, take a blood pressure reading

  • sit perfectly still

• Record my results in my spreadsheet

• Repeat the protocol at 10pm

• Do this for two weeks

• At the end of the 14 days, take an average of all my blood pressure readings (28 in total)

• That average is considered my blood pressure

• Compare my average blood pressure to the chart below.

  

• Determine next steps based on the category I fall into

• Add this habit to my Daily Essential Habits Protocol

  • Continue to monitor my blood pressure once a day afterwards and track in my spreadsheet

I will continue to refine this process as I go while making notes of those things that can affect my BP numbers.

I will keep you posted on the outcome of my experiment.

To think about → If you do invest in your own automated BP cuff, feel free to steal my protocol to run your own 2 week experiment to determine what your actual BP is.

3/ Book I’m about to read.

Another thing I am trying to improve is my sleep. As mentioned before, I have Restless Leg Syndrome, so I wake up at least 3 to 5 times a night. As a result, I’m always on the lookout for new mindsets on how to think about my sleep and strategies I can implement to improve the quality of my sleep.

I recently came across Nick Littlehales in a YouTube interview. He is an elite sports sleep coach. I discovered he has written a book…

Sleep: The myth of 8 hours, the power of naps and the new plan to recharge your body and mind.

I decided to get it from the library first to see if it’s worth adding to my personal library. I have not started to read it yet, but there are a few things I am intrigued by…

• I love his job title → Elite sports sleep coach.

• Chapter 3 is of interest to learn more about his reframe from 8 hours to 90 minute cycles

• Since I have no sleep routines to speak of, I am interested in Chapter 4 to learn what routines he does with his athletes

• And I would like to adopt a mindset around the power of napping which he discusses in Chapter 5

I’ll keep you posted if I uncover anything that helps unlock the power of sleep.

That’s it for today my friend. Thanks for reading. 🙏

To your success,

Whenever you are ready, here is how I can help you…

→ One-on-one coaching ←

If you are interested in getting results like those below, click here to book a free call.

It’s never too late to become great at losing weight.