Marcus’s Reviews > Own the Day, Own Your Life: Optimised practices for waking, working, learning, eating, training, playing, sleeping and sex > Status Update

14 min read. Learned about how nutrition plays an important role in how we feel and function throughout our day. Enjoying the food we eat is also important. I want to incorporate a little more healthy fat in my diet, such as grass-fed butter and dark chocolate to provide myself some more energy and antioxidants, respectively. Learned that pressing the perineum between anus and testicles can prevent ejaculation.

8 min. Finished Ch 11 about taking the time to reset and recover by spending time with the people I love. This made me think about how I can set rules on myself but also have leniency to relax a little too because it's good to separate myself from work too.

10 min reading. Skimmed through Ch. 6-9, where 6 talked about caffeine, 7 was about finding purpose and setting a distraction-free environment during focus sessions, and 8 was about nutrition by eating single-ingredient foods that are filling, provide necessary nutrients, and make us feel good. I learned that nootropics can boost cognitive function and being more aware of why we work each day can help drive us.

13 min. Skimmed through Ch 4+5 which were about feeding the body properly and intentionally putting mindfulness into our daily lives to find solace. I noticed that my goals in reading self-help books are mainly to extract what older people do because they are successful. I want to give it a shot because might as well!

16 min. Learned that not all fats are bad- saturated fats are indeed good for your body by producing more HDLs which can be thought of bigger transporters for cholesterol to enter the body. Trans fats should be avoided since they produce more LDLs which are smaller transporters that can clog our arteries. This is why I avoid fried foods. I like that Marcus provides the science behind some of the optimization habits.

7 min reading. The Wim Hof breathing method involves holding breath at the bottom of the breath (ie. after fully exhaled) to initiate temporary increase in epinephrine and norepinephrine. I plan to try this out-30 to 50 breaths and see how my body feels. I miss cold showers.

Cold exposure should be performed when my body feels ready. I want to try the power shower as Marcus described. Holding my breath at the bottom of my breath sounds interesting as a way to release hormones. I like how Marcus organizes the book by acknowledging pitfalls people often face, strategies on how to resolve them, and advice on how to improve.