Optimizing the Unoptimized
Stop caring what the numbers say and Perform
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How do we optimize non-optimal conditions and still be performant in our day to day activities? I’ve touched on this topic in the past. First let me refer you to the now cliché Jocko “Good” video which has been around for years, but still makes me happy:
If you’ve listened to the 2023 Peter Attia and Rich Roll podcast there is no disputing the necessity of quality, consistent sleep in prolonging your lifespan and health span, as well as day to day health/well-being/performance.
Even if you’ve done a modicum of research into sleep you know it is important (however in practice how many actually make this a priority in life?).
I am not here to dispute this fact. Rather, I want to eradicate the anxiety inducing constant checks to our bio feedback monitors that say how much REM we got last night.
There is a balance in performance optimization and stress mitigation which is highly dependent on the individual doing the monitoring. For example if you are severely overweight and nothing you’ve tried is helping you to lose weight, tracking might be exactly what is needed. Past performance is a predictor for future success. If your previous actions indicate no future success, something HAS to change.
That being said, humans managed to exist for thousands of years prior to the advent of MyFitnessPal, the Apple Watch and Whoop strap. How did we even survive??? I for one have questions. If my ancestor didn’t track his nightly REM there’s no way he was getting a quality night’s sleep and being effective during the day. Yet, things were built, wars were fought, and innovations made to the level of technology we currently live with today.
What I do think holds value with a minimum amount of risk to “over optimizing” is utilizing a new optimization tool/tactic or technology for a short (or extended) period of time and evaluating if it actually adds value to your life and the impact (positive or negative) it has on your wellbeing and the goal you’re trying to accomplish.
This could look like: “I want to improve my sleep and get at least 2 hours of REM and 8 hours of consistent sleep per night.” The goal here is not necessarily to hit these numbers perfectly every single night. But we need a relatively high bar to strive for and a specific standard for comparison. Otherwise, how do you even know if you got a better night of sleep than in the past? Obviously this brings back my previous argument that tracking is not required, but can supplement to bring improvements to our lives. Traditionally, I gauge my sleep quality without a tracker based on a rough estimate of how fast I fall asleep, time in bed (ex I get in bed at 9:00 PM and wake up at 5:00 AM), how easy it is for me to get out of bed, and do I feel alert/refreshed when I wake up. So what I’m looking for in this example is making changes in my nighttime routine / daily habits and measuring via whoop strap feedback and the qualitative metrics I just broke down.
Returning to the original goal: I want 8 hours of sleep and 2+ hours of REM, therefore I get a whoop strap to monitor my sleep score, time slept, and time in REM while making adjustments in my day to day to achieve these improvements / understand the quality of my current sleep.
But what happens if and when less than desirable metrics come back on a particular morning? Is your entire day ruined, unable to function because of pixels on a screen? Absolutely not, but placebo works in both directions - positive and negative. The goal should be to be highly performant in our workouts and activities during the day regardless of what the numbers say. At the end of the day, the sleep metrics in our previous example are just another tool to optimize our life. But in no way should it dictate how we operate during the day. It doesn’t matter. Obviously we should strive for consistent and high quality sleep every night. But if you wake up with a low REM amount it should not lead to a thought pattern of “I have low REM” → “therefore I slept poorly” → “therefore I will have a bad day.”
What a terrible approach when these tools are literally just pixels on a screen. There is a lot to be said for having a routine and technology that keeps you focused and consistent. If the absence of that routine or a less than desirable score takes away your edge there is a problem. We need to be highly capable regardless of our circumstances. We should be able to crush anything before us if we wake up hungover, sore, had poor sleep, slept on the floor, WHATEVER. It is a new day with new challenges. Routines, scores, and metrics can add incredible value to our lives. But they offer incremental improvements over training our bodies and minds to know that regardless of our circumstances we can accomplish every task for the day as aggressively as possible.
In the absence of every tool, technique, habit, or morning ritual we revert back to the mean. Where is your mean operating level currently?
Can you wake up off of 4 hours of sleep and PR a lift? Or get up and run the distance you had programmed for today?
I’m a firm believer that consistent training as part of your daily routine builds up your resistance to wildly changing life circumstances. Occasionally doing very challenging things is great, but constantly challenging yourself in the mundane daily training regardless of your environment is where your baseline (mean) is built over years of work.
The bottom line, use these tools to track progress based on a particular goal you have while evaluating changes you are making in the direction of this goal. We are human and life circumstances will occasionally prevent a perfectly optimized day. The goal should be to optimize the unoptimized - to stop caring when we aren’t at “peak” level and perform as well as we can regardless of what is going on around us.
Cheers ✌️
DISCLAIMER
This is not Legal, Medical, or Financial advice. Please consult a medical professional before starting any workout program, diet plan, or supplement protocol.