Healthier lifestyle with Amin Bandali

The other day I talked with Amin Bandali about the basics of living a more sustainable lifestyle. Amin has written a summary of our exchange, which you can find here: https://www.shemshak.org/~amin/living-healthier.html.

Prot mentioned that our health is directly dependent on the following four factors:

what we eat;

what we drink;

what we breathe; and

what we think.

Fundamentally, our discussion revolves around common sense. Do the basics right and be consistent throughout. The basics are all those activities that are unglamorous and otherwise easy to underestimate. Doing them correctly guarantees that you have a solid basis for everything else and are on the pathway to excellence.

I think the core mistake people make when they fail at a task is that they do not pay attention to the basics. They think they can skip them and go straight to the more fun parts. Like wanting to play a competitive football match before you have learnt how to control the ball.

There will be a few fields of endeavour where ignoring the basics does not incur longer-term costs. Though the norm is that such shortcuts create frustration down the line. The understanding is incorrect, the method is flawed, and the execution is clumsy.

At scale, the default attitude of taking shortcuts results in an everyday experience that feels overwhelming. Everything is more difficult because the clumsiness in one area is compounded by clumsiness in all other areas.

Do not skip the basics then. Pay attention to the little things and make sure you commit to them with consistency. In Greek, we say “rush slowly” (σπεύδε βραδέως) which can more loosely be described as “I proceed slowly so that I arrive quickly”.