WORK LESS WEDNESDAY

WLW #140

January 15, 2025

👋 Hey Reader!

This is issue #140 of Work Less Wednesday, where I share with you 5 things you should know about, in 5 minutes or less. That leaves you with 10,075 other minutes this week

🥓 1. How I Increased My Energy By 200% – I Stopped Fasting, And Started Eating Breakfast

For the last 4-5 years I have been Intermittent Fasting.

I haven’t been crazy about it, but on average I’d fast for 14-16 hours.

Basically, I just skipped breakfast.

My usual day consisted of waking up, drinking an espresso, and getting to work.

By 1-2pm I was done for the day and ready to eat my first meal (usually 4 eggs and an avocado).

For a long time this worked great for me, but as the years went on, something bad happened:

Like clockwork, I would CRASH hard every afternoon.

I thought it was from all the hardcore deep work I was doing.

But something just didn’t feel right.

I would be wiped out by the afternoon.

Recently I stumbled on the solution.

I ate breakfast one morning randomly and felt AMAZING.

So I tried an experiment…

I started eating breakfast every morning and my energy has skyrocketed.

I no longer crash in the afternoon and have plenty of energy left over after lunch for more stuff.

So why did this happen to me?

My working theory is it has to do with how my body metabolizes caffeine.

Even though I was fasted, the caffeine would still cause me to crash hard b/c of these two phases:

Adrenaline release: Caffeine stimulates the adrenal glands to release adrenaline, which causes the liver to release glycogen. This temporarily increases blood sugar levels and gives you a burst of energy.
Insulin release: The pancreas releases insulin to regulate the excess blood sugar.

By eating a small healthy breakfast, it appears to smooth out the spikes and crashes, allowing me more sustained energy over time.

Now everyone is completely different.

What might work for me, might suck for you.

Basically the lesson here is everyone is different, keep experimenting with what feels good, and the simple stuff tends to be the most effective.

📘 2. Three Books I’m Reading Right Now

I’ve been working my way through a handful of books right now.

Here’s what I’m reading and what I think so far:

📘 Inner Excellence by Jim Murphy – After seeing AJ Brown from the Philadelphia Eagles reading this on the sidelines of the game, I had to pick it up. It does not disappoint. Definitely recommend. Also worth reading AJ’s explanation on WHY he was reading it.

📙 Same As Ever by Morgan Housel – His first book The Psychology of Money is essential reading. Same As Ever feels like a bit of a 2nd book deal cash in. It’s not BAD, there’s some good stuff, but it’s just clear it is not the same caliber as his debut.

📒 Good Energy by Casey Means, MD – I learned a lot from this. What has already been invaluable for me is I was able to run my latest bloodwork through the reference ranges that Dr. Means uses in their practice. While all of my bloodwork is “good” for the Average American, it definitely fell short of their optimal ranges. I’m experimenting with some protocols from the book to see what moves the needle. Worth checking out if you’re health conscious.

💻 3. Five Contrarian Ideas About AI At Work – Article by Nathan Warren

I have an announcement to make.

I’m officially paying attention to AI.

I knew this day would come.

For the past few years I’ve been purposefully avoiding it in my “information diet.”

I was more focused on going deep with my clients and writing.

But I had a failsafe…

Last year I asked one of my smartest clients, “Hey, just tell me at what point it will ACTIVELY be stupid for me to not pay attention to AI.”

It’s time.

This doesn’t mean I’m gonna become some AI ChatGPT Prompt Master Guru Guy™.

Not even close.

But my work requires awareness of the macro landscape of entrepreneurship and tech.

And in order to have awareness, you have to pay attention.

So here we are.

This article is a great primer to how some trends are moving.

One key lesson: AI will make great workers better and bad workers worse.

Otis et al. found that high-performing entrepreneurs saw 15% profit gains with AI, while weaker peers lost 8%—a remarkable divergence. The reason? The best can better select and implement suggestions. If these trends hold, those at the top will stretch their lead, whether through adroit delegation to agents or better judgement when sifting AI-generated advice.

P.S. Thanks to my client Lorenzo Frankel for sending me this article. If you’re trying to figure out how to actually use AI to improve your work, without making it crap – he’s the guy.

📰 Read The Article

💬 4. Quote I Can’t Stop Thinking About – From “A New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle

📕 Get The Book Here

🖐 5. More Things I’m Into This Week

📕 Tim Ferriss Is Dropping A New Book After 7 Years – Read The First 2 Chapters Here

🎥 Amazing YouTube Channel On Art – Great Art Explained

💻 Free Mac App I’m Using To Hide My Desktop Icons For A Minimalist Experience – Only Switch

🖥️ App I’m Checking Out For Making Short Form Clips Easy – Opus