Brandon Nankivell's Blog, page 12

As a Man Thinketh by James Allen ► Animated Book Summary

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The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss (PART 2) ► Animated Book Summary

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A Messed Up Post

I sit here. Listening to ‘clocks’ by coldplay. I half assume no one will read and that pretty much no one visits my website. I keep asking myself ‘Why am I doing this?’ this – referring to building the YouTube channel.

I imagine all the shit the people I look up to have been through to get where they are. Arnold Schwarza-imnotgonnaeventry. Barrack Obama. Jesus. Bill Gates. The dude travelling around the world running his business online.

I sit here comparing my efforts to others. Wondering if...

Rich Dad Poor Dad Summary

Why did Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki sell over 26 million copies worldwide? In today’s 10-minute video, you’ll learn more about becoming rich than you ever will taking a 4-year finance degree. So strap on your seatbelt, and make sure to watch the video to the very end.

Lesson 1: The Rich Don’t Work For Money, Money Works For Them

3 years ago I worked at a trading-card shop in the city. Now that job was fantastic, I loved it! I got paid $17 an hour for having a blast running yugioh ca...

Feel free to…

Hi Friends, I just joined Patreon! If you have no clue what it is, I’ll give you the run-down: It’s a simple way for you to contribute to my videos every month, and get some super cool rewards in return! I appreciate your support.

Be an angel and head to https://www.patreon.com/onepercentbetter

P.S. The blog has been quiet. My time and energy have been laser-focused on the channel

Bulletproof Day #4 – XCT Oil Overdose, Stevia and Cloud-Like Exhaustion

Breakfast:

Bulletproof Coffee (2 tbsp XCT Oil)

I tried an extra table spoon of XCT Oil to see if it would satiate me for 6 hours but it didn’t. Instead, I ended up feeling dizzy and fatigued. I was at uni and literally could not focus more than 60 seconds as hard as I tried. XCT Oil is strong if you haven’t had much before. I plan to reduce the dosage tomorrow and add more butter instead.

Lunch:

Vegies and Eggs (The usual)

Dinner:

Lamb
Cauliflower Mash
Asparagus
Sweet Potato

I had dinner at my girlfriend’s and I was lucky enough not that her Mum tailored it for my diet. THE LAMB WAS INCREDIBLE. I haven’t eaten meat since I started the diet and have been craving it since the start – it’s filling and tasty.

I also tried some stevia for the first time whilst I was there. I mixed it with green tea. It came in a tiny pill form. I dropped it in and had a sip – Wow, that’s strong. Strong, but tasty. I was impressed out how much it tasted like regular sugar.

Later in the evening I lost almost every ounce of energy I had. My body was heavy and muscles weak. I felt so exhausted that I felt like I was floating on a cloud, and couldn’t help but laugh because I was extremely relaxed. I ate some more almonds and eggs when I got home – hopefully I didn’t exceed my daily protein limit.

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Bulletproof Day #3 – I looked into the bowl, and I said…

“Whoa… my poo is solid green!” I was tempted to take a photo, but figured that you, the reader, wouldn’t fancy high quality graphics of my excrement shoved in your face. Yeah – anyway, it’s day 3.

I’m DEFINITELY under-going change. My body has been buzzing and tingling. I kicked off today’s breakfast with yet another Bulletproof Coffee at the ungodly hour of 10:15am. Added 3 tbsp instead of 2 because I felt hungry yesterday.

The extra butter didn’t seem to help my hunger so tomorrow I plan to add more XCT oil and see what that does for me. Lunch consisted of the classic eggs and many green veggies, similar to yesterday. For dinner I had a chicken stir-fry. I may have reached my borderline limit for carbs so I’m hoping I didn’t over-do it.

I found my almonds today in my discarded backpack that I accidentally left at university. Thanks to the lovely human that picked it up for me and turned it into the lost-and-found. LOVING THE ALMONDS. Excellent source of protein AND fat. It’s a double whammy. Tastes damn fine too.

I’m craving carbs like there’s no tomorrow. I could eat a cement truck full of pasta and chips. I’m missing my potato, my chocolate, my anything that is not allowed on The Bulletproof Diet. Nonetheless these cravings supposedly go away, and I have dark chocolate and beef that I’m looking into as great substitutes.

I’m pissing heeps and feeling hungrier than I should be. I don’t think I’m eating until I’m full during meal times. I bet it’s the lack of meat. I feel it. Eggs and a bucket-load of veggies aren’t cutting it. I need that meat, that juicy, gorgeous, attractive meat.

Signing out. Video coming soon.

 

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Bulletproof Day #2 – My Body is Going Bananas!

My heart is thumping and stomach is churning. My skin is tingly and I feel fatigued. Basically I feel like crap. But don’t worry – this is normal. My body is making a transition into ketosis-mode, and hell I’m excited. It’s an adventure!

This is the first time I’ve took charge of what I’m eating and the education will pay me massive dividends for my health, long into the future.

I began today with another Bulletproof Coffee, and this time I didn’t triple-overdose on butter… I made it 4x faster than on the previous day. That’s the beauty of learning from mistakes. It satiated me for at least 3 hours, but by the 4-hour mark I was feeling hungry, unlike yesterday. Perhaps I’ll try a tad more butter tomorrow.

For lunch I had…

spinach
2 free-range eggs
cucumber
lime-juice
parsley
pink himalayan salt

I don’t think this concoction has a name – I’m not fussy when it comes to fancy recipes. It didn’t fill me up that much – I need to get some grass-fed beef ASAP.

For dinner I had…

broccoli
cauliflower
asparagus
sweet potato
2 free-range eggs
1 serving of peanuts
parsley
pink himalayan salt

The sweet potato provides me with just enough carbs for the successful operation of normal bodily functions. I ate more eggs because I went to FOUR FLIPPING SUPERMARKETS in one session and all the grass-fed beef was sold out or non-existent (I realize it would be better to get from a local farmer but my current bank account and time commitments aren’t in line with this pursuit).

It’s 10:35pm now and I’m feeling much better after eating dinner, although I’m not expecting to stay like this for the next week or so. It’s said to take 3 days – 3 weeks to adjust to ketosis.

If you’re wondering what on earth this is all about – fear not. My next animated book summary explains what The Bulletproof Diet is and how it can help you reach optimal performance on a day-to-day basis.

 

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Bulletproof Day #1 – A Giant Stick of Butter in My Coffee

As the title suggests, I put a giant slab of unsalted, grass-fed butter in my coffee this morning. Why the hell did I do this? As of last night, I’ve started my trial of The Bulletproof Diet – a high-fat, moderate protein, low-carb diet.

I like to describe it as a mix between a paleo-and-ketogenic-diet-type-thing. It’s meant to increase mental clarity and help sustain energy throughout the day. It’s controversial, but being the open-minded person I am – I decided to give it a shot. And the first step was to feel like a weirdo using my electric blender to fuse a humongous block of butter with my amateur-made coffee.

To bring the coffee to life, I kind-of YOLO’d it. I bought this thing called a french press, apparently a well known device among coffee lovers. Apparently it helps bring out the flavour in the coffee or something. I grew up using instant coffee – I thought all you do is put the hot water in, it dissolves – and boom! You have a coffee. Turns out there’s a lot more to coffee than I expected.

I also manually ground my beans with a good-ol’ fashioned pestle and mortar. I felt like I was upgrading my herblore level in Runescape, but this was real life.

Once I french-pressed the coffee, I went to blend it however, I couldn’t get the bloody magic bullet blender to work. When I pressed down on the thing, I smelt and felt an aroma of burningness. Something wasn’t right. It was grinding against itself. I gave-in and bolted down to target and bought a classic stick blender (the ones you hold, push a button, and mix things in a bowl).

My room-mate came out a little later and got the blender to work straight-away. He sure showed me. Nonetheless I finished making the coffee. Here it is.

It tasted delicious. I don’t drink coffee often, but this one tasted much less bitter. It was creamy. 3 hours in and I felt full. It was an odd feeling. I drank coffee and didn’t feel the need to eat. 6 hours in and feel pretty much the same. Turns out Dave Asprey wasn’t lying when he said Bulletproof coffee is satiating.

As I’m writing it’s 6 hours in. I do feel light-headed which is meant to be a natural reaction. It will take at-least 3-4 days for me to enter a state of ketosis where my body and brain is running off ketones rather than glucose. If all goes well, I’ll be running on different ‘petrol’.

For those interested, the ingredients I used are…

WAY TOO MUCH BUTTER (, 100 grams instead of 37 grams)
Bulletproof XCT Oil – 1 tbsp
Bulletproof Upgraded Coffee – 2 tbsp

That’s it for now. I’ll keep you posted on my progress. BUT whatever you do (see what I did there? But? Butter? But-ter?) don’t try this without reading about what on earth you’re doing. You can find more info on Dave’s site or in his book, The Bulletproof Diet.

I’ll talk more about the meals I eat in the next post. See you there.

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Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus by John Gray – A Summary

Lesson 1: Mr Fix It and The Home Improvement Committee

The most common complaint women have about men is that men don’t listen. He either completely ignores her when she speaks to him, or he quickly assess what’s troubling her, and then offers her a solution to make her feel better. He gets confused as hell when she doesn’t appreciate it. She just wants empathy, but he thinks she wants solutions. Stop giving unsolicited advice, show compassion, and listen to your partner.

On the flip-side, men complain that women are always trying to change them. She thinks she’s caring for him, while he feels he’s being controlled. Instead, he just wants her acceptance. She presumes a man doesn’t know what to do and he can’t do it on his own. Men want to prove their competence by achieving things themselves.

You may have noticed by now that John Gray, the author of this book, tends to stereotype genders, ignoring the fact that people are unique regardless of their gender. We’ll discuss this at the end of the video.

Lesson 2: Men Go To Their Caves and Women Talk

Men and Women cope with stress differently. Men become focused and withdrawn whereas Women become overwhelmed and emotionally involved. During these times, Men feel better by solving problems while Women feel better by talking about their problems.

In times of stress, Men will retreat to their caves. He becomes quiet, mulls over a solution, and then gradually comes out of his cave. If he can’t find a solution, he will do something to forget his problems like watch TV or play a video-game. He needs space.

Women on the other hand feel better by talking about their problems. She wants to express herself and feel understood before finding solutions. A Woman will appreciate a man if he truly listens.

Lesson 3: Men Are Like Rubber Bands and Women Are Like Waves

A rubber band is a metaphor for the male intimacy cycle. Men get close, pull away, and then get close again. Men have an instinctive urge to pull away from time to time. This is commonly misunderstood by Women, especially when they try to share their feelings but their man pulls away. However, a man should at least reassure their partner of when they’ll come back.

A woman is like a wave. A woman’s self-esteem rises and falls like a wave. Men can get confused and frustrated, thinking that they’ve made her upset. Let’s return to lesson one, don’t give unsolicited advice during this time. Also after listening to a woman, don’t expect her to feel better straight-away.

Lesson 4: Scoring Points with the Opposite Sex

No matter how big or small a gift of love is, for a woman it scores one point. But in a man’s mind, a bigger gift means more points. Let’s say Danny raised his income from $50,000 to $100,000 dollars to support the family. To him that may be worth 50 points, but to his wife that’s only one point. Likewise, if he bought an expensive car for his wife as a gift of love, it would still be worth one point no matter how much he paid for the car. This can explain why men get confused when their wives aren’t satisfied. Giving your wife 2 kisses, 2 hugs, and a compliment could score you many more points than if you were to buy her an expensive watch.

Lesson 5: Speaking Different Languages

Honey, are you okay? “I’m fine…” so she says. She might be fine. But she might not. When a guy says he’s fine, he’s fine. “To fully express their feelings, women speak poetically and use superlatives, metaphors, and generalizations. Men mistakenly take these expressions literally and misunderstand the intended meaning.” So what should you do? Look deeper. What is the underlying issue? Here’s an example.

Sally says, “The house is always a mess”. Sessel replies, “Are you kidding me!? I always clean the house, and before I’m finished you mess it up again!” This is a bad way of responding, because what she may really mean is, “I need to relax today but the house is messy. I’m frustrated and need to rest. You clean a lot for me but for today could you please offer to help clean up part of it?” Try and not to take everything literally, especially when emotions are running high, otherwise you’ll get frustrated.

Another example. Sally says, “You don’t love me anymore” but what she really may mean is, “Today I don’t feel loved. I know you love me, I’m just feeling a little insecure at the moment. Would you reassure me of your love?”

Don’t expect to be perfect at reading women straight-away. It takes time and effort to get to know how your partner behaves.

Summary:

Before you go, it’s up to you on how you decide to use this information. This book was published in 1992 by John Gray, who apparently has little credibility. Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus is rated 3.5 / 5 stars based 3,400 reviews and 114,000 readers on Goodreads.com, which is considered low on this website. In the day and age of the feminist movement, many argue that author is a sexist pop-psychologist who pigeon holes people into gender stereotypes, and therefore gives worthless advice. Whilst I do partly agree, that’s not to say we should ignorantly flush it all down the toilet. This book has genuinely helped me in my relationship. Regardless of your gender, here are 5 important points that everyone can benefit from:

Don’t give unsolicited advice
Understand people need space sometimes
Listen to people when they talk
It’s the little things that count
When someone is upset, don’t take words literally – try to understand the underlying issue

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