The bestselling author of Head Strong and The Bulletproof Diet answers the question, “How can I kick more ass at life?” by culling the wisdom of world-class thought leaders, maverick scientists, and disruptive entrepreneurs to provide proven techniques for becoming happier, healthier, and smarter. When Dave Asprey started his Bulletproof Radio podcast more than five years ago, he sought out influencers in an array of disciplines, from biochemists toiling in unknown laboratories to business leaders changing the world to mediation masters discovering inner peace. His guests were some of the top performing humans in the world, people who had changed their areas of study or even pioneered entirely new fields. Dave wanted to know: What did they have in common? What mattered most to them? What made them so successful—and what made them tick? At the end of each interview, Dave asked the same question: “What are your top three recommendations for people who want to perform better at being human?” After performing a statistical analysis of the answers, he found that the wisdom gleaned from these highly successful people could be distilled into three main objectives: finding ways to become smarter, faster, and happier. Game Changers is the culmination of Dave’s years-long immersion in these conversations, offering 46 science-backed, high performance “laws” that are a virtual playbook for how to get better at life. With anecdotes from game changers like Dr. Daniel Amen, Gabby Bernstein, Dr. David Perlmutter, Arianna Huffington, Esther Perel, and Tim Ferris as well as examples from Dave’s own life, Game Changers offers readers practical advice they can put into action to reap immediate rewards. From taming fear and anxiety to making better decisions, establishing high-performance habits, and practicing gratitude and mindfulness, Dave brings together the wisdom of today’s game-changers to help everyone kick more ass at life.
Dave Asprey is a Silicon Valley investor, computer security expert, and entrepreneur who spent 15 years and $250,000 to hack his own biology. He upgraded his brain by >20 IQ points, lowered his biological age, and lost 100 lbs without using calories or exercise. The Financial Times calls him a "bio-hacker who takes self-quantification to the extreme of self-experimentation." His writing has been published by the New York Times and Fortune, and he's presented at Wharton, Kellogg, the University of California, and Singularity University.
Great Read! Top takeaways: It is our mitochondria that controls how we survive with the three F's. Fear which is fight or flee, feed what just make sure you eat to stay alive, and fornicate to make sure the species continues.
Focusing on your weaknesses makes you weaker.
Daily brain power is finite therefore it becomes imperative to prioritize on highly impactful things you love and getting rid of things that drain you!
LAW 1: the power of saying no.
Be honest with what's important to you.
Anytime you have to make a hard decision hold your breath until you can't any longer and then count additional 8 Seconds. Something difficult it makes the next thing easier.
LAW 2: Decide and create Who You Are.
LAW 3: when you say I'm trying you are lying to yourself. You need to stop trying and start doing.
LAW 4: even your false beliefs are true. You define your reality.
Your beliefs directly impact the outcomes of your efforts.
LAW 5: keep learning.
LAW 6: remember images and not words. Learn to read and images to maximize memory.
LAW 7: Smart drugs are here to stay! Neotropics.
Modafinil is a wonderful nootropic which is like the drug from the movie Limitless with no side effects.
LAW 8: Get out of your head.
Fear of failure causes failure.
Stagnation kills innovation.
LAW 10: fear is the mind Killer.
The chemistry of our blood changes depending on our current view of the world.
CELEBRATE FAILURE!
THE EMOTIONAL STACK:
Happiness and Freedom
Fear
Anger pride
Sadness
Apathy Shame
Your Preconditioned to live at the bottom to survive so must stay consciously above the line.
Promote failure daily with your kids by asking what area is they failed in and congratulate them
LAW 11: average is the enemy.
Face criticism with joy.
LAW 12: Don't lead a horse to water, make it thirsty!
LAW 13: don't push your limits for too long.
Massively create and then massively rest. Sprint, rest, Sprint.
LAW 14: Miracles are possible only in the morning.
LAW 15: don't think with your labido.
The goal is to channel sexual energy into your work.
LAW 17: push your comfort zone when having sex.
LAW 18: Use sex as your drug of choice. Porn is the high fructose syrup of the mind. Stay away!
LAW 19: waking up early does not make you better.
LAW 20: High quality sleep is better than more sleep!
Sleeping on your back is poor quality sleep while you're sleeping on your side is optimal.
Bite guards are key to sleep hack!
LAW 22: Walk before running.
LAW 23: Strong muscles make you smarter and younger.
LAW 24: Stay flexible by stretching
LAW 25: make sure you're really hungry for food.
LAW 26: Eat like your great ancestors.
What you eat now will impact your kids Generations from now.
Take vitamin D 3, k2, a, magnesium, krill oil, copper zinc iodine and methyl B12 with methylfolate supplement with polyphenols extracted from plants.
LAW 29: track it to hack it.
LAW 30: What doesn't kill us strengthens us. Apply this to stress in life!
LAW 31: heal like Wolverine an age like Benjamin Button by getting stem cell injections yearly.
LAW 32: you can put a price tag on happiness. Once you have your needs met making excess money does not substantially increase happiness so the goal becomes make sure you meet your needs and then swing for the fences.
What annual income do you need to get your needs met. Now imagine you had double that. How would you spend your time? That is what makes you happy so focus on coming more of that.
LAW 33: wealth is a symptom of happiness.
Studies show that happier employees add more Revenue as well as take less sick days
Happiness is fuel that gets you to your vision faster.
LAW 34: the less you have the more you gain.
LAW 35: Community helps you achieve more and be happy.
Oxytocin is important because it releases a feel-good agent when connecting with another and overrides the fear mechanism.
LAW 36: you are a reflection of your community.
Build connections before you need them.
Look to hang around like hearted people that think differently so they may elevate your game.
LAW 37: No relationship is an island! Use energy wisely.
LAW 38: own the Voice in your head through meditating.
LAW 39: hijack your body's attention. You control your thoughts.
LAW 40: meditate better and quicker for the results in a shorter amount of time.
LAW 41: Make you're environment less like a farm and more like a zoo. Spend time outdoors!
LAW 42: sunlight is mandatory 20 minutes a day unfiltered.
LAW 43: bathe in the forest instead of the tub.
LAW 44: gratitude is stronger than fear
Be grateful for everything both good and challenges.
Each night focus on something you did to help someone else that day, as well as several items were grateful for. It's still the same your kids as well.
LAW 45: forgive, but don't be sorry.
Choose positive meanings with every interaction.
LAW 46: Gratitude is a muscle, learn to use it.
TONY ROBBINS 3 MIN EXERCISE:
Gets in gratitude for a minute where he feels the experience and puts himself there.
Then spend a minute focusing on a blessing for a feels God in his body and taking care him, family, clients and everybody is feeling.
Focuses on any problem he is currently facing and feels the solution as if it's solved. Then he focuses on three specific outcomes that he's looking at in feels them as if they're done and celebrates.
Situations are neutral, how you perceive them makes them good or bad.
David asprey is biggest game changer is gratitude ^ 3. All this is, is writing down and speaking of three things you're grateful for each day. Then he States one failure that he's grateful for that day.
Pseudoscientific garbage. And sometimes really funny, so bad. For example. When explaining the whole Dual n Back training he states that it improves the fluid intelligence with 50%. Meaning from 100 to 150. Also it greatly improves math capabilities. A few minutes (paragraphs) later he states that he couldn't imagine giving talks with only half the fluid intelligence that he had before the training. Okay. 100 isn't half from 150. Then he says that almost all ultra endurance athletes uses nootropics and do microdosing. That just bullshit. As a runner who does triple digit races, the ultra endurance world is a huge part of my life. This shit is just not true. Somewhere in the beginning of the book. He gives an example of an unhealthy meal: "A pseudo vegan burrito" A huge part of the top of ultra endurance athletes and both the most succesful woman (Lizzy Hawker) and man (Scott Jurek), the guy who ran the sahara desert (Charlie Engle) did that plant powered!
Full disclaimer I am a great fan of Tim Ferris and all his books. I write that because this book follows along the lines of Tools of Titans and Tribe of Mentors with the material taken from Dave Asprey's podcasts Bulletproof Radio. I love this stuff. I find reading about cutting-edge ideas alongside time-proven techniques fascinating and I always find at least one thing I want to do. For me, that's worth the read and I don't have to listen to every podcast - only those I think will expand on areas that have caught my attention.
The book is easy to read and set up to convey the answer to his central question: If someone came to you tomorrow wanting to perform better as a human being, what are the three most important pieces of advice you'd offer, based on your life experience? At the end of each chapter, he offers a summary in the form of action items, recommended listening (all Bulletproof Radio podcasts), and recommended reading. That helps a lot.
So what one thing did I find in this book? A twist to the daily gratitude practice that I do (most days anyway). Acknowledging one failure each day. Incorporate a failure as one of the three things you are grateful for. That's a mind-blowing concept to me but when I read about it I instantly saw the value. By daily looking at failure and then letting it go, forgiving yourself, you begin to view it as part of life. I know we "know" it is but most of us really get hung up on not failing. This practice will I hope, help to normalize failure help push boundaries, and move out of my comfort zone in the context of living a better life.
There's a lot of material here, read through, grab something that appeals and see where it takes you. It's an easy interesting read.
This book as a standalone book - is brilliant. But, except for the drugs part of the book, this book is just a rehash of all the classic self help books that has come so far. You'd be better off reading the Tools of Titans book by Tim Ferris. That said, this book does have some useful information. If i were you, i'd take the science quoted in the book with a pinch of salt, and the information about drugs as a primer, and not as a tell-tale holy-grail thing.
Biohacking is great. Using substances to hack your body - no matter what it is, it's called substance-usage. The culture in our world generally has made it a taboo to do so. I am a strong believer in body's ability to do things naturally that the drugs advocated in this book does for you. So, my suggestion would be to listen to everything this book has to say, take the good, and leave the bad.
This in Nonfiction Health. I didn't know who this guy was until yesterday. I heard him being interviewed on a podcast. While I wasn't sure about him, I liked his message so I went searching for his books.
There is plenty of food for thought in this one. Some of his ideas are mainstream and others are pretty far out there. Overall, I thought this one interesting. It gave me things to ponder and I liked his 'all inclusive' demeanor and how he talked about the positives.
This book covers many different facets of human health. Sometimes I liked the diversity, and sometimes I felt he needed to reign it in. While this book may not be for everyone, I would like to think that most readers could probably glean a useful idea or two from the pages. Ti
This is another very good book on biohacking and optimizing oneself. It contains 46 laws, each with tested techniques for becoming happier, healthier, and smarter. All these techniques are based on author's own experience and also on hundreds conversations with world-class mavericks of science, business and many other disciplines. All these laws are divided into three main categories, smarter, faster and happier.
What I liked the most is that every law is independent. It is not necessary to start at the page 1. You can pick any law you want or need at the moment. What's more, every law ends with a brief summary and also a set of action steps you can make. So, even if you forget something you read, the author will remind you about the most important points, as well as how to implement them. This also makes this book a very good source of tips when you finish it and need advice. Just pick a law you need and read just that one.
I highly recommend this book. It is a very good choice for anyone who wants to optimize his life and work. There is a tip, or law, anyone can use. Just pick the one you need.
Great book! Wish I had the PDF, though. I didn't agree with everything he wrote but he had many good items to extract. He talked a lot about drugs and it made me want to try the legal ones that he suggested like Modafinil (the one the movie Limitless is based off of). Then he got lost in the drugs so maybe I won't take them now. He also said multiple times that he's going to live to be 180.
Notes:
The most important things for the successful people are nutrition, relationships, and self awareness.
An author like that A-word Tim Ferriss, doesn't make him person an expert or successful.
Weasel word #1 is can't. When you use the word "can't", it robs you of power and crushes innovative thinking. When you say "I can't do that" what you actually mean is one of four things: You could use some help doing it, you don't currently have the tools to do it. You simply don't know how to do it, or you just don't want to do it. Can't is always a lie.
Weasel word #2 is need. Replace it with the truth, you want, you choose, you decide.
Weasel word #3 is bad. The majority of the time, when you say something is bad you really mean you don't like it or don't want it. Bad creates a false binary. Things are more than just good or bad. When you label something bad you miss out on an opportunity for how to figure out it can be good.
Weasel word #4 is try. When you hear the word try, you assume that whatever you are going to try to do might not be possible. It gives your brain an out. Try gives you an excuse to fail.
Your beliefs inform how you experience the world.
I need to look up Jim Qwik who trained Professor X.
For reading well: F: forget A: active S: and I didn't hear the rest of them dang it. T:
Hack your memory by teaching your brain to think in images rather than words. When you visualize something, information takes a shortcut on the memory part of the brain skipping over short-term memory and going into long term. Out of the 5 senses, our sight is most important to the brain because it is tied to our survival. Poor quality light sources drain a lot of your brains energy. That is why temptation is much worse when it's super late at night. You should be at home instead of fornicating, dang you people.
When visualizing use the first image that comes to your mind and make sure it's in 3D. Your brain remembers it better.
Self awareness is an intimate understanding of the normally subconscious factors that motivate you.
Reading glasses make your eyes weaker?
How does stupid Tim Ferriss say he can gauge his happiness setpoint to be 15-20% higher by taking a hallucinogen?
The breath is the world's most powerful drug. And Holotropic breathing is how you can engage in it. For example, he remembered a lot of details of his birth because of holotropic breathing and he was able to find all the trauma that he experienced. Newborns need to be held right away from birth to avoid that trauma.
Innovation doesn't happen unless you're willing to break the rules that other people have written.
The entire lining of your digestive track is replaced every three days.
People usually want to help others when given the chance.
There's a 4th state of water between a solid and a liquid and it's highly viscous like honey. It's called Exclusion Zone (EZ water). It's the type of water that's in our cells. And I guess that when you mix gi (butterfat) it creates EZ water.
The five minute rule is to give yourself 5 minutes to be negative and complain then stop after that.
Porn is the high fructose corn syrup of sex. I'm glad he condemned watching it.
If you don't get enough sunlight in the day (produces serotonin) and then you won't get enough melatonin to help you sleep at night.
Sitting for 6 or 7 hours a day can undo 1 or 2 hours of exercise.
He says that long distance endurance exercise ages the brain. Nope, nope, nope. Wrong there Dave.
Canola oil didn't exist until 1985 and it's the second most used vegetable oil in the US.
Use Olive oil for finished dishes, not for cooking. I don't know why it's bad for cooking.
Vitamin K2 helps heal cavities by keeping calcium in their place. I've always wondered about what people did before dentists, and apparently teeth can heal themselves.
The stem cell transplants (the non ethical kind) seem all neat.
End goals fall into three distinct buckets: things you want to experience, ways you want to grow as a human being, and ways in which you want to contribute to or leave your mark on the world. When you set practical goals for yourself, take the time to consider these end goals.
Life's most important things, aren't things.
Only 10% of empathy is hardwired. The rest is learned.
"Success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure." Tony Robbins
Hahah JP Sears made fun of him and the bulletproof thingy.
Don't hang out with like minded people because they don't help you grow. Hang out with like hearted people because they are accepting of you. So how does that apply to marriage and having similar goals?
I guess back in the Olden Days our ape ancestors had open relationships or something. I don't see how this is. He seems to be for it. But at least he says it's not for everyone.
I guess a long time ago people didn't approve of meditation like how we don't approve of drugs today.
I'm a huge fan of Dave Asprey! I've been battling with some health issues for the last 2 years and I've learnt so much from his books - Superhuman, The Bulletproof Diet, Fast This Way, and Head Strong. Game Changers expands on areas touched on in these other books and also takes the reader into whole new directions. It's an incredibly informative read with advice on many areas of health and wellness including nutrition, sex, sleep, priorities in life, meditation and breathwork. Dave introduces expert in these fields, shares fascinating stories about them and summarises their advice. At the end of each section, Dave references books and podcasts, allowing the reader to explore topics of interest in greater detail.
There's nothing you can't do, as long as you use your limited amount of time and energy in a smart way. That's what today's free book on Blinkist is conveying:
Our bodies and minds are held back by unhelpful patterns of thoughts and behaviors, which revolve around food, fear and sex. By understanding how our bodies and minds work, we can overcome these patterns and enhance our ability to generate, preserve and deploy our time and energy. With a clear conception of our goals and by carefully setting our priorities, we’ll be in an optimal position to succeed.
What I liked the most was the advice that not everyone is meant to get up ridiculously early in order to be successful. Not everyone is a lion. There are also wolves, bears, and dolphins, none of whom do particularly well getting up in the middle of the night... So you first need to find out how you can be the most productive, then adapt your schedule.
Another advice that amused me a bit, but that is actually pretty smart, is that you should eat like your grandma. Or rather, like she used to when she was young, pre junk food and super sized portions and unhealthy snacks etc. I kind of like that idea.
Contrary to the title, there is nothing game changing or groundbreaking in this book unfortunately. To be honest, it seems much like old wine in a new bottle. An unnecessarily long winded book with buzz words like "biohacking" which essentially boil down to taking good care of yourself through better nutrition, good quality sleep, meditation , being kind to yourself, positive affirmations, gratitude and focus on relationships. The basis is sound of course. It's just that it is much the same of what has already been covered in so many self help books. It borrows heavily from philosophies like ikigai and kaizen to name a few. Best skimmed through in my opinion.
Some of the psychological tips sounded useful, to the point that I initially thought I might want to read this book in its entirety, but then the pseudoscience started creeping in and I ultimately couldn’t get past it.
I was planning to give this book four stars right until I got to the chapter about wealth. There are very few things that grind my gears quite as much as a millionaire preaching about how money doesn't buy happiness.
Dave's podcast was called "bulletproof radio" running for several years. It has been renamed to and now changed to "Human upgrade". He met world renowned personalities who all are into hacking (including bio hacking ) to get smarter, faster and happier. Each of the laws is based on one of his guests.
You don't have to agree with all the suggestions but there are some good nuggets here.
There are three ways to get better - A. Smarter, B. Faster, and C. Happier A. Smarter Chapter 1. FOCUS on your strength not weakness. Learn to say NO.
Chapter 2. Get into the habit of getting smarter. Learning to remember from Jim Kwik.
Chapter 3. Use smart drugs like LSD etc. Not sure I agree with these (but you can read Lifespan for this section). Go to burning man, vipasana, ayahuasca
Chapter 4. Disrupt Fear. Gratitude turns off the fear. let go of hard feelings. Here is the hierarchy and since mind is lazy. It wants to stay at the lower level. a. happiness and freedom b. Fear c. anger and pride d. sadness e. apathy and shame
Chapter 5 Even Batman has a bat cave. Take breaks. Morning routines.
B. Faster Chapter 6 Sex is an altered state. This one is weird, so skip
Chapter 7 Find your nighttime spirit animal. This is anti-consensus thus interesting. Waking up early does not make you a good person. You can be a bear (50% of people), or Lion (early risers ), wolf (late nighter) or dolphin (insomniac ). Try to get adequate sunlight during the day. High quality sleep is better than more sleep. Don't sleep on your back (really?).
Chapter 8. Throw a rock at the rabbit don't chase it. Flexible people kick more ass. try yoga
Chapter 9. You get out what you put in. You normally eat when you feel a lack of love or connection. Don't eat like a caveman eat like your grandma. Don't eat veg oil. Eat lots of vegetables Consider a viome test. Take vitamin k2
Chapter 10 The future of hacking yourself is now. Oura or fitbit. Get stem cells injections
C. Happier Chapter 11. Being Rich wont make you happy, but being happy might make you rich. Once your basic needs have been met, more money will not make you happy. If you have secured a nest egg, protect it with your life. Focus on the journey and not the destination.
Chapter 12: Your Community is your environment. Social interaction impacts your brain chemistry. Community leads to happiness. You secrete Oxytocin, when you are with people you like. Create a safety net of people around.
Chapter 13: Reset your programming. MEDITATION. Morning shower with cold water as suggested by Wim Hof
Chapter 14: Get Dirty in the Sun. Go for a hike. Natural sunlight but also consider supplements like D, K2 and A.
Chapter 15: Use Gratitude to Rewire your brain. Gratitude can turn off the fear. Go something kind daily. Every night before going to the bed, think of three things you are grateful about. Speak in calming, more soothing voice. Forgive, but do not be sorry. Gratitude is like a muscle, exercise it. Like keep a gratitude journal, practice mindfulness, Rethink a negative situation, appreciate actively, Fill a gratitude jar and practice gratitude with loved ones, Take a gratitude walk. Write a thank you note. Practice combining gratitude and forgiveness.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
It’s always intriguing to read or listen to anything presented by the father of bio hacking, Dave Asprey. And this book is no different, it is a summary of some of the most important interviews he conducted with experts in different fields on his podcast Bulletproof Radio.
The range of topics are pretty diverse: from the science behind “willpower muscle”, to the “codes” we insert into our supercomputer brain, to neuroplasticity, meta moments, stem cell, minimalism, a super weird chapter on LSD, the 4th state of water after liquid solid and vapour, the importance of recovery, “mindfulness masturbation”, the science behind shamanic medicine, a very useful fear-happiness spectrum, to human zoology (yes that exists).
The book also analyses fluid intelligence and how to raise our memory capability by 40% using scientifically-proven methods, altered state using breathing meditation, the fact that “porn is the high-fructose corn syrup of sex”, why celebrating failures is a great bio hacking tool, why violent criminals have very high level of trace metals in their blood, a simple breathing technique to connect the left and right hemisphere of the brain, all the way to an interview with a dominatrix on BDSM as a flow-state-generating bio hacking tool. Fun!
It’s weird, it’s nuts, but it works, and scientifically proven. I guarantee that your reading experience won’t be a dull one, and you might just learn one or two new tools to hack your life with immediate effect.
4.5 stars Best personal development book I have read (not that I am well versed in the genre). What I liked about it and thought was different from other self help books I have read, is it gives actionable items and actual tips. It also contains lots of well researched information from a variety of studies and leaders in specific fields. I resonated with quite a few sections of the book and have come away with some inspiration. There is a few parts that are not really my kind of thing and I feel some aspects of the book may be pushing a certain agenda (like grass fed butter) which the studies might support, however there may be research to also support a different agenda. All that said, I will buy this book as I would really like to take my time to read it and go through each section individually and hopefully implement some parts into my life. Feeling well and truly motivated!
A nice book with lot of new information. Its truly a must read book if you aspire to enhance your performance in a while and be a Better YOU in any manner. I had found most of the chapters very interesting and well structured. The action plan kept at the end portion of each chapter is really helpful. This area of book helps us to conclude the core ideas of that chapter into a nutshell. Recommended listening and reading area is also an asset to the book. As a reader I must say that because of the presence of this area, This Book acts as a doorstep to several hundreds of informative books. If you really like to boost your performance, then this book is for you! You can also read this book if you love to travel into the world of BIO HACKING ☺️. Really a fantastic reading experience. Kudos to the writer and the bulletproof team for making this happen 👍
Bio hacking aneb jak cíleně oklamat své tělo a mysl, aby fungovalo v náš prospěch nad přírodní plán. No, jedním z těch tipů, kterým se tedy zrovna úplně řídit neplanuji, ale který asi hned tak z hlavy nevyženu, bylo, že muži mají mít sex co nejčastěji, ale orgasmus právě jednou za 30 dní, zatímco ženy přesně naopak.
A very sophisticated book but the best chapter was probably the gratitude. It doesn't matter all the content of the book but if you practice gratitude, things start flowing easily and eventually you can have the things you wanted.
Ухудшенная версия Тима Ферриса. В первую очередь тем, что многие советы выглядят сомнительными. Автор кажется сли��ком сконцентрированным на самовосхвалении и вызывает меньше доверия
I became more aware of my well-being and habits, a few points I am trying/ would like to try, but some I never will e.g. 'smart drugs'. Finished the first two sections 'smarter' and 'faster', but 'happier' I skipped coz I've read enough of that. P.S. doubt the creditibility/ effectiveness of some of the tips, e.g. the smart drugs suggested lack sci evidence. See if author will live to 180 yo as he said?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I've read most of Dave Asprey's books and try to getting in some form of Bulletproof coffee occasionally. I love the life hacks available at your finger tips, plus the various case studies for each hack allows you to better understand how you could implement them in your own life.
I don't have access to all his products, but thats fine - its a life hack, so you can tweak accordingly and gradually improve on it.
Don't read this book if you aren't willing to spend money on the loads of supplements, performance enhancers, and sleep hacks recommended by Asprey in this book. By the end of each chapter you'll have five new items in your cart on Amazon, some of which are created by the company Asprey owns. However, I will say that this is a good book and probably the best I've read in regards to 'bio-hacking' / self-optimization, so I would recommend it to anyone who wishes to delve into the subject.
Very self serving book. Bulletproof is promoted throughout as well as the use of LSD, hallucinogens and other drugs. Many of the stories are in other books. This one is not worth your time.
A book for people interested in performance and practical biohacking tips. Great recap on things I practice and great insights into new strategies to pick up