I didn't eat for 86 hours

Here's what happened ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Last week I did a three and a half day fast. I stopped eating on May 6th and ate again on May 10th. Why am I telling you about fasting? Because there's some lessons from the fast that apply to other areas of life. Fasting isn't new to me. Back in like 2010 I used to eat one meal a day way before intermittent fasting was a thing. I was in college at the time and I remember telling a kid I wasn't gonna eat until dinner. He literally said "Dude, you're gonna die." I did not die. I loved the discipline that came from fasting every day. I did one 3 day fast in college when I went to stay in a monastery in northern California. But since then I haven't done more than a 24 hour fast. I've been wanting to do a 3 day fast for awhile and finally decided last week was the right time. The protocol was simple: Don't eat anything on day 1. Just water and electrolytes. (And black coffee. There was no chance I was giving up caffeine during this time.) Days 2 and 3 I could have some bone broth. I had 300 calories of bone broth each day. If you don't wanna consider that a proper fast, that's fine by me. I don't care. I started the fast at 216 pounds and ended it at 207 pounds. So I lost 9 pounds in 3 days. I'd say about 2-3 of those pounds were fat, the rest was water. I lifted weights twice during the three days. Once on the first day and once the morning before my first real food meal. I also decided to fast from social media during that time. And I've continued that fast. Here's what I noticed... I had hours of intense clarity and focus each day. I felt super creative and passionate about the work I was doing. My ability to do deep work improved dramatically. I also had 20 minute to one hour bouts of feeling tired, groggy, and hungry AF. During those times I'd either go for a walk, drink some electrolytes, or lay on the couch and do nothing at all. I really enjoyed the experience overall. It wasn't fun. But it was interesting. I remembered how much I enjoy denying myself of short term desires. I really think that a lot of modern day life is about denying yourself immediate rewards. We live in the most reward-rich environment of all time. We have access to dopamine and pleasure at every turn. I can tell when I need a reset when I find myself opening up instagram when I go pee. I mean, that's pretty bad. Peeing takes all of 60 seconds, yet my brain wants dopamine so bad that I check my phone during those 60 seconds. Most people are the same way. I always find that I have a better ability to do work that matters when I rarely check social media. I know it's not a long-term strategy to be off of social media altogether. Social media is a necessary evil for comedians. I've had a couple videos go viral over the past week and it makes a huge difference. But that doesn't mean I need to be on it regularly. My business also makes a lot of money from social media. But that's primarily paid ads so I don't really have to be on it for that. So here's my new social media strategy. Post and ghost. I post a video then delete the app from my phone. My plan is to login to instagram a few times during the week to post videos. On the weekends I may leave instagram on my phone but probably not. I just don't see a net benefit in my life from more instagram. I also plan on doing a 24 hour food fast at least once a week and doing more fasting in general. Like I said, I've done a lot of it in the past so it's not real hard for me. Anyway, I don't know if that was interesting to any of you, but I wanted to share. I posted about it on Instagram and lots of people asked about it. I think the real takeaway from all this is just how important it is to deny yourself constant immediate gratification. (I've known this, but this served as a powerful reminder.) The world is more distracted than ever before. That means YOU have a HUGE advantage over everyone else if you're willing to be undistractable for just a few hours a day. Just start your day without fiddling with distractions and see how things change. It can be tough at first, but your brain adapts quickly to the new lack-of-stimuli. That's all for now. Talk soon, Ian "22 hours into a 24 hours fast right now" Stanley P.S. I made a course about getting more useful stuff done every day. It's called the 7 day money morning challenge. People love it. It's only $7. [ Click here to check it out]( Sent to: {EMAIL} [Unsubscribe]( Almost Passive Income, 13359 N. Hwy 183, Ste. 550, Austin, TX 78750, United States