This past week I was out at the 4th Annual Bulletproof Biohacking Conference in Pasadena. "Biohacking" means using tools/technology to manipulate (hack) your biology and environment for higher performance. Higher performance means whatever it means to you: the best body you want, being the most resilient entrepreneur, or the best parent you can be. Think FitBit on crack.

We're talking devices that monitor your heart and how deep you're breathing and that alert you when you are stressed and reminding you to take a second to pause for a few breaths. Resistance training that adapts to you midworkout to create maximum effectiveness of your workout in less time (five minutes once a week with similar results to an 1 hour heavy weights 3 times a week). Eating a diet 100% specific to you. Not just avoiding all foods you are allergic/sensitive to but also adapting to your physical needs in that day.

"Dylan, your testosterone levels are lower than usual this morning. Make sure you eat an extra serving of fat with dinner (walnuts, butter) and get to sleep one hour earlier than normal."

Interesting side note on testosterone...wonder if the pussification of America is at all linked to low T that comes from low fat diets? (Hmm dietary cholesterol is needed to synthesize testosterone) Sorry that's my butter cult talking.

Bulletproof is my cult. They are the brainchild behind putting grass-fed butter and MCT oil into your coffee and blending it. Sounds weird, tastes great, and actually has a ton of health benefits that are counter-intuitive including burning fat. I would recommend trying a cup. (c'mon drink the kool-aid...I mean coffee...try the coffee...it's OK!)

Anyway, it's both scary and exciting to know these technologies are coming down the pipeline....and things everyone injecting themselves with their own stem cells is coming faster than you might think. Below are the top 5 takeaways from the Bulletproof Conference.

1. Social Support

If you want to make a drastic lifestyle change join a cult. Social pressure is the number one thing holding you back from achieving whatever goal or dream you have. Whether that's quitting your job to start your own practice, dropping everything to travel the world, or asking that person out. We all have this vague fear of failure that is based off of disappointing the social group.

When you get social support behind whatever change it is you want to make it becomes infinitely easier. Odds are if you do want to make a change...your current social group/partner ain't gonna be too supportive (think crabs in a bucket). Our brains are wired that if we see someone make a big change we are forced to look at ourselves too. We don't like that, it takes too many calories. That self audit is too painful, so instead we slowly undermine that person's efforts

Friend: "Hey guess what, I'm moving to DC!"

You: "Oh awesome I'm so happy for you!! I hear that place is pretty expensive, but you're gonna have a blast though!"

It's mostly out of love. We don't want that person to quit their jobs, fail, and get hurt by it....but we still do it to each other and in order to break out we need positive social pressure in the opposite direction. You could potentially be going up against years of beliefs and bad habits and enablers in your current environment so some social support may be the exact thing you need.

2. The Loonies in the Cult

People on the cutting edge are typically viewed as weird. They are the ones have a little less fear than the rest and they tend to push boundaries. This isn't good or bad it just is. But it is these loonies that are the ones that are going to find that breakthrough treatment for you....that will be totally normal in ten years anyways.

For example: there are alternative cancers treatments using light radiation that are showing promising clinical results but your doctor can't legally recommend them. Literally shining a special form of IR light into cancer cells is showing promise to manipulate how those cells replicate and hopefully kill them off. Treatments like this are too cutting edge and because of certain lobbies in government from large pharmaceutical/insurance companies...doctors cannot legally recommend these kind of alternative treatments. If you just trust your doctor you're not going to know that there are new solutions of hope hat are working for some people and it might be too late for you.

Be on the cutting edge, don't be the last cabby driver in your city who won't admit Uber is inevitable.

3. You're Already in A Cult

Whether you like to admit you're in one...you're in a bunch. It's easy to point fingers and laugh at vegans, Crossfit members, or us chronic butter eaters and say they're strange. But what about you? Why do you keep buying iPhones? Why do you have the car you have? Why do you vote for the party you vote for? The best part about being in a cult is it makes you aware of all the other ones you're in that are more subtle.

Trust me...you're already sipping from multiple bullshit flavored kool-aids.

Consciously joining a cult gives you some perspective. Humans are social, it is 100% natural to want to feel a part of a group, just know why you are choosing the cult you are.

4. The 80% Solution

There is no one diet for everyone. There is no one workout for everyone. There's no one relationship for everyone. Your diet, exercise, and relationship needs are all going to change over the course of your life. The reason things like Paleo and Crossfit catch on is because they do work for a decent amount of people. They're the 80% solution. Things like Bulletproof and Paleo are some general health principles that get you pretty close to whatever is best for you but not 100%. That's why people get mad at diet cults, they delusion ally think there is a 100% solution for them.

Join enough cults and you find that where most of em overlap is where the golden nuggets of truth are. The only really consensus on health is some form of "Eat veggies and move". The rest is up for debate. That last 20% is for you to figure out what you like to eat that makes you feel good and what movement you enjoy.

5. Eliminate Fear - Russell Brand Theory

It's oddly empowering to consciously do weird culty stuff. This kind of links back to the first point. Social pressure is the biggest thing holding you back from getting the job you want, the body you want, the relationships you want. By consciously doing weird stuff and making it public you become "that guy". You become Russell Brand.

Russell Brand could do just about anything and get away with it because he is "that guy". You and me try to do some of those antics and we would lose 50% of our friends 100% of our kids in the divorce. But it's just Russell being Russell or remember even "Manny being Manny". We give some people a free pass to social pressure. You can slowly get this pass and become "that guy/girl". You can change people's expectations of you which lifts the fear from disappointing them. This means you can quit your job and try new things because its just "you being you"...a weird culty fuck! And suddenly there's not as much fear behind it because people really have no idea what to expect from you.

Til Next Time,

-Dylan

For some videos on the conference checkout my snapchat:

@drjeff19

Bonus: Manny being Manny