ERIC KIM

Barbell Living

Go super hard during the day, and super relax to recover as effectively as possible.

MEMENTO MORI

First of all, MEMENTO MORI (remember you will and must die).

To me, constantly thinking about death is probably the best way to be more ‘productive’ in your life. This applies to entrepreneurship (pursue things you give a shit about), and it also empowers you to LIVE MORE (memento vivere!)

Every day is equal to another

Everyday is equal to another. Which can mean:

  1. Today is a fresh slate (tabula rasa); a fresh new opportunity for you to do dope shit.
  2. Today may be your last day on earth; so don’t waste today.
  3. Yesterday might not have been a good day, but today has the potential to be a great day.

What is ‘barbell living’?

eric kim tufunga

I got the idea of the ‘barbell‘ from Nassim Taleb:

Embrace the extremes.

For example when it comes to lifting weights, don’t do pointless (and boring) repetitions. Instead, go for the ‘one rep max’ style of powerlifting (what I do with my deadlifts), and always push your personal maximum. And when you’re not “going hard”, you allow yourself to ‘relax hard’.

eric kim team tufunga

To me this is more effective than to ‘always be working’ at a medium-pace.

This means during waking hours, drink a shitload of black coffee, strive to be as productive as you can. And when the sun sets (and it is time to break your fast) — you can ‘eat hard’, and allow yourself to 100% recover at night (don’t do work, relax by reading a book or watching cinema, don’t look at screens, and strive to get 8+ hours of sleep to recover for the next day– to also go hard).

You already work hard during the day

To be frank, I think you already ‘go hard’ during the day. All of us work hard. Yet the problem is this:

We don’t allow ourselves to relax and recover in the evening.

For myself, I recover by:

  1. Not looking at screens or doing work at the evening
  2. Read books
  3. Eat lots of meat
  4. Having leisurely dinners with loved ones/Cindy
  5. Recounting the wonderful moments of the day.

Your life is short; never squander even a moment! And always recover and get ready for tomorrow (the eternal recurrence!)

ERIC