We have a bunch of weird ideas. For example, we think people didn't evolve to exercise, so shouting about it all the time is dumb. Matter of fact, we think (based on good evidence, admittedly) that our ancestors who got their kicks from running about pointlessly mostly died young, removing themselves from the gene pool. You're the direct descendant of generations of people who looked outside, thought about running, and said ... meh.
We have other weird beliefs. We think, for example, that humans are a complex matrix of systems, some of which evolved to work together, some of which fight one another, and some of which can do either, depending on the circumstances. Modifying any or all of these can be thought of as analogous to pulling on levers, some of which act alone and some don't, often acting to un-pull the lever you pulled in the first place.
Weirdly (that word again), there are only a few levers worth pulling when it comes to health, even if thousands exist (many at war with one another). And most people pull too many levers or pull the wrong ones altogether, or just waste too much money lever-shopping. We want you to stop wasting time pulling fitness levers and pushing health switches, and ... simplify.
Health and Fitness Is Barely About Health and Fitness
Here is another weird idea: We think health & fitness is only barely about health & fitness. We mean that in the sense that you are more than your running shoes, favorite over-priced diet supplement, Apple Watch, health bro podcast, or expensive Internet-connected bicycle. Real health and fitness come from embracing the gains that come from simplifying all of your you, from your friendships & relationships, to your finances, to your work, to your goals and dreams, to, yes, remembering to move on a regular basis—with ferocious intent, as Howard likes to say.
This, of course, sounds ridiculously complicated, crossed with a little bit of woo. And we know that. I mean, how, you're thinking, can you write about simplifying health—it's simplavida.com, not complicatedvida.com—and then write that to be healthy you need to worry about 5x more things than you already do?
But that's not the way it works in practice. Or at least not in our practice. When you really embrace simplification—across all the above domains—things get easier, not harder. People. Make. This. Stuff. Too. Hard. Repeat that. Burn it into your brain. Because we don't do that.
People. Make. This. Stuff. Too. Hard. We don't.
We're not perfect. We don't have it all down to some science, whether the made-up bro kind or the real kind. But we've made enough errors for a few lives, and we want to share our errors and insights with you, without magic, whether moves, foods, or gear. It doesn't matter whether your goal is living longer & healthier, or, heaven forfend, running a race (more in an upcoming piece on why that's generally a bad goal), we're here for you.
In upcoming entries we will walk you through our beliefs in more detail, and how and why we think people go awry. And there are many ways to do that, and many people and products are set up to exploit it. We wish we could stop them from doing that, but we can't, so the best we can do is help you avoid the many pitfalls that come from complicating things, and embrace a simpler life, our guiding principle here.
But Wait, There's More
So, you're thinking ... blah blah simple blah blah newsletter blah blah. We get that. Newslettering you into simplification isn't a good idea, let alone a working one, even if we love newsletters like this which will always be free.
So, there is more. We have member-specific services coming, including:
- Regular (short!) podcast
- Monthly AMAs
- The second edition of Howard's bestselling book on simplifying longevity
- Starter kits
- Courses
- Paul & Howard text chats
- Things you can stop thinking about (TMIs!)
- Gear reviews (we're not against everything, c'mon)
- And more, all coming soon
We think it will be worth it, and we hope you will think so too.
Welcome to Simplavida. We're glad to have you with us.
Signed,
Howard & Paul
