In a not too distant past, revolutionary innovators dreamed of a computer in every home.

Today we all have one in our pocket and our lives are indistinguishably connected to – and lived through – infinitely faster and more powerful, palm-sized versions of those computers.

These technological advances have significantly improved many aspects of our lives.

But there is a shadow to this exponential rate of advancement. Our biology does not, and cannot adapt as quickly as technology has progressed.

In many ways, our biology is at odds with the way we’re currently living.

Our brains are struggling to deal with the changes.

We’re struggling to deal with the volume of incoming sensory input and the level of connectedness in our new reality. It’s why we see our attention spans shrinking, the rise of digital detox vacations, and an increasing number of our friends (or ourselves) taking social media breaks.

Today, I’m sharing some ideas to reassess, and hopefully, improve our relationship with connectivity and the computers in our pockets through some personal experiments and some tips from the Center for Human Technology, whose mission statement is to “reverse human downgrading by inspiring a new race to the top and realigning technology with humanity.”

Technology and connectivity is only going to become more a part of the human experience. We’d be wise to find healthy ways to interact with it to ensure it enhances our experience rather than allow it to reduce our happiness, change our brain, shorten attention spans and decrease our ability to focus on what – and who – matters most.

The post BHP Shorts 021: Humane Technology and Social Media appeared first on Ryan Munsey.

When our brains create memories, they are a combination of fact plus emotional state at the time of the event.

Specifically, the limbic system’s amygdala is responsible for linking incoming data-based emotions (framed by evolution and societal constructs) to the mental states we call feelings.

What we need to understand is that our memories are intertwined with the emotions and feelings present during the original experience, as well as the emotions and feelings we affix to them after the occurrence – things like pride, joy, guilt, shame, et al.

I’m asking you to examine your most impactful experiences (memories) in an attempt to remove the emotional component.

What wisdom remains, staring you in the face?

What lessons can we learn, what wisdom can we pull from our memories IF we remove the emotions that cloud our perspective?

NOTE: Perspective, not judgement – judgement implies assigning value (good or bad) before we have a chance to examine the usefulness of the information.

The post BHP Shorts 020: Wisdom = Memory – Emotion appeared first on Ryan Munsey.

One of the biggest mistakes we can make is to allow our past to define us.

As the saying goes, “it’s not we are that holds us back, but who we think we are not”.

The stories we tell ourselves, those narratives we play in our own heads are more powerful than nearly all external circumstances.

Dan Freed is a perfect example of this lesson.

Dan went from self-proclaimed “f*ck up, high school dropout working at Subway” to a Michelin 3-Star chef in France where he walked away from everything he’d worked for to pursue an offer (full scholarship) for a prestigious graduate school program at Yale – all without that high school diploma!

Now Dan’s a serial entrepreneur and successful businessman who is committed to helping people overcome mental barriers – both physiological and psychological – and empowering them to live their best life.

Hear his amazing story and learn some valuable lessons on this week’s Better Human Project podcast.

The post BHP 064: Dan Freed | Mental Health & Formula Nootropics appeared first on Ryan Munsey.

Trying to be better than your rival may be holding you back.

By focusing on THEM, we remove our focus from what should be our focus – the PROCESS, and our own standard of excellence)

Our focus should be on our own growth and development in an effort to be the best version of ourselves, not on being better than someone else.

Let’s look at an example from sports:

Let’s say your rival is a mediocre team who beats you every year.

By mediocre, let’s call them a 6 or 7 out of 10.

If we focus on “just being better than them”, we may very well accomplish that goal.

The problem is, that only gets us to a 6.5 or 7.5. We’re good enough to beat that particular team (if we perform to our maximum capability), but we’re still only able to compete with teams/businesses/organizations in the 1-7 range.

We may beat our rival, but we still lose to the best. We still can’t compete with those at the top of our chosen pursuit.

On the other hand, if we ignore “them”, and turn our focus inward with the intention to continually improve ourselves, holding ourselves to the highest standard, we can approach life (or sport/business/etc) as an 8, 9, or 10 ourselves.

I’ve been fortunate to be exposed to this mindset in college at Clemson University, where Dabo Swinney brought the phrase “Best Is The Standard” that laid the foundation for a model of intrinsic evaluation. (In case you’re unaware, Clemson has won 2 National Titles in the last 3 years, so this focus seems to have some merit.)

If we strive for that standard and get there (or close to it), we outpace almost everyone – including our mediocre rivals – along the way.

This internal focus extends beyond who we compete with. It also holds true for who we may aspire to be – or be like.

Be careful who you emulate & model yourself after. Be careful who you compete with. Their ceiling will be our ceiling.

Don’t focus on your rivals. It’s not about being better than someone else.

It’s about developing the best version of you – not someone else.

Winners focus on winning. Losers focus on winners.

I like to always bring it back to this question: “Is this the best you can do?”

At all times, you know the real answer to that question.

Let’s make a commitment to doing the best we can for our current level of development – and always seeking to elevate that level of development.

Best (you) is the standard. Accept nothing less.

The post BHP Shorts 019: Don’t Focus On Your Rivals appeared first on Ryan Munsey.

High functioning systems – individuals, teams and organizations – depend on the flow of information.

This flow of information is the foundation of high performance communication and it is the lifeblood of great leadership and high performance teams.

Like an hourglass running out of sand, the cutting out of communication &/or information flowing into a complex system results in the drying up of information that can be relayed to those who need it most.

In this BHP Short, we share and build on battle-tested leadership principles from retired Navy SEALs Mark Divine and Jason Redman, along with Melin Co-Founder Brian McDonell.

TUNE IN for this can’t miss episode packed with lessons on effectively leading yourself, communicating with others, and being an invaluable member of any team.

The post BHP Shorts 018: Leadership As An Hourglass appeared first on Ryan Munsey.

If I asked you how much you squat, it’s likely that your answer would reflect your all time best, not necessarily what you can do right now.

Here’s the thing: I don’t care what you’re capable of when conditions are perfect.

I want to know who you are and what you’re capable of when adversity mounts against you.

We have a tendency to define ourselves by our peak moments – moments that make up a miniscule fraction of our existence – while suffering through needless self-induced torment and frustration when our “normal” days fall short of those exalted memories.

Think about how you do this in your own life: How often do you define yourself by your peak moments? (How much can you squat/bench/deadlift? What’s your best mile/marathon/Fran time? Do you define your professional life by a singular moment that lies in your past?)

Pause for a moment to reflect on those peaks: What conditions had to align for those peak expressions to materialize?

More importantly, could you replicate that performance right now? (Doubtful – after all, by definition, their peak nature means they’re abnormal occurrences.)

Look, it’s always easier to perform well when conditions are perfect and we feel our best.

I don’t care how good we can be in those instances.

I want to know how good are you at your worst. How good are you in adverse conditions?

How nice are you to strangers when life is using your genitals as a punching bag?

Forget “bests”. Elevate the baseline.

If you’ve noticed anything about life, you’ve likely noticed that conditions are rarely perfect.

So why design or create a system that requires perfect conditions? Life is chaos. How good can you be when things are not going your way?

I’ll argue it’s a more worthwhile pursuit to elevate our floor. At the very least, it’s equally important.

We’re not as strong as our personal best. We’re only as strong as the minimum we can handle on any given day.

Imagine, being able to say that on any given day you could never be worse than XYZ….and then raising that threshold over time.

This is what happens when traits become state independent. We develop the capacity to perform to a certain standard regardless of external circumstances.

Forget “bests”. Elevate the baseline.

I don’t care how good you can be when conditions are perfect.

They rarely are.

We all face adversity.

It’s not going anywhere.

We’ll all face more of it.

Who are you when conditions are not aligned in your favor?

We can have excuses or results, not both.

The choice is ours.

Who will you be? How well can you stay committed to the process when shit hits the fan? What results will you deliver in adverse conditions?

The post BHP Shorts 017: Who Are You At Your Worst? appeared first on Ryan Munsey.

Building something bigger than us requires vision, focus, patience, the right team, communication, and a relentless commitment to continuing education – just to name a few.

Master Strength Coach and Director of Sports Performance at Georgetown University Michael Hill has demonstrated all of these qualities as he has built Georgetown’s program over the last 15 years, and today, he joins us on the BHP to share some of his wisdom with us.

As director of sports performance, Coach Hill oversees 29 TEAMS – yes, 29 teams – at Georgetown University and he’s making a positive impact on thousands of student athletes while building a program and organization that emphasizes doing things the right way.

We talk about how he’s built the program with only a handful of coaches who had to make due with outdated facilities into one that features a first class staff, elite facilities, and a leading role in their field. Coach Hill’s role requires leadership in multiple layers: from developing his coaching staff and their interns, to all the student athletes they collective are charged with molding and shaping.

These are responsibilities that Coach Hill embraces with his whole being and I’m honored to call him a friend and chat with him on the Better Human Project.

The post BHP 063: Michael Hill | Georgetown Sports Performance appeared first on Ryan Munsey.

Books aren’t trophies.

The trophies come from making use of the knowledge contained within the books.

Nobody cares how many books we’ve read this week, this month, or this year.

What truly matters is what we’re doing with the information we’re consuming.

To that end, consider what is more important to you: finishing a book or acting on the “a-ha” moment and making progress in some area of life?

What are we chasing: making progress or looking like we’re making progress?

If we’re reading these books for development in some form, we must implement the wisdom shared with us in order to actually realize the benefit. When we encounter these nugget we’re looking for, put the book down and take action.

The post BHP Shorts 016: Stop Reading and Implement appeared first on Ryan Munsey.

You’re tasked with delivering a 1-minute speech: How do you use your 60-seconds?

In this episode:

Send us your questions or feedback via voice DM on Instagram @betterhumanproject_

The post BHP Shorts 015: 60 Second Speech appeared first on Ryan Munsey.

It’s human nature to seek pleasure and avoid pain.

This universal law is at the foundation of every choice we make.

Too often, we opt for immediate pleasure in order to avoid discomfort in the short term.

Problem is, what we want most is rarely aligned with what we want right now.

To say there are only two types of people – those who choose the path of least resistance and those who choose the hard path – is too binary.

The human experience is more complex than that.

But, it’s worth remembering that how we do anything is how we do everything.

So here’s what I’m asking you to think about:

Do you choose the easiest path, the path of least resistance? Do you let yourself off the hook? Do you have a tendency to choose what you want right now over what you want most?

Or do you seek the more difficult path? Do you seek the choice that offers growth opportunities and likely leads to that which you want most?

Those who seem most fulfilled in their lives have a habit of making the tough choice.

Those who seem most stuck, frustrated, and unfulfilled, seem to have a habit of choosing the easier path…

Have the difficult conversations. Tell the folks you love how you truly feel. Sit in silence instead of cueing up the next video, podcast, song or book so you can listen to the voice within you.

Make the hard choice. When we observe this choice from the witness perspective – or 30,000 foot view – there really is no choice to be made.

P.S. The advantages of making the hard choice are not just my observation – the famous Stanford marshmallow study lends scientific validity to the hypothesis that developing a disciplined habit of delaying gratification leads to greater success throughout one’s life.

The post BHP Shorts 014: Make The Hard Choice appeared first on Ryan Munsey.