Siim Land

@egoeimai The key is still abstinence because you can only fast for a few days but it takes several weeks to change a habit. A fast is a great way to cut the cord right away and get you started but you still have to stay consistent.

Your interest in enlightenment and spirituality is a reflection of the level of your consciousness. It's a vicious cycle and highly dependent of your environment, conditioning and chance. People only become curious after something profound and mystical happens to them, they face a crisis, have an experience, read something or when being influenced by external circumstances. To be honest, it's not their fault, but at the same time - there are no obstacles in the way.

The easiest and most effective way of getting rid of any addiction is abstinence. You're not really craving for the particular stimulus - sugar, cocaine, or alcohol - but for the surge of neurochemicals, you release. In particular, dopamine. Research has shown that the highest dopamine release doesn't happen when getting the reward - eating the candy or shooting coke - but during the anticipation of the reward - you really getting excited about it. Why can't you stop? Because you're stuck in the feedback loop - cue, routine, reward. You have to get out of the vicious cycle and distance yourself from the stimulus for a while. This way, your dopamine receptors can reset themselves. The same thing happens with insulin resistance, caffeine tolerance, and alcohol addiction - you need more and more to get the same effect. So, the best way to overcome any food addiction is to FAST for a few days. This way, your taste buds will be reset and your mind will be rejuvenated as well. In my own experience, I always attain a much clearer and long-term perspective on nutrition after a long fast. Try it out.

Dolce & Gura

It's very similar to Abraham Hicks and The Secret because of visualizations and attractions. The difference is that The Master Key System brings in a lot of the techniques Napoleon Hill discusses in Think and Grow Rich, so there's a lot of practical knowledge. In brief, the biggest lesson I got from the book was that of focusing on what you want to accomplish and concentrating most of your efforts on your vision - hold it in mind, see it, feel it, then take action towards it. It's a very inspirational read, especially the audio version, but there are no secrets....you have to do the work.

To be brave you need to be scared

I think Julien has undergone a massive transformation himself and his personal brand is just levels beyond merely pick-up now. Although this is a new topic for him to tackle, it seems he's handling it quite well. Haven't bought the product but it appears to be legit. I saw him live on freetour where he talked about the basic premises of his course and it was awesome. Nevertheless, for me, the greatest downside is that his videos and the way he's selling it may make one feel like there's indeed something wrong with them. I mean...have you seen the transformation videos of the people? It looks like they're going through some massive breakthroughs and uncover deep psychological traumas. We all have some unconscious problems but in his words, it's like we're all fucked up beyond the point of return unless we go through transformation mastery. Maybe I've already solved at least a few of my limiting beliefs but will I be able to eliminate all of them completely? What if I'm already transformed?

The Hero's Journey is just everywhere. I mean... The Odyssey, Star Wars, The Matrix, The Lord of the Rings, Zelda...It's the greatest story of them all. I' ve made a great video explaining all of the stages as stated by Joseph Campbell and have added examples from the popular movies.

Start doing bodyweight exercises, like push-ups, pull-ups, squats, lunges, planks, handstands - all you need. Add some yoga and plyometrics, you'll be a beast. Other easy ways to burn calories would be to take cold showers, do intermittent fasting and regular walking. Movement is one of the best anti-depressants and euphoric agents that will alleviate depression and anxiety. Hope this helps.

@Fishmonk @dude Thanks!

Why haven't you achieved your success already? What stops people from doing what they know they're supposed to do? Steven Pressfield in his book The War of Art calls this invisible force RESISTANCE - the inner feeling of turmoil and the surmounting procrastination that ensues. Resistance is accompanied by fear, anxiety, pushing things off and not taking action. Basically, it's the reason for your writer's block, indecisiveness, lack of progress in your health pursuit and everything else you haven't done yet but know you need to do. You'll make numerous excuses as to why you're not ready, why it's not the right time and on and on... The key to overcoming resistance is taking massive action - moving towards your fear and acting in spite of it instead of blindfolding yourself from it. Pressfield has another book called Do the Work - you have to do the work to get what you want. If you dare to have big dreams then be willing to accept the work that's necessary for them to turn into fruition. Everyone gets resistance - Pressfield, Usain Bolt, Albert Einstein, you, and I - but those who accomplish great things manage to do their work despite the feeling of resistance. They've turned PRO - another Pressfield's book (Turning PRO). The difference between an amateur and the pro is that the amateur loves their craft but hasn't committed to it completely, whereas the pro loves his craft even more because of having dedicated themselves to it wholeheartedly. You HAVE TO TURN PRO. There will still be resistance but as a pro you ignore it, stop procrastinating and just do it. Pressfield's books are a must read for anyone wanting to make actual progress in their creative work, personal development and success in life. How's your relationship with your Resistance? Check out my video about it: Overcome thy Resistance, Stay Empowered! Siim

I love the slogan and it's quite true. Nearly 80% of all back pain, buckling knees, crooked spines, and tendonitis' are caused by too much sitting. At least it makes it's not helping in any way. Exercise itself won't compensate for sitting for hours. It can actually make it worse. Imagine what your knees will feel when you go to do heavy back squats after having sat down the entire day - PAIN, I'm telling you! After I started incorporating mobility exercises and movement breaks throughout the day, I've increased my range of motion and flexibility while having prevented all joint pain. I use a standing work-station, which is just amazing. It keeps me mobile and the mind stays alert as well. However, trading sitting for standing is still bad if you continue to be in a single position for a long period of time. You have to stay in motion throughout the day. The best position to be in is the next one. We should all pay more attention to this. I've made an overview video of the exercises we should all do daily to compensate for sitting and standing. It's based on Tim Ferriss' book Tools of Titans. Stay Mobile, Stay Empowered Siim

@Vytas I don't really count the exact macros I eat, but I follow a low carb ketogenic diet. So, maybe about 1g of protein per pound of bodymass, around 50g carbs and close to 200g fat or so. In my own experience, eating too much food can slow me down. Digestion is a parasympathetic activity, which ought to make you drowsy and relaxed. That's why I prefer to eat at night. Fasting on the other hand is sympathetic dominant, which increases adrenaline and makes you more focused. That's perfect for daytime and roaming around. Small snacks can work to push off hunger as well but I don't need them anymore because of keto-adaptation.

@Dan Arnautu @Vytas I eat a protein shake intra-workout before dinner but during dinner I eat plenty of eggs and some meat with other keto foods. This "one meal" actually lasts for several hours so I won't stuff myself full in one go. In my experience, I've actually managed to build about 7kg of lean muscle mass with minimal fat gain. Keto and fasting make your fat burning engine so efficient that you reduce muscle catabolism to a bare zero during the day.

I used to know a girl who spent a year learning Tantra yoga in Thailand and she was quite amazing. It was definitely a distinct experience because it's more than just pure sex - more like a sensual meditation-massage, if that makes sense. If a girl knows stuff like that, it's definitely something guys appreciate. At least I would.

I finish eating about 30 minutes before bed. The reason it works for me is that I eat only dinner and spend the rest of the day fasting. Those nutrients will be used for recovery and anabolism during sleep. If you were to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner then it wouldn't be optimal. It seems counter-intuitive but I've never felt better.

Time is one of our most valuable resources in life – you don’t want to waste it. What’s more, if you know how to manage your time better you would also be able to do more of what you love. The main principle to mastering your time is not doing more stuff but doing it better. Here are the 4 main time-management strategies Principle #1 Prioritize or Be Made Posterior The most fundamental premise of time management is prioritization – focusing on what’s most important. It all comes down to knowing what you want to accomplish and then directing the bulk of your efforts to achieving that. Principle #2 Be Efficiently Effective There’s also a big difference between effectiveness and efficiency. Being effective is about doing the right thing – i.e. your micro-focused actions leading to your macro-purpose. Being efficient is about doing things right. This is pure resource management. You can be very good at putting out fires but it doesn’t mean you’re getting any closer to what you want. The core idea is that you have to focus on doing the right things – the things you want to accomplish – as well as possible as to save time and energy. Principle #3 The Principle of Least Effort What this premise entails is doing the least amount of things for the highest yield of return. The trick to being more productive is to learn how to get more done in less time, without sacrificing quality. The most important questions you have to ask in here are: What is the ONE activity that would make everything else a lot easier or insignificant? How much time would I save if I did X and where could I put it to greater use? Which of these activities grants me the highest rate of return? But is the effort required to achieve those results worth it? How can I reduce the amount of energy I exert while still maintaining the same amount of quality? Do I have to optimize my work process or improve my skills? Principle #4 Addition Through Subtraction The principle of deduction entails you approaching your activities VIA NEGATIVA. It’s the art of addition by subtraction in which you’re supposed to first remove the downside before attempting to increase anything. In the context of time management, you would want to via negativa your activities like in the example of the Principle of Least Effort. Don’t pick up the newest and coolest productivity tricks and tools if you still have loopholes in the fundamentals i.e. the principles mentioned in here. Check out the video for more details Thanks! Stay Empowered

@ElenaO I eat mostly cabbage in a different form - raw, cooked and sauerkraut, and I feel great. Bloating has to do mostly with gut health not the food. Lettuce is also the top pesticide laden vegetables whereas cabbage, broccoli, and onions aren't. Funny, but that's how it is. For vegetarians, I would eat a lot of carrots, turnips, beetroot and white rice. An occasional sweet potato is also great. As far as healthy fats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and coconut flakes are probably the cheapest, while still providing as much nutrition as the more expensive nuts, like almonds or pistachios.

Eating healthy can be dirt cheap. And you won't become micronutrient deficient either if you use some supplements. The greatest fallacy surrounding healthy food is that some of the "healthier" products are better than others all because of the mainstream fitness narrative. An example: chicken breast is the most expensive part of the chicken but the least nutritious. Just because fitness gurus tell you to eat lean meats. I also cringe whenever I see people buying iceberg lettuce or other fresh salads. Yet again, virtually zero nutritional value in comparison to the price. Green leafy vegetables, the cheapest of which is ordinary green cabbage, will give you more micros, fibre, a whole lot of volume, and antioxidants. You don't need to buy organic fruit either because the nutritional value isn't very significant either. Fructose can only be metabolized by the liver and will only be used to balance your blood sugar levels, which can be done with other foods as well. Increase your body's endogenous fat oxidation and you'll avoid low blood sugar responses completely. The most expensive macronutrient is protein. Eggs are the cheapest sources of protein but they are also the richest ones. They cover the entire amino acid profile and have other healthy nutrients. So, you can get away with eating mostly eggs, add in some cheaper meats that are considered unhealhty, such as chicken thighs, and you'll be well off. As far as fat goes then you can get large tanks of olive oil in a dark container. I remember getting one of those when I was in the UK. Lasted me for months. Nuts can be expensive and you don't need them for the micros. Cheese isn't needed for nutrition either but can be a good addition for taste. When I was in the UK, I lived off about 5 pounds a day and I did just fine. These are just some of my cheap healthy food hacks. I might have more of them but I'll come back to you some day. Thanks Stay Empowered Siim

For those of you who don't know. Antifragile is the term coined by Nassim Nicholaus Taleb in his bestselling book by the same name. Basically, it's the opposite to fragile, which breaks under stress. The resilient simply endures and is robust. The antifragile is beyond resilience and actually benefits from chaos, uncertainty and disorder. His previous book the Black Swan, he sets the background for Antifragile. A Black Swan is an unexpected, extreme event with a huge impact and is often rationalized after the fact with hindsight. Examples: World War I, 9/11, the mortgage crisis of 2008. The idea behind being antifragile isn’t about merely expecting sh*t to happen and then accepting it as it is. Instead, it’s about not only surviving but also thriving in the adversity – survthriving. Taleb uses the illustration of the Hydra to describe an antifragile object. You cut off its head and 2 new ones grow back. Strategies for the antifragile body Resistance training - Lifting weights and doing heavy resistance training in any shape or form requires you to contract your muscle fibers at an immense rate. As a result, the body recognizes the necessity of increasing their size and efficiency, thus you get stronger and increase your bone density as well. The key notion lies in doing it HEAVY. A 400 pound deadlift is a much greater stimulus than lifting a pillow millions of times. High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) – By the same token, doing HIIT causes similar adaptations as resistance training. You’ll hit your cardiovascular system with a sledgehammer and thus create a much greater response than doing slow jogging for hours upon end. Intermittent fasting – The eating patterns of our ancestors were Black Swan events – feasts and famine. Absence of food is actually very beneficial for us. The body perceives that small stress response as a signal to maximize nutrient partitioning and speed up protein synthesis. You trigger immense growth and augmenting processes that clear your system and make you sharper. By the same token, if coupled with feasting, it can yield extremely anabolic effects. Cold/Heat exposure – Temperature is an external stimulus that causes us to regulate our core temperature. In the modern world we’re experiencing less fluctuations in this regard. We have central heating and can wear fluffy clothes to keep ourselves warm. Fermented foods – Eating food with live bacteria in them is incredibly good for the gut. This keeps the microbiome healthy and supports the immune system as well as your cognitive functioning. Eat sauerkraut, kimchi, raw unpasteurized milk, kefir, yogurt, pickles etc. Strategies for the antifragile mind Stoicism – An ancient school of philosophy, which basically teaches the person to be less dependent of external material objects, such as wealth, family and people. Instead, one should seek happiness in virtue and in oneself. Any negative event that happens to you is an opportunity to practice some type of virtuous behavior e. forgiveness, antifragility, adaptability, concentration etc. Practice via negativa – It’s the act of first removing the downside before you add more things to your life to make it better. You substract afflictive habits, activities, objects and people who make you weaker. Stop eating unhealthy food before you start taking supplements. Seek out novelty – Deliberately make yourself face new and uncertain situations. This forces you to adapt to the stress and conditions you to handling random events. Whatever happens to you, you’ll be able to benefit from it because of having the reference experience of over-arching adeptness. The Barbell Strategy – Taleb describe this method as a “dual attitude of playing it safe in some areas and taking a lot of small risks in others, hence achieving antifragility.” Small risks expose you to the potential gain you get from adversity, whereas playing it safe prevents you from completely being wiped out. For instance, keep your day job, but at night also take massive action on your side hustle. Slowly progress towards becoming completely independent. Get comfortable being uncomfortable – Getting too comfortable is the worst thing you could do to your antifragility. Constantly being on the positive side of life will condition you to become lazy and slow. You’ll “lose your gains” without constantly facing stimulus that forces you to adapt. The Hydra won’t grow a new head unless one of them gets cut off. You have to cultivate the skill of moving inside the eye of the storm and dwell in it. Once you get used to being uncomfortable, you could walk through hell and back without giving a damn. Examples: cold showers, walk in the rain, talk to strangers, do public speaking, do the things you’re afraid of. Maintain your mobility – Don’t grow too large and accumulate a lot of baggage, thus become fragile, if you know what I mean. Maintain your flexibility in everything you do. Don’t become too rigid with your activities. Always have a back-up plan and add redundancies e. 2 lungs, a savings account etc. Definitely don’t sell your second kidney. Also, don’t get too attached to anything in life, whether that be people, locations or events. Be willing to embrace Black Swan events at an instance. When it’s go time, you’ll know it and are ready. What separates us from the mythical Hydra is that we can choose to be antifragile. It was the nature of the serpent to have a self-growing physiology. We as humans have something similar but we also possess higher levels of consciousness. We’re meta-aware about Black Swans and antifragility, thus we can deliberately create environments of controlled randomness. I'm 100% sure you understand the benefits and importance of practicing antifragility in everything you do. Here's to becoming beyond resilience. You can read my blog post about this, in which I talk about some more examples about being antifragile and using Black Swan events to your advantage. Thanks

The 4 essential conditions for building muscle are: Train hard and heavy enough Trigger protein synthesis Be in a caloric surplus Adequate hormonal output (Human Growth Hormone and Testosterone) By following these principles, I've built pure lean muscle even on a ketogenic diet. You being on a vegetarian/vegan diet, you would want to eat plant-based foods with enough protein. The myth around needing massive amounts of protein is a fallacy because most people don't eat that much anyway nor need to. Around 1g/lb of lean body mass is a great estimate to aim for. As far as the sources go, you would still need the full range of amino acids. You might want to consider getting some branched chain amino acids but they aren't essential. Eat vegetables, nuts, seeds and starch for glucose. Fructose has no seeming effect on building muscle because it can be only metabolized by the liver and ineffective for replenishing muscle glycogen. Hope this answers some of your questions. Stay Empowered Siim

@Annie I take algae supplements. Spirulina and brown sea weed.

All great people have a One Word that will describe and define them. For Steve Jobs it was ‘Impact,’ for Martin Luther King ‘Equality,’ and for Muhammed Ali ‘Greatest.' What would be Your One Word – a single word that would sum up everything that is you? What is most characteristic to YOU? What do you stand for? What is your purpose? Your mantra of excellence? Evan Carmichael's book called Your One Word will help you to find the answer to that. Evan's One Word is #Believe, Mine is Empowered. What about you? Thanks, Stay Empowered! Siim