My previous post about the book Moneyball in a nutshell:

Figure out what matters most and relentlessly pursue that (and nothing more)- even when it looks unorthodox.

This paradigm has got me thinking a good deal about running start up businesses- which I do by day.

In the early days of a company, cash is king. The company needs to:

1. survive on a limited budget and
2. find something that works.

There is not a lot of excess capital for “ideal” solutions.

My current company is in this start-up phase. We’ve been proving our business model (ie. figuring out how we are going to make cash), and we’re just starting to find that we are onto something. We’ve had to approach our business, particularly hiring, with a Moneyball mindset.

How the business works

Broadly speaking, our business requires two types of people:

1. computer people and
2. people people.

The ‘computer people’ build our online service (engineering team). The ‘people people’ sell that service and make sure that our customers are happy with that service (sales, marketing, account management).

The computer people have to have a developed technical background. There is no way around that.

The people people though, for the most part*, simply need to be:

1. excellent communicators and
2. tenacious in getting things done.

The Perfect Farm System

We haven’t had the budget to hire a sophisticated team of enterprise sales, marketing, and client services professionals. Instead, we’ve actually had the most success hiring people transitioning out of the non-profit world.

Oddly enough, we’ve found non-profits to be the perfect farm system. They produce passionate people who can communicate through complicated situations and creatively find solutions on a limited budget.

Unusual Team, Unusual Results

Frankly, it’s not the most orthodox looking team of business professionals, but it has worked remarkably well.

Defining the Offering

As a business is defining its offering, it can be a hinderance to have a room full of people who know how things “should” be done.

Our business is at the forefront of an emerging market (Crowdsourcing). Moreover, the software and services that we provide have themselves been emerging and are just beginning to crystalize into more standard offerings.

In this context, flexibility and innovation are paramount. We have been able to thrive in this stage of our business because our team was not built to fit a specific type of service or a specific type of delivery. Rather, our team was built for flexibility and innovation.

Defining the Culture

A somewhat unexpected benefit of hiring a non-traditional team is that we’ve built a non-traditional culture. I have myself been surprised at the energy and goodwill that exists in an organization where people truly believe that the work they do provides value to the world.

Yes, by definition we are growing into an enterprise sales and service delivery company. BUT we are doing more than that. We really believe we are transforming the way work gets done and for the better.

Moneyball Forever?

If we are successful enough, budget will not always be the same constraint that it is today. This is a dangerous thing in that constraints force you to focus exclusively on what matters most.

That said, to provide the value that we know we can, we need to continue to evolve as a company. Part of that is hiring into our team some seasoned veterans who know how to scale a company like ours from the start-up phase to maturity.

One downside of having a team without too much industry specific knowledge is that we need to figure out most things from first principles. While this scenario often breeds innovation, it also forces us to spend precious time reinventing the wheel where innovation is not needed.

Sometimes the most effective thing to do is to buy the ability to move faster. For this reason, it makes sense to sprinkle our roster of emerging phenoms with some tried and true superstars.

As well, without some veterans on the team, we are far too liable to make costly mistakes that are really only avoidable with prior experience. These mistakes get more costly as our business grows.

The Road Ahead

Deciding to add a few perennial all stars to a lineup of scrappy up-starts is a dangerous proposition. We need to add experience and expertise without killing the innovation and energy that has made our business disruptive (a good thing in business speak).

Veterans Who Get It

For that reason, we need to hire a special breed of veteran all stars, who:

• Embrace the energy and mess of innovation
• Are ready to learn from scrappy up-starts
• Lead and mentor upstarts into maturity (as opposed to manage them into frustration)
• Empower these former upstarts to do the same with their own crop of scrappy up-starts

A Home for Players in Transition

The author of Moneyball points out that the Oakland A’s would discover a talent who the market had undervalued, and a few years later that undiscovered talent would become a proven star. Often, the star then was enticed away to join a powerhouse roster like the Yankee’s.

It’s extremely important that our company is always home to undiscovered and emerging talents.

It is also important that as our company grows it becomes a place in which the smart scrappy employees of today can grow into the seasoned professionals of tomorrow- that is, as long as they remain scrappy .

Unlike a baseball team which only has 9 spots on the field, our business will become home to more and more employees as it expands. That means that we have room for employees at various stages of development. It also means that our business will develop as our people do.

The best thing we can do for our business, then, is develop our people.

Do More With Less

One of the core values at Zappos is:

Do more with less.

I love this because it promotes a start-up spirit as a core value for a mature (non-start-up) business in Zappos.

As our business grows, that is a must have value for our employees- the scrappy up-starts and seasoned professionals alike. No matter who you are or what stage of development you are in, you will do more with less.

This excites me not because I’m a hard ass. It’s exciting because I’m a sucker for creativity and invention. The ‘more with less’ constraint forces smart people to be even smarter and more creative. And that’s just a fun environment to be in.

*Footnote: The definition of the ‘people people’ skillset  is an oversimplication.

Common wisdom is often just that for good reason. Sometimes though common wisdom isn’t really wisdom at all. Instead, it’s misperception on a large scale.

Adhering to common wisdom that is founded gets you in the game. Discovering commonly held “truths” that are really misperception, puts you in a position to win.

That’s the punchline of Moneyball, a book I recently read and thoroughly enjoyed.

What stats really matter?

Okland A’s general manager, Billy Beane, was tasked with fielding a team that could compete with the likes of the Yankees on a shoe string budget. He was not going to outspend the Yankees (in fact, his entire payroll would be less than the yankees first four batters). So he set out to find inefficiencies in the market and exploit them.

To do this, he worked closely with a statistician (known as a sabermetrician to baseball geeks) to uncover common misperceptions amongst major league baseball recruiters and managers.

Offensive stats that major league baseball teams value:

• Batting percentage
• RBIs
• Homeruns
• Stolen bases

Offensive stats that are statistically significant to generating runs:

• On base percentage

and as a distant second:

• Slugging percentage (total bases divided by at bats)

As well, Beane and his crew found that major league teams drastically overrated the importance of defensive fielding as a factor for inserting a player into the lineup. It turns out that a good offensive player (ie. someone who manages to get on base) contributes far more to the outcome of the game than someone who was known as a “good” fielder (fewer errors).

What to do with the stats?

It is one thing to uncover a misperception. It’s another thing (a more difficult thing) to act on that insight. Acting on an uncommon insight often leads to criticism from both peers and outsiders used to the status quo.

Beane’s ability to shake off the hater’s and follow his findings is as much a part of his genius as unearthing those findings in the first place.

Here’s what Beane did with his findings:

• Made it his mission to find players who were in one way or another “defective” but could get on base
• With his top draft choices drafted players who would normally be drafted in the latest rounds, with the condition that they’d be willing to sign for half the salary of the surrounding draft picks
• With his higher draft choices, drafted players that were shocked to be drafted at all
• Refused to draft players out of high school (not enough statistically relevant information to make an accurate prediction on their performance)

And the team Beane created? The most unassuming, unathletic looking group of misfits in all of baseball… who just happened to win more regular season games than any team in baseball (The Yankees included).

Straight moneyballing out of control

What does this mean for you and me? What are the applications for how we approach our lives (and our work)?

I’ll have some more thoughts on this in the near term, but some immediate questions that I’m aking myself:

1. What are the things that I most value?
2. Where do I spend the majority of my resources (time, money, energy)?
3. Does the way that I spend those resources yield the highest possible return? (Ie. Bring me the most and best of what I value?)
4. If the answer to the previous question is NO in any areas of my life, do I have the courage to make a change- even if it looks unorthodox?

If I can analyze even just one or two areas of my life with this progression of questions AND take the appropriate action, I will be straight moneyballin’ out of control.

Waking up in Cambodia and going to sleep in Japan = Culture Shock. If Cambodia is a developing nation, Japan is the future. Tokyo is neat, clean, well organized and ridiculously busy.

Frankly, at first, I missed Cambodia. Japan just seemed too together. Everything worked (extremely well); Nobody pestered me on the street- in fact, when I approached people to ask directions they seemed startled; and the weather was perfect (not too hot, not to cold).

Englishless

Unlike the other places that I visited in my (limited) trip around Asia, English was not prominent in Japan. There was little written English. The people seemed to understand English, but were very hesitant to speak English. Getting around, therefore, was far more difficult for me in Japan than anywhere else.

At first I thought this was odd because Japan is the most modern of all the countries I visited. Then I had the embarrassing realization that a culture does not have to be English (or European) speaking to be modern.

Japan is perhaps the most modern place that I’ve ever been, and they didn’t seem to need me or my English to be that way. This realization that America is not the center of the universe…

• exposed me to a bit of my own cultural arrogance

• opened my eyes to the reality that to be successful in the (not so) long term, Americans will need to adapt to and embrace other dominant cultures

• made me aware of how difficult it must be for non-english speakers traveling in America (and many other places around the world)

Loud yet subtle

The things that I first saw in Japan- fashion, technology, and entertainment- all were, for me, novel and fairly loud. That said, I found Japan to be an incredibly subtle place. The Japanese take great care in presentation and aesthetic.

• Even the smallest snack at a bakery was neatly wrapped and boxed with a style particular to that bakery.

• The presentation and design in the tiny hotel rooms that I stayed was simple, clean, and highly functional.

• The people that I met took an approach that was far from intrusive and yet still very welcoming.

What I’ll take away

1. Before going to Japan I would have acknowledged that America is not the center of the universe. Now I actually believe it.

2. Presentation is not everything, but it matters.

Combodia is perhaps the most charming place I’ve visited on my limited tour of Asia. It is also, in many ways, the saddest place I’ve visited:

Charming:

• Lively city life (Phnom Penh)
• Breathtaking beaches (Kep)
• Monumental history (Angkor Wat Temples)
• Warm welcome by beautiful people (all of the above locations).

Sad:

• Killing fields
• Kids with little postcards and charms begging, “Please, buy from me.”
• Kids pointing at the water or snack in your hands asking, “Can I have?”
• Tens of adults on a single corner offering the same service; a cacauphony of “Guide book, sir?” or “Tuk Tuk, Sir” or “Painting, sir?”

What, then, to make of it all?…

I’m no historian

I’m not a historian, and I don’t pretend to fully understand all the intracacies of the genocide in Cambodia’s recent past (or much of anything about its distant past).

That said, from the little I learned, a couple of things are apparant:

• Dividing families and turning a people against itself through extreme violence has to breed insecurity and distrust.

• Eliminating the country’s religous leaders, political leaders, and thought leaders certainly leaves a country searching for identity and direction.

It’s not hard to conclude then that Cambodia’s recent history has set the country back quite a bit.

I’m no expert on developing countries

I’m not an expert on developing countries and do not have much insight into Combodia’s forward progress.

However, my time in Cambodia introduced me to many people dedicated to speeding its development and progress. I fell in with a crew of ex-pats from places like India, France, Britain, and the U.S., who are all working alongside native Cambodians at Non-profits, NGOs, and socially minded for profit businesses.

Again, I can’t speak to the success of these organizations and I have no well-informed stance on the role foreign ex-pats should play in working with native Cambodians to develop the country. Still, this group is clearly a presence in Cambodia, and I must say that their passion to be of service is inspiring.

I do know people

One thing I do know is people, and the people I met in Cambodia left me impressed and hopeful.

The Cambodians

Before arriving in Cambodia, I spent all of 20 hours in Bangkok, which was long enough for me to get hustled into believing that the Grand Palace was closed and my afternoon would be best spent looking at Thai silks and diamonds.

The hospitality and authenticity of the people that I met in Cambodia was a refreshing change of pace.

• Phoe was our Taxi driver while touring the Angkor Wat Temples. Phoe came packed with a cooler of water bottles and an arsenal of stories about various topics like how rice is grown, the importance of education, Cambodians’ perspectives on other Southeast Asian countries, the effects of Khmer Rhouge, and politics in Cambodia today. When we were in the cab class was in session.

• Cambodia Mom as my ex-pat friends affectionately call her does everything from cooking and cleaning to costume design. While I was there, she gave a group of us a course in cooking traditional cambodian dishes like Fish Amok and Green Curry. She was constantly in motion and never stopped smiling. Cambodia mom didn’t do as much talking as Phoe, yet I learned just as much from watching her in action.

The Ex-Pats

Getting to know the ex-pat community in Cambodia was an unexpected blessing. I suppose people who travel to a developing country to live and work, self-select for the qualities that made my new ex-pat friends so endearing.

They were:

• Intelligent
• Adventurous
• Quirky
• Engaged

Parting Shot

I can’t speak to how well or how fast, Cambodia will develop. However, if the quality of the people that I encountered there (natives and ex-pats alike) is any indication, the country is well on its way.

The Thai word for “Thank You” is khobkun-Krub – that is if you are male. If you are female, the word is khobkun-Ka.

I’ve studied languages in which the ending of a word varies with the gender of the object being named; for example, hermano (brother) and hermana (sister) in spanish.

Never though have I encountered a language that adjusts the gender of a word based on the gender of the speaker. (That said, I’m no linguist and I’d bet there are other languages that do the same).

I’m not sure what to make of this linguistic novelty. Still, whatever it does (or does not) mean, I quickly found that giving thanks and paying respect is a meaningful part of Thai culture- for males and females alike.

The Male Thanks: khobkun-Krub

Image: Muay Thai fighters bowing to complete the Wai Khru dance

Muay Thai is a type of martial arts that originated in Thailand and has recently been getting some mainstream attention. I’d seen it on TV and the fighters looked pretty bad ass, so I couldn’t resist attending a night of local matches while in Thailand.

Observation:

• These fighters were indeed bad ass.

Another observation:

• Before each fight the fighters performed a Wai Khru Dance, which they complete by bowing in the center of the ring as a way of giving thanks and paying respect to their teacher.

An insight:

• These fighters who were about to attempt to battle one another into submission, started the fight in a voluntary posture of submission in order to give thanks and pay respect.

The Female Thanks: khobkun-Ka

Massages in Thailand run a tourist anywhere from 10 to 20 bucks. At that price, it’s hard not to get a message (or six) while in Thailand.

While the term Thai massage for some may carry with it shady connotations, a good Thai massage therapist approaches her craft as an art form. In fact, similar to the Muay Thai fighter’s Wai Kru, the massage therapist that I visited began each session by paying respect to her teacher with a series of bows and claps.

My Thanks

It seems that in Thailand, whatever the art form, gratitude is a part of the practice. My trip to Thailand was a good reminder to be grateful, especially to all the teachers and mentors (past and present) in my life.

I’ve been fortunate enough to sit under:

• great school teachers
• great atheletic coaches
• great health and fitness instructors
• great spiritual teachers
• great business people
• and great life mentors

To each and all of you: Khobkun-Krub!

Me with crazy street food vendor

How I’ve been eating here in Taiwan is interesting. But perhaps what I’ve been eating is an even tastier topic.

Since arriving in Taiwan, I’ve partaken in fair that is a bit unusual (for me); Things like:

• pigs blood
• duck’s neck
• chicken claws
• even a few chicken testicles

Most of these exotic foods have been surprisingly tasty. Still, they are not the only things I have eaten or the things that I have eaten the most.

To get the most representative sample of what all I’ve been eating, I figured it best to host a guided tour of a day’s worth of eating from street food vendors.

Street food is what I’ve been eating the most and what Taiwan is known for.

A few things to note before embarking on our tour:

• I’ve split the day’s food into breakfast, lunch, and dinner to keep things simple. However, as I noted last time, the Taiwanese tend to graze on small meals throughout the day.
• This is a lot of food. More than I would normally eat. Maybe more than my Taiwanese friends would normally eat, but not too much more. They continually eat me under the table.
• The whole day’s worth of food cost me no more than $15 USD. You can eat till your sick for 15 bucks a day. Note that I shared most of these meals and snacks with others.

Breakfast from Taipei street vendor ($2 per person)

From left to right Hot soy milk soup, Taiwan Style Omelet, Fried Breakfast Dumpling

Lunch and snacks at Chieu-Feng Market ($8 per person)

Rice Noodles in soy based sauce

Fishball Soup

Pork Sausage and Fish Sausage The darker pieces are fish

Artemesia Cake Riced based dough filled with sweet red beans*

Sweet Taro Ball Soup Rice dough and beans in a sweet soup served chilled with ice

Peanut Ice Cream Burrito [I took liberty with the name] Ice cream with shaved peanuts in an asian tortilla

Snacks and dinner at various Hualien vendors ($5 per person)

Steak Coffin Sandwich Thick piece of bread hollowed and filled with mayonaise, cabbage, and steak in a steak sauce

Fried Egg Crepe Deep fried egg served in a deep fried crepe smothered in hot sauce and soy sauce

Fish Belly Soup with Baby Water Spinach

Milk Tea Black tea with condensed milk

Hungry for More?

Check out my Taiwanese Street Food Album

So the cat is now officially out of the bag. I’ve headed to Asia and Taiwan is my first stop.

Before I left for Asia, I asked some of my Taiwanese friends for tips as to how to best spend my time in Taiwan. The response I got was unanimous:

just eat the food and the rest will take care of itself.

And so eat I have. My diet here has been a bit of departure from my recent fair. But it’s been a tasty departure for sure.

Before I get into what I’ve eaten, let’s talk about how I’ve eaten.

Frequent Meals, Small Portions

The Taiwanese seem to be always eating. From my limited experience, I’ve noticed that people tend to snack on a variety of smaller meals pretty much all throughout the day. Even the larger, more formal meals, are made up of multiple small dishes that are shared by the table.

It’s a very different approach to eating than what I am used to: 3 large meals a day in which I get one plate that is pretty much mine.

As well, the Taiwanese tend to consume far less “snack food” as we know it in America; things like chips and soda. Please do not be mistaken, from what I’ve observed (and partaken in) the typical Taiwenese diet is far from a super charged diet full of healthy food. A lot of it is fried and starchy. Also, while vegetables are present they aren’t prominent.

Still, I’ve noted a few advantages to how I’ve eaten here in Taiwan:

• there is more variety
• smaller frequent meals prevent binge eating
• frequent eating promotes frequent social interaction
• shared dishes also promote social interaction

Street food and night markets

I have yet to have a home cooked meal here in Taiwan. The streets are so littered with food vendors selling such a variety of low cost treats that I’m not sure if anyone here cooks. Or maybe, it’s actually the case that so many people do cook in Taiwan that if it’s not your vocation you don’t need to.

It’s these street vendors that supply the Taiwanese with a constant flow of mini-meals- served up street side, usually in a paper bag. For the equivalent of a dollar or two you can chomp down a mini-meal served hot off the grill, fresh out of the hot pot, or straight out of the deep frier.

At night, in various sections of cities like Taipei and Taichung, the street food vendors are joined by merchants who sell everything from novelty crafts to socks and shoes. It’s a festive atmosphere in which people mill around, hang out, and of course, snack on food. I’ve spent several nights strolling around night markets in different cities, each with its own feel.

Food for thought

My friends recommended that I come to Taiwan and eat. I have done just that. I am no foodie, but I must say the food has been as good as promised. Still, there is more to all this eating than just good food.

In just about every culture, eating is a social event. Taiwan is no exception. I’ve made several new friends here already, and most of those friendships started over a meal. In Taiwan people love to eat in large part because they love to spend time with one another. The Taiwanese eat often, they eat together, and they share.

Some say Taiwan is all about the food. I say it’s all about the people.

…

If you’re still wondering what exactly I ate, tune in next time for some highlights.

I have left the country twice:

• Once to Canada for a soccer tournament when I was 12
• Once to Costa Rica for a week’s vacation about 2 years ago

World traveler I am not. Frankly, I’ve never really had much of an urge to travel. For me, sight seeing is usually exhausting and museums are not really my thing. I don’t check in on four square, and so hitting up a destination, just to say “been there” is not for me either.

I generally enjoy people and relationships; places are secondary. And so, I’ve concluded that if I am going to travel, it’s going to need to be about shared experiences. I’ll need two things:

1. A traveling companion
2. Time enough in a place to meet and enjoy people

Fortunately, after my previous gig conluded, I found myself in that very situation. I had some extended time to travel and great traveling companion was available (my gf is on summer break from her graduate stusdies).

And so, I have headed East, way East, for the next 40 days.

What (not) to bring

Before I left though, I had to make a couple of important decisions as to what all I would (and would not) bring. I decided that if this trip really is going to be not just about places but also relationships, then I will need to be present in my new surroundings. Therefore, I left a few things behind, namely my laptop and my blackberry.

I am not a complete gadget freak or a total technophile. That said, I do spend just about every waking hour connected to one (or the other) of the two aformentioned contraptions. Thus, my decision to leave them behind certainly presents me with a new reality as I travel. It’ll be interesting to see what it’s like.

Are you nervous?

About being unplugged?

Not really. I am actually genuinely looking forward to leaving work behind and having a good excuse for not responding to personal emails in a timely fashion. As well, I’ll have internet connectivity in most of the places that I travel. I’ll be able to send out the occassional email shout out and hopefully blog real time.

About traveling?

A little bit. I am headed to some very different cultures. That doesn’t leave me panicked, but I have some small fears that I won’t know exactly what to do in various situations. As well, I think I’m a little self-conscious about being a rude American. It’ll be interesting to see if that is the case or if I just end up over-compensating, which may be equally as annoying.

Where are you going?

That’s classified information. You’ll just have to stay tuned for updates. I’ll reveal my destinations one by one as I travel.

Time to get my globe trot on…

So in my last post, I broke the big news: I had gone grainless. What I didn’t share was what that experience was like. And so here I am, ready to tell all…

The first two weeks were ROUGH

Before this experiment, I had a fairly healthy diet that incorporated lots of fruits of veggies to compliment more standard fair (sandwiches, burritos, and the occasional bag of chips). What I did not realize was just how dependent on sugar this seemingly healthy diet was.

It should be noted that I did not completely cut carbohydrates and sugar from my diet. I simply required myself to get these carbs (and sugar) from fruit in the morning and then vegetables and legumes throughout the rest of the day.

I quickly found though that these carbohydrate sources are not nearly as potent as a sandwich with chips or the occasional slice of pizza and an IT’S-IT.

Therefore, withdrawal ensued as my body acclimated to a world in which it was not living from one insulin spike to the next.

My state during these two weeks could be best described in two words:

• Irritable and Hungry

Two words kept me going:

1. Sunday. I gave myself one day a week to eat whatever I wanted (normally Sunday).
2. February. I knew in advance that this experiment would be tough at first and I promised myself that for the 28 days of February I would follow this diet religiously. After that I could choose the best way forward.

What DID you eat?

My hand. Kidding.

Breakfast

2-3 Pieces of fruit (grapefruit, orange, apple) and a whey protein shake

Lunch

Salad with olive oil based dressing and some sort of protein on it (cob salad, chicken caesar salad, spinach salad with)

Dinner

Fish with veggies (a lot of Weird Fish) OR Eggs with veggies OR occasionally steak with veggies

Snacks

• Various Trail Mixes from Trader Joe’s
• Lots of cheese and salami (not a really healthy option but what’s a guy to do)
• Bean soup (made a crock pot full at the beginning of the week)
• Dark chocolate from trader joe’s (late night snack)

Beverages

• Water
• Unsweetened Tea (ok, I cheated on this one and did a lot of sweetening)
• Plenty of alcohol to drown my sorrows (kidding again, though I did let myself have drinks with Friends a night or two a week).

Results were impressive

Wow you look good. Have you lost weight?

At about week four I started getting this comment regularly. This alone made the experiment worth it.

I actually hadn’t lost a drastic amount of weight (about 5 lbs at that point), but I had lost it in the right place: my belly.

My carb cravings subsided after about three weeks.

I was satiated throughout the day on a diet that was primarily vegetables, fruit, and protein.

If I missed a meal I didn’t find myself ravenously hungry or irritable. In a weird way, I was just content.

I slept soundly and felt energized throughout the day.

I’ve always had difficulty sleeping soundly, but it became much easier to sleep without all the sugar.

As well, I’ve always found myself borderline exhausted in the early afternoon just after lunch. This post lunch stopper pretty much disappeared.

Getting stopped (up)

February came and went, and I felt so good that it was just natural to keep going with a grainless diet. It seemed that this may become a way of life.

Until I got stopped by some, uh… serious constipation. I won’t go into detail other than to say that it was a genuine pain in the ass.

I am by no means a specialist on gastrointestinal problems, but apparently this sudden shift in my diet caused my gears to grind to a halt.

To remedy the situation I added some grains back into my diet (mainly brown rice) and cut down on the protein shakes. I started taking digestive enzymes to ensure that I was fully digesting my food as well as probiotics to build up my supply of healthy intestinal flora.

This combination got things moving again.

Going forward

Now, three and a half months after I first experimented with going grainless, I can say that it’s a way of life I am strongly in favor of adopting. Going forward, I can see myself continuing with a diet that is:

• Heavily plant based
• Full of quality (clean) protein
• Plentiful in healthy fats (high Omega-3 content)
• Ok with some legumes and a little rice
• Not religious to the point that I am afraid to eat out or cheat once in a while

Lesson Learned

That said, the process was not frictionless. Lesson learned:

Change is stress. While healthy stress is a good thing, too much change too quickly can create too much stress (a bad thing) and have adverse consequences. Make changes a step at a time.

Open Items

As well, I still have some open items that I am sorting through. Namely:

• How much of my protein do I want/can my digestive system handle?
• What’s the best way for me to get protein from clean sources?
• How much raw food do I want/can my digestive system handle?

2009 was about getting fit. 2010 is about getting ripped.

I’ve never really had muscles, but this year I will. If it’s the last thing I do, by God, I will be ripped! Not sure why I feel the need, except to prove that my body can indeed form that tissue that is commonly referred to as muscle.

2009 Made Sense

Growing up I was rail thin, but by the advent of 2009 I had packed on enough LBs for my family and friends to give me a new moniker: Chubs. As endearing as the nickname was, there was no way in hell I was going out like that.

I cut out beer pretty much all together, I stopped late night snacking, and exercised for 20 to 30 minutes 4 days a week or so. All in all, it was a pretty manageable plan that delivered favorable results: I dropped twenty pounds and the moniker.

Now I Want a Hot Bod

My 2010 goal appears to be more vain. And I think it is. Vanity though can be a wellspring of inspiration and energy. The trick I suppose is to use vanity as inspiration without letting it become your master. We’ll see how that goes.

At any rate, for me, dropping that stubborn five pounds of remaining belly fat and having muscles that are visible and defined was not happening on my 2009 regimen. I realized that to get great results, I would have to trade in my good plan for a great plan.

Work Out More?

One might think the fastest ways to being lean and muscular is working out a lot. This is not in the cards for me, for two reasons:

• I just don’t like working out enough to spend multiple hours a day at the gym.
• I inevitably injure and re-injure myself when I push workouts to long and hard

Fortunately, after doing some research I found that diet is the biggest single contributor to body shape and lean muscle development. That does not mean that exercise is not an essential component to developing a ripped physique. It is! Hours of intense daily exercise, though, are NOT essential and can even be counterproductive.

The Experiment: Going Grainless

I read Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson, author of Mark’s Daily Apple, and decided to experiment with what he calls a Primal Diet.

I committed to trying the diet pretty religiously for the month of February before drawing too many conclusions. I figured February was good as it is the shortest month.

As well, I shifted my workout plan to include a few short but intense workouts a week- maybe 1.5 hours total exercise time.

Following his plan (for the most part) my new diet looked something like this:

• No refined or whole grains (bread, pasta, cereal, chips)
• No refined sugar or corn syrups
• No starches (corn, potatoes)
• Lots of veggies
• Lots of fruit
• Lots of quality protein (fish, eggs, fowl, red meat)
• Lots of good fat (nuts, butter, olive oil, bacon)
• Some cheese and milk
• Some beans (though Sisson’s not a huge fan)

The Results

You’ll have to tune in next time to find out how the Experiment went, but I’ll leave you with some teasers:

• The first two weeks were hell!
• Two months later I am still eating Primal
• I will be posing for the cover of Men’s Health next month*

Also, if you found this post interesting check out a similar (much more intense) experiment that Tim Ferris performed.

*Ok, that’s a lie.