Posted on by therobinbull

Buzzword Killer: Biohacking

“Biohack” your life for a better experience! Be faster! Be better! Be happier! Be more productive! Blah. Blah. Blah. I mean, sure the word sounds cool. And if using a cool word gets you excited, by all means please do it. I’m all for whatever helps you as an individual. 

But I want to dissect this buzzword “biohack” (or “biohacking”). The root of the word is bio. You know, life. We all know what “hacking” is in the sense of life. I’m sure all of you have heard of Life Hacker. Maybe you’ve watched the TruTV show Hack My Life. Even if you’ve not read / watched those, you’ve found a shortcut that you use to make your life easier. 

Biohack = Doing What Works for You

Some of the articles I’ve read on biohacking list some crazy shit. Well, what I would find to be crazy. For some people, it might work perfectly well. And that’s kinda the point I want to make with this. Don’t get overwhelmed by a buzzword especially if you look into it because people seem to be raving about it and getting up at 5 am, running 12 miles, and drinking black unsweetened coffee with grass-fed butter and coconut oil (okay, I get up early most days and I like the butter coffee shit) and that shit isn’t anything that interests you…or that you dread it. (Although if you’re struggling with time management, stop hitting snooze. Get up earlier – self-discipline!)

Try out productivity methods, morning routines, afternoon routines, aromatherapy, yoga, meditation, hot baths, or hanging upside down from a tree by your toes (be careful) if that’s what interests you. Find the little things you can do in life that make you look forward to your day and that make you feel better. 

My Routine

Out of the blue, I was asked about what I do in the mornings to prepare myself. I don’t mind discussing it. I have CPTSD and AFib. Working from home can be a repetitive and monotonous experience. I enjoy it most of the time, but there are times I don’t. It can be hard to separate yourself out when you live where you work. Amirite? So, my “biohacking” (routine) looks like this:

  1. Hour of Power, as Tony Robbins calls it. I get up, take my supplements, drink some water, feed the dogs, and workout in some way. Sometimes, I go to the gym and sometimes I just do yoga at home. I meditate after. I also answer the Morning Power Questions.
  2. “Bulletproof” coffee. You can make it yourself. You don’t have to buy it. I buy a ghee / coconut oil blend I use to put into the coffee. Make sure you do your research before doing this. Some people get an upset tummy if they get too much oil. Don’t make yourself sick. If you don’t like coffee, don’t do this. I love coffee. I like it as dark as my soul. 
  3. I drink my greens. Good nutrition is an important component of my life. I get dressed if I’m still in workout apparel. You feel better if you get dressed. It’s science. 
  4. While either drinking my coffee or my greens, I plan my day. I have a Panda Planner. I also have three notebooks. I’ve also used OneNote. I also have a project management software I rely on during my day. I think about my end goal. What do I want to get out of this day? I take 1% of my day (15%) to plan out the other 99%. My plans are also based on my monthly goals which I set with a group of ladies every month. I write down, in advance, all appointments and such that I must attend. I work everything else around it. I also think about Brendon Buchard’s four questions that help high performers continue to perform at a high level.
  5. I work when I am most productive. I embrace the deep work concept to some degree. Because I have AFib and CPTSD, some days are better than others. I am usually focused in the morning and early afternoon. If I have a lot of appointments or errands, I rest during the day and do something fun…and I work in the afternoon / evening when everyone is settled. 
  6. I drink a fuck ton of water during the day. Turns out, that AFib causes your body to use more water. I drink close to 100 ounces of water today (and no, I don’t force it). It helps me feel better. I also take certain supplements three times per day (for AFib support). 
  7. When I get stressed, I am learning to take a break. My favorite break is to take a hot bubble bath in the middle of the day. Sometimes I go out into the backyard and just hang out. I’ll work on my loom. I just try to recharge. 

Those are the things that work best for me. What works best for you? Leave a comment!

Posted on by therobinbull

We Didn’t Choose the Real Food Life. The Real Food Life Chose Us!

So, because I know my blog is watched by certain people who know who they are, I thought it would be prudent to educate people on a couple of things.

  1. Yes, we eat primarily fresh fruits and vegetables in this home…particularly during the week. We eat meat maybe once or twice each week. And it’s usually for dinner.
  2. We are clearly not vegetarians, pescatarians, vegans, ovovarians, or any other variation of anything other than omnivores. Even if we were, it’s not against the law.

Read more

Posted on by therobinbull

Carrots, Celery, and All Things Produce (Oh My!)

So, I purchased a juicer last night. It’s nothing extravagant: a Hamilton Beach juicer that cost around $60. Before I went to buy it, I chose some juice recipes. Baby Bull and I then hit up the produce aisle. We buy a lot of fruits and vegetables in general…but there are some we don’t buy because no one eats them. Baby Bull will eat baby carrots, but we usually just buy the little bags. We spent around $50 on produce. That included 31 carrots, 10 stalks of organic celery (and, no, I’m not that picky – it’s all they had…I don’t even like celery), 2 apples, 4 oranges, 2 pears, 1 sweet potato, blueberries, 1 kiwi, spinach, 3 heads of romaine, 2 lemons, 1 lime, 8 beets…and I know I’m missing something off that list.

And Today I Made Juice

Bull chose this morning’s juice recipe. He said he could taste the sweet potato. He doesn’t like sweet potato (but he drank it anyway because…health). I made one for me and all I could taste was fuckin’ carrots. I hate fuckin’ carrots. But I drank the whole glass.

Overall, it was acceptable. The little booklet that came with the juicer said that you should drink your freshly made juice within an hour because otherwise the nutrients just begin to disappear. Bull asked how they just disappear. I dunno. So we downed it. And lived to tell the tale.

I did offer to create a tomato based juice that really does taste like tacos. I just might…

Posted on by therobinbull · 3 Comments

Day in the Life

Since it’s summer…and it’s been a while, here’s a new day in the life post of what it’s like to be a work from home mom / pro writer.

3:25 AM – Why am I awake? Dammit, why am I awake? More importantly am I going to go back to sleep?

6:30 AM – Yeah, still awake. I guess I’ll just stay in bed until the alarm goes off for Bull. I mean, I could get up and take a bath, but…the room is cold and that seems like work.

7:00 AM – Bull is awake and realized he doesn’t have to go to work until 10:00 AM. I begrudgingly go to take a hot bath.

7:30 AM – Not only did Athena try to lick me in the eyeball while I was washing my hair, but I can hear Baby Bull. I get dressed and let Bull know the tiny one has arisen.

7:45 AM – Breakfast for the little one. Bull looks for his work clothes, takes out the trash, and feeds the cat who took up residence in our garage. I do the dishes and begin mentally planning my day.

8:00 AM – Put black beans on to soak. Start booting up laptop. Wonder why the virtual assistant service can’t figure out the difference between eastern time and central time…because my fucking phone won’t stop ringing.

8:30 AM – Start looking at my project management solution and begin adding the 12+ blog posts sent to me over the weekend. Plan day. Wonder if I’ll make it out alive.

8:45 AM – Start working on Tuesday blog for Lawyer Z. Bull leaves for work. Baby Bull wonders into my office and takes his place on the chair. I take a photo of him over my shoulder…and he’s giving me the side eye. We have the door open into the backyard.

9:15 AM – Pause my work long enough to slap some sunscreen on the kid and give him his socks and shoes to put on (for new readers, Baby Bull is 8 years old and has autism. He’s classified as “severe,” but can do many things for himself. However, he is primarily non-verbal although he can repeat television commercials like no one’s business “Call the hurtline…Dan Davis.”) The sunscreen is a necessity. One of the meds he takes makes him extremely sensitive to the sun. The side of the house where my office is remains shady until after 12. So, while it’s cool, he can play outside where I can see him.

10:00 AM – Finish Lawyer Z’s Tuesday blog post and social media. Go outside to check on Baby Bull. Take him in for a potty break. Start the black beans and wonder why in the hell there are so many flies in the house (realistically, I know the answer. I like to have the doors open while it’s cool enough to do it.)

10:50 AM – Check in with chatbot developer client to determine if he wants an extra blog post this week since yesterday was a holiday.

10:51 AM – Start editing for Client J. Oh great…a problem in their CMS that means certain things have stopped auto-populating.

11:40 AM – Bring in Baby Bull for lunch and cartoons since he has speech this afternoon. Back to editing for Client J. Today, I learned that a certain Australian marsupial literally dies from too much sex. And that they’re propensity to procreate may sound awesome, but they’re now on the endangered species list.

12:05 PM – After some of the shit I just read, I need a break.

12:38 PM – Hey, know how you get a kid to eat black beans? Mix some BBQ sauce in them and tell him they’re chili beans. He loves chili. He ate the whole bowl. Went outside to check on garage cat and he got upset that I left him eating alone. So, I had to come right back in. He’s happy now that he can see where I am. Unfortunately, previous events in his life gave him some abandonment issues / separation anxiety. No, they didn’t involve me or his dad, but since he’s with me most of the time (since I work from home), I deal with it more than anyone else. Long as he knows where I am, he’s golden. Now I move on to Client P. Nothing like test writing.

1:04 PM – Hit a snag with test writing. I have to wait for Client P to respond to email. So, on to Client F, content writing: 5 state specific pages related to the same subject.

3:44 PM – My brain is fucking melting. Time to finish up the curated newsletter while my Mother’s Helper plays Candyland with Baby Bull. Oh, and of course I still need to do dishes again and make dinner. A mother’s work is NEVER done.