Rishi Dhanaraj

ask more of your friends, leave room for serendipity, and measure your VO2 max

Rishi Dhanaraj -

Table of Contents for this post:

  • Man, I've been feeling so busy
  • What parts of your life are glass balls vs. plastic balls?
  • Leave room for serendipity
  • Make your personal todo list easier to manage
  • Measure your VO2 max easily without any equipment
  • Ask more of your friends

Man, I've been feeling so busy.

I have so much I want to do. I have too many hobbies and I know too many ways to optimize my life. I blame the Internet a bit for that.

Yet it's very human to have too many desires.

Back in old Rome, Epicurus told us to keep our desires small and satiable if we want to be happy.

I needed a reminder to cull my desires:

He who is not satisfied with a little, is satisfied with nothing.

- Epicurus

Relatedly, I've been having success prioritizing activities by deciding if they're glass balls or plastic balls. It's such a tangible way to prioritize.

The key to juggling is to know that some of the balls you have in the air are made of plastic and some are made of glass. And if you drop a plastic ball, it bounces, no harm done. If you drop a glass ball, it shatters, so you have to know which balls are glass and which are plastic and prioritize catching the glass ones.

-Nora Roberts

Another thought:

Leave room for serendipity.

Every friendship you've enjoyed, every opportunity you've seized, every memory you treasure - came from a yes.

Yet, we say no so much as we get older. We get better at discipline, or we get more content, and we say no a lot.

I want to fight that.

Only put tasks in your todo list that will get done.

The CEO of Todoist shares in this three minute video: I only add stuff that I actually want to get done... I don't add "maybe" stuff.

All the "maybe" stuff was breaking my system.

So I removed it. Now, I only add what I want to get done. In particular, my personal todo list has become much more manageable.

💪

If you run for 12 minutes and track how far you go, you can measure your VO2 max.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's team shares a test for your risk of mortality. It's a way to measure your aerobic fitness, specifically your VO₂ max. Basically the better your VO₂ max, the lower your risk of death lol. Here's how to measure it:

The easiest way is to find a track to measure how far you go (each lap is .25 miles). Once you run for 12 minutes, measure your distance, multiply the distance you ran (in miles) by 35.97, and then subtract 11.29, and you have your estimated V02 max. Or, you can use this VO2 max calculator.

Ask more of your friends.

The more you ask of them, the closer you'll be.

Because people like you more when you ask them for favors. See the Ben Franklin effect:

The Ben Franklin effect is a psychological phenomenon in which people like someone more after doing a favor for them. An explanation for this is cognitive dissonance. People reason that they help others because they like them, even if they do not, because their minds struggle to maintain logical consistency between their actions and perceptions.

People are scared to ask more of their friends. But you don't get closer in a friendship without going out on a limb and being vulnerable.

I must disclose, not easy for me.

Anyway, ask your friends to:

  • Drive you to the airport
  • Come to your elaborate birthday plans
  • Be your accountability buddy
  • Join you in some weekly/monthly ritual
  • Meet your other close friends
  • Meet your parents
  • Hang out 1:1
  • Help you with a personal problem
  • Help you with your career
  • Subscribe to your newsletter lol

Credit to my friends for this idea!