It's Not All Sunshine

Yo! What is going on, everyone? Welcome back to Day 93 of The Daniel Bourke Show. I was born in the year 1993, actually, and I'm 23 at the moment. So, lots of 3s being thrown around. It is the 4th of May, 2017. May the 4th be with you. That reminds me, I'm supposed to text one of my best friends. I'm finding I was talking really fast lately on the introductions. I'll try to move the talking speed at a regular pace. I'm really, really intense with the introductions, but What was I saying? I was meant to, yeah, I meant to text one of my friends today, actually, that reminds me. Every May the 4th, it reminds me of her for some reason. So, I better text her and tell her that I, I don't know, I'm thinking about her. But what have I been up to today? This morning I did some Python study, because I'm still learning programming. I then went to the library near my house for a few hours and I found a really comfy chair, actually, and it had one of those tables you can like pull and the legs go underneath the chair and the table like sits perfectly above your lap. Like, it was actually incredibly comfortable. None of the desks were taken, but I lucked out. I got like a really comfy recliner-spec chair. And of course I prefer a standing desk, but sometimes when I'm doing hard study, sitting down is better for me because I don't know, standing up, I find still I'm not used to it enough. It takes a lot of energy out of me just to stand up. And I'm working on, I'm working on. I've got a standing desk in my room. I did some study and then came home. I shot a video for— I just actually did, I shot a video in the last few hours for a young starters, like an entrepreneurship, another bootcamp that I'm applying for. I just submitted it actually. I'll upload the video to my Facebook page so you can see it there. Facebook.com/MrDBurke, M-R-D-B-U-R-K-E. I did it on the first take. I got my— actually, sorry, no, that's a lie. About the fourth take. Uh, most of the time I stuffed up the introduction each time, so I only did like 30 seconds of video. And then I was— I told my brother, he was filming, so thanks Will, shout out to you, to, um, to start again. And then I got on a roll, and then I got a roll and just ran with it and uploaded it because it's due tomorrow night and I figured I might not get a chance to upload it within the next 24 hours. So, I'll just run with this one and see how it goes. So, I'm pretty happy with it. Of course, I could have done a little better, but that would have taken multiple, multiple tries, and I'm going to dedicate some energy to other places for the rest of the night. Actually, it is pretty late. It's 9:30. So, I'm going to finish this podcast and then go read the rest of this book and tap out. But what else have I been up to? I watched the Elon Musk TED Talk the other day. Oh my God, he is— I don't know if I spoke about this yesterday, but he is the pinnacle of idols for me right now. What he's doing is awe-inspiring. He's sort of given me this new wave of energy. Like, I won't lie to you, the last probably about week or so, I've had just like a bit of a dip. Had a dip in my motivation. And it might not seem that way when I do these podcasts or when I do these YouTube videos, you don't see the behind the scenes of the, of the not feeling great, of the lack of motivation, of the me lying in bed for half an hour, lying on the floor. Actually, I've been taking naps on the floor recently just to, like the Stoics say, put yourself in an uncomfortable position so if you ever have to do it in the future, you're used to it. So I've been lying on the floor, but Sometimes I'll just get lost there for half an hour longer than I wanted to in terms of naps. And although I give off this positive vibe through the podcast, and don't get me wrong, 99.9% of the time I'm incredibly positive, but I still have— it's not all sunshine and roses. Like, that's— I'm being totally upfront with you here. Like, there's times where I'm like, oh man, I don't want to do this. Oh man, I want to take a break. Oh, whatever. But how do I get around that? I wrote a post the other day on my Medium, actually, to say how I stopped feeling depressed. And a lot of it comes back to me just keep doing what I'm, what I'm good at, what I enjoy. It's— it's— no, I don't have a secret formula. I work out quite often. I have good nutrition. Well, at least I think, at least the science is telling me that I am. I'm not— we may find out in 20 years' time that we've been eating all wrong again, just like we have in the last 20 years. I meditate, I work on something that's challenging, I spend time with people who I love and who love me. There's really no secret. I actually found out today on a podcast by Joe Rogan with Rhonda Patrick. It was episode 901 of the Joe Rogan Show, I believe. They were talking about how 11% of, or something like that, 11% of the American population is on some sort of antidepressant. And I was just astounded by that fact. I couldn't believe it. And now I'm— don't get me wrong, I've had downtimes. Like, last year was a really hard time for me when I broke up with my girlfriend. But it— I sort of— I never even thought of potentially taking some sort of antidepressant drug. I knew I was some form of depressed, but I— at the same time, I knew it would pass. I knew I could do a few things like Exercising made me feel good. Spending time with awesome people made me feel good. Eating good food made me feel good. And that's— I'm in a good place right now, but don't get— it's not all good. It's not all positive. It's not all me throwing out this amazing vibe. I think there's— no matter who you are, you definitely have waves. Like, you sometimes— I don't know the science behind it, but your hormones will change in levels. And there's like 4 chemicals: serotonin, oxytocin, or oxy— I can't remember the exact name— oxy whatever, dopamine, and some others that literally control how you feel. Like dopamine is one that you get from like when you play a poker machine. If you win, you get a hit of dopamine. When you Take coffee, it's like dopamine for the brain. It's— these 4 neurochemicals really control how you feel. And if they're out of whack, I think every couple of months they go through some sort of change. And I think it's just like a woman has a menstrual cycle, the same with a man. Like, you'll have these altered levels of hormones for a little bit and you'll get in an unmotivated state. I don't— honestly, I don't know. I think this is just me. Recalling some knowledge that I've picked up over the— over time and in the field of nutrition and in the field of health. But yeah, I've had those moments and that's been really recent. But the way I've been pushing through it is just by keep doing. That's my only real answer. And I know it sucks to hear that answer. It sucks to— I know it's more attractive to think, Oh, I can take a pill. Oh, I don't want to put in that effort of doing the exercise of keep working when you're feeling like shit. But that's what literally helped me, and I'm in a good place now. I just kept doing and doing and doing, and I find that the more goals that I keep knocking over, like, the better I start to feel. And I know there will be another slump in the future. There well and truly will be another slump. At the moment, I'm riding the wave. I'm on the offense right now. Maybe Maybe in a few weeks' time or a few months' time, the wave will be gone and I'll have to play defence for a bit. It's really, I think it's important to be aware of how you feel. Be aware of if you're feeling bad, that eventually it will pass, right? It's not a permanent thing. Reading this book, still reading it, I should be finished it tonight maybe, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. And funny, like the way the universe works is so crazy. I just started reading this book and a friend recommended— and I've been loving the book, like absolutely loving it. And a friend recommended this podcast with Rhonda Patrick and Joe Rogan. And so, I've been loving the podcast as well. And they mentioned the book in the podcast. Of all the books I could have chosen to start reading, I've got like a list of 40-odd books and I chose this one. And of all the podcasts my friend could recommend me, especially of Joe Rogan, who's got like 950,000 50+ episodes. He recommends me one where they talk at length about the book that I just started reading. And definitely recommend this book, actually. I'll probably do a giveaway. When— not on this podcast, but on— when I do a YouTube video on a recap of the book, just because it's meant so much to me, I feel like if I put some information back out to the world, it will be valuable. I'll do a giveaway. I'll give away one copy of the book, right? Because I'm not richy rich. One copy of the book to anyone who lives anywhere in the world. And whatever, you can share the podcast, share the YouTube video, whatever you want to do. There'll be just one thing, none of that catchy stuff, enter your email. Maybe you could enter your email. That's a, that's a good idea actually. Who knows? I'm still working this whole, whole process of building an audience out. But where was I going with this? Oh yeah, in his book, he used to be a news writer at a, I think it was the New York Times or something, I don't know, one news company. And if it's not the New York Times, I apologize. But the, his boss essentially, he was a writer and his boss told him to make up a disease, like literally make up a disease. Why? So that the newspaper would sell and then that drug companies and whatnot would be able to sell cures for this disease. And this is 20 or so years ago, maybe longer, maybe longer now, actually 30, 40 years ago, who knows. But he was literally told to make up a disease, right? So, I think that I'm a big believer in— don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that diseases aren't real, but I feel like there are some things out there that are diagnosed that are curable by just a few basic principles like exercise and nutrition and whatnot. I really do think that. I believe that. That's something that I fundamentally believe. Like, if— sometimes I've heard this saying and I've thought deeply about it, is that if there was no disease— sorry, if there was no cure, would there be a disease? Sometimes it feels like there's a pill for everything now. Like there's a 6-week shortcut to weight loss if you take this pill, and there's a 6-week shortcut to happiness if you take this pill. And I have a friend actually who works for a drug company, and he, he is actually told, he is actually told to go in and bribe doctors to sell their drug, right? That's, that's crazy. That is absolutely crazy. Uh, even though some of the diseases that these patients have from my understanding, could be cured by diet and exercise. I don't know, I'm not a doctor, I don't play one on the internet, whatever that is. This is the big disclaimer, so don't go and disagree with your doctor from my word, but I honestly believe that a lot of health problems could be fixed by good nutrition and exercise, and there's a lot of science behind that. So, Yeah, that's it. That's a little rant over. But what else? So Elon Musk, check it out. Here's TED Talk. I shared it on my Facebook recently. I haven't got on my Facebook page though. I'm still trying to work out this whole mechanism between Facebook, my personal profile and my Facebook page, right? So I don't know. I'm still trying to work it all out. This is a process, right? What else? I've got a— I'm also going to— there's another startup bootcamp that's happening next weekend. So, that's 2 in the coming month or so. I've applied for one, but another one I can just buy tickets. I'm going to buy— I think I'm going to just buy a ticket and go to this one. I've been contemplating it. It's like a hackathon, and I'm not the best at programming yet, but I feel like I can offer some sort of entrepreneurial skill and design skill and maybe some sort of programming. Who knows? I'm still a noob in that world, but Why not? Why not try it out, right? It's going to be a good experience, I feel. So, what could today's daily challenge be? Hmm, I'm stumped. I'm actually stumped. Today's daily challenge could be look at yourself in the mirror and smile for 10 seconds. Just look at your own face and smile for 10 seconds. Something simple. Something simple, right? It's powerful when you look in the mirror and you just smile. It's like that feeling you get when you smile. I'm lost for words. Maybe the first time I'm lost for words on the podcast, who knows? But— and stop saying "um" and "but" and "and." But yeah, stop saying "but yeah." That'll be the daily challenge. Look in the mirror, smile for 10 seconds, and tell yourself that you love yourself because I think loving yourself is important. Love yourself first, then tell someone else you love them. So that's been day 93 of the podcast. I'll post the video up to my YouTube, not of this podcast, but of me applying my application so you can see my application. Maybe give me some advice. Who knows? You can check it out. Mr. D Burke, no, facebook.com/MrDBurke. Mr. D Burke, M-R-D-B-O-U-R-K-E. Also, I send out an email once a month if you want to check that out, mrdburke.com. You can sign up there. It's called A Few Cool Things, just mainly about nutrition, fitness, and artificial intelligence, a whole bunch of stuff that I'm learning. So thank you so much. Day 93 is over. I'll see you tomorrow, day 94. Call someone, tell them you love them, and have an awesome day.