In this segment of the Human Upgrade podcast, Dave Asprey reflects on a French philosophical quote that frames life as the letter C (choice) positioned between B (birth) and D (death). He argues that our lives are the cumulative result of the choices we make—who we spend time with, what we do, where we live, what we eat, and what we feed our minds. Asprey shares how difficult times can either distract, diminish, or develop us, and he recounts his own major challenges: learning, public speaking, and chronic sleep deprivation (averaging 90 minutes per night for five years, with 250 breathing interruptions nightly). He describes how these hardships forced him to double down on his teaching, become hyper‑conscious of his time, and adopt a binary decision‑making approach—"hell yes" or "hell no"—to protect his energy and focus. By seeking the gift in adversity, he turned constraints into strengths, emphasizing the importance of intentional choice in shaping a purposeful life.
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There's a quote in Limitless from a French philosopher that sums it up, saying, life is the letter C between B and D. Life is C between B and D, where B is birth, D is death. Life, C is choice. And I just saying this to remind everyone that our lives are the sum total of all the choices we made up to this point. You know, who are we going to spend time with? Who, what are we going to do, where are we going to live, what are we going to eat, what are we going to feed our minds? All those different things. And I truly believe that these difficult times, they could either distract you and people have a real agenda for that, or they could diminish you. Or these difficult times, they could develop you. We went through this and we decided what these things mean and we started looking for the gift in all this. Like, my two biggest challenges were learning and public speaking for the longest time. And, you know, life has a sense of humor because all I do is public speak on this thing called learning, right? You know, and even with my sleep deficiency, you know, sleeping 90 minutes a night for five years, for me, it was just. I stopped breathing 250 times a night. Each time was an episode, counts as an episode if it's more than 10 seconds. So it's like somebody putting a pillow over your face 250 times a night. But even that, I had to say, like, where's the gift in this? And I found two things. I was like, okay, it's forced me to double down everything I teach because I wouldn't be able to be productive or perform like I can if I didn't. And then the other thing is, I got really conscious of my time because so many people, I think, are a little drained because they're saying yes too much. And. And I just wanna remind people when you say yes to somebody or something, you're not saying no to yourself. And so for everything in my life, it's hell yes or hell no. It's always been that, like, when I'm on your stage, or I'm like, with you and we're cutting a good steak and just like, that's where I want to be. Because when you're sleep deprived, you can't commit to a lot of things. And so it's always like, it's that binary for me. But that's how I find the gift in it. You're listening to the Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey Data.
