I came across a blog post by Chris Dixon titled What the smartest people do on the weekend is what everyone else will do during the week in ten years, and it perfectly captures a trend I’ve been noticing: things that start in small, “weirdo” circles often go mainstream over time. We have seen it happen with vlogging, minimalism, crypto and many more.
This got me thinking about what niche communities are doing today that might become common in the future.
The first thing that popped into my head was health optimisation — mostly because I recently got into trying to optimise my own health, and people around me are definitely judging me for it.
Wait till they see the folks who take it even further1 — tracking every biometric, experimenting with intense diets, and hacking their workouts.
Anyways, here’s what I have started so far:
Sleep
I have worn an Apple Watch for years but never actually looked at the sleep charts until recently. Now, checking how much deep sleep I got feels like a fun little game every morning so I’m trying to maximise it.
About an hour before bed, I turn on the AC, switch to a red light, and use my Kindle only (no phone, no laptop). I did try journaling or planning for the next day in that hour, but I found it made me go to sleep thinking about work (which seemed to hurt my sleep quality) so I stopped.
The hardest part about optimising my sleep is getting home early enough, which often means leaving social events sooner than the rest. Hopefully, if more people get into this, the norms will shift and everyone will want to head home early for some quality bedtime.
Diet
I haven’t done a huge diet overhaul yet, mostly because I eat whatever my mom cooks. But once I mentioned I wanted healthier meals, she started making me pazhaya rice, her “health mix,” and other Indian healthy foods2 that I never really paid attention to before.
Trying to have dinner earlier is also a struggle, since it’s usually a social event (and that typically starts later — don’t even get me started on supper). Another norm that I hope will change in the coming years.
Exercise
I used to schedule runs at night, but social events kept getting in the way.
Now, I do it first thing in the morning3, and consistency has improved. Running was the simplest place to start since I was already decent at it, but I also knew I needed strength training — something I definitely wasn’t. After a bunch of trial and error, I settled on a super basic bodyweight routine I can do at home. Over time, I plan to move up to a gym routine.
I also realized that hanging out with friends usually defaults to grabbing a meal (with dessert after), which isn’t the greatest habit.
What if the norm was catching up over a walk or — even better –some sports? I started booking tennis or climbing sessions with friends, and it’s been awesome. We actually end up spending more time together, and we get a workout in. Win-win.
Anyways, I wrote this so I can look back and see whether I (and/or the rest of the world) actually changed on this. In a few years, maybe everyone will be geeking out over sleep data and protein macros — or maybe not.
Either way, it will be fun to find out.
- Looking for people who are taking it to a whole other level? There’s a leaderboard ↩︎
- My totally unbiased opinion is that it’s easier to eat healthier with Indian cuisine because vegetable dishes are so tasty, it barely feels like you’re “eating healthy.” ↩︎
- Applies to everything else that you want to be consistent with. Mornings are great. ↩︎