The Long Game 122: The Age of Pills, Financial Wellness, Competition, AI Updates
The Long Game 122: The Age of Pills, Financial Wellness, Competition, AI Updates🌇 Why Every City Feels the Same Now, The Corruption of Medicine, How to Deal with Criticism, Gym Gear, Dating, and Much More!
Hi there, it’s Mehdi Yacoubi, co-founder at Vital, and this is The Long Game Newsletter. To receive it in your inbox each week, subscribe here: In this episode, we explore:
Let’s dive in! 🥑 Health💊 The Age of PillsThere seem to be the same scene in every American movie: a person reaching out to their orange pill bottle, taking a few pills, and swallowing them. Growing up, I was always very curious about what these people were taking. More recently, I understood the extent of the pill problem in the US and many other parts of the world. The idea is that any physical or mental discomfort has its solution in a pill. This article paints the picture.
Now take a moment to guess the percentage of Americans over the age of 18 that are medicated for depression, anxiety, fatigue, or being distracted:
I remember watching a documentary about ADHD & Adderall on Netflix a few years ago and being extremely surprised. This phenomenon is almost non-existent in Europe, and most people here don't even know what ADHD is. I wonder why. Andrew D. Huberman, Ph.D. @hubermanlab I just learned from a colleague and it was confirmed by every student I asked, that 25% of students age 16-32 take Adderall 1-7X/week (not prescribed). And 5-10% do the same w/Modafinil or Armodafanil; 30-35% of students are on amphetamine. This is serious. Safer options existI don’t think pills are useless, far from it, but it’s hard not to see that we are over-medicating people, and a big part of modern medicine believes in a pill for everything. This is the perfect opportunity for my monthly reminder to you that chronic pain could be fixed by a mind-body approach instead of pills. Pair with: ADHD & How Anyone Can Improve Their Focus The modern obsession with getting things quickly without effort is somewhat related to this topic. This great tweet went viral: how tf do people get 8 hr sleeps, are in phenomenal shape, kicking ass at their careers, maintaining their relationships all at the same time... Although some people are quick to say the only people who manage to get there do so with drugs, I think the correct answer is more:
…instead of pills/hormones—which might work in the short-term but build up your physical/emotional debt. 🌱 Wellness💰 Financial WellnessAn essential part of wellness is financial wellness. I came across a series of two pieces discussing the experience of being poor and then the experience of being rich, written by the same person, a year and a half apart. Before exploring these two pieces, the idea that money doesn’t buy happiness is inaccurate, just like the idea that money is the only parameter that can improve your happiness is not valid. On The Experience of Being Poor-ish, For People Who Aren't Although absolute numbers do matter to a certain extent, there’s something to be said about the people you keep around you.
On Being Rich-ish: Lessons I learned becoming suddenly middle-class
🧠 Better Thinking🥇 If You're Scared of Competition, the World Will Eat You AliveI agree with the standard advice: “don’t compete/focus on the others, just focus on being the best version of yourself.” I think it’s mostly the right approach, but it’s still important sometimes to understand that there are many people you’re competing with. I thought this piece managed to explain this idea well:
Then, the article addresses eight objections any decent person might have to this idea:
⚡️ Startup Stuff⚖️ Be good-argument-driven, not data-drivenA great piece on the limits of being data-driven by Stripe engineer Richard Marmorstein:
Some additional questions to consider:
Finally, this part on how being too data-obsessed can impact the morale of the team:
Don't just be data driven
You need to be data informed.....and driven by situation, context, resources, experience, and logic instead
Data infomed > data driven 📚 What I Read🤖 AI UpdatesA lot happened in the field recently. Here are some articles to keep you up to date. AI Content Generation, Part 1: Machine Learning Basics
AI Revolution - Transformers and Large Language Models (LLMs)
🏥 The Corruption of MedicineGuardians of the profession discard merit to alter the demographics of their field.
😅 10 Rules for Musicians (and Everybody Else) on How to Deal with Criticism
🍭 Brain Food🌇 Why Every City Feels the Same Now?Over the last ten years, didn’t you gradually start to feel that every city looks the same? Lovely coffee shops, neon lights in restaurants, selfie sticks sold next to famous monuments…? Well, you are not alone! I was reminded of this sentiment after seeing this tweet: If I were a touring musician and grabbed coffee at this coffee shop, I would have no idea what city I was in...
Brooklyn?
Melbourne?
Tuscaloosa? Then, I found this great piece that tries to explain the phenomenon.
The piece mainly covers the architectural side of things:
I think that another part of the equation is Instagram. The ubiquitous social network is the cause and motivation behind so many trips, and the will to cater to those people with Instargammable places is a big reason why so many places look the same. Beautiful brunch plates, coffee art, neon lights, colorful walls, flowery cocktails… I hate what Instagram has done to travel. No body travels any more. They just create fake moments for reels & stories.
And once it goes viral, more people travel to that spot, for the exact same fakery. 🎥 What I’m Watching🏴 Women Find 80% of Men UnattractiveA comment on the video:
Pair with: Generation Swipe
Also, pair with: Why Tinder is toxic for young women 🤔 Why Can’t You Say The ‘R Word’ Anymore?The excellent Gurwinder explains why people care more about the R Word than the genocide currently happening in China. His Subtack is excellent. 🔧 The Tool of the Week🏋️♀️ Some Gym Equipment I’m ConsideringI’ve been training for a long time and quite obsessed with lifting in the last 12 months and made some good progress. Here is some equipment I’m considering adding:
While we’re at it, something I took a long time to understand is that if you’re not gradually loading more, doing more reps with the same weight, or decreasing the rest period, you are not progressing! If you've been curling with the 16s kg/36s lb for weeks, why aren’t you picking up the next ones, and then the next ones, and so on? It’s not because no one is curling with the 40s/90s in your gym that you shouldn’t aim for that. That approach has helped me tremendously. Lastly, follow the right people (here, here & here, for example), and ditch the IG fake-nattys obsessed with aesthetics that are impossible to attain naturally. 🪐 Quote I’m Pondering
— Robert Greene 👋 EndNoteThanks for reading! If you like The Long Game, please share it on social media or forward this email to someone who might enjoy it. You can also “like” this newsletter by clicking the ❤️ just below, which helps me get visibility on Substack. Until next week, Mehdi Yacoubi If you liked this post from The Long Game by Mehdi Yacoubi, why not share it? |
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