Game Changers

Reprogram your body's operating system to unlock your best self – because human biology is hackable, and it’s time to take control.

1. Understand Your Operating System – It’s Outdated

Our bodies were designed for prehistoric survival, not modern success. Your brain is wired with "default settings" developed thousands of years ago for survival, which focus on fear, food, and reproduction – the three Fs.

These primal instincts push us to seek safety, eat excessively, and reproduce. While useful in the past, they present unnecessary hurdles today. For example, our fear response, which evolved to shield us from predators, now leads to stress over trivial things like public speaking.

Recognizing these defaults helps you identify when they're interfering with your goals. Biohacking allows you to reset these behavioral tendencies in favor of behaviors better aligned with modern aspirations, like creativity and calm decision-making.

Examples

• Ancient humans hoarding food for survival mirrors modern overeating or emotional eating.
• Our attraction to power and wealth stems from the instinct to ensure physical safety and resources.
• Fight-or-flight responses arise even during benign modern scenarios, like a work presentation.

2. Define Your True Goals – Figure Out Your Why

Having clear goals is step one. Without this, biohacking becomes meaningless. Differentiating between end goals (the ultimate outcomes we deeply desire) and means goals (steps or achievements we think will lead there) helps provide clarity.

End goals can be grouped into experiences, personal growth, and contributing to the world. For example, if your end goal is “connection,” your means goal might be starting a family. Confusing means for ends leads to dissatisfaction, like focusing on money instead of the experiences or freedom it provides.

Identifying your passions is another crucial step. Reflecting on activities that excite you, imagining life with no limitations or constraints, and thinking about what genuinely energizes you identifies where your focus should lie.

Examples

• A fulfilled individual might prioritize “creativity” over becoming a millionaire.
• Bill Gates shifted from business to philanthropy, pursuing his passion for global health improvement.
• Reflecting daily on personal “why” leads to long-term satisfaction beyond financial goals.

3. Avoid Decision Fatigue – Automate the Small Stuff

Mental energy is limited, and making too many decisions drains it. Each choice eats into your willpower reserves, resulting in poor decisions later in the day. Decision fatigue leads to exhaustion and lost productivity.

Automation provides a solution. By standardizing decisions for repetitive tasks (like meals or clothing), you free up your energy for higher priorities. Capsule wardrobes or meal rotation plans keep "smaller" choices off your radar, leaving room for important ones.

Even high achievers, like Steve Jobs, incorporated this strategy. His black turtleneck uniform reduced clothing choices so he could focus all his energy on innovation at Apple.

Examples

• Capsule wardrobes minimize clothing decisions using versatile, neutral items.
• Prepared meal plans reduce energy wasted planning and preparing food daily.
• President Obama once revealed he only wore two suit colors to avoid "trivial" decisions.

4. Overcome Emotional Eating – Break the Hunger-Boredom Loop

Many of us eat not from physical need but as a response to emotions like stress or boredom. This behavior, driven by an incorrect perception of hunger, causes overeating and poor food choices.

True hunger stems from biological need, while emotional eating emerges from psychological triggers. We use food to fill gaps in love, security, or happiness rather than addressing these issues directly. Spotting specific hunger patterns, such as sudden cravings or stress-induced binges, can signal emotional eating triggers.

Recalibrating your sense of hunger begins by "eating like your grandma": focus on natural, balanced meals with proper nutrients, and eat only when truly hungry.

Examples

• After a hard day, emotional eating might result in consuming comfort foods like pizza.
• Modern snacking, unlike pre-industrial eating habits, adds unneeded calories.
• Post-World War II changes introduced processed food, exacerbating unhealthy eating trends.

5. Sleep Smarter – Work with Your Chronotype

Your natural sleep-wake cycle (chronotype) majorly impacts performance. Forcing your body to follow societal norms rather than its natural rhythm weakens focus, creativity, and energy.

Chronotypes include early “lions”; “bears” who sleep with the sun; “wolves” with late peaks; and “dolphins,” prone to insomnia. By identifying your type, you can adapt a schedule that aligns with your biological rhythm rather than fighting it.

Vacations are a chance to test your natural timing. Stop setting alarms and let yourself wake naturally, revealing your body’s preferred routine.

Examples

• The author, a “wolf,” saw productivity improve after abandoning super-early wakeups.
• Lions thrive on 6 a.m. starts but lose energy by dinner.
• Dolphins need carefully structured sleep hygiene to tackle their erratic cycles.

6. Exercise Isn’t Always the Answer – Move Correctly

Modern life is too sedentary, with even regular exercise often failing to offset long office or screen hours. Worse, improper fitness habits, like high-risk sports or poor running mechanics, lead to injury.

Movement is vital, but needs care. Strength training balances oxidative effects caused by aerobic exercise – while functional movement coaching corrects unhealthy habits learned from sitting too much. A standing desk or movement breaks also keeps bodies active without resorting to harmful activities.

Examples

• A standing desk eliminates long hours hunched over laptops.
• Functional movement training prevents strain from ineffective running forms.
• Adding antioxidants to diets counters cellular stress caused by intense workouts.

7. Tame the Libido – Rechannel Desire Productively

Sex uses up energy needed for creative pursuits. The body expends both mental and physical resources pursuing attraction. Men, specifically, experience a "crash" after ejaculation, losing focus and energy due to prolactin.

Channeling sexual energy into higher goals allows you to pursue dreams with more vigor. Limiting orgasms creates noticeable boosts in ambition and productivity, transforming energy typically spent on sexual activities.

Examples

• Muhammad Ali abstained from sex for weeks before fights to remain focused.
• Podcast listeners credited this strategy with promotions or business launches.
• Hormonal studies show men's prolactin spikes reduce dopamine, lowering energy.

8. Face Fear – Don’t Let Instincts Rule

Fear is a survival instinct, but it often holds us back in modern settings. While helpful in life-threatening situations, day-to-day fears about failure, embarrassment, or new opportunities inhibit growth.

Fear conjures mental scenarios of danger, wasting energy and draining focus. Building courage requires stepping into challenges, but it’s difficult to maintain this continuously without physiological burnout.

Rewiring thoughts to focus on current actions or safe reassessment of risks aids self-control, combating irrational fears stopping us from exploring possibilities.

Examples

• Public speakers train to reframe audience anxiety fears with rational prep.
• Entrepreneurs calculate risks but debunk catastrophic thinking in startups.
• Meditation helps anxiety sufferers ground themselves when panic spikes.

9. Use Safety Cues – Reassure and Reset Alarm Bells

Fear-reduction hinges on safety cues. Nervous systems evolved to seek safety signals before relaxing. Practices like guided meditations, calm, affirming self-talk, and imagining soothing settings send subconscious "all-clear" messages.

Adding gratitude helps further by shifting mental focus onto what’s going right instead of worst-case fears. Morning journaling trains the brain toward positivity long-term, paving the way for calmer, clearer thinking overall.

Examples

• Guided meditation calms hyperactive fight-or-flight senses.
• Fantasy “safe space” visualizations reduce anxiety by imagining peaceful escapes.
• Daily gratitude logs improve mental well-being and reduce overstimulation.

Takeaways

1. Create an "energy map" for yourself. Track key activities that energize or drain you during the week.
2. Start your gratitude journal. Write down three things you’re thankful for each day.
3. Experiment with an automated diet or capsule wardrobe to remove low-stakes decision-making from your daily life.