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🤔 Are weighty expectations crushing you?

☀️ Your best sleep starts in the morning

Author

Will Knecht
September 07, 2024

Happy Saturday - Perspective is everything and in no other area more so than in how you live up to the expectations you set for yourself. This week, we take a look at mindset and propose a powerful perspective that changed my life. We next look at sleep, get caught up on the news and then hand the mic to you so you can tell us about your exercise habits. Ready? Let’s go!

If you are asking, “Do we really need another newsletter?”, the answer is YES. Read our publisher’s letter to learn more about the MTM’s origin and purpose.

This week’s manly topics:

⛑️ MINDSET No amount of success will make you happy if your head is a mess. This mindset change will change your life.
🛠️ BIOHACK Fix sleep problems with this no-cost morning light exposure routine.
📰  NEWS We scoured the web and found cool stuff to share with you. This week’s topics include new intermittent fasting research and fall style advice.
🔎 WHAT ABOUT YOU Help us better understand and serve you by participating in this week’s exercise frequency poll.

PLUS, subscriber-only offers from our sponsors and partners. Let’s go!

MINDSET
The Weight of Expectations

Frank Wilson Knecht IV.

The "Fourth" ... I get it. It's a bit pretentious, but I didn't name myself (I go by Will). My name carries the weight of three generations of highly successful, very ambitious men. That expectation drove me my entire life…to strive for more and more and be worthy of my name.

In fifth grade, I represented the USA at an international camp in England. In my senior year of high school, I was voted most likely to succeed. I excelled in college (Student Body President) and business, but it never felt like enough. I felt I would never prove worthy of my name.

So I pushed harder, risked everything, and lost almost everything, including my business and marriage. Then I discovered something that changed everything: how to unburden myself from the paralyzing weight of unmet expectations.

The Gap and The Gain

A few years ago, I stumbled across "The Gap and the Gain," a book by Dan Sullivan and Ben Hardy. Sullivan has coached thousands of entrepreneurs over the past 50 years. He noticed many successful people were still unhappy because they were preoccupied with how much further they had to go, never feeling as if they’d done enough and yet rarely considering how far they'd progressed.

Picture a line with one end marked as your starting point and the other your goal. Make another mark to represent where you are now. Sullivan calls the space between you and your goal "The Gap". The space between you and where you started he calls "The Gain".

This simple insight profoundly impacted me. I had been chasing an abstract (and therefore unachievable) concept of success to prove I was worthy of my name. Like Sullivan's unhappy entrepreneurs, I was focused on my Gap - how much further I had to go.I was never enough.

I realized that the sense of self-approval that had eluded me wasn't in my gap. Peace with myself, knowing I was worthy just as I was, could be found in celebrating my Gain.

Celebrating the Journey

Why share this perspective? Because MTM is a journey of discovering and developing our masculinity, our true self. As we learned previously, men are designed to build and achieve as we seek to protect and provide for those we love.

In that quest, it's easy to become so goal-obsessed that we neglect to take stock of what we've achieved, our gain.

What progress have you made in the last week? Last month? Last year? The last ten years? Look at your gains and stop being fixated on your gap.

As you do, I think you'll find that you're a pretty impressive guy ... one I hope to meet someday.

A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR
Fade? No. Fight … with help from Gameday.

Feeling run down? Brain fog rolling in and robbing you of clarity and decisiveness? Losing your passion and starting to believe all you can do is accept this discouraging new normal?

You can choose to wear down and fade away or you can take charge and fight.

How? Visit the Gameday Men's Health near you.

Gameday is the first national medical clinic dedicated to helping men and men only. Gameday medical staff create customized treatment plans based on your individual diagnostic results and goals.

Lose weight, increase energy and take charge by visiting GameDay today.

TAKE ACTION
BIOHACK: A good night's sleep starts when you wake up

Sleep is an ESSENTIAL men’s health and fitness factor. It’s also one of the factors most taken for granted. We are going to explore sleep, why you need it and how to get the best of it but, for now, let’s consider a fe3w simple, free actions you can take to bless your body and your mind with deep sleep.

You’ve likely heard about bedtime routines that help improve sleep. Those are helpful but the keys to a restful night are found in what you do when you wake up. Your morning habits play a crucial role in regulating your circadian rhythm, which in turn affects your sleep quality.

One of the most effective ways to set your body's internal clock is through morning light exposure. This simple act helps suppress melatonin production and boosts cortisol, signaling to your body that it's time to be alert and active.

Four-factor morning light wake-up routine

Here are four ways to incorporate light exposure into your morning routine:

  1. Get outside within 30-60 minutes of waking up, even on cloudy days. This may not be practical if you are reading this during the winter in one of the world’s colder areas. Get back to it as soon as possible when the thaw comes.

  2. Aim for at least 20-30 minutes of bright light exposure. As with building any new habit, start small with a few minutes and dial up to 30 minutes over time.

  3. Combine light exposure with light exercise, such as a morning walk or gentle stretching.

  4. Avoid wearing sunglasses during this time to allow beneficial light wavelengths to reach your eyes.

Incorporate these morning light exposure habits into your daily routine and take control of your sleep-wake cycle by setting the stage for a better night’s sleep. Remember, a good sleep doesn't just start at bedtime – it begins the moment you wake up.

Try this routine for seven days and report back with your results. We will explore the relationship between light and the human body in future MTM issues … so never miss an issue!

📣 NEWS FROM AROUND THE WEB 📣 

Note that our providing these links does not constitute an endorsement of the writer’s or publisher’s perspective. We try to filter out propaganda but sometimes good information is laced with bias. As with everything you read and watch, process with a critical perspective.

Nutrition

Style and Finance

Seeking impartial news? Meet 1440.

Every day, 3.5 million readers turn to 1440 for their factual news. We sift through 100+ sources to bring you a complete summary of politics, global events, business, and culture, all in a brief 5-minute email. Enjoy an impartial news experience.

WHAT ABOUT YOU 
How often do you exercise?

Help us get a sense of where the members of the MTM audience are at with their exercise frequency. We will dive into the details of what you do in subsequent surveys.

On average, I exercise:

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Thanks for joining us for our third issue and stay tuned for MTM issue four next Saturday morning.

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