Log Off, Turn In, & Tune Up

We're brought to you today by Inside Tracker. No two bodies are the same. Well, general principles can guide all of us. On some level, I think it's fair to say we're all kind of n of one experiments. There is no one size fits all plan when it comes to optimizing your unique biology. We all have our own unique needs, our own unique challenges, which is why

the value proposition of Inside Tracker is so unique and so compelling. Okay, Rich, but what is it? Well, Inside Tracker is a digital platform. It's also an app and it was designed by experts in aging from Harvard, Tuffs and MIT. And what it does is it takes a personalized approach to health, band and longevity based on an analysis of your submitted blood work, your submitted DNA,

your lifestyle habits, and real time feedback from your body to deliver through this highly intuitive interface, ultra personalized guidance with actionable recommendations. Basically, a custom wellness plan to help you live healthier longer. And right now for a limited time, all you guys, my listeners can get 20% off the entire Inside Tracker store when you sign up at insidetracker.com slash rich role. You'll get a personalized health

analysis and a custom plan to improve your health spend, build strength, speed recovery, and optimize your health for the long haul. Grab your discount at insidetracker.com slash rich role. That's inside tracker.com slash rich role. How many of you out there have been pondering that website you'd like to have, but just haven't quite pulled the trigger? Well, there used to be a lot of excuses. It's too

complicated. It's too expensive. I don't know how to code. I can't find a designer. Well, no more with Squarespace. It's easy. It's a four million dollar bucks. It's very affordable, and dare I say actually fun to build your own website. Get started with a best in class website template and customize it to fit your needs. Browse the category of your business to find the perfect starting

place, then you squarespace's seemingly unlimited customizable features to make it your own. Whether you need a simple landing page or maybe you're looking for a full on online shop. Well, Squarespace has all the tools you need to get your business off the ground, including ecommerce templates, invasible, inventory management, a simple checkout process, and secure payments. Now, I know all that sounds really complicated, but I'm telling

you, it's actually super easy for anyone. Artists, thinkers, and creators of all kinds to build a site to help you monetize your content and expertise in a way that fits your brand. And with member areas, you could actually unlock a whole new revenue stream for your business and free up time in your schedule by selling access to gated content like videos, online courses, or newsletters. So

come on, you guys, just get over yourselves and make that website. Just do it. You got it. Go to squarespace.com slash rich roll for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use offer code rich roll is save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. So I'm going to go to squarespace. Today we're going to do something a little bit different. And

I want to preface this special episode with a bit of context and introduction. At the end of 2022, as I reflected on a decade of hosting conversations over 740 to date, I expressed both extreme gratitude for all that has transpired over the course of this journey, as well as this creative urge to experiment. Because to my mind, podcasting really is still a new medium. And although

there are, of course, strong incentives to continue doing the show in the way that I always have. The truth is, is that there really are no rules. I will, of course, continue to host weekly long form conversations with the people that most inspire me as I always have. But I do have this impulse to innovate to try new things and play a bit with the format

because Stasis is death. And so two weeks ago, Mark, the first instance of this impulse in the form of a documentary style podcast in which my Roland Compadre, Adam Skolnick and I spent the better part of a month endeavoring to get our heads around the rapidly developing world of artificial intelligence. Perhaps the most powerful and transformative technology to emerge in our lifetime. And to talk about

what it pertains, good and bad for all of us, in both the short and the long term. Creating that episode was interesting, putting it out was even more interesting because it was met with a predictable mix of both enthusiasm and lament. Many people, perhaps most appreciated it, but others were less enthusiastic. And for them, I suppose it was sort of like attending your favorite band and

concert, expecting to enjoy the hits to instead have to weather or sit through the new album. And I get that. It's fine. But growth requires getting out of your comfort zone to explore uncharted terrain physically and mentally, but also intellectually and creatively. This is a current and recurring theme of this show. I can't just talk it. I also need to demonstrate it to live it myself,

to walk it. A walk that respects and nurtures the inner spark even if it risks alienating an audience. And so, a portion of an audience I've perhaps trained to expect something different. Growth requires the courage to scratch the creative itch, even in the face of fear of how the result will be received. And turning that spark of inspiration into something shared publicly is always scary. It's

inevitable. But allowing that fear to mute one's voice is the death of creativity. It's antithetical to growth. It's at odds with both the person I aspire to be. And the sensibility I strive to encourage in others. And so, although it may not have been everyone's cup of tea, I'm really proud of the AI episode. It provided an opportunity for Adam to flex his investigative journalism muscles.

It presented a new challenge and storytelling. And it gave my talented team a new and nourishing creative opportunity to shine. I suppose this is all a long preface to saying that today I am a great, I am, once again, tiptoeing, venturing out into the unknown to try something new. As I've previously mentioned on a number of occasions, I find the moments where I'm speaking into a

microphone alone without a partner, like I'm doing right now, or for example, during the introductions to my guests, deeply, deeply uncomfortable. And you know, in many a podcaster, including my wife, feel absolutely at home doing this. And I run, I'm not going to be able to do that. And ironically, given that I talk into a microphone for a living, this is not me. But rather than

avoid or minimize this discomfort, I thought I would beat this fear head on, step out of my comfort zone a bit, do something I've never before done on this show. And for the first time, offer up some thoughts in monologue format. That monologue is coming right up in uninterrupted form. But first, a word from the sponsors, I made this episode possible. I don't know about you,

but I personally love the feeling of sun on my body, running, swimming at the beach. I can't say I'm crazy about excessive UV exposure, leading to skin damage, wrinkles, premature aging of the skin, or God forbid skin cancer. And I'm also not crazy about lathering myself with over the counter sunscreen, which is basically a chemical soup of who knows what I'm doing. Leaching into my system

through my largest organ, or also the damaging impact of all those chemicals on refecology, the good people at native, you know, the company that makes the natural deodorant, I'm always going on and on about, well, they see it the same way. And they solve this dilemma with a lightweight sunscreen formula that offers SPF 30 protection from UVA and UVB rays without the chemical soup, just a

safe vegan, cruelty free, and dermatologist testing. So, I'm going to use the 20% zinc oxide formula, complemented with oils derived from plants and suitable for sensitive skin. I'm an unscented guy, but I will say the coconut and pineapple scent is pretty delightful. And native even has ros or sweet peach and nectar scents for your face and your body. So, give your skin the protection it deserves

with natives mineral sunscreens. Go to nativedo.com slash RRP or use promo code RRP. Check out to get 20% off your first order. That's native. nativedo.com slash RRP or use promo code RRP. We're brought to you today by Momentus. Athlete focused supplements formulated with the highest quality research backed ingredients. I believe in the power and the importance of responsible nutrition supplementation. Because no matter how much you

think you've got your diet completely dialed in, chances are, and for most people, a comprehensive blood work panel will reveal deficiencies. But because the supplement world isn't exactly highly regulated, finding a trustworthy brand can be a real challenge. A non-negotiable key for me is ensuring that the products I consume are scientifically backed and objectively tested with expert credibility. And after a pretty extended period, and a

lot of personal due diligence and self experimentation, I'm here to safely and proudly say that Momentus really is doing it right. There are world leading provider of best in class, human performance products for sleep, focus, cognition, hormone support, brain health, and longevity. And they're setting the bar super high with a wide and continuously expanding line of products designed by performance experts in the NFL, the NBA,

MLB, NHL, and the NB. And they're in C2A. And what stands out, what I appreciate most about Momentus is the rigor they invest in all their products, all prioritized to help everyone perform better in a variety of ways and disciplines. And also, the Sanfises that they're placing on making it easier for plant-based people to optimize their diets. The vegan protein powder is top notch, a proven

blend of two high-end ingredients, P, and rice proteins that have been carefully selected to provide the full range of amino acids. With a taste and a texture that goes great with my post-workout smoothie. I've also been super impressed with their sleep pack, which essentially primes your body for sleep with magnesium, L3 and 8, Appogenin, and L-theanine, a potent and really effective combination I've come to incorporate

into my sleep routine. And this is really just a small fraction of their offering. So, no matter what you're need, Momentus has you covered. And right now, for all you guys, for listeners of the show, Momentus is offering an exclusive offer on their sleep pack, their vegan protein, and their entire product collection. Go to LivMomentus.com slashRichRoll. That's L-I-V-E-M-O-M-E-N-T-O-U-S.com slashRichRoll and claim 20% off these incredible Momentus

products. Okay, so the subject of my thoughts today, focus on our evolving and complicated relationship with the digital world. Met with a call to action to reclaim our innate humanity to exert greater agency on how we direct our attention to shoulder responsibility to live our lives more present, more connected, and with greater conscious intention. The internet, as it exists today, specifically, but not exclusively social media,

but of course, both the tool of miraculous proportions and a highly addictive distraction. On the one hand, it presents a repository of extraordinary knowledge at our fingertips, a source of inspiration, a device for self-betterment, for community building, and this excellent lever to organize and manifest positive change in the world. I myself have reaped its benefits. It's provided me with a vocation previously not possible. It's provided

me to connect directly with an astonishing number of inspiring people I could have never before accessed. And in turn, share that inspiration with others. And it's allowed me to build and participate in a global community of like-minded seekers and souls. On the other hand, social media, and in fact, the internet as a whole, is almost entirely organized around a business model that deeply undermines its positive

attributes. It's controlled by a very small grouping of corporate behemoths that prioritize growth, prioritize scale, and most of all engagement for the purpose of data mining behavior. And in turn, selling all that data for the purpose of perfect targeted advertising. As was so astutely stated in the social dilemma documentary, we are not users of social media as much as we are being used. Indeed, we are

the product. Unfortunately, this model, architected for maximum engagement, time spent on your platform of choice, has created a pernicious misalignment of incentives. Instead of creating a useful and healthy experience for the end user, what we instead have are ecosystems very specifically and scientifically designed to hijack and addict our attention. Highly sophisticated algorithms encourage our outraging conflict, down regulating sanity, and instead, upvoting provocation. When matched with

the addition of an endless scroll in the dopamine inducing anticipation of external validation in the form of likes, comments, and follows, the result is an extremely potent narcotic that quite reliably deepens our noxious and addictive relationship with social media, activates something primal that has a brain that overrides rationality, renders us powerless to set it aside, and over time obscures our ability to evaluate situations objectively and

denigrates the very quality of our lives. Social media with its utopic promise of bringing the world closer as this infinite repository of community and wisdom has evolved beyond the anodine era of using it to simply stay in the world. We touch with old friends into this potent crucible of division, a mind virus that erodes civility to instead reward our most base and reactive impulses. A tool

for bad faith actors to manipulate at scale, and we it's willing denizens. But the real problem reveals itself when the worst of these impulses and ideas produced by the internet, escape their digital confines, make their way into the analog world, and produce very real, very negative consequences on the vulnerable or undersurning on those bereft of critical thinking skills on the angry or disenfranchised on our young,

and on our collective consciousness as a whole, because, in truth, none of us are truly immune. Over time, as the algorithms learn to know as better than we know ourselves, our sources of information become increasingly siloed, bespoke, and highly tailored to what we have most engaged with historically. The result is both distortion and calcification, a retreat into discrete and isolated spaces of comfort that enthrone the

trench and affirm an already cemented worldview, and further solidify the zero-sum game war of ideology. Religion, politics, nutrition, sports, the subject itself matters less than the sense of virtue produced by tribe alignment. A dopamine hit of superiority experienced by shouting down the opposing view as at best, summarily wrong, and at worst, downright evil. As a result, constructive conversation is eroded. It's no longer about truth, or

even a good faith attempt to listen, let alone truly understand. Our post-truth world isn't about a collective effort to get things right. It's about exacerbating the fissures and fractures of separation. It's about scoring points, owning or dunking on the other side. When empathy is so thoroughly supplanted with righteousness as is most certainly the case, nobody wins. And together, we suffer. What becomes of us when we

can no longer communicate constructively? When we can't tolerate an opposing viewpoint, or when truth is irrelevant? Conversation matters. I say this often. I believe it to be true to my core, and the evolution that we desire, the solutions that we seek and desperately need to the many problems we face, from the personal to the global to the existential, always, and in every instance, begin with conversation.

In fact, conversation is truly all we have as a bridge to a better self and a better world. It's why I do this podcast. It's why I believe so urgently in the medium of long-form conversational podcasting. But so much of what I would consider real conversation, a respectful, good faith exchange of perspective shared and debated and a healthy marketplace of ideas, has been denigrated on both

social and mainstream media to slinging epithets on talk shows or incendiary diatripes on Twitter. And the squawk box of soundtracks, and bite shouting heads on cable news competing for precious airtime. He or she, who shouts loudest and with the greatest conviction, wins. A competition that once again incentivizes outrage and division at the cost of shared values, and at the cost of appreciating that what unites us

is far greater and more important than the few issues over which we squabble. And at the cost of the conversation, we have to be more careful. And at the cost of creating healthy resolution to the issues over which we disagree for the betterment of all. This does not portend well for the future of liberalism or the future of democracy for an open and free society for

cultural cohesion or even our own personal evolution. As a byproduct, we've all born witness to the rapid deterioration of our mental health. The human connection and community promised by our social media overlords has instead, and quite ironically, architected a deep sense of isolation. One in three Americans now identify as lonely, a statistic that rises to an astonishing 61% among young people. One analysis like in the

negative effects of loneliness to smoking 15 cigarettes a day, meanwhile, rates of depression continue to escalate. This is not to say that social media is entirely to blame, widening economic disparity, the pandemic, and other factors certainly shoulder responsibility. But there is something uniquely alarming, pernicious, and perhaps even Shakespearean about social media's unique culpability as this instigating accelerant in the steep decline of emotional well-being that we

are currently bearing witness to at scale. When quiet reflects, and the question in boredom, the sacred spaces for rumination have all but been eradicated and replaced by the impossible to deny urge to always be scrolling, we, in turn, welcome this poverty of creative expression. Culture of instant, impulsive reaction over considered response, a denigration in agency, and quite notably, a precipitous decline in mental health produced by

incessantly comparing the quality of our lives to the endless feed of idealization, an onslaught of the most curated polished versions of others, and their filtered performances skillfully crafted to maximize external validation. And because we can't help but measure ourselves against what we train our attention on, we are willingly inviting a chronic persistent state of feeling less than into our lives. So, sense of not being good

enough, of perhaps never being able to be good enough, because comparison is the thief of joy. In other words, the connection promised by every login instead engineers loneliness, depression, chronic anxiety, and a level of despair at just massive scale. This despair or loss of hope is in turn breeding in the world. And reinforcing a global society that is becoming increasingly bereft of empathy, which is a

noxious, emotional cocktail, stoking anger, producing violence, and rendering millions of people vulnerable, vulnerable to self harm, vulnerable to bad ideas, vulnerable to false promises, false narratives, and false quick fixes to happiness, wealth, beauty, and the world. So, pay were sometimes fully, overly strict, focused or gross, extremely unfaithful,ily preferred, to be responsible. This All opportunitiesgreen trans switching, and to be uny, even in a peaceful, araViewal industry,

and all impacto, although more closely associated interest. And to overcome violence andorders, the needs normally are different, but not to discuss what happens. And Gaga, who is the soleelist of self ultimate Seor to you all, calls the cleaner for help from you Dieber, behind a paywall, or the click-fondle email baiting you on the newest miracle solution that's going to salv your wound, or heal your pain,

or render you attractive, or give you six back abs, or fill that unfillable hole in your soul. Please, resist the temptation to bite, and just pause, step away, turn inward, and try to locate the source of that compulsion. What is the locus of your vulnerability? What is the nature and origin of the whole that is seeking to be filled? And where and what is the why

behind the need? The answers all of us seek, that sense of wholeness, acceptance, love, compassion, meaning, purpose, and fulfillment, can't be found on the very same platforms that are contributing to that whole, that anxiety, that depression, loneliness, and despair, that too many people are experiencing. And normal, the answer be found in the job, the car, the house, or the romantic partner. You're not going to find

it in a financial windfall, or a psychedelic trip. And the work is not reading the latest inspirational quote on your feed, and it certainly does not exist behind a paywall. No, the truth that you yearn for, the peace, the self-love, the sense of direction of meaning, is much more complicated. It's hard earned, it's messy, it's non-linear, it's one step forward, two steps back, it's very unique

to you. It's this process without a destination, it's incredibly painful and hard, and probably the most difficult adventure of your life, but it's also beautiful, and it's always, always worth it. There is no one or right way to engage with the inward journey of acceptance, healing, and actual relaxation, and it's really not by place to prescribe the form your journey towards awareness, towards wholeness, should take.

That's yours and yours alone, to struggle with, to determine, to decide and ultimately pursue. But what I can offer are some very basic and simple guideposts, based on experience, which I'll share with you with the caveat that you very well may find what follows, embarrassingly obvious, or perhaps even pointedly banal. In defense, I would argue that what might sound basic and simple is in fact quite

challenging to practice with any modicum of consistency, and even with great discipline would require a lifetime to master. So reflect on what resonates and discard what doesn't. As much as I'm grateful for your attention, my first recommendation, not shockingly, is to log off, step away from the device, go away, go outside, create rules around the use of your technology that provide ample time and space to

seek inward. In other words, make room for boredom. I'd also like you to consider sobriety, or at least minimizing alcohol and other mind-altering substances for the purpose of cultivating clarity, because to numb one's self out is to arrest growth in its own way. I encourage you to consciously strive to be present, even for the most banal of moments. And really connect more deeply to your body.

What is it telling you? Listen to the signals that it's giving you. Pay attention, particularly to the faint whispers, especially when they recur. What are they saying? I tend to hear them best, the slightly elevated heart rate, while alone in nature, and consider them messengers, sacred foot soldiers, dispatched from my future higher self. They are catalyst for transformation, delivering magic when translated into action. So listen

to them, and act upon them. And as you begin to connect more deeply with yourself and your natural surroundings, allow yourself to be more open and more vulnerable with a circle of trusted friends. Because what is hidden cannot be healed. It is in the light and the sharing and the trust and the vulnerability. And because we are spiritual beings having a human experience, it's my belief

that engaging with the spirituality of your choosing through prayer, ceremony, or other means that you discover or become comfortable with is really paramount. And in terms of connecting with and being in relationship with and indulging your creativity and taking it out of the journal into the world to give yourself permission to be creative, to express yourself, to build something, to make something, to share something is

a great practice. Another great practice, practicing random acts of kindness, practicing them until they become reflexive. Cultivating gratitude by making a handwritten list each day of things you were thankful for. Seek out awe, seek out wonder by both investing in unique experiences, but also by just identifying it in your everyday lives. When you're present and you're noticing, you can find awe and wonder in everything. Practice

becoming an excellent listener. Not just the experience to yourself, but to others because the greatest gift that you can give another is your attention. It's a gift that will be rewarded tenfold. Pursue joy. And finally, find a way to be of service to others, preferably that also channels that connection with joy. Because we all have something of value to give. And acting on it unlocks the

door to purpose. The list of obvious things we don't adequately honor or practice as long I could go on and I should add before closing that everything I am expressing here is a needed reminder to myself as much as to you because I am certainly no master. And so to end, I want to really encourage all of you to find the strength, find the fortitude to

go inward or to go further inward to push past the field. Be here. It keeps your pain private to reckon with your demons and your darkness and expose them to the light and heal. Because you deserve the peace and the freedom and the fulfillment that will bring. And because what you discover along the way will be of tremendous value when shared with others. And because the

rest of us, not just your family, your friends, but truly the world needs the best, most fully actualized version of you. Now more than ever. Meanwhile, have more conversations, real conversations, old school, campfire conversations. Because conversation matters. This episode is about the world. This episode was brought to you by Inside Tracker. Learn how to live healthier, longer by visiting InsideTracker.com slash Rich Roll and use code

Rich Roll. A checkout to save 20% off the entire store. Thank you for listening. Thank you for indulging me in this experiment. I hope you found it of some value. And I'll see you back here in a couple days. Peace. Plants. I'll see you back here. Peace.