65 Years of Wisdom - In 21 Words!

I have often been asked what all my training in physics, biology, crystallography, molecular biophysics, bioinformatics, neuroinformatics, design thinking/behavioral psychology, and more recently behavioral economics is worth (if anything!)

Accordingly, I have attempted to synthesize my thoughts into answers to six of the great mysteries of life, which are (in my humble opinion):

1. What is the secret to success?

2. What is the secret to happiness?

3. What is the secret to understanding?

4. What is the secret to effectiveness?

5. What is the secret to life?

6. What is the secret to inner peace?

However, since I don’t want to bore everyone, I decided to make my answers as succinct as possible. Accordingly, I have used a total of 21 words to answer these six questions, with the words distributed in the following order:

1. What is the secret to success? (Answer in six words.)

2. What is the secret to happiness?  (Answer in five words.)

3. What is the secret to understanding?  (Answer in four words.)

4. What is the secret to effectiveness?  (Answer in three words.)

5. What is the secret to life?  (Answer in two words.)

6. What is the secret to inner peace?  (Answer in one word.)

   
   
   
   

   By the way, I am by no means saying I practice some, most or even any of my own answers. So, as the saying goes, “do as I say, not what I do…”

   
   

Still reading? My answers are based on decades of research (none of it by me, you’ll be glad to hear.) Do you really want to know my answers? Very well. Scroll down to read answers to the great questions of life…

1. What is the secret to success?

   Make others feel good about themselves [1].

   
   

2. What is the secret to happiness?

   Want what you already have [2].

   
   

3. What is the secret to understanding?

   Separate signal from noise [3].

   
   

4. What is the secret to effectiveness?

   Write it down [4].

   
   

5. What is the secret to life?

   Hormonal regulation [5].

   
   

6. What is the secret to inner peace?

   Breathe [6].

References:

[1] "How to Win Friends and Influence People"  - Dale Carnegie (of course!), but also:

"Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft's Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone" - Satya Nadella.

[2] "Stumbling on Happiness" - Daniel Gilbert

[3] "Cold Hard Truth: On Business, Money & Life" - Kevin O'Leary

[4] "Neuroscience Explains Why You Need To Write Down Your Goals If You Actually Want To Achieve Them" - Mark Murphy

[5] "Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst" - Robert Sapolsky

[6] "Breathe: The New Science of a Lost Art" - James Nestor

Notes (Still reading?!)

[1] If you've watched "Game of Thrones" or "Succession", you will know that one way of making others feel really good about themselves is to first make them feel really bad about themselves. I'm not condoning this approach, but it certainly seems to work!

[2] When people are asked to rank 10 different cars from best to worst (for them), and then are given the 5th best car to drive for a few months, they rank it the best when later asked to rerank the same 10 cars!

[3] For a business analysis, read any of the biographies of Steve Jobs. For a physics /information theory-based analysis, read John von Neumann and Claude Shannon. (If you don't know who they were, now is the time to find out!)

[4] To understand the difference between System I and System II thinking (and how writing things down shifts your brain from the former to the latter), read Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman's magnum opus, "Thinking, Fast and Slow." To learn how even simple, 30-neuron circuits retain and exhibit a variety of behaviors dependent on the pleiotropic effects of different neuromodulators, read the work of Eve Marder.

[5] Everyone is aware of the hormones adrenaline and cortisol, testosterone and estrogen, and insulin and glucagon. However there are many other hormones that regulate our endocrine, immune and neurological systems. Manage these by increasing vagal tone, heart-rate variation (HRV) and breath control, all of which are essential to a long healthspan. Decrease or eliminate your exposure to endocrine disruptors (perfumes, cleaning products, smoke, tire dust) and other steroidal compounds.

[In addition, one type of cancer is caused by mutations to epidermal growth factor receptor, EGFR (which binds epidermal growth factor, not strictly a hormone), signaling cellular growth. The signal is conducted by the enzymatic action, known as phosphorylation, of tyrosine residues on the surface of a second intracellular messenger. Inhibiting this enzme with reversible or irreversible inhibitors to mutant forms of EGFR (which are stuck in the 'on' position, resulting in unconstrained cell proliferation), is one way to keep non-small cell lung cancer in check.]

[6] If you wear an Apple Watch, use the "Breathe" app 2x a day for two minutes at a time, in order to increase your HRV, SDDN and PNN50. Try to get your HRV above 50ms. (75-125 great), your SDDN above 50ms. (>100 excellent), and your PNN50 over 50% (>75% excellent.)