#4 - Feeding Frenzy

Feeding Frenzy is a weekly round-up of reading, listening, or watching that is worth your time. These posts will act as the foundation of mental meandering across all domains!

A Podcast Worth Listening To:

Tero Isokauppila, founder of Four Sigmatic on Finding Mastery

"One of the hardest things is to be you in a world that is constantly trying to make us all similar. I think social media and the internet have given us access to information really quickly, but can also force us to mimic each other faster than ever before." - Tero Isokauppila

This podcast may be Erich's favorite podcast of the year. As a full disclaimer, Erich does use Four Sigmatic products and has posted them on his Instagram before. For a while, the people behind the company have been a mystery, but within the performance and wellness community, the company has become a hidden gem, their flagship product is Mushroom Coffee. This conversation is much like the company; - a hidden gem. Tero is a highly reflective person that takes deliberate actions to facilitate active participation in his life. In the conversation, he talks about not having a TV, giving up caffeine, and taking naps on a bed of nails. In general, the way he operates is deliberate. Attention is our most important resource outside of time.

Articles Worth Reading:

Intellectual Humility by Shane Snow

“As Caroline Mehl recently put it to me, if everyone took a course in IH (like her and Dr. Haidt’s OpenMind program), we’d have a world ‘in which people are less susceptible to biased and tribal thinking, and are more tolerant of moral, political, ethnic, religious, and cognitive differences.’”

While reading this article, we found ourselves thinking this needs to be read by more people, required reading for the world if we could be so bold. This topic is utterly captivating and having the tool of Intellectual Humility will be invaluable for the foreseeable future!

Warning this post is long, but well worth it. That being said a cheat is available if you want to get the summarized version.

Optimist Live Longer by Gina Digravio

"When individuals were compared based on their initial levels of optimism, the researchers found that the most optimistic men and women demonstrated, on average, an 11 percent to 15 percent longer life span, and had 50 percent to 70 percent greater odds of reaching 85 years of age compared to the least optimistic groups."

Optimism is a skill, and developing the ability to see the positives in our life is one of the most critical skills. We are not suggesting to look at the world with rose-colored glasses, but being able to see the positives in situations helps take the speed bumps of life in stride.

A Book To Read (Or Listen):

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

"I became a chameleon. My color didn't change, but I could change your perception of my color. If you spoke Zulu, I replied to you in Zulu. If you spoke to me in Tswana, I replied to you in Tswana. Maybe I didn't look like you, but if I spoke like you, I was you." - Trevor Noah

This story is fascinating. If we could change the name, it would be Trevor Noah: Culture Chameleon. This idea comes up multiple times throughout the book. On Feeding Curiosity, we even touch on this topic with guests Jordan Criss and Dante Brooks. Trevor's story is much more contrasted due to living in South Africa during the end of apartheid. Even though Trevor's story is full of hardships and roadblocks, it is still one of hope and creates empathy for someone who grew up in a radically different way. On a final note, if you haven't tried audiobooks yet this is a great book to start with. The book is narrated by Trevor where he adds language and accents of the people in his life that add depth to the story.

This week is a wrap and plenty to chew over for this week! Feel free to let us know any thoughts and suggestions that may contribute to these posts. It may pop-up on Feeding Frenzy or develop into a full-fledged post of its own.

Stay Curious, and have a great week!

Previous Feeding Frenzies: #1, #2 , #3

Check out our recent episodes:

#64 - Work-Life Balance

#63 - Mike and Mary Taccona: Nursing, Travel in the US and Costa Rica

#62 - Eric Herrera: Stories of a Tower Climber

Checkout our blogs:

The One Who Wears The Mask by Jordan Criss

Wearables: Meet WHOOP and Oura Ring by Erich Wenzel

Spiraling Upwards: A Poem on Being by Joe Jackowski

Connect with Us on Social Media:

Twitter: @erichwenzel & @feedingcuriosity1