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Ryan Munsey is a writer, podcaster, speaker, and high-performance consultant. He has worked with professional and Olympic athletes, Navy SEALs, and entrepreneurs — helping them optimize their minds and bodies, win medals, further their careers, and build multiple six-figure businesses. His work has been featured in Fortune Magazine, Men’s Health, and Men’s Fitness. Ryan is the author of his brand new book, F*ck Your Feelings (now available on Amazon in Paperback and Kindle editions), and the host of The Better Human Project podcast.
It takes us a bit to get to the real heart of Ryan’s work as we spend the first part of the conversation getting to know a bit more about who he is and why we should pay attention. His new book is about how we’re all getting wagged by our tails. In a nutshell, when you rely predominantly on your feelings to make important regular decisions, you’re using your limbic brain, which is designed to make quick decisions and protect you from danger. It doesn’t take into consideration your truer, deeper values, what you stand for, and who you truly are. Therefore, the actions it has you take based on its interpretation of the situation don’t necessarily represent your best interest or your best self. It’s an important distinction and the conversation we have about it is fascinating.
Look for that part of the conversation, but don’t miss the other nuggets of wisdom sprinkled throughout. Enjoy!
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Episode Notes – #129: Ryan Munsey
- How Ryan “accidentally” got obsessed with the world of human performance at Clemson
- Getting his first job after college – why he decided to go the route of fitness modeling in NYC
- The commodity of fitness modeling – how it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be
- Virtuous modeling from his parents and values – how they helped Ryan make some hard decisions early on
- How taking the core curriculum science classes toward his engineering degree set Ryan up (without him knowing it) to have the tools for a future as a human optimizer
- The carnivore diet – a radical experiment
- The lost value of eating organ meats like liver (and the convenience of liverwurst).
- Meeting his future wife, becoming a personal trainer, opening a gym
- Working full time for Natural Stacks and building the Optimal Performance Podcast
- How reading Tim Ferriss’ “The 4-Hour Workweek” got Ryan thinking about how to set up his life to get what he wanted
- Building his own new business and podcast – The Better Human Podcast”
- Ryan’s new book, called “F*ck Your Feelings”. It’s a book that is a neurobiological exploration of why some people have success and others don’t, answering the question, “Why do we fall short of achieving what we want to achieve?”
- 95% of our decisions are based on how we feel in a particular moment.
- How our physiology affects our decisions and feelings.
- Neurobiological definition of an emotion – a mental experience of a physiological state.
- Since the limbic system can’t think outside of the “now” as it’s wired for speed and survival, it’s not necessarily beneficial.
- What are your values? What do you stand for? If you are the best version of yourself, what actions would you be taking on a regular basis?
- The importance of identifying your values and why it’s such an important part of good decision-making.
- If you had no one, no resources, and no information to help you and you wanted to get into shape, what would you do?
- Using the Pomodoro technique to get things done.
- Ryan’s non-negotiable habits: light therapy and cold showers in the morning
- The unpublished story of the origin of Corn Flakes – it’s not at all what you think it is
Connect with Ryan Munsey
- Ryan Munsey’s website
- @ryanmunsey_ on Instagram
- @ryanmunsey on Twitter
- The Better Human Project on Facebook
Selected Resources from the Episode
- The Carnivore Diet – Sean Baker
- Georgia Ede – Diagnosisdiet.com
- Dr. Anne Childers
- John Ratey, author of “Go Wild”
- Robb Wolf, author of “Wired to Eat”
- Juuve – light therapy
- Oura Ring
- Jocko Willink
- Dr. Michael Breus – Andy’s conversation with the Sleep Doctor
- Dr. Jason Fung. “The Obesity Code” and intermittent fasting expert
Have a question? Have feedback? Want to connect?
Email Andy at podcast@wholelifechallenge.com, or
Connect on social media with Andy directly at Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook
Leave a podcast review – bit.ly/wlc-podcast
If you enjoyed this podcast, here are some others to check out:
108: Ryan Parsons — The Tremendous Power of Self-Patterning
99: David Allen — The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
Andy is a certified CHEK Practitioner and holistic lifestyle coach. He holds a spectrum of certifications from CrossFit and is also a Vivobarefoot certified running coach. He has trained as a Zen buddhist and graduated with a Master’s degree in spiritual psychology from the University of Santa Monica.
Andy founded CrossFit LA one of the first and most successful CrossFit training centers in the world and the first to be featured in national media. He is the co-founder of the Whole Life Challenge, Inc, currently its president, and is also a consultant and life/business coach. Andy lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Julia, and son, Dashel.
