If you struggle with low energy, lack of motivation, or feeling stuck in procrastination, you're likely experiencing nervous system dysregulation. This simple breathwork technique helps shift your state from hypoarousal to your optimal Window of Tolerance in under a minute. I keep this Post-It on my computer to remind myself to SHIFT MY STATE. I tend to wallow when I’m feeling flat. To beat myself up for not being productive. To wish I had more drive. Of course I know fully well that wishing and wallowing doesn’t do anything for me. Action does. So I need a physical cue to remind me that focus, energy, motivation are states I need to actively create. The Breath Technique: From Hypoarousal to Energized An easy and quick way to do that, especially when you’re already sitting down behind your computer, is using your breath to generate energy: Take 15 seconds of vigorous, deep breathing: inhale strongly through your nose, exhale with a quick, powerful “ha” or “pah” sound Hold on full lungs for 6-15 seconds Repeat for 2-4 rounds You might feel a bit silly but you’ll quickly get over that once you realize that you’re creating a very rapid physiological shift in your system: Activating sympathetic nervous system, raising...

Just finished my 30 days no caffeine experiment. It was a success (so much so that I’ll largely continue it), and it made me realize something important about nervous system regulation—the skill I work on with people every day. We're great at coming up with tools to “regulate” ourselves: breathing techniques, grounding practices, cold plunges, meditation, movement. And these tools are powerful. But we're terrible at the other half of the equation: subtraction. Regulation isn't just about what we add. It's equally about asking, "What am I doing that consistently throws me off balance?" And then being honest enough to experiment with removing it. This is hard because the things that dysregulate us are often the things we love. Coffee, alcohol, scrolling, Netflix binges. Habits that feel good in the moment but drain us after. It's uncomfortable to admit that. It's uncomfortable to let them go, even temporarily. But that discomfort is exactly where progress lives. (I’ve experienced it firsthand with alcohol, and now with caffeine.) Only then do we get the data that matters: “What does my nervous system feel like without this?” How do you know it’s time to subtract? When the thing has more control over you than you have over it. My coffee experiment For a long time,...

It’s 5:00 PM and you’re just coming out of another long meeting. Your chest feels tight. You take a deep breath. One of those big, reaching breaths that feels like you need to push past some invisible ceiling just to get relief. Sound familiar? That big, gulping breath you need is called a sigh—a breath 2-3x bigger than your normal breath size. Now while occasional sighing is normal (your body actually does it automatically every 5 minutes to sustain lung function), when you're doing it every few minutes… it means something’s off. Chances are, you’ve trained your body to over-breathe. (Well, not you exactly. The world we live in, the jobs we have, the foods we eat,…)     Here’s what’s happening: Every time you take one of those big, relieving sighs, you dump excess carbon dioxide (CO₂) from your system. Wait! Don’t write this off as biochemistry nonsense that’s only relevant in the laboratory. This absolutely matters for your daily experience: CO₂ isn't just waste you exhale. It's the key that unlocks oxygen from your red blood cells. When CO₂ drops too low, oxygen gets stuck in your bloodstream instead of reaching your brain and muscles. That's why you feel air-hungry, foggy, and like nothing you breathe is quite...

You know that moment when you're three slides into a presentation and suddenly realize your shoulders are practically touching your ears, your jaw is clenched, and you have no idea when that started happening? Or when you walk out of a meeting feeling completely drained, but you can't pinpoint exactly when or why your energy shifted? If you're nodding along, you're experiencing something most people deal with daily, but are unaware of: Living disconnected from an incredible sensory system that could change how you handle stress, emotions, and decision-making entirely. The 6th sense you never learned about We all know our five senses, right? Vision, hearing, touch, smell, taste. But there's a 6th sense that's just as important for your day-to-day experience: It's called interoception—your ability to accurately detect and interpret what's happening inside your body. Heart rate, breathing patterns, muscle tension, that flutter of adrenaline before a difficult conversation, the subtle shift in energy when you're about to hit a wall. These are just a few examples of the countless signals your body sends you every day. One study found that people who could accurately detect their heartbeats (a measure of interoceptive awareness) performed significantly better on tasks requiring emotional intelligence and decision-making under pressure. (So quite literally:...

Our visual system is perhaps the strongest lever by which we can shift our state of mind and body. (Andrew Huberman) Soften your gaze for a moment. Without moving your head, guide your eyes in a slow, deliberate circle – as if you're tracing the edge of a clock on the wall. Feel the smoothness of this movement, the subtle stretch as your eyes reach each corner. Let your eyes slowly close halfway, then three-quarters, then open them wide like you've just seen something surprising. You can direct them up toward your eyebrows, down toward your cheeks, or dart them quickly from side to side. Play with these micro-movements. Now focus on one single word on the screen. One single letter. And now expand your visual field, taking in as much of the space around you as possible without moving your head. Notice how you can easily switch between these modes. This conscious play with your eyes is more than just an exercise—it's a rediscovery of a powerful tool you've always had but perhaps never fully explored. These delicate organs that move automatically throughout your day are completely under your conscious control. Each movement sends ripples of information through your nervous system, influencing your entire state of being. How come the eyes...

Box breathing is one of the most popular breathing techniques, because it’s famously used in Navy Seals training to get their nervous system under control, and stay focused and precise during critical operations. It’s a simple technique: It involves taking an inhale, holding your breath at the top, exhaling, and holding your breath again at the bottom. But, there’s one big caveat. Well, there are a few but I’ll start with this one: There is a wrong and a right way to do it. The wrong way is to blindly follow the instructions online. Most guides tell you to do inhale for 4 - hold for 4- exhale for 4 - hold for 4, or 5-5-5-5. The problem is: the duration heavily depends on your individual nervous system. People who are highly stressed or anxious, or who are completely new to breathwork and have dysfunctional breathing patterns (without being aware of this), will really struggle with those durations and push themselves too hard too quickly. It’s like going into the gym for the first time and picking the heaviest weight. The right way to do it… is to first measure your CO2 discard rate, and use that to determine the duration for your box breathing. Here are the instructions...

Out of all the chemicals and hormones, learning about cortisol has probably changed me the most. It helped me realize something I have never been taught: I’m made of rhythms. And so are you. We cycle through energy highs and lows roughly every 90 minutes. Our breath moves in waves. Body temperature rises and falls. Even immune and repair functions follow daily patterns, peaking while we sleep. Cortisol plays a central role in all of this. It shapes your sleep-wake cycle, your focus, your motivation, your recovery. It helps you rise to meet challenges, and rest when the challenge is over. What’s made the biggest difference for me is learning to work with those rhythms instead of trying to override them. When I feel a dip in energy, I don’t force or push anymore. I run. I nap. I breathe. Then I return clearer, sharper, and more motivated. I now finally understand and appreciate that this isn’t indulgent, selfish or weak. It’s not about “self-care.” It’s about working with your body. And the irony is: you end up getting much more done, and you have more fun doing it 🙂 Cortisol: the rhythm & resilience hormone Here's something I really dislike about social media: oversimplification. Labeling cortisol as purely a "stress hormone" and implying...

You read the books, you listen to the podcasts, you gather advice, to-do lists, strategies, frameworks. And yet, you stay stuck. Why? Not because you’re missing something out there. But because you lack access to what’s already in here—the tools and resources hardwired into you. So if you’ve been circling a specific problem or decision, try the below formula for one week. I guarantee you’ll make progress. If not, get your money back. Every morning or evening, right after or right before going to bed, block 15-20 minutes and do this: Step 1 — Kidlin’s Law: write it out Write out in detail what the problem is. What do you know? What assumptions are you making? You’re not necessarily solving it right away. You’re simply describing it in as much detail as possible. Bringing some order to the chaos in your head. Very important: pen and paper only. Then every day, add any new thoughts, ideas, and insights. No editing. No judging. Just write down exactly what comes up. Step 1b - Keep your phone far away from you A study testing the “brain drain” hypothesis showed that “the mere presence of your smartphone occupies limited-capacity cognitive resources, thereby leaving fewer resources available for other tasks.” In simple terms: when you try...

It’s funny how often people are skeptical about breathwork. Then as soon as I tell them a few facts about how breathing actually works, their whole attitude changes. They’re surprised. Intrigued. Because even though we breathe all day, every day, most of us know shockingly little about it. Here’s one of my favorite “well… did you know…” When we think of breathing, we typically think of the lungs. And while the lungs are a critical organ, they’re just the site where the gas exchange happens. Oxygen in, carbon dioxide out. But… they’re not what drives your breath. The real engine of your breath is in your brain. Deep in the brainstem, there’s a tiny cluster of neurons called the preBötzinger complex. It’s this group of neurons that generates the rhythm of your breath automatically, moment by moment. Here’s why this is so cool: The brain-breath loop is bi-directional. Your brain influences your breath. Your breath influences your brain. Meaning: Change your breathing pattern, and you change your brain activity. One of the most powerful ways to do that? Slow, nasal breathing. A few things happen when you breathe slowly, in and out through the nose: For one, you’re dialling up your prefrontal cortex. That’s the part of your brain that helps you focus, regulate emotions, and...

If you’re someone who feels guilty about taking breaks throughout your work day… this brain scan finding might change everything: Your brain is actively working for you while you “do nothing”, and the best thing you can do is to get out of its way. Here’s what I learned from the book Rest by Alex Pang: When you’re resting, your brain is almost as active as when you’re focused. One particular study, back in the 1990s, showed that there’s as much going on in the brain while reading text (a cognitively complicated activity) as while staring at a blank wall. It’s just a different kind of activity, driven by different brain regions. As soon as we stop concentrating on an external task, our brain automatically switches on the Default Mode Network (DMN) - a series of interconnected sections that are involved in mind-wandering, daydreaming about the past and future, and introspection. This kind of brain activity is hugely important and valuable. The DMN is busy processing, connecting, and consolidating ideas - completely outside of our conscious awareness. “It is clear that the brain’s creative work is never done, that even in its resting state the brain is plugging away at problems, examining and tossing out possible answers, looking...

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