Weekly I/O: Thinking can strengthen muscles, Stress can be contagious, How to overcome imposter syndrome for sharing
#84: Visualizing Muscle Growth, Contagious Stress, Two Year Test for Sharing, Three Questions for Evaluating Projects, Free and Lost
Hi friends,
Greetings from San Francisco!
Here's your weekly dose of I/O. I hope you enjoy it!
Input
Here's a list of what I'm exploring and pondering on this week.
1. Thinking can strengthen muscles. Visualizing yourself lifting weights can stimulate muscle growth even without engaging in physical activity.
You can strengthen your muscles by simply thinking about it.
Mental imagery of weightlifting can stimulate muscle growth through neurological mechanisms because visualizing muscle contractions activates neural pathways, triggers motor cortex activity, and enhances motor unit recruitment.
This practice strengthens brain-to-muscle signals and indirectly boosts muscle development through psychological factors.
Another study also shows that internal imagery (visualizing oneself lifting weight from within one's body) is more effective than external imagery (visualizing oneself lifting weight as an observer) in enhancing strength. This is due to greater muscle excitation, stronger brain activation, and higher physiological responses like increased heart rate and blood pressure associated with internal imagery.
While visualization can promote muscle growth, it's not a substitute for physical exercise. Actual weightlifting still provides a stronger stimulus for muscle development. Visualization is a complementary technique to enhance physical training rather than a replacement.
2. Stress can be contagious through sweat and trigger physiological stress responses in people nearby via cortisol transmission as secondhand stress.
Paper: Chemosignals of Stress Influence Social Judgments
Stress can be contagious in a very literal sense. When we experience stress, our bodies release cortisol, the primary stress hormone, which can be emitted through our sweat.
This cortisol can then be absorbed through the skin of people nearby, potentially triggering a physiological stress response in them.
The phenomenon is similar to how women's menstrual cycles can synchronize when they're in close proximity.
This also relates to Emotional Contagion I noted before. "The reason we say "don't be upset" is often because we don't want to have our emotions synchronized and be upset."
3. Overcome imposter syndrome for sharing online: If it would have been valuable to you 2 years ago, publish it.
Podcast: Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal - Dickie Bush
Imposter syndrome is a common challenge for online writers, including myself, every time before publishing anything.
I find the "two-year test" framework helpful: whenever I have doubt about whether I should share something, I ask myself:
"Would the content have been valuable to me two years ago?"
If yes, publish it. If not, I should make it better.
This perspective helps mitigate self-doubt and focus on providing value to their audience. Content that could have saved me time or helped me avoid mistakes two years ago is worth sharing. Helping even one person is a reason strong enough to overcome imposter syndrome and share your work.
4. When evaluating a new opportunity, ensure it has a positive worst-case scenario, potential for exponential growth, and long-term sustainability for compounding benefits.
Podcast: Deep Dive with Ali Abdaal - Dickie Bush
When evaluating a new project, think about three questions before we say yes to it:
Is there no way that this is a failure?
Is there an exponential upside if it works out long-term?
Can you stick with it long enough to see compounding benefits?
The first question ensures a positive outcome regardless of the results. For example, the worst-case scenario when writing a newsletter could be having no subscribers. Nevertheless, in such cases, you still gain a better understanding of what you have learned and written about.
The second question ensures that the reward is nonlinear, meaning it offers a higher upside and less competition, as others may give up before seeing results.
The third question ensures that the plan is feasible. This is important because if you make an impossible plan, you won't be able to persist and see the compounding benefits of your progress.
Of course, besides all these, you should also consider opportunity cost. However, these three questions serve as useful heuristics to filter out non-ideal opportunities.
5. "I am free and that is why I am lost." - Franz Kafka
Quote
Absolute freedom oftentimes means absolute responsibility. Being radically free to determine our own essence or purpose can cause anxiety or a feeling of being "lost" in the face of endless possibilities.
This quote is from Kafka's Es war der erste Spatenstich and also reminds me of the book The Paradox of Choice.
Output
Here's what I've published since the last time we met.
1. Spaced Repetition for Better Learning
Some preliminary thoughts on how memory is essential for learning complex subjects, and what are some opportunities to tackle current problems.
Recap
Try answering these five simple questions to review and reinforce what you've learned:
That's it. Thanks for reading. Please share which input you found the most helpful or intriguing. Just reply to this email with a number—it's quick and easy!
And as always, feel free to send me any interesting ideas you came across recently!
Looking forward to learning from you.
Cheers,
Cheng-Wei
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