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How Green Tea Made Me Superhuman
Although most people don’t realize it, habits have the power to completely turn your life around. They’re at least as powerful as green tea.
This is my story of green tea, the power of healthy habits, and becoming superhuman.
James Allen, 1911
In 2007 I started working full-time for an education consulting company that was chock-full of caring, emotionally intelligent, mature people who believed in the power of yoga, eating healthy, non-violent communication, & occasionally crystal healing.
It was a wonderful, healing work environment. My job consisted of spending as much of the day as possible on the phone with college students, encouraging them in their studies, asking them how their life could be better, & confronting their limiting beliefs.
All my co-workers were doing the same thing. So it was essentially a boiler room operation, except instead of pushing overpriced stock on unsuspecting rubes with too much liquidity, we were pushing self-improvement on scared first-gen college students with too much debt.
One of the many benefits of this job was that it forced me to examine my own life more closely. I had been struggling to get into a meditation practice for years — I knew intellectually that meditation was the right thing to do, but I lacked the willpower. Similarly with going to the gym. Similarly with figuring out a clear spiritual path. Similarly with improving my diet.
I knew all these good things to do: I just lacked the willpower to do them on any sort of regular basis.
Luckily, the job provisioned me — as a condition of my employment — with mentors and supportive colleagues of all kinds. In such a healthy and pro-change environment, it was perhaps inevitable what happened next:
I started drinking green tea.
I started drinking a lot of green tea.
You might think that this would be a totally innocuous life change, and it was . . . at first. But it quickly grew and became something far less innocuous.
The apparent cause of this change was reading a short article that presented evidence that Japanese men who drank 4-6 cups of green tea daily had reduced rates of cancers of all kinds.
This isn’t the article in question, but it still collects a solid body of evidence so you can get the idea, and it also features one of the best sentences written about green tea’s effects ever:
I remember thinking: “Ok, Japanese men who drink 4 – 6 cups of green tea per day cut their chances of getting various cancers from 33% to 75%. That’s probably the best guarantee anyone can give me. I don’t want to get cancer: ergo, I should start drinking 4 -6 cups of green tea per day.”
And so I did.
It was as simple as picking up a $2 box of green tea bags from Trader Joes and double-brewing two tea bags in the morning as soon as I arrived at work, and then two more tea bags after lunch, in a large 12 oz mug.
That had to be the equivalent of at least 4 cups, especially since I left the tea bags steeping until I finished the full 12 oz mug (a practice that many tea connoisseurs would surely frown upon; I, however, grew to love the bitter, acidic, over-steeped taste.)
It was the simplest of habits, anchored to two of the simplest events: arriving at work in the morning, and finishing lunch in the afternoon.
The caffeine gave me a nice, gentle, slow ramp-up lift at both times — especially in the afternoon, when my brain automatically decided it was time for a nap.
This habit, once established, became nearly impossible to break and is still with me to this day (although I have since added a squeeze of lemon, since evidence suggests that ascorbic acid increases the bioavailability of the catechins.) It became my ritual in the same way that some people’s ritual was to hit up Starbucks for a double espresso each morning.
And it changed my life.
First, it improved my work performance, via the aforementioned caffeine lift. Subtle, but important. Secondly, and vastly more important, it demonstrated to me that a healthy life habit could be put on autopilot — literally, that once this healthy habit was established, it gave me more energy than it took for me to maintain it — i.e., it was now adding more benefit to my life than it cost in terms of time or mental effort.
That one example was all I needed to convince me that I could follow this procedure to turn my entire life around.
If I could become master of my habits, and fill my life with healthy habits that gave me more energy than they required, I could be, in essence, superhuman. I could rise above my own frailties, the ill health and time-wasting blocks to performance that had plagued my life till then.
This idea was, of course, intensely appealing to me.
The rest, as they say, is history: the next habit I adopted was making my daily lunch automatic — I would fix a single healthy meal on Sunday evenings, and divide it up into 5 Tupperware portions.
This put my healthy-eating choice on automatic for 33% of the meals I would eat during the week — and from there, it wasn’t hard to automate my breakfast and, to a lesser degree, dinner. (For years, it was quinoa, bell peppers, organic spinach, and grass-fed buffalo meat for lunch, 5 days a week, 4 weeks a month, 12 months a year.)
Next up was meditation. After struggling for the previous 5 years, I opened the year 2012 with a solid 30 minute morning-and-evening practice that lengthened by the end of the year to a 1-hour morning-and-evening practice. The year 2012 included a 10-day Goenka Vipassana meditation retreat and the stunning and reassuring realization that an infinite wellspring of creativity was waiting for me in the silence of meditation.
This is the reason I recommend meditation so strongly to everyone, and especially to creative people: you lose all your anxiety about “production” of your art when you realize you can always “go to the Well” to get more inspiration & guidance.
Next I automated my gym attendance, by tacking it on to my morning routine, just before meditation. I found my meditation practice concentration improving when my body was thoroughly worn out and “woken up” by a good 30 minutes of weights or cardio. I flirted with yoga and discovered the power of the yoga + meditation combination. To this day, some of the deepest peace I have experienced has come after the yoga + meditation combo.
The magic of these habits is that they become automatic, and ushered in a whole cascade of beneficial side-effects. Whatever the weather, I was rising at 530 and hitting the gym by 540am: combined this early workout with meditation and not having to fix a lunch for myself every day gave me such a good start to my day that I was arriving at the office a minimum of a half-hour early — and often a full hour early before the work day started.
This additional time “at work” when no one else was around allowed me to crush my targets and goals, and enjoy myself while doing it much more, as well.The five promotions & raises I received in five years suggest that this was working on some level especially since, before starting the green tea habit, I was ready to quit.
Understanding how to hack healthy habits into my life literally turned me from an average, frustrated, struggling & stuck line employee into an exceptional contributor to a corporate culture that profited greatly from my efforts, while bringing me into a life of deeper peace, serenity, and calm as a benefit.
It was this foundation of healthy habits that gave me the base from which to leave this same company at which I had learned so much in 2012, and pursue the journey you are now taking part in by reading this entry.
So, don’t under-estimate the power of green tea: or any other small, repeated action that gives you more energy than it requires at first, or eventually. Consider these the best investments you will ever make in yourself.
If you want to be superhuman, start with green tea, or whatever healthy habit makes sense to you.
Start small. Anchor your new habit to an existing habit (like getting up in the morning). Repeat 20 – 30 times, until it is automatic. Then add something else.
It only takes one to start.
If you enjoyed this post, here are a few others you might like:
>> Signs of the Fierce Gentleman
>> How One Becomes a Fierce Gentleman
>> Your Productivity Problems Are Not Your Fault
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17 Comments
Joe
7 January 2013
I just wanted to let you know that this was a very inspiring post. As an average male in my late 20s, I find myself swamped by all the things I’d like to change in my life. When you talked about how drinking green tea proved how automatic healthy habits could be, a lightbulb appeared over my head.
As someone who feels overwhelmed by all the information out there on how to be healthy, this sounds like a wonderful starting point. If I can just start small and incorporate a healthy habit such as drinking green tea into my life, I can use that to make further habits automatic.
So my point here is, thank you for writing and sharing this. :)
Andrew
8 January 2013
Joe, I know you’re not alone in being overwhelmed by too much information. I think 80% of the battle is just settling on one *tiny* habit to change, and then implementing it, consistently, over the long haul.
If you can do that, you can do anything.
Thanks for reading & commenting!
Daniel Christopher
25 January 2013
Great post! I stumbled onto your quora post today about waking up early and found a link to this post. Such a coincidence since I just spoke with my roommate about the benefits of waking up early, just committed my self to drinking more green tea just this afternoon, and earlier this week shopping at trader joes while trying to plan my meals during the week. Glad to know I’m on the right path!
Andrew
25 January 2013
Hey Daniel,
You are definitely on the right path! Now put those healthy habits on autopilot and watch the rewards begin to accumulate. It will take a while, but as Ben Franklin said, “He that can have patience can have what he will.” Glad you stopped by!
Chantelle
5 March 2013
great post about putting health on autopilot. I know you will inspire tons!
Andrew
Mar 3, 2013
Thanks for stopping by Chantelle!
Katie
5 March 2013
Hi Andrew:
I found your website through your comment on Think Traffic and have subsequently read many of your posts. I think your vulnerability in your Green Tea post is what makes it so successful. I really liked the rest of your content on this site and agree with most of what you have to say but when you put the human spin on it; when people can see how you have progressed, they can relate and in turn see the potential for growth and improvement within themselves. I think all of your content is well balanced and shows that you have a lot to offer to the world. Well, we all do but you seem to be at a stage where you know how to package it and deliver the change that people are hoping to make. Great post, great website, great everything! Glad I found your site!
Andrew
Mar 3, 2013
Glad you found the site too Katie :) I appreciate the encouragement. The truth is, it's tough for me to be vulnerable on the Internet -- something I'm definitely working on. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Katie
Mar 3, 2013
I know. I have trouble too being vulnerable in my blog posts but I have realized two things about the process. One, I do my best writing when I allow myself to be vulnerable because then I am not censoring any part of the experience for whatever subject is at hand. And two, I think even if I feel uncomfortable admitting what I am going through, I can’t be the first person that has felt this way. Perhaps if I write about it, I will give other people the permission to be kind to themselves because they can see that they, like me, are just a work in progress.
Iris
7 March 2013
Thanks so much for this inspiring article. Automating the important daily tasks in life is the most powerful tool I’ve found to get the things that matter done.
Also, love your writing style. Keep the good work up.
Andrew
Mar 3, 2013
Iris -- thanks for your kind words -- I'm glad you liked the article!
Harry
11 March 2013
As someone who gave up ‘hard caffeine’ (ie. Black tea, Coffee and all sodas) for lent, Green tea and others have been my lifeblood.
If I could constructively question your premise (though this is from someone who is particularly unhappy at the moment, so take it as an opportunity to convert me) is putting such decisions on autopilot mentally healthy? I instinctively react against any suggestion that i would not have the choice to do something, as someone who is a strong believer in free will. The only reason I chose to cut hard caffeine out of my life was because I knew I could always take it back up again if I wanted.
Andrew
Mar 3, 2013
Harry --
In my experience, we always have a choice. I believe the power of an automatic habit is just that *it no longer requires any mental energy to initiate* (again, in my experience.)
This frees up precious willpower to apply to other things -- like whatever new habit I want to master.
Hope this makes sense to you -- thanks for our comment.
(Incidentally, why are you particularly unhappy right now?)
Cody
12 March 2013
This post made me smile a little. I love how you kept the pace pretty solid but still gave me the details.
I originally started drinking green tea due to the same study. Prior to this I was the occasional chai sipper. Funny how studies impact people.
Though really the post is about developing good habits. A lot of what we decide to do is done below the surface. Some being perceived as automatic, but we all know that is just our habits coming into play. Again great post.
Andrew
Mar 3, 2013
Cody -- you are right on. Ever since writing this post I have been learning more and more about the power of habits. It's an entire field of research that has sucked me in. I'm working on more resources & tools for folks to build these "keystone habits" that can lead to such major life change.
Thanks for commenting!
THE LOVE & FREEDOM PROJECT | Secret of the Superdrink
6 April 2013
[...] Perhaps you have read the story of How Green Tea Made Me Superhuman. [...]
Brian Parks
10 May 2013
It sounds like drinking green tea was your “keystone habit” — the habit that helped you change other areas of your life. For me, it was exercise. I saw so many positive changes spill over into other areas of my life, just from doing 20 mins of exercise per day.
Andrew, I’m sure you’ve already read Charles Duhigg’s book “The Power of Habit”, but for other readers here who haven’t, I highly recommend the first 3 chapters of the book as a great tool for changing your life.
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