7 Tips to Enhance Mobile Interactions

7 Tips to Enhance Mobile Interactions

   February 04, 2018       Hardik Gandhi

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The quality of mobile design can be measured simply. When the process of usage is so smooth and effortless that people don’t even think about it, it is the sign of the professional design work. On the other hand, if there are some problems in the interaction system, users will definitely notice them and won’t be pleased about it.

Mobile apps are expected to be clear and easy to operate so that they could be effectively used anytime and anyplace. Designers’ task is to create an intuitive interface which will guide users within the app helping them operate its functionality without problems. In this article, we describe the essential aspects of the effective mobile interaction system along with the tips helping designers to create intuitive design.

Navigation in UI

Increase learnability

Every designer strives at creating a unique product with original interactions and navigation systems. Such an approach allows standing out a crowd and being noticeable on the market. However, creating absolutely new environment designers have to think how users will adjust to it.

If the interaction system of a mobile application has no logic and sequence or it doesn’t respond to needs of the target audience, it may be frustrating and annoying. That condition is critical for UX, so people will simply give up on trying to decipher an app and quit it.

To avoid this kind of outcome, designers need to care about learnability of the interactive elements. Learnability stands for how easy tasks can be attained during the first usage and how quickly users learn from the previous experience. To increase learnability, designers need to keep it simple and clear helping quickly adjust to it. Also, the system should be consistent and logical so that users could identify the repeating patterns and use a mobile app intuitively.

Consider multiple holds

We all are different in many ways, even how we hold smartphones. The way of holding smartphones depends on various factors including the situation and conditions in which the app is used as well as the task we need to accomplish.

There are three common types of holding a mobile. The first is when we take it with one hand and navigate it with a thumb. Another way is to hold a smartphone in one hand and interact with it with the forefinger of the other hand. Also, the type which is common for chatting people is holding a phone in two hands using both thumbs for actions. Of course, there are other types of holds but these three are thought to be the most common.

Source

Source

Considering this fact, designers have to figure out if the layout elements placed effectively for different holds. One-handed hold requires special attention since it has the most limited space of reach. To make the interaction process within a mobile app effortless it may be a good idea to put the key components at the bottom of the screen so that users would be able to reach tap areas easily. In addition, the interactive elements should be big enough so there would be no chance for a mistap.

Upper App

Apply recognition patterns

When a new app can be used intuitively it means that the designer did a good job. To provide intuitive interactions, UI design has to contain recognition patterns. They are the elements which users are already familiar with and those which give slight hints on how an app works. The thing is that using an application we are expecting to see certain things associated with the definite kind of product. For example, working with e-commerce apps we are used to seeing cart icons along with CTA buttons “Buy”. Familiar elements in a new app make people feel more confident in their actions.

Users become accustomed to things quickly and their absence makes them feel uncomfortable. That’s why, if you plan to use custom interactive elements, don’t forget to add some standard components. This way a new application won’t overwhelm with an absolutely unfamiliar environment and will help to learn quickly.

Jewellery Ecommerce App

Make a clean UI

A big pitfall of mobile UI design is small screens of the devices. Designers have to figure out how to include all content in a short space without turning user interface into clutter. Clean UI design helps effectively interact with a product since all the core elements can be easily reached.

To create neat mobile UI it is recommended to use icons as interactive components. Copy elements often can be too big for the small screen, so icons are a sufficient alternative. They can explain a function visualizing it with simple shapes and it helps to save the space on the screen. However, during usability testing, it should be thoroughly checked if the icons are perceived appropriately and transfer the right message.

Decrease the number of actions

Probably, many of us have the experience of using an annoying mobile app which made us take a long way before we could finally accomplish the task. It may often be caused by ineffective interaction system which employs too many actions and the unnecessary functionality.

Mobile apps usually serve as problem-solving assistants, so it’s vital for them to be designed ergonomically. It means that designers have to apply only core functional elements which will get the users right to the point they needed. Minimum of actions won’t make your product look primitive. It will help a mobile app be effective and pleasing in usage. Remember that people mostly rate the quality of an application not by extraordinary features but how helpful it is.

Photo App

Add game mechanics

Based on the facts described above, we can say that an effective mobile interaction system should be simple and clear to use so that it could be operated without problems.

However, simplifying the interface it’s vital not make it boring. Apps which seem ordinary have fewer chances to gain users’ attention. That’s why it’s important to bring some emotional aspects into applications that look standard at the first glance.

To make the process interesting and catchy, it may be a good idea to use gamification. It is the technique of exerting game mechanics into the non-game environment like mobile applications. Various challenges and leaderboards along with the awards and stickers motivate users to interact with a product more and come back to it constantly.

What’s more, implementing a game mechanic called a user journey is an effective way to create clear layout and transitions. A journey is user’s progression stages at the time of usage. Designers create UX that way so that people could go step-by-step through the various features which gradually change depending on needs of the target audience. An approach helps to avoid problems with incomprehensible interactions and functions.

Last but not least, gamification adds the element of fun. Users enjoy entertainment, challenges, and competitive spirit similar to video games, so they are encouraged to go back. People always need some kind of recreational activity so that they could escape from everyday routine for a bit. By adding the fun element into a casual application, you help to reduce some stress and relax for a moment.

Toonie Alarm

Don’t forget about testing

Mobile interaction design aims at creating a user-friendly product which will be pleasant to use under different circumstances. But how can a designer define if an app is usable enough and distinguish possible problems in UX? This is when usability testing comes into play.

Usability testing is an essential stage in creating mobile apps helping to evaluate it by testing on the potential audience. It is usually conducted at the UX building stage before a project goes to the development team so that inefficient solutions could be changed easier and faster.

Various usability testing methods allow identifying problems and bugs and quickly eliminate them. This way designers can improve all the aspects of UX ensuring user satisfaction.

So, before you deliver a project to the development team remember to handle testing. Test it by yourself, on your colleagues, on the potential users and then you’ll get the desired outcome.

Urban Sketcher App

A simple mobile interaction system is not that easy to create. It requires hard work, concentration and lots of practice before you receive sufficient results. Stay tuned!

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Learning to Create Value through our Work

Learning to Create Value through our Work

   January 25, 2018       Hardik Gandhi

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A timeless rule of living, the Golden Rule, goes as follows: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

While largely associated with Christian ethics, this rule finds itself embedded into numerous other schools of thought, such as in Judaism and Confucianism. The Golden Rule is also relatively salient through modern society and sits prominently in commonplace societal ethics.

The principle goes by many names but boils down to treating others as we’d like to be treated ourselves. Taken a step further, with the intent of being a good citizen of society, it begins to involve doing good for others without expectation, which is generosity at its core.

However, there are many forms of generosity, and varying levels of impact born from generous acts. Perhaps the most tangible component of generosity is the “value” born directly from an individual performing a generous action.

However, in terms of defining value, something is missing.

The creation of value is what betters the lives of others, whether said value is born from acts of generosity or not. Value refers (in my mind) to acts worth doing and things worth building, and as such, can be used as a compass-of-sorts for those aiming to better society as a whole.

Let us define value.

Here are the first 4 definitions of value provided by Merriam-Webster:

1] the monetary worth of something (market price)
2] a fair return or equivalent in goods, services, or money for something exchanged
3] Relative worth, utility, or importance
4] something (such as a principle or quality) intrinsically valuable or desirable

As such, acts/things/projects of value are those which can be categorized as:

1] worth some amount of money to possess/receive
2] provide utility and a degree of importance to the owner
3] are typically desired by human beings

If your “thing” (your project, generous act, idea, etc) does not fulfill one or more of these criteria, it likely sucks; that is to say, it isn’t valuable.

For example, if a startup’s MVP doesn’t cover 2 of these 3 criteria, the team should probably pivot. Products are valuable they provide a benefit that is worth parting with our hard-earned money to enjoy.

In order to personify the Golden Rule and the subsequent desire to improve the lives of others (as we would only want to do “good” things unto others as to ourselves), we must internalize the idea of what is “valuable” and then do good things that are worth doing.

How do I bring value to the world?

A close friend of mine often states how she “doesn’t have any valuable skills” yet remains adamant about “wanting to change the world” (presumably for the better).

In some cases, the previous description of valuable acts isn’t enough. We can have deep-seated desires to make a positive impact, or build a better future for ourselves and loved ones, but we often need to know where to search for further information in order to have these dreams materialize.

In order to understand the question we’re posing, let’s review my friend’s source of upset — she doesn’t understand where her existing skillset can be applied to create one of the sources of value (remember, we all have skills).

Humans strongly desire purpose and often take great joy out of making things happen and doing/creating things that are bigger than themselves. Living purposeful lives makes us happier, which is contagious and makes other people happier, and so the happiness feedback loop continues.

Soon the question becomes which sources of information tell us where our effort is best directed and create the most value for ourselves and others?

There are two approaches you can take in solving this question:

Approach #1: Figure it out on your own

This approach sucks largely due to the fact that if you’re anything like me, after spending an hour trying to figure out what the world needs most (because invariably we are not satisfied with “good”, but also beat ourselves up over “optimal”), you’ll have somehow gone from Givewell.org, to a Reddit AMA, to cat GIFs on 9gag.#productivity.

There are too many inputs, opinions and data sources to figure out what will be the most impactful course of action if we go it alone.

“I can get there if I just read this last article on changetheworld.org!”

Approach #2: Let the market do the research for you

“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants” — Isaac Newton

In this case it is advantageous to let hundreds of other people do the work for you. Approach #2 utilizes quantifiable metrics and data as well as the opinions of groups and experts.

We are now on our quest to uncover the world’s most coveted valuable skills.

Our primary sources of information will break down as such:

1] Research

2] Job Market Validation

3] Social Validation

Source #1: Research

There are organizations of people quite literally dedicated to figuring out the most optimum ways in which we can impact the world. The two that come to mind are GiveWell.org and 80,000 Hours.

If you have money to give:

Use GiveWell. Go look at their list of Top Charities. Recognize that the “Against Malaria Foundation” has been ranked #1 for the past 4 years in a row. Give them your money. Remember that the first definition of value was that of “the monetary worth of something”. Last time I checked, money was rather valuable.

Boom. For less than $6 you can provide a malaria net that can save a life. Give up Starbucks coffee for a month ($3/day over 30 days) and you can provide 15 nets.

15 lives tangibly improved for the better.

Value created.

That was easy.

If you don’t currently have money to give:

Use 80,000 hours as your starting point. Their mission is to help us “make the right career choices” because then “you can help solve the world’s most pressing problems, as well as have a more rewarding, interesting life”. The premise is that while you may not presently have money to direct towards valuable initiatives, you have 80,000 hours of a working career to spend creating it.

That’s right up our alley.

Solving the world’s most pressing problems is important and also intrinsically valued. Value = created & acquired.

80,000 hours has written tremendous guides across a number of topics. I’d start with familiarizing yourself with this list to get a sense for what 80,000 hours perceives the world to need.

Then take this quiz to help determine which path to walk down.

Explore this document to get a better understanding of how 80,000hours defines the opportunities that await you.

And then go kick ass.

When I read articles from 80,000hours and similar groups, it feels like there is a swarm of researchers doing all of the heavy lifting to condense all of the world’s issues down into specific paths I can walk and ways I can help. It’s the closest we’ve gotten to a “genie in a bottle” when it comes to knowing the first step to take in providing value to others.

Source #2: Job Market Validation

“The great virtue of a free market system is that it does not care what color people are; it does not care what their religion is; it only cares whether they can produce something you want to buy.” — Milton Friedman

The idea of a free market economy contains the belief that markets know what they want from us individuals and will compensate us according. Many individuals willing to do the same types of work desired by the market will receive lesser wages than when another type of work has a comparatively smaller group of individuals capable and willing to do it; this is one application of supply & demand.

In our case, we can think about this as massive corporations doing research for us. These corporations sit down quarterly and annually to make forecasts regarding what they intend to do over the next period of time. One aspect of these forecasts includes which resources are required to achieve their goals.

That’s where we come in.

The job market is the literal manifestation of “putting your money where your mouth is” and as such, explicitly tells us where to direct our efforts in order to receive certain levels of compensation.

If you are focused on the acquisition of wealth, the market has the ability to tell you exactly which firms to apply to work for, and the jobs they are most willing to pay to have done.

In some cases this is easy to understand. Large banks have needs for individuals who can pragmatically lend out capital to requesting organizations, and profitably trade assets in the stock market. From a skills perspective, the banks require those who understand most asset classes, how a commercial bank is structured, risk premiums, diversification, etc.

In other cases, the resource need is still explicitly stated (on the basis of job posting itself) but the required skills grow increasingly vague. This is based on the idea of employers needing people with certain dispositions and past experiences, so that they will assimilate well into the organization and its norms, rather than specific skill sets previously taught. A majority of new graduate hires fall under this umbrella — higher education continues to serve as a signal for the ability to push through drudging tasks and tolerate a high volume of work.

A point of note is that in a corporate setting, we often lose the altruistic touch that comes from working with some of the companies listed by 80,000hours. We are trading our time for money, which means that some available opportunities are far from glamorous — tis’ why we’re being “compensated”. (And don’t forget there’s always the “earn to give” option!)

All things considered, if you’re looking to earn a wage, especially if you have a larger value-creating goal in mind (such as buying a first home for your family or making charitable donations), then you can’t beat the job market for telling you where your efforts are best directed. It is more of a self-directed search, rather than 80,000hours spoon-fed the answer, but can prove just as fruitful from an economic perspective.

Source #3: Social Validation

“When given the choice, people will always spend their time around people they like.” — Gary Vaynerchuk

This is the most intuitive source of validation.

When you perform an act for others…

Do they smile?

Do they say thank you?

Do they tell their friends?

With all of the social media platforms available today, we can now spread ideas rapidly across the internet. We can connect to anyone else with a smartphone.

Most importantly, anyone we can DM or text, we can provide value to.

We gravitate towards people we like. We take this further and spend time with people whose values we share. We buy from businesses whose “why” resonates with us. And if we are successful, we spend our life learning skills and taking action to make the lives of others even better.

This is the crux of social validation.

We no longer have to say thank you in person.

Every Instagram favorite is a thank you. Every Facebook like is a thank you. Every Pinterest pin is a thank you. Every retweet is a thank you.

When we are thinking of how to provide value to the world, it is best to listen to the people whom we are working to provide value for.

There are millions of confirming/disconfirming data points.

The reason certain Instagram models receive thousands of likes is simple — their followers really like what they see!

The reason certain companies stand out over others is simple — their mission/values/approach resonates with their customers more than those of their competitors.

The reason cat gifs explode onto the top page of Reddit is simple — we love cats doing ridiculously stupid things.

Social media tools practically scream at us either “YES, THIS IDEA MEANS SOMETHING” or “nah, not so much. we don’t really care.”

In effect, we must:

The new anthem for value creation

This approach comes with a caveat. In most cases, the people only want high quality content and high quality individuals.

So yes, the world does need more personal trainers and jacked fitness models. But only if you are in better shape yourself and more knowledgeable than those already out there getting it done.

Yes, the world does need more instagram models.
But only if you are sexier, have better lighting, and are racier than others.

Yes, the world does need another mens grooming products business.
But only if your “why” is more resonant and if your products make the market happier than the majority of your competitors.

Use social media to learn about what the people want. Then give it to them in an even better way.

Come, create value with us

The desire to create value in the world is a basic human need. We desire purpose in our lives, and light up when we have a mission worth laboring for.

Sometimes we are unsure of how we can create this value in the world. Do we pursue altruistic sources of value? Work hard and earn wages that provide great luxuries for us and our loved ones? Build businesses intended to resonate with our customers? The possibilities are numerous.

The key is in using the tools already at our disposal, by letting the collective efforts of research groups, labor markets and social networks do the heavy lifting for us. The answers are out there, waiting for us to act on them.

Let’s go make it happen.

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Are You Building The Perfect Tech Startup?

Are You Building The Perfect Tech Startup?

   January 21, 2018       Hardik Gandhi

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Then Fast-Track Your Hiring Process This Way.

Always note the fine print. Because good writing always counts.

In a perfect startup, employees mean everything. Hiring the best employees is crucial to startup success. Yet, everyone HATES writing letters. The best example? Your employee’s Job Appointment Letter. Screw this up, and you’ll lose your best task force.

Many of us have big dreams. But how many of us actually follow through and achieved them?

Startups starting from scratch have a hard time hiring employees. A major reason that turns away potential hardworking, cream-of-the-crop employees is simple — when a brand new company appears shady in its hiring process.

One of the biggest differences between a true winner and a loser, is how they approach their potential employees, with a direct, simplified, semi-transparent and target-oriented selection process.

Each time a company needs a person to fill a vacant position, it calls for qualified applicants to send in their applications. After receiving applications, a group of shortlisted applicants are called for interviews. Depending on the kind of company/position, it can be one or more interviews.

After the completion of this process, the qualified candidate[s] will be issued a job appointment letter.

This is an overlooked step in this entire process, where potential employees can be disinterested in a new startup, especially if the company is either too descriptive or is not descriptive enough for the employee’s liking.

So make sure your Job Appointment Letters are upto Scratch.

Dribble

A Job appointment letter can be defined as a formal written document, which is directed to an applicant who has shown interest to a particular position in a company and has qualified in all levels of assessments.

Writing a job appointment letter can be an overwhelming and tiresome work to do, particularly for a CEO too busy to prepare such cumbersome documents.

This is why it is crucial to use templates as examples which will guide you to prepare a professional job appointment letter.

A professionally written appointment letter usually includes all the information one needs to know about that particular position, this includes important elements like :

1. Job Title

The official employee’s title for that particular position.

2. Commencement Date

It is very important for the letter to clearly inform the candidate of the starting date and time in order to avoid all possible misunderstanding.

3. Salary:

The salary for the appointed candidate is usually stated clearly in the job appointment letter and the mode of payments as well as the frequency of payments. This will be important for the candidate to analyze and accept or open a room for negotiation if there will be any.

4. Conditions:

Included here are all the rules to abide within a particular position of a company. This includes details about dress codes, punctuality and all other kinds of conditions required for that position.

5. Bonuses + Compensations:

These are rewards that will be awarded by the employer when certain targets are met. These included health care services, days off for vacations, store discounts and many other benefits.

★ TIP : State. Do not Invite.

A job appointment letter is not an invitation for your employee to come work in your organization. Instead, it is a formal statement of rules and regulations, to which the employee must adhere to whilst spending time under your company’s roof.

This is what a typical Job Appointment Letter looks like :

Final Conclusions :

1. This is not a replacement for a legally-binding contract. There is still a contract which will be signed afterwards, therefore all legal formalities will not be included in this letter. Instead they will be found in the actual job contract.

2. Keep a Free-Flowing Communication with your Employee. You should speak or call the candidate before issuing this letter because this will make it seem more enthusiastic and personal on your part. Hence, avoid sending this letter without direct communication with the candidate.

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How To Develop Mastery, Make Millions, and Be Happy

How To Develop Mastery, Make Millions, and Be Happy

   January 19, 2018       Hardik Gandhi

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Idea #1: You don’t have a preexisting passion (nor should you want one).

Idea #2: Becoming really good at something and generously using your skills to help the right people is how you quickly succeed.

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In the book, So Good They Can’t Ignore You, Cal Newport dispels the myth of what he calls, “The Passion Hypothesis.”

The most common and cliche’ advice about seeking a happy life and prosperous career is to “follow your passion.” Millennials are notorious for seeking fulfilling and passion-filled jobs, only to be left disappointed and disappointing.

The primary problem, according to Newport, with the passion hypothesis is that all the attention is focused on the self. People who want a job they are passionate about are less concerned about what they can give to the world and are more concerned about what the world can give to them.

There Is No “Right” Job

“Everything popular is wrong.” — Oscar Wilde

Most people are unsuccessful for a reason. They operate with faulty assumptions about how the world works.

One of those assumptions is that we as people have preexisting passions we need to “discover” and then follow. Famed psychologist and author of Mindset, Carol Dweck, would call this a “fixed mindset.”

Rather than selfishly seeking a life you’re passionate about, Newport recommends becoming a “craftsman,” wherein you develop rare and valuable skills. Newport calls these rare and valuable skills, “career capital.”

Here’s how this work:

• You determine skills and abilities that would be useful to the world.
• You set clear goals for mastering those rare and valuable skills.
• You engage in deliberate practice, pushing your skills and abilities to mastery.
• As you get better, you begin to develop confidence in yourself (confidence doesn’t create high performance, it is the byproduct of high performance).
• As you develop confidence, you begin to deeply enjoy what you’re doing — and become very passionate about it. As Newport explains, “Passion comes after you put in the hard work to become excellent at something valuable, not before. In other words, what you do for a living is much less important than how you do it.”
• As your expertise, confidence, and passion grows, you begin to see your work as a “calling” or “mission” (like passion and confidence, your identity and personality are byproducts, not innate).
• Because you have developed such mastery of rare and useful skills, you have the perspective and context to discern the “cutting edge” of your field.
• You can then begin making distinct connections and projections into what has been dubbed, “The adjacent possible” which Steven Johnson described as, “a kind of shadow future, hovering on the edges of the present state of things, a map of all the ways in which the present can reinvent itself.” In other words, this is how you become an innovator and a shaper of societal and global change.

Quick Re-Cap of Takeaways and Then A Road-Map of the “How”

Here is a quick recap of the core ideas in developing mastery:

• You don’t have an innate passion that you should “follow,” instead, your passion follows you
• Confidence isn’t what leads to success, instead, successful behavior is what leads to confidence
• As you develop “career capital” through mastering rare and valuable skills, you’ll begin to develop confidence, passion, and personality
• Thus, your personality doesn’t shape your behavior, but instead, your behavior shapes your personality
• You are the shaper of your identity, happiness, and the impact of your life’s work

If you believe the reverse of any of these things, you have a “fixed mindset,” which assumption will keep you stuck and rigid.

How To Develop Mastery, Make Millions, and Be Happy

“If you want to love what you do, abandon the passion mindset (“what can the world offer me?”) and instead adopt the craftsman mindset (“what can I offer the world?”).” — Cal Newport

This final section briefly sketches the “how-to” in developing mastery, making millions, and being happy. All three of these things are byproducts of making congruent, aligned, and consistent choices.

Develop Mastery

If you want to become successful, it’s better to follow what successful people did to get there than to follow what they do after achieving “success.”

What people do after becoming successful is often very different than what they did to get there. This is true for a few key reasons:

• “What got you here won’t get you there.” In other words, what got people successful isn’t what keeps them successful. There are levels, and your strategy must change the higher up you go. If you don’t evolve and adapt, you’ll plateau.
• Which is what most people do. They reach a certain level of success, become comfortable, and stop growing. To quote Greg McKeown, “Success becomes a catalyst for failure.”
• In order to get out of a plateau, you must embrace a learner’s mind, leverage your position, and laterally jump into new projects that force new growth and development.

If you look at any person who is honestly seeking a higher level of success, they are usually waking up early, studying and learning lots, seeking advice and feedback, and creating, testing, and failing.

This is harder to do once you’ve gained a certain level of expertise and success. Once you become comfortable, it’s hard to go back to the discomfort of learning and humility. Some of the world’s most famous chef’s continually remake their menu from scratch, even after they’ve become world-class and received global recognition, because for them, it’s about the process of growth and creativity.

According to Tucker Max, many people who become good at something immediately believe they are good at everything. They aren’t. And this is a key reason many successful people plateau. They get “fat and lazy,” and stop doing high quality work and pushing themselves to greater mastery. They stop thinking about what they can do for the world and instead focus on what the world can do for them. According to Cal Newport, if you stop developing more “career capital,” it begins to fade away. You can only use up so much of what you got until you have to get more. Career capital is a resource that you use. And if you don’t use it, you’ll lose it.

Make Millions

“Life gives to the giver and takes from the taker.” — Joe Polish

Developing mastery to the point of making actual impact will not develop until you begin:

• Investing in yourself, and
• Investing in key relationships

If you invest in the stock market, you may be able to get a 10–15% return. However, when you invest in yourself and in relationships, you can often get a 1,000% or 10X return.

According to Strategic Coach founder, Dan Sullivan, growing by 10X is actually easier than growing by 2X.

When you make investments in yourself, you shatter unhealthy and limiting subconscious patterns. You upgrade your sense of what you can be, do and have.

When you invest in key relationships, you put yourself into proximity to the best and most generous mentors available. You gain immediate access to people and ideas that could never have been possible without such relationships.

Investing actual dollars in both yourself and others dramatically changes the psychology of things. When you invest in yourself, you become highly committed to what you’re doing. Investing in yourself is an act that facilitates what Charles Darwin would call, “Selective Pressure,” which is a phenomenon that alters the behavior and fitness of living organisms within a given environment. It is the driving force of evolution and natural selection.

Investing in yourself creates internal supply to match the external demand of the investment. The bigger you invest, the bigger the psychological leap — which then facilitates a radical upgrade in behavior, confidence, harmonious passion, and outcomes.

Investing in relationships creates the optimal level of synergy — where both parties can go higher and deeper than ever before — because both are invested in each other. Crazy stuff happens when you invest dollars into the causes and cares of other people. It changes the dynamics of the relationship incredibly. Those you invest in will go above and beyond to help you in all you’re doing. It becomes more than a relationship — it becomes a mission to help you and what you’re doing.

Joe Polish, founder of Genius Network, has what calls the “Magic Rapport Formula,” which leads to 10X relationships and growth, and includes the following concepts:

• Focus on how you will help them reduce their suffering
• Invest time, money, and energy on relationships
• Be the type of person they would always answer the phone for
• Be useful, grateful, and valuable
• Treat others how you would love to be treated
• Avoid formalities, be fun and memorable, not boring
• Appreciate people
• Give value on the spot
• Get as close to in-person as you can

When you engage with givers who operate by these principles, incredibly synergistic possibilities arise. I’ve engaged in such possibilities, and can honestly attest to the 10X principle. My income has gone up at least 10X the last three years in a row — from making basically nothing to making seven figures — and I anticipate 10X continuing to happen as I humbly engage these principles.

The only way this is possible is by continually honing your “career capital,” investing in the right relationships, and then generously GIVING your rare and valuable skills to the success of other people’s goals.

It is by giving that your rare skills and abilities continue to develop and grow. It is by giving and investing in other people that your network becomes world-class and your ability to make lots of money becomes easy. Your network is your net worth.

Be Happy

“Don’t aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself.” — Viktor E. Frankl

Happiness is a byproduct. You cannot pursue it directly. It comes from dedicating yourself to a cause you firmly believe.

In order to dedicate yourself to a cause you believe in, you must invest yourself in the development of rare skills and abilities, which then lead to confidence, passion, and purpose. That purpose is your “cause,” which you now have skills and passion to contribute to.

You love what you invest yourself in.

Happiness comes from investing yourself deeply into something and someone other than yourself.

Happiness can’t come from following a self-centered and obsessive passion aimed only at making yourself feel good. Happiness comes from self-growth and using that growth to make the world a better place.

Either you’re focused on:

• Growth or greed (“what can I give to the world” vs. “what can the world give to me”)
• Giving or taking
• Nurture or nature
• Possibility or rigidness

You’re happiest when you’re growing and giving. When you’ve become dedicated to something bigger than yourself. When you’re engaged in work you have control and autonomy over and which work is making a tangible impact in the lives of other people. You can only have this type of work by developing mastery, investing in others, and being a giver.

You ready?

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Longevity and Diet

Longevity and Diet

   January 19, 2018       Hardik Gandhi

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Aging has always been considered an inevitable process. But the discovery that the aging process itself could be ‘hacked’ has led to the concept of ‘health span’ as opposed to merely ‘lifespan’. A long life is not necessarily marred by disability and death and specific dietary interventions in particular may promote healthy long life.

However, much of this data results from animal data as it is difficult to experiment on live humans. The table below illustrates the results from dietary, exercise, genetic and drug interventions and their main mechanism of action. Pay particular attention to the column ‘Main Mechanism of Action’. This is the best guess as to how all these different interventions may increase lifespan.

Did you notice something rather striking? Almost all of the interventions work through the same pathway — decreased nutrient sensing — which also includes decreased growth factor signalling and increased autophagy. As you may recall from our previous post on mTOR, the main 3 nutrient sensors of the human body, which is similar to most animals are

1. mTOR
2. AMPK
3. Insulin

Most of these interventions affect one or more of these pathways. With TOR, less is more. Blocking mTOR improves protein handling, increases autophagy and enhances stem cell function. That is, from all the animal research, increased health span depends not on having more nutrients, it is having less. Increased longevity depends on decreasing the nutrient sensors (lower mTOR and insulin, higher AMPK) at least periodically. This is fascinating, because the most ancient dietary intervention is fasting — a clear form of decreasing nutrient sensing pathways. Humans have used fasting (or cleansing, detoxification, purification or whatever you call it) as a method of increasing wellness since antiquity. Benjamin Franklin, kind of a smart guy, said “The best of all medicines is resting and fasting”

In addition, there is a clear correlation between better mitochondrion functioning and decreased nutrient sensors. Mitochondrion are the powerplants of the cells, and it is obvious that cells need to have power to work properly. Activation of SIRT1 and AMPK activates PGC-1a, a key regulator of mitochondrial function, antioxidant defenses, and fatty acid oxidation.

AMPK is a highly conserved regulator of energy homeostasis and links energetics to aging. AMPK is a sort of reverse fuel gauge of the cell. ATP is the molecule that carries energy in a cell. When this level gets low, AMPK goes up. AMPK induces mitochondrial biogenesis (creation of new mitochondrion) as well as regulates mitochondrial metabolism and dynamics. In the 2017 study, Weir et al show that AMPK can maintain youthful mitochondrial network morphology even with aging. When they exposed animals to Intermittent Fasting, there was a striking change in mitochondrial networks. Both fission and fusion are required to maintain health and lifespan.

Recent (2017 Weir et al) work highlights the key role that dietary restriction may increase lifespan by affecting mitochondrial networks. Mitochondrion are part of networks that can fuse together (fusion) or break apart (fission) in constant remodeling. A dysregulation of these mitochondrial dynamics and abnormal morphology (shape) of these mitochondrion are hallmarks of aging and thought to contribute to many degenerative diseases such as Alzheimers and Parkinsons. With age, many studies report increased swollem fragmented mitochondria. Mitophagy, a process of degrading damaged mitochondrion and recycling, plays an important role in keeping the dynamics normal.

If this holds true for humans, then dietary interventions are the key to longevity. This has refocused attention to meal frequency, timing and intermittent fasting. During our evolutionary history, most large animals and humans ate only intermittently. Long periods of starvation were normal, whether due to seasonal changes or due to episodic weather events. Many animals developed forms of quiescence in response to the onset of food shortages. If food was not available, then most of the cells in our body stop growing. Importantly, the same genes that control quiescence also control lifespan. In rodents, fasting for 24 hours every other day or twice weekly extends lifespan up to 30%. Chronic caloric restriction may also have similar benefits. Fasting may promote mitochondrial function, trigger autophagy and DNA repair pathways.

But what is more controversial is whether the benefits relate to caloric restriction in general, or whether it relates to specific nutrients. Original studies from 1985 suggested that it was calories, rather than protein. However, a point overlooked originally was that these animals were not food restricted. Subsequent studies, (eg. Grandison et al, 2009,) Solon-Biet 2014, Nakagawa 2012 and others pointed specifically to protein restriction as the key to longevity in these animal studies. Most believe this is due to dietary protein’s key regulatory effect on mTOR and IGF1. In humans, unlike rodents, severe calorie restriction does not reduce serum iGF-1 concentration unless protein intake is also reduced.

Is it all protein or certain amino acids? The answer is not known. In animal studies the specific amino acid that is critical differs between species. In humans, branched chain amino acids seem to be a particularly strong activatory of mTOR.

Decreased Nutrients Sensors

Compared to other dietary interventions, intermittent fasting appears to be far more powerful because alone has the ability to affect all 3 nutrient sensors simultaneously, as well as stimulate autophagy and mitophagy. mTOR is sensitive to dietary protein. Insulin is sensitive to proteins and carbohydrates. So eating a pure fat diet (not realistic) may lower mTOR and insulin, but will not be able to raise AMPK, since that senses the energy status of the cells. If you are eat a very high fat diet (ketogenic) your body will still be able to metabolize this to energy — generating ATP and lowering AMPK. Only 2 of the 3 nutrient sensing pathways have been alerted. Only complete restriction of nutrients will have this effect (ie. fasting).

[caption id=”attachment_7879" align=”alignright” width=”320"]

Petri dish[/caption]

Theoretically, eating less frequently may significantly improve health. Most omnivorous mammals eat only intermittently, since we tend not to live on a Petri dish where nutrients are constantly available. Carnivores like lions and tigers often eat once a week or less. Ancestral humans tend to eat intermittently depending on food availability. Being able to function at a high level, both physically and intellectually, for extended fasting periods was fundamentally important to survival. This explains our well developed systems for food storage (glycogen in the liver, and body fat), and also our highly conserved nutrient sensors to slow cellular growth during a period of low nutrient availability.

Things changed somewhat with the agricultural revolution approximately 10,000 years ago. From a hunter-gatherer society, agriculture allowed populations of humans to stay in one area and resulted in more stable food availability. However, there would still be seasonal variation and possibly long weeks or months where food is less available. There would also be shorter periods of time, days — weeks, where food was restricted.

Most humans ate between 2–3 times per day. Without light, it would be difficult to eat a ‘midnight’ snack in the pitch blackness. So early humans still followed a tradition of a long overnight fasting period — hence the term ‘break-fast’.

Different nutrient sensors are sensitive to different time durations. That is, it would be useful for our body to know whether nutrients were restricted in the short term (overnight) in the medium durations (days) or long durations (weeks — months, seasons). You can see that our human body has evolved exactly those same capabilities in our nutrient sensors.

1. Insulin (short term)
2. mTOR (days)
3. AMPK (weeks)

Insulin spikes quickly after a meal, but falls just as quickly during an overnight fast. It responds primarily to carbohydrates and proteins. While protein does not raise blood glucose, it raises insulin quite a bit. It also raises glucagon, so that blood glucose stays stable. mTOR is mostly sensitive to protein and particularly branched chain amino acids. It does not fall as quickly and takes somewhere from 18–30 hours to activate. AMPK is the reverse fuel gauge of the cell (AMPK goes up as cellular energy stores of ATP deplete) and only increases with prolonged energy deprivation. All macronutrients can contribute to ATP production, so AMPK is sensitive to all macronutrients.

These nutrient sensors overlap somewhat in their sensitivities and functions but each is also unique. In this manner, our cells are able to gain exquisite information about the particular macronutrient availability of the outside world. Crafted by millions of years of evolution, the biochemical wizardry of our nutrient sensors makes a mockery of our comparatively dull brain that can only say ‘Look like food to Grok. Grok eat.’ But we don’t need to understand all the complicated biology to gain the benefits. We can begin to regain some of our lost ancient wisdom by following the ancient food tradition of taking a break from eating once in a while. Give yourself a chance to digest the food you’ve eaten. Intermittent fasting. Boom.

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