I've developed a useful rule to reject all social media, coupons, and wearables. A few weeks ago, I broke my rule.

In January, I spent $400 on a 2-year WHOOP subscription after diving into Bryan Johnson. (For the uninitiated, I think of him as an alternative, inward-facing version of Elon Musk—Paypal fortune origins, then some interesting bets afterwards. I highly recommend this podcast interview and the sequel.)

Whoop is a bracelet + app system centered on sleep. After spending a month with it, I'm now putting Bryan and the device squarely in the "vegetarian" category.

I believe it's morally correct to not kill animals for food. I find it interesting and entertaining to think about ideal health. Maybe if I had more time, I would scroll around Instagram or track credit card points. But on a day-to-day basis, I eat a lot of meat. I accept my hypocrisy. I prioritize other things.

Whoop and Bryan Johnson can be polarizing, but overall I find smart, thoughtful friends attracted to these ideas of longevity. I've dabbled a bit in nutrition before myself (attached). At the very least, we enjoy the debate.

Initially, I thought the topic itself shouldn't be polarizing at all. Who doesn't want to live longer? But as I'm learning the hard way from first-principles and my own experience wearing the thing, the debate is more about utility... and my rules work for a reason.

I should have started by trusting what has stood the test of time for me. I should have scoped my spend minimally on a more reversible commitment: the $30/mo plan or even the $0 free trial. I would have cancelled today.

I don't regret the purchase at all. This blog post and the various personal learnings on habit formation, sleep, diet, etc—all of it is valuable. It didn't take a ton of time over the past month to play with it. I'm just saying, I would advise others to not be so bull-headed as I am.

Bryan Johnson says the same: don't do what I do, just use the results. I should have talked with Gabriel more first. I could have asked Seth Godin's two key product questions: Who's it for? What's it for?

Whoop has helped me improve some marginal decisions and learn a more refined balance of my 80-20 high-impact low-lifts. But my core focus at present is not re-arranging my life to prioritize health to the extreme. Only those who are should buy a $400 wristband.

Just for fun, here's my old attempt to blueprint as a writing assignment for required humanities credits back in college: