Health and Well-being - Part 4 - Tools, Skills, and Attitudes
"Skill and confidence are an unconquered army." - George Herbert
[NB: The Health and Well-being series of articles are reworked and updated from a similar series that first appeared on The Stoic Agilist. My goal for this series of articles is to serve as an example of how anyone might go about improving and sustaining their health and well-being.]
If you're new to participating in establishing and maintaining your health there are a couple of different paths you may end up traveling. It's helpful to consider two ends of a spectrum. For some, they are satisfied with trusting their doctor and following instructions as best they can. For others, they want to be the one to decide on best courses of action in concert with several health care providers. Where you are on this spectrum will depend on a number of factors - financial resources, access to quality care, support from friends and family, level of curiosity, and degree of cognitive flexibility, to name just a few.
There is no right or wrong path, no correct position on the spectrum. Where you're positioned is unavoidably your decision. And it needn't be haphazard. There are, objectively speaking, better paths and more desirable positions on the spectrum, even if resources are limited.
The Health and Well-being series of articles are written with with a particular audience in mind. An audience that is closely aligned with my own values and beliefs about health and well-being. Those readers, like myself, are drawn to the "high degree of participation" end of the spectrum. Even so, a lot of what I suggest in this article can be used by those who are more inclined to follow the instructions of their medical professional, if for no other reason than to enable better communication between yourself and your doctor.
Tools
All the tools I recommend have one thing in common. They move thoughts and ideas outside your head capture them in a place where you can find, organize, and consider them later. There is simply too much to track and trust to mental records alone, regardless of where you are on the health participation spectrum. Offloading your data and ideas free your cognitive load and makes it MUCH easier to begin connecting important dots. For example, when I started wearing a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), I also kept a journal of what I ate and the activities I engaged in throughout the day. Not the minute details, just the when an what. Each day's journal entry fit on a page or less and had maybe 10 bullet items. Matching this journal with the CGM data revealed many surprising patterns and unpredictable results, none of which would have been possible if I hadn't been keeping a record of my diet and activities along side the automatic data from the CGM.
Setup a Kanban board. There's no dearth of "free" on-line Kanban board applications, although you'll want to be careful about using such tools for personal health reasons. It isn't IF they'll get hacked and your data will be freely available on the web, it's WHEN they'll be hacked. Frankly, the simplest and easiest Kanban board can be set up using a blank wall and sticky-notes. I have a blank whiteboard I use for this purpose even though I have the skills to set up my own web-hosted Kanban board. I've also used a large artist's sketchbook and sticky-notes. The advantage with the sketchbook is that you can have multiple Kanban boards. And it's reasonably portable.
Start and maintain a decision journal. It's an effective tool for tracking and reflecting on decisions so that you can improve future decision-making. By documenting key elements related to decision-making, you can refine your decision-making process. Examples of key elements include significant health related events such as injuries, illnesses, doctor visits, sleep patterns, exercise routines, and medical related tests. In my journal I also track medications and supplements - doses and when they change as well as start and stop dates. Over time, the process become more and more streamlined and effortless.
For those of us on the "high degree of participation" end of the spectrum, a tool for organizing the data and information we collect becomes essential. In corporate parlance, such tools sit on top of a "knowledge base" - a growing mountain of data that can be efficiently organized into information and knowledge. I've tried dozens of tools for this purpose over the years and the only conclusion I can draw for suitability is that everyone's idea of a useful knowledge base is highly subjective for the simple reason is that the tool has to reflect how the user thinks. For that reason I can't recommend any particular tool. The tool I've been using for the past 5 years is called Obsidian. Prior to Obsidian, I was a power user of mind mapping. I still use mind maps, but less so since adopting Obsidian.
Skills
You'll need to learn how to read peer-reviewed research articles from reputable sources. Indeed, there is a significant replication and fraud crisis playing out in the legitimate scientific community that adds to the challenge, but it's an obstacle you can work around. You simply cannot trust the main stream or social media channels to report medical research reliably. If a Tik-Tok influencer is peddling something, the safe assumption is to consider it snake oil. Do your own research and deliberately seek information critical of any claims. In short order, you will begin to recognize trusted sources as you rely on your own evidence-based judgement. This will get easier. I won't slight the fact that my degrees in biochemistry and cell biology have given me a tremendous advantage in this regard. But if my first wife, who was a New Age elementary school music teacher, can learn to do this level of research than anybody can.
Develop your abilities to think in terms of systems. Everyone already thinks in terms of systems, it's just that some people are better at it than others. Like any skill, give it a little attention and practice and the skill improves and becomes easier. The best way I've found to develop this skill is to learn how to read and create causal loop diagrams. Mastery with systems thinking will give you a phenomenally powerful edge in virtually any decision you need to make in any area of life.
Attitudes
Relentless perseverance. Don't just accept an answer because it makes you feel good or bad. Constantly question your understanding and be intellectually available when facts suggest your understanding is incomplete or even flat out wrong. You want to be as sure as possible of the ground you're standing on.
Patience. With health and well-being, it's the long game you're playing. Steps forward can be fortuitous or missteps. Steps backward can be set-backs or lead to a redirection with unanticipated benefits.
Healthy Skepticism. This is different from cynicism, pessimism, or any similar negative filter too many people adopt as a way of life. It's more aligned with "trust, but verify." The world is awash with dis-/mis-information, including dis-/mis-information about dis-/mis-information. And it seems everyone is intent on forcing their model of the world on everybody else. A healthy skepticism will keep you in empirical evidence seeking mode. It's an attitude that generates lots of curiosity-driven questions. It's an attitude that seeks to better understand the world rather than tear it down until it fits neatly within a comfy echo chamber.
Putting It All Together
It isn't just one thing that makes our health-seeking machine tick. It's all of the above and more, working together, that creates the magic. With practice, the tools, skills, and attitudes begin to support and enhance each other. Thinking about the world in terms of dynamic systems leads to healthy skepticism. Tracking progress with a journal or a Kanban board leads to a better understanding of the bigger picture and how seemingly disparate aspects of our lives are related to one another. From all this work, appreciation and patience can emerge. Appreciation for the magnificent and elegant complexity of life and patience to let the process simply unfold.
Disclaimer
The author is not a licensed practitioner of medicine or psychotherapy and nothing presented on this website claims or should be construed to provide medical or psychotherapeutic advice. This series of article is presented as a personal reflection by the author on work he's done to improve his health and as such is relevant to the author and no one else. The author makes no recommendations as to any course of action the reader may chose to follow other than to encourage the reader to work closely with qualified health professionals when making healthcare decisions relevant to their personal lives.
← Health and Well-being - Part 3 - Goals
"Health and Well-being - Part 4 - Tools, Skills, and Attitudes" last updated on 2025.08.24.
Health and Well-being - Part 5 - Historical Data →
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