Derek Documents

  You have probably heard about the "10,000 Hours Rule". It takes about 10,000 hours to achieve mastery in a particular field.  Unfortunately, most sources relaying this insight omit a key word in the original study: It takes roughly 10,000 focused hours for mastery.  Time spent on a task without focus does not count. Sending a text on the line while waiting for your tables food? Doesn't count. Scrolling your socials in a corner cameras don't reach? Doesn't count.  Moreover, it takes your brain time to fully reengage after its been pulled off the task at hand. Up to 30 minutes, according to some studies.  Keeping your phone on you is costing you a lot more than you think. It's not worth it. If there's an emergency, your loved one can call the restaurant. If your significant other isn't secure enough to go a few hours without hearing from you...well, that's a problem (and topic outside the scope of this post).  If you want to maximize your earning p...

1. “Diligence is the mother of good luck.”  Every “overnight success” you admire was earned by years of showing up when no one was watching. 2. “Wish not so much to live long, as to live well.”   Longevity is now an $8 trillion industry. Franklin cuts through the noise: a long life you hate is a prison sentence. A good life is freedom, even if it’s shorter. 3. “Who is strong? He that can conquer his bad habits.”  The strongest person in the room is the one who can put down the phone, the drink, the credit card, the excuse—and never pick it back up. 4. “To lengthen your life, lessen your meals.”  Caloric restriction remains the only intervention proven to extend lifespan in every species tested. Franklin knew in 1750 what the longevity experts just “discovered” with their $500 blood panels. 5. “Beware of little expenses: a small leak will sink a big ship.”  $9.99 here, $4.75 there, $19 a month for another unused subscription. Death by a thousand cuts. Track every...

Blogger + Grok AI + LinkedIn Articles  During a brainstorm for migrating work experience onto a new page on this blog, Grok suggested I include my LinkedIn articles to improve the site's SEO.  While not the right place or way to integrate my work experience, I think that's a great idea for a blog post. Display some more of my most recent writing samples, on topics I chose and am interested in, while improving this website's SEO. Win-win.  MARKETING = APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY DO YOU KNOW ABOUT WEB3? WHY WE NEED CRYPTO NOW AND FOREVER Internal and external links that are relevant and provide context or other value help with SEO. That's the reason this post exists.   Next week I'll go deeper into leveraging AI to boost SEO optimization, as well as digital publishing, and more.  

  “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin The Questions “Why Blogger? In 2025?” Substack pays. WordPress scales. Ghost looks clean. I stick with Blogger. On purpose. The Reasons Zero Overhead No hosting fees. No plugin updates. No downtime. I write. AI co-writes. Post goes live. Done. Google Owns Search Blogger = Google product. Built-in SEO juice. Faster indexing. My 2016 posts still rank. No extra work. Speed Beats Perfection Fancy platforms slow creation. Blogger loads in 0.8 seconds. I test ideas in hours, not days. AI Needs a Sandbox Grok trains on my voice. Blogger lets me publish 10 drafts daily. No paywall. No friction. Pure iteration. AdSense Still Pays Clean 300x250 below H1. Horizontal under post. $0.02–$0.15 per click. Scales with traffic. (Still under review as of November 16 AM.) Blogger + Grok Experiment Guidelines M/W/F : Synthesis posts ( sourced from uploaded personally written archives ). T/Th : How-to guides...

  “What gets measured, gets managed.”   – Smart People Problem Most people guess fitness. They run. They lift. They plateau. VO2Max measures true motor capacity. Ignore it and age wins. The Science VO2Max equals milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of bodyweight per minute. Elite men hit 60+. Women 50+. Average 30s male: 35–40. Every 1-point drop adds 1% death risk. Why It Matters Outlive → Attia: VO2Max predicts lifespan better than smoking, cholesterol, or blood pressure. Brain Rules → Medina: Aerobic fitness grows new brain cells. Weight Lifting Essentials  → Steen: Stronger engine. Faster fat loss. Zone 2 Guide Be able to hold a conversation with no gasping. 3–4 sessions. 45–60 min each. Outlive Summary – Full longevity protocol.

  “The first requisite for good writing is a premise.”   – Lajos Egri Problem Ninety percent of first drafts drift. Readers skim. They quit. The Synthesis Dramatic Writing → Egri: Premise drives every sentence. One clear thesis. Elements of Style → Strunk: Active voice cuts fat. Subject acts. Writing Tools → Clark End: sentences strong. Begin with power. Action Protocol Step 1. Write premise in one line. 2. Hunt every “was” + verb. 3. Flip to active. End with punch. Quick Flip Table Passive Active Wealth is built by frugality → Frugality builds wealth Focus is sharpened by silence → Silence sharpens focus Elements of Style Summary – Full rules. Dramatic Writing Summary – Premise deep dive.

You can't reliably hit a target unless you're aiming for it. You can't become world class in any profession or skill without first intending to do so. Intention becomes behavior. Behavior becomes habit. Habit becomes second nature. Second nature becomes you .  Before every shift set the intention to be and do your best.

How I've Been Using AI  Weekly Summary (Nov 6, 13:01 – Nov 13, 13:01) Total Prompts : 68 Total Characters : ~48,300 (avg. 710 per prompt) Daily Average : 9.7 prompts, ~6,900 chars Broad Themes (ranked by prompt volume) Creative Writing & Adaptation (38%)  Brand & Content Strategy (31%)  Meta-Tracking & Analytics (18%)  World-Building (13%)  The past 30 days I've used AI as a production assistant and idea generator so I can direct, edit, and publish an immense amount of finished and in-production material around handwritten IP, marketing strategies, and a lot more.  I will continue to document usage in AI labelled posts to study, learn, and teach AI prompt engineering, benefits and current limitations. End of Derek's AI Dispatch #3

  “Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself.”   – Benjamin Franklin The Problem 77% of Americans skip exercise. Brains age fast. One study shows VO2Max improvement subtracts 12 years from metabolic age. Silence cuts mental noise. Most people drown in both. The Synthesis Health → Outlive  [ Summary ] Zone 2 cardio: 3x45 min or 4x60 min weekly. Boost VO2Max 25%. Subtract 12 years. Philosophy → Ben Franklin Blueprint Virtue #2: Silence. Speak only to improve. Track daily. One mark per slip. Brain → Brain Rules [ Summary ] 10-minute attention reset. Emotions grab focus. Silence restores. Franklin’s Silence Loop Cue : Urge to speak. Routine : Pause. Ask: “Does this improve?” Reward : One clean mark. Mental clarity. Stack them. Walk silent. Brain resets. Body rebuilds. Age reverses. Ben Franklin Blueprint – Unlock Timeless Wisdom

  24-Hour Audit + Dispatch Alignment Prompt #1 "Zoom out to include every thread in last 24 hours. Highlight 7-10. Remove 'My Edits' section. Provide numerical total of inputs and characters submitted last 24 hours." AI Output : Total Inputs : 27 Total Characters : ~92,400 Key Threads : Blog eval, 19 summaries, BFB/WLE priority, static pages, Portfolio redraft, calendar revamp, dispatch format. Result : Full audit. Over-optimism flagged. Prompt #2 "Provide concise list of updating theme, font, etc on Blogger (no photo)." AI Output : 9-step Blogger transformation. Contempo theme. Playfair/Georgia fonts. Navigation. Footer. AdSense prep. Result : Theme update guide locked. Prompt #3 "Revise Portfolio page. Not just BFB. Multi-CTAs. Info-packed, economic sentences." AI Output : Multi-project draft. BFB + WLE + Summaries + AI Dispatches. Value-first CTAs. Result : Portfolio over-expanded. Fixed in next. Prompt #4 "Fix Portfo...

Launching the AI-Powered Blog Experiment   --- Prompt #1 "Evaluate my blog. Suggest a 6-week income plan. Keep Blogger URL. Use AdSense + Amazon. Launch YouTube audio 11/23 with BFB. Synthesize book lessons into theme articles. Show AI process. Optimize SEO. Clean ads. One CTA per post. Voice: info-packed, economic sentences. No em dashes." AI Output : Full evaluation + 6-week blueprint + content templates. Result : Strategy locked. Voice calibrated. Prompt #2 "Ingest 19 book summaries one by one. Prioritize WLE and BFB . Extract voice, hooks, synthesis seeds, SEO titles." AI Output : 19 confirmations. Voice prints. Monetization hooks. Cross-book bridges. Result : Library fully synced. Synthesis matrix ready. Prompt #3 "Ingest static pages. Integrate into brand voice. Redraft Portfolio page. Multi-CTA on pages only." AI Output : Portfolio redraft + page summaries. Result : Start here page now lead. Prompt #4 "Revise content calendar. Focus blog on...

 The following are my notes on Peter Attia MD's great book  Outlive .  77% of the US population doesn't exercise. Adding 90 mins/week reduces all-death mortality by 14%. Increasing your VO2Max by any amount  is going to improve your life, not only in terms of how long you live but also how well you live, today and in the future. One study found that boosting elderly subjects' VO2Max by ~25% was equivalent to subtracting 12 years from their age.  Supplementing Zone 2 (walking where you can still hold a conversation but its somewhat uncomfortable) with 1 or 2 VO2Max workouts per week. 8-minute intervals: 4 minutes at max pace you can sustain for this amount of time, not an all-out sprint, but still a very hard effort; then ride or jog 4 minutes easy; repeat 4-6 times and then a cool down. *Zone 2 cardio. 3 1-hour or 4 45-minute sessions is the minimum required for most people to derive a benefit and make improvements.  Important measure of strength = how much...