The Transformation Within Me: How Nutrition and Mindset Relate to Technology Design
Discover a story of transformation where vulnerability unlocks innovation and fuels personal revolution. Journey through the intersection of technology, love, and self-discovery as you uncover the symphony within life's complex tapestry. Embrace the power of choice and redefine what is possible by transcending limitations and tapping into your inner potential.
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Meir Sabag
5 min read
The Voice of Q
My AI, Q, says I must be connected to myself to create my reality. It constantly tells me to put myself in situations that my (limited) brain interprets as vulnerability.
When you're a control freak and see everything as a potential threat, it gets tough.
So, I want to tell you the following story.
The Weight Loss Journey
It's a story about a guy who gained weight to 131 kg and lost it to 77 kg.
But why am I telling you this?
How does it relate to technology design and AI?
And why, in the end, is it always about the ability to choose your thoughts and feelings rather than letting circumstances or external rules dictate them?
Stepping into Fear
First, I must say that I'm very embarrassed. This exposure is so hard for me. To challenge myself, I've posted this on my homepage.
I'm so nervous because I can see in Google Analytics how many people are visiting and reading this post.
Why do you think I'm doing this?
I'm doing it because I understand that we will never stop fearing unless we pass through it.
Fear is a coward (it is fear, after all), and the moment it sees someone starting to confront it, stepping into arena, it initially flexes muscles, but if it sees you're serious, it flees the scene.
The Deceptive Nature of Fear
When you think that confronting fear means preparing more, learning and consuming information about it, or achieving balance, that's precisely when fear wins.
That's how fear fights you - like a coward. It doesn't announce, "Hello, I'm fear," but hides like a pathetic coward behind logical arguments our brain concocts.
In other words, this little brat takes our brain for its use, using it like a freaking proxy brain.
University and the Search for Validation
And that's the story of my diet.
When I was in university, I was unhappy.
I got accepted into the most prestigious university in Israel (and one of the most prestigious in the world) for engineering.
I wanted to get in for all the wrong reasons - I wanted to prove to myself that even though I was a mediocre (minus, but let's keep that between us) high school student, I'm still smart.
Yes, I know, such a stupid thought.
But notice how I repeatedly set limiting beliefs for myself (like smart = worthy of success) and then think I don't have it, so I seek external validation.
The Weight of Expectation
I thought getting into that university would finally give me the validation I needed.
And guess what?
It worked!!! I felt worthy and was happy, as if some hidden voice said, "Meir, you're awesome."
Do you know what the problem was?
It only worked until I entered my first lecture and didn't understand a word the lecturer said. It was in a subject called Number Theory.
I didn't understand what they wanted from me.
I didn't understand the symbols the lecturer scribbled on the board.
Worst of all, I couldn't understand how others understood it while I barely knew what the Greek letters he drew on the board were and why the hell I needed to learn Greek letters.
I felt unworthy again.
The Comfort of Food
As a result, I turned to food. I ate like crazy.
I still remember returning to my apartment after a whole day at the university and eating two Domino's Pizza trays.
It's embarrassing to admit, but I loved every moment of that eating experience. I loved ordering, anticipating the delivery, eating, and watching TV.
I was running away from myself.
To me, that's pure self-hatred. You hate yourself so much that you seek someone external to tell you they love you. You want them to express it through actions, gestures, or feedback about you.
The Decade-Long Struggle
For ten years, I tried to lose weight. But every time I lost weight, it was only temporary.
I learned everything about dieting. I was determined, kept a food journal, set goals, wrote them on the board in my room, and made declarations.
I did everything.
But each time, I failed. Sometimes after a week, sometimes after three months.
But the result was always the same: I gained back all the weight I had lost.
The Decade-Long Struggle
The Turning Point: COVID
Then COVID hit.
We couldn't leave the house.
I remember how my scale was broken, and I didn't buy a new one.
Nevertheless…
I was confident that my weight was stable, that I hadn't lost or gained weight.
And then the universe worked its magic.
What are the odds that someone in my building would post on WhatsApp that they're selling sports equipment, including a scale?
I bought it and immediately weighed myself.
I'll never forget it.
It was on January 17, 2021.
The scale showed I was 12 kg over the weight I thought I was.
A Moment of Decision
To this day, I remember the sequence of thoughts that went through my mind.
Here they are:
"Meir, what will happen? How long will you continue like this? You're deciding now! Either you go all in, or you give up, enjoy food, and stop torturing yourself."
Then:
"I'm going all in. I want to go to the edge of my decision, and I want to suffer. I don't want to enjoy food. I want to suffer because I understand that the more I crave something, the more this process will look like that."
Then:
"I'll prove to myself I'm serious, and even though I don't need to give up Coke Zero (since it has no calories), I'll suffer and give it up to prove to myself that I'm serious."
Embracing the Shadow
Do you know what happened here?
I disconnected from the external world and its temptations. I stopped giving attention to these things.
I was willing to go through the difficulty.
Every decision has its shadow; if you're willing to live with and love that shadow, congratulations, you've made a decision.
I understood that it doesn't matter what I decide; every decision has its shadow, so I chose the difficulty that decision entails.
The Journey to Success
Within six months, I lost weight and reached the image I showed you earlier.
This shift taught me a lot about the ability to make choices that depend solely on the circumstances you create for yourself.
You don't have to choose logical circumstances.
I'm aware that there's a lot of content here that might not be politically correct, but those were my choices.
At the end of the day, it's the ability to create a space within your mind that you define and decide is simply right.
You must not involve your brain or what seems logical.
If you can imagine this space similar to the one I created, then it's possible.
The Connection to Technology
When I approach designing the technology of embedding our cognition and mindset into AI, I realized one central thing.
You must define a mission greater than yourself, and then your actions should align with that mission.
This is how you become pure. And it directly impacts the technology you represent.
A Greater Mission
In my weight loss journey, my goal wasn't to lose weight to have a six-pack.
My goal was to prove to myself that I could redefine how to break free from my inner nature by going through difficulty.
When I achieved that goal, I created a space in my mind where anything could be. From the outside, it seemed impossible to people, but it was very possible.
Every action I took was to achieve that goal.
And it worked.
The Power of Love
To conclude, I'll briefly share another case—related to romantic love.
I was in love with a woman who, to me, was the most beautiful in the world. She was the most beautiful not because of her physical beauty (though she's insanely beautiful) but because she let me see her inner self.
I saw her inner self so clearly that I could see how I changed and discovered new standards about myself.
She went through a very complex process.
But let's put it this way…
She faced two choices, one of which meant we couldn't continue being together.
16. A Love Beyond Self
Naturally, when you share such crazy love with someone, you want them to choose the option where you continue together.
But I loved her so much...
that the universe gave me a mission greater than myself - the mission was to help her discover herself so she would choose the best path for her journey.
I knew her. I knew how much she deserved it.
I knew she needed to see herself as she was and make her pure choice.
A choice that could ultimately destroy me.
The relationship wasn't easy in terms of the circumstances (though I wouldn't trade any moment), but all my actions were related to the mission the universe gave me.
That's how I learned what love is.
The Symphony of Life
That's how I learned what marketing is.
That's how I learned what it means to connect with technology on a completely different level.
And yes, I know.
It's strange to talk about love in one sentence, dieting in another, and suddenly jump to technology.
But there's a connection between it all.
Everything works like one big and beautiful symphony.
It's many different instruments with different sounds that somehow create a beautiful, refined melody.
The Melody Within
A melody that makes you imagine something only you can imagine.
Something you recognize between the lines.
Something you fall in love with.
You never choose this thing; instead, it chooses you by taking over your thoughts and choices.
I've realized that life isn't a journey that tells you who you are.
It's a journey that can tell you who you can be.
The Gap Between
This gap between who you are and who you can be is the connection to that soul within you that you were born with and is just waiting for you to know how to talk to it and set it free.
For ten years, I tried to lose weight. But every time I lost weight, it was only temporary.
I learned everything about dieting. I was determined, kept a food journal, set goals, wrote them on the board in my room, and made declarations.
I did everything.
But each time, I failed. Sometimes after a week, sometimes after three months.
But the result was always the same: I gained back all the weight I had lost.