# 198 — Adam Giles Reboot

The NonProphet Podcast

We recorded this podcast with Adam Giles in early-2019 and after listening again recently we decided to rerelease it. Some may have missed it then, when the podcast had a different name, but we also made an interesting prediction or perhaps more accurately, extrapolation, that has bearing on some events in the 2020-2021 time frame.

Adam's description of working at Nokia, and helping to launch the 6680 with a 2mp camera, is a trip back in time, to an era when some engineers were convinced that touchscreens would never be a thing ... wow.

After leaving an established career in Tech to apprentice in a gym, Adam eventually began coaching. He went from partying hard to smashing himself in the gym, and was enamored enough with the process to change his life, to begin training others, and maybe even help them to change theirs. But following a relatively short term devoted to the fitness space he burned out and returned to the field of technology marketing so of course we spoke about the difficulty of monetizing what we love, and how that affects the quality and duration of our love of the activity.

We also discussed the relationship between technology and health, recognizing the need to teach younger people how to use it, how it should be used, and how our relationship with handheld tech is changing human physiology, from posture to the trend towards being more sedentary. Michael posited that most poor health choices have compounding interest. If you think the cost is high now it's because you do not recognize the "eventual" cost, which will be really high ... quite forward thinking if we look at the co-morbidities affecting the impact of the recent virus.

On top of the drift towards more sedentary existence the social and media and commercial influence on the concept of fitness and health has created bad incentives that often steer people away from the real benefits of movement and dietary awareness. The outcomes being "sold" deal with how one looks on the beach, gaining attention and improved social status, but we believe the point of improving fitness is to have access to more and (more) diverse experiences.

If we want to change then accurate and rational "wanting" matters, and a proper guide is necessary to see-desire-work-achieve. To affect meaningful personal change we need guidance that goes beyond the physical and coaches (different from trainers) are not only exercise physiologists but exercise psychologists. Working on the invisible muscle of the mind is not a sexy reward so it's a tough sell.

Fitness practice can help you "look better", of course, but it will also help you to know yourself better and once you can do that you may eventually be able to accept who you truly are more often. And that will change your whole life.