"Never Felt Healthier or Happier" — Devin's Founder Story
Published
"I feel way smarter than I've ever felt, and I'm making much clearer decisions. The more I take care of myself, the more fun business is — and the less cleanup I have."
I'm Devin. I've started a few businesses — one in commercial truck insurance, currently building one to help people with personal injury claims, and I help a few startups on the side, typically in the more boring areas of the economy. On the side I like to hike and be around nature.
I found Chandra through a mutual friend. I was working a lot at my first startup. There was a lot of pressure — a lot of it self-manufactured — and a lot of validation and self-worth tied to growing the business. My habits were suffering.
Before: Compulsive Eating, Wine, Coffee, No Sleep
I'd compulsively overeat — not necessarily a ton in one sitting, just constantly eating. I had back pain from sitting all day. I'd wake up before work and feel this flood — I've got to check email, check Slack, check texts, I don't want to let anyone down, I have so many deadlines. I didn't feel happy. I wasn't giving myself space to relax.
I was overcompensating with food. I wasn't sleeping enough. I was missing workouts. I was probably 15 pounds heavier, out of shape, and chronically drinking too much coffee to make up for it. I had a sense of guilt turning off — so at night I'd drink three or four glasses of red wine, read a few articles, maybe another glass. I wasn't getting trashed, but I wasn't waking up fresh, I wasn't emotionally decompressing, and my biomarkers weren't optimal.
Then the gout showed up. I'd told myself I was a D1 athlete with great genetics — that I could do whatever I wanted in my 20s. The truth was I couldn't. That was a pretty large shocker.
What Shifted
I worked with Chandra for about three or four months — probably ten to twelve sessions. She had me do an experiment of no processed foods for 60 days. I think I slipped up one day. What I felt in that period was a lot more long-term vision. I cut out alcohol. I cut out nicotine. I cut out fast food. I haven't gone back, and I don't miss any of it.
"I've had absolutely no issues with gout since working with Chandra."
It took about eight months to really feel it. I remember thinking, holy crap, I've never felt this intelligent and this good.
The Tool That Stuck
The most useful model was what Chandra calls the internal human algorithm of change — circumstance creates thoughts and feelings, which create action, which creates result. The point isn't perfection. It's a simple algorithm for figuring out: am I coping with this circumstance, or am I empowering myself toward a better result?
That exercise was just very anchoring. I started to enjoy psychoanalyzing the self the way you enjoy a sport. The better I got at it, the more intuitive it became — I could take a repetitive thought, deconstruct it quickly, and not feel anxious anymore.
Who This Program Is For
If you're someone who likes to run your own self-discipline, who's achievement-oriented, who likes to set your own goals — Chandra is pretty intuitive in that sense. If you're someone who's entirely fine with the workplace setting all your goals for you, who doesn't really want to do introspection about your health — you're probably not a fit for this program.
I'm a big believer that either you set your goals or other people set them — but either way, you get goals. If you're a founder, you're essentially a high-performance athlete. And if you're not sleeping enough, not taking care of your diet, you significantly hamper your ability to make intelligent decisions.
Where I Am Now
"I've never been happier, healthier. The more clear decisions I make at work, the more I can go read a book, go on a hike, ski. I can just do more fun stuff if I take care of myself."
My revenue is higher. My expenses are lower. I make less errors at work. I feel way smarter than I've ever felt.
If you're someone with internal goals and you're ready to take ownership of your input-output relationship — Chandra is a great sounding board in the quest to become a happier, more functional person.
— Devin
