#826: Q&A with Tim — Supplements I’m Taking, Austin vs. SF, Training for Mental Performance, Current Go-To AI Tools, Recovering from Surgery, Intermittent Fasting, and More

Hello boys and girls, ladies and germs—welcome to a special solo Q and A. I’m answering questions from my private Notebook community and sharing real tactics across health, performance, creative projects, and more. Quick note: I’m not a doctor, do not play one on the internet—everything here is for information and entertainment only. Also, please check out Coyote at CoyoteGame.com and, if you’ve played, a short review helps a ton and makes my day.

Current challenge: retail sell-through for Coyote. I’m applying the scientific method—gathering photos of in-store placement, validating whether placement or box size matters, and resisting premature conclusions. More information first, then targeted experiments.

Elbow surgery recovery: I had a lateral epicondylitis repair after a decades-old injury. My playbook is sequencing—decongestion first with a Mark Pro, lymphatic drainage, sleep, and collagen plus vitamin C before movement; then careful isometrics for adjacent muscle groups, and later blood-flow restriction training. I’m working closely with PTs and a surgeon who had the same procedure; my biggest risk is doing too much too soon.

Austin versus San Francisco: if you’re building in AI, San Francisco still has the highest talent density. You can treat one to three months there as a paid MBA for learning and recruiting, then bring it back to Austin. It does not have to be either-or.

AI for medical questions: I cross-reference tools like ChatGPT and Consensus dot app to get a first-pass map of evidence, then send a concise synthesis to my doctor for reality checks. I never self-doctor in a vacuum, and I’m skeptical of anything offered for free—it is often very expensive in the end.

Supplements right now are surgery-skewed. From the old PAGG stack I still use alpha-lipoic acid, NAC, green tea extract, and garlic; policosanol is a question mark. I also take prescription support for lipids and uric acid, famotidine for interesting adjunct effects, collagen plus vitamin C before work, magnesium threonate at night, fish oil, A-REDS two for eyes, and THC with CBN for sleep pain. I’m exploring DORA-class sleep meds; again, do not copy me—talk to your professionals.

I changed my mind on intermittent fasting. After a strict ketogenic phase, an eight-hour feeding window with resistance training gave me the best bloodwork in a decade and better performance. Two big meals plus protein shakes work fine, and the thirty-grams-per-meal protein “limit” is not supported by the literature.

Training for mental sports like chess: stabilize glucose first. Moderate caffeine, consider MCT oil or a ketogenic phase, and plan fueling like an endurance athlete depending on game length. There’s no free lunch with stimulants; sequencing fundamentals beats piling on band-aids.

Saying no to good things: I turned down a lucrative European talk to spend a week off-grid in Montana learning survival with close friends. The art of letting bad things happen still applies; that trade was a one hundred of one hundred decision.

Philanthropy lessons: do not wait—many problems compound. Avoid guilt fuel; separate feel-good from impact. Treat it like for-profit investing, prioritize neglected areas, and optimize for learning and relationships even when projects fail.

Coyote’s impact: it feels fantastic to inject reliable fun into family time. Productivity matters, but joy is real recovery. Watching kids go absolutely bananas around a table with no screens is why I keep pushing this.

Old ideas for the future: fasting. We lost a lot of rigorous human fasting research; the subtractive approach is neglected and interesting. I’m exploring fasting-mimicking diets, ketogenic strategies, and possible pharmacologic overlaps to capture cellular cleanup benefits without dogma.

Cock Punch world-building: I have a very clear film in my head. I want to prototype an AI-assisted mood trailer with friends who live in these tools—low cost, high learning. If it makes smart people briefly speechless, I’ll push harder.

Uncrowded channels: in-person still wins. Legacy platforms like email, Pinterest, and Quora are underrated while everyone chases the newest shiny thing.

Unexpected projects: I’m working on clean energy (including fusion and more reactors), methane reduction from cattle with algae feed additives, and scalable protein. Quietly trying to incentivize humans to unfuck the planet.

Travel: Taiwan is a gem—culture, food, waterfalls, and rainforest within an hour of Taipei. Glacier National Park is high on my list, and I’m drawn to smaller countries that punch above their weight.

Meta-skill for the AI era: become hyper-adaptable and a world-class learner. Even the top builders cannot predict eighteen months out; your insurance is learning speed.

Process notes: I prefer wired headphones and backup recording—two is one, one is none. Boring, but it saves shows.

Family trips: pick places engineered for multi-generational fun—think Mohonk Mountain House. Genealogy trips tracing family lines are also meaningful and easy to customize.

Thank you for the great questions and the support. Notebook meetups will happen; we will help facilitate. And if you want a tiny dose of curiosities each week, join Five Bullet Friday at tim dot blog slash friday. Have a great week and take care.