In July 2025 I went in for routine bloodwork. Most of it came back better than good. Blood sugar, hormones, liver, prostate: all excellent for a guy in his fifties.
Then there were a few lines in red. LDL cholesterol: 164. Total cholesterol: 241.
The strange part was that I felt fine. I walked every day, meditated, journaled, and practiced intermittent fasting. I thought I was doing the right things. That was the lesson that stuck with me: feeling healthy and being healthy are not the same thing.
For mid-career technologists, that’s an ACT problem. Foundations. The old scoreboard can look green while the body is sending a different signal. Clarity and better career bets need energy. Energy needs a system, not vibes.
Running my health like a product
I've spent my career in leadership, working in sprints, roadmaps, and retrospectives. So I asked a simple question: what if I ran my health the same way?
Here's what I built:
- 13-week cycles. Twelve weeks of execution, one week to review what worked and plan what's next.
- A small team of AI coaches. One reads my Apple Watch data and coaches my cardio. One handles nutrition, with a motto I now live by: every meal is a vote for or against your LDL. One keeps my daily self-care rituals on track. A fourth, Master Program Agent, ties it all together. None of them replace my doctor. They keep me honest between visits.
- A philosophy underneath it all. Stoicism, Atomic Habits, and a belief that systems beat willpower every time.
What actually changed
- Mornings. 5am wake-up, meditation, journaling, then a movement practice borrowing from yoga and qigong, a cold shower, and a phone-free walk with my dog, Stan.
- Food. A tight daily eating window, ground flaxseed, salmon twice a week, walnuts, olive oil. Targeted changes, not a diet overhaul.
- Cardio. 90 minutes a week in "Zone 2," often wearing a weighted vest. Harder than it sounds, and more rewarding.
The retest
In May 2026 I went back for bloodwork. LDL dropped from 164 to 137. Total cholesterol from 241 to 211. Triglycerides nearly cut in half. HDL, the good kind, went up. No cholesterol medication. My doctor was thrilled with the results and encouraged me to keep doing what I was doing.
That same stretch, something less clinical showed up on the course. I shot the best round of golf of my life and finally broke 100. I felt strong and vital out there, not creaky and aching. The labs were moving. So was how my body showed up when I wasn’t thinking about labs.
But 137 isn't 100. And that's where this story really starts.
If you've ever gotten a lab result that didn't match how you felt, treat one health signal this week like a product bug. Write it down, pick a system (not a heroic week), and protect one non-negotiable. If you want the fuller map of clarity, foundations, and motion, start at the ZAG Matrix.
