The room gasps, “Coffee is NOT a bloody Vice!”
“MYeah, it is.” said the Vampire in training
If a picture tells 1000 words, then a group of performance coaches reacting unanimously to ‘hot beans and water not being a vice’ tells 1001.
I’d taken to the Zoom floor, declaring with my chest in the air, that I was taking a challenge.
A 7 Day Vice Observation Challenge.
Yep, 7 days of not doing much, except observing that thing, that Vice, that had become a thorn.
If left unattended it could be the stake that finally brings Blade down.
For those who don’t know Vampires, Blade is a real vampire played by Wesley Snipes.
The opposite to those sparkly Twilight fucks.
And my Vice of choice was:-
‘Coffee’
First thing to note here:
When people get defensive about something, they probably have a problem with it.
Perhaps, nestled in their subconscious, but it’s there.
My favourite response amid the shock was ‘bio-hack that shit’.
Bio-hack is a fancy word for Health Optimisation, which is the umbrella term above Vice Optimisation.
Which sits above Vice Observation.
So yep… that’s what I was doing :D
Vice Observation is simply observing a vice.
revelations for days…
But, as I’ve learnt over the past three years practicing and coaching people through a period of observation, you can’t help yourself!
Like your first post-pubescent erection, you can’t help but start to play with it.
Little tweaks and adjustments (btw Dick metaphor was over after ‘play with it’) to make you a happier human.
So what was the the System?
The Token System
1) Pick a vice
2) Ask yourself: ‘Was it worth it?’ (Yay or Nay) each morning #wiwi
That was it.
And keep in mind, sticking to it didn’t require you to change anything.
Just ask WiWi every morning.
And here’s what I learnt.
My Coffee story
The long and the short of it, not a coffee pun, was that I scored:
3 Yays and 4 Nays.
Not Behd, because you learn more from the Nays than the Yays and it really reinforces the fact that your Vice needed a tune up.
And why did I pick coffee?
Double shot cappuccinos (my usual) had started making me anxious in the morning.
As someone who’s had full-blown anxiety (panic attack level) and a fuck-tonne of hangxiety (Hangover anxiety) this is not how I wanted to start my day of work,
so time to change it up.
Biggest Nay / Learning: Not paying attention when ordering a coffee with a friend and then once I got the double — proceeding to drink it even though I knew it would make me anxious.
Biggest Yay: Making my own coffee x cacao blend at home in among my controlled setting.
I love mugs, I may go back to them, but for now it’s coffee/ cacao blend at home or single shots when out.
I’m still keeping an eye on coffee and will continue to. True Vice observation is an ongoing practice.
Sure you can do your abstinence challenges for charity, but if you then go back to turning a blind eye - you’re an idiot (or shit-pirate).
If you’re feeling a bit of froth in reading this, coffee pun intended, and would like to dive a bit deeper?
You have two choices:
- Read this article on my experience with Netflix which dives deeper into the mechanics of Vice Observation / Optimisation
2. Come play a game?
Life’s a big game. One big fucking experiment.
So here’s my thoughts about this:
I want to keep challenging myself and I have way more fun doing it with other people.
I’m putting together a motley crew of Vi-Curious folks to play Vice Observation on the reg.
There’s a survey form with more info — Access it here…
Because I only want to hang out with people I want to hang out with.
We spend way too much of our lives working with knobheads, so why would I choose that again?
This is going to be fun.
Kicks off sometime in November.
Fuck yeah.
Interested in more jams on Vice Optimisation — check this out
