Zach Highley

Today I took my last exam in medical school. I've been in higher education for 11 years. I went from a B student in high school to scoring in the top 3% of my peers. Most people are studying all wrong. Here are 10 study techniques that made me a top performer: [ 🧵 thread]

@marclou what's your tech stack? Do you use codex and/or claude?

@jonaswillett1 Cafe!

I created a list of my favorite cafes to work at in NYC. Coffee shops > offices. I started my company inside a coffee shop. Beautiful spaces. Good energy. Surrounded by people locking in. And you randomly meet the most interesting people. My list includes the cafe name, neighborhood, and a proprietary, confidential scoring system based on: - Work space (tables, outlets, WiFi, design) - Food (quality, options, price) - Music (playlist, can you take calls) - People (do interesting people go here) - Coffee (does it hit) - Vibes (overall energy) I'd love to share this list with you + add new spots. Comment "CAFE" and I'll DM you the list.

@levelsio @miguelgbandeira Where's the best place to be inspired/around builders @levelsio?

@miguelgbandeira You gotta escape If you turn 30 in PT as a PT you will turn in the classic PT NPC normie who goes bicyling on Sunday in tight shorts with a fat belly or even worse play padel!

this is true portugal is cheap and entrepreneurship is rare here, sometimes even looked down on because of this i catch myself getting too comfortable and losing my drive to push harder

We are overstimulated and we don't even notice. Netflix while eating. Reels in the bathroom. Music while cooking. Podcasts on walks. We consume by default, not by intention. You keep filling every gap, then wonder why you feel foggy and unmotivated. Boredom and silence are the real growth drivers. They give you space to think and create. That's when solutions show up for problems that have been stuck for months. Leave some room.

iPhone App #2 Launched! Stretch to unblock your phone apps.apple.com/us/app/haven-s…

Launched an iPhone app combining spaced repetition and micro-learning! Please be MEAN if you don't like it (have to get better!) enchiridion.io

@BeadWhoYouAre Hope all is well!

I was already mentally on the way out in May 2025, but after watching @ZachHighley youtu.be/X0a_IJY85CI?si… I decided to give myself permission to leave. It’s been a little rough and I have days where I feel panicked over finances, but never panicked about my purpose.

@bryan_johnson What's your opinion on naps?

Loved this morning. Included a nap in today's routine. May start napping more. > asleep before 9 pm > up at 5 am > 8h sleep, no wake events > work 2 hrs with fresh mind > 50 min strength > 12 min HIIT (30 sec sprints, 1 min recovery) > 10 min flexibility > 43 min, 200°F dry sauna > hit core body temp 102.8°F / 39.4°C > breakfast + work > 1 hr nap Sauna at 200°F for 43 min is intense, coupled with exercise, induces strong sleepiness. I was lights out for that 1hr nap. Woke up feeling it was 10/10 quality sleep. The nap is a longevity therapy: supporting growth hormone release, glymphatic clearance, muscle protein synthesis, and cognitive consolidation. I'd been skipping it because once the morning protocol ends, I'm dialed in as a builder. But I may be a better builder and rejuvenation athlete if naps are part of the daily routine. Especially on high exertion days.

19 life rules: 1. Remember, you will die. This could be your last day alive. If you had one year left in life, what would you do? 2. Have the courage to listen to your own heart and intuition. You know what you truly want to become, everything else is secondary. 3. Speak less. Do more. Actions speak louder, and speaking louder rarely results in action. 4. Own it. Always say the truth. Who are you? Own it and you can never fail. 5. Good. Oh you hurt yourself? You have to run? To wake up early? Work hard? Good. It makes you better. 6. Say "hi" first. Put yourself out there. Life is too short. Trust the world. 7. Be genuinely interested in others. This will invigorate your life and their's. Not interested? Leave. 8. Keep your baseline. Wake up early, meditate, read, exercise, clean, eat well, don't drink, sleep, smile. You are the one drawing the line in the sand. 9. Stop complaining, criticizing, and condemning. Enough people do this already (caveat is jokes). 10. No one has any idea what they are doing, you can do anything, anything, anything. Anything. 11. If you follow the same actions, you will get the same results. Iterate, try, change, grow, be nervous, look stupid, no one cares. 12. Decide the "why" and the "how" will come. See rule #2. 13. There is no finish line. What track would you be ok running endlessly on? See rule #1-2. 14. Put the phone down, engage, smile, ask. Be in nature, let nature filter your brain junk. There is a lot of unnecessary attention being given out (by you) willy-nilly. 15. Master your performance, improve daily, don't compare. Kaizen. 16. Your days are your years are your life. Take time to think about #1-2 at least once a month for at least 3 hours. 17. Your environment matters. What are you optimizing for? People, nature, fun, money, creativity. 18. Craving is suffering, stop craving or realize you will suffer while you crave. Buddhism. 19. Don't take anything seriously, laugh, have fun, screw up. You can say sorry later if you need to. There are serious things in the world. Likely you are not a part of them, your life is ok, and you aren't that big a deal. That's ok. You're ok.

@BeadWhoYouAre Cheers!

@ZachHighley Aww what a great message

@lavanya_sf Thank you!

@ZachHighley Thanks Zach. It's not that we don't know this but it's so easy to forget. Great reminder!

@bangerz Social reasons or you want alcohol? Social: Say "I don't drink," less stigma nowadays and (good) friends won't care. Want: learn why you want to drink, learn deeply about the health consequences, then you have to convince yourself your life is better without alcohol (it is).

I’ve wanted to quit drinking for a long time, but it’s harder than I expected. So much of social life feels built around alcohol. Any tips from anyone who’s done it?

How do you get rid of phone creep? I went from picking my phone up only to text people to having to constantly have a song/podcast/YouTube video playing in my AirPods when I'm doing anything... This can't be good for you. ... yep it's not: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC82…

Vibe coding is more addictive than any video game ever made (if you know what you want to build).

How is this not bigger news?

@petergyang OpenClaw - fun/personal assistant checking/actioning all small items in my life/computer CC - front-end/ui/web design Codex - all backend or anything else code

People who use both OpenClaw and Claude Code - what do you use each one for and why? Let us know in the replies. Really curious.

Every generic Claude search/ask I do always runs through 3 simple things: - Reddit - Lindy's Law - Memory/profile of me Gamechanger.

Please add remote codex Mac app control from my phone @sama & @steipete, would be a game-changer (and my token usage would go zooooom)