Intro

One night my wife came home from a Walmart order pickup with a newly purchased kitchen gadget. As soon as we pulled it from the bag, we found food in it — it was used! I headed right back to the store to exchange it for an unopened item. My wife and I make it a habit to check out the clearance section anytime we actually go inside. As soon as I turned my cart into the clearance aisle, I saw two marked down adjustable dumbbells. I had been looking for weights on Facebook Marketplace for a while, but it seemed everyone was asking for too much money for used equipment.

So, here were two brand new weights that could be adjusted to my level of strength and grow with me. All for the same price as the used ones I was looking at on Facebook Marketplace.

I lugged them into my cart (all 105 pounds of them!), then called my wife to get a gut check on the impulse purchase. After her surprise wore off (she wasn’t aware I was searching for weights), she was very supportive. I brought them home and started learning how to make my body stronger with them.

That’s how I got (re-)started on a journey of living a great life. But who am I?

Hi, my name is Brian, the human behind 15 Minute Life, and I want you to live a great life. Seriously. Why do I care about you? Because what kind of life you live matters — because it impacts everyone else.

Say I’m checking out the clearance in Walmart and a grumpy you makes a rude comment about how much of the aisle I’m taking up. I can let it go pretty easily, but that was an experience I’d rather avoid.

Now I’m driving home from Walmart, and an overtired you runs a red light. You smash into me. Yeah, I’d rather avoid that, too.

Now you and I are hurt from the accident and need to heal. My strong muscles and maintained body functions are ready to start healing me immediately. You, on the other hand, will take longer to heal, straining the healthcare system and leading to higher insurance costs for everyone.

There — that’s the selfish reason I want you to live a great life. And I hope you want to live a great life too.

Here’s a bit about me. I’m a husband and father of four small kids (who are growing quickly!). We seem to always be on-the-run around our community: soccer/baseball practice, piano/violin lessons, school drop-off and pick-up, visiting grandparents in the next town over, tackling home repairs, endlessly making/eating/cleaning up meals, etc.

For work, I started as a software developer, and now manage software development projects for an agriculture company. The company is fantastic to work for, but after a decade of sitting while working behind a computer screen for eight hours a day, my body wasn’t feeling fantastic. When I became a manager, the stress levels increased, which led to worse sleep, worse eating patterns, and worse mental health. “I am not too stressed out and out-of-shape,” I told myself, even though I felt uncomfortable in my tightening clothes and how I would act towards my family during high stress days.

Being dad to four kids didn't help either. I developed a pattern of late nights with sweet treats. “Those hours to myself (or with my wife) after the kids are in bed are so badly needed and deserved,” I’d tell myself. I’d also pile on more stress by “negotiating” with the kids about bedtime, dessert, how much dinner, etc. The kids wanted more from me than I had energy for.

Social media didn’t help, with attractive people flaunting seemingly easy health and wealth in every video and post.

You know what else didn’t help? A ton of conflicting opinions on exercise, nutrition, mental health, parenting, financial success, blah, blah, bah! I needed it all to quiet down. So I started choosing to reframe how I approached it all.

Here’s how I frame it all now —

I want to invest in my wellbeing today so that I can live a great life into old age. That means:

• Develop muscles strong enough to keep me mobile

• Cultivate total physical health so my body has the resources to heal itself

• Maintain a healthy brain so I can make good decisions and think positively about myself

• Build a community of people who I care for and who care for me

Using this framework, 15 Minute Life is about changes you can make, 15 minutes at a time, to live a great life.

Looking forward to the journey,
Brian