← 10% Happier with Dan Harris

Danica Patrick, Racing Superstar

Jan 17, 2018 35m 53s 25 insights
Danica Patrick is one of the most successful female drivers in racing history, having been the first and only woman to win an IndyCar race. Since becoming a staple on the race track, Patrick has expanded her repertoire to include owning a winery, launching a clothing line and writing a new lifestyle book called, "Pretty Intense: The 90-Day Mind, Body and Food Plan," which she developed after changing her own diet and exercise routine while going through the process of freezing her eggs.
Actionable Insights

1. Mindfulness Meditation Protocol

Practice mindfulness meditation by sitting in a reasonably quiet place with eyes closed (or partially open), focusing your full attention on the natural sensation of your breath at one point (nose, chest, or belly), and gently returning your attention to the breath every time your mind wanders.

2. Reframe Meditation Distraction

Reframe distraction during meditation as a victory, recognizing that merely noticing your mind has wandered is the essential act of mindfulness and the first step toward gaining control over your internal chaos.

3. Identify & Observe Emotions

Use meditation to clearly identify negative emotions like jealousy or anger within yourself, which helps you recognize and let them pass without reacting impulsively in daily life.

4. Separate Ego from Soul

Learn to identify and separate the constructive aspects of your ego (e.g., motivation) from its detrimental parts, using it wisely rather than letting it control you.

5. Cultivate Self-Awareness for Stress

Use meditation to develop self-awareness, allowing you to discern when stress or self-questioning is constructive for achieving greatness versus when it becomes unhelpful self-laceration, enabling you to toggle between these states effectively.

6. Reduce Ego-Driven Gratification

Reduce ego-driven instant gratification to align with your long-term well-being and true purpose, allowing yourself to flow in the right direction.

7. Prioritize Well-being Investment

Prioritize investing in your well-being throughout your life, recognizing that it’s an investment everyone can afford and potentially saves significant costs later in life.

8. Danica’s Breath Visualization

Begin meditation with 10 deep breaths, then visualize breathing in white and breathing out black to focus the mind and receive messages from your spirit.

9. Identify Food Sensitivities

Consider getting an IgA and IgG blood test to identify food sensitivities (like dairy and gluten) and then eliminate those foods from your diet to increase energy and avoid feeling overly full.

10. Adopt Paleo Diet Principles

Adopt a paleo diet, which involves cutting out grains and beans, to potentially improve energy and avoid feeling overly full, though some flexibility can be allowed for sustainability.

11. Limit Unnatural Sugars

Prioritize natural fruit sugars while limiting or avoiding unnatural sugars (cane sugar, artificial sweeteners, honey, agave) due to their negative effects on how you feel.

12. Structured 12-Week Fitness

Follow a fitness regimen of seven workouts per week, including two days with two separate workouts, and take two full days off for recovery as part of a 12-week program.

13. Efficient Workout Structure

Structure most workouts to be 20-25 minutes long, making them manageable and efficient, and begin each with a five-minute warm-up of light jogging or walking.

14. Progressive Cardio Intensity

Progress your cardio intensity over a three-month period, starting with jogging in the first month, advancing to running in the second, and finally incorporating sprinting in the third month.

15. Incorporate Interval Training

Include three weekly interval training cardio workouts in your fitness routine, alternating high-intensity bursts (e.g., one minute running, five air squats/broad jumps, or 30 seconds running) with equal or longer periods of rest or lower intensity.

16. Balanced Strength & Circuit

Include dedicated upper body, lower body, and abs days, plus a seventh longer circuit workout (30-45 minutes) that combines multiple exercises for variety and challenge.

17. Adapt Communication Language

Adapt your language to your audience to make complex concepts like intentions or meditation accessible, using more layman’s terms and less big words to ensure understanding.

18. Use Informal Language to Relax

Use informal language, like swearing, to relax people and reduce intimidation, making them feel more at ease and relatable, especially if they are intimidated by you.

19. Engage Self-Discovery Exercises

Engage in self-discovery exercises, such as writing down answers to thought-provoking questions (e.g., top three places to visit), to get in touch with yourself, create intentions, and begin the process of manifestation.

20. Set Intentions for Manifestation

Set clear intentions for things you want and put them out into the universe, as this can help everything fall into line and manifest your desires.

21. Maintain Realistic Diet Approach

Be realistic and allow occasional indulgences in your diet, rather than being militaristic, to maintain sustainability and avoid feeling deprived.

22. Connect with Lunar Energy

Connect with the moon, recognizing it as feminine energy, to balance masculine energy within yourself, aligning with the concept of yin and yang.

23. Approach with Interested Skepticism

Approach new spiritual or metaphysical concepts with an ‘interested skeptic’ mindset, asking questions without fully accepting or rejecting them, to explore without commitment.

24. Yoga as Spiritual Gateway

Use yoga as a gateway to spirituality and meditation, as its lingo and thoughts are spiritual, broad, and not fear-based, making it an accessible entry point.

25. Pay Attention to Food Effects

Pay attention to how specific foods like gluten and sugar make you feel, and limit or avoid them if they cause negative effects on your body or energy levels.