The Doctor Is In
20 Questions with Dr. Jake Mutch
Christina and I recently came across some great questions in Tim Ferriss’s book, Tribe of Mentors. This is an excerpt from a session where Christina sits down and peppers me with questions (adding a few of her own) over ramen. Consider it Part I of our “Getting to Know Your Doctor” series. Enjoy!
What book would you be most likely to give as a gift?
There are so many great books, and the better I know someone, the more tailored the recommendation. But, okay, if there were only one, then it would have to be Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, by Greg McKeown. The crux of the book is that life can pull us in a million directions, and essentialism is about finding those one or two things that truly matter, and creating systems to focus on them while discarding the rest. I have the audio version, and I re-listen to it every few months. It’s helped me tremendously.
What purchase of $100 or less has most positively impacted your life in the last six months (or in recent memory)?
That would have to be a used, old version of a Kindle that sits by my reading chair in the living room. I intentionally selected it because it's relatively low-tech; there’s no backlight, so I have to use soft lighting to see it when I’m reading. This helps me avoid the blue light of screens that tend to keep me up at night before bed, which is when I'm typically reading. I see books as a really small investment that can potentially be life-changing, and so I don’t hesitate to download if I see something interesting. Also, using a Kindle, as opposed to the paper copy, has allowed me to avoid what would otherwise be an accumulating mountain of books. My wife is grateful.
Rapid Fire Questions:
Spirit animal?
Snowy owl, though I've been told I'm also like the Professor Owl from the Tootsie Roll pop commercials. I'm still mulling that one over.
Favorite superhero?
Iron Man. I'm a sucker for engineering/genius as a superpower.
Favorite movie?
Oooooh, tough call. But before I nerd out too much, let me warn you that I'm generally a fan of hard science fiction. The concept of “what would life be like if...” helps me periodically question assumptions about the way the world should work. Arrival with Amy Adams is one of the best movies (and certainly best-shot movies) I've seen in a good long while. And the short story it's based off of by Ted Chiang is mind-bendingly phenomenal. But right now, I'm enjoying The Martian. Love watching Matt Damon trying to science his way off of Mars.
Favorite documentary?
That one’s easy: Jiro Dreams of Sushi. I have a small [read: insatiable] obsession with documentaries of people who are world-class and totally committed to their craft. I enjoy dissecting their methods and seeing what makes them tick: how they start their mornings, deal with setbacks, arrange their tools, etc. For that reason, the Netflix documentary series Chef's Table is also fantastic. I just learned that they actually are made by the same director! So that figures.
Mountains or beaches?
Both. That’s why I love Virginia.
Do you have a favorite vice?
Yes. It’s called Amber Ox. Go for brunch when you can. You won’t regret it.
Favorite drink?
The old-fashioned. We visited a good friend of ours in Kentucky a few years back, and got to experiment with all kinds of bourbon recipes. The secret? Use dark [Amarena] cherries, not the bright red ones [Maraschino]. Spending time in the kitchen experimenting has shown me how one small ingredient can completely change your experience. But be warned: I'm very much a one-trick pony. If I try to make you anything else bedsides that one drink, it'll probably be just awful [laughs].
Favorite sibling?
Wait, what? What kind of question is that?! [laughs]. Let’s do 21 questions then.
What is your ideal Saturday?
We tend to be pretty analog when it comes to our R&R, because it's so easy to get distracted. I'm particularly susceptible to those Youtube spirals where, you know, you start searching for a TED talk and then you look up, an hour's gone by, and somehow you're now aware of what Justin Bieber had for breakfast two weeks ago. That would be not ideal.
Okay, but ideally? I would be up around 5:30 or 6:00 AM, have some time to read or write, and then go to the Williamsburg Farmers Market with Christina, pick up something from the local bakeshop, and then have brunch at home. I'd make a fresh pot of coffee in the french press and put some jazz on the record player, usually Ella Fitzgerald or Miles Davis. We would probably spend the next few hours reading a book over a cup of tea on the couch. If it's sunny, we may go down to campus and walk around, or go running on the trails. There would be a Good Shot Judy concert, and we've enjoyed going to those over the past few years and trying our hand at the foxtrot. But if not, then we'd probably either have a date night/meet friends on the town, or stay home, put on some [more] jazz, make a cocktail, maybe start a bonfire, and enjoy a quiet night in.
Anyone who particularly inspires you?
Colonel Chris Hadfield, retired astronaut and the former commander of the International Space Station. His book, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, is a gold mine of advice on leading others, acquiring skills, taking risks, and becoming your best. Highly recommended. I like that he’s methodical and detail-oriented, but also deeply connected to and invested in the world around him. As one of the few people who has actually seen the Earth at a distance, his perspective on what matters is rare and insightful. I’m always on the hunt for viewpoints like that.
If you could have a gigantic billboard anywhere with anything on it, what would it say and why?
"Less, but better." There's a lot of pressure nowadays to be busy. That frenetic pace creates an anxious, basal level of stress as we try to cram in all of life's responsibilities. It has become the norm, but it's actually suboptimal. I like days where there's lots of buffer in between tasks, so that I can really be present and enjoy the moment. This is somewhat counterculture right now, so I have to continually give myself permission not to be busy.
Can I have another one? Okay, the second would be "mise en place." It's a French cooking term to describe everything (tools, ingredients, etc.) being clean and in its place. The idea is that being able to access your tools makes for a better work flow; when you need something, you know exactly where it is. It's frictionless. For example, we used to have a bunch of cooking utensils and devices in our kitchen drawers. Like, ten spatulas. Do we need that many? So I started putting away all the extra doodads. Turns out, we only really used a few things anyway. So now, every tool has a place, we have fewer dishes, and since we don't have to rummage in a drawer to find a spatula, we end up cooking more. I don't know if everyone can tell, but I'm really into optimizing.
What is one of the best investments you've made (could be time, energy, money, etc.)?
I would say the best investment, at least in recent memory, would be all the time put aside to explore artistic side projects. Over the past few years, I’ve dabbled in graphic art, website design, videography, and basic photography, with no idea exactly what would come of it. I just was having fun working on side projects as a study break. But it’s come in handy over the past few months.
What advice would you give to a driven young person about to enter the “real world”?
I read a blog post years ago by Seth Godin called the "The World's Worst Boss." One quote stuck with me:
“If you had a manager that talked to you the way you talked to you, you’d quit."
That negative little voice in all of our heads--the one that narrates our day and keeps us angry when someone cuts us off in traffic--is like the diabetes of the mind. Our mind affects everything we do, but we often don't take time to learn how to protect or develop it.
With the body, we kind of know the formula a little better. If you want to get to the Olympics, you have to train for Olympic levels of physical stress. That means exercises, a coach, maybe some supplements and good nutrition. But many of us are exposed to "Olympic" levels of mental stress all the time. What are we doing to train for it? What if we had applied the same principles of Olympic training to being in athletic "mental shape?" How much happier could we be?
So I would say: pay attention to the voice inside your head, and the stories you tell yourself about who exactly you are. Spend time learning the techniques to give your mental operating system an upgrade. You'll be a lot better off for it.
What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?
I'm not sure I would call it a recommendation per se, but there's this subculture of Type A medical students who study at all hours but pretend they don't study, so as to appear effortlessly brilliant. I thought it was bizarre initially, but it's really a form of insecurity: a fear of showing someone else that we're actually human. When I'm teaching medical students, I try to emphasize that it's a virtue to spend time each day on the things you love. And if we're playing the long game, to perform our best, we need to sleep. We should work on building systems into our daily lives so that the all-nighter isn't even necessary. Sleep deprivation doesn't make us better decision makers. Self care is highly underrated.
When you feel overwhelmed or unfocused, or have lost your focus temporarily, what do you do?
I usually will look back on my day and ask: ”how did I get here?” I find that days when I’m not feeling my best are a lagging measure of when I’m not doing the best self care. I look at my journal and see, “oh yeah, it’s been a few days since my last smoothie/good night sleep/workout session." So I'll probably go for a run and get some sunlight, make a smoothie, stretch, and meditate, knowing that changing my physical state has a big effect on my emotional state.
One other thing: For some reason, I have a very good recall of negative memories. They stay present in my mind a lot easier than all the wonderful parts of life. So, in order to balance the scales, I keep an Evernote log of all the positive feedback I've gotten over the years, and I reread it from time to time, especially when I feel unfocused. It helps me keep perspective on whatever current situation I'm dealing with.
What is an unusual habit or an absurd thing that you love?
Ohhh, there're so many. I’m going off the deep end for this one. So, I really like having a good cup of coffee in the morning to start the day. Some days, I would make a pretty good cup, and other days, it was more like water or mud. I wanted to make a perfectly-consistent cup of coffee each morning, to remove the guesswork. So I took our food scale and a thermometer, and started experimenting. I would measure out X grams of coffee and X grams of water, change all these variables, and then ask [Christina how she liked] the coffee, since she’s drinking it too. It took like 2 months, but we found the perfect coffee recipe for us:
Scoop 40g medium roast, freshly ground, medium-to-coarse coffee into the French Press. (We use a local blend from Mobjack Bay).
Boil water, wait 4 minutes, then pour 250g filtered water into the French Press, to let it "bloom."
Wait 30 seconds, then add another 450g (total 700g) of water into the French Press.
Wait 4 minutes, then slowly press down on the plunger knob.
Add 40g of half and half to each cup.
Enjoy!
In the last five years, what new belief, behavior, or habit has most improved your life?
Keeping a journal. I picked this up in 2017, and it's been extremely useful. The trick is: I only write a few sentences each day, so that I don't feel pressured to fill a page. I write about what's happening, how I feel about it, anything that jumps out at me. I used to keep it as an Evernote file each day on my phone, but now I write it down with pen and paper. I've found that writing both helps me think as well as identify trends that I wouldn’t otherwise see when I'm just going through my day. I'll review my journal weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly. I'm reading for content, but also as an 80/20 analysis, where I try to maximize the positive experiences and minimize the negative ones. Often, one or two positive things (a restaurant, going dancing, time for reading and exercise) have disproportionately large effects on my day, and so I try to set aside more time for those in the future.
I would also be remiss if I didn't mention minimalism; it has had a profound impact on my life. In a nutshell, minimalism is the process of intentionally deciding to get a little more out of life by eliminating distractions and curating what matters down to the essentials. That may be fewer kitchen utensils, an emptier schedule, or a simpler wardrobe. It’s the decision that has eliminated a thousand other decisions for me. There's a great documentary by Matt D'Avella called Minimalism on Netflix. It's definitely worth a gander.
In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to? What new realizations and/or approaches have helped?
Stephen Covey has this quote that "the main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." This was a hard one for me, as I am a people-pleaser by default. So it's easy to get distracted doing things that aren't as vital.
For example, my wife and I noticed that when we stayed out on a Sunday evening, we didn't end up cleaning or doing meal prep, and for the rest of the week, we just felt behind. So I would say to give yourself permission to set up some boundaries in advance that will give you the best chance of getting your main thing done. That means Sunday afternoons and evenings are ours; that's our time for resetting for the week, planning, cleaning, and spending time together. In terms of happiness, having that time reserved has been one of the best decisions we've made.