CGR Cooke

10/06/2026

A great point from a viewer: is a need the same as a want?

The perceived "needs" of individuals vary greatly and can be a point of great debate. I'd say as long as Maslow is concerned, it's easy to meet our true survival needs nowadays (in the western world at least, others aren't so lucky). Therefore, it becomes difficult to draw a line at what a true need is beyond that.

I can say I need a car, but truly a bike could suffice, and I'm still lucky enough to have two legs failing that. Therefore a car would still be a want, albeit a highly justifiable one. The argument could be made then that in the modern world a car is needed to travel to work, but this could be countered by pursuing different work.

It's not my point to say something is or is not a need, it's that each individual thing would require its own debate and justification. Therefore, by bunching needs in with either wants or haves, irrelevant of their necessity to survival. it prevents the need to state/defend whether something is a need or not, thus making the equation easier to apply and remove a step/criteria which potentially isn't truly needed (pardon the pun)

Do you feel you have everything you need?

07/06/2026

Taken from the book Happier by Tal Ben-Shahar

The simple satisfaction equation is your haves divided by your wants.

If you want to be more satisfied in your life, having more only works if you don't continue to want more too.

This falls under the trap of 'lifestyle inflation'. You have more, so you feel you need more.

Otherwise, there's the crew that want less and less. This is common in religious practices.

Whether you worship at the shrine or to capitalism, either way, make sure your wants are aligned with your haves if you're wanting to feel more satisfied

05/06/2026

Another way for you to become

Find something:
- You love doing
- You can be paid doing
- That provides value to the world
- That you are good at

Find something that answers all of these, and you will have found your

01/06/2026

The base training programme starts today.

If you are an NUBC member or will be one in September, message either account for the discount to get free access.

29/05/2026

22/05/2026

Do you want to improve, or do you want to be right?

Of the many reasons for self-sabotage, this is a big one.

Being successful means proving yourself (or some important persons opinion of you) wrong, so you ruin your progress so you can continue to be right.

This doesn't apply to everyone or in all cases, but it's a common one that I run into.

21/05/2026

Which camp you fall into can completely change your relationship with sport, exercise, and competition.

As part of this little series, I've put out a few videos on understanding your motivation and drive.

Watching those is a good place to start if you think changing your outlook could impact your performance.

20/05/2026

What's your outlook?

Do you feel like the outcome of your event is up to you, or it's up to chance? If you underperform, was it your fault? If you win, does it mean something?

You may not be able to change the world, but you can change the way you look at it. It just takes a bit of work and practice.

20/05/2026

If you don't like something change it - if you can't change it, change your attitude!

I'd say that not only many, but most of my clients are generally pretty successful in most domains of their life.

They have good jobs, good incomes, good outlooks, but they find exercise or some other domain to be some huge challenge.

It's not their skillset that's lacking - it's their belief in it.

18/05/2026

Sore legs today.

Trying this wave of low-effort editing with a bit of personal insight. I wouldn't advise it to beginners to do long fasted runs, though, to be fair, I'm not a beginner.

I've been an exercising idiot for years.