About Nick Urban

Human Performance Maximization

Malcolm Gladwell famously stated that subject matter expertise takes 10,000 hours of practice. But for most things, ~10,000 hours is too long. When it comes to biohacking and living at the highest level, we care about efficiency. Not 10,000 hours, but 10,000 iterations. It’s the repetition of constant gradual improvements that counts. How can I achieve 80 percent mastery with only 20 percent of the effort? Taking this approach frees up precious time, mental bandwidth, and most importantly, energy.

Whether playing sports with friends, crushing a presentation, or thriving in an arctic tundra for days on end. I want to perform my best anytime, anywhere. I launched this site for you to shortcut the tedious “10,000 iterations” process of mastery. Learn from my trials, tribulations, and N=1 experiments. Track, hack, and self-optimize your way to superhuman performance. This site explores:

If any of these topics pique your interest, you are in the right place.

My Introduction to Biohacking

My journey began with brain fog and chronic fatigue. My doctors chalked it up to high fasting blood sugar and off-the-chart inflammation.

Aside from the occasional “cheat” meal, my diet exemplified the USDA Food Pyramid. I snacked throughout the day and ate plenty of grains. I diligently avoided dietary fat, drank my morning glasses of fruit juice, and refused to salt my meals. A perfectly balanced diet , or so I thought.

I felt worse than I looked. Sports kept me fit, but eventually, my performance plateaued. Nagging symptoms worsened. My doctor couldn’t hide his worry. The thought of tethering myself to insulin injections for the rest of my life scared me and I refused to accept it.

But it was more than diet…

At this same time, I’d wake up feeling hungover, with a nagging headache, and feeling exhausted. No matter how much (fragmented) sleep I got. This led me to discover my heightened genetic susceptibility to airborne toxic mold.

I took my health into my own hands. I tirelessly combed through research and entertained what at the time seemed like radical ideas. I began to see patterns in their methodologies. Patterns that went against everything I thought I knew. What choice did I have?

I methodically tested each and monitored myself for changes. My health steadily improved:

9 months later, I passed all blood tests with flying colors. Equally important, I felt better than ever. These minor sacrifices profoundly improved my energy, mental clarity, and sports performance.

My rugby game improved. In my junior year, I helped lead Claremont Colleges Rugby to the NSCRO National Championships.

Questioning conventional wisdom completely changed the trajectory of my life. I realized that no one else, not even the highly credentialed experts, would rescue my health. I steeped myself in biohacking (before it had the name), health optimization, and optimal living. I compiled thousands of notes from books, podcasts, videos, lectures, interviews, and personal experiments.

Now, I’m open-sourcing some of my notes, personal research, and my favorite tools I’ve used to get here.

Today, more than ever, the natural route is gaining traction. Every day new research validates what shamanic healers and ancient tribes have known for millennia.

Many of the most effective health optimization strategies are free (or cheap), safe, and time-proven.

The key is knowing where to look. This site will help direct your research.

NeuroHacking: Cognitive Athletics of the 21st Century

Since childhood, relentless curiosity has driven everything I do.

I must understand the why behind things. “Just because” never satisfied me.

In high school, I began to explore how the brain and neurochemicals influence athletic performance. I discovered certain supplements, ingredients, and compounds that could boost neurotransmitters associated with motivation, energy, drive, focus, concentration, and mental clarity. Even things like mood and movement efficiency have roots in the brain.

Perhaps intelligence and the brain are indeed malleable.

I explored one rabbit hole after another. Until I found myself supplementing with a source of choline called alpha-GPC. My memory sharpened, reaction time decreased, and I even noticed physical strength improvements.

Could the brain really be the “central governor” of the human experience?

My curiosity morphed into an obsession with cognitive enhancement for the classroom.

While my peers fueled long study sessions with neurochemistry-damaging stimulants, I found alternatives that improved the efficiency and effectiveness of my brain. Alternatives without a nasty crash or a dizzying list of side effects.

With the same (or even slightly less) time studying, I bumped up my grades. Which freed my time to research and explore my passions.

I love nerding out in PubMed, sipping a coffee, and learning about the latest mind-enhancement research, techniques, and compounds.

But the need didn’t end after university.

In Silicon Valley’s hyper-growth workplace, the smallest edge can make a career. Here, the recreational drug market comes second to nootropics for high-performing adults.

Friends and colleagues turned to me for help as a brain coach. I designed customized nootropic blends and lifestyle plans to get more out of their mind. Due to the vast biochemical and electrical differences between people, finding the right combinations takes some experimentation. But their practical real-world results surprised me:

I enjoyed it so much that I worked as a Brain Coach for a nootropics startup in New York City.

Pro Tip: Light dramatically influences the brain. When I began exploring natural brain enhancement, I quickly discovered that both visible and non-visible light play massive roles in brain health and function. Adding full spectrum therapeutic light (either via sunlight or technology) is one of the best simple biohacks.

Our generation is applying the backbone and framework of athletics to perform higher at our day jobs. Using self-quantification and self-optimization to beat the competition. Some of my favorite interviews I conduct on the High Performance Longevity Podcast are with neurohackers democratizing this knowledge.

As much as I love quick fixes and hacks, I eventually discovered a hard truth.

BioHarmony: The Future of Biohacking

Eventually, I realized that biohacking doesn’t work long-term. Rather, it brings unexpected consequences or mediocre results. When humans “hack” nature, things go wrong. A few examples:

Scientific knowledge evolves quickly. Models built on yesterday’s understanding become obsolete. But humans aren’t capable of such rapid change. So we stick to irrelevant systems and teach the next generation outdated “facts”.

Instead, I propose an entirely different methodology…

Here’s how to upgrade from biohacking to bioharmonizing your lifestyle:

Biosynergy is the future of biohacking and personalized wellness.

Today, BioHarmony is a core framework behind Outliyr: every intervention in the ratings library gets weighed across multiple lenses of evidence, with downsides counting as heavily as upsides.

Going Forward

I consider myself a human guinea pig. I love testing new ideas, products, and technologies designed to upgrade the human experience.

You’ll find me learning (and implementing) every single day. Books, courses, videos, papers… I welcome any and all novel information recommendations!

Viewing human biology through the holistic lens exposes the root causes of health, aging, and long-term optimal performance.

If you’re into audio-based learning, I’d love for you to check out the podcast.

Enough about me. Shoot me a message, let me know what you’re up to, or if you’d like help designing your custom performance blueprint.