What’s Your Formula? For Adam, It Involves the Ocean

Adam Greenfeld is about as LA as it gets: he sports a man bun, self-identifies as a Taurus-Gemini, and avidly surfs in Venice Beach.

Surprisingly (but not to those who know him), his laid-back California coolness is paired with an extreme dedication to the rituals that help him feel his best, of which there are many. To name a few: a small eating window of just five to six hours; post-sauna cold-plunging; dedicated time to pray and meditate and journal; red light immersion; strength training with D1 football coaches; and eight to nine hours of sleep (on a chilled mattress).

Adam’s commitment to wellness started long before his move to LA: Along with Dan Freed, Adam co-founded Thesis, helping people optimize their brain with potent nootropic ingredients. (He still leans on Thesis Clarity, Confidence, and Logic, depending on what his day has in store.) Now, on the West Coast, Adam runs a creative studio that makes direct response advertising for e-commerce businesses.

For What's Your Formula?—a series dedicated to carefully crafted routines and rituals that elevate mind and body—we sat down with Adam and got a glimpse of his go-to practices for total-body well-being. 

“I have like a little cocktail that I make [every morning]: It's lemon, salt, apple cider vinegar, turmeric, cayenne, 5 milligrams of creatine, and magnesium powder.”

“I sit down and write for an hour to an hour and a half. It is straight just flow of consciousness, better out than in. What am I thinking about? What are the questions that are top of mind? What is living in the corners of my brain that needs to be articulated and pulled out so I don't constantly ruminate on it and it pulls me down?”

“I'm binaural beats-obsessed. Solfeggio frequency-obsessed. Whenever I'm doing work, depending on the type of work I'm doing, I have a unique playlist in the background to ensure I focus the most.”

“To be in and surrounded by the ocean for multiple hours at a time… something is going on and it is making me a net happier person.

I believe the ocean is a living being, highly intelligent—far more intelligent than we are. She knows when I need to be humbled and She knows when I need to be coddled and loved. There's days you go out there with all the confidence in the world and She just takes you down. She just f*cking destroys you. Then, there's days you go out there completely broken, just like exhausted and tired and self-loathing, and She just gives you a wave, long ride after long ride after long ride. And you're like, What? And She's just like, I missed you, babe.

We have no idea how powerful that is. It's the greatest happiness tool, hiding in plain sight.”

“I have an Eight Sleep. Bed gets cold as f*ck. That helps me sleep.”

“This bracelet, it's the most woo-woo sh*t. I got this from a doctor in Los Angeles. Super woo-woo doctor. It's almost embarrassing for me to say what this is, but there's like the frequency of 73 vitamins and minerals in this that's emanating through my skin. Believe it not, I once lost it for a week, and felt a significant difference in my energy while it was gone.”

“A healthy brain means composure and self-love. It's clarity. It's the ability to know [that] when you need to put cognitive load on it, that you'll be able to handle it anytime you want.

If I have a healthy brain, I feel like I'm able to channel the right words, connect with human beings, [and] make other people feel loved. I have the confidence to set boundaries on myself, for myself, and communicate that openly with other people. When I need time off, when I need time away, this, that, and the other.”