Turns out that beer can strengthen your hair, remove stains, help your garden and more. Plus:

• Athletic Brewing: Co-founder John Walker talks Dry January, his daily routine and the workplace mentality that helped create a non-alcoholic brewery worth $800 million.
• From Hoops HQ: Dick Vitale told Hoops HQ he hopes to call his first weekly game starting at the end of January.

The Fully Optimized Day

A little while back, a Navy SEAL schooled your pals at InsideHook on the philosophy of “eating the elephant one bite at a time” — in short, the idea is that daunting tasks, when broken down into manageable pieces, can be accomplished much more easily.

For example: if you were to begin with the goal of “having a healthier, more productive day,” chances are you’d be largely ineffective in your quest. Too vague, too amorphous, too large to wrap your head around. Classic elephant.

However, if you break that day down into several smaller parts, each can be more easily optimized. You take one bite at a time, and, before you know it, the elephant is eaten.

To that end, we present The Fully Optimized Day, a handy blueprint to tuning up your life from sunup to sundown. From waking up refreshed, to maximizing your workday, to powering down and getting a good night’s sleep, we’ve got the tips, tricks and products you need. Read on, and remember: one bite at a time.

A Guide to Everything You Can Do With Beer Besides Drink It

In many circles, especially hard-drinking ones, dumping any beer is tantamount to alcohol abuse. Hard looks, furrowed brows and cutting comments are not uncommon responses from any witnesses, especially if beer ranks high among their chief passions.

But for those who grimace at the idea of choking down that final finger of warm, flat, saliva-soaked suds just to keep up appearances, the amazing chemistry of beer offers a handy get-out-of-dregs-free card, as well as a way to boost your beer cred. Saving that bit of beer instead of drinking can spread the wealth, as the amazing chemistry of beer can produce wonders that don’t even require a sip.

Skin, hair, gardens, lawns, wood and metal can all benefit from the magical combination of hops, grains, yeast and water, and the compounds inside — offering even further integration of beer in your life. Here are four ways to reap the benefits of beer outside your body.

How I Work: John Walker’s Formula for Building Athletic Brewing Into an NA Giant

How did John Walker make the jump from award-winning, small-time brewing to being an industry leader on the national stage? (Or, more accurately, the international stage, as Athletic beer is available in Canada, the U.K. and parts of Europe too.) What are the habits he cultivated throughout his career that led to his success? And do Athletic teammates (their word for employees) just drink non-alcoholic beer in the office all day? We asked Walker all of this and more during our interview in December as the company geared up for Dry January — or as they’re calling it, Athletic January.

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