STOP Wasting Time with Warm Showers and Try COLD PLUNGE Today

What if I told you that three minutes a day could entirely change your entire life?

It would change how you think, how you feel, and how you're able to prioritize your entire day. Now, I finished day 26 of a 66 day challenge of cold plunging. It's already revolutionized my mornings and my life. So let me set the stage here. I was watching an Andrew Huberman video and he was talking about his morning routine, and that inspired me to think a little bit differently about my morning routine. I haven't always been a morning person, but I will say in the last 12 months, it's something that I've really been focusing on. Waking up early. Waking up early has really been the cornerstone of my day since my accident because I'm able to get so much accomplished before most other people are even awake. But even within the personal growth that I've been experiencing, one of my businesses is still struggling. We've suffered massive losses. Some things that are out of our control, others that are in our control, and cash flow has been tight. So I'm in the process of raising the standards and the expectations that are necessary to get the job done. But I'll tell you, it hasn't been easy. This requires tough conversation with employees, which are never easy tasks. Those moments of anxiety that I experience are really challenging, and in some cases they can be crippling for your mindset. That's where cold plunging for me has been an absolute game changer. It doesn't just energize me, it clears my entire mindset and gives me extreme clarity. It's bringing in discipline at a whole new level. It's not about motivation, it's clearly about the discipline. And after 26 days of doing this, I really feel like I am rewriting my mindset one plunge at a time. Now there's a much broader appeal. Having a strong and consistent morning routine. These small shifts, like spending three or four minutes each in freezing water every single day, are teaching me a level of discipline that I've never had in my life. It's reshaping my brain. It's teaching me that doing hard things is not only possible, it's actually pretty easy. It's rewiring my thinking, it's building discipline, it's building resilience. All of the things that I need in the business where I'm struggling. And that focus is actually spilling over into other areas of my life, really in three areas, my wealth, my health, and in my relationships. So what are some key habits that we can highlight regarding cold plunging? I come back inside, I thaw out for a little bit, then I hop under an electric blanket to warm up a little bit more. But this is after the natural thaw has begun. I take a moment to list all of the big wins that I expect in that particular day. I usually try to focus on no more than three. But the most satisfying part is when I get to write down the day within the 66 day challenge. I write down the temperature outdoors and the temperature of the water. And that simple act reminds me that I'm steadily creating new opportunities and new improvements in my life. And knowing that it's only supposed to take 66 days to create a habit, what's the foundation of an optimized morning look like? And a solid morning routine isn't just about starting the day early. It's about setting the tone for the remainder of the day. Science shows that morning habits actually help shape the brain chemistry inside of our heads. For all the oxygen in the blood that is going to the core parts of our bodies, which helps us focus more. For example, when we all wake up, you have this rush or this surge of cortisol that kickstarts your energy and your level of alertness. Pair that with habits like exercise, cold plunging, and your programming your brain to work with you, not against you. For me, the foundational practice really starts with exercising. I hit the gym at least four days a week during the spring and summer. I love walking outdoors because there's a ton of benefits about getting exposure to sunlight early in your day. But now when I get to the gym a little after five, it's going to be dark for a couple more hours. So I actually utilize the indoor track to walk those two or three miles and then I get home and jump in the water. What's funny though, is most of my big ideas actually happen early in the morning when I hired an executive assistant to help me with my email inbox. Email is absolutely like it's my demise. But I had 300 unread emails in my inbox. 200 plus of those emails were emails from myself. That's how I relay all of the ideas that I'm thinking about in the mornings. Because if you really think about all of the practices, they come back to a few things. Discipline, resilience, and ultimately focus. But cold plunging has taken all of that to an entirely new level that I've never experienced in my entire lifetime. Exercising wakes my body up. The ideas begin to flow. Cold plunging locks it all in with clarity and discipline. Now, why do I think cold plunging is a game changer. Well, this isn't my first attempt at cold plunging. I tried starting at the end of the summer and I got to day 13 of the 66 day challenge and then I quit. I, I came down with a nasty man cold. As my wife makes fun of me, she thought I should have been on my deathbed. But look, man colds are legit, they're tough. But after I recovered, I knew that I had to try it again. The first 10 days were absolutely brutal. The water at the time were in the low 60s and I would stand there and contemplate like every excuse possible not to jump in. But by day 20, day 21, I didn't even think twice. I just walked directly into the water. At this point the water was in the low 50s, temperature wise. Now this past week the water temperatures have been in the mid-40s. Now when I started the goal was to do two minutes and then I upped it to three, then three and a half minutes. This week I have done it at four minutes and next week I'm going to up the time limit to about five minutes. And now the water is in the low 40s. Because my thought is if I can't do this in the wintertime in a pool, then why am I going to spend all the money on one of those cold plunges in the summertime if I'm not going to commit or have the discipline to keep doing it? Cold plunging actually complements all the other things in my life. Because after plunging, everything else really does feel easy. Whether I'm exercising, solving problems, making strategic decisions, having to have tough conversations, I approach everything with a much sharper focus now and with greater confidence. The mental clarity that I get from cold plunging is phenomenal. And it really does make me tackle what used to be hard things for me in a much simpler way. I mean, even the science of cold plunging is amazing. Cold plunging triggers this dopamine and epinephrine in our brain. But unlike the quick hit from scrolling on your phone or notifications or other things like that, the dopamine from cold plunging is like a two and a half times and lasts for hours rather than just for minutes. What I find most fascinating is really what it does to the structure of the brain and dealing with neuroplasticity. And actually parts of your brain are growing because of you're doing hard things. According to Andrew Huberman, repeated exposure to control stress rewires your brain to handle discomfort more effectively. And that's exactly what cold plunging does for me. It trains your brain to associate hard things with growth, not fear. So here are some practical tips to get started. Cold plunging number one, just start taking a cold shower. 30 seconds. It's all you need to do. Go ahead and get washed up, soap up, lather up, and then flip it on cold water. Once the soap is gone, you can hop out. Step two is go for submersion. If you don't have a tub or something, you can just use a bathtub and put some ice in it. Aim for a water temperature that's anywhere between 50 and 60 degrees and try and do it for two minutes. And then lower the temperature a little bit more and up it to three minutes. And then ultimately you're just going to continue to build up gradually, but treat it as a mental toughness exercise because you really are training your brain for resilience with every single single plunge. Now, part of my habit is I've been looking to get a little stronger in my faith. So actually when I cold plunge, I pray. So I just call it plunging and praying. I found time to calm my breathing and pray during these plunges. Those few minutes are times for me to have gratitude to make things right in my faith. It ultimately allows me reflection time and time to center myself. And it's really impressive of how grounding small exercises like this really truly are because cold plunging connects seamlessly with the rest of my morning routine and all of the things that I'm trying to do to move forward in my life. My only regret is that I wish that I would have started this 20 plus years ago because gratitude in and of itself just fosters like peace and centering. Since I went public with my cold plunge challenge, I've received so many messages from people thanking me about inspiring them to do hard things. Now I've received some hate mail as well. But I guess that just comes with the territory. I and the discipline that I'm gaining from cold plunging is giving me the discipline to ignore those hate messages. So let's look at the mental shifts. The hardest part is not the cold water. The hardest part is the mental toughness required. It's that voice in your head that says, you don't need to do that, Clegg. Hey, you know what? You got other priorities today? There's no benefits to this. This isn't a big deal. Do something else. Stay the hell out of that cold water. That's this little voice that happened those first 10 days. But every single day those voices get quieter and quieter and quieter. Cold plunging has taught me that discomfort is temporary. And growth only happens in discomfort. I think the older we get, the more we tend to chase. Comfort and stress on our minds and in our body are actually good to a certain level. It's requiring us to make bold changes. And right now, cold plunging is becoming a daily habit. Just like checking my email is with a tremendous amount of more benefits. So if I can give you any motivational advice, it'd be to start small. You don't have to dive directly into freezing cold water. Start with the shower. Even 30 seconds is shown to have added benefits. And from what I'm understanding, there's a level once you get past the 40 degrees, there's no evidence that colder water even provides a tremendous amount of more benefits. So start small. Just stay consistent, because that's where the discipline comes in. Each day that you commit builds another level and layer of resilience in your brain. And I'd love to hear how you tackle your morning challenges. The best version of yourself isn't waiting for the perfect day. It's built by what you do today. Take the plunge, literally. And discover how strong you really, truly are. Don't forget to subscribe. See you next time.