10 Lessons from 100 Days in the Cold

Hello and welcome to the Curiosity Chronicle, a weekly podcast where I provide actionable ideas to help you build a high performing, healthy, wealthy life. Today's podcast is brought to you by AG1 by Athletic Greens my all in one daily supplement seriously, this stuff replaced an entire cabinet of supplements for me in one Daily Scoop. There's a reason it's been a staple of my morning routine since 2011. To find out why, go to drinkag1.comsahil and and take advantage of a limited time offer. Now onto Today's piece 10 lessons from 100 days in the cold On Saturday, I completed 100 straight days of doing a cold plunge every morning. I've been a fan of the practice of cold exposure since before it was the health craze that it is today. In 2012, a crazy friend and I waded through icy rivers in Boston as a way to build our mental toughness, but it only became a part of my regular routine in the last few years. This specific 100 day streak was different. I started it on my birthday, January 5th, with a plan to record a daily long form video from the cold that I would upload to YouTube. The idea was to try to build a new positive habit or skill by attaching it to an existing one. Cold Plunging if you know me, you know I pride myself on my consistency and discipline. Well, I've been consistent with things in the past, but this 100 day streak pushed me to a new level. I got into frozen rivers and lakes. I ordered 10 bags of ice on Uber Eats to a hotel in Miami Beach. I convinced hotel housekeeping in London and India to deliver 30 pounds of ice to my room's bathtub. And I endured one hotel's request that I have a lifeguard watch me during a cold plunge for liability reasons. I learned a lot of important lessons on this journey that have nothing to do with cold plunging and everything to do with life. Here are 10 lessons from 100 Days in the Cold Lesson 1 Discipline is about what you do on the days when you feel like crap. I have a rule of thumb that you'll feel great on 10% of days. Okay on 80% of days and terrible on 10% of days. It's easy to be disciplined and consistent on the 10% when you feel great and even on the 80% when you feel okay. But it's hard on the 10% when you feel like crap. Those are the days when you need to take pride in punching the clock. Those are the days when you need to bring the after into the before. Those are the days when you build an unshakable confidence in yourself. Those are the days when you remind yourself that you are a winner. Lesson 2 Adaptability is essential, and it's a skill you can build. It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent. It is the one most adaptable to change. Charles Darwin In Greek mythology, the Hydra is a creature that has multiple heads. When one is cut off, two grow back in its place. The best are never broken by the chaos. They train themselves to be prepared for it, to to benefit from it. Life is chaotic. The only constant is change. If you can embrace that discomfort, you'll win. As Mike Tyson famously quipped, quote everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. You'll only go as far as your ability to absorb life's punches and pivot on the fly. Place yourself into more uncomfortable situations. Adapt and win. Lesson 3 Stop overthinking. Just start. I had avoided long form video for years. I rationalized this delay by telling myself that I needed the perfect plan and strategy, that I should wait until I could develop that. I was just overthinking it. I was just hiding behind planning to avoid my fear of getting started. There's a famous saying. No plan survives first contact with the enemy. Too many get their dopamine from the planning. Too few get their dopamine from the doing. Plan a bit. Then make first contact with your enemy and start improving fast. You're remembered for your actions, not your words. I could sit here and write about the merits of discipline and consistency until kingdom come. I could tell you about the importance of adaptability. I could preach the merits of doing hard things. But those words would be meaningless without the actions to back them up. Those words would be Nothing without the 100 proof points, the receipts. The world is filled with gurus who will talk the talk, but never walk the walk. Beware anyone who tries to sell you some food that they aren't eating themselves. Be the person whose actions are always louder than their words. Lesson 5 if you want to get better at anything, do it every day. There are plenty of ways to get better at something, but the best way is simple. Just do the damn thing every single day. My 30 for 30 approach 30 minutes per day for 30 straight days. It's hard to comprehend just how much you will improve by doing something every day. Once you see it, you'll understand. Lesson 6 Don't do it the right way. Do it your way. When you start something new, everyone will want to give you advice on the right way to do it, they will give you their maps for the terrain. Take their maps, but don't rely on them. Instead, use them to create your own. The right way for you may look very different than the right way for others. Carve your own path into the earth. You'll find more fulfillment in the journey. Lesson 7 We're all in the fight together in each recording, I asked viewers to send me their questions. I would answer one audience question in each recording. One powerful realization. No matter our differences, the questions we have are universal. We may come into this fight with different advantages and disadvantages, different backgrounds and perspectives, different likes and dislikes, but we are all in this together. Every single person you encounter is fighting a battle, and it's probably a battle that you understand. Live with more empathy and happiness will follow. Lesson 8 the second arrow is always within your control There's a Buddhist parable that I love. The Buddha once asked his student, if a person is struck by an arrow, is it painful? The student nodded yes. The Buddha then asked, if a person is struck by a second arrow, is that even more painful? The student again nodded yes. The Buddha then explained, in life we cannot always control the first arrow. However, the second arrow is our reaction to the first. The second arrow is optional. The first arrow is the negative event that hits our lives. This is the uncontrollable chaos that we may find ourselves thrown into from time to time. The first arrow is impossible to avoid. It hits and it hurts. The second arrow is governed by our response to the first. And as the parable teaches us, being struck by the second arrow is entirely within our control. No matter what hard hits your world, you always have the power to choose your response. Lesson 9 Focus on the days and you'll lose sight of the years. It's easy to get caught up in the ups and downs of the days and lose sight of the bigger picture. Being perpetually zoomed in creates two challenges. Struggle feels bigger than it really is and growth feels smaller than it really is. The 10,000 foot view provides perspective on the manageable nature of your struggles and the impressive nature of your growth. Two effective ways to zoom out Vertically zoom out via altitude to see the bigger picture context of the moment, or horizontally zoom out via mental time. Travel to the past or the future and observe the present through that new lens. Go back 10 years and think about how your past self would be in awe of where you are today. Go forward 50 years and think about how your future self would give anything to be back doing the things you get to do today. Both can work wonders. Always remember, when in doubt, zoom out. Lesson number 10 do hard things. Life is hard. When we embrace voluntary struggles, we're better equipped for the involuntary struggle that inevitably comes. So do hard things. Wake up early, get cold, move fast, lift heavy, focus, be present, have difficult conversations. Follow this simple playbook to live well. You are more After 100 days in the cold, I had one simple conclusion. You are capable of so much more than you realize. The only way to find out is to put yourself out there. Way out there. Way beyond your current comfort zone. That is what I want for all of you to push far beyond your self limiting beliefs to experience the fact that they were all an illusion of the mind. Because you are. More. That's all for today's piece. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you learned something and I hope you'll share it with others. As always, until next time, stay curious. Friends.