Are You Weak? This Exercise Will Show You

[MTF]

After physiological needs, the most essential need of every human being is security and safety. You can't thrive as an entrepreneur if you constantly fear for your life the way people living in a war-torn country do.

However, if you're reading this, all of your basic needs are most likely well-taken care of. Fortunately, nowadays relatively few people (compared to history) lack safety and security which means that whenever you experience discomfort, it's likely the kind that will help you grow instead of putting your life at risk.

Which brings me to the point of this thread.... But first, the promised exercise which I guarantee will help you become a better entrepreneur and a better person, too.

Head to the bathroom. Get undressed (this isn't anything perverse, I promise). Turn on the cold water. Step into the shower and stand there for at least a minute (if you need some motivation, here are some benefits of cold showers).

If your initial reaction is to immediately turn the water to hot and say "screw it, that's bullshit, it's too uncomfortable"... YOU'RE WEAK.

(Obviously do it only if you're healthy. Shocking your body this way isn't safe if you suffer from heart-related disorders or any similar problems.)

And no, you aren't weak just because you don't like cold water. You're weak because I can safely assume that if you immediately seek the comfort of hot water and don't even try to endure willingly imposed discomfort just to test your strength, you probably make bad decisions in your business and personal life.

In the modern scripted society, the message we're being told is that you deserve comfort. You deserve to be protected from any kind of hardship. Ideally, you should never experience anything that will challenge you because it will crush your little fragile ego. You're considered crazy if you choose to forgo some pleasures in exchange to do the hard thing and reap long-term benefits.

And so, many people:

• are bad learners because the moment they're faced with something difficult to solve, they back out, annoyed that they aren't as perfect as they thought (you can't look bad, better to do easy stuff just so you can look like you're competent),
• experience mental breakdowns because they got a parking ticket or dropped their smartphone (which they immediately have to replace with another expensive iPhone because a single scratch will cut their precious sensitive soft fingers),
• eat (shitty food) every two to three hours because they absolutely can't experience hunger (and if they skip a meal for some reason, they're starving and never fail to announce it to everybody around),
• have extremely low pain tolerance (from my experience, women are much stronger than whingy men in this aspect),
• avoid all kinds of challenges which leads them to living a mediocre life while being envious of and criticizing successful people (they fail to realize that people become successful not because of luck, but because they're willing to suffer).

Very few people willingly opt for discomfort.

If there's a staircase and an elevator, most will choose the elevator. Few understand that even if the stairs aren't as comfortable, they offer you the opportunity to engage in a natural and healthy movement which most desk-bound people desperately need.

If a person feels hungry, they immediately run to the kitchen to grab something to eat. Few skip a meal or two, even fewer skip an entire day of eating just so they can grow their willpower and/or reset their bodies. After all, you'll die of starvation if you skip your daily portion of highly processed foods, right?

If a person is scared of heights or have any other fear that repeated exposure could eliminate, they avoid any situations where they can experience this type of fear. Few deliberately - despite feeling the exact same fear as the weak people - engage in scary situations to overcome their fear.

If a person gets diagnosed with high blood pressure or cholesterol levels, they'll choose a pill over implementing healthy habits in their lives. Few understand that as uncomfortable as establishing healthy habits is in the beginning, it's the only viable solution to stay healthy (barring any unpreventable conditions).

People will look at you like a crazy person if you start intermittent fasting, taking cold showers, walking more instead of driving, saving money, abstaining from alcohol, dressing better than an average slob, or traveling to exotic, uncomfortable destinations instead of staying at a 5-star hotel at the beach.

What's the moral?

If you can't tolerate willingly imposed discomfort that you can easily escape if you decide it's too difficult to handle, how likely are you to tolerate discomfort that you're guaranteed to experience on your entrepreneurial journey - discomfort that you can't evade?

The next time you experience discomfort, don't run away from it like every other weak person. Look at it as an opportunity to get stronger. Embrace the difficulty and the pain involved in handling the uncomfortable situation.

Rinse and repeat, and with each passing year, fewer things will bother you. Which is a nice side benefit: thanks to welcoming more discomfort in my life, I'm a much more laid-back person today than I was just a few years ago.

I still sometimes fail and find myself incapable of dealing with some situations, but just like entrepreneurship, it's a journey. You can start it today with a simple cold shower.

 

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[biophase]

If you measure manliness, or toughness, or whatever you want to call it, by the level of endurance in taking a cold shower, or doing tequila shots perhaps, then okay. Have at it. It's a meaningless goal. A waste of time.

Sometimes I just don’t get you. We face challenges to overcome them. Doing an extra set or rep is not pain or discomfort. You’ve done 9 reps why is it scary to do one more?

Why climb Kilimanjaro? It makes no sense to go up a mountain and then come down, but people want to accomplish things that are hard. Kilimanjaro is more mentally tough than physically. I’ve done it twice with members of this forum. You know what I think about the most while slogging along?

I say to myself if I can endure this climb in this cold and miserable altitude, learning how to rub a FB campaign is cake.

If I can sleep at 15,000ft at 0 degrees, how can I complain about 30 degrees with no jacket. And I don’t.

You see if you can push you body to limits beyond your current limits, then your current limits aren’t limits anymore, they are the norm.

That’s the reason my clients worry about their first $5k import, I did too. But now $50k orders are the norm for me, there’s no stress in wiring $5k. You can’t get there without being uncomfortable.

 

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[Philip Marlowe]

If a person gets diagnosed with high blood pressure or cholesterol levels, they'll choose a pill over implementing healthy habits in their lives. Few understand that as uncomfortable as establishing healthy habits is in the beginning, it's the only viable solution to stay healthy (barring any unpreventable conditions).

This is all true - the whole post is great.

But how many of us are selling discomfort? There's no market for it on a large scale. Instead we're likely all selling the opposite. Everyone on here is looking for that little pain point to fix.

The big pain points were taken care-of decades ago - food at the grocery store, cars for everyone, zero-down loans to get you that white picket fence.

At this point, we're all solving little problems. I love the TMF lifestyle and thought process, but only in the First World is a cushy 9-5 in a climate controlled office something to escape.

So I'd submit that most of us are trying to make everything easier for those around us.

We don't want to hail a taxi - we want a ride sharing service right at our door.

We don't want to actually go to the superstore - we want Amazon to drop it at our house in 48 hours.

We don't want to pay hotel fees - we want to rent out a room in someone's house.

I think entrepreneurs identify with your post, but we don't really want our customers to identify with it because we want to solve their many problems. And to scale, we need the masses to engage in that service/product purchase/subscription because it's going to make their life that much easier.

We don't want everyone to take the same journey as us. And they won't.

Just my two cents.

-PM

 

[wade1mil]

One thing I remember thinking during the process of my first real entrepreneur experience is...

One day it felt like I got punched, but I sprung up with excitement to take the next punch.
Then it happened the next day, and I sprung up again.
Then it started happening a couple times a day, and my excitement shifted to determination.
Then it started happening ten times a day and my determination shifted into survival.
Gradually it started happening more and more each day until I was punched 100 times a day.
There was no smirk on my face.
There was no excitement.
It was like the idea of an "event" was killed from being punched so many times.
Getting punched was normal.
Torture was normal.
Discomfort was normal.
This was life now.
This process hardened me.
Fast forward to today, five years later.
When I face a problem, no matter how catastrophic, I handle it like it's all part of the job.

I don't take cold showers often, but I'll start doing it everyday now.
I recommend taking cold showers far beyond the moment when your excitement and motivation to take cold showers dies.

Your post reminds me of one of my favorite books.
It's a book about a businessman who hires a Navy SEAL to live with him for a month to transform his life.
Long story short, this SEAL lives his life like this thread - he loves making himself uncomfortable.
It's a extremely easy read and about as motivating as a book can be.
I definitely recommend reading Living with a SEAL: 31 Days Training with the Toughest Man on the Planet

 

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[biophase]

Make sense? Maybe a little bit. I don't know how I got to this point, but I'm very comfortable at this "spot" and certainly see no need to climb a mountain or take a cold shower these days, and I don't miss those days when I did have that need.

I know how you got to this point. It was by slowing making your life more and more comfortable. I see that in many of my friends. There's nothing wrong with it, in fact it's what most of us ultimately want to achieve. I can see how you can't understand why some people purposefully stick themselves in agonizing situations. My one answer to you is that we do it voluntarily so that we can handle the agonizing situations that come up involuntarily.

I don't climb a mountain for the feeling of accomplishment, I don't get in to discomfort to win a game or prove something to myself. My main reason for doing so is so that I don't forget the feeling of discomfort. To me, it's like training a muscle, if you don't experience discomfort, you forget what it feels like and then the next small discomfort you have will seem devastating or insurmountable.

 

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[MTF]

My heroes measure success and fortitude in digits, as in "I sold my business for 8 digits." Yes, they're wimps, but they're rich wimps that can HIRE someone to take a cold shower for them.

I guess you can always hire someone to do everything uncomfortable in your life, including having a difficult conversation with your spouse, taking care of your kid while he or she is sick, firing your employee, working out and eating healthily, telling the truth, learning new skills, solving conflicts, etc.

That was the point of the post (not arm wrestling, but self-improvement through embracing discomfort), but to each his own. If you measure success by finances alone, more power to you. I'd rather have heroes who lead by example in all areas of life.

 

[TonyStark]

I’ve started using this approach but with the Texas hot summer. 100 degrees outside? You bet your a$$ I’m going out there.

.....

 

[biophase]

Taking a cold shower, well, I don't know what that proves. It sure doesn't produce any results.
I'm weak.

Google brown fat.

I hate cold showers and usually try to last a minute and in AZ we have warm cold water.

I did an ice bath recently and only made in a minute. I could not control my breathing. Everyone else at this entrepreneur conference made it 2 minutes. Many went in multiple times.

 

[Primeperiwinkle]

What? If you tried the cold shower exercise, it certainly wasn't anyone but yourself who tortured you...


(By the way, since you're an INSIDERS, I'm guessing you don't see any ads, but the ad appearing in your post is almost like it's a custom illustration for the purpose...)
View attachment 23074

Yea I don’t see those ads anymore (THANK GOD) but that’s actually hilarious! Thanks for sharing!

ANNNNNNNND...
Here’s the update. Don’t keep reading if you can’t handle silly kid stories.

I did it. Omg. I’m a wussy girl who screams at cold showers. So loud.

But get this! In a twist of New Year’s Eve fun I totes inspired my kids to do it first as an <insert deep announcer’s voice> Ultimate Challenge (that would get a popsicle as reward) and they did it!!!!

So when it was my turn I had little people screaming at me from the other side of the shower curtain “YOU CAN DO IT MAMAAAAA!!! 30 more seconds!!”

Soo looks like we’re gonna hafta turn this into some kinda regular thing. They immediately wanted to know what the next challenge was.

This was WAY more fun than I thought it was gonna be! Don’t make me do anything else. Hahaha lmfao!

 

[Deleted52409]

This is why the supplement industry is so humongous . Everyone wants to be healthy or muscular or intelligent without having to eat healthy, work out, or read books.

Too many people who want to be wealthy spend their days listening to motivational speakers and playing the lottery without ever taking action. Recently my own parents entered into a hawaiian vacation sweepstakes because they actually really do believe that they have a shot at winning.

I mean... I understand that entrepreneurship is supposed to be about helping people... But sometimes it's almost as if people don't want to be helped in a beneficial way. They just want a quick and easy fix regardless of the long term consequences.

 

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[MTF]

How many days in the last few weeks did I sit down to write and, after a few minutes of tension increasing within me because I couldn't even start a good sentence, I closed to document and thought "f*ck it."

It gets uncomfortable ("I'll just f*ck the story up, if I write in this mood", "can't get myself into the story right now", and other thoughts) so I jump out of the cold water, thinking and feeling like I can't bear it.

Thank you for sharing this example. That's what I meant by it: it's not about cold showers, it's about the train of thought and actions that follow each time a person finds themselves in an uncomfortable situation.

You can't really change how the cold water (or anything unpleasant) feels but you can control your response to it: slow down your breath, give yourself one more second before you give up (and then another and another), and so on.

 

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[vshetty.vs]

Practicing discomfort is one of the core principles of stoicism.

A famous stoic, Seneca would often go and live in absolute poverty. He would do this to put things into perspective. It made him understand the value of what he has and not take things for granted.

I haven't tried cold showers yet(just took one today though). But I once had to travel from Pune to Chennai. I usually take a flight. But instead decided to take the 48-hour bus ride(practiced discomfort).

Everyone thought I was crazy, But honestly, once I got to Chennai, I had the best sleep in my life. Food tasted soooo much better and the showers much more soothing.

I know it sounds really crazy but try it out for a week and judge for yourself.

The goal is to change your relationship with comfort. Once you overcome the need for it. Life will become much easier. Setting your goals and sticking to them become easier.

Someday eventually you are going to face some hardship in your life. You want to have the mental and physical fortitude to face it.

When people complain about being "uncomfortable", you won't be able to relate. You will also realize that the things you value a lot, like buying the latest Iphone aren't as essential as you made them out to be.


P.S: For those of you who don't think a bus ride is too bad. Try taking one in India.

 

[Jason "GrandK"]

When I used to practice law, I was very thankful for the weak and incompetent. Strong people, AKA antifragile as Taleb puts it, don't typically need help for personal problems they created because they seldom dig holes for themselves.

Granted, they do need help with solving problems and elevating their game, but once the problem is solved they may not need your service any longer. However, the clients that couldn't even tie their shoes, those clients were gold mines.

Entrepreneurs should seek to be antifragile. However, solving the problems of those who are fragile is good money and produces much value. In addition, if you can solve their problems and help them to grow simultaneously, even better.

 

[MTF]

Speaking of discomfort, I've read @wade1mil recommendation (Living with a Seal by Jesse Itzler) and David Goggins (the SEAL from the book) is crazy. The way he pushes his limits is unbelievable. I watched Joe Rogan's interview with him and man, this is one of the best interviews I've ever listened to. Check it out:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tSTk1083VY


Here are some of my raw notes from the interview:

• People fail to see that he was the complete opposite of who he is now (society's tendency to see events over processes).
  
• As a fat, comfortable guy working in a dead end job, he thought about his future in 50 years and looked back. He didn't want to regret the decisions he made so he decided to change.
  
• Create a new persona and become this person (it's like creating an alter ego of a person you'd like to become).
  
• We tell ourselves: "I'm not good enough." David says: "I'm going to make myself good enough."
• Work on your psoas muscle. It's key to preventing injuries. Also: yoga.
  
• Permanent results come from suffering. You have to endure shit. Reading won't help.
• It's easier to accept the fact that you're just not good enough, you weren't made to do that, but you have a lot more in yourself than you think.
• David says: "I'm not allowing myself to become civilized." You lose the fire if you get too comfortable (a full fridge, a lot of money, etc.). You never arrive (never rest on your laurels) and always seek more training and growth. He wants to become the most uncommon among uncommon people.
• When people say "triple down on your strengths" - that's the weakest shit in the world, you need to work on your weaknesses to find yourself while facing something that sucks.
  
• People ask him: "why don't you talk about the good times" - his answer, you know how to get through that shit, it's easy. What's hard is enduring the bad times and that's what people need to practice for by embracing suffering.

 

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[Andy Black]

One thing I remember thinking during the process of my first real entrepreneur experience is...

One day it felt like I got punched, but I sprung up with excitement to take the next punch.
Then it happened the next day, and I sprung up again.
Then it started happening a couple times a day, and my excitement shifted to determination.
Then it started happening ten times a day and my determination shifted into survival.
Gradually it started happening more and more each day until I was punched 100 times a day.
There was no smirk on my face.
There was no excitement.
It was like the idea of an "event" was killed from being punched so many times.
Getting punched was normal.
Torture was normal.
Discomfort was normal.
This was life now.
This process hardened me.
Fast forward to today, five years later.
When I face a problem, no matter how catastrophic, I handle it like it's all part of the job.

I don't take cold showers often, but I'll start doing it everyday now.
I recommend taking cold showers far beyond the moment when your excitement and motivation to take cold showers dies.

Your post reminds me of one of my favorite books.
It's a book about a businessman who hires a Navy SEAL to live with him for a month to transform his life.
Long story short, this SEAL lives his life like this thread - he loves making himself uncomfortable.
It's a extremely easy read and about as motivating as a book can be.
I definitely recommend reading Living with a SEAL: 31 Days Training with the Toughest Man on the Planet

Great write up.

I don’t get excited anymore either. The up will be followed by a down, which will be followed by an up. It’s what happens when your boat leaves the harbor.

 

[samuraijack]

Awesome post. I would also like to add that a lot of the things mentioned also have the benefit of adding small actions of discipline, which over time keep add up and make a big difference in your life. There's no immediate results here, and that's another lesson you can take with you.

Great timing for this post since for the past couple months i've been in a SLUMP of comfort. If you work from your laptop and don't have anywhere to be, this is something you need to watch out for.

I've recently started doing this again and I'm 10x more productive.

I wake up a few hours earlier. No one tells me I have to wake up early, and it sure is more comfortable to stay in bed a few more hours. But the act of following through your goal of getting up early itself is the first win of the day.

Then I make my bed. Again, there's no requirement to, or a practical reason to. I don't have OCD and i don't really care how it looks, but i do it because its another "win". I've put myselfing into a "doing" mode and I've just gotten out of bed. I have a smirk of amusement on my face while I do this because I love how much I don't care about making my bed, but I still do it.

Then I either head straight to jog/workout while I'm fasted. I started doing Intermittent Fasting, and yes its "discomforting" knowing you can't before/after a certain hour. I consider this a BIG win to stick with this knowing results wont come for a while.

Cold shower when I get back. Veggie, fruit, & protein shake takes care of the first thing I eat. And so on...

All these small things add up. Imagine doing this for a year, what kind of mindset you will have that you can bring with you to your entrepreneur journey!

 

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[Supa]

Holy shit, sometimes you just happen to click on a thread and realize while reading it, that you needed exactly that right now.

The last few weeks, I struggled a lot with anxiety, worries and what else there is accompanying it.

Suffering from an anxiety disorder (OCD) it'd be easy to say "ah, it's a mental illness, what am I supposed to do? I'll just sit here and do nothing."

But that would be avoidance.

Your cold shower example is a perfect metaphor for exposure and response prevention (ERP). A therapy method used to help people struggling with anxiety disorders.

Instead of jumping right out of it, giving in to your worries, ruminating and/or doing compulsions (if you suffer from OCD), you stay in the shower, stay with your anxiety, so your brain learns that it's able to deal with it.

Same for things that you want to be easy, but that are indeed tough sometimes. Like building a product, a business or, in my case, writing a novel.

How many days in the last few weeks did I sit down to write and, after a few minutes of tension increasing within me because I couldn't even start a good sentence, I closed to document and thought "F*ck it."

It gets uncomfortable ("I'll just F*ck the story up, if I write in this mood", "can't get myself into the story right now", and other thoughts) so I jump out of the cold water, thinking and feeling like I can't bear it.

So yeah, thanks for this reminder. Absolutely needed at the moment.

 

[Tom.V]

Comfort is the enemy. Luckily I learned this lesson early on through being forced to face fears (real physical ones) and it has just rolled out into the rest of my life. The more you challenge yourself, the more uncomfortable you are, the stronger and more resilient you become in all facets of life.

Great writeup @MTF +REP

 

[vshetty.vs]

Seneca offers a lot of practical teachings regarding discomfort in his Moral Letters to Lucilius (a great read). He was a great example of embracing discomfort even as an extremely successful and influential person.

Yeah, he's awesome. If you have the time check out meditations by Aurelius or anything by Epictetus.

That sounds extremely uncomfortable, though at the same time it's probably extremely humbling, knowing that many people travel like that regularly. Mere 8 hours in an air-conditioned bus is uncomfortable. Can't imagine 48 hours in a crowded bus in India.

Haha, yeah. It was hell. Was really regretting the decision through the ride. But once, made it felt really good. But now I never, really complain about the little discomforts while traveling.

My flight got delayed by 3 hours. So what. I'm sitting in an air-conditioned airport with my Kindle and WIFI.

 

[luniac]

I guess it works pretty similar to counting your breath to calm down. You focus on your breath, get more oxygen, and relax. Wim's exercise is just doing it more intensively.

The truth of how the body oxygenates is non intuitive, even backwards.
The more you breathe, the less oxygen reaches your cells.
Normally the blood is 98% saturated with oxygen at all times.
The real key ingredient is Carbon Dioxide. The more carbon dioxide is flowing in your blood stream the better, and it's high CO2 levels that stimulate the feeling of needing to take a breath.

CO2 is what causes oxygen from the blood to move into your cells(google Bohr Effect), it also causes dilation of the blood vessels which improves circulation and reduces stress on the heart, and that improved circulation is what causes the feeling of warmness in your hands and body when you breathe slower. I've felt this many times because i get cold hands easily to the point where my fingernails are purple in color, but if i focus and meditate i can literally feel the warmth flow into my hands. I used to get cold feet too but i've pretty much beaten that now.

This is why modern yoga classes are harmful, they teach to do lots of deep breaths which is the opposite of what old school yoga taught

The wim hof method does controlled hyperventilation in the form of 30 relatively quick breaths, which lowers the CO2 in the blood, so that when you hold your breath afterwards as part of the exercise, you are able to hold it for an unusually long time.

The wim hof breathing exercise is like a work out for the muscles in your blood vessels, hyperventilation will constrict you vessels, and then holding the breath slowly dilates them as the CO2 builds up. Over time your CO2 tolerance increases and health improves further and further.

Same thing with taking cold showers but in a different way, the cold shower is a mental exercise as much as physical, the ice water forces your mind to focus on the present moment, teaching mindfulness in the process. If you're in the cold shower for a while the body will go from cold to warm. We've all experienced this in a cold pool or ocean, where at first its so cold but then we acclimate.

This is all stuff i've learned while researching yoga, wim hof, health stuff, asian internal martial arts, etc.
I feel this stuff is on the right track to longevity and youthfulness in old age.

 

[MTF]

I’ve started using this approach but with the Texas hot summer. 100 degrees outside? You bet your a$$ I’m going out there.

.....

100 degrees feels mighty different depending on humidity. I like pushing my limits, but definitely prefer dry heat lol.

I think entrepreneurs identify with your post, but we don't really want our customers to identify with it because we want to solve their many problems. And to scale, we need the masses to engage in that service/product purchase/subscription because it's going to make their life that much easier.

I think that it doesn't have to be mutually exclusive. I take cold showers, but it doesn't mean that I'm not in the market of buying a house with heating and would rather buy one without it. The same can be said about cars (even if you exercise a lot, you probably still need/want a car) and other things (e.g. even bodybuilders sometimes eat cakes, though definitely less than an average obese Joe).

However, I definitely agree that it's best to sell to the masses as long as you do it ethically (no magic pill claims etc.). It's much, much harder to sell discomfort.

I definitely recommend reading Living with a SEAL: 31 Days Training with the Toughest Man on the Planet

Thanks. I've heard a few times about this book. Need to read it now that you recommended it.

This reminded me of Cryotherapy for some reason lol. Need to man up and try that sh*t sometime. Thanks for reminding us to get out of our comfort zone.

I experimented a bit with cold (including cold baths) but haven't tried cryotherapy yet. I need to check it out.

i do a combo of breaking a full body sweat through exercise first and then washing it off with an ice cold shower.

I do too. This is actually pretty pleasant after the first hit of cold water.

 

[MTF]

I don’t get excited anymore either. The up will be followed by a down, which will be followed by an up. It’s what happens when your boat leaves the harbor.

Good old work ethic. Love the metaphor. You do what you gotta do because that's what happens when you're out there.

No one tells me I have to wake up early, and it sure is more comfortable to stay in bed a few more hours.

That's the powerful thing about it: you do it because you tell yourself to do it, not because of external pressure. It (arguably) requires even more willpower than dealing with unsolicited discomfort.

I'm a wimp, then. I admit that I melt down over stupid stuff, and I really have no excuse.

It's a skill. The more you expose yourself to it, the fewer things will bother you. It's like a kid growing up in a protected environment. A small cut will make him or her scream in pain. Now compare it to a free-range kid always landing in trouble, with scraped knees, cuts, etc. Will a small cut bother him or her? Not really, they've become used to it (and are better prepared for the real world).

 

[luniac]

worth mentionaing i got hooked on cold showers thanks to the Wim Hof Method, im sure many have heard of it. 2 years back I bought the 70 dollar 10 week course and i dont regret it even though it was pretty simple at its core.
The wim hof breathing exercise is amazing too.

 

[MTF]

A famous stoic, Seneca would often go and live in absolute poverty. He would do this to put things into perspective. It made him understand the value of what he has and not take things for granted.

Seneca offers a lot of practical teachings regarding discomfort in his Moral Letters to Lucilius (a great read). He was a great example of embracing discomfort even as an extremely successful and influential person.

ut I once had to travel from Pune to Chennai. I usually take a flight. But instead decided to take the 48-hour bus ride(practiced discomfort).

That sounds extremely uncomfortable, though at the same time it's probably extremely humbling, knowing that many people travel like that regularly. Mere 8 hours in an air-conditioned bus is uncomfortable. Can't imagine 48 hours in a crowded bus in India.

 

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[SteveO]

Basic training as a Marine had us doing some of this. Nobody in the platoon said no. Standing outside in our undershorts at attention before the sun came up. Once the feet go numb, the body feels different. Washing ourselves and our clothes in cold water outside at midnight. This after we were punished by exercise and made to roll around in the soft dirt while covered with sweat. The occasional boot on top of our heads smashing our face into the dust. Pure submission once our strength was gone.

 

[Vigilante]

 

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[Jason "GrandK"]

Weak people play mind games that don't matter. Strong people chart a course and achieve meaningful results. Taking a cold shower is not meaningful, nor does it yield any tangible results. Except on the scale of having a reputation of being a man's man at the local tavern because one can slam straight tequila shots.

Actually, I like the cold shower exercise. Even better is sitting in a tub of ice water. But I get your point and agree that doing macho things for the sake of personal glory is a waste of time and energy. However, doing uncomfortable, even painful things, such as fasting or sitting in an ice tub, for the sake of strengthening your mind and disciplining your body, that is a good thing.

 

[biophase]

The truth of how the body oxygenates is non intuitive, even backwards.
The more you breathe, the less oxygen reaches your cells.
Normally the blood is 98% saturated with oxygen at all times.
The real key ingredient is Carbon Dioxide. The more carbon dioxide is flowing in your blood stream the better, and it's high CO2 levels that stimulate the feeling of needing to take a breath.

CO2 is what causes oxygen from the blood to move into your cells(google Bohr Effect), it also causes dilation of the blood vessels which improves circulation and reduces stress on the heart, and that improved circulation is what causes the feeling of warmness in your hands and body when you breathe slower. I've felt this many times because i get cold hands easily to the point where my fingernails are purple in color, but if i focus and meditate i can literally feel the warmth flow into my hands. I used to get cold feet too but i've pretty much beaten that now.

This is why modern yoga classes are harmful, they teach to do lots of deep breaths which is the opposite of what old school yoga taught

The wim hof method does controlled hyperventilation in the form of 30 relatively quick breaths, which lowers the CO2 in the blood, so that when you hold your breath afterwards as part of the exercise, you are able to hold it for an unusually long time.

The wim hof breathing exercise is like a work out for the muscles in your blood vessels, hyperventilation will constrict you vessels, and then holding the breath slowly dilates them as the CO2 builds up. Over time your CO2 tolerance increases and health improves further and further.

Same thing with taking cold showers but in a different way, the cold shower is a mental exercise as much as physical, the ice water forces your mind to focus on the present moment, teaching mindfulness in the process. If you're in the cold shower for a while the body will go from cold to warm. We've all experienced this in a cold pool or ocean, where at first its so cold but then we acclimate.

This is all stuff i've learned while researching yoga, wim hof, health stuff, asian internal martial arts, etc.
I feel this stuff is on the right track to longevity and youthfulness in old age.

Yes, I learned that as well. The instructor made us hold our breath with empty lungs, meaning that you expel all the air out of your body and then hold your breath. Your body has this reflex to inhale but your brain is saying don't, I don't need to breathe. It's so weird because it feels like you are drawing O2 from your blood and you just keep holding your breath. I can definitely see how people can do it for minutes at a time. It feels weirdly comfortable.

Can 'brown fat' really help with weight loss?

One of the main things I learned at Wim Hof is the existence of brown fat and how your body reacts to cold. What happened to me is that my home is normally at 68 degrees in winter and I can sit and watch TV in T-shirt and shorts at this temp. My parents came to visit me for 1 month and since my mom is always cold I turned up the thermostat to 73. After a month, I was wearing long pants and a hoodie and getting cold at work and at home even though the room temperatures were warmer. After she left, I turned the temp back to 68 and within a few weeks, I back to my normal t-shirt and shorts. I thought it was really weird... It makes sense now why I'm always hot (this is why I don't like dressing up, a simple collar on my shirt makes he sweat) and why I have trouble gaining and keeping on weight. I guess I burn alot of calories doing nothing.

 

[biophase]

Speaking of discomfort, I've read @wade1mil recommendation (Living with a Seal by Jesse Itzler) and David Goggins (the SEAL from the book) is crazy. The way he pushes his limits is unbelievable. I watched Joe Rogan's interview with him and man, this is one of the best interviews I've ever listened to. Check it out:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tSTk1083VY


Here are some of my raw notes from the interview:

• People fail to see that he was the complete opposite of who he is now (society's tendency to see events over processes).
  
• As a fat, comfortable guy working in a dead end job, he thought about his future in 50 years and looked back. He didn't want to regret the decisions he made so he decided to change.
  
• Create a new persona and become this person (it's like creating an alter ego of a person you'd like to become).
  
• We tell ourselves: "I'm not good enough." David says: "I'm going to make myself good enough."
• Work on your psoas muscle. It's key to preventing injuries. Also: yoga.
  
• Permanent results come from suffering. You have to endure sh*t. Reading won't help.
• It's easier to accept the fact that you're just not good enough, you weren't made to do that, but you have a lot more in yourself than you think.
• David says: "I'm not allowing myself to become civilized." You lose the fire if you get too comfortable (a full fridge, a lot of money, etc.). You never arrive (never rest on your laurels) and always seek more training and growth. He wants to become the most uncommon among uncommon people.
• When people say "triple down on your strengths" - that's the weakest sh*t in the world, you need to work on your weaknesses to find yourself while facing something that sucks.
  
• People ask him: "why don't you talk about the good times" - his answer, you know how to get through that sh*t, it's easy. What's hard is enduring the bad times and that's what people need to practice for by embracing suffering.

Read the book and listened to the podcast too. You should also listen to his podcast on Impact Theory.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78I9dTB9vqM

 

[luniac]

Speaking of discomfort, I've read @wade1mil recommendation (Living with a Seal by Jesse Itzler) and David Goggins (the SEAL from the book) is crazy. The way he pushes his limits is unbelievable. I watched Joe Rogan's interview with him and man, this is one of the best interviews I've ever listened to. Check it out:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tSTk1083VY


Here are some of my raw notes from the interview:

• People fail to see that he was the complete opposite of who he is now (society's tendency to see events over processes).
  
• As a fat, comfortable guy working in a dead end job, he thought about his future in 50 years and looked back. He didn't want to regret the decisions he made so he decided to change.
  
• Create a new persona and become this person (it's like creating an alter ego of a person you'd like to become).
  
• We tell ourselves: "I'm not good enough." David says: "I'm going to make myself good enough."
• Work on your psoas muscle. It's key to preventing injuries. Also: yoga.
  
• Permanent results come from suffering. You have to endure sh*t. Reading won't help.
• It's easier to accept the fact that you're just not good enough, you weren't made to do that, but you have a lot more in yourself than you think.
• David says: "I'm not allowing myself to become civilized." You lose the fire if you get too comfortable (a full fridge, a lot of money, etc.). You never arrive (never rest on your laurels) and always seek more training and growth. He wants to become the most uncommon among uncommon people.
• When people say "triple down on your strengths" - that's the weakest sh*t in the world, you need to work on your weaknesses to find yourself while facing something that sucks.
  
• People ask him: "why don't you talk about the good times" - his answer, you know how to get through that sh*t, it's easy. What's hard is enduring the bad times and that's what people need to practice for by embracing suffering.

awesome ill watch it.

I agree with the new persona view. it's like neo in the matrix, Mr Anderson had to experience the events of the film, death, love and rebirth to become Neo. Neo is still Mr Anderson at heart but also infinitely more.

Like the book Thick Face, Black Heart mentions, fear of success is much worse than fear of failure.
Most people including myself have always had all the tools and opportunity to succeed but i dare say that we self sabotage unconsciously.

The quote that always made me uneasy is:
"If we divided all the money in the world equally, in a short time the rich would be rich again, and the poor would be poor."

I think that's true, to succeed you must become the type of person that succeeds.
I'm not surprised i haven't achieved fastlane success yet, I have yet to fully overcome my social programming, habits, addictions, and especially flawed moral/ethical beliefs.

That's ok though, i still remember the exact moment i had my "F*ck this" event almost 5 years back, that epiphany unscripted my mind and immunized it. I'd rather die a failure than live scripted. Hurrah! lol