SIDCHAs

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / Inc.com / SIDCHAs / Tips

A burpee app?

My 2,192 Days of Burpees post and Inc. article got a lot of responses, including questions how to start from people who felt inspired by this free, zero-equipment, zero-cost, low-risk, healthy, and so on practice. One reader asked if I could recommend an app. I wrote back Glad to hear from you and that you're inspired. I prefer not to use an app. Like brushing my teeth, I just know if I'm going to bed without doing my burpees. This way I don't depend on anything external. If I want to know how many I've done cumulatively, I get out a spreadsheet and plug in my starting date in one cell and the current date in another. Taking the difference tells me the number of…

January 7, 2017

Fitness / Habits / Inc.com / SIDCHAs

2,192 Days of Burpees

My Inc. article today, "2,192 Days of Burpees," begins 2,192 Days of Burpees I've done burpees every day for the past 6 years, about 85,000 so far. I'm just getting started. In April 2011, the New York Times Magazine published an article asking fitness experts, "What's the Single Best Exercise?" In it, Martin Gibala, the chairman of the department of kinesiology at McMaster University, suggested the burpee. I had to look it up. You drop down, do a push-up, then jump. Pictures and animations here illustrate it. No equipment, gym, spotter, or anything necessary. Gibala studies high intensity workouts, as his upcoming book, The One-Minute Workout: Science Shows a Way to Get Fit That's Smarter, Faster, Shorter, documents. The article said: "It builds muscles. It…

December 21, 2016

Audio / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

The Better Human Podcast: hear me speak on sidchas

In September I spoke with David Rachford, host of The Better Human podcast, about sidchas. About the podcast: The Better Human Show is for people like you, who are looking for a positive voice in their day. Inspired by Rich Roll, Joe Rogan, Lewis Howes and Shawn Stevenson, and Tony Robbins, each episode offers inspiration & information on health & fitness, relationships, giving back, and creating a legacy. The Better Human Show shares practical actionable advice from noted experts in sports, medicine, relationships, sexuality, yoga, meditation, nutrition, and peak performance. The content will sometimes challenge you, and will make you think about how you can realize your potential by transcending perceived limitations to become a Better Human. Listen to the interview here: https://soundcloud.com/davidrachford/self-imposed-daily-healthy Or right-click…

December 12, 2016

Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

80,000 burpees!

[This post is part of a series on my daily exercise and starting and keeping challenging habits. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] Today roughly marks my hitting my 80,000th burpee since starting the sidcha in December 2011. After the first month, I wrote "How to begin a workout routine to last: start with joy." I remember during that first month wondering as I did those early burpees when my body would give out and I'd have to stop, figuring it would be when I was 80 or so. Still, it feels like an accomplishment to approach six digits worth of them. I've come…

August 30, 2016

Jim Harshaw podcast follow-up

Audio / Habits / Leadership / SIDCHAs

Jim Harshaw podcast follow-up

Following up the podcast I loved with Jim Harshaw that I posted two days ago, Jim prepares an action sheet for each conversation. Click here for the pdf of it. I also copied the text here so you can see some of what the conversation was about. I'll include podcast below the text so you can listen to it from this page. I'm confident you'll like it. Wrestling with Success Podcast Action Plan Episode #58 Josh Spodek Today I bring you Josh Spodek. A Professor at NYU and columnist for Inc., he holds five Ivy-League degrees, including a PhD in Astrophysics as well as an MBA, both from Columbia University, where he studied under a Nobel Laureate. He holds six patents.He leads seminars in Leadership,…

August 3, 2016

Audio / Entrepreneurship / Fitness / Habits / Leadership / SIDCHAs

Listen to Jim Harshaw’s Wrestling With Success podcast interview with me

I had a fantastic conversation with Jim Harshaw for his podcast, Wrestling With Success. I am honored and humbled that he invited me into the ranks of his guests. I recommend listening to many other episodes besides mine, including his early ones where you get to learn about him. Among other guests, he's had people in space. I've only helped build satellites. Jim is a Division 1 champion wrestler and coach who brings what sports and athletics brings to business and life. In his words, his podcast uncovers the secrets of the most successful people on the planet who are also former athletes and reveals how they used skills learned in sports to overcome failure and achieve a level of success not otherwise possible. Former…

August 1, 2016

45 6-pack

Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs / Visualization

45 6-pack

Today I turned 45 and my 6-pack is nearly there. My goal isn't to get big nor to exercise a lot but to get rid of fat I don't want and free the rest of me while taking minimal time from the rest of my life. As always, to learn more about myself and to grow. This (My usual diet) Plus this (All my exercise equipment) (rowing machine, four kettlebells, ab wheel, sneakers, and cleats. I forgot a Frisbee) Plus burpees, cold showers, and a pressure cooker for the most delicious, convenient, and cheapest food I've eaten Equals this If you'll pardon the hand-held selfie: I think the abs look good for a 45-year-old. I've never felt better.Â My resting heart rate is 53 or…

July 20, 2016

Habits / Inc.com / SIDCHAs / Tips

16 tips to start habits you want and stop ones you don’t

My post today on Inc.com, "16 tips toÂ startÂ habits you want and stopÂ ones you don't," begins 16 tips to start habits you want and stop ones you don't You know successful habits create success. The challenge is doing them. Here are tips from someone who hasn't missed his daily habits in over five years. In January 2011 I started writing on my blog daily. I haven't missed a day since, meaning over 2,200 posts. It's part of why I'm writing here. In December 2011 I started doing burpees daily. I haven't missed a day since, meaning over 75,000 burpees. Don't even ask about my cold shower habit, now four years in. Everyone knows the value of habit. People ask me how to start them. Years ago…

July 11, 2016

Your choice of sidcha isn’t that important. Just do one.

Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs / Visualization

Your choice of sidcha isn’t that important. Just do one.

Following up yesterday's post about the subtle value of sidchas, I want to lower the bar on choosing what activity to base your sidcha on. Doing one or two sidchas means you can say no to all the others and know you aren't missing out. Still, if you want to do an art-related sidcha, an exercise sidcha, a personal development sidcha, and so on, aren't you missing out on others. Maybe you're missing out by choosing the wrong one. Not a problem. All sidchas give you incredible value Doing a sidcha gives you some value. I'll represent it with this bar: I've done three sidchas for several years now---my burpee-based exercises, posting on my blog, and cold showers, not counting things that I don't consider…

June 6, 2016

Exercises / Fitness / Freedom / Habits / SIDCHAs

The subtle value of sidchas

I write about self-imposed daily challenging healthy activities (sidchas) a lot. Why is the sidcha different from the countless recommendations to do other things daily? The difference is subtle but important. It will give you more time, structure, and discipline. Some examples: People who meditate regularly tell me that I should meditate daily for the full benefit. Yoga people say the same thing about yoga, at least that I should do it regularly. A video of a girl who practiced dancing daily for a year, became amazing at it, and got onto TV for it inspired me to want to practice dancing daily. Marshall Goldsmith tells me I should answer six questions daily. Writers tell me I should write daily. Fitness people tell me to…

June 5, 2016

Exercises / Habits / Humor / SIDCHAs

The Sidcha App

You know how valuable I consider sidchas. If you don't have one, I recommend you create one or two for yourself. I'm working on sidcha.com so stay tuned. In the meantime, I thought about an app for sidchas. Here is my main thought. When you do something daily, you don't have to keep track of it. You don't have to compare your performance with your friends'. You don't have to do all the things people do to try to start and keep habits. In fact, I'd say those practices run counter to the point of sidchas. The point of sidchas is you do them. The result is a foundation for your life. Whatever challenge you want to take on, sidchas help you. No matter what…

June 3, 2016

Awareness / Exercises / Fitness / SIDCHAs

4,994 meters in 20 minutes

I used to like sport for winning. I still do, but no sport compares with ultimate, which I'm too old to compete in. Or rather, I know I'll get worse every year so investing effort for the future has less payoff. Now sport is about discipline, dedication, discovery, self-awareness, and things like that---switching to the second meaning of competition from the first. I've had a rowing machine for years. They give a great workout, in my opinion. Lately I've rowed for 20 or 30 minutes. My split has been dropping to the low two minutes for 500m. A couple months ago 2:00min/500m for a 20-minute row, or 5,000 meters, started looking feasible. I finish the last 4 minutes or so unsustainably fast, like 1:59min/500m, which…

May 24, 2016

Awareness / Fitness / SIDCHAs

Get to know this emotional pattern: it will improve your life

The pattern is this: You know something will help you and you want to do it You look forward to doing it in the future Just before doing it you feel like you don't want to do it Starting takes a lot of willpower Once you start you want to keep doing it After you finish you're glad you did it and find yourself feeling like in step 1 Examples include Going to the gym or general exercise Avoiding unhealthy foods Working on projects you want to work on Writing Most flow activities Cold showers or any sidcha and more The challenge is getting past step 3. If you do, you'll be glad you did. Most of the time you feel reluctant to do something…

May 21, 2016

Listen to Outlier Magazine’s podcast of Joshua Spodek, published today!

Audio / Education / Entrepreneurship / Leadership / SIDCHAs / Stories

Listen to Outlier Magazine’s podcast of Joshua Spodek, published today!

Outlier Magazine's Ever Gonzalez interviewed me recently and posted the podcast today, "Ep 331: Joshua Spodek Interview — Finding Your Hudson River" We talk about Learning entrepreneurship Learning leadership Swimming across the Hudson River Failure and learning from it My last book, ReModel (and hinting at the next one) Increasing your self-awareness through mental models Sidchas Check out the podcast here. If you prefer using Stitcher, here's that link. If you prefer using iTunes, here's that link. Thank you Ever, Paige, and the Outlier Magazine team! Or listen here:

May 20, 2016

How not to be afraid to be yourself, Italian style

Awareness / Choosing/Decision-Making / Exercises / Fitness / Leadership / Nature / SIDCHAs / Tips

How not to be afraid to be yourself, Italian style

The other day I was interviewed for a podcast (I'll link to it when they edit and post it). The interviewer asked me how I accomplished so much. I told him and his listeners to look up sidchas on my blog. Everyone who aspires to greatness knows the importance of building discipline, integrity, dedication, and other skills. I accomplish things by acting by my values. I practice with small challenges like daily exercise, daily writing, cold showers, and so on. Almost nobody does these things or their equivalent for them, yet they want the benefits. You have to do things to get the benefits of doing them. Well, today's post is the smallest yet activity you can do to develop such skills. I don't care…

May 7, 2016

Look who’s doing a sidcha: Mark Zuckerberg, running a mile a day this year

Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

Look who’s doing a sidcha: Mark Zuckerberg, running a mile a day this year

The founder and CEO of Facebook set a goal to run a mile every day of 2016. Sounds like a sidcha to me! Detractors claim he's not running every day or the whole mile or that it's too polluted to be safe. At least he stated the intent. I hope he keeps it up. Since he says he's only doing it for the year, learning the concept of a sidcha will help him start another when he's done running so he can keep up a sidcha practice even if he stops running. Here he is running in Beijing: What's your sidcha? EDIT: A reader responded "He better not miss a day, then he could miss two." It turns out that he responded to someone pointing…

March 22, 2016

Video: I recorded my burpee sidchas

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs / Visualization

Video: I recorded my burpee sidchas

I've meant to post a video of my burpee sidchas. Someone writing a book on high intensity interval training asked me for a video, so I finally recorded my morning and evening burpee sidchas. Maybe my burpee sidcha will show up in a book. I don't claim they're glamorous but I haven't missed a burpee in over four years. I do them every day. I started with ten burpees a day in December 2011, before I created the term sidcha. I add to the routines when what was challenging becomes easy. Ten burpees seems like nothing now. I turn 45 in a few months, if that matters. By the way, if you want to start a burpee sidcha, I recommend finding how many is challenging…

March 10, 2016

Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

Video: the first and last word on improving yourself

[This post is part of series on the Self-Imposed Daily Challenging Healthy Activity (SIDCHA), burpees, and cold showers. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click to view the SIDCHA series, the burpee series, and the cold shower series where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] Yesterday's webinar, on sidchas, my most comprehensive treatment to date: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3KdM8fZME4

February 28, 2016

Entrepreneurship / Leadership / SIDCHAs

My bold next stages

Emails to great, long-time friends you don't see that often give you the chance to reflect on longer stages than normal and to put together thoughts more complex than you think daily. I wrote the following to one such friend, capturing the change my change in focus and direction following my increased confidence in my courses as I've seen hundreds of people succeed in them. Some of it feels over the top, but I believe having bold goals helps you achieve them. The email: At long last, I'm switching from developing my material to promoting and selling it. I held back because I felt promoting and selling would distract me from developing more, though I didn't know if that development had an ending point. Now…

February 24, 2016

Webinar: Self-Imposed Daily Challenging Activities, Saturday 1pm EST

Entrepreneurship / Exercises / Fitness / Habits / Leadership / SIDCHAs

Webinar: Self-Imposed Daily Challenging Activities, Saturday 1pm EST

After teaching, coaching, studying, and practicing leadership for twenty years, I announced my online leadership course, "Introducing the most effective leadership course available anywhere." I'm hosting a series of free webinars on the most actionable, useful, effective, and exciting parts of the course. My webinars will always deliver exclusive, valuable lessons you can use that day and how to build for the long term. Attend my third webinar, free, this Saturday, February 27, 1pm Eastern Standard Time! All you need is an internet connection. SIDCHAs: Self-Imposed Daily Challenging Healthy Activities If you read my blog you know about SIDCHAs. Learn more about them in detail and how you can make them work for you. Read more about them here to learn how critically useful they…

February 22, 2016

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

70,000 burpees!

[This post is part of a series on my daily exercise and starting and keeping challenging habits. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] I hit my 70,000th burpee today. Well, around today. I sometimes do more but never fewer, so I'm not sure the exact number. 70,000 is a lower estimate. Still doing 26 every morning and 26 every evening. Haven't missed any. On the contrary, I also include stretching, ab, and back exercises. They're still never easy. Before every set I have to steel myself to do them and use willpower to start. But after every set I feel great. If you don't…

February 20, 2016

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / Models / Perception / SIDCHAs / Tips

Discipline doesn’t enable you to do things. Doing things consistently makes you disciplined.

[This post is part of a series on the Self-Imposed Daily Challenging Healthy Activity (SIDCHA). If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] People keep getting it backward when they congratulate me on the five years of daily posts, four years of daily burpees, and other disciplined achievements. They say, "You must have a lot of discipline to do that," implying that before I started I had some special trait that enabled me to do what they couldn't. They have it backward. No baby is born able to do multi-year projects. We all have to develop discipline like anyone else. Doing daily exercises develops discipline just…

February 16, 2016

Video: Three Leadership Secrets You’ll Never Learn Reading A Book

Awareness / Events / Exercises / Leadership / SIDCHAs / Tips

Video: Three Leadership Secrets You’ll Never Learn Reading A Book

I just finished my first webinar, "Three Leadership Secrets You'll Never Learn Reading A Book". Here is the recording of it for those interested but who couldn't make it. If you like what I write about and want more, contact me about what you want and I can tailor webinars to what people are looking for. I prefer to stick with topics I cover here but I'm flexible too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21a9_ih2Z4c From my first announcement the other day: Three Leadership Secrets You'll Never Learn Reading A Book

February 6, 2016

Creativity / Habits / NorthKorea / SIDCHAs

Five years of daily posts! Not one missed.

When my friend set up this blog page for me, I asked him how often he blogged. I expected him to say something like three days a week, weekdays, when big events happened, or something like that. Instead he said "Every day," then adding: If you miss one day you can miss two. If you miss two, it's all over. I took the practice to heart. Today finishes my fifth year of posting daily without fail. January 29, 2011 began my habit of posting here daily. I'll hit 2,100 posts in a couple days. I posted twice a day around my North Korea trips since I considered that material too far from the leadership focus I want here. Here is the archive of all my…

January 28, 2016

How Inc. Magazine improved overnight

Education / Entrepreneurship / Inc.com / SIDCHAs

How Inc. Magazine improved overnight

Inc. Magazine, in its own words: For 35 years, we've been the premier publication dedicated to entrepreneurs---the most innovative, most courageous, and most essential business leaders in America. In that time, Inc. has won widespread recognition for maintaining the highest editorial standards as we've documented that world. How did it improve overnight? They hired me as their latest columnist! Today marks my first piece, "How I Wish Business School Had Taught Me Leadership." First time here? My editor tells me I may see more readers than usual, with Inc.'s 1.57 million Twitter followers. If you're new here, the links below give you an idea of what to find here. If you like it, subscribe to my newsletter with the purple button at the top right.…

January 25, 2016

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