SIDCHAs

Awareness / Fitness / Habits / Perception / SIDCHAs / Stories

Forty-eight point nine

[This post is part of a series on Cold Showers. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view that series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] I haven't written about cold showers lately, probably because the water hasn't gotten below fifty degrees since last winter, but this morning it did, so I am. The thermometer said the water was 48.9F (9.4C) this morning. People ask me why I do it. Other people who do cold showers understand. Taking them develops skills and perspectives that apply elsewhere in life---actually, everywhere in life. I like hot showers, which account for three-quarters of the showers I take, but physical pleasure isn't everything in life. I can't explain…

January 20, 2016

Awareness / Creativity / Freedom / SIDCHAs

Why I love jet lag

Some of the best ideas of my life have come to me while jet-lagged, lying awake in bed for hours before the sun rises. I end up having incredible ideas and thoughts but can't act on them, so I let them flow, sometimes turning the light on briefly to write them, partly to remember them, partly to free my mind from trying to remember them so it can go on to new things. I find falling asleep during the day a small price for the joy of these long stretches of time to think freely. Showers lead to ideas too, but they only last a few minutes, though I came up with Sidchas during a shower, and a cold one at that. Lying awake before…

January 19, 2016

Choosing/Decision-Making / Exercises / Fitness / Freedom / Habits / Leadership / SIDCHAs

Sidchas when you’re tired and exhausted? Especially!

I can't tell you how exhausted I was when I got home yesterday. Traveling meant about five hours of sleep in the forty-eight leading to last evening's sleep. Telling a client about burpees and Sidchas recently, when I mentioned doing them when tired, drunk, or otherwise discouraged, he asked, "wait, you do them then too?", implying that for a long-term activity, you don't have to be a stickler for rules every time. After all, how much does one instance matter out of many? On the contrary, the value of the combination of the activity being self-imposed, challenging, and daily arises when faced with doing them when you don't want to. Anyone can do easy things, even some challenging things. Any one can captain a ship…

January 9, 2016

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

Iron

Damn, it feels good to lift. Since starting this blog, I've run a marathon, done over sixty-thousand burpees, developed well-defined abs, won summer league finals playing Ultimate Frisbee, rowed on the stationary rower the equivalent of the distance to Pittsburgh from New York, and a few other active things. But I haven't lifted weights in that time. Except I have a few times lately, and, man, does it feel good. "Soreness and exhaustion feel great!" Not since graduate school, when I last played Ultimate competitively, have I lifted. I've liked the challenge of finding exercises that need no equipment, like burpees, crunches, and inverted rows I can do under my counter top. I'm testing the waters about making a regular habit of it (not likely…

December 30, 2015

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

Four years of burpees!

Yesterday began my fifth year of daily burpees, never missing one! I love the fitness they create. More importantly, the practice of integrity they create leads to me not skimping in other areas. My routine has expanded from ten burpees total to include stretching, back exercises, and ab exercises---one set in the morning, another set in the evening. I've also started other SIDCHAs. I've written before about their benefits, which you can read about in "Burpees — unbeatable for fitness and my best habit — the series" and "The Self-Imposed Daily Challenging Healthy Activity (SIDCHA) series." Come to think of it, my Harvard and MIT SIDCHA talk covered the subject well. I recommend watching it if you haven't. It's changed people's lives. Most of all,…

December 23, 2015

Awareness / Entrepreneurship / Habits / SIDCHAs / Tips

Everyone gets distracted. Here’s how to overcome it.

A student in the online entrepreneurship course I'm creating asked about distractions. When he wants to work, he often gets distracted. I think me answer will help others so I'm sharing it here. Most life-long valuable things have long-term, non-urgent reward. Things that have immediate reward or urgency will distract. For example, if you want to do well at school, the reward for working on a project may come days or weeks later when you finish. Meanwhile, if you clean your room, play a video game, or eat, the reward will come in seconds. I've found the most effective way to stay on course is to start with awareness. To realize that there's nothing special about me that makes me lazy---rather that humans have a…

December 9, 2015

Habits / SIDCHAs

The opposite of SIDCHAs helps show their value

If you read my blog you know that SIDCHA stands for self-imposed daily challenging healthy activity. I created the concept and write about it a lot. Considering its opposite helps illustrate their value and probably also reveals some problems in your life. The opposite of self-imposed is something others get you to do. The opposite of daily is irregularly. The opposite of challenging is easy. The opposite of healthy is unhealthy. The opposite of activity is something passive or inactive. So the opposite of a SIDCHA is something easy you do because someone gets you to, not of your volition, now and then that is unhealthy. What does that sound like to you? That sounds like the tasks of a lot of people's jobs---at least…

November 17, 2015

Awareness / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs / Stories

A reader’s SIDCHAs

An attendee at my Harvard talk wrote me about his starting a couple Sidchas. I asked him if I could share his experience because it illustrates how we grow when we challenge ourselves. Making a challenging daily habit stick not easy, but I find that knowing that others face the same obstacles and that overcoming them is just as hard for everyone else makes it easier. You'll also see that the challenges aren't what most people expect and prepare for, like physical fatigue or having the right clothing or equipment. The main challenges are your emotions and emotional system, especially empathy gaps, where the motivation you feel when planning a challenge goes away, replaced with complacency, lethargy, feeling like you already did enough, and so…

November 13, 2015

My Harvard and MIT SIDCHA talk

Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

My Harvard and MIT SIDCHA talk

[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.] A year and a half ago I spoke at Harvard on not dwelling on decisions (and at MIT a couple days later) with my friend's non-profit, GiveGetWin, that promotes entrepreneurial and leadership thinking and behavior. It went well and they invited me back. A week and a half ago I spoke there again, this time on Sidchas. Attendees responded positively, at least one called it inspiring. A couple contacted me after to tell me they are starting a Sidcha, which is the response…

November 6, 2015

Entrepreneurship / Habits / Leadership / SIDCHAs

Two thousand posts!

You are reading my two-thousandth blog post. Here's the list of all of them. I've posted daily since January 2011, plus twice daily around my North Korea trips since that content seemed different. Why? I write for two main reasons, one related to content, the other to process. The content reason is that writing helps me develop thoughts and ideas. When I started I thought I'd run out of ideas. Soon after, I found myself coming up with new ideas faster than I could write them. Many readers tell me they find things here they don't find anywhere else. I try to avoid writing what's already widespread while delivering valuable, especially actionable, material that helps people grow and learn about themselves and others. That helps…

October 27, 2015

Yoga, attention, nuance, and subtlety

Awareness / Exercises / Fitness / Habits / Perception / SIDCHAs

Yoga, attention, nuance, and subtlety

A reader wrote to ask about my August 2012 post, "Three things I learned from yoga" "With yoga you can use your body alone to create many emotions and learn how to handle them." Have you written more about this? I can only see me creating fear, determination, calmness, anger and patience. These don't count to many, so I wonder what other emotions could one create? I haven't done yoga in years, mainly since I found burpees and other sidchas easier, more convenient, and giving results I valued more, but I learned a lot from it and am glad I did it. And I would still recommend my teacher for anyone interested in yoga. Her background in dance made it more fun and artful. Looking…

October 15, 2015

I touched my toes for the first time in over twenty years!

Exercises / Fitness / SIDCHAs / Stories

I touched my toes for the first time in over twenty years!

In college I could put my legs in front of me, keep my knees straight, bend forward and touch my toes with my fingers. It was easy and I thought nothing of it. I don't remember the last time I could do it after college until last night. Why did I do it? It took me two or three months of twice-daily stretching to get there. I'd been embarrassed for decades at how un-limber I was. A few months ago I started trying to do an L-sit, which means doing this: I read L-sits exercised your abs well and I've developed enough definition in my abs that I wanted to work them more. I couldn't do the exercise if my hamstrings were too tight. I'm…

September 10, 2015

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

A reader’s SIDCHAs

A reader and friend wrote about his SIDCHAs: Hey Josh, How's it going? I was reading your blog and found your SIDCHA example and explanation post. Really enjoyed the distillation of it all, especially as my insecurities have many times led me to search for info rather than action. One thing I have been (attempting to) do is a Daily Review. It's just a checklist of all the SIDCHAs I do: [X] Reflect on Purpose [X] Make the bed [X] Stretch [X] Review Calendar [X] Write Journal [X]Plan Today :: Asana > DuoLingo > Headspace Sometimes its hard to even do those things but I feel like the habit of looking at the daily review is that first important foundation of confidence. At the top…

August 13, 2015

60,000 burpees!

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

60,000 burpees!

Somewhere around today I hit 60,000 cumulative burpees since starting in December 2011. I don't keep track rigorously, I only know I haven't missed a burpee. Sometimes I do a few extra, like to show someone how to do them, if I lose count and want to make sure I do enough, or if I want to make up for eating candy. What started as ten burpees per day has grown. Then ten was challenging. Now ten is easy. When my skills develop to make a SIDCHA too easy, I make it more challenging. Also, as much as burpees exercise most of your body, they have you push with your arms but not pull. So I added reverse-rows. Also, as my abs got more defined…

August 12, 2015

SIDCHAs in the wild

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / Leadership / SIDCHAs / Stories

SIDCHAs in the wild

After driving a smelly twenty-seven-year-old pick up truck with wobbly steering and a barely functional clutch all night from my cousin's wedding outside Pittsburgh to my friend's networking day-long workshop in Manhattan, one of the session leaders asked the attendees to describe ourselves. I was too tired for small talk. He gave us paper and crayons do illustrate our descriptions. I asked if I could demonstrate instead of illustrate. He liked the idea. So when my turn came to describe myself, I brought everyone into a circle, told them my burpee-starting and SIDCHA stories, and had everyone do a few burpees. Everyone loved doing burpees. They get the blood flowing and your lungs breathing. In a group they're fun. Afterwards, people thanked me for making…

July 29, 2015

Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

A 30-year Sidcha: running, swimming, or biking every morning

The New York Times wrote about a woman who ran, swam, or biked every morning at 6:30 for thirty years in "On the Trail, Every Day for 30 Years." She has over a quarter-century on my burpee sidcha! The article begins: Just after 7 a.m. on a sunny Wednesday in June, a 61-year-old woman darted in front of taxis in Columbus Circle outside Central Park. A few seconds later, she proclaimed — to no one, to everyone — how great it was to be alive. The woman, Gisela Mandl, wore a bright green T-shirt, gray running shorts and white knee-high compression socks. She had just finished a 35-minute run through the park and was starting an eight-minute jaunt back to her apartment on West 48th…

July 8, 2015

Making a habit stick makes other habits stick easier

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs / Visualization

Making a habit stick makes other habits stick easier

In yesterday's session on starting habits, when I described how easy it was finally to floss my teeth daily after I started my burpees. An attendee asked me to clarify. After the session ended, others asked me to clarify more and the following diagrams emerged. Starting burpees This chart schematically shows my burpee habit performance. Flossing before burpees This chart schematically shows my flossing habit before I started doing burpees. The red line shows my flossing effort, overlaying the gray line of my burpee effort. Flossing after burpees This chart schematically shows my flossing habit after starting burpees. Conclusion Making a habit stick makes other habits stick too. I think of making a habit stick as a skill, or set of skills. The more you…

June 15, 2015

Exercises / Fitness / Freedom / Leadership / Nature / SIDCHAs

Have you striven for excellence?

Have you put everything you had into something? Have you tried as hard as you possibly could? Have you run until you dropped? Skied as fast as you possibly could, risking injury? Decided to lift a weight you couldn't conceive of lifting and done it? Have you run sprints in the rain, alone? Have you put your name and reputation on the line for all time? Have you said no to things anyone would say yes to because the sacrifice was worth it? Have you doubted everything you thought was right because your experience taught you things school never could have taught you? Have you risked bankruptcy, friendships, jobs, your home? Have you put yourself into the unknown so deep you didn't know if you…

June 6, 2015

Education / Events / Habits / SIDCHAs / Tips

Make your habits stick! My new seminar.

Do you have trouble making habits stick? Come to my seminar one month from today! Hosted by the Columbia Business School Alumni Club and NYU-Stern, I gave this seminar at NYU last month and people loved it. They learned things about themselves and about each other that made habits click for the first time. Date: Sunday, June 14, noon to 4pm Location: NYU-Stern, 40 West Fourth Street Whom better to learn about habits from than a guy who started daily exercising one day and then hasn't missed a day in years and makes a business of coaching and teaching others? I've been working on this seminar for a long time and I'm very happy with how it's come out. It combines forefront science with daily…

May 14, 2015

Exercises / Fitness / Freedom / Habits / SIDCHAs

Run on solid ground

Why do I talk about my daily habits so much? I was talking to a friend yesterday about them. She told me she didn't get to exercise as much as she'd like, especially in busy times, and asked how I found time to exercise and write every day. I asked how she got anything done without a daily routine. A daily routine gives you and your day structure. Losing that structure, makes it easier to lose track of your values, rushing to do whatever apparently important thing appears before you, doing a lot of work, getting little done. I call that blowing in the breeze. A daily routine that forces you to think puts things in perspective by giving you standard criteria to measure other…

April 8, 2015

Freedom, from speech

Exercises / Fitness / Freedom / Habits / Leadership / SIDCHAs

Freedom, from speech

You have opinions about race, sex, homosexuality, class, politics, and other controversial topics. You probably only talk about them with people closest to you. Most of us won't touch them with a ten-foot pole, knowing how one public statement can destroy a life. We believe we don't have that freedom. If you don't believe you have it, you can't do it. How about talking about them to the media for twenty years and being loved for it. That's freedom. This article about Charles Barkley described him as Off the court, where he spun quotes and welcomed controversy, Barkley was arguably the most interesting and influential athlete of his time — maybe since Ali. While others packaged themselves as though they were just another product to…

March 21, 2015

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

Calmness, focus, determination, and presence—an easy way to increase them

A reader who decided to take on a month of cold showers updated me half way through. Note how the benefits endure for a long time and affect many parts of her life while the discomfort lasts only a few minutes. That's a great trade if you ask me. Here's what she wrote: So far, so good.Â I'm not sure I had any specific expectations regarding the experience to start.Â I just wanted to challenge myself because I feel "stuck" at times.Â These are the things I've noticed or thought so far. I don't get myself worked up prior to jumping in.Â Translation---worrying about something isn't going to change the outcome.Â Face challenges head on. I have thought about how awesome that warm birthday shower…

March 16, 2015

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

A reader takes on cold showers

[This post is part of a series on Cold Showers. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view that series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] I got this email from a reader this morning: This caught my eye this morning. Watched the video. I'm accepting the 30 day challenge which will conveniently end the day before my 46th birthday. responding to yesterday's newsletter about yesterday's post, "Close to cold shower record". I presume she referred to the video in "An inspirational SIDCHA video". I first thought of how exciting it was for someone to take up the challenge. Then I thought about how February is probably the coldest water month. I did my…

February 25, 2015

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

Close to cold shower record

[This post is part of a series on Cold Showers. If you don't see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view that series, where you'll get more value than reading just this post.] I don't remember posting about cold showers in a while. I'm still taking them, now every fourth day, which I call a sidcha, even though not daily. I consider it regular enough. Today's water temperature was 41.5 degrees (5.3 C), close to my record of 39.9 degrees. It's hard to take a shower that cold without writing about it. I do it every fourth day because I like warm showers as much as anyone. When I take my warm showers, I can't believe I take cold showers, feeling…

February 24, 2015

Creativity / Habits / SIDCHAs

Why do readers like the posts I write the fastest so much?

Whenever I'm short for time and have to write a post fast to make sure I post that day, I always get emails commenting that they liked the post. Posting here is a SIDCHA of mine, after all, so I don't miss posting. Sometimes that means posting fast. I haven't been keep track scientifically, but I have casually, and I don't remember a counterexample. I occasionally get emails saying they liked the post when I spend time on one. I hardly got any comments on some of the posts covering what I consider most valuable. But the posts I rattle off quick because I don't have time, people love. The knee-jerk suggestion is that they're more spontaneous or from the gut. I'm skeptical of that…

February 10, 2015

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