SIDCHAs

More inspirational SIDCHA videos

Art / Creativity / Freedom / Habits / SIDCHAs

More inspirational SIDCHA videos

[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.] Here are two videos of people who learned to dance by doing it every day. So much more photogenic than burpees and writing here daily. I don't know about you, but watching them brings tears to my eyes. I suggest seeing these videos not about dancing but about freedom and joy achieved through mastery. Recognition from peers and the public comes with it. And about the effectiveness of Self-imposed daily challenging healthy activities (SIDCHAs). This video has almost five million views: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daC2EPUh22w This…

December 23, 2014

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

Three years of burpees

Yesterday began my fourth year of burpees. I've written about them at length, so I'll keep it brief today. A few sets of burpees are good fitness exercise. A few years of burpees is a solid foundation for a healthy life. Here are the top things they create for me. Sticking with them for a long time without missing any creates discipline, which is a foundation I can build other habits and behaviors I want in my life. I meant to make only burpees my base exercise. While increasing from ten per day to two sets of twenty-six per day, I couldn't help but include inverted rows to work my back and sit-ups to work my abs. My one-minute workout has increased to maybe five…

December 22, 2014

Exercises / Habits / SIDCHAs

One year of cold showers

I almost missed the anniversary of starting my thirty days of cold showers last December, followed by taking cold showers every fourth day since. That comes out to about 75 cold showers, the coldest reaching 39.9F, the first thirty being at least five minutes long. Most people, thinking about the physical discomfort of a cold shower, dismiss the activity as crazy. Some sincerely ask about it. A small number act on it. The two or three people I know who have acted on it also found the activity incredibly rewarding. I've written before about the differences between physical pleasure and emotional reward. In most cases I prefer the reward and will sacrifice pleasure to create more of it, which cold showers do. (Usually I like…

December 8, 2014

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

100 burpees: 9 minutes 21 seconds

Over a drink the other night, a guy I met told me his record for 100 burpees was 7 minutes. He does cross-fit a couple times a week. I couldn't help trying this morning. I did them in 9:21. I wrote him: I couldn't help trying to see how fast I could do 100 burpees. Just did 100 in 9:21. Getting to 7 minutes seems hard, almost impossible, but now I want to keep trying. You were doing push-ups and jumps, right? Congratulations on your achievement and thank you for the motivation. (I secretly hope he wasn't doing push-ups during his to make 7 minutes more accessible. But I also secretly hope not, to help motivate me). I vaguely remembered trying to do 100 fast…

November 18, 2014

Nature / NorthKorea / SIDCHAs

Why I plan never to visit Brazil again

Today's post is mostly a rant from someone who has eaten too many carrots and little else for a week, but I've traveled six continents and in only two places did I go hungry---Brazil and North Korea. North Korea has a failed authoritarian central planned economy. It's tragic for the people living there, but at least I understand the situation and knew to prepare for difficulty finding food. Brazil has no economic reasons why it shouldn't have food available, but it doesn't, at least if you don't eat meat. Actually, even if you do eat meat. I may be extrapolating too far from the situation on the island of Fernando de Naronha, but a week of hunger will do that to you. Most restaurants serve…

November 12, 2014

Choosing/Decision-Making / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

Marathon burpees

It's just past midnight, meaning I'm about fifteen minutes into Saturday, November 1. Tomorrow, Sunday, is the marathon. I've trained for it pretty well for months. I've wondered what to about my burpees. Some people suggested skipping burpees on days I run the marathon. I see it otherwise. Those are the most important days to do them. What's the point of doing something only when it's easy? The benefit comes when it's hard. Arnold Schwarzenegger has a quote about how your development all comes from the last reps you do, that everything before that only sets up those reps. Ah, here's that quote, not that I'm competing at his level. The last three or four reps is what makes the muscle grow. This area of…

November 1, 2014

New SIDCHA series post

Education / Exercises / Fitness / Freedom / Habits / SIDCHAs / Tips

New SIDCHA series post

[I wrote a new introduction to my SIDCHA series. I'm happy enough with it to share it as a regular post.] Most people seem to want improve themselves, personally or professionally. Reading, watching, and listening to people tell you how you can develop yourself professionally or personally doesn't change anything beyond give you a bit of information. People don't succeed because they have more information. They succeed because they act. Even if you know you should do something, how do you know what? Marketers are trying to tell you what to do. They promote diets, exercise, how to start businesses, learning business skills, learning to become rich, learning languages, learning programming languages, religions, networking, and so on. It's bewildering. Each category has innumerable sub-categories. I…

October 30, 2014

Choosing/Decision-Making / Habits / SIDCHAs

Defining moments

Have you stood on the edge of an open airplane door, looking at the sky beneath you and the ground miles below it, parachute on your back, trying to will yourself to jump? Have you stood outside your boss's door, after days and weeks working up the courage and what to say to ask for a raise or promotion, trying to will yourself to knock and enter? Have you sat behind the wheel of your car on a rainy evening after a long tiring day at work on a day you told yourself you would go to the gym no matter what, yet thinking only of going home, sitting on your couch, and eating comfort food ... trying to will yourself to drive to the…

October 15, 2014

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

1,000 days of burpees

If I did my math right, today is my one-thousandth day of burpees, starting at one set of ten per day, now up to two sets of twenty-five per day. That's somewhere over 40,000 burpees. I've done them in North Korea, China, and across the U.S. Following the principle that if you miss one day you can miss two, if you miss two it's all over, I haven't missed one rep since starting. They are about discipline and dedication as much as fitness. More important for some people, since I've done most of them on my own and no one would know if I skipped them, they are about integrity. Some advantages to them I don't mind repeating. They put me in the best shape…

September 16, 2014

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / SIDCHAs

Pain, discipline, and self-reliance

I woke up this morning with pain in my back. I felt it yesterday morning too. It had woken me up both nights before, I guess when I moved in ways that caused it to hurt more. Then this morning when I did my burpees the pain got searing. I had to stop at seven. The pain was bad enough I had trouble breathing. The pain was in the same spot that always hurts---about halfway down a few inches left of my spine. I don't know why I get pain there, but I figured it was just something minor that would go away in a few days. I was throwing a frisbee around over the weekend and I could see myself pulling something doing that.…

September 10, 2014

Fitness / SIDCHAs

Half-marathons and 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.] This morning I ran about a half-marathon. I say "about" because I run for the fun of it and how it makes me feel after (and this year to train for the marathon again) so I don't know the exact distance. I ran down to the river, up to Central Park, did a lap, and ran back along the river. I know people out there run fifty-mile runs. I know people train more than a half-marathon now and then. Even so, there's no getting around that running twelve…

June 28, 2014

Awareness / SIDCHAs / Tips

How to overcome creative avoidance, destroyer of motivation

[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.] What is creative avoidance? You know the feeling, or rather the mental chatter. The scene: Some time ago you told yourself you would do something challenging. Maybe going to the gym, talking to your boss about a raise, asking someone out on a date, one of those things you have to will yourself to do. At the time you knew you would do it. Now it's time to do it. Suddenly your mind fills with excuses and various reasons not to do it: You're tired. It doesn't matter…

February 12, 2014

Fitness / SIDCHAs / Tips

What are your tricks?

[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've been talking to people about SIDCHAs. I've found something surprising that I'd consider researching if I were still in school or had students working with me. Nearly everyone who does a SIDCHA overcomes the challenging part with a trick -- something to start them. One of mine is that before starting burpees I think of doing one, not all twenty-five, then once I start I finish the rest. Another is that before starting a cold shower, I often set my timer for five minutes and ten seconds.…

February 1, 2014

Awareness / Fitness / SIDCHAs

The 42.3 degree shower (5.7 Celcius): Trading fleeting discomfort for long-term reward and growth

[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.] To people who haven't tried and don't get taking cold showers (or other punishing task like running a marathon you know you won't win, climbing Mount Everest after others already have, meditating, or practicing yoga -- none of which create results beyond you dong something challenging and the personal benefit that comes with it) today's post might help them understand.Â you might understand why you'd challenge yourself with physical discomfort. Except a cold shower delivers comparable results needing no equipment or any deviation from your regular schedule, has…

January 6, 2014

Awareness / Fitness / SIDCHAs

30 days of cold showers review: Lessons in discipline and pleasure

[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 just took my first warm shower after thirty days of cold showers. It was different than I expected, reflecting some growth and change the experience brought me. Before the warm shower The first change I noticed was that I looked forward to the warm shower. It's hard to look forward to a cold shower in winter. Maybe people who keep their houses hot feel differently, but it's about 68 degrees inside here, probably colder at night, so not exactly cold, but we wear sweaters inside. Looking forward…

January 3, 2014

An inspirational SIDCHA video

Fitness / Leadership / SIDCHAs / Tips

An inspirational SIDCHA video

[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.] [It's also 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.] About twenty-five days into taking thirty days of cold showers I watched the following video by the guy whose blog motivated me to try it in the first place, Joel Runyon. I found this video the most meaningful description of the reasons to try it. Well, the…

December 31, 2013

Blog / Fitness / SIDCHAs

Cold shower — 49 degrees!

[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.] Today is my twenty-second of thirty taking deliberate cold showers. It's an amazing experience I would never have guessed as valuable as I've found it. I'll write more on it after day thirty. For now I'll note two things: Cold showers are incredibly invigorating. You can't leave a cold shower bored, lazy, lethargic, or depressed. They give you energy. They build mental fortitude. After you decide to start a cold shower and to stay in for five minutes, not eating a piece of chocolate cake is trivial. Yesterday…

December 24, 2013

Adrenaline-rush activities you can do right now that beat jumping out of planes

Awareness / Blog / Freedom / Nature / SIDCHAs / Tips

Adrenaline-rush activities you can do right now that beat jumping out of planes

[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.] Today I'm writing about the value of taking cold showers. Purposefully doing so can change your life more than jumping out of a plane or most other adrenaline-rush activities. You'd be amazed. You can give yourself life-changing experiences as exhilarating as jumping out of planes or bungee jumping without all the baggage people who do those things have to do. My picture at the top of the page swimming across the Hudson River illustrates how anyone can create inspirational, life-changing activities with minimal effort. Today I'm writing about…

December 14, 2013

Burpees: unbeatable for fitness and my favorite sidcha: the series

Fitness / Habits / My Favorite Posts / SIDCHAs / Tips

Burpees: unbeatable for fitness and my favorite sidcha: the series

I've done burpees daily since December 22, 2011, at 40 years of age, starting with 10 a day, building to over 50 per day. I haven't missed a day or burpee. [EDIT January 2025: In the nearly ten thousand sets I've done, I've recorded maybe one or two. I recently recorded a morning set. Read this post for some notes about it, then watch this video. I probably should have recorded more when I was younger than 53, but this video is what I have. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eze7TNdyqas&t=8s ] I started them with a friend and they became one of my top sidchas---the first I simply started from scratch and never stopped. Why burpees? Top burpee values: They put me in the best shape of my life…

November 26, 2013

A model for consistency: If you miss one day you can miss two. If you miss two it’s over.

Exercises / Fitness / Habits / Models / My Favorite Posts / SIDCHAs / Tips

A model for consistency: If you miss one day you can miss two. If you miss two it’s over.

[This post is part of a series on "Mental models and beliefs: an exercise to identify yours." If you donâ€™t see a Table of Contents to the left, click here to view the series, where youâ€™ll get more value than reading just this post.] Do you have trouble keeping a habit going? Today's model is my model for maintaining my daily habits. A model for consistency: If you miss one day you can miss two. If you miss two it's over. My friend who set this blog up for me told me this belief when I asked him how often he posted -- a few days a week, every weekday, or what. He said he posted every day and that if you miss one day,…

May 12, 2013

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