Once a year, undertake a “Misogi” challenge: a truly hard task with a 50-50 chance of completion, ensuring safety, keeping it private, and making it quirky. This practice teaches you that you chronically undersell your potential and helps reframe the fear of failure, showing you are capable of more than you imagine.
Regularly contemplate your own mortality and the inevitability of death, as this uncomfortable practice can improve your behavior, lead to better decisions about time and work, and enhance interactions with others by fostering a sense of perspective.
Be willing to experience short-term discomfort in various areas of life, such as harder exercise, hunger for weight loss, or self-reflection for mental health. Discomfort is a necessary buy-in for improvement and leads to something good in the long term.
Incorporate rucking (carrying weight in a backpack) into your regular fitness routine, as it works both your cardiovascular and strength systems. This practice is effective for melting fat while preserving muscle, is safer for joints than running, and improves bone density.
Intentionally reintroduce boredom into your daily life by creating unstimulated time, such as a 20-minute walk without your phone. This allows your brain to process information in the background, fosters creativity, and is better than switching from one digital stimulation to another.
On a daily basis, intentionally insert brief windows of discomfort into your routine. This practice helps you stay aware of the privileges and comforts of modern life, preventing complacency and ensuring you don’t lose sight of the ‘water you’re in’.
Send kids out when they are younger and introduce hard things into their life, such as a challenging camp. This is valuable for their psychological development, helping them cope with minor inconveniences and preventing them from being overly embedded in digital worlds.
Actively meet and spend time with other sober people when recovering from addiction. Research shows that people who change their friend group to include sober individuals have a significantly higher success rate (60% vs 15%) in maintaining sobriety after a year.
If struggling with addiction, take immediate action by reaching out to a trusted person, like a parent or partner. This crucial first step towards sobriety can prevent severe long-term consequences and lead to a better life.
Aim for at least one extended trip (three days or more) into remote, backcountry nature annually. After three days in nature, your brain shifts from frenetic beta waves to calm, focused alpha waves, similar to experienced meditators, offering lasting benefits for mental well-being and focus.
When rucking, use a rucksack with a hip belt and adjust the load to distribute weight effectively between your shoulders and hips. This helps pull your spine into a better, safer position, relieving and preventing back pain, and is crucial for carrying heavier weights and protecting joints.
Practice walking downhill with a load on your back, as this specific practice effectively trains eccentric strength in your quads and teaches deceleration. This is a crucial skill for preventing falls and injuries in daily life as you age, which is not easily replicated in a gym.
When engaging in activities like rucking or walking, intentionally leave your phone behind and avoid other digital distractions like podcasts or music. Disconnecting allows your mind to go to more interesting places, fosters better ideas, and helps you become more attuned to your surroundings.
Adopt the mindset of “Don’t take yourself so damn seriously,” a phrase learned during sobriety. This perspective can be freeing, reduce self-imposed pressure, improve performance in work and life, and allow for greater enjoyment and creativity.
Reflect on the origin of the meat you consume and the reality that an animal’s life was taken. This reflection can foster a deeper appreciation and gratitude for the food, and a more humane perspective on the meat system, realizing that for one life to go on, another has to die.
Seek ways to become a participant in nature, rather than just an observer, for example, through activities like hunting. This deeper engagement can provide a profound understanding and appreciation of the natural world.
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