📚 A&B #156

"The Comfort Crisis", How take notes in books, and more.

August 27, 2023

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👋 Hey everyone,

Here are a few popular posts you may have missed:

PS: The winning topic from last week’s poll was about note-taking so I’ll be doing a free webinar all about how to take notes in print books, ebooks, and audiobooks next month or so.

Enter your email here to get notified about it.

📚 Book Summary:

This week's book is “The Comfort Crisis” by Michael Easter.

This book challenges the idea that we should seek maximum comfort and shares data about how many modern life problems have risen from being too comfortable. If you’re looking for a book that will help you become mentally and physically tougher, this book is for you.

Here are 3 lessons from the book:

📖

1) Why Most of Your “Stress” and “Problems” Are Fake

Ask most people how their day is going they’ll likely reply “I’m stressed out” or “I’m dying at work.”

Sure modern humans are stressed, but we don’t suffer from the same stresses that haunted us for millions of years.

Early humans had truly stressful lives.

They had to walk several miles each day to find (and sometimes kill) food and other resources and carry them back to the tribe.

If they didn’t find food, they died. If they couldn’t find water, they died. If a violet storm came and they had no shelter, they died (you get the point).

Most of us don’t experience physical stresses like intense hunger, exhaustion from chasing an animal (or running from one), or having to survive in the wild outdoors.

Instead, most of us have “first-world stress”:

We get stressed when there’s traffic and we’re late for our yoga class. Or when we find out a coworker makes more money than us. Or when we are worried our child might not get into an Ivy League school.

There’s actually a scientific term for this, it’s “prevalence-induced concept change” or in plain English “problem creep.”

Essentially, it means that as our lives get better, we don’t become more satisfied per se. Instead, we just lower our threshold for what we consider to be a problem.

We end up with the same number of issues, except our new problems are progressively more hollow and shallow.

So if you find yourself stressing about first-world problems, take a moment to reflect that you’ll always have problems and how lucky you are to have such trivial problems.

📖

2) Go Outside & Touch Grass (It Might Just Transform Your Life)

Here are some crazy stats about the average American:

They spend 93% of their time indoors.
Kids spend 50% less time outdoors than their parents did.
They touch their phone 2,617 times per day.
They spend 2 hours and 30 minutes on their phone per day.
They spend 11 hours and 6 minutes a day looking at a screen (phone, computer, TV).

And the effects of overstimulation and isolation have not been good:

50% of Americans say they are under “high stress.”
50% of Americans say that they are lonely.
The US government declared that we are in a “loneliness epidemic.”
Attention spans fell by 33% from 2000 to 2015.
Depression diagnoses are up 33% since 2013.

We have become a society of isolated individuals who don’t leave their homes and spend more time looking at screens than at people or nature. And this is not a good way to live–I should know…

I spent the last few years working remotely, from home, by myself, and since I’m a content creator, I spent 10+ hours a day looking at screens. And it sucked.

Since then, I’ve managed to cut down my screen time significantly (highly recommend the books “Indistracble” and “Hyperfocus” for advice), go for a walk in the park each day, and joined a basketball league to meet new people.

These simple changes have had a massive positive outcome. I’m now 2-3x happier than before.

So if you find yourself anxious, stressed, lonely, or feeling depressed. Try limiting your screen time, spending more time outdoors, and making it a goal to meet new people or spend time with friends.

📖

3) Do A Misgoi Challenge

Misogi is a Japanese ritual that refers to a unique and challenging practice of purification.

In traditional Japanese culture, misogi involves immersing oneself in cold water or standing beneath a waterfall to purify the body and mind.

But in modern times, misogi has taken on a broader meaning. It’s a challenge that pushes you to your limits and forces you to confront your fears, doubts, and weaknesses.

The author writes that if you’re going to do a misogi, there are only two rules you need to follow:

It has to be hard enough that you have around a 50% chance of completing it.
You can’t die (AKA do things that are hard but not stupid).

So if you’re someone who never runs, then running a 10K can be a misogi. But if you’re someone who runs every day, then running a 50K might be more of a misogi for you.

Not only does a misogi add more excitement to your life and make for a great story whether you succeed or fail, but there are also health benefits to it.

After scientists combed through nearly 100 studies on the psychological impact of outdoor challenges, they found that leaving the modern, sterile world and exposing ourselves to new stressors can help develop new levels of physical and mental toughness.

“Confronting risk, fear, and danger produces optimal stress and discomfort, which in turn promotes outcomes such as improved self-esteem, character building, and psychological resilience,” they wrote.

If you want to dive deeper into the concept of misogi or ideas from some challenges, check out this article by the author.

✅ Actionable Advice:

1) Catch yourself the next time you’re feeling stressed:

If you aren’t starving, dehydrated, homeless, or in danger, chances are you’re experiencing “first-world stress” and the problem isn’t actually a big deal (and be happy your problems aren’t that serious).

2) Make it a goal to go outside for at least 30 minutes every day:

Go for a run.
Go for a bike ride.
Go explore your neighborhood.
Call friends or family while walking outside.
Listen to an audiobook while walking around.
Go for an evening walk with your kids or partner.

3) Find a Misogi challenge for yourself:

Pick one hard challenge and aim to complete it this year.
Just remember the two rules:
- 1) You should have roughly a 50% chance of completing it.
- 2) Don’t die.
  - Don’t forget rule #2.

📖 Reading Lesson:

Here’s why you shouldn’t feel bad about not finishing a book.

💎 Weekly Gem:

Hostage Tape

I usually post amazing content in this section but this week I’m switching it up and posting an amazing product.

I’ve been using Hostage Tape for several months now and it’s life-changing (Jocko agrees).

By taping your mouth, you prevent mouth-breathing and snoring (both of which aren’t good for your health). If you want to get better, deeper sleep, I highly recommend Hostage Tape.