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Ok, I'll buy it if you can make a convincing argument for cold showers. To convince me you'll have to address: 1) Given the finite resource model of will power

by b_emery 13y ago

Ok, I'll buy it if you can make a convincing argument for cold showers. To convince me you'll have to address: 1) Given the finite resource model of will power, why should I spend a considerable amount of it forcing myself to take a cold shower? 2) I spend the vast majority of my so called free time doing things I don't want to do, why deny myself the pleasure of a hot shower? [1] 3) The shower is prime alone top-idea-on-your-mind time [2]. Why minimize this? [1] I have kids - my life was not like this before. (Seriously, it's like navy seal training without the guns.) [2] http://www.paulgraham.com/top.html http://www.paulgraham.com/top.html

jasonshen 13y ago
My goal is only to convince you to try taking one, perhaps a week of cold showers, and see if you like it and want to keep going. 1) First off, if you're not exercising much, you should probably spend your willpower on ramping that up. In general, research has shown that willpower acts more like a muscle than a purely "fuel tank" model and taxing your willpower in small increments can actually strengthen it in the long run. [1] But in general, your shower time is already allocated for, and happens at a regular interval, so after exercise (which takes up time that people sometimes say "they don't have") it is a good place to do some willpower strengthening. 2) In the book, I actually explain that I start cold for 3 minutes and then end warm/hot. It's actually better than just going warm right away. 3) I admit that when the water is cold, you are not able to think about much. But if you turn it back to warm after a period, you still can spend the rest of the shower thinking. Also I find that clearing your head via the cold means the rest of your day's thinking is more clear, which may be worth the trade off. Ultimately, you should just try it once, go through it, and see if it serves you. [1] http://blog.bufferapp.com/what-the-research-on-habit-formation-reveals-about-willpower-and-overall-well-being http://blog.bufferapp.com/what-the-research-on-habit-formati...
- ctietze 13y ago
  The book 'The Willpower Instinct' is citing research which supports this claim. There are ways to increase your overall willpower, if you like to think of it as a resource.
  - jasonshen 13y ago
    That book is fantastic.
- diminoten 13y ago
  I've got a weird question regarding this idea of "flexing the will muscle": Do you write at all about stoic philosophy, and where it fits into your whole... outlook, or whatever the sum of your book and blog posts represents? Because the idea of subjecting oneself to unpleasant experiences (mostly in the form of denial) is a significant part of stoicism.
  - jasonshen 13y ago
    I've read a tiny bit of stoic philosophy (Marcus Aurelius's Meditations) but have not written much about it, mostly because I just find other things more interesting.
joelrunyon 13y ago
I'm not Jason but I'll jump in here. I differ a little from Jason with answers/philosophy on this, but we match up pretty closely overall & I've written & spoken tons on cold showers: 1) Over time, you'll find it takes less will power to do it & you'll recognize it gets easy. In other words, you get stronger and you'll find yourself spending less time worrying about whether or not you can do something & more time just doing it. Over time, you'll find yourself taking the same attitude towards other difficult or uncomfortable things in life[1]. 2) This sounds like something different than cold showers, but I'll take a crack at it. When you start CST - and do it for a few days - you start to realize that it's not really as bad as you thought it would be after all[2] and every single reason why people don't take cold showers comes down to one of two different "reasons." [3] 3) I've actually had some of my best idea time while taking a cold shower. You can either choose to freak out or become really zen & when you do it's crazy the ideas you can come up with. 4) There's always the health benefits (I don't get into this a ton, but it helps with quite a few things physically from circulation to healthy hair[5]. [1] http://impossiblehq.com/cold-shower-therapy-guide http://impossiblehq.com/cold-shower-therapy-guide [2] http://impossiblehq.com/cold-showers-india http://impossiblehq.com/cold-showers-india [3] http://impossiblehq.com/cold-showers-excuses http://impossiblehq.com/cold-showers-excuses [4] http://impossiblehq.com/cold-shower-health-benefits http://impossiblehq.com/cold-shower-health-benefits Sorry for all links - thought it was better than leaving a block of text.
- b_emery 13y ago
  No apology needed! Thanks for the links.

by b_emery 13y ago

jasonshen 13y ago

My goal is only to convince you to try taking one, perhaps a week of cold showers, and see if you like it and want to keep going. 1) First off, if you're not exercising much, you should probably spend your willpower on ramping that up. In general, research has shown that willpower acts more like a muscle than a purely "fuel tank" model and taxing your willpower in small increments can actually strengthen it in the long run. [1] But in general, your shower time is already allocated for, and happens at a regular interval, so after exercise (which takes up time that people sometimes say "they don't have") it is a good place to do some willpower strengthening. 2) In the book, I actually explain that I start cold for 3 minutes and then end warm/hot. It's actually better than just going warm right away. 3) I admit that when the water is cold, you are not able to think about much. But if you turn it back to warm after a period, you still can spend the rest of the shower thinking. Also I find that clearing your head via the cold means the rest of your day's thinking is more clear, which may be worth the trade off. Ultimately, you should just try it once, go through it, and see if it serves you. [1] http://blog.bufferapp.com/what-the-research-on-habit-formation-reveals-about-willpower-and-overall-well-being http://blog.bufferapp.com/what-the-research-on-habit-formati...

ctietze 13y ago
The book 'The Willpower Instinct' is citing research which supports this claim. There are ways to increase your overall willpower, if you like to think of it as a resource.
- jasonshen 13y ago
  That book is fantastic.
diminoten 13y ago
I've got a weird question regarding this idea of "flexing the will muscle": Do you write at all about stoic philosophy, and where it fits into your whole... outlook, or whatever the sum of your book and blog posts represents? Because the idea of subjecting oneself to unpleasant experiences (mostly in the form of denial) is a significant part of stoicism.
- jasonshen 13y ago
  I've read a tiny bit of stoic philosophy (Marcus Aurelius's Meditations) but have not written much about it, mostly because I just find other things more interesting.

joelrunyon 13y ago

I'm not Jason but I'll jump in here. I differ a little from Jason with answers/philosophy on this, but we match up pretty closely overall & I've written & spoken tons on cold showers: 1) Over time, you'll find it takes less will power to do it & you'll recognize it gets easy. In other words, you get stronger and you'll find yourself spending less time worrying about whether or not you can do something & more time just doing it. Over time, you'll find yourself taking the same attitude towards other difficult or uncomfortable things in life[1]. 2) This sounds like something different than cold showers, but I'll take a crack at it. When you start CST - and do it for a few days - you start to realize that it's not really as bad as you thought it would be after all[2] and every single reason why people don't take cold showers comes down to one of two different "reasons." [3] 3) I've actually had some of my best idea time while taking a cold shower. You can either choose to freak out or become really zen & when you do it's crazy the ideas you can come up with. 4) There's always the health benefits (I don't get into this a ton, but it helps with quite a few things physically from circulation to healthy hair[5]. [1] http://impossiblehq.com/cold-shower-therapy-guide http://impossiblehq.com/cold-shower-therapy-guide [2] http://impossiblehq.com/cold-showers-india http://impossiblehq.com/cold-showers-india [3] http://impossiblehq.com/cold-showers-excuses http://impossiblehq.com/cold-showers-excuses [4] http://impossiblehq.com/cold-shower-health-benefits http://impossiblehq.com/cold-shower-health-benefits Sorry for all links - thought it was better than leaving a block of text.

b_emery 13y ago
No apology needed! Thanks for the links.