This morning (like all mornings) I started out my day taking a mile and half walk at the park behind my house at 5:30 am.
The park has a huge lake and a paved walking path around it. Every so often, there is a small dock that extends 10 feet over the lake for the fisherman who visit during the spring, summer and fall.
When I reach one of the docks I stop and do 10 pushups.
I do this at five of the seven docks that are there.
And when it’s raining, snowing, or windy and freaking cold as hell, I tell myself that all I have to do is get 10 pushups done, and then I can walk to the next dock before I do 10 more.
By spring my goal is to do 10 pushups at each of the docks so I get 70 pushups in before returning home.
When I get back to my house, I jump in the hot tub for 10 minutes and meditate with my favorite app, Headspace.
Then I get out of the hot tub (that is usually around 103 or 104 degrees Fahrenheit) and I go into my cold plunge tub that is set at 46 degrees Fahrenheit.
I submerge myself in there for three minutes and then I get back into the hot tub for 15 minutes.
Finally, I end my plunging routine by doing one final cold plunge for four to five minutes.
When I get out for the second time, I do 20 pushups, 60 leg lifts and then I get into a lukewarm shower to get my body back up to temperature.
And let me tell you, there is not a single day that goes by where I don’t say to myself “man, I don’t want to get in the cold plunge today!”
But every time I do it, I feel better afterward.
And I’m proud of myself because I haven’t missed a single day of cold plunging in over three months now.
A few years ago, I started taking cold showers and that really helped me mentally prepare for the day.
So this year when I had the chance to buy a cold plunge tub, I was excited to level up my cold therapy game.
Let me tell you… cold showers are a vacation compared to cold plunging.
But the great part of cold plunging every day is that I choose positive adversity as one of the first parts of my day.
In my opinion, physical health benefits are amazing, but even better are the mental results I get.
Taking that cold plunge every morning is cold as hell.
But after that, there is really nothing that bothers me during the day.
As entrepreneurs and leaders, we face a lot of tough decisions and situations each day; but when we prepare effectively, we can overcome those situations with ease.
Engineering healthy adversity into my life is one of the best gifts I’ve ever given myself.
So my question for you is: what does healthy adversity look like for you?
How can you steel your mind and body for the challenges that are ahead?
I’d love to hear your thoughts, so leave a comment below and let me know.
To your icy cold success,
Gabe