Cold Shower Mindset

Nick Chan
Nick Chan
Aug 8, 2017 · 3 min read

There are a lot of things that need to be done on any given day. For me, I always want to be able to actually wake up, get some exercise in, do some writing, read a book, polish up my Spanish, and the list goes on. Then there’s the matter of actually doing work for the business.

The most significant challenge to all of this is simply getting started.

I’m sure that I am not the only one who has experienced that sinking feeling of dread when first starting a task. Your body drags a little, your mind starts thinking of all the other places it would rather be, and voila, procrastination is born.

It becomes all too tempting to open up Facebook for a quick check. All of a sudden, you might have to check your email or find a snack. For me, my go to excuse is that I find the sudden urge to become an informed global citizen and go on a whirlwind of reading. I’ll become an expert on something obscure like North Korean and American relationships only to come back and realize that I still have a mountain load of work to do.

Unfortunately, there is simply no easy solution to this problem. Otherwise, I would go out and be the most productive being on Earth. You would see blog posts being churned out at every hour, a growing list of completed books, and for once in my life, I would be able to check everything off my to-do list.

I hate to-do lists.

But for me, I think that at the end of the day, there’s a certain mindset that needs to be cultivated. One where you have the urge to just tackle every item on your to do list. I mean conquer them. Kill them off. Vanquish them with a check mark.

My way of practicing that mindset is to take a cold shower.

Why? Because the first second in a cold shower is hell. Without fail.

Jumping Into A Cold Shower Kills (In A Good Way)

When the cold water hits your head, it’s like an electric shock. Goosebumps erupt instantaneously all over my skin, and the adrenaline starts coursing through my veins. The cold also kickstarts my ability to see the future. It’s always sort of fuzzy to make out, but I usually notice high probability that hypothermia lies in my immediate future.

That initial shock lasts only about a second.

Then it’s all smooth sailing. I really enjoy the feeling of a cold shower. As it turns out, ice cold water being dunked on your head is one of the most refreshing things in the world. Every time I walk out of a cold shower, I feel turbocharged. On a good day, I feel alive and ready to conquer the world. On a bad day, I’m now wide awake and can avoid drinking coffee.

Every time I walk out of a cold shower, I feel turbocharged. On a good day, I feel alive and ready to conquer the world. On a bad day, I’m now wide awake and can avoid drinking coffee.

Just like a cold shower, it never helps to delay and ease into many tasks. Opening the blog, then going off to read the news instead of writing is just like trying to slowly ease my way into a cold shower. It just prolongs my misery, and it delays my happiness.

So that mindset that comes with a cold shower? That’s what I need to incorporate into the rest of my life. Just grit my teeth, deal with the immediate shock and pain, and then enjoy that blissful feeling of completion after.


Originally published at Whirling Thoughts.

Nick Chan

Written by

Nick Chan

Queens’ Commerce ’21. Believer in lifelong learning and education.

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