Welcome to Snafu, a newsletter about how to change behavior.

I sit in 39° water for a few minutes each morning. Even more than the benefits, I'm learning a lot about procrastination and doing hard things.

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What have you been avoiding lately?

Two months ago I moved into a new house and promptly bought myself something that I have been lusting after for at least 3 years – a commercial cold plunge.

I grew up jumping into ice covered lakes in the High Sierra. (There's a infamous story in my family where, at 5 years old, I didn’t jump into an ice covered lake. I’ve been doing penance ever since.)

In 2017, I built a homemade chest freezer cold plunge. The problem with using a chest freezer – beyond the slight chance of electrocution – is keeping the water cold, clean, and circulating.

So when I moved into my new house and extensive backyard, I splurged.

I've noticed a lot of positive benefits from sitting in freezing cold water for a few minutes every day:

• It's the best (i.e. most abrupt) way to wake up in the morning.
• I feel energized for several hours afterwards.
• Cold plunging is good for my physique.
• But there’s one unexpected thing about cold plunge that I’m just starting to explore, and that’s my penchant to avoid it.

I've sat in my tub of freezing cold water for at least a few seconds every single day for two months. My daily average is two minutes at 39°.

But I will still go to extraordinarily great lengths to avoid the cold water each morning!

Some mornings I will procrastinate for 90 minutes; I'll make tea, check email, deal with an urgent work thing, listen to a podcast. Anything to avoid the freezing cold water.

I now judge the efficiency of my day, and my wellbeing in general, by how quickly I get into the cold plunge in the morning.

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Homework: What are you avoiding?

I’ve begun noticing other things that I’m avoiding.

The mark of success is not just whether I get into my cold plunge but how much I procrastinate beforehand. Whether I’m avoiding the behavior.

My homework, then, is to do something that you “don’t want to do” and to do it with attention.

• Go for a hard walk and notice how difficult it is.
• Eat very differently for one meal than you usually do, and notice how to feel afterwards.
• Take a cold shower, instead of a hot one.

Ultimately, I can’t prescribe something “difficult” for you because it depends on your baseline. (A cold shower isn’t hard for me anymore.)

The key is to notice how you feel before you engage in this difficult behavior. Notice your temptation to avoid that behavior, and then how you feel after you've done so.

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3 things I’ve loved this week

Quote I’m considering: “You must go on. I can't go on. I'll go on.”

― Samuel Beckett, The Unnamable

Book I’m Reading: When Breath Becomes Air​

I went on a date with the physician recently and she said it was her all-time favorite book. When Breath Becomes Air is the memoir of a neurosurgeon who was about to finish his medical residency when he was diagnosed with lung cancer.

That theme lands because of the people in my life who've struggled with cancer. But this book stands out more for it's poetry, even than for the topics of life, death, and love.

The book reminds me of Tuesdays with Morrie, which changed my relationship with mortality when I read it in high school.

Podcast I’m Listening To: Apollo Robbins “The Gentleman Thief” on the Tim Ferriss Show

I’ve always been intrigued by con men. Heists are my favorite genre of movie.

This conversation with Apollo Robins was enlightening - I enjoyed Apollo’s basic education about the world of thief, his lack of moral right and wrong while still advocating for pro-social behavior, and the ways in which he translated lessons from confidence games into topics like attention and parenting advice.

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Until next week,
Robin