Tuesday Treasure #18: cold showers, Facebook experiment, global village

Hey family!

The Danny Miranda Podcast launches in 1 day.

This week’s Treasure features stories about cold showers, changing your mind, a questionable Facebook experiment, and what would happen if we shrunk the population of the world into a 100 person village.

Let’s start off with a quote…

Quote of The Week

Self-discipline is when you tell yourself to do something and you don’t talk back.

–W. K. Hope

Change Your Approach

Last week, I was discussing the benefit of cold showers with a fellow Tuesday Treasure reader.

He told me that he tried it but “couldn’t” do it. After less than 5 seconds, he felt the need to jump out of the water.

But then I received an update from him:

After our conversation I tried again, however this time with a different approach. I started on warm, closed my eyes, and slowly adjusted the handle towards cold in incredibly-small increments. If I began breathing fast I would intentionally relax it, and encourage myself by thinking “this is barely different than the last temperature, and you were able to handle that just fine”. Once my breathing relaxed,I went on to the next colder increment. Eventually I reached for the shower handle to turn it colder, but was surprised to realize that there was no more room to turn – I had reached the end. I audibly laughed. “That was easy”.

(Bolding my own.)

So many lessons from this story:

If you don’t succeed, try again witha different method.
When in doubt, focus on the breath.
Encourage yourself in the face of a challenge.
Use gradual increases to make gains.
Take cold showers.

It’s Okay To Change Your Mind

My cousin is a bright 19-year-old (he reads Tuesday Treasure, afterall).

This past weekend, we were talking about players kneeling for the national anthem.

I won’t bother to let you know what he currently believes… because it doesn’t matter.

What does matter was that he said:

“I used to believe this and now I believe that. Here’s why.”

In our society, we tend to associate changing our mind with flip-flopping. With something we shouldn’t do.

But this couldn’t be further from the truth. When you change your mind, you’re actually letting others know you can consider the possibility you were once wrong. That’s a valuable skill to have, especially in a world that is rapidly changing.

The Facebook Experiment

700,000 people entered into a Facebook experiment in 2012 without knowing it.

The goal of the study was to figure out if people’s emotions were impacted by those they interacted with online.

For some, Facebook blocked posts with negative words (e.g. “sad”).

For others, Facebook blocked posts with positive words (e.g. “happy”).

What did they find?

If you were in the group that blocked the negative words, you used slightly more positive words.

If you were in the group that blocked positive words, you used slightly more negative words.

This experiment caused an uproar in the scientific community for ethical concerns (nobody in the experiment was aware they were being studied).

But the research is important for us because it lets us know we should…

Ruthlessly surround ourselves with positive words. With people who bring us up. Books that inspire. Social media accounts that spread love. Newsletters that feed us knowledge. 🙂

Our own mental wellbeing is at stake.

The Global Village

Shrink the Earth’s population down to a village of 100 people.

By continent…

60 Asians
13 Africans
12 Europeans
9 Latin Americans
5 North Americans
1 Oceanian

Of those 100 people…

50 would be female
50 would be male
67 would be non-Christian
33 would be Christian
20 would earn 89 percent of the wealth
25 would live in substandard housing
17 would be unable to read
13 would suffer from manultrition
1 would die within the year
2 would give birth within the year
2 would have a college education

These numbers have likely changed since 2008, but the point remains the same:

When we bring the world down to a size we can comprehend, it allows us to have more empathy for others because it makes us realize how lucky we are.

(Source: The Winner’s Manual by Jim Tressel)

Photo of the Week

This photo comes from my Aunt Dede, who sent it to me before reading last week’s Treasure… where I mentioned Daniel Bourke’s quote: “The ultimate test in life is not seeing whether or not you can avoid the darkness, it’s seeing whether or not you can dance with it.”

Keep on dancing, folks.

That’s all for today.

As always, hit the reply with your favorite piece of treasure.

To your success,

Danny

Tuesday Treasure #17: everyday, rest, routines

Hey family!

The next week is exciting…

The 75 HARD group kicks off in three days (currently 79 members).

The Danny Miranda Podcast launches in eight (with three or four episodes).

But for now, let’s dive into the treasure.

You Don’t Decide Once, You Decide Everyday

Eric Jorgenson published this tweet almost 3 years ago.

Today, The Navalmanck launched.

When I was going through his recent podcast with David Perell, he mentioned how he thought when he decided he was going to write the book that meant he was automatically to finish the book.

It is, of course, never that simple.

He realized you have to make the decision every day that you’re going to honor your commitments.

In Eric’s words:

If you decide you’re going to go do a hundred pull-ups, you don’t decide that once, you have to decide every day to keep training and keep training and keep learning.

Brilliant.

Eric will be a guest on The Danny Miranda Podcast… and I’m really looking forward to reading the conversation.

The Odd High Performance Trick Used By Top Tennis Players

You ever wonder what separates the great tennis players from the mere average ones?

Well, apparently Jim Loehr did.

At first, when he looked into this, he got frustrated. He couldn’t find a difference between what players were doing while they were playing the point.

But then he had an “A-HA!” moment.

Instead of looking at the serves, the forehands, and the backhands… he started to analyze in between the points.

He found that better the player, the better they were at resting in between a point.

Their heart rates lowered. They didn’t angry. They composed themselves.

This made only a marginal difference in the first few minutes of the match but a noticeable effect in hour three or four.

This isn’t just important for tennis players though.

How you can apply this?

Think about different areas of your life – physical, mental, emotional, spiritual – and ask where you need to rest better. Are you going too hard on your workouts, your work, your relationships? The better (and more efficiently) you rest, the more likely you are to perform well.

(Source: The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz)

Life Lessons From A Data Scientist

Upcoming podcast guest Daniel Bourke is a machine learning instructor, YouTuber, writer, and a dude with an awesome accent.

I was reading his article on 27 microlessons for life and was struck by so many pieces of wisdom.

Here are some of my favorite takeaways (although the entire artircle is worth reading and internalizing):

“I’ve noticed nothing I can get excites me as much as the things I can create.”
“Most undervalue the power of the follow-up.”
“Begin your next mission as if you had already succeeded. You will be called crazy, obsessed, a lunatic. No matter. They are observers, if they are not standing beside you in your journey, their views do not matter.”
“Reject is far more tolerable than regret.”
“The ultimate test in life is not seeing whether or not you can avoid the darkness, it’s seeing whether or not you can dance with it.”

Do any of these resonate? If so, hit the reply and let me know!

A Website of Daily Routines

I’m addicted to figuring out what top performers really do.

People like Jocko Willink, The Rock, P. Diddy.

And then I stumbled across this website called Balance The Grind.

After going through more than a handful of the articles which note their daily routines, here was common theme:

Relentless work ethic. Work harder, longer, and more consistently than your competition to achieve incredible results.

Maybe cliches are cliches for a reason?

Andrew Cuomo’s Secret

Larry King knew Andrew Cuomo was a rising star in 1994.

So much so that King asked his father (then New York Governor Mario Cuomo) why his son was such a sophisticated, well rounded young man?

The elder Cuomo replied with an unexpected answer:

“All four of Andrew’s grandparents lived until he was thirty. Two of them are still living.”

Communicating with people older than us is an incredible way to expand our own worldview.

Let this serve as a gentle reminder to call or talk to someone older than you today. 🙂

That’s all for today, folks.

I hope you enjoyed reading this week’s Treasure as much as I enjoyed sending it to you.

Have a wonderful Tuesday.

To your success,

Danny

Tuesday Treasure #16: podcast update, listening, Elon Musk’s cold call

Hey family!

Quick update on The Danny Miranda Podcast… eight episodes have been recorded. Aiming for a launch date of September 16 or 23.

Recording the episodes have been fun and it has made me respect what professional interviewers even more (more on that a littlelater).

It’s certainly not easy. But like anything, the more you do it… the better you’ll get.

And since a friend asked what my goals were with the podcast, I’ll share them with you as well:

Publish 100 episodes.

After 100 episodes, I have the option to stop if I want… but not before shipping 100.

Okay, now that we got that out of the way, let’s get to the treasure!

On Listening

I’ve been thumbing through The Book of Life by Jiddu Krishnamurti. I just started it but it’s clear this man has thought deeply about how we think and what we do.

This has been my favorite quote thus far…

“We do not listen simply; there is always the intervening screen of our own thoughts, conclusions, and prejudices… To listen there must be an inward quietness, a freedom from the strain of acquiring, a relaxed attention… It is only in listening that one hears the song of the words.”

To listen is a form of meditation itself.

You can’t be focused on what you’re supposed to do later today. You can’t be projecting your own thoughts onto the conversation.

You must be fully in the moment.

Larry King: Lessons From Talking To More Than 60,000 People

Here are five tips you can apply today from How To Talk To Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime by Larry King:

Be honest.
The greatest question is “Why?”
Stay open.
Avoid yes/no questions.
To be interesting, be interested.

The Best Video I Watched This Week

Came across this on Twitter.

This dad asked his son, “Why don’t you smile in pictures?”

His son gave a response that made me think.

The son explained that if he’s happy, he’ll smile. But if he’s not in a great mood, he’s not going to pretend to be something he’s not for the sake of a photo.

It made me think about social norms… and how sometimes children have a different outlook because as adults, we get desensitized to the norms of our own culture.

(You can watch the whole video here.)

Specialization vs. Generalization

In seventh grade (age 13), I had a music teacher.

He was talking to the class about his regrets…

“I wish I spent more time devoted to one instrument. If I had any piece of advice, it would be to stick to one instrument and practice it more.”

He was talking about specialization vs. generalization.

Specialization is the idea that in order to become a master at something, you need to do something for 10,000 hours. This has been popularized by Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.

It makes sense. It’s easy to remember. But maybe it’s not the whole truth?

You see, I’ve been reading Range: Why Generalists Triumph In A Specialized World by David Epstein.

Epstein makes the case that that we are better off pulling from seemingly unrelated fields before specializing in one.

He uses the example of Roger Federer – whose childhood sports included skiing, basketball, badminton, wrestling, and skateboarding. Federer credits his exceptional hand-eye coordination to playing all these sports.

Interested to get your perspective… where do you weigh in on the generalization vs. specialization argument?

Elon Musk’s Spectacular Cold Call

Elon Musk called rocket expert Jim Cantrell with a proposition: help me acquire Russian rockets.

Here was the actual transcript…

Let’s take a quick moment to analyze this…

First, here are my credentials (“I’m Elon Musk, I’m an internet billionaire”).

Second, here’s what I want (“humanity needs to become a multi-planetary species to survive”).

Third, here’s how you could help me (“I want to save humanity and need your rockets”).

It’s short. Simple. Succinct. Either you’re going to help him or you’re not. But neither party is going to waste time.

Maybe something to keep in mind as you’re reaching out to people?

As always, respond back with your favorite piece of treasure from this week!

To your success,

Danny

Tuesday Treasure #15: archer, challenge, imaginary kids

Hey family!

Welcome to September.

Let’s make it an excellent month.

No time to waste… let’s get to the treasure!

The Armless Archer

Matt Stutzman was born without arms.

2009 was a rough year for him.

Father of two. No job. Unable to provide for his family.

He felt ashamed of himself.

He wanted to put food on the table. So he went out and hunted a deer (he’s from Kansas, after all).

This gave him some hope. It made him feel good. It was a small win.

From there, he realized how good archery made him feel. He started practicing with his bow-and-arrow.

Today, he is a world-class archer. He recently set a world record for longest accurate archery shot. He won a silver medal in the Paralympic Games in 2012.

What changed?

He made the choice to become better every day.

A Challenge For You

New Tuesday Treasure family member Jack introduced me to a video called The Perceptual Capacity of the Heart by Adyashanti.

The premise of the video:

“What if you spent an entire day encountering everyone and everything from your heart?”

Yes, it sounds cliche.

But if you actually do it?

It’s transformative.

Could you answer the phone with love? Could you smile at the next stranger you see? Could you do what your heart felt was right… for one whole day?

It’s an interesting experiment that could likely change our lives if applied daily.

Why Kindness Matters

As it turns out, Adyashanti’s experiment has recently been studied in the real world.

The question is: “Does it even matter if you say hello to a stranger?”

Well, it turns out it does.

A new study came out that concluded you can improve a stranger’s subjective well-being by small, kind gestures:

“the present research showed that something as simple as saying ‘have a nice day’ or ‘take care’ to a stranger is linked with greater subjective well-being…minimal social interactions with strangers contribute to subjective well-being in everyday life.”

Filed For My Imaginary Kids

Parents usually get mad when people who don’t have children tell them how to do their job.

Tuesday Treasure subscriber Shelby Smith is not a parent.

Yet, her friends who are expecting asked for her advice on how to raise their little human.

After reading her article, I can understand why.

It’s really good advice.

Here were some of my takeaways, but you should definitely check out the article for yourself…

Parents should be a unit. They must be on the same page and act as a team.
Hold strategy meetings. Meet with child twice a month to discuss the child’s concerns, performance, and strategy about how you’re parenting.
When your child asks a question, respond with a question to help them figure out the answer on their own. This will help the child develop the habit of seeking truth rather than “being right.”

(This article inspired me to keep a file of articles and resources “for my kids” – who are currently imaginary.)

Conor McGregor’s Iron Mindset

Conor McGregor has achieved incredible success in the past decade.

But what did he say before he was one the most recognized names in sports?

I found an interview from 2012 that spills his secrets (age 24):

Q: What do you want to be?

A: I don’t want to be anything. I am everything I want to be. And I’m already there. I don’t want anything. People say, “I want to do this or I want to do that.“ But the vibe you’re putting out is “want.” You’re always going to want. I always have the attitude that I have. I always felt like I was the black belt. I always felt like I was the world champ… I don’t want everything. I have everything.

What if you acted and operated as if you already had what you desired? Not from a place of lack but a place of knowing it was already yours?

If you want to learn more about Conor’s toolkit for success, check out this article I published yesterday.

Introducing: The 75 HARD Group

If you’ve followed me for anytime, you know 75 HARD changed my life.

And so this past week, I thought…

“I would love to do 75 HARD with a community. I wonder if anyone would join me?”

So I put that out on Twitter.

As it turns out, there were a lot of people who were game.

There is now a Slack group with more than 50 people. Many of us are starting the program on September 18, but a few have started before.

If you want to be involved or want more information, just reply to this email!

As always, it’d mean the world to me if you hit reply and told me about your favorite piece of Treasure this week.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

To your success,

Danny

Tuesday Treasure #14: favorite book, power, punches

Hello family!

Just want to take a quick moment to thank you. You trusting me with your email means the world to me.

This past week I published an article called The System Is Stronger Than Me (And Why I’m Using Roam) and a thread on Twitter called 9 skills to learn (with recommended resources).

(By the way, last week, I titled the email Tuesday Treasure #14… but this is the real #14. Shh, it’ll be our little secret. 🤫)

On to the Treasure!

Favorite Book From 2020?

Tuesday Treasure reader Hunter Weiss recommended two books: Conscious Living by Gay Hendricks and Resilience by Eric Greitens.

Neither has disappointed.

Together, they perfectly encapsulate my Warrior Monk ethos – act with the aggression of a warrior and the compassion of a monk.

I finished Resilience a month or two ago, but just got around to typing up my notes. The book is pure wisdom from a former Navy SEAL, Rhodes Scholar, and Governor of Missouri… and most certainly worth the read.

(I’m trying to have some compassion for myself for having a typo in the first tweet of this thread. 🤦‍♂️)

An Easy System For Remembering Anything

I go on a lot of walks without my phone.

Walks are great for insights and creativity, but sometimes I have trouble recalling everything I think about.

So, I’ve recently come up with a new system…

Link each thought to a hand symbol.

For example, say you have a thought about “becoming the greatest version of yourself,” link it to a thumbs up. Another thought could be about kindness, so you can link it to the index and middle finger (peace sign).

You can then transcribe your thoughts when you have a free moment by looking at your hand.

Maybe this will be useful for you too?

Ernest Shackleton’s Help Wanted Ad

In 1914, Ernest Shackleton set out to go to Antarctica. But he needed a team for his expedition. So he put the following ad in a London paper:

“Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in the event of success.”

I highlight this because it struck me as remarkably similar to another journey we all go on…

Life.

In life, you will likely face adversity (“low wages, bitter cold”). You will often be working with no idea whether what you are doing will succeed (“long hours of complete darkness”). You likely won’t be able to come back (“safe return doubtful”).

But in the event it all works out?

“Honor and recognition” awaits.

How To Be A Powerful Person

One story from the previously mentioned Resilience…

Eric Greitens was near Rwanda on a mission when he met a 16-year-old boy, who was the clear leader of a group of fifteen other boys.

Greitens asked the leader about those in his group.

The leader went one by one pointing to each boy…

“He is powerful with making fire and cooking.”

“He is powerful with the soldiers from Zaire – they like him.”

“He is powerful with singing.”

And in that moment?

It struck Greitens…

The true mark of a powerful person was the ability to recognize the power in everyone else.

Rolling With The Punches

A lot of people think “rolling with the punches” means to keep going through hardship.

But the term actually comes from boxing.

It means to move your body as you’re getting punched – to literally roll your body with the punch… so it hurts less.

Take, Mat Kearney, for example.

Kearney is a musician.

(I’ve been listening to his song “Money” a lot, so I looked into his background.)

It turns out his birth name is Mathew. Not a typo. His name legally only has one “t”.

Why?

The nurse made a mistake on his birth certificate.

Mat got “punched”.

Instead of getting mad or trying to change his name (what most people probably would have done)?

He just owned it… and started going by “Mat.”

How can you use this?

Think to yourself, “Is there something I can’t change but can reframe to help instead of hurt me?”

Launching A Podcast!

In early/mid September, I will officially be launching The Danny Miranda Podcast. Although the launch date is coming soon, I have already recorded the first two episodes and will be recording the third one today.

Would love to hear if you’re as excited about this project as I am! Let me know by replying. 🙂

If you have any requests for potential guests, drop ’em below.

This newsletter consistently remains something that brings me incredible joy to compile and send to you every week – your replies and comments are my oxygen!

So do me a favor and respond back with your favorite piece of treasure from this week.

I look forward to hearing from you. 🙂

To your success,

Danny