Review

I’m guilty of avoiding discomfort. I’ve created an environment at home that’s so controlled I can feel it making me more fragile. I read the book because the title resonated with me. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I won’t be recommending it to others. The author told the story of the comfort crisis and (how to snap out of it) interlaced with tales from an Alaskan hunting trip. Sadly I didn’t find it all that relatable or interesting - although there was plenty of food for thought and interesting references.

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Key Takeaways

The 20% that gave me 80% of the value.

• We rarely step outside our comfort zones and feel the sensation of discomfort. We lack struggle. We’re never bored.
• Over time we lower our threshold for what we consider a problem. We end up with the same number of troubles. What’s comfortable is an ever increasing moving target
• We evolved to seek comfort. In a hostile world that keeps you a live. In a comfortable world it limits your potential.
• We need to get uncomfortable and ditch the comfort blanket and learn new limits.
• Misogi is doing something so hard once a year → that it has an impact on the other 364 days. An emotional, spiritual, and psychological challenge that masquerades as a physical challenge
• Rule 1: it has to be really fucking hard. Pitch it so you have a 50% chance of success if you do everything right.
• Rule 2: you can’t die
• Misogi should also be adventurous, have a clear goal and be quirky or uncommon.
• People who face some adversity report better psychological well-being. Facing challenges makes people feel more robust and resilient
• These challenges are beneficial for obesity, heart disease, cancers, diabetes, depression, and anxiety
• Only you are watching. Are you important enough to see it through?

Other takeaways of note

• Silence is more calming than most products that claim to be relaxing
• Exposure to nature drops blood pressure, heart rate and stress
• Beware of eating for reasons beyond hunger (eating for dopamine and not for fuel (comfort food and stress eating))
• Track what you eat. Close the gap between what you think you eat and what you eat.
• Stress is inevitable - you need to change the response
• Eat foods if medium energy density
• Fast occasionally
• Connect with the concept of impermanence. Think of death 3 times a day.
• Exercise-induced fatigue is a psychological state (not a good indicator of your physical limit)
• Breath rhythmically to take your mind of exercise. Focus only on the breath
• Exercise often performs better than the best medications for treating issues
• Put yourself through a big challenge and you’ll be impossible to rattle - and you’ll be grateful for the little things, and become more aware of time passing
• Rucking is strength and cardio in one. Causes 6x less injuries than running. Use weight as a handicap and make rucking social

Deep Summary

Longer form notes, typically condensed, reworded and de-duplicated.

We rarely step outside our comfort zones and feel the sensation of discomfort

• We lack struggle. Hunger, cold, pain, exhaustion, stress.
• Most stress is ‘first-world stress’.
• We live in a state of habitual motion and meaningless chatter.
• Boredom is indeed dead.

• This effect is called ‘prevalence-induced concept change’
• Humans adjust their expectations. What’s comfortable is an ever increasing moving target

We need to make a choice

• Do nothing (continue with the numbing lifestyle)
• Or get uncomfortable (ditch the comfort blanket)
• Embrace the discomfort of hard change
• Learn new limits

What are you mentally and spiritually willing to put yourself through to be a better human?

Misogi = Once a year do something so hard that it has an impact on the other 364 days

• Misogi Rule 1: it has to be really fucking hard
• Pitch it so you have a 50% chance of success if you do everything right
• Get to your limit - push past it
• Misogi Rule 2: you can’t die
• Misogi should be…
• Challenging
• Adventurous
• Done once or twice a year
• Difficult
• Unstructured
• Have a clear goal
• Quirky, creative, uncommon (incomparable to other people’s challenges)
• The newness of the situations and training force you into presence and focus
• Evolutionary brains are wired to overestimate the consequences of failure
• Unhelpful in a comfortable environments, but helpful if you’re on a Misogi with a clear goal
• Misogi is an emotional, spiritual, and psychological challenge that masquerades as a physical challenge

Experiencing the discomforts of our early ancestors (long hunts) through Misogi unlocks physical, mental and spiritual benefits

• Toughening: people who face some adversity report better psychological well-being. Facing challenges makes people feel more robust and resilient
• pain feels less, people able to deal with stressful situations better
• These challenges are beneficial for obesity, heart disease, cancers, diabetes, depression, and anxiety
• They are good for entering flow state - where action and awareness merge. Sensations like pain or hunger, sense of ego and self all fade. Must have a clear goal and must be challenging.
• They require you to get comfortable with solitary discomfort (run, ride or swim)
• fighting biological impulses that want you to tap out
• Only you are watching. Are you important enough to see it through?
• Stress makes memories (turns short-term memory into long-term)

Boredom and Solitude

• Solitude can improve productivity, creativity, empathy, and happiness, and decrease self-consciousness.
• Unfocused time is a restorative activity.
• Boredom is a motivational state by design. Boredom taps into creativity. Boredom tells you to ‘do something’
• Fogg’s Behavior Model: For a behaviour to occur you need Motivation, Ability, and a Prompt
• Silence is more calming than most products that claim to be relaxing

Nature

• 20mins x 3 a week in nature (without your phone) drops blood pressure, heart rate and stress
• 3 days in nature change your mind for the better (peace, presence, happiness, gratitude)

On dieting

• Now food is plentiful and ubiquitous our want for high calorie foods is dangerous
• Hunger comes in waves
• Eating for reasons beyond hunger & ultra-processed calorie rich food
• Your body wants to built fat reserves. As body fat drops, you become hungrier and meals become less satisfying. Each KG lost results in 100 calories per day of hunger
• We don’t lack information or advice. We lack the ability to deal with discomfort. We can’t persist against the discomfort of hunger.
• Don’t conflate processed food with junk food. Food is processed for safety, transportation, flavour, vitamins and mineral preservation. It’s a cornerstone of human civilisation.
• We are more likely to overeat junk food because its more calorie dense, less filling.

On dieting / behaviour change

• Do less. Focus on eliminating limiters to progress. Modify behaviours and beliefs that are keeping you from progressing
• Track what you eat. Close the gap between what you think you eat and what you eat.
• Overweight people’s miscalculations are 3x bigger than average
• Knowing what you eat will change how much you eat (like the Hawthorne effect)
• Two reasons for eating: real hunger and reward hunger
• Reward hunger is when you eat for dopamine and not for fuel (comfort food and stress eating). Dopamine is released and alleviates discomforts (stress, sadness)
• Replace comfort eating with something healthier like walking
• Stress can erode self-restraint → creating a formula for obesity. Eating is only a short lived
• Abstinence makes off-limits foods more attractive and rewarding
• Stress is inevitable - you need to change the response
• Keep track of what you eat. Leverage the Hawthorne effect. Stick within plan.

• Eat mostly unprocessed whole grains, tubers, vegetables and low-fat animal protein.
• Keep meal satisfaction high
• Being a healthy weight is the best thing you can do to reduce chances of cancer
• Eating whole foods reduces changes of disease
• Eat like an adult

On Fasting

• You should feel hungry occasionally. Hunger triggers a series of anti-aging and rejuvenating effects
• Skipping breakfast is the easiest way to do intermittent fasting for 12 hours
• An extended period without food will help you operate at a higher level physically and mentally
• Consider having a couple of 500 calories days a week.
• Occasional 24h hours stints without food can reduce hunger and appetite
• Embrace the discomfort of hunger. Occasionally going without food up to 24 hours is a normal and even beneficial human state.

On Happiness

• The harder you work for something, the happier you’ll be about it (Jonathan Haidt’s - Happiness Hypothesis)
• We are obsessively trying to improve our conditions. We get one thing and immediately want the next thing. This checklist approach to happiness (things will be better when I do x) doesn’t work.
• Be more mindful instead.
• Connect with the concept of impermanence to become more compassionate and mindful.
• think of death 3 times a day (morning, afternoon, evening)
• thinking about death enhances gratitude
• A false sense of permanence means people put off things they truly want to do

On fatigue

• Reach the point where you have nothing left and keep going, define a new limit.
• As much as the human brain hates exercise, it hates failure too.
• Exercise-induced fatigue is predominantly a protective emotion. It’s a psychological state not a good indicator of a person’s physical limits
• Breath rhythmically to take your mind of exercise. Focus only on the breath

On Our Ancestors

• We can all achieve amazing physical feats when we’re forced to.
• Farming (13,000 years ago) and the industrial revolution (170 years ago) have reduced our activity levels.
• We also lost he cognitive part of exercise when we moved exercise indoors.
• Running on uneven ground burns 28% more calories.
• Humans are unique because of their efficiency and ability to carry (15% of body weight)
• Humans can beat every other mammal at distance (lions, tigers, bears, dogs)
• Unique ability to move heavy load from A to B

Benefits of exercise

• Smoking shortens your life by 10 years. Being unfit shortens it by 20 years
• Exercise doesn’t cause heart attacks
• Exercise often performs better than the best medications for treating issues
• Avoid taking antibiotics unless absolutely necessary
• Put yourself through a big challenge and you’ll be impossible to rattle - and you’ll be grateful for the little things, and become more aware of time passing
• Benefits from a big challenge won’t be everlasting, Comfort creep will gain inches every day until your next Misogi

Alaska / Outdoor Tips

• Wool/synthetics make good base layers as they stay warm when wet (cotton gets cold)
• Survival order of operations:
• First: Shelter
• Second: Water
• Third: Food
• Alaska law: You can’t hunt on the same day you fly
• The silence alone is worth the price of admission
• Nature is brutal. Getting shot is by far the best way out for a Caribou
• Seal training: Don’t be late, light, or last

Training Prep

• Rucking is strength and cardio in one. Causes 6x less injuries than running. Use weight as a handicap and make rucking social