Eyram Akabua: [00:00:00] Hi, my name is Eyram Akabua. I am a data scientist, and today we’ll be talking about why cold showers are overrated. So imagine that you challenge two people for some reason to jump into a freezing lake. And person A is a cannonball in the center of the lake, makes a huge splash, whereas person B kind of meanders step by step towards the middle of the, uh, of the lake.

It’s not very entertaining. It’s actually quite boring, but they both get the task done. So then the plot twist, person A, used to be like person B uh, but through Warm bath resilience, they basically trained themselves to look like someone who was made for this task. So worth bath resilience is the mindset that with time, resources, and consistency, you can learn or [00:01:00] accomplish pretty much anything, even if you have to go devastatingly slow.

So it’s simple and kind of lame from a distance, but it’s not easy. However, if it’s, if it’s too hard. Don’t quit. Just adjust is one of the principles. So it turns ambitious goals into fun and sustainable long-term projects and it kind of gives off the same vibe that person B gave off. An antithesis to that is cold shower resilience.

And so this is the textbook definition of grit. Strong, tough, and successful, and it’s an identifier that you gifted those people that always seem to be doing hard things effortless effortlessly. All the time, or even someone who seems to be doing what you are doing, but better. And so in comparison, it makes warm bath resilience look slow and pointless.

Just like how person A made person B look slow and pointless. So the reason why it matters is that there are people who are just naturally, uh, cold shower [00:02:00] resilience, a choice view in this world. But for the vast majority, most cold shower resilience is actually just consistent warm bath resilience over a long period of time.

And so if you are someone who’s transitioning into a new role or you’re trying to learn a new skill, trying to mimic cold shower resilience while you’re learning treats challenges like a test. Of your self worth. And so embodying warm Bath resilience really advocates for pushing your to your to be your version of better.

But imitating Cold Shower resilience will punish you for not being better. And where Cold Shower resilience will externalize your success. Uh, warm Bath and resilience will internalize your success. So then how do you develop warm bath resilience? And this is through something called warm bath efforts.

And so these are these small, deconstructed actions that are just barely challenging for you specifically, and their purpose is to build up capability, confidence, [00:03:00] and your character over time. However, by definition, they are unglamorous. Annoying. So it’s not building new tutorials that you’re interested in over a weekend.

It’s committing a single line of code to an existing personal project that you’ve been avoiding. And it’s not being a networking fiend, it is simply just socializing or leaving your house, um, or even getting out of bed some days. So their purpose is to add to your ability to be uncomfortable and also stay in the game, and also show you that over time you are becoming more and more goal oriented.

So then how do you stay the course when warm bath efforts are defined as annoying and uncomfortable? And this is through making your own comfort. So I’m gonna share how I’m trying to make my own comfort. ‘cause it’s still experimental, you know, so firstly through reflection or journaling. Um, and this is because as I mentioned, you can approximate cold shower resilience through warm bath efforts.

So that kind of approximation requires a [00:04:00] paper trail. So basically just documenting my efforts and, and. Uh, generating some evidence of me having a job well done, tracking what I learned day to day and how I’m learning it, and, uh, it kind of helps me to know that I’m doing a good job and where to, uh, course correct if needed.

Then secondly, we have community where, uh, it’s really beneficial to find different pockets of, uh, your close loved ones, your, uh, different communities, local or online, as well as one-on-one relationships where they also value warm bath resilience and warm bath efforts. And finding these kinds of people where they can kind of encourage you is really helpful for you to stay on course.

And also talking to these people helps you to maintain perspective. Um, in terms of, you know, transitioning from warm bath resilience to cold bath, resilience is not the most important thing in the world, especially when, if you’re trying to, uh, pursue success. I. [00:05:00] So then lastly, we have, uh, goal visualization.

So the purpose of this is to kind of leave room for my feelings when pursuing my goals, as well as, uh, kind of, uh, instilling in me that there are many different pathways to my goals. So by me, uh, establishing my goals in whatever framework. So I use a variation of Gold Circle as well as using a mutable or a flexible re visualization method.

I use digital mind maps. I’m able to create my goals in a way that’s a living, a representation of my life and of my successes in what I’ve accomplished so far. And so, uh, by doing that and incorporating these, uh, different warm bath efforts as, uh. Distinct milestones. That kind of helps me to see that I am on the right track.

So in closing, warm bath efforts, uh, yield warm bath resilience, which yields an approximation of cold shower resilience. And that’s through consistency over time. And so if you are learning or [00:06:00] transitioning through a, a certain learning phase, um, cold shower resil, uh, cold shower efforts look appealing. Um, but repeated warm bath efforts result in a change in character.

That primes you for success. So if you do see impressive people who seem to be doing the impossible, uh, realize that you are not a completely different species. You are. Pretty much the same with time and consistent small efforts. And that accomplishment and feeling successful is available to you right now, especially if you’re already doing these small unglamorous, tiny little tasks that are annoying and, uh, the world will probably never know about.

So, uh, thank you very much for listening and I hope that this was helpful.