24 Comments
User's avatar
Marshall R Peterson's avatar

Great post Michael. I suggest that besides really tough single challenges, such as your hunting trip or burning the ships, consistency/discipline can be the toughest challenge of all, be it the 10,000 steps/day, the weekly three days at the gym, or getting your daily intake of protein.

Expand full comment
Aris G.'s avatar

Happy New Year everyone!

Expand full comment
Mike Collins's avatar

Ok I’m thinking of doing a 10K Spartan Trail race in May. Thankfully they break it down by age and Inhave zero expectations on not being dead last but I think I’m gonna do it :)

Expand full comment
geoffrey wang's avatar

I have done a few mountain bike races where I was very close to finishing last, but my goal was just to finish the race and that alone was achievable enough for me. Good luck!

Expand full comment
Mike Collins's avatar

Yep I just want to finish.

Expand full comment
Tim Shibler's avatar

Great post, great reminder of why I started with the 2% mentality after reading The Comfort Crisis, completely changed my perspective. Excited for the January Challenge. Happy New Year everyone!

Expand full comment
Stephen Diotte's avatar

Happy New Year! I clicked on the first challenge and immediately got kicked out of Substack. Happened as well yesterday trying to access one of your articles. Curious if anyone else has this issue?

Expand full comment
Melissa Craig's avatar

I’m also unable to access.🙃

Expand full comment
Anthony Passero's avatar

I got in by clicking on the Chat link on 2 0/0 homepage.

Expand full comment
Chris La Tray's avatar

Same. Substack is regularly locking up on me and then just choosing not to load pages.

Expand full comment
Jill's avatar

It’s always asking me to sign back in unless I go directly through the Substack app/webpage. Annoying!

Expand full comment
Grant Scholes's avatar

Doing hard things stretches our current capabilities and sets a new baseline. It’s good for the brain, muscles and nervous system. Please see the attached article by Mark Rippetoe as this topic applies to powerlifting: https://startingstrength.com/article/training_vs_exercise

Expand full comment
Marshall R Peterson's avatar

Great article Grant. Thanks for posting it.

Expand full comment
Mike Collins's avatar

Love this! One of the reasons I picked up krav maga is it's super physical and it's draining. So one hour a week I go in and get ragdolled while ragdolling other dads my age. It's glorious even though it scared the shit out of me at first.

Expand full comment
Jill's avatar

Ideas for hard things for kids? Mine are adopted from foster care and the oldest (8) especially had a lot of trauma that has resulted in a lack of confidence. He did overnight camp for a few days last year which I think helped, but is obviously not always available. I’d love to know what other people think or maybe a future post? I’m thinking things like family hikes and ???

Expand full comment
William Bett's avatar

You can cook a meal together, bake together, build a relatively difficult LEGO set together, do a household and/or neighborhood cleanup project together and on and on. Bottom line, kids love to feel useful, so anything they can do to help out will slowly increase their confidence!

Expand full comment
Jill's avatar

GREAT ideas!!

Expand full comment
Aris G.'s avatar

Everything William says. I’ll also add that rucking with my son has been helpful (he’s now 12). In his backpack we’d stash our water bottles and I’d let him pick the route/neighborhood so he could feel like we were exploring. Plus it’s a great way to talk (or listen)!

Expand full comment
Jill's avatar

Thank you both!!

Expand full comment
Dom Sutton's avatar

Getting back on my MTB…looking forward to new challenges this year.

Expand full comment
geoffrey wang's avatar

I am signed up for two races this spring and am doing both of them with my 17 year old son, so no backing out for me. Now I have accountability to back up what I plan to do!

Expand full comment
Dom Sutton's avatar

My racing days a long gone…I am 62. But I still love to MTB!

Expand full comment
geoffrey wang's avatar

I am 58, so not too far behind you. Interestingly enough, at these mtb races here in Oregon, the 50-59 male categories have some of the highest number of entrants!

Expand full comment
June Cunningham's avatar

Will do my best in the January Challenge 🏃🏾‍♀️‍➡️

Expand full comment