➡️ Podcast recap: Three reasons you should do hard things

Hi! Welcome to the 28th edition of 💡learnshiv. Here, you will find three practical ways to future-proof your life to adapt and thrive in a rapidly changing world — every week.

Here’s what we’re talking about in this week’s newsletter:

• 👉🏽 Embracing Difficulty: Here’s why you should do the sh*t you don’t always wanna do.

  • I re-listen to this podcast episode all the time, and I wanted to give you three actionable takeaways

  • Here’s WHY you should do hard things and HOW doing them helps you future-proof your life

Adjusting and changing to this ever-changing world will require us to do a lot of things we don’t always want to do. We’re going to be put in many uncomfortable situations and experience a lot of growing pains. But I think if we learn to build resilience, we can not only benefit mentally and physically by decreasing our need for dopamine; we’ll also be able to adapt much quicker.

Here are three of the most practical takeaways from this episode of Hidden Brain and how they’ll help you future-proof your life.

1) Purposely do tough stuff to make you stronger
Lesson: You should embrace mild doses of discomfort because it helps you build resilience.

Explanation: When you expose your body to small, manageable challenges or stresses, it responds by getting stronger. This is called hormesis.

• Examples of hormetic practices

  • Physical: difficult exercises, cold plunges, fasting

  • Mental: learning a new skill, trying to solve a complex problem, meditation

• Engaging in hormetic practices essentially conditions your brain to manage stress more effectively across various aspects of life. It extends to other challenges you may face. As a result, you're likely to demonstrate greater resilience when confronting difficulties in seemingly unrelated areas of your life.

Practical application: Start with a 30-day challenge. Choose one hormetic practice (e.g., cold showers, daily meditation, or learning a new language) and commit to it for 30 days. Start small and gradually increase the intensity or duration.

2) Challenge yourself to balance your brain’s reward system
Lesson: Since we can now access dopamine so easily, we need to intentionally seek out challenges.

Explanation: Constant pursuit of pleasure can lead to a dopamine deficit, resulting in anxiety, irritability, and depression. Balancing pleasurable activities with challenges can help reset this system.

• Examples of challenges:

  • Implement a dopamine fast (go phoneless for a day, try a sober month)

  • Put difficult things on your calendar (schedule brain-testing games and workouts)

  • Make goals that require effort (aim to run a 10K or start a new project)

Practical application: Design a weekly schedule that includes both enjoyable activities and challenging tasks. For example, balance social media time with periods of focused work or learning.

3) Do the hard sh*t first so you don’t crash later
Lesson: Engage in challenging activities early to experience more stable and lasting positive feelings.

Explanation: Tackling difficult tasks first triggers your brain's natural reward system more effectively. By completing challenging work, you earn a well-deserved dopamine release that lasts longer and feels more satisfying. This approach contrasts with seeking quick pleasures, like checking your phone, which provides an immediate but short-lived dopamine hit. These easy rewards often lead to a motivation crash later.

• Prioritize difficult tasks first to prevent a dopamine crash later (think of it like a sugar high and a sugar crash)

• Examples of challenging tasks to do in the morning:

  • Start the day with a workout

  • “Eat the frog” and tackle a difficult work task in the morning

  • Practice self-discipline; wait 90 mins before having your coffee

Practical application: Implement a "hard thing first" policy daily. For one week, start each day by completing your most challenging task before moving on to easier or more pleasurable activities.

Looks like Lady Gaga was right… you can do hard things (and it’s good for you!).

Thanks for reading our 28th newsletter. Find me on Instagram or LinkedIn where I post even more little tidbits about learning and my life.

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Have a great week, and stay curious,

Shiv 💁🏽‍♀️