The Spartan Way: Eat Better. Train Better. Think Better. Be Better.

by Joe De Sena

life to force yourself out of your comfort zone. Here’s some deliberate adversity to try: Delayed Gratification Challenge: • Skip dinner one day. • Avoid alcohol for two weeks. • Only buy food from farm stands this week. • Eat meatless meals for one week. • Fast for sixteen hours. Technology Challenge: ○ Turn off your cell phone for one week. ○ Do not use any form of social media for a week. ○ Unplug the television. ○ Mow the lawn with a push mower. ○ Build a fire without matches (using a flint and steel). ○ Ride your bicycle to work or to the grocery store. Exercise Challenge: ○ Wake up at 5 a.m. to exercise. ○ Do thirty burpees every day. ○ Go for a hike wearing a backpack loaded with forty pounds of gear or several sandbags. ○ Work out once in the morning and once in the evening daily for one week. ○ Train for a classic one hundred–mile “century” bike ride. ○ If you can’t do a single pull-up, start by practicing a dead hang. Just grab a pull-up bar and hang as long as you can to build grip and arm strength. Then work up to doing one pull-up and then ten. Next build up to fifteen and so on. Relationships Challenge: ○ Take a day off in the middle of the week and do not check in with work. ○ Never miss dinner with the family because of work. ○ Take your wife on a date once a week. ○ Call or hand-write a note to a different friend each week. ○ Apologize to someone you have hurt or wronged. ○ Join an enthusiast club or service organization. ○ Volunteer at a soup kitchen or a...

Deliberate adversity challenges