Discomfort Academy #85
Do the Opposite has a new name, What to Expect, Recommended Books
Good News Everyone!
Welcome to the newest issue of Discomfort Academy newsletter!
If you want to share any resources (articles, videos, books or anything else) with the community, reply to this email with your recommendations.
Name Change
Let’s start this issue with some animal metaphors. The cat is out of the bag, so I’m going to address the elephant in the room:
Do the Opposite is now Discomfort Academy.
The name change was a long time coming and not something I’ve committed to lightly. You don’t want to know how many different name options I’ve considered before settling on this one.
There were some really funky ones like “The Munchausen Pull-up” (I’ll share that concept in one of the future newsletter issues) as well as some normal ones like Lasting Change and such. I really liked the idea of Discomfort so I explored many name options around that as well.
Some factors that went into the decision:
How well does the name capture the essence/ethos of this newsletter and the community around it
Is there anything by that name already?
Is .COM domain available for the name?
Ultimately, Discomfort Academy checked all the boxes, so here we are.
What to Expect
Don’t worry, the themes I cover in this newsletter won’t change. It will however be more focused around embracing discomfort to build ourselves up to match our ideal self.
I believe we all feel the potential that’s in us, but the problem is that we don’t know how to “get there”. It’s the raw pain of feeling the gap between who we are right now and who we want to become. We can deny it and distract ourselves with meaningless activities only for so long.
One night I was layin’ down,
I heard Papa talkin’ to Mama.
I heard Papa say, to let that boy boogie-woogie
‘Cause it’s in him and it’s got to come out
— “Boogie Chillen”, John Lee Hooker
How do you become the person that does x, y and z consistently? (insert your dreams here: building an app, writing a book, starting a business, learning a language, etc) How do you make that change last?
That’s what this newsletter is about.
We’re together on this journey of becoming. No one is going to come and magically make us what we want to become; we have to reshape ourselves. This is done by building new habits, pushing ourselves into the unfamiliar, the unknown and the uncomfortable.
All change comes through discomfort. Bring it on!
Special thanks for help with the naming goes to my wife Ani, as well as my friends Jordan, Aziz and Hector!
Discomfort Academy Reading List
I’ve added a page of the books that changed my life on the DA website. I’m often recommending and gifting these books, so I thought it’d be great to have them all in one place so I can just direct people there whenever needed.
The book topics vary from building mental toughness to learning meditation to doing creative work to personal finance, so I’m sure you’ll find something interesting there!
If you have a book in mind you think should be added to the list, reply to this email with your suggestion and I’d love to consider it!
Videos
David Goggins - How To Master Your Life | Modern Wisdom Podcast
It’s been a while since David did a podcast interview. We owe his appearance on Modern Wisdom podcast to his promotional efforts around his new book “Never Finished”. Goggins will show you that you’ve been limiting your potential and capping your growth as well as how you can reach new heights you haven’t thought possible.
I believe we as a society have become too soft (myself included), so personally I’ve been on a quest to learn mental toughness and self-discipline. Goggins has been a great teacher for me, I can’t recommend his work enough!
How To Simplify Your Life (Slow Living 101) | Gabe Bult
We’re living in a world of unlimited distraction. The only way to do real work and live life on our own terms is to tune all that noise out. Gabe introduces us to the concept of Slow Living and teaches us how we can implement the ideas behind it.
How To Become a Morning Person in One Week | Zach Highley
Ever since becoming a father, I’ve had drastically less time. No surprise there. I’m more curious: what was I doing before we had our daughter that was taking up all my time? If I’m honest, a lot of that time was spent procrastinating and distracting myself with videos, shows and video games.
Now I don’t have the luxury of abundant free time anymore so I have to find the time to work on my projects and ideas somewhere. It’s either in the late evening when everyone else in the house is sleeping, or in the early morning until work starts.
I’ve mostly been defaulting to late evenings, but by that time I’m tired from the day and don’t have that much energy left. So I’ve been trying to learn to wake up earlier (with inconsistent results so far) and that’s how I found this Zach’s video. He provides practical tips and techniques, backed by science. Enjoy and let’s wake up earlier!
P.S. I’ve also picked up The Miracle Morning book; haven’t gotten far in it yet - but so far it seems promising!
Articles
You Don’t Have to Make $100,000 a Year to Retire Early | Mr. 1500
Lots of people think retiring early is only for people with crazy high salaries, but it’s way more realistic than that even for those of us with more modest incomes. Mr. 1500 is a guy who at some point discovered Mr. Money Mustache’s blog and calculated that in his situation it would take 1500 days to retire early - hence his blog’s name. This post is written by his wife who goes by the moniker “Mrs. 1500”.
This blog post provides a lot of useful strategies for curbing your spending and thus moving closer to reaching financial independence.
Featured Tweet
Ethos
Quotes
“More is lost by indecision than wrong decision. Indecision is the thief of opportunity. It will steal you blind.”
— Cicero
“Normal is not something to aspire to, it’s something to get away from.”
— Jodie Foster
“We will have eternity to celebrate the victories but only a few hours before sunset to win them.”
— Amy Carmichael
If you enjoyed this issue, remember to give it a Like here on Substack! It helps others discover the newsletter ❤️
💌 SHARING IS CARING
If you find this newsletter helpful, you can help it grow by spreading the word!
📚 DISCOMFORT ACADEMY READING LIST
Looking for books that have the potential to change your life? Take a look at our reading list to find your next read!
✈️ TELEGRAM
Discomfort Academy has a public Telegram channel. The content there is a little different than in the newsletter: faster to consume, a bit more random ― basically anything weird or interesting that catches my eye: articles, tweets, videos, images, etc. Hope to see you there as well! :)
🌱 ZERNO APP
I’m building an app called ZERNO to help you build & stick to habits ― if you join the waitlist, you’ll be in the limited few to get early access to the app!
📺 YOUTUBE
Check out the DA YouTube channel with videos on topics similar to the ones covered in this newsletter. Take a look at the channel here and let the ideas influence you into an improved and happier life!
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Stay discomfy,
Alex Kallaway
Website | Twitter
GHOST OCTOPUS INC.
