Do the Opposite #53 - The Man who Ran the Sahara, Sugar is Not a Treat, When the Market Goes Down, Be an Extreme Character

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The Man Who Ran the Sahara

I've just finished this amazing book (pictured below) by Charlie Engle. It's an autobiography that will put you on the edge of your seat, intently listening. I listened to the audio version read by the author, on the edge of a seat in a bus on my way to and from work :)

Charlie is very inspirational. He went from being a drug addict for about 10 years to running ultra-marathons, and, at one point, running the Sahara desert (something that hasn't been done ever before). The book covers all my favourite topics: running, habit formation and battling addiction, improvement of one's own character. The stories about the years of being addicted to alcohol and drugs are at the same time very real and honest, and also incredible and scary. As Charlie narrated I felt like I was living out those situations and experiencing all the emotions with him.

Later in his career, as a side effect of the financial crash of 2008, he became a victim of mortgage loan fraud and had to serve less then 2 years in prison. He continued to run there (there was a quarter mile loop there) and the stories about life in prison were very illuminating, fascinating and often told with a great deal of humour :)

I hope you check out the book, but also consider watching "Running the Sahara" documentary about Charlie's run across the whole Sahara desert. a feat that took 111 days. He and 2 other runners covered 4600 miles. They ran the distance of 2 marathons most days. The film was produced by Matt Damon, and proceeds went to the H2O Africa charity project to bring clean water to the areas where there is none.

Watch Charlie's story here!


Articles

1) "Be an Extreme Character" by Derek Sivers
Derek Sivers is one of the people I have in mind when I think about people who do the opposite. I absolutely loved this little blog post on how to stand out by embracing your own weirdness and uniqueness unapologetically.

2) "How I *Actually* Finished My 19-Month Side Project" by Taylor Crane
From my personal experience, working and finishing a side project is a hard task. Resistance takes the best of us. We procrastinate. We sabotage ourselves. We stand still because the next steps are not clear enough and it's uncomfortable to mentally stay with the problem long enough to clarify them. This post by Taylor contains some good battle-tested advice.

If you are working or thinking about starting a project of your own (can be anything), your next step should be reading "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield.

3) "Nine Ways to Be Smart When the Market Goes Down" | Wealthsimple blog
These days the situation in the world is uncertain and a lot of us go into panic mode. I am definitely prone to that. Wealthsimple guides us to not give in to panic when it comes to financial matters. This can also be extrapolated to all other areas of your life. Stay calm, educate yourself, take time to make solid decisions, and don't go into a spiral of worry and panic. If you do, I suggest meditation as a way to stop worrying. It has worked wonders for me!


Videos

1) Benefits of Running | Dr. Rhonda Patrick on JRE
Running, despite what the majority of people believes, has a great deal of benefits both for our bodies and our minds. In this video, Dr. Rhonda Patrick and Joe Rogan discuss scientific research on running and their own experience with it.

2) This is Why You Should Make Every Day Count | Jocko Willink
Our time is limited. The thing that scares me most about growing old is potential regret. If I don't take action towards my dreams, plans and projects; if I don't live every day to the fullest; if I don't enjoy as much of life as I can. If, instead, I do all of these to the best of my ability and constantly change myself to realize the version of myself I know I can be, the core of my being, I know I will be a happy old man some day. Jocko provides great motivation and inspiration to do just that!

3) Sugar is Not a Treat | Jody Stanislaw | TEDxSunValley
Jody has been living with Type 1 diabetes since she was 7. That inspired her to devote her life to studying the effects of sugar on our bodies as well as helping people overcome the sugar addiction. There's a lot of evidence to the addictive nature of sugar. For example, sugar stimulates the same areas of the brain as cocaine. It's just that we don't usually think about eating sugar as an addiction because it's not widely recognized as one. However, people experience withdrawal when they try to stop eating it; have trouble regulating their intake of it; use sugar as a way to deal with stress and negative emotions. What makes it worse is that eating sugar (and nowadays pretty much every product contains sugar) is that it can lead to Type 2 diabetes. Sugar also makes us feel hungry so we eat more.

I am currently in the process of cutting sugar out - step by step. I've started with not buying mass market chocolates and sweets, opting instead for 85% chocolate. I've also stopped eating snacks and sweets at work, something that's quite difficult for me at the moment, but I love a challenge! :) At work these are free, come in every shape or form, and while it's easy to say no to myself when I come by the kitchen once of twice, by the 10th time during the day it's very hard to resist.

Tweet of the Week

Ethos

Quotes

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great."
― Mark Twain

"When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."
― Mark Twain

"Some of the biggest challenges in relationships come from the fact that most people enter a relationship in order to get something: they're trying to find someone who's going to make them feel good. In reality, the only way a relationship will last is if you see your relationship as a place that you go to give, and not a place that you go to take."
― Anthony Robbins


* This DTO issue was written to the sounds of Daft Punk "Homework" album ❤️
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Keep doing the opposite,
Alex Kallaway
Website: dotheoppo.site
Twitter: twitter.com/ka11away