I touched on it a few entries ago, but I wanted to take the time to expand on my Project Lion Mind plan.
I am someone who thrives on challenges. I really love the process of having to rise and do things that I think I can’t do.
I didn’t challenge myself enough in 2019 and had an itch scratched whilst completing The Sisu Way’s The Character Mile during December. The challenge was to run at least 1 mile for everyday of December with more little challenges sprinkled through like taking a friend, carrying something heavy, or paying complete attention to your surroundings.
Being part of that online community for the month and trading stories was one of the coolest things I did in 2019 so I knew I had to carry it through to 2020.
I had this challenge in mind that I had seen from Brian Chontosh on YouTube about chopping down a tree and then cutting it up for firewood completely with an axe for the purpose of asking hard questions of your body and mind. In Brian’s own words “When things get hard you start to figure out who you really are.”
It was one of those videos that hit me deep and I knew I wanted to attempt it at some stage. Mid way through the Character Mile I told myself that I would do the tree chop challenge in January and add in cold showers as a daily step to harden my mind for the month.
After making this decision, as I regularly do, my mind very quickly started swirling with the idea of challenges each month for the year and all the possibilities I could achieve with these and where I could take it over this year and into the future. I started thinking off all the interesting things I could take on and how I could share my learning from the year.
Suddenly, all the little philosophies and beliefs I have formed over the last few years regarding self-development came flooding in with ways that I could dive deeper into them thanks to this goal. Not that I couldn’t have done this earlier but like I said, I really like the structure of a challenge to get after something. I think it just creates more accountability and purpose to the pursuit.
So many little ideas that I have written about privately and mused upon but never really set out to dive deep into, now have somewhere to live:
- Shoshin: A Beginners Mindset
- Learning a new skill,
- Throwing myself into a fear
- Developing a core set of values
- A fast
- Giving up of creature comforts etc.
- Primal physical challenge
Mainly this large belief that we are missing out on a lot of these kinds of rites of passages and initiations in the modern world. We have made the world so comfortable that our lives no longer prepare us for adversity when it strikes. Our lives sometimes don’t ask us the hard questions anymore, and if they do, we don’t seem to have many answers. It’s on us now to tackle that preparation and to develop a Lion’s Mind.
Along with the main challenge each month I want to take on smaller challenges that lend themselves to the core idea. A way to prep the mind and body for the battle. Things like:
- Daily cold showers
- Gratitude journaling
- Read a physical book for 10 minutes a day
- A morning movement routine
- Meditation
- Social media fasts
- Don’t snooze alarms etc.
One of my main goals here is to finally start to turn all this knowledge I have been collecting for years and acting upon it. Taking it from a belief and theory to application. So many of the things I’ve written above are in my journals and my mind as beliefs, but I’ve never acted upon them to find my own truths. Maybe that’s why I still struggle with the impostor syndrome sometimes, because I’m still finding my own voice and direction.
This will give me the chance to expand on my curiosity in a structured sense and to build a larger repertoire of transferable skills for the rest of my life. I really think that we need these pivotal experiences and voluntary discomfort to continue to break plateaus and stretch our bubbles of perspective. I know I certainly do at least.
“The bad news is struggles are coming, the good news is that individuals with increased training and expertise are more fit for these bumps in the road.” – Logan Gelbrich
My current plan for the first 6 challenges (Hugely subject to change and evolving as the year goes on).
I’ve named them chapters, so I don’t feel tied to each month if circumstances change and opportunities present themselves.
Chapter I
- (Main) Primal Physical Challenge
- (Support) Daily Cold Showers
The goal of this is to really ask my body and mind the tough questions. What is my process when I want to stop? How do I keep going? Will I quit or endure? Basically, the point is to do something really hard. Resilience through adversity.
The cold showers will help by giving me a micro dose of those questions every day.
Chapter II
- (Main) Identity, do something that brings you closer to discovering who you are.
- (Support) Daily Gratitude and Intention setting.
“Who am I” – I think this is one of the hardest questions to answer in the modern world and one I still struggle with. In chapter II I will complete a set of core personal values to live by.
The daily gratitude and intention setting will help to develop a better internal narrative for my thoughts.
Chapter III
- (Main) Enter the Stretch Zone
- (Support) Breathing practice to control states.
The stretch zone. The zone between being comfortable and extremely uncomfortable. Stay in comfort and I simply will not grow anymore. Go into the extremely uncomfortable and I’ll most likely retreat to the comfort. Too much too fast. The stretch zone is the magic. Outside of the comfort but not too far. For me this will involve speaking.
The breathing will help to continue to set patterns on controlling my state for times of nerves and anxiety.
Chapter IV
- (Main) A week without creature comforts. This is up to you how much or little to takeaway.
- (Support) Limiting of tech/ social media.
We are so comfortable in this world. Air con, food delivery, comfy beds, you name it. We are actually so comfortable that we forget to be appreciative of what we have in the modern world. I want to take a bit of it away to 1. Increase the appreciation and 2. To realise I can actually do without a lot of what I crave and expect.
Daily social media limiting to give that micro dose of delayed gratification and to curve the constant feeling of consuming.
Chapter V
- (Main) Learn a new Skill
- (Support) Short morning movement practice to prepare the mind and body for learning.
Our brains love to learn new things. It keeps them fit. And I super love to learn new things, but in our busy lives it can be a surprisingly long time in between skills. This chapter will be about intentionally learning something completely new, not just a new shade of something I already do.
A daily, short morning movement practice to prep the mind and body for the month. Could be a yoga flow or mini movement flow or a walk etc.
Chapter VI
- (Main) Shoshin: A Beginners Mind.
- (Support) Read 10 minutes a day of a physical book. Could be on the subject or anything of interest.
How many people do I know that think they completely know something and can’t learn anymore of it? I’ll put my hand up. This month will be about staying humble and remembering that there is always more to learn. I think this is the perfect follow up to learning a new skill as my mind will still be primed for learning from the previous challenge.
Reading is a great way to open the mind to new possibilities as it allows me to have the argument about truths in my head rather than with someone else. This is a very important point to learning something new. We can be super guilty of backing away and going on the defensive when it’s coming from someone else.
My journey was started with a tiny challenge and the action to take it on 8 years ago. My hope is that these challenges continue to spark inspiration following action, for years to come. I’ve set these up for myself but if anyone would like to follow along for all or any of the challenges then please get in touch so we can create a community of action!
The way to change is to take action. The way to take action is to act more often.” – Anthony Dyson
Pursue your potential
Dice
Inspired Lion 
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