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You are here: Home / Adventures / Introducing Cold Shower Therapy™: The Challenge

Introducing Cold Shower Therapy™: The Challenge

June 5, 2012 By Joel Runyon 22 Comments

Download the official Cold Shower Therapy™ App

Cold Shower Therapy™ is officially here.

–> Take The Cold Shower Therapy™ Challenge <–

The Backstory

I get a lot of emails from people who feel stuck. They’re bored and frustrated and they just want to make a change in their lives, but they don’t know how. They look around them and see people doing stuff they want to do, but they just feel like everything is impossible. They’re stuck. 

I used to be there too. Two years ago, I was living in my parents’ basement, having been laid off from UPS, and wishing I could travel the world and live a life worth writing about. But it all seemed impossible for me. Other people could do it but I definitely couldn’t. I was stuck. But I decided to get unstuck. I started a blog and started changing my life, one step at a time.

I introduced the idea of Cold Shower Therapy™ a few months ago, explaining that it’s a personal strategy I’ve used over the past two years to smash my excuses and do things. CST simply works. The results speak for themselves.

  • The first time I took it, I launched Impossible HQ and Impossible League and wrote my manifesto all within one month.
  • The second time I took it, I quit my job and started my own business.
  • The third time I took it, I got into the best shape I’ve ever been in in my entire life.
After getting an overwhelming response to the unofficial Cold Shower Therapy challenge in April, and seeing several people running their own challenges, I decided to make it official, build a course, and turn Cold Shower Therapy into an official IMPOSSIBLE challenge.

Cold Shower Therapy works by freezing you out of your excuses and showing you that the resistance in your head is just as imaginary and harmful as the boogie man.

(If you don’t know what Cold Shower Therapy™ is, read up on it here.)

What’s in The Challenge?

Cold Shower Therapy™ is a personal 28 day email challenge course that combines one part inspiration, two parts bootcamp, and one part self-administered pure ice-cold shower therapy to get you inspired and to help you shed the excuses that you’re convinced are valid. In four weeks, you’ll move from excuse maker to excuse smasher. From passive existence to purposeful action. From stuck to unstuck.

Obviously, I can’t make you take cold showers (because, let’s face it, that would be a little weird), but I can give you the inspiration and perspective to help you challenge yourself, kickstart change, and take responsibility for your own life in just 28 days. Plus, all Cold Shower Therapy™ challengers will get exclusive access to a private forum within the Impossible League, so you’ll have a community of challengers to take on the cold with you. You’ll get unstuck together.

Cold Shower Therapy™ is open for the next seven days. After a week, we’ll close it down for the first challenge, which will begin on the 15th. As with everything around here, there’s a 100% no hassle money back guarantee.

If you feel stuck, there is no better way to get unstuck than to take 28 days of Cold Shower Therapy™.

Are you up for the challenge?

Take the Cold Shower Therapy™ Challenge.

See you inside.

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Filed Under: Adventures, Hacks, Updates

About Joel Runyon

I started IMPOSSIBLE to push myself to try to live a life worth writing about by pushing my limits, living an adventure & telling a great story by doing the impossible. You can get free updates in your inbox via your new favorite newsletter, free fitness training tutorials, and see all my businesses at Impossible X and our philanthropic efforts at Impossible.org

Comments

  1. Rita says

    June 5, 2012 at 4:33 pm

    I. Am. So. In!!

    Reply
  2. Elisa says

    June 6, 2012 at 11:06 am

    25 days of living in Chiang Mai and every day is cold shower therapy! 🙂

    Excellent program though. It’s true – those cold showers totally jolt your perception and comfort zone. Great program!

    Reply
    • Justin Miller says

      June 7, 2012 at 10:43 pm

      Hahaha. I was in India for a while. Had the same issue. Yikes!

      Reply
    • Harrison says

      June 8, 2012 at 10:49 am

      Same here in Nicaragua. Taking action is where it’s at, and cold water can help, haha.

      Reply
  3. Erik D. Kennedy says

    June 6, 2012 at 5:50 pm

    Awesome! I’ve been doing cold showers a few times a week for the past year. I’ve never tried it as a way to break down excuses– I’ll have to try that!

    Reply
  4. Claire says

    June 7, 2012 at 6:30 am

    I did my own “challenge” which started at the beginning of May. I lasted about 2 weeks before the excuses started creeping in – “Well, I won’t take my evening shower cold…” “I won’t do it if I have to wash my hair”… etc etc BS + some more BS.

    Read your email last night and this morning had about a 10 minute shower including washing my hair. It hurt like a mother-trucker but I did it.

    So I’m signed up for life baby! Bring it on.

    Reply
  5. Jeremy says

    June 8, 2012 at 1:11 pm

    I started yesterday. Thanks for the awesome post! I jump out of the shower ready to tackle all of the projects for the day. I can’t wait to complete a month.
    What helps is imagining a place or time that has no access to hot water. People have been taking cold showers for thousands of years!

    Reply
  6. Patrick Hitches says

    June 9, 2012 at 8:06 pm

    why does this seem so intimidating? looking forward to it.

    Reply
  7. adam says

    June 10, 2012 at 10:51 am

    Hmmmmm. I feel like this Challenge actually ruins the idea – sorry. But if you don’t have something you’re already inspired to do, but just need a push, I don’t see how this will work. You can’t depend *entirely* on other people motivating you. It just doesn’t work, and it’s inauthentic to boot.

    Incidentaly, I am doing “Cold Shower Therapy”. I am getting my ass in gear and obsessing over this blog I want to write, and *finishing* a post every single day.

    Reply
    • Joel Runyon says

      June 11, 2012 at 12:10 am

      Thanks for your input Adam, but that’s why it’s an experiment.

      I actually used to think that too, but I’ve realized sometimes people need a kickstart to get going. They won’t *depend* entirely on other people – if they try to, they’ll fail – but I think the community aspect of the challenge will help a lot of people do something they wouldn’t have had the courage to otherwise try.

      Reply
  8. Kelley says

    June 11, 2012 at 2:53 pm

    I am doing this (and I’ve talked a friend into it, too)! Even just writing it here is a commitment but I’m looking forward to this and think it’ll motivate me even more as I’ve begun to run again. Thanks for such a great idea!

    Reply
  9. Keith Clarke says

    June 12, 2012 at 11:51 am

    Great challenge, Joel.

    And I am in!!

    I don’t think that whether or not it is authentic is the issue here. It is about our values and internal motivators. I for one do not like to fail, and I also care what others think of me (working on both of those to make them more healthy).

    So by signing up for this I put myself out there. I know that I will allow myself to fail if it is just me, and all of my excuses will run riot rationalizing why it couldn’t be done, whilst at the same time I beat myself up with the proverbial stick 🙂 Making a public commitment is definitely a motivator for me. As is sharing an experience.

    So I will be blogging about it too.

    Thanks for the challenge

    Reply
    • Claire says

      June 12, 2012 at 12:39 pm

      @Keith Clarke

      “I know that I will allow myself to fail if it is just me, and all of my excuses will run riot rationalizing why it couldn’t be done, whilst at the same time I beat myself up with the proverbial stick”

      That sounds so much like me it’s unreal. I’ll see you on the 15th, where we can snap the sticks in two and get started!

      Reply
  10. Ray March says

    June 16, 2012 at 2:54 pm

    I first read about your cold shower therapy while visiting family halfway across the country. I have always said the best time to kick a bad habit or form a good one is while you are on vacation, since your regular routine is already out the window. I took my first cold shower May 22. I just took my 24th. This Friday will be my 30th. Results are amazing. I have no more excuses and my world is so much bigger and more exciting for it.

    Thank you so much Joel.
    Changed my life.

    Reply
  11. izzy says

    June 20, 2012 at 2:33 am

    Well I must admit, I am dissapointed that I didn’t read this post sooner.

    I think I am going to have to go at this alone. It sounds too powerful to not take advantage of.

    I love the idea behind it. Very powerful stuff.

    Reply
  12. Mitchel M.D. says

    June 21, 2012 at 8:25 am

    Just heard you on the Foolish Adventure podcast. Awesome stuff and great advice.

    I share in your approach and did my first Tri and now am on to harder and more challenging events as well as making life all it can be.

    Thanks for the effort!

    Mitchel M.D.

    Reply
  13. Gretchen Behnke says

    July 18, 2012 at 10:33 am

    I decided not to give myself the excuse that I needed to wait for the next group CST – so I’m on Day 5! It’s weirdly amazing. We all know the shower was already a place where ideas crystallize. But when I am freezing, I feel even more focused and purposeful. I have to repeat aloud: “I can do this. I can do this.” And I do it and it’s really hard and I feel super-powered the whole rest of the day. I’m also saving time and water because somehow I’m able to accomplish in 5 min what takes me 15 min in a hot shower. Ha! I’ll share more here and on my own blog as I continue toward 28 days. Thanks Joel!

    Reply
  14. Elloa says

    August 5, 2012 at 10:44 am

    Just done Day 2! Our shower doesn’t go super cold but nevertheless I feel completely amazing after a cold shower. Thank you Joel!

    Reply
  15. Natalia says

    August 31, 2012 at 2:11 pm

    I love this! Just what I needed to get my creative juices flowing. Although the challenge is over, I will just do it on my own. How hard can it be? Just take 28 freezing cold showers… Sounds pretty cold but I’m willing to give it a shot!

    Reply
  16. asunnifield says

    April 2, 2013 at 6:27 am

    I LIKE it. I started last summer during our heat wave. It’s very refreshing. I still do it and I’m not so unique. It’s a national trait to wash in cold water…mostly it’s being frugal and not letting water so to waste as it takes some time for it to warm up.
    A brief cool shower is truly invigorating. I just imagine that I’m taking a plunge into a refreshing pool•••it feels fantastic!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Self-Sabotaging Fears, Kevin Spacey and Cold Shower Therapy – Part 1 | Breaking The Habit Of Me says:
    June 17, 2012 at 8:26 am

    […] a week ago I came across The Blog of Impossible Things and a post on Cold Shower Therapy (CST). The premise of the post was that taking a challenge of […]

    Reply
  2. How A Shower Changed My Life « Elloa Atkinson says:
    August 8, 2012 at 6:34 pm

    […] then you came along, Blog of Impossible Things, waking me from my living stupor, alerting me to the fact that life is here RIGHT NOW just waiting […]

    Reply

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