Hello and a very Happy Super Tuesday to you!
No… not the one where the greatest number of U.S. states hold primary elections and caucuses.
The one where you get science-based news and content for living a better life!
...
Trust me, ours is way more fun.
Welcome to Super Self, the free weekly newsletter that brings you the latest science for personal growth. A better you in just 5 minutes.
FEATURED SCIENCE
The Science of Unstoppable: When Your Discomfort Becomes Your Growth
⭐️ The Significance
The process of personal growth can be downright uncomfortable.
Whether it’s having tough conversations, overcoming procrastination, staying positive, or pushing past your physical limitations — the struggle of achieving our goals is often all too painfully real.
But researchers at the Universities of Cornell and Chicago found that a simple mindset shift can make it easier to embrace this discomfort. It's a shift that can spark motivation, toughen your grit, and accelerate your personal growth.
Here's how they pulled it off...
🧪 The Study
Chicago’s Second City training center is home to one of the world’s most renowned improvisation classes. So renowned, in fact, that famous alumni include the likes of Steve Carell and Tina Fey!
The center also happens to be the staging ground for our study. People were split into 2 groups across 55 different improvisation classes.
One of the groups were then given the following instructions:
“Your goal for the next exercise is to push past your comfort zone. Feeling awkward or uncomfortable is a sign that the exercise is working.”
The goal was to encourage these improvisers to interpret discomfort as a sign of progress.
And it had a powerful effect — the groups of improvisers who received those instructions persisted for 44% longer with the exercises on average compared to the other groups!
They were also rated as 14% more confident by outside observers and reported significantly stronger feelings of progress at the end of the class.
Not bad for a such simple prompt.
This is reminiscent of Courtney Dauwalter’s strategy which we covered last year. Courtney is considered the best female ultramarathon runner in the world and when things get tough, she enters her “pain cave”.
She will literally visualize herself in a cave, and as she fights through the pain, she chisels away at the rock face and her cave gets bigger.
Both Courtney and the study participants are able to persist for longer because they turn discomfort into fuel. Rather than it being a sign to quit, it becomes a sign to lean in and press forward. Discomfort becomes synonymous with growth.
The researchers confirmed across another four experiments that reframing discomfort as growth made people more emotionally resilient, open minded, and tolerant of other people's opposing opinions! No matter whether it's mental or physical, embracing discomfort turns you into an all around badass.
💎 The Takeaway
You have to push yourself out of your comfort zone when you’re chasing your goals and working to improve yourself. But if you can see that inevitable feeling of discomfort as a sign that you’re on the right lines, you’ll be that much tougher to beat.
Whether it’s getting up in front of an audience, processing tough emotions, or pushing through a workout — the next time you find yourself faced with discomfort in pursuit of a goal, greet that pain cave with open arms, pull out your trusty chisel, and start digging. Growth awaits.
SUPER SNIPPETS
🥦 Eat Your Greens — We’ve come a long way since March 2020 and now have a series of tools to help us fight Covid-19. But a wildcard latecomer threw themselves into the ring last week… broccoli. It contains a photochemical by the name of “Sulforaphane” which has antiviral properties!
A new study published in Nature Communications found that Sulforaphane reduced viral replication in the lungs by 1.5 orders of magnitude and decreased lung injury in animals. Looks like our Mothers were right all along.
💸 Million Dollar Personality — Another new study published in Nature Journal examined the personality of over 1000 German “self-made” millionaires. The starkest finding, perhaps unsurprisingly, is that they were substantially more comfortable taking risks. They were also notably more extroverted (the tendency to be active/sociable), open to experience (the tendency to be inventive/curious), and conscientious (the tendency to be organized/persistent).
The researchers concluded that this personality contributed to their wealth accumulation (rather than being a result of it) because millionaires who inherited their money did not have the same personality makeup as those who made their money themselves.
🍳 Cooking Up A Smile — Learning how to cook doesn’t just lead to happy taste buds, it can also lead to a happy brain. A new study enrolled 657 participants in a 7 week healthy cooking course. Aside from increased culinary confidence, people reported higher levels of mental wellbeing and energy compared to a control group. Plus, these benefits were still going strong at a 6 month follow up! Yum.
☕️ The Cafetière of Youth — Two to three cups of coffee a day will probably keep you alive longer. That’s according to three studies presented at the American College of Cardiology's 71st Annual Scientific Session. The combined data from hundreds of thousands of people seems to indicate that people who drink coffee have about 10-20% reduced risk of death from all causes.
Caffeinated is better than decaf, but they didn’t find much of a difference between instant coffee and espresso. Well, when it comes to health purposes at least.
And here’s a pretty cool conclusion from Peter M. Kistler, MD, lead author of one of the studies:
“Coffee is the most common cognitive enhancer — it wakes you up, makes you mentally sharper and it's a very important component of many people's daily lives. People often equate coffee with caffeine, but coffee beans actually have over 100 biologically active compounds. These substances can help reduce oxidative stress and inflammation, improve insulin sensitivity, boost metabolism, inhibit the gut's absorption of fat and block receptors known to be involved with abnormal heart rhythms."
🌡 You’re Hot Then You’re Cold —
NEW & NOTEWORTHY CONTENT
📖 [EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE] — New Neuroscience Reveals 2 Secrets That Will Make You Emotionally Intelligent — Eric Barker
One of the more interesting things I’ve learned from the science of emotional intelligence is how bad we all are at reading others. This new sneak preview book excerpt turned article takes on the science of mind reading and how we can do it to the best of our limited abilities.
5 minute read
📖 [LIFE LESSONS] — 29 Lessons From Owning A Bookstore — Ryan Holiday
Ryan shares 29 lessons he learned from opening a small town Texan bookstore in the middle of a pandemic. Like this one:
"There’s this great story of when Jeff Bezos had the idea for Amazon. He was working on Wall Street at the time. He and his boss go for a walk in Central Park and after he tells him his idea, his boss says, “that sounds like a great idea for someone who doesn’t have a job.” Meaning that somebody else should do it, not Bezos. If there’s something crazy that you’re thinking about doing, maybe you should get serious about actually doing it."
8 minute read
📖 [HABITS] — The Small Steps of Giant Leaps — Farnam Street
Loved this short essay on how the tiny, seemingly-insignificant choices you make on a daily basis are what really determine your success.
3 minute read
HUBERMAN — Our favorite neurobiologist continued his steady stream of evidence-based content since we last spoke. In case you missed it, Professor Huberman explained everything you could possibly want to know about:
🎙 [COLD THERAPY] — Using Deliberate Cold Exposure for Health and Performance — featuring a variety of specific techniques that you can use to optimize cognition, immunity, energy, weight loss, and more.
🎙 [STRENGTH TRAINING] — Dr. Andy Galpin: How to Build Strength, Muscle Size & Endurance — featuring specific training regimes and tools for maximizing strength gains, endurance, and recovery.
🎙 [SUCCESS] — #1788: Mr Beast — The Joe Rogan Experience
I should've included this one in the last issue but it slipped my mind. Probably because it's not about personal growth per se, nor is it based on any science, but it's a fascinating glimpse into how the world's best YouTuber got to #1, with powerful lessons for succeeding in your own endeavors.
2 hour 30 minute listen
💡 Did you hear, read, or watch some inspiring content published in the last two weeks relevant to personal growth? Help me improve this section for everyone by letting me know!
LATEST BOOK RELEASE
Breaking the Age Code: How Your Beliefs About Aging Determine How Long and Well
by Becca Levy, Ph.D.
Yale professor and leading expert on the psychology of successful aging, Dr. Becca Levy, draws on her ground-breaking research to show how age beliefs can be improved so they benefit all aspects of the aging process.
The often-surprising results of Levy’s science offer stunning revelations about the mind-body connection. She demonstrates that many health problems formerly considered to be entirely due to the aging process, such as memory loss, hearing decline, and cardiovascular events, are instead influenced by the negative age beliefs that dominate in the US and other ageist countries. It’s time for all of us to rethink aging and Breaking the Age Code shows us how to do just that.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“If you push through the dark moments when everything hurts, you will find another reserve of strength you didn’t know you had. Know that a high is going to come again.”
― Courtney Dauwalter
Keep it super,
Lewis 🦸🏻♂️
P.s. I've heard that forwarding this issue to a friend who might enjoy it will give you seven years of good karma. Who knows, worth a shot?