Why I Take a Cold Shower in The Morning and Why You Should Too

I know that over the years I have heard several successful people talk about how they take cold showers, first thing in the morning, every morning. To me that had always sounded like a good way to start the day off with a bad attitude and feeling depressed. 

I thought it would drain me of my willpower, and cause me to make bad decisions later on in the day because of it. Then one day I stumbled across Richard Yu and his YouTube page. He is a young entrepreneur and high-performance coach, and in every one of his videos he starts the day with a cold shower. 

At first, I thought he was crazy too,

but one episode he explained why he does it. He said that it builds his mental toughness and that after doing such a hard thing to start the day that it makes everything else during the day easier. I’ll say that again, after doing a hard thing to start the day it makes everything else after it EASIER! That right there is an incredible piece of insight I had never thought about, but I think it can go deeper than this…

The next morning, I woke up at 4am and walked into the bathroom to await my fate in the cold shower.

As I listed to the water running, I could already feel the goose bumps all over my body. That moment was the first where my weakness tried to talk me out of it, “there is no way this will help”, “you are already mentally tough”, “spend your energy in more valuable places”. 

I’m not going to lie it was tempting, but I had already made up my mind that I was going to try it at least one time, and I wasn’t going to let myself down. Then I started to think about how long is long enough? Does 30 seconds count? After some deliberation I decided that 2 minutes should be appropriate. 

I put on a catchy song and set a timer for 2 minutes and 10 seconds. I started the timer, took a deep breath and jumped in! The first 30 seconds were excruciating, all I could think about was how tired and cold I was, as I stood there shaking and trying to catch my breath. 

Then something happened, I started to wake up, I started to sing along with the music (teeth chattering and all), and suddenly the shower didn’t feel quite so cold, suddenly it felt bearable. When I got out, I didn’t feel sad, or angry, or depressed. I felt amazing! I was wide awake ready to start the day! And I had just started the day off with a win that was legitimately difficult, which gave me a sense of accomplishment. 

Every day since I have started my day with a cold shower, no excuses, and guess what?

That first hour or two in the morning when I was normally gearing up and getting to full speed, I was starting out 100% GO! Which significantly helped my productivity. On top of that I felt like I had more willpower throughout the day because I had already done something hard, I had already set the standard for the day that I wasn’t going to quit, I wasn’t going to let the weakness in my mind get the best of me, I wasn’t going to give into temptation.

Aside from the benefits that I have already mentioned (starting the day wide awake, increased will power throughout the day, and increased productivity), I found that there is another more subtle benefit. That is that I have become increasingly able to command myself to do hard things and follow those orders automatically. 

Now this is different than will power.

When you use will power there is an internal dialogue and conflict, part of you doesn’t want to do it but you force yourself to do it anyway. When you make doing hard things automatic you don’t use any will power because there is no internal conflict (or at least less). The order has been given and the body obeys. 

This is why the timer was so important, and why I set an additional 10 seconds. It was to give myself time to get in the shower, but it also gave me a maximum of 10 seconds to hesitate before getting in. The first couple of times you try to take a cold shower you may need more than 10 seconds to convince your body to obey, and that’s fine. The goal is to reduce that hesitancy. Keep reducing that time from starting the timer to getting in the shower until it is automatic. 

Additionally, I place the timer outside of the shower where I can’t see it. That way once I get in, I have no idea how much time is left. This is another level of training the body to obey the mind. You will have to be strong willed to stay in that shower the first couple of times because it will feel like an eternity. 

You will think that it has been 10 minutes, you will swear that you must not have set the timer correctly and you will want to check.

But trust me, you set it. If you give in to the temptation of checking, it will be that much easier to check next time. You will have let your body get the best of you and your will power will be drained because you allowed that inner conflict. 

If you can develop a strong enough mind to take a cold shower every morning then you will have a strong enough mind to get your work done, make the hard decision, delay gratification, or push through anything uncomfortable that you come across in the rest of your day.

Be strong. Take the plunge. You won’t regret it.