Escaping the Winter Blues: 10 Ways to Beat Cabin Fever

There's winter and boy, it's been a long one, hasn't it? The days are short, the nights are cold. You've been staring at the same four walls for weeks. The dog's tired of you. The fridge is empty, but somehow keep checking it. Your only exercise is pacing from the couch to the kitchen and back. Let's not even talk about what's happening to the size of your belly. Ah, yes, cabin fever. It creeps in slow, doesn't it? First you stop wearing real pants, then the. Then the talking to yourself starts. Next thing you know, you're having a full blown conversation with the toaster plotting its demise for burning your bagel. But don't worry, friends, you don't have to lose your mind in the winter madness. Joe and I have cracked the code of escaping the seasonal slump without resorting to chopping down doors or terrorizing your loved ones. Today we're giving you 10 ways to break out of your winter rut, beat cabin fever and get back to feeling like normal, a functioning human again. Let's do this before one of us starts typing. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy a hundred times. I'm Curtis, my pal over there going stir crazy as Joe and we are dudes in progress. Hey, Joe.

Hello, my crazy friend. All work and no play makes Jack a doll. Boy, what a creepy movie, man. I. It's one of those movies that I didn't wish I liked so much. It's one of the scariest of all time. So of course what we're alluding to is the Shining. And man, there is no better example of going stir crazy than the Shining, right?

Oh, it's classic. One of our favorites. I think we probably put it in our top movies especially.

Yeah.

Of horror movies. So creepy. Joe, are you stir crazy? Are you frustrated?

We've had one of the coldest winters and one of the snowiest winters that I can remember in a long time here in Cincinnati several weeks back. I think we got 14 or 15 inches, maybe even more. Then it was followed up by another few inches and then we got a reprieve for about a week and then it was followed up by another few inches and below zero temperatures. Just. It's just been crazy coldest and snow. Snowiest winter I can remember in a long time. And yes indeed, my friend, I am going stir crazy. So this is very timely for me. It's March and I just want to be done.

Yeah, I was thinking what episode could I do that would help me personally just to recognize this problem? I think is a start to working on making it a little bit better. For a fact, January and February are gone, is a good start, and March is here. You were talking about the snow and the cold, which was tremendously horrible. But what about the ice? We had tons of ice this year, which is extremely frustrating when you're trying to walk your dog and he's got a broken knee in surgery and he's slipping on the ice and you're falling down and oh my gosh, I have been suffering from cabin fever and just. I am ready to be done with it. This is an episode that's going to help me and Joe. I pulled out really 10 categories here, but 50 facts and ideas to help you get out of the feeling of cabin fever. Stir crazy. Joe last week talked about being bored and to embrace being bored. So I think this is a good companion episode to what we did last week. Yeah.

When I talk about embracing being bored and the art of boredom, I don't mean for days at a time, Right. If you're doing nothing for days at a time, that's a whole different problem. But if we're waiting at the doctor's office or we're standing in line, it's, it's okay to be bored. In fact, it's a good thing for us to be bored. But being stir crazy and these winter blues and all of that stuff is a real thing and it can take a hold of us. Man, you talked about sweatpants, or I think you in your opening talked about sweatpants. And you, you realize that, man, I don't know what's been going on for with my jeans in the past few weeks, but that closet I put them in shrinks them and. Yeah, no, I don't care. I don't care how positive you are and how forward thinking you are. Flannel pajama pants after a certain period of time, breed depression.

Haven't shaved, haven't come out of the bunker. Got a haircut in several months, Joe.

Especially for those who work from home. Now you work from home full time. I don't. So I do get out of the office and out of the home and go to the office and interact with human beings face to face many times. Right? So I don't have that as much as I'm sure you do, but wow, I can feel it. Especially on the weekends when you can't get out of the house. Now, the truth is we can bundle up, right? We can bundle up. We can do many things too, to break this. And I can't And I'm really looking forward to some of the strategies that you've put together here, Kurt, to help us break the stir crazy rut that we may get in.

Yeah, I think the first thing, and we gotta recognize this is a thing. And if you're going through it, Josie, you're right. I've been working from home all winter long. I did get into the office yesterday and I hate to admit it, but it was quite refreshing to get up and go out and talk, see some folks and connect again. I went in, they were having a employee appreciation day and free pizza. Luckily I got two pieces of pizza because they ran out. That was disappointing. What's going on? You invite everyone in to have pizza and then you run out. But that's a whole nother thing. It was quite invigorating to get out and connect with people again. It's always enjoyable to do that every once in a while. I like my situation. But yeah, let's recognize this is a problem. We can do some things to beat us. This is all backed by studies that I researched. And again, this is for Joe and I, but I hope you get some of this too. Number one, move your body, change your mind. I love this idea and I struggle with it. Working from home seems like when I'm at work, I get up and move around more than I do when, when I'm at home. I have to really keep this in mind. But exercise boosts dopamine and serotonin, the brain chemicals responsible for motivation and mood. From the Harvard Medical School. I'll list all these off, Joe. Any that speak to you, let me know. Even a 10 minute walk outside can reduce stress and increase creativity. From the American psychological association. I 100% believe that. Got to do more of that.

When you talk about, when you talk about walking, just moving, you say 10 minutes here, but my gosh, if you just. If you're just willing to go outside for two minutes, walk around and that cold will do something for you, right? Especially if it's cold, that cold will do something for you. But a quick walk, I don't know if there's anything that you can do right now to help with depression. Your serotonin levels, your dopamine, all of that stuff, then a quick brisk walk right now, it's a great habit for.

Me, especially a lunch break. Break up the day in the middle. Do a nice long walk if you can. Cold weather workouts burn more calories. Does that motivate you? Because your body works harder to regulate your temperature. Movement improves mental Clarity, which fights the brain fog. It often comes with with winter ruts. And try micro movement hacks. Stretch while working, dance to music between tasks and do some pushups before a shower. So there's five in the. Move your body.

Yeah, the idea of getting up and moving while it. While when, while we're sitting here talking, sounds easy, right? Just get up and move. But when you think about, man, I should really go for a walk and it's 30 degrees outside or 20 degrees outside, we're going to talk about that towards the end of the show when it comes to me. And you got to put your, you got to put your. The thermal pants on and then layer up. You take 45 minutes to go to get dressed to go for a 30 minute walk and you think, man, is it just worth it? But you got it. You do have to put mind over matter here. And if you can't do 30 minutes, just walk outside for a few minutes. But there's nothing that can. I said it before, there's nothing that can help with this quicker than a quick than a brisk wall.

Good transition into number two. Embrace cold exposure. Instead of thinking of, oh my gosh, all that ice and where am I going to walk? I don't have enough space on the sidewalk. Cold exposure increases norepinephrine. I don't even know if I'm saying that. It's a neurotransmitter that enhances focus, energy and mood. Cold therapy reduces inflammation, which can improve recovery from winter sluggishness. The WIM HOF method suggests that controlled cold exposure improves mental resilience and stress tolerance. Cold showers can fight depression as exposure to cold activates the nervous system and increases endorphins. Try a gradual approach. Start with 30 seconds of cold water at the end of a hot shower and work your way up to full cold showers. I think that's a approach you embrace, Joe. If I remember correctly, it is.

It is a cold shower in the morning. I love a cold shower in the morning, especially when I'm done with it. In the moment it's, oh boy, yeah, what am I doing to myself here? Why am I doing this to myself? But you reference. I know you didn't mention it, but I will mention it. You reference Andrew Huberman. Dr. Andrew Huberman. He has a great podcast, by the way. Just look up his podcast. I can't remember the name, but I've listened to it several times. He has great guests, great information. He's not afraid to go towards the fringes of health care in the fringes of nutrition and explore what's effective but may not be mainstream. And cold exposure is one of those things. I don't know, I don't know of any doctor that I've ever been to as a regular family doctor that has recommended cold showers to me or cold exposure. But when you do this, it feels so good. When you're done in the moment, there is that initial shock, but that's good. But cold exposure, it's again, one of those things that can almost immediately help you with the blues, with depression and I don't know what this word is either, but this stuff's real, man. Yeah.

And in the show notes, yes, as Joe mentioned, I'm not going to read everyone off, but I've referenced where these tips come from and you can go check and go deeper if you want from the show notes of these journals, doctors books and studies that came from my research. Start a creative project. I love this one. I do this. I started one. I love going on to YouTube and finding a woodworking project, going down and picking up a wood palette and coming up with something creative, mixing and matching from different YouTube videos that I've watched to create something of my own. Although I do have to embrace cold exposure even in my garage, which kind of upsets me. Creativity reduces stress by shifting focus away from negative thoughts. Engaging in a new hobby increases neuroplastics, keeping the brain flexible and resilient. Painting, writing, playing music can be as effective as meditation for reducing anxiety. Learn to play an instrument. That's a great winter hobby. Creativity rewires the brain. Even doodling activates the brain's problem solving networks. Try a creative sprint. Set a timer for 20 minutes and create something without overthinking. Yeah, creative project. Great for the winter.

Here's what a creative project is. Not binge watching Netflix for six hours every evening is not a creative project. Right.

That's right.

Let's be clear about that. And that's a rut we can get in, especially in the wintertime. Something catches our eye. A certain TV show. I, I know, I. The last one that I think I've been binge watched was American Primeval on Netflix, which by the way, is very good. It probably would have been better over a six week period than over a six hour period, but it's. That is. It is not binge watching tv. All right. Oh, it is cool. This isn't my thing, but my kids love them. My adult kids love them. My wife likes them. Have you seen these adult coloring books?

No.

Where there has all kinds of interesting designs and intricate, intricate detail that you have to really pay attention to. My wife really likes those. And even if it's something like a word find or a puzzle or something like that, something to engage your brain, that's active engagement. A creative project is really important. And when I do find myself in a rut, even if it's some little project that I have to do around the house, I don't know, painting a wall in my office or even smaller that just fixing a hinge or whatever it might be, that can really help. Okay, I've accomplished something.

Yeah.

And I think that's the important thing. We can start a creative project and in that we can feel like we've just accomplished something.

Absolutely. Something creative. Something you maybe never did before. Like this woodworking I've taken on as a hobby. At the end of the day, I have something useful I can use in my home or outside for when the spring comes. Yeah, I really enjoy a creative project.

And I love this idea of a creative sprint because I am guilty of starting a project and not finishing it right halfway done. Or on just the opposite end, starting a project and getting my mind set on it and 12 hours later completely exhaust it. I finish it at 3 o'clock in the morning. So putting a time limit on it, understanding. Okay, let's find something that I can do in 20 minutes. Maybe it's a little 100 piece puzzle or maybe it is a coloring book, or maybe it is strumming, playing the harmonica. Something easy, right? No, it's not easy to do good. No instrument is easy. Is easy if you want to do it well. But I love this idea of a creative sprint. Just set aside 20 minutes, do something creative and feel like you've accomplished something. And that's what I think it's all about. It's feeling like you've accomplished something. It's just.

Yeah.

Instead of just existing barely.

Yeah. What do you accomplish by watching Netflix for six hours straight on? I can't think of it.

I can talk about it on this podcast.

I love that flow you can get into when you really get interested in a project and then you feel good about it afterwards.

Absolutely.

Challenge yourself with a 30 day goal. The 30 day rule. It takes 21 to 66 days to form a habit, making 30 days a perfect test period. Small wins trigger dopamine, Increase motivation to keep going. That's from James Clear. Our pal wrote Atomic Habits. A sense of Progress, fights burnout. Tracking daily improvements keeps you engaged. Challenges help break routine, stagnation which is a part of overcoming seasonal effective disorder Disorder Start small five push ups a day. Reading one page or journaling for two minutes. Consistency matters more than intensity.

Yeah, that again, we talked about the small wins Trigger Trigger dopamine. Do something that's. Do something that's challenging to yourself but that, that you find enjoyable. Any way that you can trigger dopamine. Any way that you can do that. There's many ways of triggering dopamine. And if you think about 30 days, that should kind of put you, what, over a third way through the winter season. So if you can find a. If you decide that, hey, by the end of 30 days, I'm going to be able to do a hundred push ups and you build that habit and that skill a little bit every single day. It gives you something to look forward to. It gives you something to strive for. And when you have something to look forward to and you have something to strive for, it's amazing what that can do for your, for your depression or your winter blues or being stir crazy.

I started this in January. Maybe it's part of a New Year's resolution, which was to do my stretching for my calves because I suffer from plantar fasciitis and I have two exercises. I do them for a minute and I alternate. I do two reps of those and I alternate that with a weightlifting exercise. Whether it's dumbbells, I'm doing curls, or I'm doing. I can't even name the exercise, but I mix it up every day and I. So I intertwined that and it takes me like 15, 20 minutes to do that little routine. And then I do my reading. And Joe may know this because I'll send Joe and our buddy Clay and also my wife and my son a piece of scripture from my journal that I've been reading from Max Lucado. Have you been enjoying my calm moments, Joe?

Yeah. That's been an interesting change of pace in our interactions during the week. Getting those from you for the past few days. I, I do like them and I read them and it's good stuff. Just a little boost of encouragement and a little boost of spirituality.

Yeah. But I, that routine takes me probably. I could get it 30 minutes maybe it's probably taking me. But it's been a really important part of my winter routine and it's been a, a real great challenge. It's been more than 30 days. I've been doing it probably since the beginning of the year pretty consistently. Get social. Even if you don't feel like it. Loneliness increases Cortisol levels, which can lead to fatigue and stress. Social interactions release oxytocin, reducing anxiety and improving overall happiness. Laughter is a natural antidepressant. Even fake laughter has been shown to elevate mood. Phone calls work too. Even a short conversation with a friend can boost your mood. Maybe you could do a podcast about this kind of stuff with a pal.

Yeah, that's a good idea.

Join or start a group challenge. Book clubs, fitness accountability groups, or game nights. Yeah, get social, even if you don't feel like it's.

When's the last time you really had a deep phone conversation with somebody where you talked to them for more than two minutes? Right. Or a minute?

Yeah.

When's the last time you had a real conversation? Right. I can't remember the last time I had a real phone conversation with anybody. Even with my kids, we're typically texting back and forth.

But although, Joe, I would. I would challenge that. Every Saturday morning at 7:30, you and I and Clay get together and have a great conversation, which.

Absolutely. And we have to recognize that this online stuff that we do is a part of the interaction, is a part of the socialization. It's part of putting ourselves out there.

And we challenged ourselves. We came up with a great idea this week that we've been working on. Can't wait to talk about it with Clay tomorrow.

Yeah, I think he's actually. I don't think he's going to be there tomorrow. I think he's going to have a presentation.

Oh, he's gonna miss it. Okay. It'll just be you and I can.

Talk about talking about him.

Redefine your space. I did this with a closet behind me that I turned the light on just for Joe to see how clean it is. Now displaying my records that I built a record storage unit for. Clutter increases stress by overwhelming the brain with excess stimuli. Changing your environment creates novelty, which refreshes your mindset and boosts creativity. Even small decor changes boost happiness. Adding plants, new lighting, or rearranging furniture can make a big difference. A clean workspace increases productivity, reduces distractions and procrastination. Try the one hour reset. Set a timer and clean, organize, and redecorate your space. Yeah. When I cleaned up this closet, I probably spent two hours, which kind of surprised me that it took that long. And to move this piece of new storage unit into my closet and set up my records though, and play my records while I was setting it up and enjoy my music. And I've. Yeah, it felt so good when I was done with that. I'm still proud of that.

This idea of cleaning the clutter around you resonates with me. You know that I've talked a lot about minimalism and getting rid of the things in life that don't serve you.

Yeah.

And I still have my own issues.

Right.

I still have my own issues with some clutter and things that I hold on to. But the idea of. I used to see this sign hanging over a coworker's desk whose desk was just an absolute disaster all the time. He was one of those guys that.

Yeah.

If you asked him for something, he knew where it was in his pile somewhere.

Right.

And he could dig up underneath that pile on the corner of his desk and pull out the paper that you need.

But.

But study after study shows that a person is more. More productive, more creative and more engaged in whatever they're doing. If they have a clean, organized environment that they're working from. You can do it. Right. You can do it. And there's nothing that I like more, really, sometimes than just pulling my stuff together and understanding where I am with everything and. And sorting my folders and making sure everything's in its place.

Yeah. Including electronically.

Yeah. You have to be careful, though. The organization isn't the work. Okay. Unless that's your job to help people organize the organization. And this could be a whole different subject.

Right.

But the organization is the prep. It's the staging. I know so many people that spend their time just organizing, and with really not taking any action, you got to take action. So, yeah, I like this idea. Your third point here about plants and lighting and rearranging furniture. If you can bring some beauty into your world somehow without cluttering it up, if you can bring some beauty, some plants, or some nice pictures, that can help you get a new perspective. And if you're in the middle of the wintertime and you don't have a. And you're in a rut, this can really help.

Yeah, I like this. Exactly. It's got all these benefits that we're talking about, but think of it as that time during the winter where you're beating the stress of winter. I came back from work yesterday in my commute, which is over an hour. I sat down in my office, and I had this sense of, I love this space. I love what I've done here. I'm glad to be back in it. Try a dopamine detox. Social media overstimulation leads to dopamine crashes, making motivation harder. Reducing screen time improves sleep, which enhances mood and focus. Taking breaks from instant gratification improves long term focus. Mindfulness and boredom reset the brain, Joe, Allowing for deeper creativity and problem solving. Go back to the last episode and we talked, spent a whole episode on that. Try a dopamine fast. 24 hours without social media, fast food, or mindless scrolling.

Kurt, this is a real problem. Our inability to stay away from our phones and our desire for that quick stimulation, that quick distraction. I believe it's a true addiction in every sense of the word. And I think that. I'm sure there exists programs already, but I believe that there might be programs out there that you can engage with if you have a real problem with this. And I sneak up on it, I'll be honest with you. I sneak up on it where if I'm feeling a little bit of stress or I'm feeling a little bit of anxiety about something, or I'm thinking about something that I should be doing and I'm not doing me picking up the phone or finding some kind of distraction and getting that quick dopamine hit. That can be a problem for me. And I'm just. I'm being honest with you here. So reducing screen time, getting rid of social media on your phone. If you have a problem with this, and of course, allowing yourself to be bored, intentionally allowing yourself to be bored. I think it's a critical part of our development and it's a critical part of us staying in a solid state of mind. This book, Deep Work by Cal Newport. I've heard a lot about it. I've not read this book and I'm really surprised I've not read this book. I'm definitely putting this one on my list, on my list of next reads.

Yeah, that looks like a great one to dig in again. We'll put this in the show notes and if any of these really speak to you, check out. Go deeper into it. I gotta thank you, Joe, for last week's episode. It took me by surprise. The timing couldn't have been any better. I did one of those procedures we talked about that's preemptive.

Yeah.

And takes at least all morning and then the rest of the day to get yourself set. But I was in the doctor's office and I'm not good at being bored. But I put my phone away. I was laying there getting ready for the procedure. I had about. They said 15 minutes. I think it went longer. I was starting to stir a little bit, but I kept my phone in the closet and I didn't touch it. And I just listened to the Nurses and people walking around and, I don't know, did nothing. I was bored for a good 15, 20 minutes. But thank you for helping me get through that. I was thinking of you the whole time.

That's awesome.

That's awesome. It's a great time to test your ability to be bored at the doctor's office. Plan an adventure, even if it's small. I like that. Even if it's small. Novelty stimulates dopamine, making you feel more alive and engaged. New experiences increase confidence, expanding your comfort zone. Anticipation of a trip boosts happiness more than the trip itself. That's from Cornell University. Study trying something new. Fights, routine, fatigue, helping to reset motivation. Plan a micro adventure, a day trip, Trying a new restaurant or exploring a new park. I think I'm very motivated by looking into this particular thing. You know, I like travel. What can I do locally around here? And I know I'm doing it to break the boredom of winter. I really like this. I gotta think of something for this weekend.

So it's funny. We. My wife and I sat down the day before yesterday and we bought our plane tickets for our vacation in September. And I've been putting it off and putting it off because I know how plane flights work, how the prices of plane flights work. They fluctuate dramatically from time to time, but these were reasonable flight prices, so we went ahead and bought it. And, man, it felt so good to have that part of the planning done. And it. And you think to yourself, okay, we're. This is happening. We're going, man, yeah, for September to get here. And it really gave us that little boost of happiness to know, okay, this is. This is getting real. And we do it every year. So I'm not. I don't know why I'm surprised by it, but it just shows how effective this little thing worked. Now it doesn't have to be a huge vacation. This idea of a micro adventure can be just as. Just as effective. If you say, okay, next weekend, you're right. The. When you talked about this study by Cornell University, there is research that shows that the longer in advance you plan and settle on a vacation, the more enjoyable that vacation is, because you're living that vacation in your mind, in your imagination, all the way up through the time that you're. You actually take the vacation. But you can do that with a little micro vacation, a long weekend somewhere or a day trip, like you said. Even the idea of exploring a new restaurant, Pick a restaurant that's an hour away that you've never been to. Yeah, that's a good little. That's a good little adventure.

Something you've never done before. Something different.

Yeah, absolutely. I don't know where it fits into any of the list because we're at number eight right now. Plan an adventure. I don't know where it fits into your list here. Probably back at number six and get social. But I would like to add if, if it's here maybe on reconnect on your last point here. But while it's on my mind, I would like to add find somebody to help. Find somebody to help find a. Maybe a soup kitchen to go work at. Maybe it's. You can do something at your church. Whatever it is, just find somebody to help volunteer, whatever. Yeah, whatever it might be.

Yeah, that's a great one, Joe. Yeah, good idea. That's not part of this. That's number 11. That's a bonus.

There you go.

Number nine. Focus on nutrition and sleep. Vitamin D deficiency is linked to winter depression. Get more sunlight or supplement. Sleep and mood are deeply connected. Seven, nine hours of sleep can reduce stress. Processed foods increase inflammation, affecting energy levels. Protein and healthy fats stabilize energy avoiding sugar crashes. Try a nighttime wind down routine. No screens. An hour before bed, a warm shower and reading instead of scrolling. I like that one. I wish I've been thinking about that. That's when I would like to do more reading because I fall asleep. I have this great habit of falling asleep while I'm reading the. It doesn't take me long.

So changing your nutrition is something that is of course important, but it takes a minute, it takes a minute to really take effect. Over the past couple weeks, this actually could have been my win for the week and I didn't put it down there. But over the past couple weeks I have eliminated all processed food, every single bit of it. And I've gone to, I guess you would call it keto. But no sugars, low carbs, not high protein, but moderate protein mainly. I'm trying to get rid of the sugar in my life and I've had fits and spurts of doing this and every single time I do this I feel so much better. But it's not a, it's not an immediate hit. It's more like a steady state, steady increase. Right. Of man. I feel like my mood's better. I feel like I'm sleeping better. And I can point back to, yeah, I've been off sugar for a couple weeks, off processed food for a couple weeks. I've been eating healthier for a couple weeks and it helps everywhere. It Helps everywhere. It helps your sleep. It does help inflammation. I want to talk about vitamin D some other time because vitamin D deficiency. There, there is so much there about vitamin D. We just don't get the vitamin D we need. Especially in the wintertime. I take a vitamin D supplement along with some other supplements, but vitamin D. In fact, I know a scientist that has done some real deep research. He's a friend of mine, we go to church together and he's done some real deep research on vitamin D specifically. He might be somebody we want to have on and chat with.

Very cool. Yeah, I'm thinking, when I read that, I was thinking of that first spring day where the sun is out, the birds are chirping, you're going out for a walk. The air has just got that sense of spring in it. Boy, does that feel so fantastic.

It sure does.

Hopefully we get some of those sometimes this time of year we'll start to get a few days of that and you get that sense. Number 10. We'll finish up with reconnect with your walk. Why? I would say not only reconnect with it, if you don't have one, come up with one. What's your reason why? Having a sense of purpose increases life satisfaction and reduces anxiety. Journaling about personal values improves motivation and resilience. Setting why based goals leads to longer lasting change than vague resolutions. That is from Simon Sinek, Start with why, which is one of my favorite YouTube videos of all time. I'm going to go back and watch. Listen to that. That is a fantastic one. It's got. That's the book also that Simon wrote.

Now the book, this book, start with why is it has become one of those foundational books for personal development that many people, when you ask them to list the books, they name this book as if by Simon Sinek. And his YouTube video is fantastic. He has a couple of them out there that are fantastic. But if you have an issue, if you're trying to figure out your why, check out that YouTube video or take a little deeper investment and buy the book. Start with why by Simon Sinek and you will not regret it.

It's a very good book, very insightful. The best companies know you know and you connect to companies that demonstrate their reason why in their business model. For sure.

Yep.

But you can do that personally too. Visualization techniques improve success rates by strengthening goal commitment. That's from sports psychology, which I think is. Yeah, they say you could. If you could just imagine yourself hitting that baseball, squaring up, squaring it up. And just knocking it out of the park. That is a great thing to do. Visualization techniques. Try a why audit. Ask yourself why you're doing what you're doing. And in realign if necessary. Yeah. The winter time's a good time to really connect with yourself and figure out why you're doing stuff.

And let yourself dream with that exercise.

Right?

Let yourself, let your mind wander and let yourself dream with that exercise. And when you ask yourself, why am I doing something? Whatever answer you come up with, ask yourself why again. There's a technique in lean processing. You see this in manufacturing and decision making and moving forward called the five whys. Right? You don't take action on something until you get to your five whys. Why are you doing this? Okay, why are. Why did you answer this way? And then why are you doing that? Or why did you take that attitude? And why are we moving forward in this direction? And you ask your five whys. And studies have shown that fifth or sixth why really gets to the meat of what you're trying to accomplish.

Very interesting. Yeah. Why do we do it this way?

And then keep asking yourself why. Once you get to the 5 or 5th or 6th why, you'll get some clarity. That surprises you.

Yeah. Can we find a better way of doing this?

Ask any 2 year old, any 3 year old, why are we driving? So we can go to the grocery store. Why do we need to go to the grocery store? So we can buy food. So we can buy food. Why do we need to buy food? So we can eat. Why do we need to eat? So we can have nutrition. Why do we have. So you can. So you can grow up and leave the house and stop asking why.

Yeah, when are you moving out?

But these. Asking yourself why you're doing something. Get a sense of your why. It's a, it's an exercise, quite honestly, that I have completely forgotten about. To really sit down and ask yourself why.

Yeah.

And you might be surprised where it leads you.

Well, there you have it. That's 10 ways to get you out of the winter rut and stop going stir crazy. Move your body, change your mind. Embrace cold exposure. Create a. Start a creative project. Challenge yourself with a 30 day goal. Get social, even if you don't feel like it. Redefine your space. Try a dopamine detox. Plan an adventure, even if it's small. Focus on nutrition and sleep and then reconnect with your why. And Joe, you added a bonus one. How about go out there and volunteer, get involved and help somebody. You'll Feel good about it.

Find somebody to help. Absolutely. I love this, man. I love this episode. And this is very timely for me because I'm. I'm starting to feel the funk a little bit. More than a little bit, Kurt. My big takeaways on this from this show is I want to plan a micro adventure, and I want to plan it in advance. Instead of saying, what am I doing this weekend? I'm going to look a couple weeks ahead and say, hey, on this day, we're going to go to a restaurant that's an hour away that's a different restaurant than we've ever. Different style food, different restaurant. Look at the reviews. Pick something. But it's an hour away.

Yeah.

And start to dream about that little tiny experience, what that restaurant's going to taste, in which or where you're going to sit and what you're. What's the service going to be like. And, wow, this is a really renowned restaurant. It's a little hole in the wall, but, man, they talk about how good the food is here and. And have something like that to. To look forward to. So that's one of my big takeaways. Another big takeaway is I want to revisit. I want to read Cal Newport's Deep Workbook and revisit Simon Sinek's book Just Good Stuff. Just really Good Stuff, and then engage the why process. So thank you for this, Kurt. This really has been a motivational moment for me, so I appreciate this.

What's funny about. Thank you, Joe. Thanks, pal. I appreciate that a lot. I was struggling trying to come up with an episode because I had a few weeks where I had lots of content in my head. Then I ran out. But what got me creative was thinking, what am I struggling with right now? What's something that's bothering me or I'm having a hard time with? And when I thought of this, I was like, oh, my gosh, this is definitely something. And the timing is so perfect because we're really close to being in that spring. Spring is one of my favorite times of the year. And you know what started me thinking about it was the baseball season, seeing spring training happening.

Yeah, we know you're a Yankees fan, so here it comes.

The other part of it was my football team stunk this year, and my basketball team, the UConn Huskies, they won two national championships in a row. And I watched them one game playing, and they were horrible. So I lost interest in that until my Yankees started spring training. So they started getting me thinking of spring. So all Right. What's your win for the week?

It's interesting that we talked about about this in this episode because my win for the week is I like to walk every morning as well, but when it sneaks below zero, that's when I start to stall.

Absolutely.

It has, it has to do with the effort of putting on the layers of clothes and going through that whole process and getting out there and walking. I don't mind walking in the cold. It's just getting ready for. Got pretty cold. And this week the temperatures snuck below 20 degrees. And my gosh, I got out there and with my thermal socks on and my thermal pants and my sweatshirt and hoodie and my coat and did my walk and I take about a 30 minute walk. It's about a mile and a half around my neighborhood if I take all the, all the nooks and crevices and the side sidewalks. But I'm really proud of that. I, I managed to get up and when it was really cold, so some of it I put 20 degrees my notes here, but some of it well below 20 degrees and I'll be darned if I push through it. And I felt so good afterward, it's.

Like counting the wind chill. I totally get this. My issue is I don't really have a good place that's safe and walking in the streets here with the ice and there's cars flying by, that's the part that really gets me. There's not enough room for the cars and me. Last weekend I went downtown where we have sidewalks and I got out of the house just to go downtown, drive somewhere. The walking paths are full of snow, which is depressing. But I found some. Yeah, I popped in a couple stores and just walked around downtown area, which is interesting. My win for the week is I'm a finalist at work for the Promptathon contest. So we're doing this AI day next week. And part of that they challenged us to come up with a AI prompt. That's interesting. And there's a couple of criteria that they're going to be judging on, but I got an email saying I'm a finalist.

Awesome.

Yeah, you know, it's one of these things where I'm thinking in one part of my mind, why bother? Because what are the chances I'm going to. I didn't think my idea was that great. It came out of a meeting I had. Maybe I told you. I'm not sure if I talked about it in the podcast, but I was having a meeting and we do this hackathon or Code a thon every year. And I've been part of that planning. Last year we did a survey and we had 90 participants who responded to the survey. So I had all this content in an Excel document with all the responses, and I came up with a prompt to ask AI. In this case, it's Copilot from Microsoft that we use and that we're trying to get more people in our company to use and be productive with it. That's a theme for everybody with AI. This year is, okay, now we got it. Now what do we do with it? Let's find real creative ways to improve our work. And Joe, I know I've told you about this probably, and Clay always likes this stuff too. Our friend was like, oh yeah, someone mentioned in a meeting, let's try to use AI in our planning this year. And she didn't give me this idea. I just thought about it. I said, oh, this is. Duh. Why didn't I think of this before? Let's take all that content. And I asked it a question first for the prompt, which was, I don't remember exactly what was. It wasn't that detailed. I said, you know what? I'm going to ask Copilot what would be a, okay, that's my prompt, but how can I make this prompt better? And it gave me some great responses, like percentages of how the sentiment was from for five different categories and what was the kind of a summary of what people were feeling. How was the registration going? How was the challenge? Gave us some really great common themes there. And then finally, what are the action items we could take on this feedback that we got from the survey and man, it was spot. I thought it was spot on. And it's really going to focus our attention to those things that we're going to work on for the next event.

This is awesome, Kurt. And I am so proud of you, my friend, for this on a couple different levels because we're both in our 50s and I think you just reached 60s. We're in that time of life where people would tend to not embrace new technology. And the fact that at your work in the organization that you belong to, that you're being recognized for embracing a brand new technology and creating something that will help your company from a brand new technology and taking a hold of this technology and moving it forward is really something to. To pat yourself on the back for. So this is a win. Congratulations, dude. This is awesome.

Yeah, I'm going to be doing my annual review with my manager probably in the next week or Two, and this is going to be a focus for my goals for the year. So it's easy to really embrace AI finding ways. We've got a project that's going to be very directly related and some technology that we're going to introduce and work with that's brand new. But yeah, it was. I was surprised that I'm a finalist. What I was thinking, you got that thought in your head, should I do this? Should I not? This is no good. This one's not that good. How's it going to rank and to have the courage just to. All right, whatever. I'm going to put this in there and come to find it. My thought is, I bet a lot of people didn't even make the effort, right? That's my guess. We'll find out next week when I think it's on Wednesday. I'm going into the office and they're going to have a whole day about AI and different speakers. And then this is going to be part of that. All right, Joe, what is your resource tip or hack this week?

I finished up a book this week and it was actually I finished up a couple books. I finished up the fourth quarter book. There were some. A couple chapters that I wanted to wrap up there. And I finished up a couple other. Just few chapters and some books that have been straggling. I like to finish a book when we read a book. I don't say that I don't necessarily think we have to finish it, but I just like it. I like finishing a book. So I had a moment a day or so where I'm thinking, okay, what am I going to read next? And there's this little book in my Kindle library that I've had for a long time that I've read, that I read a long time ago called the Richest man in Babylon by George Claassen. And I don't know if I've ever brought this up as a resource or not. It feels like I might have. I don't think so, but this is 120 pages of timeless gold. It really is a good book. It's a book that's set in ancient Babylon. At the time, Babylon was the city. It was the place. It was the. The place of prosperity, activity. And all kinds of great things were happening in Babylon. It was prosperous and creative and it was just a neat place to be. And it's a parable about two friends who recognize that their friend, they have a mutual friend who has become this very rich man. And it talks about the principles that he Used to become rich in all sorts of ways, not just in money, but money is a focus of this book and it's a good little read. 120 pages of timeless gold is what I say about it. The Richest man and man in Babylon by George Claussen. Check it out, man.

I have heard about this book and to my surprise, I don't think I've ever read it. So I'm really happy you brought this as your resource and I'm even more motivated. That's only 120 pages. Quick read. Yeah, love it. It's a story which is even more fun. I've been looking for a next book and you gave me a couple examples today which I definitely want to check out. I'm going to continue with my resource. This was from a Amazon gift card I got at work for a thank you award. I talked about the mini magnet speakers that I got. But also I've been thinking about this for a long time. I don't really have anyone being annoyed by my PlayStation 5 when I'm playing my games. But I finally said, you know what? I'm going to try some wireless gaming headset off of Amazon, like $32. We'll put the link in the show Tatubo. It's always got these strange names, but the quality is fantastic. It puts that action right straight on my head. I'm not using the microphone at all because I don't go online with anybody. And then my son Ben was telling me, dad, you should try the baseball game the show. And I had bought a copy, like real cheap from last year's version, number 24. And he said, try it in career mode, which means you start, you get drafted into AA baseball. I like the progression because you're learning the motions of the game in Double A. And you can do. You can change some of the features. And I did go on to YouTube and get some tips which have helped me tremendously in my hitting. And I want you to know, Joe, I am the number three New York Yankees prospect now in the minor leagues in AAA. And I'm the number 54 overall prospect in AAA baseball right now.

Wow.

Dude, I'm enjoying spring training and living that and just absorbed in my headset being a star prospect for the Yankees right now.

I can't wait to see that big fat contract you sign with the pinstripes.

You're gonna be so proud of me. I'll invite you to Yankee Stadium. You can come see me make my debut in Yankee Stadium this spring.

That's hilarious. Yeah, that Sounds fun, man. That sounds fun. And I do like when you introduce these resources, these fun resources, the gaming headsets and the games that you've played, because it does help me to realize that entertainment is a resource.

Yeah.

It's a way to re engage and revive your attitude and everything about you. So I dig this, man. Good stuff.

You talked about six hours of watching Netflix. I did about the same. Playing the show and progressing to the major leagues. This is my goal.

I think there's something different because it's an active. Even gaming is active. Right. You're engaged in something. You're trying to figure out something. You're trying to get better at something, when you're just there binge watching the Office episodes you've seen 100 times before. That's a problem.

All right, let's finish off with our quotes for the week.

Of course, I pulled a quote that is appropriate to the subject, but it's by Victor Hugo. And you know who Victor Hugo is. He wrote the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Las Miserable and. Oh, yeah, if I'm saying that, I can never pronounce that the name. Less Miserables.

Less Miserable.

Less miserable. However you say it. Yeah. Anyway, Victor Hugo. I love this quote from Victor Hugo. He says, laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face.

That's a fantastic quote.

Yeah, it is a fantastic quote. And I like this a lot because if you can laugh, if you're in those winter blues and you can laugh, that's the very first step that. To getting out of that funk. Figure out a way to laugh, man.

In my tips this week, and the research says even if you fake laugh, that will improve your mood.

You'll laugh at yourself for faking laugh. For faking your laugh.

I've had some laughs this episode. I appreciate it. Thank you, Joe. That's a great one. Yeah. We always try to bring in a quote that's relative to the subject. Mine is from one of those old guys back in the olden days. Such wisdom. I can't believe how such wisdom. This one kind of spoke to me because I love walking. If you're in a bad mood, go for a walk. If you're still in a bad mood, go for another walk. I thought that was kind of funny, too, coming from Hippocrates. Yeah, he's an old dude, right?

Yeah, he's. Yeah, he's pretty old. He's from back in the day, I guess you would say.

The Greek days.

Yeah.

It's funny how.

Right? And they walked everywhere. Right.

They didn't have a car, but they.

Did have forms of transportation. I guess they had chariots and whatever, but they walked, right? They could ride horses or donkeys or whatever. I don't know. I'm making it up as I go along. But the point is they walked a lot. So I gotta think that this is kind of a different walk. It's an intentional walk. It's an. It's a walk. Not necessarily to get from point A to point B in your rush. It's a walk to. To clear your mind and to refocus and to let your mind wander and to just be around nature and be around. Start noticing things when you go for a walk, Kurt. Do you notice like the little things around you? Like maybe a little flower growing out of the sidewalk or a tree that has a weird limb or a building that has interesting architecture or that old rusted fire hydrant stuff like that.

Great point. And I live in a rural area really outside outskirts of town. And there's a farmland along this. It's a busy road that people are traversing from to their home from another busy road. But there is some great farmland there. I love looking out there and hopefully I don't see a bear coming across the path, although I've seen that a few times. I love looking for wildlife or just we have rolling hills. Connecticut is very beautiful. People don't realize the beauty in New England unless they're out there going for a walk and really paying attention to it. And I noticed that when I've been to other places, like, wow. I really come from a quite a beautiful natural rolling hills and trees. It can definitely be refreshing to get out for a walk, clear your mind and yeah, look forward to spring. Joe, take us home.

Awesome. Great episode, Kurt. Thank you for this reminder that there's something that we can do about these winter blues. There's something that we can do about being stir crazy. And we certainly don't want to be Jack Torrance from the shiny that can go to an ugly place. Our website is dudesinprogress.com dudesinprogress.com if you want to email us dudesinprogress.com Remember, Kurt, in order to get out of this funk, out of these winter blues, out of this stir craziness, we just got to take a couple steps. Just a couple small steps. It even if it's ugly, even if it's awkward, even if it's not quite where you want to be, it's progress. Certainly better than perfection. We don't have to be perfect we just have to keep moving forward.

Hey, if you found yourself chopping down doors or terrorizing your loved ones lately, maybe take a step back, realize you might be suffering from cabin fever, and get out there and take advantage of some of these tips we've discovered. And we're going to do the same.

Awesome. Talk to you soon, buddy. Red rum. Red rum.