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Hi all,
After a long hiatus for Pillars for Progress, we're back for the long haul. And we're changing up the structure of the newsletter.
Previously, we structured the newsletter around three separate topics on the key pillars of life (health, wealth, self & connection). While it's great to have breadth, I've decided to focus on one topic per newsletter going forward. I've made this change to ensure we focus on providing one great idea to you per week, rather than three mediocre ones.
We hope you enjoy the new format and welcome any feedback you might have. Now onto the topic: having more showers!
The Point.
A shower a day is a hygiene baseline, but how many days are you earning an extra shower? An extra shower means you've been active and most of us need to be more active.
The Picture.
Between 60-80% of people shower daily. That's the daily baseline that takes care of your hygiene and leaves you feeling clean. But how many days a week are you earning a second daily shower?
Think back to your last holiday. I would bet that you took multiple showers a day. Maybe you've been to the beach or the pool, or you've been walking around a city for eight hours. You were out and about, experiencing life (and sweating) to earn you another shower.
Normal life doesn't work like that. We're spending more time indoors, and most of it is spent sitting down. The busyness of a regular week robs us of the energy expenditure that makes holidays so enjoyable.
So a second shower becomes a useful question to ask yourself: have I been active enough today? If you have, it means you've sweated, gotten dirty or been moving – and getting enough movement is the difference between a good day and a flat one.
And the good news is you can earn one across most pillars based on what you're feeling like doing:
Health - a run, a session at the gym or a long walk.
Self - a hobby that gets you moving: gardening, surfing or even a round of golf.
Connection - helping a mate move house, or spending an hour at the park with your kids.
The options are endless. All you need to do is make sure you're earning those extra showers.
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The Practice.
Turn a second daily shower into a rule of thumb to check if your active enough in your life. If you're having seven showers per week (once a week), then you're at the baseline. Make a goal for next week on how many earned showers you want to get.
For me, I'm aiming for eleven showers in a week. That's three gym sessions and an additional session I leave open for a run or another activity that get's me outside.
Respond and tell me how many showers your aiming for next week.
Two caveats. Keep them short — two to four minutes is plenty, and a rinse counts. And be honest with yourself: an earned shower is one you actually needed, not a habit rinse because it's hot outside.
Quick Links:
Book I'm enjoying on high agency: You Can Just Do Things by Cate Hall
A substack on learning: Knowledge Lust by Samuel Rinko
That's it for this week.
If something resonated (or didn't), hit reply and let me know. This newsletter gets better when you tell me what's working.
Tommy