Pursuit of Happiness- Challenge One, Scandinavian Lifestyle, and SAD (#51)

[00:00:19] Andrew: Hello, ladies and gentlemen, welcomeback to dead by tomorrow. We are thrilled to have you. It is a new year andthat means Daniel and I are going to be changing this podcast up a little bitthis year to try a little bit of a new format. what we're going to be doing,uh, starting with this episode is we're going to be doing some challenges and.

[00:00:40] Andrew: How that'll work is we're going tocome up with a challenge for ourselves, similar to the challenges we putforward at the end of our episodes that we've been doing up until this point.And that challenge is going to be on a little bit more macro scale, and thenwe're going to focus on 30 days. Uh, so we will announce the challenge in theepisode.

[00:00:57] Andrew: We'll talk about it. We're going totalk about how we want to go about this challenge, how we're going toaccomplish it, the research we're going to do all the, all the little detailsthat go with. Why what, when, where, you know, like a murder mystery, but youknow, for self-improvement. So we're gonna try that out.

[00:01:13] Andrew: Hopefully you guys enjoy it. Uh, we'dlove for you guys to join us on this challenge and all the ones coming forwardthis year. Uh, we'll still do some interviews. I will try and have them alittle more specific to the challenges we're doing, but we'll still have somenew and exciting guests on this year and you might see a little.

[00:01:29] Andrew: A few less episodes and you might beused to, um, not a lot less, but we'll probably be doing a fewer episodes so wecan come back, each episode with a better handle on how the challenge went,what we would've done differently and kind of do a recap of. The previouschallenge before we jumped into the next one.

[00:01:44] Andrew: So we're going to be kind of aimingfor a challenge per month. And then there might be an episode between each ofthose where we kind of do a update if we've changed anything, if anythingreally went sideways and hopefully, maybe in the interview mixed in there, onthose updates with somebody that is maybe related to the challenge in some formor fashion.

[00:02:01] Andrew: So with all that said, we're excitedto bring you guys on, uh, we're excited to see where this takes us and Daniel.Anything else you want to add?

[00:02:11] Daniel: no, I'm, I'm definitely lookingforward to this. It could be hopefully something that we look back onthroughout the course of the year and really actually charts some growth. We'vebeen doing a lot of talking for the past. Uh, however long we've done this podcasta year, really our whole lives, a lot of talking, uh, but I'm, I'm excited toput pen to paper, so to speak on a few different items and, um, hopefully.

[00:02:42] Daniel: You know, be able to have some datathat shows actual value to some of the things that we're, we're trying out. Um,and Yeah.

[00:02:51] Daniel: like Andrew said really hope to havesome people join in with us on challenges, whether it's just texting [00:03:00] us on things, whether it's on a moreofficial capacity, you know, we'll figure that out as we go.

[00:03:07] Andrew: Absolutely check the show notes. We'llprobably have a link to at least track Daniel and I's progress, uh, dependingon what we come up with, which is part of what we're gonna be talking abouthere. So let's jump into what this first challenge is. Uh, this one's going tobe, I guess you can say my fault. Uh, I was listening over Christmas tosomething I don't even remember at this point.

[00:03:28] Andrew: And they were talking about Finlandbeing the happiest. Place in the world or at least have the happiest people inthe world. I thought that was kind of ridiculous. Told Daniel about it. And Iwas like, yo, the finish are the happiest people let's make that. The firstchallenge let's live like the finish.

[00:03:43] Andrew: Now that said, we're not just going tomove to Finland and go be finished. Um, I dug into it a little bit more andwhat we're going to try and do is emulate some of the things that the sorta sayScandinavian, uh, people. Uh, do that makes them different. That sets themapart from at least Daniel nine are American texts and selves.

[00:04:05] Andrew: So this challenge, uh, we're lookingat. Basically combating that seasonal affective disorder. That's kind of whatinspired this. It's something that affects me almost every year, probably everyyear to some capacity. Sometimes it's a lot worse. Sometimes it's not as bad.Um, but you know, I have that seasonal affective depression, uh, every year toan extent.

[00:04:26] Andrew: And, uh, strangely enough, Uh, we justyesterday was blue Monday. So for those of you guys listening, you know, thesepsis is probably gonna come out a little bit after that, but the saddest dayof the year, uh, the most depressing day of the year was yesterday, Monday the16th. Uh, no, I'm sorry. The 17th Monday, the 17th was blue Monday and it'ssupposedly the saddest day of the year.

[00:04:48] Andrew: So this is not something that justaffects me. It's not something that just affects Daniel, who also suffers fromthis problem. Um, it, it affects a lot of people. There's a whole thing withit. So. Hopefully this challenge helps us pursue happiness a little bit betterhelps us fight that seasonal depression that comes along gives us something towork on.

[00:05:05] Andrew: That specifically helps increase notnecessarily happiness, but our, our satisfaction and our, the joy we feel andkind of pushes away some of that darkness, lights away for us and these harderto manage money. So, excuse me, I'm still coming. Uh, still getting a littlebetter off of getting whatever got me, uh, at new years.

[00:05:32] Andrew: So that's what we're going to betrying. Uh, we're hopefully going to fight some, uh, seasonal affectivedisorder. Uh, depression. I'm butchering that still, what you think I have downby this time. Um, we will get updates you guys, and about a month. So 30 daysfrom the release episode, we'll have another episode out to let you know how itdid.

[00:05:51] Andrew: Um, hopefully we'll have a littleupdate in between those letting you know how we're doing. And with that said,let's go ahead and jump into how we're going to do this challenge, [00:06:00] what it's going to involve with andeverything like that. So, Daniel, I know you did a little research on your ownand you're going to be doing things a little differently than I am.

[00:06:07] Andrew: Let's start.

[00:06:10] Daniel: So it's funny that we started with theFinnish people. I remember back in high school, there was a. World geographyclass that we had together was actually taught by Mrs. Monroe, no relation toyou, to my knowledge.

[00:06:27] Andrew: Not as far as I know either. She wasfun.

[00:06:31] Daniel: She was fun.

[00:06:32] Daniel: And we did a project in that classthat I thought was really, really cool. Where you essentially just picked, Idon't know if we drew it from a hat or if we got to actually choose it, but weeach needed to study a different. Country and come and talk about some of theirway of life and also prepare a dish from that country.

[00:06:51] Daniel: And I had Finland, so I've always hada soft spot in my heart for the fins and their fruit cookies that, um, Iprobably butchered when I made them, but I thought they were great. So that,that was exciting. But then you decided to name the episode pursuit ofhappiness. We'll see if it sticks. And that oddly enough is one of the onlymovies that I've ever walked out of in my life.

[00:07:19] Daniel: So I'm having mixed feelings about allof this right now is what I'm. This is what I'm trying to get at.

[00:07:26] Andrew: That's funny. So strangely enough, Idon't remember you doing this finish. Thing and miss Monroe's class. Honestly,I don't remember much from high school. I was talking to my mom about thisearlier today and I just, I fried my memory of that first year of college wasso little sleep and I there's just things.

[00:07:45] Andrew: That was my example. Like, you know,Daniel mentioned stuff from a high school and I know I was there for it and ittotally sounds plausible. And I just don't remember it. I don't remember thatproject. Obviously I was in that class. I remember the projector stuff there.We've had stories about that class.

[00:07:58] Andrew: Um, don't remember anything aboutthat. So, uh, that said, I do have a thing for the Finnish region as well,outside of this, uh, happiness index that they seem to keep winning. Uh, one ofmy favorite words is CC and I'm probably butchering it cause I'm not finished.And I don't. I actually do know some finished people.

[00:08:16] Andrew: I should go reach out to them. Uh, butit's one of my favorite words and it, this whole conglomeration about strengthof will determination, perseverance. And I think it's acting rationally in theface of like an enemy or something like that. It's it's like sustained courage,freaking love that word. Um, and on top of that, some of the finished people Ihave met the ones I was saying I should probably reach out to are some of themost web smart.

[00:08:43] Andrew: Interesting people I know, andthey're, they're not millionaires, they're not anything like that, which isactually another thing that came up in the research for this, uh, finishedpeople and Scandinavian people in general, kind of look down if you're rich.Like if you are above and beyond wealthy, they look at you like, what's wrongwith you?

[00:08:59] Andrew: Why are you [00:09:00]so greedy? Um, you have more than enough. You should not be pursuing wealth tothis extent. And that's one of the reasons that they're happy, supposedly, butanyways, these, these finished people all speak like seven languages. They'reall just incredible people. So I also have like a thing for the finish, I guessyou could say.

[00:09:17] Andrew: And it just so happened that thisarticle came up and spun this whole challenge, you know, possibly out ofcontrol. So this will be. Sorry, I derailed you there. What are you going to bedoing for the next 30 days to maybe not necessarily pursue happiness? Cause I,you know, don't want to step on wheel Smith's toes here, but how are you goingto change your mindset and do something that makes you uncomfortable thathopefully brings you more light in what is considered kind of a dark month.

[00:09:49] Daniel: Well, I don't know if I'm going to doa lot of things that make me uncomfortable. That doesn't sound very happy tome, but. Yeah, there are, there are a handful of things that I want to do, andreally it's, it's things that I already do to some extent, but I just want tomake sure that I'm more intentional about a lot of these things.

[00:10:09] Daniel: And as far as, you know, seasonal,effective disorder, it's, it's certainly something that I've struggled with inthe past. Um, I haven't as much lately and I do think what I want to do is kindof build on. Some of the success that I've seen. So, um, one thing that I willcontinue to do that gets a little bit more challenging when it's colderoutside.

[00:10:37] Daniel: Yeah. Maintaining exercise. Uh, that'ssomething we've talked about plenty of times in the past, but, um, there's justthat chemical benefit to it. There's that sense of accomplishment, um, thatcomes with that, um, getting your blood up. So that's an easy one that I intendto do throughout the next 30 days and have accountability around that to helpmake sure that that does happen.

[00:11:03] Daniel: Um, another thing that. I want to leana little bit into, because of just for me personally, a lot of the guidingprinciple, a lot of the compass on where I make decisions and kind of where Iseek wisdom is in the Bible, the Christian Bible. So I'm going to take sometime to just see what is in Proverbs and what is in some of the differentscriptures, talking about, Um,

[00:11:29] Daniel: contentment, happiness, joyfulness,these types of things, and see where I can, uh,

[00:11:34] Daniel: Better plug some of That stuff in andobserve that.

[00:11:38] Daniel: Um, and then the last, you know, superintentional thing that I intend to do is practice the art of Hooga. So this isgoing to lean into that whole Scandinavian, uh, finish, uh, theme that we havegoing. So I don't remember if. Scandinavian as a whole, if it's [00:12:00] just Norwegian, w I'll have to look someof that up.

[00:12:02] Daniel: I'll I'll report back in the nextepisode. Um, but Hillary and my sister, Beth have recently gotten pretty intothis idea of who God is just, it kind of boils down to living comfortably. Andso it's doing things like, uh, setting time aside to play board games withfriends while you have. Cozy, you know, foot slippers on and you're drinking awarm drink and you have candles and it's just kind of creating this really cozytype of environment.

[00:12:36] Daniel: Um, and there are, there's this bookthat Hillary got, I think for Christmas a year or two ago, I've never read apage of it, but I'm going to each week, um, each day, just kind of, dependingon how. How big some of the concepts are, I'm going to dive in and read throughthe book and try to implement some of the art of who got those are some of thethings that I intend to put in.

[00:13:04] Andrew: That excuse me again. Geez. Every timeI try and talk lately, I'm just dying over here with this cough. That's reallycool. Cause I I've never heard of that. I looked it up real quick while youwere talking about it. Apparently it's a Danish, which technically meansthey're from Denmark. Uh, but always in my.

[00:13:23] Andrew: Like Danish and Detra prettyinterchangeable. So it's, it's right up there. I mean, like we're talking abouthalf of Texas, I think in terms of geography covers. So it's like, I don't know.I guess they have mountain ranges and there, there are some geographicalboundaries that make things more difficult than driving from Amarillo toDallas.

[00:13:40] Andrew: But, uh, I mean, like, I'm not sayingI'm a different culture than somebody that lives in Austin necessarily. Soit's, I think it's safe for us to. Lump the Scandinavians and the Danish andthe Dutch and all of them, at least from our very limited texts and viewtogether for the sake of this challenge. Um, and I have some really goodfriends that are actually Dutch, you know, from the Netherlands.

[00:14:03] Andrew: And if they're listening, I'm sorry.If that was incredibly offensive, uh, uneducated. Please reach out to me andlet me know what are, what I said wrong and how to correct it next time. Sosorry about that. Um, but that's cool. I've never heard of it. You're going tohave to let me know how that goes.

[00:14:19] Andrew: Whenever we do our catch-up on this,because I love the idea of focusing on being cozy and happy as like a mentalhealth skill, because I suck at that, like it's I was sick, like I said, liketwo weeks ago, I was just sick as a dog and. I, I clean things. I couldn't notsit, like I couldn't just sit there. So I had my laptop tried to work from homeand in between stuff.

[00:14:45] Andrew: Cause I couldn't think straight, Ijust got up and like organize things and I couldn't just sit there and be sickand whatnot. It's it's a problem. Like I know it sounds funny, but likelegitimately it is a issue I have where I can't sit back and just chill andenjoy a board game night or [00:15:00] justwatch a movie and be happy about it.

[00:15:02] Andrew: So I, and I might have to steal someof that.

[00:15:05] Daniel: Yeah, by all means, I'm sure. I'm surethere'll be some concepts that you'll go through that I'll want to steal. Soleading into that, what are some of the things that.

[00:15:13] Daniel: you plan to, uh, to try out some ofthe methods you want to use? Some of the researchers.

[00:15:19] Andrew: Well, what a surprising question,Daniel. Now, obviously I was hoping to talk about it. So whenever I was readingthis article, the first. That. And I need to find the article that I read sinceI've referenced it. We'll try and get in the show notes. And if it's not there,I'm sorry. Uh, it really was just Andrew surfing the web probably late at nightor something, but what came out of it was, there was a argument that.

[00:15:46] Andrew: They were happier because they, as inthe finish were happier because they have more outdoor time and they have morecold exposure specifically, uh, like ice water, cold exposure, but in general,cold exposure counted in this very short article about why the finish might bescoring higher on this happy happiness index than the rest of.

[00:16:10] Andrew: So I took that and that's somethingthat I really dig because I, strangely enough, did this little 12 monthprogram, I guess it was 20, 20, uh, a little bit between 20, 20 and 2021, whichdid something like what we're doing right now. And I thought it was really,really good where you took a kind of. Concept and each month I'd send you thisconcept and some tools to follow it through.

[00:16:32] Andrew: And it's called made for if anybody'sinterested in it. It's really good. It's kind of annoyingly expensive, but Ireally enjoyed it. It's this cool little 12 step challenge program to try anddo exactly what we're doing here, but it's just Daniel Nye. So anyways, one ofthe things on there they talked about was, uh, breathing, which goes with theice bath and, uh, forest bathing with sh which is this Japanese concept whereyou go out and walk around.

[00:16:58] Andrew: So I'm saying all that, because thereare a couple different things that I have picked up in the past that havereally, really strong arguments for kind of rewiring how your brain does a lotof different things, including, uh, happiness, sadness, depression, all thedifferent ways. It kind of perceives the world and.

[00:17:19] Andrew: One of the big factors was beingoutdoors. getting sunlight and being in nature does this thing to your bodywhere your, your body craves being outside. And it's, it's something I don'treally understand. but I trust the science on it that basically says the moretime you spend outside, the happier you are, both physically and mentally.

[00:17:39] Andrew: when I say happily happier,physically, your body responds. Physically to being outdoors without anyconscious effort on your part and a more positive manner. And the same withyour mind, your mind is just, it releases serotonin, dopamine, all the stuffyou need to feel. So the being outdoors was a big thing.

[00:17:59] Andrew: That was a big thing in [00:18:00] the article. So I'm going to be trying togo on more walks outside. Um, it's cold right now. So that helps with the coldexposure. Um, we'll get to that in a second, but I'll be focused on doing a lotof outdoor walks and trying to see if that helps. So let's call that part. Onepart two will be the cold exposure I'm going to be trying to do not necessarilydaily.

[00:18:19] Andrew: I'll probably try and take coldshowers every day. Um, but I'm going to be trying to do at least every week,some actual ice bath, cold exposure, you know, three minutes or so in an icebath on Saturdays will probably be my goal. If it goes really well, I might tryand, you know, go an extra day a week. Um, that in itself is going to beinteresting because I've tried that in the past and it really is not fun.

[00:18:43] Andrew: I do know that whenever I've done itin the past, When I've done in the past eight, uh, it's pretty chill. Like, uh,after you get out, you really feel energized and I think it will help with anyseasonal issues I'm having. So, uh, that's number two. And then the third onegoes kind of hand-in-hand with the first two, which is dopamine and.

[00:19:03] Andrew: There's some good arguments that thefirst two things I'm talking about, help mess with your dopamine. And I've reada bunch of books on dopamine, just because they happen. You know, once you readone, the algorithm on Amazon finds out and they send you another one, youlisten to, one podcast hits you with another.

[00:19:17] Andrew: It's a really interesting moleculethat runs around our body. It has some drastic effects on how we function inlife. And one of the things that. Causes dissatisfaction or causes, let's saydepression and not necessarily depression, but like causes feelings ofinadequacy or unhappiness is when your dopamine gets kind of unbalanced.

[00:19:40] Andrew: If you, if you're not getting dopaminehits or the anticipation of dopamine, basically it's not even actuallytriggering dopamine. It's the things you do that make you anticipate havingdopamine. Those kinds of things. Um, we're, we're skewing too much. We are notgetting them where we probably should be.

[00:20:00] Andrew: So our phones are, you know, the textmessages is why we send all these text messages, why we love social media.These things give us these artificial, maybe not our official, but. Not asproductive hits of dopamine because it's this easy, quick slot machine styleway to get dopamine. And what that does is it takes away from our more.

[00:20:26] Andrew: I had fulfilling dopamine hits thethings like reading a book or going on a walk or doing the aspect, doing hard,difficult, challenging things, and finishing them that also provides dopamine,but it doesn't provide it in the same way that some of these easier slotmachine methods give us. So what I'm gonna also be doing along with the icepass on the outdoor walks, and I'm going to be trying to do dopamine.

[00:20:49] Andrew: Uh, what is the word I'm looking for?Uh, Dopamine resets where I try and fix my dopamine. [00:21:00]Uh, sensitivity by getting rid of my phone on a Sunday and, you know, beingbored, focusing on being bored and doing all that kind of stuff where I'm notgetting the slot machine style, dopamine hits and resetting my dopamine needs.

[00:21:14] Andrew: So hopefully that pairs well with theice baths and the cold exposure and the outdoor walks. And I know that's a lotto take in. Um, I'm also going to be reading at least two books. One of them isI'm a strange loop. Uh, I think it was in our newsletter actually the mostrecent newsletter. One of my friends sent it to me.

[00:21:32] Andrew: And it's kind of how your mind worksabout consciousness. It's a little philosophy book. Um, I'm hoping to find someinsight related to why my mind works the way it does to go along with it. Andthen I'll also be probably reading. Courage is calling by Ryan holiday. I don'tknow again, if that's going to necessarily impact this challenge, what I'mhoping to read the book through the lens of what we're doing here.

[00:21:54] Andrew: So I hope that covers everything.That'll be, uh, you know, daily walks, weekly bath. And weekly dopamine, uh,purges, I guess you could call it. So we'll see what happens. Read some booksand fingers crossed. It goes well.

[00:22:13] Daniel: So I might've lied. I don't know ifI'm going to actually join in use your, your methods. You kind of lost me atcold bathing. I just. I hate it. So, so very much there we've done a handful ofobstacle course races and the Savage race in particular has a section where youhave to do an ice dunk.

[00:22:39] Daniel: And I legitimately thought about justquitting the race instead of going through it. And it was towards the end. Itwould have been like a huge sunk cost sort of deal. I just, oh,

[00:22:53] Andrew: I didn't realize you didn't like icebathing, cold water exposure that much because in high school we would in a,you know, we'll leave it to the audience to decide what from fashion. But thetwo of us would take very, very cold showers almost every day together. Um, andit was not fun, but I mean, we did it for like seriously, like whatever, thelength of time it was that we were on the JV team.

[00:23:18] Andrew: Every morning,

[00:23:20] Daniel: Yeah.

[00:23:21] Andrew: what the weather was outside.

[00:23:22] Daniel: I mean, we, we did it and there weretwo big drivers on that. One was that we're really sweaty and gross becausecoach made use philosophy was we might not be as good at tennis as varsity, butwe're going to be in better shape. And so JV tennis was like a, I don't know, athird period class or something like that.

[00:23:44] Daniel: So you go from being sweaty and grossin tennis to having to interact with the rest of the world. I liked girls anddidn't want to be sweaty and gross. So that was a strong motivating factor. Uh,there was also the motivating [00:24:00] factorof being a high school boy and, you know, feeling like anything that was toughand challenging was more worth pursuing.

[00:24:11] Daniel: And then I guess it was also the factthat I wasn't afraid. Being naked, which I think that was probably most of theother boys. They were, they were afraid of being naked.

[00:24:19] Andrew: They were terrified of nudity. Um,maybe we missed the boat on something, but yeah.

[00:24:26] Andrew: And it always comes back to girls,everything we did or everything. I did good girls.

[00:24:31] Daniel: yeah, so it wasn't that I particularlyenjoyed being in a freezing cold water. It's just that there were. Otherfactors that pushed me to do it. So I've, I've done cold plunges and thingslike that. But now that I'm 30, I recognize, Hey, I actually hate this and I'mgoing to actively avoid it unless I have to do it.

[00:24:54] Andrew: I just assumed, I guess what I wasgetting at was I would have thought that it would have built up some kind oftolerance, like a immersion therapy, but I guess not, I guess it was theopposite.

[00:25:05] Daniel: No, I, I think. I think my body fatpercentage is just too low. I think my circulation is too poor. I was at a Frisbeetryout this past weekend and in Dallas on Saturday, I think the high was like30 something degrees and it was incredibly windy. So the windshield brought itdown to like 15, 20, and I was outside trying to play Frisbee for about fivehours and.

[00:25:36] Daniel: I hated it. I hated it so much. Um, myhands hurt and they continued to hurt all the way until the next day because ofhow cold they were. Yeah. There's just, there's nothing I like about the colddoes not make me happy.

[00:25:51] Andrew: Well, I guess the ice baths are outfor you on this. And unless they really work for me, I'll try and convince youto do them. Uh, what about the dopamine resistance attempt or the, uh, outdoorwalks?

[00:26:05] Daniel: I'm all for other box that kind offits in with some of the, the happiness motif. And then I think just gettingout into the sun, or, sorry, not happiness, Uh, exercise, obviously it fitswith happiness, uh, exercise and getting out in the sun. Uh, I aspire to takeJake the dog out for walks more often, so I can get on board with that.

[00:26:25] Daniel: Um, yeah, the dopamine resistance, I,I think is wise as well. I do think that we kind of short circuit ourselves alittle bit there. We kind of burn ourselves out. Um, there is this concept ofsomething called pleasure stacking that I think is really intriguing. Um, it'sfrom. A podcast. I believe it's called fight hustle and hurry.

[00:26:52] Daniel: It's kind of anti, um, anti hustle,anti hurry, [00:27:00] anti worry, all thatsort of thing. Um, and they are talking about the idea of taking Sabbath. Sotaking a day where you really recharge you, rest, you relax. It's obviously abiblical concept, Jewish concept. And part of that isn't necessarilynecessarily to just sit around and do nothing all day.

[00:27:23] Daniel: Um, these guys talk about how they tryto save some of their favorite meals or favorite activities, or really just,you know, make it a day that is full of enjoyable types of things, um, andstacking those together and how, uh, there can be some benefit to that. So Ithink it's instead of. Constantly indulging yourself in all of these littlecheap dopamine hits, like really build up to something that you look forward toand something that's really momentous.

[00:27:57] Daniel: I mean, that's, that's why we getexcited about vacation because we plan for it and you have all of this awesomemoment. You just gotta be careful about the drop that comes afterwards.

[00:28:09] Andrew: Uh, two parts, one, the pleasurestacking sounds really cool because excuse me again. I really think that'simportant on kind of getting that dopamine resistance going or fixing thatdopamine issue because it's easy. It's easy to be like, Hey, let's just orderpizza. Watch Netflix. That is not as satisfying as making your favorite meal.

[00:28:31] Andrew: I love that idea. Like go and makethis big exciting meal. It takes work. It takes effort. It takes. But thepayoff I think is more satisfying, but we'll call it for your soul for your,this is we're working on our souls this month and you want to feed the soul anddoing something like that, making a meal with someone specifically arelationship like you can do it by yourself.

[00:28:56] Andrew: But one of the important things thatactually came up with the finish was one of their key components is havinghealthy. Uh, secure relationships with people that they can rely on and share,share with. So having somebody to, you know, make that meal with and sharing inthat experience is I think really important.

[00:29:15] Andrew: So that's, that is totally somethingI'm going to steal, even though that didn't come up and heart methods thatwe're going to be pursuing, I'm going to try and use that. Oh, sorry. The otherpart with that. Uh, wow. I completely blanked on it. Uh, I was really excitedabout two different things there. Uh, We'll just skip fast.

[00:29:35] Andrew: And if I come up with it, I'll try andget back to you. But I was just really thinking of Lord of the rings stylemeals. And, you know, that's just fun. Cause it's not something I do anymore.

[00:29:45] Daniel: Fair enough. Okay. Well, happiness isa pretty subjective thing. So part of the whole point of our challenge is beingable to demonstrate some results. Being able to show, you know, [00:30:00] is Andrew's cold, bathing, actual. Doinganything beneficial. So how are we going to actually determine impact when itcomes to this challenge?

[00:30:15] Andrew: So in complete transparency, this isnot something I have built out yet. So it could change by the time we get thisepisode out to you guys. Uh, but my plan that I'm hoping Daniel goes along withto measure. This is basically a really short 30 day journal where we. Say, Hey,you know, here's, here's how I'm feeling.

[00:30:36] Andrew: Uh, this is my mood today. This iswhat I woke up feeling. This is how I am looking at the day. This is how Ilooked at the week. Um, you know, like for me personally, I would have notmarked today as a very good day. Uh, that was really not excited to get out ofbed. I laid in bed wishing I could just. Stay asleep and not have to get up.

[00:30:57] Andrew: And it took me probably 15 minutes todrag myself out of bed and convince myself to go and start the day. Sosomething like that, I would put like, Hey, this was, this was not a good day.And I'd probably know 10, 15 point scale today. I'm going to rate getting outof bed, like as a three. Um, along with that, we'll, we'll obviously not have asingle checklist.

[00:31:18] Andrew: Uh, journal where it's like, Hey,today was a good day. Today was a bad day. Um, I want to us to have a, uh,it'll probably be a Google sheet that you can follow along with that will show,you know, we read it today as XYZ. Um, here's some of the stressors that worktoday and, you know, another column we'll have a bunch of different things thathopefully we can turn into a formula that builds our own happiness index.

[00:31:41] Andrew: And we'll, we'll reference the actualhappiness index and try and get some of that going. We'll have a differentlittle point system that hopefully we can track a trend. That's basicallystarts tomorrow and says, Hey, this is how you feel tomorrow. And if we can seea steady upward trend for either one of us or both of us, hopefully that'llgive us an indicator of, you know, what changed paired with tracking.

[00:32:04] Andrew: If we're following through themethods, you know, if, if Daniel tracks up where the whole time, but he neverjumps into the Bible and he doesn't do any of his methods. Well, sure he mightbe happier, but that didn't really prove anything. But if we can show that hedid everything he was wanting to do, but he tracked downwards in terms ofhappiness, then obviously it was a bust.

[00:32:23] Andrew: Um, but really. My personal theory onthis is the fact that we're going to try and that we're going to measure. Um,we'll just automatically increase, you know, our good feelings and maybe that'soptimistic of me, but I kind of I've. I have the idea that just being mindfulabout it in general and working towards improvement will it's.

[00:32:47] Andrew: And in the results we want. So maybeI'm wrong. Maybe we're both going to be even sadder. I do hate February with anundying passion. It is my least favorite month and going into it is tough. Uh,so I could be [00:33:00] wrong, but I thinkthat's how we're going to measure this. Uh, is that make sense to you, Daniel?Is that what you're feeling or do you have a different way you want to measureon your end?

[00:33:08] Daniel: I think that makes sense. I thinkdoing a, basically a daily check-in survey. Depending on, uh, the differentareas that we've said we want to, we want to improve, or the things that wewant to do that we think is going to have an impact. The only other thing thatI want to try to find a way to incorporate is, uh, a third-party opinion.

[00:33:31] Daniel: So that may be just asking Hillary tocomment on, you know, how. How my mood seemed throughout the day or differentthings like that. Cause I could be tempted to be like, yeah, I was prettyhappy. And she was like, what are you talking about? You didn't smile theentire day.

[00:33:49] Andrew: Bro you were a sour, but.

[00:33:52] Daniel: yeah. Yeah. So I'm excited. Um, so Ithink that's something we can.

[00:34:01] Daniel: We can share is what our differenttrackers look like. And then I knew at the beginning of the episode, you talkedabout, um, as far as check-ins what we want to do. So our, our goal is tobasically halfway through, uh, circle back and talk about how things are going.but.

[00:34:18] Daniel: the tracker is sort of looks like ifwe've been able to stick with our chosen methods, what some of those initialresults are.

[00:34:29] Daniel: Maybe we'll have a guest, maybe not.Um, and then our last episode will be, you know, sometime kind of towards themiddle end of February. Um, we'll close it out. We'll see how it went and rollright into whatever our next challenge is.

[00:34:47] Andrew: Excellent. Well, guys, I, I hope youy'all, uh, I hope you all are excited about this, cause I know I am and I I'mplanning on beating Daniel. I'm going to be far happier than he is comeFebruary. So let's get this going. Um,

[00:35:07] Andrew: well guys, we appreciate you alltuning in, uh, check the show notes. If you want to follow along with thischallenge, we'll have links for you to. You know, see our trackers to do someresearch of your own, uh, links to the books. We've talked about. Some of thearticles we've talked about, um, we really want this to be a little bit morevalue packed, where you can kind of spin off on your own with this.

[00:35:26] Andrew: So definitely check out the shownotes, if you want to jump in, or if any of this was interesting to you andwe'll check in with you hopefully in about 15 days and. We'll have an updatefor you then. And otherwise, if you don't care about the update, we'll see inabout 30 days with the, with the final results of this challenge, challenge,number one for our dead by tomorrow challenge series.

[00:35:46] Andrew: Thank you guys for listening. And welook forward to connecting with you soon.

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