(above: Bubblewrap solution to hitting my head on the ceiling.)
After my post about my No Soap, No Shampoo Experiment got a great response, I realized a few things:
- I love reading about people who live their talk (like Benny the Irish Polyglot)
- a lot of other people do too
- one of the reasons I started this blog was to connect with like-minded people
With all that in mind, I decided to start a monthly summary of my personal development experiments. I hope to find people who are already doing what I’m experimenting with and others who are just about to start. Plus you can learn from my experience!
If you have any experience with the experiment I’ll talk about, or if you’re thinking of trying them, please let me know in the comments!
Okay? Good! Here’s what I’ll talk about today:
- update on my “no soap, no shampoo” experiment
- reading for 1 hour each day
- taking cold showers
- daily exercise
- my blogging short-term obsession
Off we go!
Update on my “no soap, no shampoo” experiment
I’m officially shampoo-free for 25 days today and I like it!
My hair peaked in greasiness about two weeks after the last shampooing. After that the grease subsided and my hair now feels silky and smooth.
I keep experimenting with my armpits to find my favorite way of making them non-smelly.
Deodorant works fine. Washing them with soap is okay too. I also tried an interesting method I found online – lime. The fruit. Cuttting it in half and rubbing it onto my armpits.
That one was interesting. On the one hand, my armpits didn’t have the usual bad armpit smell. On the other hand, they still smelled… in a strange, not entirely pleasant way.
Some people also pointed me to a natural antiperspirant made from mineral rocks. I always thought antiperspirants are really bad for your health, but I learned to double-check my long-held beliefs. So after doing a lot of research online, there don’t really seem to be any problems with antiperspirants (except certain specific chemical). I’m experimenting with that right now, so I don’t have a clear conclusion yet.
Reading for 1 hour each day
A month ago, I started a 30-day trial of reading for 1 hour daily. This had a great effect on me so far – I got through several books I’ve been putting off for ages. And learned a ton from them!
This trial has been surprisingly easy, because it’s something I do in the morning. That means I can easily get it done for the day and then do other things.
The only time it’s been a bit tricky was when I was reading Mind-Lines. That book literally makes you think on every… damn… page. It was brilliant, but my mind was completely blown after half an hour, so I had to split my reading time into two half-hour sessions each day.
(Update: Since I apparently wasn’t very clear about this: The 1 hour of reading per day is for non-fiction books (i.e. books I want to learn from.) Apart from that, I sometimes read blog posts and when I get the chance, a good fiction book 
.)
I’ve also started another 30-day trial (which I’m keeping secret for now) a week ago. I immediately noticed it’s trickier to keep, because it’s something I do in the evening. I might try tacking it on to something that’s already a part of my routine. (Like doing it straight after brushing my teeth.) I’ll let you know more next month 
Taking cold showers
I noticed how awesome I feel after a cold shower. So about a week or two ago, I thought – hey, wouldn’t it be cool to end every shower with cold water?
Now, I’m not a huge fan of entering a cold shower (although this picture made me do it for a while). But I find that if I start with a normal warm shower and then slowly keep turning the water cooler and cooler, it feels really comfortable.
In fact, there’s a point where the water gets cool-but-not-quite-cold where I start craving REALLY cold water! Instead of being uncomfortable, it feels awesome!
I don’t have any particular aims with this. I just thought it would be fun! 
Daily exercise
This isn’t an experiment as such, but I wanted to share it anyway.
I had a big lull in energy about a week ago. After a few days of feeling pretty crap, I decided to figure out what’s causing it. Long story short, I realized I dropped my regular daily exercise!
Since Christmas, I’ve been doing yoga pretty much every morning. I find it fun and pleasurable. (And I recently got the hang of the head-stand. Woohoo! )
But for some reason, I just dropped my habit one day. And I immediately noticed the effects a few days later!
Take it from me, daily exercise has a huge effect on your mental well-being.
My short-term blogging obsession
24 days ago, on February 20th, I entered a blogging short-term obsession.
If you’re reading this in your RSS reader and haven’t seen the website since then, have a look at the design. I spent several hours just tweaking the header, to get it to look exactly as I want. (I’m really happy with the result!)
I wrote several guest posts for big personal development blogs. I’ll give you links to all of those in another post
You might have noticed a surge in the quality of my posts. (For example the limiting beliefs one.) That’s because I now spend more time writing, editing and generally coming up with ideas.
I also realized I love in-depth posts, not just about personal development but on any topic. Here’s one example I read recently – Why young men might want to date women in their 30′s.
So I decided to write more in-depth posts for you guys. Among other things, I’ve got one coming up on reframing and I’m working on a post finally explaining what the hell it is that a life coach does.
And that’s all for today. As I said at the start, if you have any thoughts or personal experiences with the above, please share them in the comments!
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Vlad, LOVE you blog, I always know I’ll feel inspired whenever I see a post of yours pop up in my RSS feed!
I followed your no soap/shampoo experiment and am having great success with it so far. I would really like to follow the 1 hour of reading regime, but as most definitely not a morning person, I might be bettor off doing this before bed.
Judging by your posts, you are somewhat more of a morning person than I am. Do you have any tips for getting up early and not wanting to kill yourself
Anyway, good job and good luck!
@David:
Yeah, I’m definitely a morning person, so take my advice with a grain of salt. But here’s an article I wrote about that last year:
http://vladdolezal.com/blog/2009/kickstart-your-day-how-to-wake-up-excited-and-full-of-energy/
See if that works out for you
Hey Vlad,
I’ve been trying to read every day as well, and focus on reading books (which I think is what you’re doing) as opposed to blog articles and stuff
It is pretty surprising how much I can get through as well. I actually do most of my reading when I travel – I dread the day I get wifi on airplanes as I am sure I will use it =P
I also do one thing you might find interesting from a personal development standpoint. I’ll pick up a book, and decide ok, I am going to follow every single suggestion to the letter. If the author says do this exercise, I will do it. If they suggest that I should call someone and tell them something, do it. Basically really put the book to the test and see if everything works
I did it with how to win friends and influence people, and that experience changed my life – and that was where I got the idea from
.-= Sid Savara´s last blog ..Conversation Hacking – How To Make Small Talk Work For You =-.
hmm.. not sure about the no shampoo thing:), but I loved your other experiments. I am also on a 30 day 30 min/day reading experiment and also 20min/day meditation one.
.-= Lana – {Daring Clarity}´s last blog ..One Of The Most Powerful Questions That Can Change Your Life =-.
@Sid:
Yeah, that 1 hour a day is specifically for non-fiction books. (I.e. books I want to learn something from.)
Apart from that, I sometimes read blogs and when I get the chance, a really good fiction book!
@Lana:
I hope the meditation works out for you! My 30-day meditation trial didn’t lead to anything interesting.
I’d quite happily read for an hour every day, my problem is that once I start reading I get so stuck into the story I don’t stop. Then I spend the whole day reading and not doing much else.
This would be much better if it worked for when I was reading the textbooks and journals I have to get through – and not just fiction!
@Emma:
As I told Sid, I keep the 1 hour per day for non-fiction stuff I learn from.
I usually read a good story when I have spare time in the evening and don’t need to wake up early
I love all these mini experiments too. I kinda like the 7 day ones and then I adjust and adapt them to see what works.
One of the greatest experiments I did recently was to eliminate TO DO lists by creating a general vision of what I want to accomplish. For my blogging Day 1 is writing day and Day 2 is promotion day. Sometimes it gets busy but…generally I’m productive and not spending all my time on lists.
I’m almost there on the shampoo experiment and have done a variation for a few years. Now it’s time to eliminate completely.
Boy at Christmas it was secret Santa and now it’s secret experiments…hmmm, are you a member of the secret service.
.-= simply stephen´s last blog ..what is community =-.
@Stephen:
That sounds cool! I might give that a try when I have holidays and don’t have so many time-specific and day-specific things I’d like to do.
Also, hmm… maybe I should change my name to Secretly Vlad?
Hi Vlad – I’m new to your blog and loving it. That mineral rock deodorant DOES work, but don’t drop it cos it shatters and I remember ending up with nasty scratches from the sharp bit that was left!
Thanks so much for your anti-procrastination course. First one that ever actually worked for me. I’m on day #3 and it actually got me me doing two of the three things I wrote down – exercising and meditating. One more to go – I bet I’ll be doing it before the week is out.
@Shirls:
I got my mineral deodorant rock a couple of days ago. Testing it out right now!