It was a couple trips to Shanghai ago. The ever-brilliant CEO of ChaseFuture, Greg Nance, and I went running with a couple members of his team.
Nance is just hardcore, a total animal, always looking to expand and challenge himself in mountaineering, business, physical fitness, the nonprofit world, academia and policy, and just about everything else.
Not satisfied with just a couple mile run, Greg says drop it and hit the decks and do pushups at every red light.
Done.
***
The exhaustion sets in later, but it raises an intriguing thought. Huh, we can just drop and do pushups anywhere.
The gears started turning in my head.
We had a couple more days together, sitting in cafes and doing some strategy, swapping notes on geopolitical defensive realism, and business, and a host of other things.
But the thought stuck with me -- we can just drop and do pushups wherever we want.
I'm in that same "fanatical pursuit of self-perfection" camp as Nance, so I said -- why only stop and do pushups at traffic lights while running?
And thus, Greg and I started a tradition. At any cafe, leaving the office, anywhere -- if things were slowing down, hit the deck and do pushups with perfect form until failure. We did this multiple times per day.
Do you know how often anyone watched us or commented?
Go ahead and guess.
***
I mentioned in passing in a blog post a couple weeks ago that I got in a quick bodyweight exercise workout at the airport. There were a couple comments -- "You can do that?"
Spoiler alert: .... yes, you can.
I replied as such.
***
Josh Thomas, regular reader here, wrote in and gave me permission to share this with you --
It's funny, but you were right. Working out in the airport is possible and easy. I marked off a green exercise light because of your "Just do it. Nobody cares." Thanks for the encouragement, even if it might have felt very minor!
It's scary how big of an obstacle social anxiety is. I think a lot of people have crippling social anxiety and just don't realize it. Fear of what other people think of them drives their purchases, hobbies, and even their ability to exercise in public. I think that sucks.
Josh has discovered one of the secrets of the universe.
***
Do you know how many times people remarked on us doing fitness in Shanghai?
Not once.
Do you know how often anyone remarks on it?
Like, almost never. Under 5%. Way under 5%.
***
Everyone is so worried about looking stupid.
Look, as long as you're not totally disruptive and not totally making a scene, you can basically do whatever you want.
People are afraid that if they make a cold call and are awkward on the phone, their new business's reputation will be ruined forever with unbearable amounts of negative gossip spreading.
Nope. You're forgotten instantly.
People think that if you do pushups out on the sidewalk next to a cafe, a crowd will gather in either awe or ostracism.
Nope. No one cares.
People think if you do fitness in an office building or the airport, security is going to grab you.
Nope. No one cares.
***
If you're doing fitness, don't grunt and breathe heavily or be in the way or make a huge scene. (Duh.) If you're trying to look tough or stand out, ok, you might succeed in causing a scene.
But if not, nobody cares. Everyone else is in their own head, worried about their own nonsense, nursing and nurturing their insecurities.
***
Nobody notices what you're doing and nobody cares. Get over yourself and do some useful stuff.