So, approximately one week has passed and I did the second challenge. This one’s described in the book “The Four Hour Workweek” of Tim Ferriss.
I hope you tried the first one Tell us how you did in the comments.
If you didn’t do the first one yet, it’s not too late. Just go out tonight and hug some random people!
The second one was actually pretty hard. It gave me this weird adrenaline-kicky feeling in my stomach. It’s such an easy thing to do, lying down. It’s not illegal. It’s not morally wrong. And it doesn’t take any skills whatsoever. You just
Go to a place where there are some people
Lie down
Count to 10
Get back up and walk away like nothing happened
That’s it!
And still, it feels wrong.
It’s as if I was violating a strange, unwritten law: THOU SHALT NOT LIE DOWN ON THE FLOOR.
Why is it that hard to do?? You can’t even get rejected! You can’t even FAIL at this challenge! It’s just a matter of actually doing it, of willpower, of being brave for just a millisecond. That’s it.
Rules Of The Challenge
You have to lie down for at least 10 seconds. Longest countdown ever.
There have to be people around that are unaware of what’s going down. You should also never have met these people before.
You cannot talk about the fact that it is a challenge. In fact, it’s more gratifying if you don’t say anything at all.
Extra points for not immediately running away after you did the challenge. For example, when you do it in the subway and you just go back to your seat afterwards. Awkward stares all around.
EASY VERSION: Drink a few beers beforehand.
Me Doing The Challenge
Looking back, I should have done it a few more times to get some interesting reactions. The first group just kept staring and someone started applauding. The second group basically ignored me completely, except for one lady who remarked that “I had a few too many beers”.
Lessons Learned
This one really is about just not giving a fuck. People will stare, it will be awkward for a second, but in the grand scheme of things, you lying down for 10 seconds doesn’t mean anything. People basically don’t give a shit, and neither should you.
Once you’re over that initial gut feeling of pure, irrational fear, it becomes so much easier. Doing this drunk would have been a lot easier, but that kind of defeats the purpose. You should be able to naturally lower your inhibitions, without stimulants.
There’s a chance you’ll start thinking of reasons why not to do this challenge. One of these reasons might be that “now that it’s on the Internet, it’s not original anymore, everyone will think it’s stupid, or they will just think I’m doing a challenge”. This makes no sense whatsoever. No-one will have ever heard about this challenge. It’s not very well known. And if they have, that makes it even better: now it’s more awkward. The whole purpose of this thing is to not give a fuck, remember? Even if everyone around you has seen 10 people already do the challenge, you should still do it. It’s about not giving a shit about what other people think.
No matter how unlikely, you’ll always be afraid of people stepping on your head.
Stay tuned for challenge #3. Please subscribe to my Youtube channel and share the video on Facebook or Twitter. If you do, I will give you a hug the next time I see you (instead of kicking you in the nuts).
Now it’s up to you. Go out, just fucking do it and report back here
Good luck!