And then I bought a second copy of War and peace.
This might be the nerdiest video I have ever made, because in it, I'm going to
convince you through an extended metaphor that me reading War and peace is going to
help you live a healthier, happier life.
Okay.
Now that 99% of you are no longer watching.
Let's get into it.
Hi, I'm Steve Kamb rebel leader of nerdfitness.com, which I
have been running for 12 years.
In 2017, my friend mark convinced me that I had to read war and
peace, and I couldn't just read it on the Kindle either.
I had to specifically read this version of War and Peace.
I'm a huge fan of history and historical fiction.
And as a fellow author and a lover of great fiction, I knew at some point
I would have to read war and peace.
Like runners needing to run the Boston marathon or adventure seekers
needing to climb Mount Everest.
I just knew at some point I needed to crack and finally conquer Tolstoy.
Now you've probably heard and know what War and Peace is
about it's about War and Peace.
But it takes place in the 1800's during the Napoleonic wars.
And it's a slug.
I mean, look at this sucker, it's like 1300 pages long.
It's intimidating as hell and I imagine lots of people start and say, they want
to read War and Peace, but they get like two pages in and they give up.
So here are four lessons that you can adopt to your life that I've learned
from attempting to read war and peace.
Lesson number one, learn from your false starts.
When I finally decided to read this book, I just figured, you
know what, I'm going to crush it.
I had a big vacation coming up.
So this is the only book I brought and sure enough, within like
a week I had crushed like 200 pages of really dense fiction.
Then I got home from the trip and sure enough, I took a day off from reading
and then I took another day off from reading and then another day, and soon
enough, by the time I reopened the book, I had forgotten all of the characters.
I had forgotten what the heck was happening in the story.
And I was like, well, I guess I'll just have to try again
at some point in the future.
So back on the shelf it went.
If this was me climbing a mountain, I never made it past base camp.
So here's my problem.
I rushed out of the gate way too fast.
It's kind of like if you're going to run a marathon, I decided to sprint as fast
as possible as soon as that starter gun went off, I set an unsustainable pace.
I had unrealistic expectations and I tried to do way too much too quickly.
And here's what I've learned from that.
Like, if you've tried to start a habit in the past or build a fitness
routine, And you couldn't stick with it.
You probably tried to do too much too soon.
That's exactly what I did with trying to read War and Peace.
So I made this mistake and I decided I'm going to try again, but this
time I'm going to try differently.
And that's what I would suggest for you too.
If you're trying to build a new habit and it failed in the past,
congratulations, you found a specific method that does not work for you
when you try again, try differently.
Lesson number two, do as little as possible to maintain momentum.
So in the spring of 2021, While still in lockdown, due to the pandemic.
I figured it was finally time to try and tackle war and peace.
One more time.
This time I had a very different approach.
My only goal was I had to read at least one page a day.
That's it literally one page.
And this is my reasoning.
If I have to read a single page a day, I would never lose track of who the
characters were, what was happening in the plot and like really kind
of what was going on in the book.
I would always be moving forward.
I also knew that if I read a page a day eventually, I would finish this book.
As long as I read one page a day, I'm taking one step closer to my goal.
And lastly, if I only had to read one page a day, I could
focus on that individual page.
And rather than rush through it, I could try to actually figure
out what the heck is happening in the book and what Tolstoy meant
by the words he put on the page.
It's been about four or five months now.
And here's how it's gone.
So far, I've read over 850 pages of war and peace.
I'm about two thirds of the way through.
And it's been really enjoyable because some days I might read five pages.
Some days I might read 10, but I've certainly had weeks where
I've only read one page a night, I'd read one page and go to bed.
And the next night I'd be so busy.
I'd read my one page and go to bed, but that was the whole point.
Maintain momentum.
And just don't stop.
Really keep the chain unbroken.
Every single day.
Read one page.
So how does this relate to you?
Think about it.
If you're trying to build a new habit, most of us think
how quickly can I get in shape.
Or how fast can I train for a marathon or how fast can I write a book?
I think this is the wrong attitude to have it leads to burnout,
frustration, and dissatisfaction.
So instead of asking, how quickly can I get there?
Ask what's the least amount of work that I can do consistently in
order to move closer to that goal?
For me, reading war and peace, it was doing one page per day, and
unsurprisingly, when I set the goal at one page, I often read more than that,
but because I gave myself a simple goal of just one page a day, it also gave me
permission to slow things down and only do one page a day when life got really busy.
So if you're looking to build a new habit, like write a book or run a
marathon, ask yourself what's the least amount that I can do to still
sustain momentum and progress.
That's the question you need to be asking yourself.
Lesson number three, there might be a more enjoyable path.
So as Tolstoy wrote it, and as things took place back in the early 1800's,
Russian aristocracy often spoke in French.
And in this particular translation of War and peace, that conversation between
Russian aristocracy actually takes place.
It's written in French.
There are footnotes at the bottom and those footnotes then
translate what you're doing.
So as you're reading the book, you're often looking up at the top,
reading a sentence, going back down to the bottom, seeing what it says,
going back up, going back down.
It was us a slog, let me tell you.
Whenever I told people I was reading war and peace, I got one of two replies.
Most frequently.
One was why?
And number two was well, good luck!
But then I got a text from my friend, David Epstein, and his
response was the best response you could've possibly imagined.
By the way, David is the author of the book "Range" and it is phenomenal.
You have to read this.
So when I was having a conversation with David and I told him I was
reading war and peace, his reply is something I will never forget.
He said you should probably learn Russian and read it in its original language.
No, he didn't actually say that.
What he said was amazing.
Which translation are you reading?
I was like, I don't know.
I'm reading, uh, I'm reading Richard Pevear and Larissa
Volokhonsky's translation.
And he said, all right, that's cool.
You should consider this other translation.
And I was like, I already have one copy of war and peace.
I don't need two copies of war and peace.
And then I bought a second copy of War and Peace, and this other translation
is so much easier for me to understand and so much easier for me to read.
For starters, my eyesight isn't great.
And this version, the pages are super thin.
The words are tiny.
And as I mentioned, it has that crazy French translation.
This other version, the words are bigger and the translation in French isn't there.
They simply say, uh, so-and-so said X, Y, and Z in French.
This version is so much easier for me to read and don't worry, I'm not
actually too upset about this version
not working out for me.
I think this was like, Oprah's requested, recommended version, these authors
and translators are doing just fine.
But this translation by Anthony Briggs is so much easier for me to read and
understand because the pages are bigger.
I can go one page at a time and build more momentum.
It's easier for me to read at night and overall it's just a way more
enjoyable experience for me, but I had never even considered why
not try a different translation?
So here's the lesson you can learn from this.
If you're like struggling through a workout and you don't like it,
maybe try a different workout.
Like there's nothing that says you have to work out in a certain way.
I personally do not like bootcamps and you're not going
to find me in a CrossFit class.
You're not going to find me running a marathon, but I love gymnastics
and working out and exercise.
So those are the things that work best for me.
So if you're trying to build a new habit or you're starting to build a
new exercise routine, or even trying to eat a new vegetable, there's
no hard and fast rule that says you have to like a certain thing.
If you find something that you like better than other things.
Do that thing.
But remember just as there are other translations of War and
Peace, that might be better for you.
There might be exercises and routines that are better for you too.
And here's the fourth one.
What's the rush.
Right?
I thought when I started to read war and peace, my goal
was to have read war and peace.
What's the point in that if I'm not going to read it quickly and
not enjoy it and not understand it.
I'm missing out.
Instead, I would rather take my time and by reading one page at
a time, I can actually absorb what Tolstoy is trying to say.
Remember, the last page is not what you're looking for.
You're looking to enjoy the process, right?
You're looking to enjoy the journey now, as they say, the
journey is the destination.
That's kind of how I feel about this.
And the same is true of health and fitness.
You don't just go on a diet and then you're done.
And then you're magically like in shape forever.
Like if you want to permanently change, then you need to make permanent changes.
And if you want to build an exercise habit, then you need to
build a habit that you can do every day for the rest of your life.
So you have to enjoy the journey.
And that means picking exercises that you like.
Picking changes that feel sustainable and finding ways to
enjoy every single day above the roses, because Hey, you're alive.
That's a pretty good start, right?
Like it certainly beats the alternative.
So I'm reading Tolstoy one page at a time to truly enjoy it when it comes
to your health and fitness, find ways to enjoy it every single day.
So how do we tie this all together?
We all have mountains we want to climb, races we want to run, dragons
we want to slay.
That's awesome.
Having big goals is fantastic, but once you have the big goals you need to then
come up with a system or a strategy that allows you to actually attain that goal.
So if you want to run a marathon, what is your running routine look like?
Even on the days when you don't feel like running, or if you want to
start eating better, what do you do when you have a bad day at work and
all you want to do is eat cookies?
You need to have a system and a strategy in place that you can implement that
doesn't require emotion that doesn't require willpower or motivation.
Instead, it allows you to fall back on the systems and the
strategies that you're implementing.
That's how I'm reading Tolstoy one page at a time.
And these are the types of things that I totally focus on with my
own personal health and fitness.
And it's also the stuff that we focus on at Nerdfitness.com.
We have a team of coaches who do online coaching and help people
come up with the systems and the day-to-day strategies and the small
habits that people need to build,
and then help keep people accountable and on track.
If you want to learn more about our coaching program, the link
is in the description below.
We also have this really cool app called nerd fitness journey, which
gives you a daily task that you can complete so much like reading Tolstoy
every day, you can build a new habit around journaling or going for a
daily walk or whatever it may be.
It's the small daily actions that create big results in the long run.
Just like it's this small daily page reading that is going to
get me through freaking Tolstoy.
I have like 500 more pages, but I am crushing it and I'm enjoying it.
So thanks for watching to the three of you that are still here
and probably also fellow lovers of Tolstoy and historical fiction.
Have you tried to read Tolstoy?
Have you tried to read War and peace?
Let me know in the comments below how it went.
So, you know the drill.
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Like, I don't know, doing an extended metaphor about War and Peace and how
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