Don't Let the Cold Freeze Your Creativity

Most people think the cold slows them down.

Fewer outdoor runs. Less motivation. More time indoors staring at screens waiting for ideas to hit.

But here's what I've learned over 20 years: your best ideas don't come from your desk. They come from movement.

And winter? It's when this becomes impossible to ignore.

Every Good Idea Starts With Movement

The pictures above may look intense. Me running through freezing temperatures. Jumping into an ice bath.

But this is where my focus really comes from.

Last week, I was stuck on a content strategy problem. Spent an hour at my laptop. Nothing.

This week, I went for a 45-minute run in the cold.

Mile 6, the whole thing clicked. The angle I needed. The sequence that made sense. The hook I'd been missing.

Not because I tried harder to think. Because I stopped trying and started moving.

This isn't motivational fluff. It's biology.

When you exercise, your brain floods with BDNF — brain-derived neurotrophic factor. It literally grows new neural connections. Blood flow increases to your prefrontal cortex. The part of your brain that solves complex problems lights up.

Movement creates the conditions for ideas to surface.

Every business breakthrough I've had — partnerships, pivots, strategies —happened while training. Never sitting still.

Winter makes this even more powerful. The cold sharpens focus. Your brain has to work harder just to regulate temperature, which wakes up every system. Then you move, and everything accelerates.

Heat + Cold: The System Behind the Clarity

Cold works best with heat. My protocol: 3 rounds of 20 minutes in the SISU Sauna, 3 minutes in the Ice Barrel.

The movement generates the ideas. The sauna is where I make sense of them. The ice locks them in.

I finish a hard session with a dozen half-formed thoughts floating around. Then I sit in the sauna for 20 minutes—forced stillness, no distractions—and my brain starts organizing. Connecting. Clarifying.

Three minutes in the Ice Barrel after and everything sharpens. The ideas that surfaced at Mile 6 and organized in the heat? The cold seals them.

That's why the SISU Sauna and Ice Barrel have become non-negotiable for me. The contrast isn't just recovery. It's where clarity turns into strategy.

Use code EHINMAN for 5% off SISU Sauna and 20% off Ice Barrel.

P.S. The best ideas don't come from comfort. They come from conditions that force your brain to adapt. Follow along on Instagram for more on how I'm using winter as an advantage—not an excuse.

See you out there,
Eric