What’s it been like?
Hard. Exhilarating. Liberating. Frustrating.
I am only two weeks in but am already beginning to feel the benefits of this program. I’m realising that pretty much all excuses we have as to why we can’t get something done are bullshit.
Bull. Shit.
Unless there is a legitimate reason such as a sickness or bad injury, there is literally nothing stopping us from keeping our commitments. And nothing stopping us from making such a commitment.
I made the commitment to 75HARD at 11pm on the train home from College. Starting the next day, immediately, because I wanted to truly push my ability to commit and endure.
One drawback that I have noticed in the first 2 weeks is the huge time reduction. This may seem obvious but bear with me. I didn’t properly appreciate how much extra time all this would take out of my day. Time spent stretching, warming up, exercising, showering, eating,
meal prepping, prepping for the coming days.
Before I started the program, I had GREAT momentum coming back from Europe in terms of my Powerlist (my 5 critical tasks that I need to get done every day to move myself forward to my goals). I had won every day for about 2 weeks straight and felt on top of the world to be honest. My creativity was flowing, and I was finding myself trying to expand and create in way too many directions at one time. But while I was on a great streak of productivity and creativity, I kept feeling like something was missing, like I was always trying to look for ‘the next thing’ to dive into. I needed something concrete and solid to stick my head into that I
couldn’t back out of.
I saw a post online of someone starting 75HARD and inviting people to join them. I thought to myself, why aren’t I doing it?
Like really, truthfully, why am I not doing this program that I know will help change my life?
In that moment I recognised all my reasons for what they really were- excuses.
I was too busy.
I would find a better time to start it in the future.
The circumstances weren’t great.
I want to wait for my friend to start it with me.
I don’t know which training to do
I don’t know what diet to do or how to start
I can’t cook
I don’t… I can’t… But… I’m too… It’s too…
EXCUSES.
All of them.
The problem is that they are so normalised in societal conversation and conventions that nowadays we don’t even question ourselves when we give them as reasons for not acting. They are normal, perfectly valid reasons. We lack the ability to delve behind mask of comfort and softness to examine the hard root of the excuse. Often, it’s fear or laziness.
It’ll always make us feel worse in the long run, because we know we should be doing more
but just feed ourselves temporary gratification through these excuses.
So, I recognised my excuses, threw them aside, and committed.
In the first couple of weeks my Powerlist has taken as big hit as I have adjusted to the huge devotion of time required by 75HARD, leaving me feeling a little lost in terms of forward progression aside from 75HARD. But I’m adjusting and getting back into it at the moment with about 3 or 4 tasks per day. I am quite pleased to see that some things such as listening to podcasts I still do as habit. Other things such as creative projects, writing, video editing, I need to work on making a habit again.
But I guess it’s all about being aware and making corrections!
In regard to what I have learnt from the first couple of weeks, the main thing that springs to mind is that I am COMPLETELY in control of my life and what happens to me.
This relates back to what I talked about excuses. Almost every reason we find for not doing something is an excuse that can be worked around if one is committed enough. We often just aren’t accountable to ourselves for how our decisions relate to the picture of our lives.
Basically, the small decisions you make every day make up what your life looks like.
I could have had multiple reasons to not workout or eat properly, based on invitations to social events, prior commitments I had made, my jobs. I just had to bite the bullet and say no. How much do you say no? Do you say no enough? It could be the word that is holding you back from getting to your goals. We say yes to so much- to more shifts, to social events, to a bad piece of food. We need to start saying no more often to the things that are mere distractions from what WE need to do, not from things that are offered to us from the
OUTSIDE.
I’ve learnt that saying “no” is freeing. It gives you a sense of power and freedom. It doesn’t matter how people react, if they don’t understand that you are in the process of improving yourself then don’t worry about them.
Say no more. No to the easy, bad things. The distractions. Say yes to yourself. Sometimes it feels like every single thing around us has a rope of chain attached to us, slightly pulling us towards it. E.g. work and friends. We can feel like all the decisions we make are based on those chains and ropes, based on which decisions won’t pull against them. Often that decisions that we need to make, the no’s we need to say too say YES to ourselves, will pull against those chains. But what many are scared to do is actually say no. if they did, if you did, you’d discover that after saying no, the chains fall off, and you become a pillar of rock standing independently. In control. Free.
Try it. It might be scary at first but you’ll feel happier later because you know you’re living and making decisions based on your choice, not someone else’s.
So yeah, 75HARD has taught me that WE are in control of OUR choices and our lives, not anyone else. It’s okay to say no. In fact, we should start saying it more. While it may feel that we are trapped by external factors and commitments, in reality that is just an illusion and you have the power to reshape your life through the small decisions you make every day.
Decisions about what to eat, when to get up, to stick to your routine when you don’t want to, to do that study, to do that work. Small decisions, but vital ones.
I can’t wait to see what the end result is going to be like.
Misha, (N.Y.A.)
Something Small
What decisions have you been avoiding?
Look into your life and examine the relation between where you are and the tiny decisions you’ve been making
Often if any area of life isn’t where we want it to be
The decision starts with
“I’ll do it later…
Next time…
I’m too tired…
It’s too hard…
No one will know…
But…
I can’t…”
Yes, you can.
You fucking can.
Just say the word.
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