75 HARD - What the challenge taught me
75 Hard is a mental toughness challenge. It’s a 75-day habit streak of 7 habits. The habits are two 45-minute workouts, one of which has to be outside, follow a diet, take a progress picture, drink lots of water, no cheat days or alcohol, and read 10 pages of non-fiction.
None of these are hard in themselves, but doing all of them, every day, for 75 days is hard. This blog is what I learnt about myself by completing this challenge.
I can do hard things
The consistency of 75 days is hard. Making sure you do all of these things every day is hard. Not “having a day off” is hard.
I found a few little tricks to make it easier. I looked at the challenge in 15-day chunks. I found thinking about 5 blocks of 15 days made it doable. I knew I could do 15 days, so I just strung 5 of those together.
I also found it was easy to get overwhelmed thinking about what I had in front of me. So I worked hard to focus on today. These are the habits I need to complete today.
Staying present in the moment helped too - this is the exercise I’m doing right now, it’s just one foot in front of the other, until it’s finished.
And reminding myself - I can do hard things, I did them yesterday so I can do them today.
I can keep the commitments I make to myself
I had a story that I was better at keeping commitments to other people than I was at keeping commitments to myself.
In the past, I have chosen group or cohort activities - challenges with others, where my commitment to the group stops me from quitting.
I want to be the type of person who knows I can keep commitments to myself - it’s part of building trust and belief in myself. Learning to put myself first and keeping the promises I make myself has been a beautiful journey to witness and I feel ready to put this story to bed.
I can keep the commitments I make to myself.
Don’t rely on “feeling” like it
I didn’t wake up every morning “feeling” like completing my 7 habits for the day.
Some days I really didn’t feel like it. So I pushed the “feelings” off to one side and got on with what needed to be done.
Some days were really hard - like day 50, I’m not sure why, but I wasn’t feeling it. It felt like I was walking through mud and everything was a struggle. I pushed through. I did what was needed to complete my habits for the day. I went to bed that night proud that I had completed the challenge for the day and hoped I would feel “better” tomorrow.
And I did - some days were super easy.
Generally, I planned well and had no issue fitting everything in. I only worked out once after 9 pm (that one sucked), at least it didn’t need to be outside as well.
I also really didn’t feel like publishing my progress pics, but here they are.
I like structure and discipline
While some days it felt like a real chore - most of the days I didn’t think about it - I just did it.
I guess that is the beauty of habits - they don’t require thoughts and decisions they just require action.
Do the work, tick it off, and move on to the next thing.
I really felt this when I had to head to Christchurch following my parent’s car accident. I find it hard to stick to habits when travelling, but something interesting happened. Rather than feeling like a chore, 75 Hard became an anchor that I could tie my day to.
When so much felt outside of my control - there were simple things that could bookend my day that were entirely within my control. I started with my progress pic, followed by a brisk walk outside. I carried a large drink bottle around with me - as long as it was empty by the end of the day I was good. The Christchurch Hospital had great keto options. And I had plenty of “waiting time” to complete my reading. I finished the day with my second workout, another brisk walk outside. The walks gave me the time and space to process what was going on and helped with my sleep too.
Here’s my reading list
The last thing 75 Hard taught me is, while I thought I read a lot, the consistency of 10 pages every day plows through the books. I managed to get through 7 in 75 days. Here is the list:
Matariki, The Star of the Year by Rangi Matamau.
Wawata, Moon Dreaming by Dr Hinemoa Elder.
Aroha, Māori Wisdom for a contented life lived in harmony with our planet by Dr Hinemoa Elder.
Tikanga Whakaaro, Key Concepts in Māori culture by Cleve Barlow.
Ask That Mountain, The Story of Parihaka by Dick Scott.
The Forgotten Prophet, Tāmati Te Ito and His Kaingārara Movement, by Jeffrey Sissons.
Days of Darkness, Taranaki 1878-1884 by Hazel Riseborough.
I’m proud of myself for completing this challenge, it was hard and I did it. The next step is to work myself up to cold showers - that can probably wait until next year.
If you want to learn how to do hard things - or keep the commitments you make to yourself, I can help. Use the button below to book a “GET A LIFE” call and I’ll take it from there.