Today is day 76, which means we completed 75 Hard. It is a phenomenal program and if you are lacking mental toughness in your life, I highly recommend this program. I experienced many challenges throughout the 75 days, which required a lot of discipline to win the day. As with many things, through adversity, there are teachings. I want to break down how my journey went, describe my struggles and my learnings.
The best thing I did was use my daily planner. It is a simple sheet of paper, with my daily schedule, my daily tasks, and my priority list. This is where I tracked my tasks for 75 Hard.
- Indoor workout
- Outdoor workout
- Picture
- Read 10 pages
- Follow my meal plan
- Drink 1 Gallon of water
I also used a food tracking app to track my food and my water intake. I realized I could have just used the 75 hard app, but I am not the smartest dude out there. Between my daily planner and my water tracker, these were the most important things I used. I never had to think back to what tasks I had accomplished that day or how much water I drank. I simply looked at my app where I tracked my water or I looked at my daily planner to see what tasks I had left to do. So, what did I learn?
The first 3 weeks, I was thinking of this as a physical program, even though I knew from listening to Andy Frisella on Real AF, that it is a mental toughness program. I think I was thinking of it this way because I never went so long without a cheat meal, junk food, sweets, or alcohol. I noticed 1 week in, I needed to up my calories because I was starting to lose weight. After the first 3 weeks, my body did not change much more visually. I continued to stay sore though, I am still sore today and started seeing a chiropractor and massage therapist to help me keep my body in shape, so I can continue exercising this much. So, by the end of the program, I am down 1lb and probably 3% body fat. My abs are more visible than they were 75 days ago and I started to see a 7th ab poking through.
The program definitely helped me lean out but what I noticed more, was the mental strength I was gaining while on the program. For once in my life, I was remaining disciplined, day in and day out. I reached a point where I quit caring what people thought and I was solely focused on what made me happy. Which was one of the first times in my life where I was worrying about me and not what people think of me. Over the 75 days, I continued to do my power list every day. Which are critical tasks you assign everyday to move yourself or your business forward. I think I did not complete my critical task list 3 times over the 75 days and I am currently on a 45 day win streak. This is massive momentum! Essentially I have done exactly what I said I would accomplish for 45 days straight and it feels phenomenal!
I did not have a cheat meal, junk food, or sweets the whole program, I could barely make it a day without cheating before the program. Sam and I chose our diet to eliminate seed oils and ultra-processed foods. We were doing a lot of research on seed oils and how detrimental they are to our health. So, we chose a diet that would benefit us long term as well as being sustainable to continue after 75 hard. It feels amazing to eat food our bodies agreed with!
What felt even better than eating food our bodies agree with, was not waking up hung over. 75 days, zero alcohol! Since being back from basic training when I was 18, I do not believe this is something I have ever done. Between no cheat meals, I struggle mostly with sweets (danishes, donuts, and cookies in particular) and no beer or deep eddy’s sweet tea vodka with lemonade, this was the hardest discipline out of the tasks!
I have been working out on a regular basis since I was 14. I typically train 5+ days a week and go on multiple walks with Mimi. So, with 75 hard, Sam and I typically did 45 minute walks and then I lifted or did jiu jitsu. This was not too difficult for me, since I love training, so it was a great reason to make sure I trained. Next the gallon of water was easy, I have been drinking close or more than a gallon of water for years. The picture and reading were not too bad either, I made sure to do them first thing in the morning. There were a few times I had to get my day going right away and did not get to read until the evening, those days were a little tougher. Overall, the main thing that tested my discipline was not having sweets or a beer.
About week 4 I realized, this program is a mental toughness program. At that point, I had been to multiple events where they were serving beer, sweets, and pizza for free. At all the events, I drank water. When people would ask me if I wanted a drink and I would say “no, water please”, they look at me weird and ask me why I am not drinking. That is where the mental toughness comes in. This is also where I stopped caring about what others thought of me. I was doing things because I wanted to do them, not because someone else wanted or expected me to. This was a very freeing experience and one I plan to continue focusing on. Guess what, people really won’t remember if you did not have a drink with them or eat shitty food because they are eating shitty food. People are really looking for self validation for their actions, you do not have to give it to them.
What I learned overwhelmingly, I can say no to peer pressure and I can say no to my bitch voice!
So… what comes next for me?
I have realized I am a lot more mentally resilient than I previously believed. Chances are, I will be moving into the Live Hard program and Phase 1 by the end of summer. I will continue being diligent with my workouts, water, and reading. I will add in some sweets and drinks again on occasion, but no where near the level I was at before. I plan to dial down my schedule even more, by continuing to plan out my days, and setting my critical tasks. However I will be adding in goals and deliberate training for other aspects of my life. I want to do this to make the most of the disciplines and momentum I have gained from this program. The book I ended the program reading is “Grit” by Angela Duckworth. The book describes the importance of a singular goal and then deliberate practice and tasks to reach that goal. So, I will be focusing on building my Grit, now that I know I have the discipline to do so.
At the end of the day, we all have excuses. Are you going to let your excuses define you or are you going to define yourself?
Your life Tutor
-Shaun Tutor
Tutors of Life 