90 - Doing the things because YOU want to
And not just because someone says they're good for you
I first came across the 75 Hard program in 2020. A few of my Instagram friends mentioned it and I thought it looked interesting but it also sounded super restrictive, and I’m not a person who likes restrictions.
At the time, we were also in the thick of the pandemic and life was somewhat restricted anyway so I decided to give it a go and I’m glad I did.
The program involves doing 5 tasks every day for 75 days as follows:
Follow a diet. While it can be a diet of your choosing, the diet must be a structured eating plan with the goal of physical improvement. No alcohol or meals outside your chosen diet are allowed.
Complete two 45-minute workouts, one of which must be outdoors.
Take a progress picture.
Drink 1 gallon of water.
Read 10 pages of a book (audiobooks not included).
In the words of the program creator, some of the aims/ benefits of this transformative mental toughness program are as follows:
Feel completely confident about yourself and your actions
Completely overhaul the way you think and act
Learn how to be honest with yourself and gain the self-awareness to stay on track
Learn how to manage your day so you can get more done and quit wasting time on meaningless things
Be in the best physical shape of your life as a result of the mental transformation you have made
In the manifesto written by the (very problematic) creator, modification of the program in any way makes you a loser who is not serious about making progress in life.
The interesting thing about this for me is that there is zero science or research behind the selected tasks in this program, just pure vibes. There’s no science to prove that there’s a difference between reading 5 pages vs 10 pages a day for instance. What the program manages to do is incorporate elements that help to build habits and consistency. The real magic in the formula is being consistent at whatever it is YOU decide YOU want to do.
I’m very heavy on the YOU because it is so easy to get lost in things outside of yourself, especially now that we constantly live with the voices of other people in our heads all day long. It might sound dramatic, but that’s what happens when we’re scrolling through our social media all day, consuming the thoughts of others.
The democratization of knowledge and information has many benefits and many dangers. One major danger is that the algorithm cares more about popularity than credentials and is more likely to feed you what is popular than what is true. And even when something is true or beneficial, it is still necessary to interrogate how it fits into your own goals and desires.
For example, I know that if I switched to a diet of chicken breasts and vegetables instead of my regular eba and soup, I’d probably have chiselled abs by summer. But eba really does make me happy and personally, my happiness is more important than having abs, so.
While planning my current round of the 75 hard program, I decided to make some personal customizations and landed on the following tasks:
Drink 2L of water. The original challenge task calls for 1 gallon of water but there is no scientific evidence that this will improve my kidney function and I know my body does not need that much water every day, so I settled on a manageable minimum of 2 litres daily.
Take a daily photo. I like seeing how my body changes as a result of my actions plus I am vain, so I decided to keep this one.
Workouts 1 and 2. I recently had to take out the stitches a tailor had put in to reduce the waistband of my favourite pair of jeans. It was a wake-up call of sorts. At the same time, I know that doing two workouts everyday for a period as long as 75 days can lead to significant weight loss which is not my goal. So I’m making sure to keep the intensity of my additional workouts as low as possible, while maintaining or increasing the intensity of my regular workouts. I also like the fact that one of the workouts has to be outdoors because being outside (now that the weather is warming up) is good for me. I’ve been enjoying my long walks and have even revived my bicycle.
Eat a salad daily. I like my current relationship with food. I eat things I like and try to do so in moderation. I feel like a diet program would ruin that so I decided against a diet. Instead, I chose to do something I find challenging which is eating vegetables, as a meal. I’m cool with a side salad but struggle with having too many vegetables at once so I decided to challenge myself by including a daily salad in my program.
Read 10 pages of a (physical) book. Since I discovered Libby, almost all my reading is via audiobooks so I thought it would be a good idea to add this one in to encourage me to pick up a book. I’m also preparing for a big exam and reading is fundamental.
In bed by 11 pm. My sleep has not been the same since my mental health tanked and I needed to do something about it so I settled on this curfew.
No alcohol. I started thinking about cutting out alcohol completely because I know it has no benefits but I quite like my alcohol, especially in social settings. I added this in to remind myself that I can live without alcohol but can also choose to live with it because I enjoy it.
I am actually enjoying the process of building new habits and applying all the habit tips and tricks under my belt. It feels doable and sustainable because I have chosen tasks related to goals that mean something to me. It has also been good to remind myself that I can keep the promises I make to myself. I hope you do too.
Recently I read
Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang - I saw this on the @happynoisemaker page as their book of the month for March and decided to give it a go and quite enjoyed it. It was one of those books that you’re able to get through quite quickly not just because you want to know what happens next but also because you’re enjoying the writing and the story is amusing as well as riveting. I liked how all the main characters felt problematic. It was hard for me to really feel sorry for any of them. I did find myself almost rooting for Juniper to kill Candace in the end though.
The main moral of the story for me is “He who lies must kill”. A little dramatic I know but the story reminded me how easy it is for one seemingly minor lie to snowball into attempted murder.
This very balanced article on the 75 Hard program that I think is worth reading if you’re ever considering it.
Recently I listened to
Episode #191 of TKP - Shane speaks to Dr Rhonda Patrick about some of the ways our dietary habits can impact our overall health, as well as practical ways in which we can improve our health through the things we eat. My favourite thing about Shane and his podcast is that he brings properly credentialed people to talk about their own areas of expertise so I feel confident in the knowledge I’m gaining from their conversations. This one was no exception.
Life feels so much better when the sun is out. That’s a thought that has occurred to me several times in the past few days that we’ve had sunshine here. I do feel better.
Here’s wishing you a lifetime of doing the things you want to do, how you want to do them, because YOU want to do them.