The 75HARD Edge: How A Simple Mental Toughness Program Will Transform Your Life
Consistency Creates Momentum. Momentum Builds Excellence.
You can’t change your life in a day. Reading this article won’t change everything for you. Beware of those who promise instant results.
When change does seem instant, it’s the result of invisible work done over a long time. Getting married. Buying a house. Starting a business. They are all the result of a much longer process.
For example, imagine you’re writing a book. Would you sit down one day and decide, ‘I’m going to write this book and not sleep until it’s done’? Or, would you write 250 words per day for 200 days until your 50,000-word book is complete?
USE YOUR SLIGHT EDGE
The Slight Edge is a book by Jeff Olson that preaches the concept of compound interest applied to your daily actions.
Its premise is simple: Transformation takes time. It results from small steps taken consistently over a long period. Every small step forward compounds into a transformational outcome. When you repeat something 75 times in a row, it adds up to powerful results.
The Slight Edge can also work against you. Every day, you’re either taking a step forward or a step back. Overeating or overspending a little bit each day leads to ruin in the long run.
The most common trap of The Slight Edge is remaining stagnant. You do your workout today and move forward, then tomorrow you skip your workout and move backward. Behavior like that keeps you stuck in the same place as you work against your own progress.
The Slight Edge can change your life by maintaining daily forward motion. It’s difficult to stay consistent with positive habits, which is why most people don’t do it. I struggled to get traction with my Slight Edge for years.
Then, one mental toughness program pushed me out of my rut and got me moving forward again.
75HARD + The Slight Edge = The 75HARD Edge
The 75HARD program complements the Slight Edge perfectly. It leaves no room for compromise. You have to stick with the positive habits for 75 days or you fail. You won’t move backward during this challenge.
These are the habits you must adhere to during 75HARD:
- Drink a Gallon Of Water
- Read 10 Pages Of a Non-Fiction, Self-Development Focused Book
- Complete Two 45 Minute Workouts. One Must Be Outdoors.
- Follow A Diet
- Take A Progress Picture
- No Alcohol or Cheat Meals
These habits guarantee forward progress. 75HARD has changed many lives, including mine. Here’s how it will change yours too:
DRINK A GALLON OF WATER
The habit:
Every day, you have to drink a gallon of water. Pure, unadulterated water. This habit had an immediate positive effect on my sense of well-being.
The benefit:
When you’re hydrated, your mood is more stable and you have more energy. Dehydration affects every aspect of your health. That’s why this habit makes such a big difference.
The key to completing this habit:
Start drinking water early. When I woke up, the first thing I would think of was making sure I drink enough water.
One common way to fail is by waiting until the afternoon to start drinking your water, then not having enough time to drink the whole gallon. Avoid that by starting to drink water as soon as you wake up.
READ 10 PAGES
The habit:
Read 10 pages of a book that helps move your life forward in some way. It can be about business, relationships, self-improvement, or any related topic.
The benefit:
This habit forces you to consciously focus on what you’re reading. Audiobooks do not count. You’ll be amazed how many books you get through by consistently reading 10 pages a day. This habit alone can change your life if you apply what you read.
The key to completing this habit:
Just get it done. Try to get it done quickly (in the morning, if possible). Pick books that you can read deeply, apply and use to improve your life. This is the easiest habit to get done late at night even if you put it off.
FOLLOW A DIET
The habit:
This is the toughest part of the challenge. Sticking to a diet for the whole challenge is extremely difficult. There is no junk food allowed, but you get to choose which diet you follow.
There are no “cheat days” allowed. You have to follow your diet every second of every day.
The benefit:
Depending on your diet, you can experience incredible transformation with 75 days of consistent eating. It takes a lot of conscious intention to follow your diet to this level. Staying consistent will create a lasting change in your eating habits.
The key to completing this habit:
Plan ahead. Know exactly what your diet includes and plan your meals accordingly. Don’t have any diet-breaking foods in your house, and avoid going places that might cause you to cheat on your diet. During my challenge, I tracked my food and calories using MacroFactor to ensure I followed my diet.
TWO 45-MINUTE WORKOUTS
The habit:
Each workout will be at least 45 minutes long, and you can’t do them back-to-back. They must be separated by at least 1.5 hours. One workout must be outdoors.
They don’t need to be strenuous. A fast walk counts as a workout. Typically, I would go to the gym for one and do a walk for the other. Some days they would both be walks.
The benefit:
You’ll learn how quickly injuries can heal and how to push through your resistance. Working out twice a day has significant health benefits. My overall energy increased during the program because of this habit.
The key to completing this habit:
Pace yourself. Doing gym workouts and sprints every day will lead to exhaustion and failing the challenge. Keep in mind that you have to keep it up for 75 days. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
Plan your workouts in the morning. If you have a busy day, you’ll have to find windows of time for your workouts. Doing workouts late at night will be inevitable at times during the challenge.
TAKE A PROGRESS PHOTO
The habit:
Take a progress photo every day. You don’t need to post it anywhere. Just take one as part of your normal morning or evening routine.
This is a deceptively difficult habit to complete every day. It seems so simple that you can easily forget about it. I would sometimes lie down to sleep and then jump out of bed with a start when I realized I hadn’t taken my progress photo yet.
The benefit:
This habit forces you to be detail-oriented because it’s so easy to forget. If you’re following a good diet and workout routine, you’ll see gradual changes in your body composition. You’ll have plenty of before and after pictures to compare.
The key to completing this habit:
Set reminders to ensure you don’t forget it. Make it part of your daily routine. When you’re changing clothes anyway, just snap a photo. Just make sure you get it done. Forgetting this habit might be the most common way people fail the challenge.
NO ALCOHOL
The habit:
Zero consumption of alcohol during the challenge.
Going without alcohol is tough if you’re used to drinking regularly. Even if you have a tough time at first, it gets easier as the challenge progresses.
The benefit:
There are countless benefits to not drinking. Your health will improve, your diet will be more effective, and you’ll sleep better and think better.
When you drink, your goals and habits tend to fall by the wayside. Not drinking keeps your state of mind consistent and helps you make forward progress every day.
The key to completing this habit:
Your greatest temptation will be at the start of the challenge and on special occasions. Pay close attention during those times to avoid slipping up. After a while, it becomes easy to say no to a drink.
MOMENTUM IS PRICELESS
75HARD teaches you to keep going no matter what. You learn that the challenges you face aren’t as daunting as they seem. You can keep going through almost anything.
During the challenge, I felt more confident in my skills and took on more challenging work than before. I worked on a freelance gig because it scared me. The challenge was enough motivation to take it on. My writing career grew as a result.
This challenge changes how you feel about yourself. It builds your level of discipline by forcing you to hold to a standard in so many areas of your life that the other areas naturally follow.
Your confidence will increase because self-confidence means self-trust. When you stay consistent for 75 days, you’ll trust yourself to take action and move toward your goals.
Are you planning to start 75HARD, or have you already completed the program? If you have any questions about what it takes to complete 75HARD, feel free to share them below. And if you’ve already taken the program, share your experience to inspire others to take it on.
