My Journey Through #75HARD
IT ALL STARTED IN OCTOBER
October 2020 I decided I needed to commit to the 75HARD Challenge by Andy Frisella. If you don’t already know what this is, it’s a “mental toughness” challenge designed to take control of your inner-bitch voice and take back control of your life.
Here are the specifics — Every day you must: Drink 1 gallon of water; Follow a nutrition protocol of your choosing, but no cheat meals and no alcohol; Workout two times for at least 45 minutes and one MUST BE outdoors; Read 10 pages of self-development or personal development; Take a progress picture.
These are called the “5 critical tasks” and you can’t go a day without accomplishing all of them, or guess what, you start over at day ONE.
The first week of November I was going strong for five days, then I made the choice to have a few beers. No big deal, but being the person I am and knowing that I needed to start back on day one, I did exactly that. So technically day one begin in early November for me and not late October.
It’s not bad to have to start over, in fact it shows true character and discipline to make the choice to start over on day one after you fuck up on this program and I do believe that’s the point. Lack of character would allow you to keep going even though you may have missed one of those small critical tasks on any given day, but character rich persons will know what needs to be done and make it so.
The first few weeks were great! I felt like I was making progress and doing the work that needed to be done. During this time, however, I was battling something I didn’t expect and it was eye opening to say the least. Every night I have a drink of some kind, just one, but a drink nonetheless. Wine, beer, cocktail, etc., and I use it to wind down from the day. Well, I’m sure you know where this is headed — NO ALCOHOL ON 75HARD.
It took me 19 days of conscious, conceited effort to regain control of the urge to put a drink in my hand. This urge was insatiable at first and I couldn’t figure out what it was until it happened again, and again, and again, for nearly three weeks. I’ve never really “felt” like I’ve been addicted to anything, but I guess that’s the reality of addiction is that you don’t really KNOW you’re addicted until you’re addicted. In an attempt to express discipline in my life, I also experienced and can relate just a little bit more now with those of you who may truly be addicted to certain things in your lives and, it’s been an eye opening experience that I won’t soon (or ever) forget.
Okay, Fast Forward another week and BOOM: Thanksgiving. That was hard. No sweets. No cheats. No alcohol. Worked out twice on Thanksgiving day. I definitely made mental progress over Thanksgiving week.
Fast Forward a few more weeks and BOOM: Christmas.
Fast Forward another week and BOOM: New Years Eve/New Years Day.
By far, those were the hardest weeks of the program for me, aside from the various (and numerous) other times where I just plain old didn’t want to do the work. That span of time was between weeks four and seven, so a solid four week period where I felt like I was missing out and being the weirdo that wasn’t enjoying the holidays because he’s on a “program”.
But in the end it’s quite the opposite. Instead of feeling left out, I know that I was just creating distance between myself and ordinary people. You know the type: Question if it’s possible, say no to everything, tell you they can’t do things, make excuses for everything, would rather going home and chill than put in the work of their lives type of people.
LET ME BE CLEAR ON THIS: THEY WILL ABSOLUTELY NEVER UNDERSTAND US OR WHAT WE DO.
So if you feel like you have to explain yourself to them, if you feel like you just need to talk to them a big longer to get your point across, if you feel like they’ll come around eventually… you’re fucking kidding yourself.
STOP EXPLAINING YOURSELF. PERIOD. Fuck’em. Just do you. I’m not saying to cut them out of your life completely, but I am saying that you should definitely stop trying to get them to understand why you do what you do to get better, to become better. They’ll NEVER understand. That’s a fact.
Okay, I’m through week seven now and weeks eight through 11 were no walk in the park, but I got through them and made it to the finish line.
Today I’m writing to you two days post-finish with those few days of reflection and thoughts under my belt. It’s not easy to put into words what the last 75 days have meant to me, but it’s powerful. You know, I didn’t think I needed to do this program for the longest time because I’m already fairly disciplined on a daily basis. But I’ll just say this: This program is for everyone, even the ones who think they don’t need it.
I challenge you to jump on board with the #75HARD CHALLENGE and find out what you’re really made of.
Who knows, maybe you’ll have a revelation like I did after the first three weeks and become just that much incrementally better than you were before.
If that’s the case, then it’s a win and totally worth the small 75 day sacrifice to get better.
BODY COMPOSITION STATS:
Before: 17% body fat, 220lbs, 176lbs lean body mass
After: 9% body fat, 200.8lbs, 182lbs lean body mass
Earned.
#TheDillonBurnsMethod
