Archive for the Minimalism Category

If you’re anything like me, you’ve been falling out of love with social media. That’s what lead me to take a break from social media. For some people, social media stresses them out, but for me I just couldn’t justify spending an average of 2+ hours of screen time on social media every day! That means we spend 6.9 years of our life on social media!

I don’t know about you, but life is too short to be wasting that kind of screen time on something that doesn’t add much value to my life. With this in mind, I decided to take a 14-day social media detox to kick this bad habit.

How To Take A Break From Social Media

Taking a break from the various platforms can be challenging because we have built a habit around checking them constantly. Add to that, these companies have optimized social media apps to leverage your brain’s pleasure centers, giving you little hits of neurotransmitters that make you feel good.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok, and many more all have a small army of neuroscientists and psychologists on staff to make you addicted to their networks. The more you learn about how they reinforce your behavior with their apps, the scarier it gets.

I’ve put together a calendar and worksheet for you to do a 14 day Social Media Detox. Drop your email below and I’ll send it to you right now.

Social Media Break And The Benefits For Your Mental Health

I think most of us reading this post are aware the impact social sites have on our mental health, but new studies have come out to confirm what we all feared to be true. While social media can be useful, we need to make sure we are using it in a way that’s right for us.

Phones along with social media have been studied to show they are a major problem that has been proven to impact our sleep, connections with our partner and even can contribute to anxiety.

For me the biggest benefit was gaining back my time. I spent an average of 2 hours per day of phone screen time, about half that being spent on social media. With the time I gained back, I used it to start going on walks and working out.

75 HARD CHALLENGE

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Challenge yourself and see if you have what it takes!

Get Started Here

Another benefit was connecting more with friends. Instead of scrolling on their feeds, I actually picked up my phone and called people. In most cases I’d set times for dinner, to grab coffee, and if they were far away, we’d just catch up.

I also made time to spend with my family, getting to spend time with them was a lot of fun, way better than sitting on a couch at home watching other people’s lives.

How To Break Your Social Media Addiction?

You have to realize this is going to be difficult in the beginning, but after doing my extended break from social media I was surprised how quickly social media faded from my life. Once you get over that initial hump, I found I entered a positive feedback loop, where each time I said “no” I’d feel better and better about it.

To get over that initial hump I tried many things, but one thing really worked for me…

Add Pain To The Process

This is a hack I learned a long time ago when I wanted to stop drinking sodas. It seems counter intuitive, make things even harder for myself? Stick with me here…

I knew it would be challenging to stop drinking sodas, so at first, I said I could drink sodas with one caveat. I could drink soda; I just couldn’t buy a pack of soda for the house. What I could do is get in my car and drive to the gas station down the road and buy one bottle of soda to drink.

Why did this work? Because I wasn’t denying myself the soda, I just added the pain of having to get in my car and driving to get it. Each time I wanted a soda, I had to weigh the hassle vs. how much I wanted it.

That leads us to how to add pain to the process of social media? The first step is to just delete the apps on your phone. Most of these social sites still have a mobile browser version, but it’s usually terrible and frustrating to use. That’s the beauty of this, you can still have your social media, it’s just a little painful to use.

After a few weeks of no social apps, I added a new rule: no social media on my phone at all, I could only look at it on a desktop computer. Since I’m not on my computer all day this meant I only went to Facebook when I had a purpose. As time went on, Facebook became less and less integral to my life.

Tips On How To Break A Social Media Habit

While I found adding pain to the process to be the biggest help, there were some other details I rolled into my social media detox that helped me along the way.

How To Replace Social Media During A Social Media Detox

One other critical factor to this was, if I remove some bad habit, I need to try to replace it with something instead of just an empty space. In fact, to really overcome this, I had to intentionally add in multiple things to fill the void where social media was.

We go to social media and our phones when we have a down moment, when we are bored or don’t know what to do. I found myself reaching for my phone a lot when I was waiting on someone to arrive, when I was alone when a friend went to the bathroom, or when I was bored on my couch. Social media is a default pattern we use as a crutch.

I realized I was defaulting to this crutch and not thinking about them at all. And that was the problem, I wasn’t being intentional about my behaviors, which is not how I want to live my life. I want to live intentionally. To combat this, I decided to do a few things to replace social media.

How Long Should I Take A Break From Social Media For?

My suggestion is to start with a two-week taper from social media, then after that take time to reflect on things. You really need about 60 days to break a habit, so I’d start with two weeks, then adjust to a new normal pattern for you.

Take this in steps, going cold turkey won’t work too well for most people. I’ve put together a calendar for you to break your social media habit for your first two weeks, plus a worksheet to help reflect on your detox once it’s all over. This will let you easily stop using social media and have a better understanding of negative impacts of social media had in your life.

Social Media Break Images

Let people know you’re stepping away from social media. Making a final post helps communicate you’re taking a break for social media, but it also helps get the word out about the dangers of social networks in general. Below are images you can post on your own social media when you begin your detox. Right click and save the images, I’d appreciate you also sharing a link to this post when you do post so others can learn about how to take a break from social media too!

Social Media Break Quotes For Your Posts

In addition to your images, you might want to include a little bit about your break or give some inspiration to others. Here are a few quotes people used for their social medial announcement posts:

Breaking Your Social Media Habit For Good

Kicking the habit of social media is tricky, but it starts with the first step. After you’ve read this post, download the calendar and worksheet to start your first two weeks. These first two weeks are going to be challenging while you spend more time offline and do your social media detox. But in about 14 days, I’ve found most people get over the hump.

Once you’ve completed the first two weeks, take some time to reflect about your detox with the worksheet (also in the download). This will let you collect your thoughts about how social media impacts your happiness, mental health, anxiety and general wellbeing.

After you’ve done the worksheet, set a plan of action for the next 30 days past that point. I suggest limiting your social scrolling to 15 minutes once a week. Then try once every other week. In the end, we don’t have to totally ditch social media, we just want to make sure it doesn’t get in the way of living life.

Good luck with your social media break!

Your Turn!

• What tips do you have for taking a social media break?
• Why are you going to do a social media detox?

Recently I’ve been experimenting with doing dopamine detoxes, sometimes referred to as a dopamine fast. This started a little over a year ago, when I went on a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. During that trip I didn’t have a phone, tv or internet. As a result, I was able to see the impact from the absence of technology; it was eye opening.

I was grappling with a difficult time in my life, having sold one of my businesses, I was lacking purpose and direction. I went from leading over 200 people, reveling in the chaos of break-neck growth, to the stillness of a lounge chair on the deck of an ocean liner, left only to contend with my thoughts.

Over the following months, the lack of aim left me spiraling towards a dark place. When I cleared away all the clutter and trappings of modern life, I started to see the impact of social media, phone notifications and the distractions of modern culture. That’s what led me to my journey of dopamine detoxing.

Navigation

What’s Dopamine Detox?
Dopamine Detox Science

Dangers of Social MediaHow To: Dopamine Fast

Does Detox Work?
Dopamine Detox Rules

24-Hour Dopamine Detox
30-Day Dopamine Detox

What Is A Dopamine Detox?

A dopamine detox is a practice where you remove low quality stimuli from your life and replace it with high quality stimuli. This allows us to rid ourselves of cheap fixes in order to build a meaningful and fulfilling life. By doing this we take advantage of the dopaminergic responses in our brains along with a host of other neurotransmitters, to build long lasting, purposeful experiences. Modern life has been optimized to lean on these neurochemicals in a way, I’d argue, that is unhealthy, or at least justifies examination.

The Science Behind A Dopamine Fast

There is a lot of evidence to suggest that a dopamine fast can have a positive impact in your life. Before we get too far though, let’s address the elephant in the room. The brain is a complex thing and while dopamine is part of this, it’s not the only factor that comes into play here. Dopamine is primarily in play with anticipatory pleasure and it could be argued other neurotransmitters play a larger role here. Calling this technique, a “dopamine detox” is a little bit of a misnomer, but not entirely inaccurate either, it’s the phrase most people use, so let’s run with it.

The Dangers of Social Media, Phones, And Modern Life

Several years ago, I noticed a sinking uneasiness settling in around what social media, smart phones, the internet and modern life had become. It was a funny thing, because I’ve always been one who loves the internet and all things tech, I run this website after all! At first, I chalked it up to me “getting old” – at the ripe age of 30 at the time – but I was never satisfied with that answer.

That’s when a lot of studies started to come out about how suicide in teen girls jumped 300% because of social media and how phones and social media are leading to a rapid increase in depression and anxiety. The one thing that struck me the most was when Facebook’s VP of User Growth stated “I have tremendous guilt. The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works.” See the video of Chamath Palihapitiya talking about the negative impacts of social media.

The dark foreboding feeling about various elements of modern life was not misattributed. Instead, I realized it was a very real factor of contention. After much searching and collecting my thoughts, I’ve been led to dopamine fasting as my response to the real challenges I face.

The question then becomes, how do we get rid of negative things in our lives that give us those hits of dopamine we’re so easily drawn to? The truth is that it’s really hard. The reason for this of course is because modern technology is perfectly optimized to abuse our dopamine system.

This is the root of low-level anxiety and depression in today’s society and the very reason why these diagnoses are so prevalent. Over the past 20 years we’ve seen depression and anxiety rise dramatically and it’s alarming. Simply put, we built a society that provides cheap and easy hits of dopamine as leverage for commercial profits and the bill for the true cost has come due.

Does A Dopamine Fast Work?

In short, yes. A dopamine detox realigns your mind by trading the pleasure found from shallow sources with pleasure from meaningful ventures that provide lasting contentment. While the neuroscience behind it is complex, the premise is sound: remove toxic elements in your life and edify yourself with positive habits.

How to Do A Dopamine Detox or Dopamine Fast

First understand that there is no one “right way” to do this, each approach will be different for different people. This is because we each have our own crosses to bear and what does “it” for one person, might not be right for you.

Every part of modern society, social media, and our phones are optimized to give us the rewarding feeling of dopamine hits, but these are fleeting and surface level.

To make this a bit easier to understand I want to explain this with a conceptual framework I’m calling behavior “loops”. Essentially a behavior loop is a behavior cycle where we experience a trigger, we decide to respond to it with an action, that action triggers a response, and then that action is reinforced. We have “escape loops” and we have “engagement loops”.

Escape Loops: Shortcuts To Happiness That Leave Us Miserable

Escape loops are essentially things in our lives that provide us with low value pleasures. They are characterized by a big hit of dopamine, that’s quick, easy and cheap to attain. The “loop” of escapes loops typically breaks down to something like this:

Typical Escape Loop

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• We become bored, anxious, unhappy or lonely – feelings from something unfulfilled in your life
• These feelings bring with it a low-level stress and our cortisol levels start to rise
• We feel the urge to resolve this and are faced with a choice: solve the root cause (which is difficult) or seeking an “escape” which is cheap and easy to attain and gives us the highest spike of dopamine
• Feeling that hit of pleasure for this escapism, we start to rely on it, creating a dependent feedback loop

Escape loops offer a way to side step the root cause of the problem and just skip to feeling good, even if it’s a shallow pleasure. We essentially sacrifice our future well-being by avoiding the real problem all for a cheap dopamine hit. Looking at it in this manner, it’s similar to how drug users operate: feel bad, instead of fixing the issue they seek a high, then come down to only feel worse. At its core, an escape loop is a self-sabotaging behavior.

Some examples would be: When we feel bored, instead of developing hobbies, we pick up our phone. When we feel anxious about a difficult conversation that we need to have with the person we are dating, we ghost them and move on to a new person. If we are miserable at work, instead of seeking a new opportunity, we have a few beers or glasses of wine each night to forget it all. Rather than going on dates to meet someone new, we pull up a website and watch a video to get off. Escape loops are different for each person.

Engagement Loops: Fixing The Core Issues For Long Term Contentment

Engagement Loops are essentially the opposite of escape loops. Instead of seeking quick hits of dopamine, we delay gratification to build a deeper and richer life for ourselves over time. If we don’t make this conscious choice, we fall into the trappings of modern society that have been designed to reward us in ways that are advantageous to those who want to capture our attention for their own benefit.

Engagement behaviors are often the difficult road, the things we know we should do, but don’t really want to do. I know after a long day, the last thing I want to do is leave the comfort zone of my home and hit the gym, meet up with friends or go on a date.

Sometimes the choices seem trivial: order a water or a diet soda at dinner. Our friend is a few minutes late, do we pull out our phone or take a minute to reflect on the day. The truth is, a good life is built on a strong foundation of small positive actions taken over and over again, it is the aggregate of these “trivial” things that actually make a good life. I once heard a top Olympic athlete say he visualized the little actions like laying a single stone, each one building his castle.

Typical Engagement Loop

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• We become bored, anxious, unhappy or lonely – feelings from something unfulfilled in your life
• These feelings bring with it a low-level stress and our cortisol levels start to rise
• We feel the urge to resolve it, so we reflect on the root cause and choose to do the difficult work of fixing it
• After taking positive steps we start to feel better about our decisions, it is positively reinforced over time

Engagement loops are difficult work that requires dedication and effort, but results in an outcome that is deeply meaningful. Engagement loops build lasting change that leads to a life worth living. After much reflection on this, I believe that engagement loops build fulfillment, answering the greatest question of them all, arguably the most important question: what is the meaning of life? Engagement loops are different for each person.

Replacing Escape Loops With Engagement Loops For Dopamine Detoxing

Think about the challenges you face in life, the shortcomings you have as a person, and the long list of failures in your past. Analyze these symptoms and try to discern what the root causes are, these are the things you need to counter, because they are the things you try to avoid dealing with when you seek an escape loop.

I recommend focusing on one main escape loop at a time, but layering a few positive engagement loops to replace it. The reason for this being they provide a big hit of dopamine over a very short period of time, similar to how our brain reacts to narcotics.

Compare that to something like eating a healthy diet, at first there is not a whole lot of reward, but over a long period you see the benefits. It’s no wonder that getting a lot of “likes” on your latest social post feels better than getting dressed, driving through traffic, and paying $10 for a drink to have a conversation with someone you just met for the first time.; At first, receiving the “likes” feels better but the long term implications tell a different story.

It is for this reason I suggest you replace your worst escape loop with many engagement loops to have any hope of making the change stick. If we layer in these positive forces, their high-quality dopamine hits will overpower the cheap easy thrills of our vices.

What Are The Dopamine Detox Rules?

There are no hard and fast rules and it depends on how long you plan to detox. While it can be nice to do a deep detox where you totally cut things out, most of this might only be able to do this for a single weekend. I hold the belief that quick fixes fall prey to the same faults that surround our escapes.

24 Hour Dopamine Detox Rules

Some people like to try a short 24 hour fast, though the impact of this will be minimal, unless followed up with a prolonged detox which strikes the balance of you needing to handle daily life while keeping the big offenders at bay. Here is a general list of rules for a 24-hour dopamine detox:

30 Day Dopamine Fast

Most of us can’t run off to a mountain top and live like a cloistered monk for several months, so we need to take a more measured approach and, if truth be told, this is going to be more effective. seeking a quick fix is an escape loop in and of itself!

Additionally, we need to be able to live and operate in society, we have to be able to contend with the pulls of modernity, so we must struggle to find our paths despite these things. To effectively replace negative loops, we need to slowly reinforce our new positive habits over time.

Start by choosing one of your bigger escape loops that feed your dopaminergic system in a negative way and define 3 engagement loops to replace it. Use the above questions about escape and engagement loops to determine what your particular burden is, think about how this impacts your life, then determine what positive actions should be used to replace it. For Example: if you dread your work, instead of complaining about it and drinking a few too many glasses of wine. Commit to polishing up your resume, set a goal to take an interview per month and when you feel the stress of work, instead of popping a cork, go outside for a walk.

You want to try to choose negative loops and positive loops that have symmetry to them. Understand the root cause of your discontent and dopamine seeking behavior, then develop a related counter to it. We want to train ourselves to recognize when we are reaching for that escape loop behavior and then replace it with one of our engagement loops. This gradually will disincentivize our negative behaviors and build a positive feedback loop for our good ones.

Each person should figure out which escape and engagement loops apply to their lives, because it will be specific to each individual. Here are some general tips I suggest during your 30+ day detox:

Take these as suggestions, each person is going to need something different. Just be honest with yourself and realize that replacing these behaviors requires hard work, self-discipline and effort on your part.

How Long Does It Take To Adjust Dopamine Levels?

This is a complicated question, but in general it can take an average of 66 days to build a new habit. The brutal thing is that bad habits can take root much faster and it can take a long time to build good ones.

Dopamine levels change from minute to minute as our bodies react to the world around us, as I pointed out above, the title of “dopamine detox” or “dopamine fast” is a bit of a misnomer. We always have dopamine; it’s always reacting and too little or too much can be bad for our health. We shouldn’t really try to control our dopamine levels, just the behaviors we choose to engage with that might act as levers for dopamine.

Great Books To Check Out On This Topic

The Molecule of More

by Daniel Z. Lieberman & Michael Long

Buy Here

Break Up With Your Phone

by Catherine Price

Buy Here

Habits of a Happy Brain

by Loretta G. Breuning

Buy Here

Your Turn!

• Have you tried doing a dopamine detox, how did it go?
• What escape loops are your cutting out for better engagement loops?

I’ve made it to the other side. Before 75 Hard, I was struggling to put words to a concept I had been circling on for years. Coming off the sale of a company I built from the ground up, I was utterly aimless, looking for the answers to big questions. The problem was, I was looking for those answers outside of myself, but the 75 Hard Challenge helped me dig deep and find them from within. Here is my journey with the 75 Hard Challenge.

Navigation

What is 75 HardWorkout Programs

The 75 Hard PodcastDiet Options

Is 75 Hard EffectiveBook Ideas

My 75 Hard Journey75 Hard Results

What Is 75 Hard?

The 75 Hard Challenge is a program lasting 75 days with a simple set of rules designed to build confidence, self-esteem, and grittiness through a no excuses challenge. The rules focus on self-development in a way that forces you to earn the traits you want to possess. You’ll undertake this 75-day challenge, following the rules carefully, but if you slip up even one day, you have to start all over again.

What 75 Hard Isn’t – What most people get wrong

On its face, 75 Hard looks like a fitness challenge, a run of the mill program that will get you into shape. This couldn’t be further from the truth. You may notice the benefits of improved fitness, such as losing weight and gaining strength, but it’s not the main purpose of 75 Hard. The program is all about building the mental fortitude you need to set yourself up for a successful life.

This challenge is entirely mental. You are going to do difficult things because they are difficult, because they build grittiness. You don’t allow excuses to get in the way because they are all bullshit and, in the end, you’re only cheating yourself.

The set of simple rules are designed to challenge you in different ways. Some will be easy; some will be hard. Added up together, the sum of one day at a time for 75 days without compromise,, pushes you to become the person you strive to be.

Why 75 Hard Is Effective

Like I mentioned, the rules are simple, but the continual execution is the real challenge. Over the past few years I’ve learned the value of doing things that are difficult, because they are difficult in and of themselves.

It’s hard to really articulate why doing what is hard is such a powerful force, why it makes all the difference. I could say that challenging yourself builds character. I might say that if we don’t commit to continual improvement that we cheat ourselves. But all those descriptions feel like a platitude.

At the end of your days – and to some extent the end of 75 hard – you have to look yourself in the eye and take your measure. What will be the honest evaluation of the life you led, will you have reached your full potential or left some of it on the table?

75 Hard Challenge Rules

The rules seem pretty simple but they’re designed to collectively be a challenge. The real trial is starting over at day one if you slip up even once.

Rule Clarifications

• Exercise can be anything that meets your fitness goals, the point is to improve each day
• The workouts can’t be back to back or one long workout, you should have at least 3 hours between them
• Exercise can be anything that is physical in nature that matches your intentions and seems difficult
• Exercise does include Yoga and walking if you do it with intention
• During your exercise, you can include warm ups and stretching as long as you do it with intention
• There is not specific diet, you choose what’s right for you and stick to it
• Your diet doesn’t have to count calories or macros unless the progress you want to make dictates it
• Even if it fits in your diet, all foods should be “clean foods” define what that means before you start, stick to it
• No “cheat days” or “re-feed days” you must stick to your diet 100%
• You don’t necessarily have to count calories, but you do need to eat the foods prescribed in your diet
• Water only counts if it’s just water. Coffee, sports drinks, mixes, shakes etc don’t count towards your water
• Coffee, diet sodas, teas, protein shakes, and other drinks are okay, but must comply with your diet
• You need to read your pages from an actual book: podcasts or audiobooks don’t count
• A day is considered when you wake up to when you go to bed, not just a normal 24 day

In general, there are some areas that you’ll have to make a judgement call on if you find a circumstance that isn’t covered above.  The best advice I can give you is that you define what your standards are.  Consider the intention behind them, think about what progress you want to make.  Write these standards down and if they seem very difficult, then you’ll know you’re on the right track.  Then stick to them without compromise.

Get The Full Details In The 75 Hard Podcast Episodes

Here is the original podcast that started it all with Andy Frisella.

Here is a follow up podcast episode that clarified some things.

My Journey With 75 Hard

I had happened upon the MFCEO podcast with Andy Frisella near the end of the year, a time when I start to think about my goals for the coming year. I wish I could say it was something more intentional, but I wasn’t feeling energized about the year ahead. As Andy laid out the simple rules to 75 Hard, something clicked in my brain and I said “screw it, I’m going to do it”.

At first, I thought to myself that I’d start at the first of the year, which was a fair way off, but then I caught myself. I was thinking in a way that was exactly what 75 Hard was meant to fix. So again, I said “screw it, I’ll start tomorrow”. Little did I know, the joke was on me.

The First Days Of 75 Hard

The next day I woke up to do my first workout, which had to be outside, and it was pouring down rain. Not only was it raining, but it was also only 33 degrees, just warm enough to not be snow.. I was totally soaked from the cold rain and damn near froze. Not going to lie, I cursed Andy’s name the entire time, but I didn’t make excuses and I got it done.

I went on doing my workouts, eating my keto diet, reading my books, drinking my water and taking my photos. Starting out, I think the worst was drinking a gallon of water per day. I was peeing every 20 minutes and my stomach felt so full, so often. I had already cut out alcohol and soda and replaced those with water prior to 75 hard, but I never drank this much water. It took me a full week to get used to drinking so much water.

For me the diet was the easiest part, which is probably the opposite for most people. Purely out of preference I don’t drink at all, haven’t for over a decade. I also had started a keto diet almost 2 years ago, so now it was simply a default behavior, not something new.

When Things Got Tough

My next challenge was when life threw me some curveballs and I had to still make it all happen. Remember that if you fail to follow the rules, you have to start back at day one.; There was no way I was going to let that happen.

The first challenge was realizing at 11 pm while I was on a date that I had only completed one of my workouts. Explaining to my date why I needed to go for a walk in the middle of the night was the first time I told anyone I was even doing this. I think mentally I wasn’t publicizing that I was doing the challenge, because if I admitted it to others, I was accountable.

I realized this was just another step in building mental fortitude: being accountable to those around you. Somehow, my date just rolled with the punches and decided to join me, despite the freezing cold temperatures and the fact that it was midnight.

The next challenge occurred while I was on a cruise to the Bahamas. While in the middle of the ocean, the water main broke on the ship and we were without water all day. I had only about 20 ounces of water in my bottle at the time. While the ship offered up free sodas to smooth things over, soda and other drinks don’t count. At 11:30 PM when the water came back on, I sat down with 108 ounces of water before me and started to drink.

Finally, the last major challenge I faced was on a road trip. I had gotten up really early to make it to my destination on time, driving all day. I was sitting in my car the entire time, not able to work out. I got to the hotel after midnight and the very last thing I wanted to do was work out. I seriously considered abandoning it all right then. Despite my brain screaming at me to just go to bed, I got on the treadmill at 1 AM and started running.

In the fog of my exhaustion I realized about 40 minutes in that my next workout had to be outside! I finished my first 45 minutes, read my 10 pages, then walked out the front door of the hotel at 2 AM to do my final workout. It was brutal.

75 Hard Workout Options

The one thing that I really liked about this challenge was that it wasn’t dogmatic about what diet or workout regime you choose. Since this isn’t a fitness challenge, but a mental toughness challenge, the point isn’t to achieve some fitness ideal. It also meets you wherever you are right now, so you don’t have to worry about having to be a certain fitness level to start. This was great for me, having focused on diet for so long, I had pretty much not worked out for over a year.

You start where you are and just get it done. Most days I either did weights and then a walk for my second workout or went for a run, then my second workout was a walk. The only rules are they need to be at least 45 minutes each and one of them has to be outside, no matter what.

Darebee – HIIT Workout Program

I like Darebee’s approach because it’s pretty straight forward and the resources are free. HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is a very effective approach for those who want to get in and out of the gym.

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Strong Lifts 5×5

This is another very popular one that doesn’t have a lot of frills and is free. I like this one because it keeps it pretty simple, but he also includes tutorials with each of the recommendations, so it’s good if you’re just starting out.

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Reddit’s Bodyweight Workout

Don’t have a gym, don’t have weights, now you don’t have excuses. Here is a program that you can do with just body weight. It’s from sub-reddit r/bodyweightfitness and is free.

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P-90X

A classic, but also a pretty practical at home workout set. They include a diet program too, if you want it. Not free, but you can get it for $139 online from various retailers.

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75 Hard Diet Options

Much like the workout portion, you can choose any diet you like, which is great because you can choose something that works for you and your goals. The important notes here are that you have to stick to it rigidly, you can’t do any cheat days and you can’t drink any alcohol regardless of what program you do.

Andy made the point in his talk that you don’t have to count calories, but you need to stick to the prescription of the diet you choose. Simply tracking what you eat has been shown to reduce your calorie intake by 20-30%.

KETO Diet

Keto is a low carb, medium protein and high fat diet that focuses on mitigating insulin swings in your body. Personally, I do the Keto diet and have found it to not only to help me lose weight, but it also suits my eating preferences naturally. I’ve never been a big drinker, I don’t crave pasta or sweets like some people do, and I already ate many of the common keto foods before I even started.

I was looking to slim down, but also manage my insulin swings to keep up my energy. I’ve always been one to have big dips after lunch and it was cutting into my effectiveness. After doing keto for almost 2 years at this point, my blood tests are showing that keto is dramatically improving all my numbers across the board. I’ve almost stopped snoring, lost a ton of weight, my energy is up, and I enjoy what I eat.

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Whole 30

Whole 30 focuses on eating foods that aren’t made up of a lot of ingredients. The idea is to eat clean whole foods that you can recognize. The basic rules are no added sugars, no alcohol, no grains or legumes, no dairy, etc. You aren’t supposed to weigh yourself for the 30 days either, just focus on eating clean and healthy.

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Dash Diet – Counting Calories

This is another common one that really centers around eating healthier and counting calories. This diet has come under some scrutiny in recent years, but eating healthier and watching calories are never a bad thing.

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75 Hard Challenge Book Ideas

Here are some book ideas for your challenge, the first three were the ones I read during my time. These books were in addition to the other books I read for fun. Each month I read about 5 books, so reading wasn’t a big deal for me. While I read I used these book darts to quickly mark things that I wanted to refer back to.

The Last Safe Investment

by Bryan Franklin

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The Coaching Habit

by Michael Staniar

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Radical Candor

by Kim Scott

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Big Magic

by Elizabeth Gilbert

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The E-Myth Revisited

by Michael Gerber

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Traction

by Gino Wickman

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Six Thinking Hats

by Edward de Bono

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The $100 Startup

by Chris Guillebeau

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Leaders Eat Last

by Simon Sinek

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75 Hard Results

For me I saw a decent drop in weight because I ate mostly the same while increasing the number of calories burned, my photos showed me lean out some, but I think the real surprise for me was in my heart rate. My heart rate has dropped by about 20ish bpm in my resting state and my recovery rate improved dramatically.

What used to be my resting rate, I could now achieve roughly the same BPM while doing a casual walk. I also dramatically upped my endurance while running. When I started, I hadn’t worked out in a very long time, I could jog around 4.5 miles per hour for about 10 minutes. Near the end of my 75 days, I was running at 6 miles per hour for 20 minutes AND my heart rate would almost fully recover in under 2 minutes.

I had hoped to make more progress with my weight lifting, but about 20 days into it I hurt some of the ligaments in my elbow that required me to take it easy while it healed. That’s when I shifted focus to running, which let me still move forward.

Other People’s Results With The 75 Hard Challenge

I’m certainly not alone in this journey, here are a few before and afters that people have posted.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ll be a Bud Light girl forever. But water ( sometimes with flavor) is my only drink (besides coffee) these days. . . Here’s a little behind the scenes on how these 2 women, although both me, are no where near similar. . . Top: December 2018 Unhappy. Trying to mask my anxiety & depression with food & alcohol. Full of self pity. Not taking responsibility for why my life was sucky. Was a miserable bitch to everyone around me. . . Bottom: February 1, 2020 Genuinely happy. Controlling my anxiety & depression with exercise & healthy foods. Have taken control of my life & realized I was the reason my life was sucky. Spread positivity & smile as much as possible. I’d say I’m a freaking joy to be around these days!

follow @_cortney_brown_

If you’re postponing #75HARD for after #Thanksgiving DINNER or after the holidays or after the 1st of the year, I have a message for you. YOU DON’T REALLY NEED CHANGE! If you’re not even ready to jump in right a way in the inception state and get excited to start RIGHT F****** NOW, it wouldn’t work … you will quit. You are still MENTALY SOFT. The MOST important part about this challenge is commitment. Commitment to yourself , that you will not give up on yourself , that you care about yourself to “have yourself’s back” and love yourself enough to show up for YOU!

follow @professionalproblemsolver

#75HARD COMPLETE!! * So Friday, September 6 at midnight my 75 days were up. I started this journey back up after failing back in February on the first attempt. * What you see in these two pictures are a physical change but what you can’t see is the mental change that took place during these 75 days. * I was the type of individual who would care what people thought. * Who wouldn’t get out of their bubble because of some dumb reasoning in my head. * Who would procrastinate and say “I’ll just do that tomorrow.” * Who thought they were too busy to start something extra to better themselves.

follow @nickmay121

I am willing to… Get up early and do my morning routine. Go outside no matter the weather and do a 45 min workout. Pass on the chips or fast food and eat a macro balanced diet and track every bite. Work my 8 hours then come home and do another 45 min workout instead of watching tv. Drink a gallon of water. No alcohol. Enrich my mind with daily reading, podcasts and audible books. Visualize my future life. Take a 5 min cold shower. Write down a gratitude list and 10 dreams as if they have happened. It starts with that question. What are you willing to do to get all the things you say you want?

follow @denaespinosa47

When John told me about this challenge he wanted to do I told him it sounded ridiculous. Stupid. Unrealistic. Then after a couple of days of him not changing his mind on it, I decided I might as well do it with him. I started out with the plan of doing 30 days or so, then quitting if it got too hard. And here I am, 75 days later. The truth is- it did get hard. But we stuck it out together. I’m glad it’s over. But it was worth every one of those 75 days. Before: 176 lbs, 21.4% body fat After: 154 lbs, 13.5% body fat #75hard #75HardChallenge

follow @marquileland

Want To Try The 75 Hard Challenge?

Ask yourself this: at the end of the 75 days, will you feel that you’re better or worse for doing it? We all know the right answer, but we don’t match our behavior with what we know to be true. Don’t wait to start, start tomorrow.

Your Turn!

• Have you tried 75 hard, what was your biggest challenge?
• What excuses are you making?