I took my first rest day today after 15 days straight of 75 Hard. It was the biggest relief in my life.
I’m joking of course. I’m not taking any rest days, I’m not quitting this challenge or starting over. My “rest day” was not wearing my weighted vest on my walk. I’ve worn it the past few days to build up my strength and challenge myself a little more. But today, after a long day of work, I decided to forego putting it on and go for my normal walk.
It was a lovely relief and I could already sense the difference in strength since wearing an extra 10 pounds. My back didn’t hurt as much and my stride was slightly faster. I’ll continue wearing it from this point, but for today, it was a wonderful break.
This made me consider our habits as people who are trying to achieve awesome shit. We all know consistency is key and it takes hard work to reach our goals. But what do we do on those days where we don’t have the motivation or energy to invest in our goals?
Much like 75 Hard and following the rules consistently every single day, that’s what we should try to do with our passions and goals. We should all be putting in the effort to progress every single day, but sometimes life gets in the way. After a few tough days where I felt I had very little time to complete everything, I still found a way to do my workouts, read, eat, and drink my water.
When you tell yourself you’re going to do something, honor that promise. Commit to doing something every day without fail. Put in as much effort as possible day in and day out no matter what. When you feel like taking a “rest day”, you still commit to your goals, but you pull back a little. You may do less than normal, but you still do something.
If you put in lots of effort 90% of your days then take it easy the 10%, you’re still trying 100% of the time. That’s what matters most in the long run.
Achieving the goals you choose for yourself takes a promise to try every day. Start small if you want, just make sure you start. From that first day, do everything in your power to put in effort every single day. No matter what life throws at you, make time for what matters most.
September 8, 2024
