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75 HARD changed my life. But you (probably) shouldn’t do it.

First things first, what’s 75 HARD?

For 75 days straight you must:

• Take a progress photo
• Complete two 45-minute workouts (1 outdoors)
• Read 10 pages (of a nonfiction/self-help book)
• Drink 1 gallon of water
• Follow a diet (no alcohol/cheat meals)

The program made me disciplined, built up my self-image, and cultivated mental toughness.

Above all, 75 HARD made me a finisher. Here’s one example: during one week of this challenge, I got food poisoning. I was bedridden for days, but I still got the tasks done. This mentality, to finish, transferred to all areas of my life. [Click here to discover 14 lessons the program taught me.]

I truly believe the vast majority of people would benefit from doing 75 HARD. Not just for the physical benefits (you’ll look better), but also for the mental benefits (you’ll think better). 

So I’ve shouted for all who will hear: do it.

But something funny happened. Many of the people I’ve told to try the program out have actually failed to complete the challenge.

In this post, I’m going to attempt to explain why you should not try 75 HARD… yet.

Are Some of These Habits In Place?

There’s an old saying that goes something like… 

“We must walk before we can run.”

75 HARD isn’t the equivalent of running. It’s sprinting. For 75 straight days.

You want to ensure you have a solid foundation of pre-existing habits before starting.

For example, there are some basics that you should master before attempting a program like 75 HARD. Namely: working out, cooking for yourself, and reading. If you don’t already do these, I would take a few weeks to lay the foundation for your future success.

Here’s what I would recommend before doing this program:

• Start a consistent workout routine.
• Learn how to prepare your own food.
• Buy a few self-development books and start reading.

If I had set out to make all those changes in one day – having previously never done any of them – it would have taken a lot of mental endurance. It would have taken a lot of discipline. And I probably would have had no idea what to do or where to start.

For example, following a diet is easy when you’ve cooked for years. But if you have no experience with making your own food before? There’s a learning curve.

Same with working out and reading books.

Bottom line: make sure the habits are somewhat in place before you begin.

Does The Program Call To You?

When I first stumbled on 75 HARD in September, I saw it and immediately knew my life was going to be different from there on out. 

I found the program while I was in a rut. I needed an exit plan, and 75 HARD seemed like the obvious solution.

It called to me. 

From the day I started, I had a burning desire to complete it.

No matter how much I tell you this program is amazing, that it changed my life, that the world would be a better place if everyone did this… it won’t matter. Because there will be some points during this program that will probably suck. There might be times you want to quit. If you don’t have a strong reason to finish this program, you will probably quit.

When I started, I said to myself, “I will finish this program. “No. Matter. What.” Messing up would be fine, but not completing it was unacceptable.

If you don’t have this level of desire to finish, don’t even start.

Do You Have Accountability? 

Accountability might be one of the forces we underestimate the most in this world.

If you want to do this program successfully, it helps to be accountable to someone. Ideally daily. Be responsible for completing your tasks and reporting that you finished them. 

When I did this program with my friend Tej, we held each other accountable daily. Every time one of us finished all our tasks, we’d let the other one know. After this challenge was over, we both realized how critical each other’s support was to actually complete the 75 days.

You also want to consider what type of person you are accountable to. 

Of course, being accountable to someone is better than being accountable to no one. But in a perfect world, you want to be accountable to someone you wouldn’t want to let down – someone you respect and who respects your desire to improve.

So Would I Recommend 75 HARD?

Yes. It changed my life.

But for most people…  

• if you haven’t cultivated some of the habits… 
• if the program doesn’t call you… 
• if you don’t have accountability…

… don’t try it.

Start with a workout plan. Start by learning how to cook your own food. Start by cultivating the habit of reading.

Then, make sure you actually want to do it.

And lastly, find someone to help you through the process.

This program is deceptively hard, and you need serious staying power to get through it. The three elements listed above are critical to successfully completing 75 HARD.

With that being said, if you already do most of the elements of the challenge, then I couldn’t recommend it enough. 

This program changed my life and I believe it is capable of changing millions more.

Send me an email if you have any questions about it – my name {at} this domain.

To your success,

Danny

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Thank you to Compound Writing – particularly Kevin Shiuan, Ana Kozlova, Sarah Hunt, Stew Fortier, and Nick Drage – for looking over earlier drafts of this article.

It’s a bizarre concept, really.

Why should running in the rain be any different than running when it’s sunny outside?

But it is.

Now look, I’m not going to sit here and pretend to you like I’m some big-time runner – because I’m not. I didn’t run track in high school. I have never run a marathon (or even a half). I’m slow as molasses.

But running in the rain is different.

Here’s why:

You won’t see anyone walking their dog. Nobody will be taking a nice bike ride. Most people will be inside.

And maybe, for a moment, you envy their situation. Maybe they’ve got a nice warm hot cocoa and some Netflix queued up.

But then you think again.

The water hits your eyelids. All of a sudden, your vision is blurry. Your shirt is sopping wet. But it’s all incredibly liberating.

Why?

Many reasons:

Running in the rain doesn’t cost a penny.

There are no gym memberships to pay. This is about heart. Doing this reminds you success is open for anyone at any time. That embracing the suck is a necessity. That you can push through, even if that puddle is in your way.

Nobody will tell you to run in the rain. People will advise you to stay inside. Something about “dangerous conditions.”

But you know the only danger is accepting mediocrity.

Running in the rain means you’re serious.

This is about following your plan whether the conditions are perfect or not. If you said you were going to run, you run.

You have outlined a set path. It’s time to execute on that path. Is nature going to throw you off-kilter or are you going to make what you want happen? You have the power to make that decision.

Running in the rain isn’t about your time.

When you run in the rain, your time doesn’t matter.

You’re going to run slower. You’re sidestepping puddles. Your shoes are wet. But it doesn’t matter. Because you are doing what most are unwilling to do.

You are doing the damn work. Running in the rain isn’t about the time. It’s about finishing.

Running in the rain isn’t about anyone else.

It’s only you who will know you did the work. I mean, nobody else will see you out there. Running in the rain is for you.

Running in the rain is about understanding there will never be perfect conditions.

You will always have some excuse. You will always be able to say, “Ah, tomorrow it’ll probably be sunny out.”

Running in the rain is about asserting your will on any situation.

My friend Aman told me once, “My will is stronger than any obstacle.” If the rain is an obstacle (which, for most people, it is), then it is asserting your will on it. It’s making sure you won’t back down from a challenge. It is about seeing what most people would run away from and go directly into the heart of a challenge.

That brings me to something I believe needs to be highlighted. If you find yourself balking at something difficult, it probably means you should do it.

For example, for most people, they balk at the idea of taking a cold shower. I mean, why would you purposefully take a cold shower? But you grow from the cold. The cold is an incredible teacher. You are balking at the idea because it is difficult and potentially painful in the short term. When you find yourself thinking, “Oh, I don’t want to do that” … it probably means you need to do that.

Running in the rain is about connecting with nature.

If you are fortunate enough to have a roof over your head, the rain isn’t something you typically have to deal with. But to really feel the beautiful water slip down your head. Feeling the way the water falls off the tree branches. How the water smacks down against the pavement. It’s all beautiful.

Running in the rain is about making it more difficult in the moment so it’ll be less difficult in the long term.

Your next run will be easier because we judge everything in comparison to what previously came before it. So, you’ll soon be thinking, “Wow, this is easy” when you’re running in the sun.

Running in the rain is about building your mental toughness.

If you can do what others won’t, this can translate to every other aspect of your life.

How many times has this happened to you:

You think about going to the gym. But you’re supposed to do something you don’t like to do.

So… you just don’t go at all.

You’ve become an Enjoyment Judge.

What is an Enjoyment Judge?

An Enjoyment Judge is when we place judgement on how much we expect to enjoy an activity. Then, this impacts what we actually do.

You don’t do a workout because “it’ll suck.” You put off your work because “it’ll be hard.” You eat that candy bar because “you’ll enjoy it.”

We all do this to some extent.

But the problem is it creates barriers in our head to actually complete the task or activity.

By labeling these activities as “easy” or “difficult” or “fun” or “so boring you could watch paint dry,” you’re effectively hurting your chances of doing it.

And worse, you’re ruining the experience itself by living in your future expectations.

I’m not above it. Hardly. I do it all the time.

But the less I judge the activity before experiencing it, the more I can actually experience it and decide what the experience actually was.

Expectations can hurt our perception of reality.

We can’t just go to the beach. On a run. Watch a show.

We expect something out of them.

The Enjoyment Judge seeks comfort. He does only that which he likes. Everything he does is about how much fun or pleasure he will get out of it.

The point is… 

The Enjoyment Judge might be the reason why you haven’t accomplished your goals.

You’re An Enjoyment Judge. So What?

We keep a running tally of everything we do. Then, we typically rate the experience without even realizing we’re doing it.

• “Went on a walk last night – it went well.”
• “Worked on my business yesterday – it sucked.”
• “Dinner last night – it was okay.”

The problem is that our memories are often terrible indicators of what actually happens. (Eyewitness testimony is known in law as notoriously unreliable.)

They might be accurate to sum up the entirety of the experience. But on an individual, second-by-second level… these one words fail to really capture the depth of the experience.

For example, that walk last night could have included a bug biting you. Working on your business could have provided failure after failure, but maybe you learned something new that will help you. Dinner might have been average on the whole, but those French fries were delicious.

The point is that we remember what happens based on one word or a short ranking but we fail to capture the depth of the experience because we’re constantly ranking everything we experience.

The Professional

The opposite of the Enjoyment Judge is the Professional.

The Professional does not care about the enjoyment of the activity. If it’ll help him achieve the goal, it gets done.

I have a friend who is a Professional, particularly when it comes to fitness.

He eats the foods he’s supposed to eat – regardless of whether the foods taste good. He follows his workout plan exactly as he’s supposed to – regardless if he wants to do the workouts.

If everyone did this? Everyone would be jacked, like my friend.

My friend doesn’t place any judgment on anything except for the end result. He wants to be jacked, strong, and lean. That is his end result. So, he is willing to eat chicken and veggies five times a week for dinner. Most are not so most don’t look like him.

How To Become A Professional

If we know the goal is to become a Professional, how do we go about removing our judgements from everything we experience before we actually experience it?

I am far from an expert but here are a few ways that have helped me:

Meditation

This is where you’re watching your mind work. If you sit down for twenty minutes twice a day, you can see how your mind plays tricks on you. You can see how one second you will hold one opinion, the next you’ll hold a different one. You can practice getting to a place of stillness or non-judgement.

Become disciplined

If you can become a disciplined person, you can do what you need to do even when you don’t feel like doing it. Hire a coach if you need to. The best way I know to become a disciplined person is to do 75 HARD. This is a 75-day program that will change the way you interact with yourself.

Do something with a blank mind

Remind yourself before you eat dinner you are not going to judge it. Go on a walk with no expectation of having a brilliant insight. Meet up with a friend with no expectation of the outcome.

Just do it.

When you go in with a blank mind, you are living in the present moment. And when you live in the present moment, you are more aware, more creative, and better able to handle everything life throws at you.

In Conclusion

Can you take a step toward becoming more a Professional and less of an Enjoyment Judge?

The purpose is not to remove all feelings to live like a robot. The goal is to be able to experience your life without placing arbitrary judgment.

What you might find is you may find greater depths of enjoyment in the actual activities. You might find yourself more willing to do activities that might have sucked.

This goes for short term tasks and long-term projects. Don’t start that new coding project expecting it to belong, tedious, and impossible. Don’t begin a sports season thinking it will be so much fun and amazing.

Just let the experience play out.

Your energy rubs off on everyone you come across.

It comes across when you go to the grocery store. It comes across when you’re walking around your neighborhood. It comes across at the dinner table.

Your energy levels affect not only every single person you see, but it also affects you. It affects how you approach the current day. It affects how you read this article. It affects whether you smile or frown.

If you’re high energy, everyone else experiences it too. If you’re low energy, it brings the mood of the room down.

The Tale of Two Hotels

I learned this lesson one summer when I worked at the front desk of a hotel.

Well, it was actually two hotels. The hotels were owned by the same company. They were separated by a parking lot.

The first hotel was for residents. The second hotel was for businesspeople.

In the resident hotel, people were typically upset. They always had a bunch of seemingly meaningless problems that needed solving. I vaguely remember one grown adult woman having a temper tantrum about her remote not working.

On the other hand, the people on business or vacation would come in smiling, bubbly, and in a great mood.

When I came home from the shift, my family would know which hotel I worked at.

The energy was transformed from the hotel to the house. Just like that.

What To Do When You Can’t Choose Your Surroundings

People say, “you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

They’re right.

So my advice is: spend time with people who are high energy, who bring you up, who make you feel good about life.

But what if you can’t?

I didn’t choose what hotel I worked at on a given day. Many people don’t choose to live with low energy roommates. Maybe your boss or coworker constantly brings you down.

What do you do in these cases?

You might not be able to get away from them in the short term. But you need to be particularly careful in the meantime.

Because if you don’t protect your energy, it will be easier for you to take on this negative energy.

No news. The news is predicated on fear. The goal is to scare you. And many times, they do a great job. But if you’re already with people who are bringing you down, this source of information is going to hurt even more. It’s decisive, political, and meant to anger you – no matter what side of the aisle you’re on. Do your best to avoid this toxic source of information.

Exercise. Observe 100 people who just finished working out. My guess is 90% of them will be in a good mood. 10% of them will be exhausted. Here’s the fact: it’s hard to be negative or bring others down after you exercise. So, do what you have to do to get a sweat in. Also, you don’t need a gym membership. You can do pushups and sit-ups in your house. You can go for a run or do yoga. Even a simple walk will do wonders for your mental state (leave the phone at home!).

Read nonfiction. When you are stuck with people who bring you down in the physical world, attempt to surround yourself with others who are in a great mood either in a book or on the Internet (like this article ;). Thankfully, history is full of examples. Find someone who inspires you. Read their autobiography. Read a self-help book. Read about psychology. Spirituality. Anything that excites you, really.

Plot your future. While you’re in this state –with people who are bringing you down – plot your future. Think about where you’d like to be when you aren’t living with them. Who you’d like to live with. Go on Zillow or Airbnb and figure out where you’d like to live. This can bring you up.

Gratitude. Try to make it a habit to be grateful for three things every day. Even in a situation where you’re stuck with people who bring you down, there are still likely many things to be grateful for. By focusing on what you’re grateful for, you can transform a negative situation into a positive one. (You can even be grateful for these people’s presence because it’s showing you what type of people you don’t want to be with in the future.)

In Summary

You might not be able to change your environment for the forseeable future. But that doesn’t mean you can’t take the steps to change yourself. That doesn’t mean you can’t do what you need to do to cultivate high energy.

You might be in a low energy situation now. But here’s one great thing about that: you’ve noticed it. You understand you can’t be in that place forever.

Once you’ve identified your situation, then it’s time to cultivate your own energy and plot your escape.

For the time being, get excited about your future. Do everything you can to bring yourself up today. Because even though you might be forced to be with a low energy person (or people), your future is bright as you want it to be.

Make the most of this moment by cutting off the news, exercising often, reading nonfiction, plotting your future, and by having gratitude.

If you can do this much, you might even find a way to enjoy the present moment.

At first, it was painful.

I remember the first few days. Gritting my teeth. I had taken warm showers all my life, after all.

(Quick side note: I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to those who have made that possible. For most of human history, most people had no access to a shower. My friends at Wikipedia claim the first modern shower was patented in 1767 by an English man named William Feetham. Even in today’s day and age, I am incredibly fortunate to have access to hot water.)

But I was doing a challenge (Phase 1 of the Live Hard Program). And part of that challenge was for 30 days straight, you need to take a cold shower for five minutes.

I knew it would suck. I was hesitant to do it. But I gritted my teeth and embraced the suck.

After the 30 days were up, I continued to take cold showers.

You might be asking…

“Why!?”

I mean, it’s a fair question. No one’s forcing me to do it. I’m certainly not doing it so I can write about on the Internet (although it might seem that way).

I continue to do it for one main reason:

Over the 30 days of the challenge, I set a standard for myself. By not taking a cold shower, when I easily could, would be letting the highest version of myself down.

Below is my experience each time I go through a cold shower.

The Process

Before I Get In The Shower

Here’s what I do: I put a timer on for five minutes, 10 seconds. (The ten seconds so I can press start and then get myself into the water.)

I turn the water as cold as it will possibly go. Freezing.

If I don’t act quickly, my weaker mind will convince me not to take the cold shower.

So without thinking, I jump in…

The First Few Seconds

Shock.

Your body goes into flight or fight.

The first few seconds are the most difficult.

Even when you’re expecting cold water, your body is shocked. And it’s not just the first few seconds in general. It’s the first few seconds of any body part that hasn’t been exposed to the water.

I typically go in face first. I will hold my face on the water, my chest on the water. This makes it easier. But then when I turn around and have my back against the water, you get that same shock.

Eventually, the shock subsides.

Control the Breathing

Here’s what have gotten easier about the cold showers: I’ve learned that the game is to control your breathing.

No amount of reading about the controlling your breathing will do it justice. It’s something you have to experience for yourself. But once you master this element, all of a sudden, the cold shower doesn’t become as difficult.

The Last Minute or Two

Eventually, my body becomes numb to the cold.

I’ve noticed this happens in the last minute or two. Your body and mind just accept that this is the new normal.

Release The Tension With Warm Water

This is my reward. After five full minutes, I turn the water on warm. Sometimes, I will reset the timer for five minutes to make sure I don’t overstay my welcome in the warm. Sometimes, I just let it ride.

In the warm water, I am particularly clearheaded.

Lessons Learned

Use Hardships of Decades Past to Fuel Your Growth

When I first started these showers, this is what I thought of:

The Holocaust. World War I. World War II.

Horrible atrocities. Mass casualties. Losing loved ones.

Anyone who lived during this time would laugh at me for struggling through a five minute cold shower – probably because they had to deal with cold showers on top of whatever they were going through.

If your ancestors could go through some really horrific stuff, you can take a five minute cold shower.

Convince Yourself To Start

The hardest part is always convincing myself to get in the shower.

Once I’m in the shower, I’m an object in motion. There’s no stopping me from finishing that five minutes. Once you start a task, it becomes easy.

It’ll Get Easier, Not Easy

Hard things get easier the more you do them.

Taking a cold shower on day 90 was infinitely different than day 1. But just because something gets easier, doesn’t mean it gets easy.

No one is forcing me to get in that shower.

Use Linking to Create a Trigger

Pressing that start button on the timer means it’s time to get in the water. I didn’t have a choice at that point. Because I don’t have to think about getting in the water, it makes it easy for me for me to go. I have linked starting the timer to getting in the water for five minutes. Pressing that timer is “easy,” getting in that water is difficult.

Doing Hard Things Gives You Confidence

If you’re not doing difficult things on a daily basis, you absolutely need to. Because doing these difficult tasks will give you confidence. It could be something physical (distance running, weight lifting), it could be something mental (reading a challenging book), it could be something spiritual (meditating for 60 minutes a day). We are only happy to the extent we are pushing ourselves, doing challenging tasks, and becoming the person we want to be.

Use A Reward

The warm water at the end of the five minutes acts as my reward. The warm water feels so much better when I’ve earned it. I’ve taken regular warm showers before and they’re not the same. I’ll get in the warm water and just be upset. I didn’t earn that temperature. The warm water is effectively the reward I use to give myself a pat on the back for going through that cold.

The Ultimate Mood Changer

My brother was feeling sluggish, down, and low energy. I told him to take a cold shower for two minutes.

When he got out of the water, he was in a completely different state.

I am rarely in the same state after one of these showers as I am before it. It’s a good reminder we can change our physiology for the better by external stimuli.

Get Right Back on The Wagon

Did I take a cold shower every single day for the past three months? No.

But on the rare occasion I missed a day, I just went right back and attacked the following day. When I go back to the shower after missing one day, it is always colder.

This is a good reminder. Doing difficult things become easier if we do them regularly. But if we stop doing them, they’ll become hard.

You’ve finished making a big meal.

Preparing, cooking, and putting the finished product on the plate.

You’re done!

Or so you think.

There still is that dirty pan staring back at you. The last thing you want to do is clean the pan. It’s dirty, you’re hungry, and it can wait. It can always wait.

You’re given a choice: Clean the pan now or wait until later.

The longer you wait, the more difficult it will get.

If you clean it right away – before the grease hardens – it’ll be easy. If you wait until after you eat the meal, it’ll be a little more difficult. But if you decide to do it tomorrow? Forget it. You’re going to spend what feels like an eternity scrubbing away on that damn pan.

A Metaphor for Life

Cleaning the pan might not seem like a big deal.

Except that it represents many of the challenges of life.

The longer you put off a problem, the harder it will get to solve. Which will lead you to put it off some more, which will make the problem harder. And then you’ll put off solving that ridiculously hard problem.

It’s a never-ending, vicious cycle.

Imagine the person who doesn’t pay their credit card bill.

If he pays it right away, he cleaned the pan.

But if the same person spends months (or years!) without paying his bill, he will have a difficult problem on his hands.

The credit card company will increase his debt exponentially. His credit score will plummet. When he goes to get a mortgage, he’ll find it impossible (unless the year is 2007).

Can he still clean the pan? Of course. It’s just going to take more effort than the person who paid his bill the day it was due.

It’s Never Easy

Exercise, business, reading. Anything else you’ve been filing away in the cabinet of “I know I should do this on a regular basis but I don’t.”

Cleaning the pan is about choosing the difficult path over the easy one.

A simple concept in theory, but there’s always something that comes up. There are always reasons that inch you towards not cleaning the pan. These factors pop their little head up and say, “Hey, wouldn’t it be better if you just ate the meal? Why does it always have to be so hard? Take it easy for once.”

But then you eat your meal. And then you enjoy your favorite show plopped on the couch. And then you go to sleep.

You’ve been sucked into the trap of cleaning the pan tomorrow.

The Cycle

When you cook at home, the food is typically cheaper and higher quality.

So by cleaning the pan right away, it makes it easier for you to cook tomorrow.

If you saw a dirty pan on your oven, odds are you would just call the nearest place for delivery. Pizza sounds good. Or maybe McDonald’s.

Cleaning the pan right away means your next meal is going to be cheaper and higher quality. Cleaning the pan keeps you in motion.

The next time you want to cook… You have a clean pan you can cook with.

In Summary

Cleaning the pan isn’t a big event. It’s a small, often forgotten, task.

It’s never easy to clean the pan.

Because you’re hungry. Because it can wait. Because it doesn’t seem like it’s important.

But this is true for so many of little tasks in your own life. Finishing the last set. Paying the credit card bill on time. Doing five minutes of meditation daily.

Cleaning the pan is about more than just a pan.

It’s about living a life focused on the details.