90 Day Self Improvement Thread. Who's in?

[Black_Mamba_427]

The goal of it to established healthy / positive habits and limit bad habits.

Start Date: Monday 28th March
End Date: Sunday 26th June

Overall habits are going to be;

• Stick to Business KPI'S (E.g. Track what I can measure and make sure I'm hitting my Business Goals each week)
• Get shredded again (To cut down to ~150lbs and then do a very lean bulk barely of maintenance to avoid fat gain up to around 160lbs and maintain) - This will involve training abs, which I literally never train and they're super weak.

Bad habits to avoid;

• Drinking (I have a bottle of wine or so with my wife and as soon as we start that I basically switch off from work and don't work when I should/could) Not to mention I've come to the realisation that drinking has absolutely zero perks, but tons of cons (Expensive, empty calories, works against my fitness goals)
• Smoking green (not sure if I can write that on here? Feel free to remove if it's a problem) - but habit. Used to think it was somewhat sustainable and I can still work whilst high or whatever, but the reality of it is much like drinking, it's expensive, makes everything harder/more effort, works against fitness/health goals etc).
• Video Games. Got into the habit playing with friends on a daily basis at 5pm through lockdown when we couldn't see each other and it's massively about the social element rather than the actual game (e.g. I don't play alone, only with friends). But I don't need to play for 2-3 hours everyday with them lol. Big time/energy waste and I think it gives you weird dopamine hits too, which make your brain want to only doing the most satisifying thing for the least amount of effort). I don't want to give up video games completely, but I think I'll use it as a reward system.
• Wreckless Spending - I want to get back into the habit of tracking my budget/spending and sticking to a budget. At the moment my wife and I just pretty much do whatever we want each day. Eat out at a lot of restaurants, go to bars etc. I'm going to aim to 'save/invest' 90% of my pay cheque each month and keep everything else until I move house under the 10%.

My daily goals are going to be;

• Drink at least 4L of Water
• Track calories on MyFitnessPal daily and stick to macros. (35% Protein, 35% Carbs 30% Fat for those wondering) will play this by ear and reduce slowly to ensure I'm losing around 1.5lbs / week.
• 15,000 Steps
• Read at least 10 pages
• Do at least 3 'Things' for work (Scheduling content / shooting videos / live streams)

Weekly Goals;

• Weight train 4 days per week at the gym (Might do extra workouts at home as I have equipment, but wanted to set a slightly easier goal than 5 days a week because I've probably been to the gym less than 10 times this year :/ )
• 1 form of Cardio that makes me break sweat per week (Bike ride or Run) Tracked on Strava.
• Stick to work KPI's
• Update Finance Spreadsheet of Monthly Budget with Transactions.
• Update Diet Spreadsheet (I track my steps, calories, macro breakdowns, weight). As anal as it is about tracking - when I've done this, I've always hit my fitness goals SUPER quickly. If you don't measure things, you can't improve things.

I'm going to use the "Time Blocking" concept on Google Calendar so that I can ensure each day I get what I need to done, without me looking at the clock and realising its 11pm and I'll just "do it tomorrow".

Thought it could be fun to update this thread on a daily basis of the Things we were proud of completing and the things that we messed up on and hold each other accountable + keep each other motivated.

I'm certain after even a couple of weeks there will be lots of massively positive changes. If you think about it, just by reducing bad habits you will be in a massively better situation within a few weeks, but by doing positive habits too, then you will be exponentially better off.

Anyway, I'm paranoid this is turning into a deardiary type thread, so I'll wind things up.

edit: I'm aware it looks like I'm planning on doing 100 things, but I have a super high energy dog (German shorthaired pointer) so regularly do 15K steps daily anyway. And Reading 10 pages of a book whilst chugging some water is done too and I usually track MyfitnessPal 1 week in advance, so that's a once a week type thing and I just have to stick to my meal prep.

 

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[K1 Lambo]

The goal of it to established healthy / positive habits and limit bad habits.

Start Date: Monday 28th March
End Date: Sunday 26th June

Overall habits are going to be;

• Stick to Business KPI'S (E.g. Track what I can measure and make sure I'm hitting my Business Goals each week)
• Get shredded again (To cut down to ~150lbs and then do a very lean bulk barely of maintenance to avoid fat gain up to around 160lbs and maintain) - This will involve training abs, which I literally never train and they're super weak.

Bad habits to avoid;

• Drinking (I have a bottle of wine or so with my wife and as soon as we start that I basically switch off from work and don't work when I should/could) Not to mention I've come to the realisation that drinking has absolutely zero perks, but tons of cons (Expensive, empty calories, works against my fitness goals)
• Smoking green (not sure if I can write that on here? Feel free to remove if it's a problem) - but habit. Used to think it was somewhat sustainable and I can still work whilst high or whatever, but the reality of it is much like drinking, it's expensive, makes everything harder/more effort, works against fitness/health goals etc).
• Video Games. Got into the habit playing with friends on a daily basis at 5pm through lockdown when we couldn't see each other and it's massively about the social element rather than the actual game (e.g. I don't play alone, only with friends). But I don't need to play for 2-3 hours everyday with them lol. Big time/energy waste and I think it gives you weird dopamine hits too, which make your brain want to only doing the most satisifying thing for the least amount of effort). I don't want to give up video games completely, but I think I'll use it as a reward system.
• Wreckless Spending - I want to get back into the habit of tracking my budget/spending and sticking to a budget. At the moment my wife and I just pretty much do whatever we want each day. Eat out at a lot of restaurants, go to bars etc. I'm going to aim to 'save/invest' 90% of my pay cheque each month and keep everything else until I move house under the 10%.

My daily goals are going to be;

• Drink at least 4L of Water
• Track calories on MyFitnessPal daily and stick to macros. (35% Protein, 35% Carbs 30% Fat for those wondering) will play this by ear and reduce slowly to ensure I'm losing around 1.5lbs / week.
• 15,000 Steps
• Read at least 10 pages
• Do at least 3 'Things' for work (Scheduling content / shooting videos / live streams)

Weekly Goals;

• Weight train 4 days per week at the gym (Might do extra workouts at home as I have equipment, but wanted to set a slightly easier goal than 5 days a week because I've probably been to the gym less than 10 times this year :/ )
• 1 form of Cardio that makes me break sweat per week (Bike ride or Run) Tracked on Strava.
• Stick to work KPI's
• Update Finance Spreadsheet of Monthly Budget with Transactions.
• Update Diet Spreadsheet (I track my steps, calories, macro breakdowns, weight). As anal as it is about tracking - when I've done this, I've always hit my fitness goals SUPER quickly. If you don't measure things, you can't improve things.

I'm going to use the "Time Blocking" concept on Google Calendar so that I can ensure each day I get what I need to done, without me looking at the clock and realising its 11pm and I'll just "do it tomorrow".

Thought it could be fun to update this thread on a daily basis of the Things we were proud of completing and the things that we messed up on and hold each other accountable + keep each other motivated.

I'm certain after even a couple of weeks there will be lots of massively positive changes. If you think about it, just by reducing bad habits you will be in a massively better situation within a few weeks, but by doing positive habits too, then you will be exponentially better off.

Anyway, I'm paranoid this is turning into a deardiary type thread, so I'll wind things up.

edit: I'm aware it looks like I'm planning on doing 100 things, but I have a super high energy dog (German shorthaired pointer) so regularly do 15K steps daily anyway. And Reading 10 pages of a book whilst chugging some water is done too and I usually track MyfitnessPal 1 week in advance, so that's a once a week type thing and I just have to stick to my meal prep.

Have you tried #75hard before? Looks similar to what you just described here.

 

[MitchC]

HOT! - MINDSET - The 75 Hard Challenge + Live Hard by Andy Frisella (2020 version)

Here we go again!... A group of us will be restarting the 75 hard challenge this Thursday the 27th of Feb. If you want in post up and let's go! --- The rules... ***These rules are strict and ANY changes mean you are NOT doing the 75 hard challenge*** Typical rules changes that people try...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

[Antifragile]

I am on a 90 Year Self Improvement. Who’s in?

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I am on a 90 Year Self Improvement. Who’s in?

Yea, this is how I feel. The 90-day thing implies temporary VS lifestyle. I'm interested in building habits that last a lifetime, not 90 days. So with that said, I guess I'm in?

 

[socaldude]

Depending on where you are, if you have a crappy mindset and lifestyle, I think someone can pull off a transformation in that time.

I recently lost 40 pounds in 90 days fasting and dieting. I went from 210 to 167.

Here's what I recommend:

-Fast for 20 hours and eat in a 4 hour window.
-Only eat vegetables and plant based meat.
-Meditate and Pray.
-Journal
-No alcohol or cigarettes.
-Learn a philosophy, like ayn rand or plato.
-Exercise.
-Read.


It creates discipline in your thoughts and behavior and removes blocks to spotting and executing opportunity.

 

[Antifragile]

Yea, this is how I feel. The 90-day thing implies temporary VS lifestyle. I'm interested in building habits that last a lifetime, not 90 days. So with that said, I guess I'm in?

Yup. 100% this MJ. Welcome aboard!


@Black_Mamba_427
Let me share that these days if I don't exercise, I quickly feel horrible. That's because I developed a habit - once a day exercise. Make me go off this habit for a few days and I ache. Contrast that to someone who never exercises and goes for a run. Comes back all beat up and hurt and can't walk the next day. Who's more likely to continue for the next decade? That's habits for you.

And with a habit of exercise, eating well becomes easy too. That's because when I eat well, I go a little faster, a little stronger and feel better. Compare this to someone who associates eating well with a 90 day "diet", suffering daily on some salad to lose a pound. As soon as 90 days of hell are over, typically this person will return back to the old habits. On the other hand, I will continue choosing better foods for my lifestyle. Because when I know that tomorrow I have a 4 hour bike ride at 6am start, I can't afford having my stomach bloated from "spicy chicken wings + beer" night in front of a TV. Most people are shocked when I say I am 90%+ vegan. Yet it was a natural outcome to support my life choices.

I am not typing this to brag, but to share that habits are everything. They are like a big animal you sit on top of, your willpower can only influence that animal for a short while. But if it naturally does what you want, you don't even need to think about it.

 

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[Black_Mamba_427]

Have you tried #75hard before? Looks similar to what you just described here.

Managed 10 days and then drank alcohol, all went down hill slowly after that.
I want to kick out alcohol (unless I'm on holiday or say out with friends celebrating something) and weed. I will use video games still as a form of reward + socialisation once I have completed my goals/tasks for the day - but also not everyday, only some days.

HOT! - MINDSET - The 75 Hard Challenge + Live Hard by Andy Frisella (2020 version)

Here we go again!... A group of us will be restarting the 75 hard challenge this Thursday the 27th of Feb. If you want in post up and let's go! --- The rules... ***These rules are strict and ANY changes mean you are NOT doing the 75 hard challenge*** Typical rules changes that people try...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

Awesome! Will give it a read and see if I can get any tips

Yea, this is how I feel. The 90-day thing implies temporary VS lifestyle. I'm interested in building habits that last a lifetime, not 90 days. So with that said, I guess I'm in?

Is it really possible to have 100% diet, exercise, business, family/friends/relationships 24/7/365 though? I'm not sure if it is? I've found that it seems to be like spinning plates on sticks. It's VERY easy for me to give one category 100%, but then I'm not giving other areas of my life 100%.

And tbh, even if I was giving my business 100%, I know I could still probably double down on how much volume I'm putting out, just due to the nature of it. I think I still need to learn the self discovery element of work/life balance and what is the sweet spot.

Also, I've just had a completely terrible (but very fun) last couple of years in terms of productivity. Need to get back on track and show myself what I'm really capable of. I know I'm not hitting anywhere near close to my potential at present, so I'm excited to see the results even after a relatively short period of time from working hard in multiple areas.

The plan was to use a 90 day or so period to establish the habits and then continue with them.

Depending on where you are, if you have a crappy mindset and lifestyle, I think someone can pull off a transformation in that time.

I recently lost 40 pounds in 90 days fasting and dieting. I went from 210 to 167.

That sounds really good - well done!

Let me share that these days if I don't exercise, I quickly feel horrible. That's because I developed a habit - once a day exercise. Make me go off this habit for a few days and I ache. Contrast that to someone who never exercises and goes for a run. Comes back all beat up and hurt and can't walk the next day. Who's more likely to continue for the next decade? That's habits for you.

And with a habit of exercise, eating well becomes easy too. That's because when I eat well, I go a little faster, a little stronger and feel better. Compare this to someone who associates eating well with a 90 day "diet", suffering daily on some salad to lose a pound. As soon as 90 days of hell are over, typically this person will return back to the old habits. On the other hand, I will continue choosing better foods for my lifestyle. Because when I know that tomorrow I have a 4 hour bike ride at 6am start, I can't afford having my stomach bloated from "spicy chicken wings + beer" night in front of a TV. Most people are shocked when I say I am 90%+ vegan. Yet it was a natural outcome to support my life choices.

I am not typing this to brag, but to share that habits are everything. They are like a big animal you sit on top of, your willpower can only influence that animal for a short while. But if it naturally does what you want, you don't even need to think about it.

Yeah I remember when I was 16-24 or so, I would go to the gym with my friends everyday after school and work. It would never seem like a chore because it was so much fun and to a large part - part of my identity. The habit was a routine that I simply did, so it didn't require any willpower or anything.

I also think it's super easy to stay motivated with going to the gym when you're IN shape and looking good. When the gyms here shut in Lockdown (Covid) the first time around, I lost muscle and gained a bit of fat. When the gyms opened again, I was really pumped to lose the fat and get back my muscle and I did surprisingly quickly and well.

Then 2nd lockdown happened and it felt as though all my hardwork was for nothing. On hindsight I should've kept diet under control to minimise muscle loss and fat gain and trained at home - as I had the equipment to do so.

I think the big turning point / realisation that I had was; ultimately it doesn't matter if I'm motivated or not. If I'm not motivated to go to the gym or track my calories/macros, as long as I do it - then I will see progress. Same with work. My business doesn't care if I'm motivated or not. As long as I do the work, my clients will buy it - so I should just make sure I'm doing it all, everyday and sucking it up. Stupidly, I get motivated based on results. A bit like wanting a camp fire without being bothered to go and collect fire wood. (Process vs Event like MJ says)

I'm not massively out of shape atm. Currently 165lbs / 5ft 8 and I'd guess around 12-14% bodyfat or so.

 

[K1 Lambo]

The goal of it to established healthy / positive habits and limit bad habits.

Start Date: Monday 28th March
End Date: Sunday 26th June

Overall habits are going to be;

• Stick to Business KPI'S (E.g. Track what I can measure and make sure I'm hitting my Business Goals each week)
• Get shredded again (To cut down to ~150lbs and then do a very lean bulk barely of maintenance to avoid fat gain up to around 160lbs and maintain) - This will involve training abs, which I literally never train and they're super weak.

Bad habits to avoid;

• Drinking (I have a bottle of wine or so with my wife and as soon as we start that I basically switch off from work and don't work when I should/could) Not to mention I've come to the realisation that drinking has absolutely zero perks, but tons of cons (Expensive, empty calories, works against my fitness goals)
• Smoking green (not sure if I can write that on here? Feel free to remove if it's a problem) - but habit. Used to think it was somewhat sustainable and I can still work whilst high or whatever, but the reality of it is much like drinking, it's expensive, makes everything harder/more effort, works against fitness/health goals etc).
• Video Games. Got into the habit playing with friends on a daily basis at 5pm through lockdown when we couldn't see each other and it's massively about the social element rather than the actual game (e.g. I don't play alone, only with friends). But I don't need to play for 2-3 hours everyday with them lol. Big time/energy waste and I think it gives you weird dopamine hits too, which make your brain want to only doing the most satisifying thing for the least amount of effort). I don't want to give up video games completely, but I think I'll use it as a reward system.
• Wreckless Spending - I want to get back into the habit of tracking my budget/spending and sticking to a budget. At the moment my wife and I just pretty much do whatever we want each day. Eat out at a lot of restaurants, go to bars etc. I'm going to aim to 'save/invest' 90% of my pay cheque each month and keep everything else until I move house under the 10%.

My daily goals are going to be;

• Drink at least 4L of Water
• Track calories on MyFitnessPal daily and stick to macros. (35% Protein, 35% Carbs 30% Fat for those wondering) will play this by ear and reduce slowly to ensure I'm losing around 1.5lbs / week.
• 15,000 Steps
• Read at least 10 pages
• Do at least 3 'Things' for work (Scheduling content / shooting videos / live streams)

Weekly Goals;

• Weight train 4 days per week at the gym (Might do extra workouts at home as I have equipment, but wanted to set a slightly easier goal than 5 days a week because I've probably been to the gym less than 10 times this year :/ )
• 1 form of Cardio that makes me break sweat per week (Bike ride or Run) Tracked on Strava.
• Stick to work KPI's
• Update Finance Spreadsheet of Monthly Budget with Transactions.
• Update Diet Spreadsheet (I track my steps, calories, macro breakdowns, weight). As anal as it is about tracking - when I've done this, I've always hit my fitness goals SUPER quickly. If you don't measure things, you can't improve things.

I'm going to use the "Time Blocking" concept on Google Calendar so that I can ensure each day I get what I need to done, without me looking at the clock and realising its 11pm and I'll just "do it tomorrow".

Thought it could be fun to update this thread on a daily basis of the Things we were proud of completing and the things that we messed up on and hold each other accountable + keep each other motivated.

I'm certain after even a couple of weeks there will be lots of massively positive changes. If you think about it, just by reducing bad habits you will be in a massively better situation within a few weeks, but by doing positive habits too, then you will be exponentially better off.

Anyway, I'm paranoid this is turning into a deardiary type thread, so I'll wind things up.

edit: I'm aware it looks like I'm planning on doing 100 things, but I have a super high energy dog (German shorthaired pointer) so regularly do 15K steps daily anyway. And Reading 10 pages of a book whilst chugging some water is done too and I usually track MyfitnessPal 1 week in advance, so that's a once a week type thing and I just have to stick to my meal prep.

75 hard is supposed to be a facilitator for change which will eventually change your life. It all starts with the little things.

 

[S.Y.]

Is it really possible to have 100% diet, exercise, business, family/friends/relationships 24/7/365 though? I'm not sure if it is? I've found that it seems to be like spinning plates on sticks. It's VERY easy for me to give one category 100%, but then I'm not giving other areas of my life 100%.

I have the same perspective than MJ and Antifragile.

I eat healthy the vast majority of the time. Yes, I have days where I eat crap food, I am not perfect. And I don't want to be perfect.

When I go few days eating unhealthy food, I feel it. My energy level plummets, and I feel sluggish. I hate that feeling.

What we are saying is why make it a 90 day thing? After the 90 days then what? Why not make it something permanent, something that you just do.

See this.

 

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[SDE]

All self-help boils down to choosing long-term over short term - Naval Ravikant

 

[Onakosa]

I have the same perspective than MJ and Antifragile.

I eat healthy the vast majority of the time. Yes, I have days where I eat crap food, I am not perfect. And I don't want to be perfect.

When I go few days eating unhealthy food, I feel it. My energy level plummets, and I feel sluggish. I hate that feeling.

What we are saying is why make it a 90 day thing? After the 90 days then what? Why not make it something permanent, something that you just do.

See this.

For most of us the idea of making big life changes is challenging! Focussing on a short term goal e.g. 90 days, is much easier to mentally compute.

 

[Angler]

For most of us the idea of making big life changes is challenging! Focussing on a short term goal e.g. 90 days, is much easier to mentally compute.

I mean, MJ and Antifragile are primarily focusing on the infinite small wins. The underlying "process". 1-day at a time is easier to compute than 90 days IMO. For after 90 days, you might find yourself asking "what now?". Also, what if you slip a day?

It's harder to mess up on improving 1 day at a time. All you gotta do is get a little more done than yesterday. infinitely. On the other hand, if you slip ONCE or TWICE on a 90-day challenge, you might guilt trip and procrastinate for a bit. Or a WHILE. "Oh F***, I miss a day", "I'm a loser because I can't keep a promise to myself", etc...

Kaizen, the 1-day at a time, the process, you focus on winning consistently.
The short-time challenge is playing not to lose, the sprinter before running out of breath.

Props to the OP for posting this though, it may help to keep him accountable.

 

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[LightHouse]

If you really want to change your trajectory, shift 1 thing at a time for a min commitment of 6 weeks.

Only if you complete that AND decide to keep it because it helps vs holds you back, then you can think about thing #2.

You many have a desire to up and change everything thinking "that's how people do it" but you would be mistaken in my experience. It's only short term commitment and you never achieve the results consistently over time & over the spread of "new" things or changes.

The biggest thing you lose by cycling through this besides momentum, is your positive mental state. You will get the idea that you can't stick to things or any flavor of negative thought trains. That only sets you further back.

Less shock to your system and comfort zones to start, build from there.

TL;DR @MJ DeMarco says it best... process not event.

 

[MTF]

I don't see any issue with 90-day challenges (or any time-limited challenges for that matter) as long as the intention is to continue afterward but at a more manageable pace. I think that's what @Black_Mamba_427 has in mind.

I understand @Antifragile's lifelong approach. At the same time I think there's place for both 90-day challenges and "90-year challenges" (@Antifragile think bigger dude, 90 is the new 70!)

Joe De Sena, founder of Spartan Races, says to put a date on the calendar. Once you put a date on the calendar, you get serious. As he says, "You must first commit to something and that forces you to do the work."

Watch this video that goes deeper into this concept:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjDYOo7iL8U


This is nothing else but the 30-, 60, 90- or whatever-day challenge. If forces you to do the work because you're working for a specific outcome within a specific time frame. You can't afford to procrastinate if you have a date on the calendar. Without that urgency, I don't think that many people can reach their peak performance.

David Goggins had less than three months to lose 106 pounds or he wouldn't be able to get into the Navy SEALs. It was his only chance to fix his life. He desperately NEEDED that less-than-90-day challenge to dig deep inside for everything he had. Check this quote out:

The typical day went something like this. I’d wake up at 4:30 a.m., munch a banana, and hit the ASVAB books. Around 5 a.m., I’d take that book to my stationary bike where I’d sweat and study for two hours. Remember, my body was a mess. I couldn’t run multiple miles yet, so I had to burn as many calories as I could on the bike. After that I’d drive over to Carmel High School and jump into the pool for a two-hour swim. From there I hit the gym for a circuit workout that included the bench press, the incline press, and lots of leg exercises. Bulk was the enemy. I needed reps, and I did five or six sets of 100–200 reps each. Then it was back to the stationary bike for two more hours.

I was constantly hungry. Dinner was my one true meal each day, but there wasn’t much to it. I ate a grilled or sautéed chicken breast and some sautéed vegetables along with a thimble of rice. After dinner I’d do another two hours on the bike, hit the sack, wake up and do it all over again, knowing the odds were stacked sky high against me. What I was trying to achieve is like a D-student applying to Harvard, or walking into a casino and putting every single dollar you own on a number in roulette and acting as if winning is a foregone conclusion. I was betting everything I had on myself with no guarantees.

I weighed myself twice daily, and within two weeks I’d dropped twenty-five pounds. My progress only improved as I kept grinding, and the weight started peeling off. Ten days later I was at 250, light enough to begin doing push-ups, pull-ups, and to start running my a$$ off. I’d still wake up, hit the stationary bike, the pool, and the gym, but I also incorporated two-, three-, and four-mile runs. I ditched my running shoes and ordered a pair of Bates Lites, the same boots SEAL candidates wear in BUD/S, and started running in those.

Was it unsustainable over the long term? Of course it was. But in that 90-day time frame it kickstarted a huge change that had completely changed his life. If he simply told himself "yeah I'm going to improve myself for the rest of my life" I doubt he'd be where he is now.

So a 90-day challenge (or any other similar thing) in my opinion isn't a bad thing. In fact, it can be an extremely GOOD thing. For many people, it's the beginning of a lifelong process. Without that initial challenge and fast results (in exchange for immense difficulty and suffering) they would never change.

I know that from my own experience, too.

Many years ago I was overweight. I went on a super strict diet and lost 30 pounds in about three months. It only worked because I saw results every week. I don't do well with "slow and steady."

When I was starting out in self-publishing I used to write 3,000 words a day. That's a lot. The pace was unsustainable over the long term. But in the first few months it helped me write so much that it kickstarted my publishing company.

The only thing to keep in mind when doing such challenges is to make sure you won't get injured (physically or mentally) and set yourself back. As long as you can grit your teeth and embrace the discomfort, a 90-day challenge can be a life-changing experience that will build your self-confidence and self-respect.

 

[Guyfieri5]

Interesting you post this because I've already done 90 days. My habits were decent before but I decided to wake up earlier and cut out alcohol and junk food altogether this year. After the progress I've made on those fronts I'm not going back. Here's to another 90 days! lol

 

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[Black_Mamba_427]

Interesting you post this because I've already done 90 days. My habits were decent before but I decided to wake up earlier and cut out alcohol and junk food altogether this year. After the progress I've made on those fronts I'm not going back. Here's to another 90 days! lol

That's good to hear. That's what I was really hoping for. To be honest, when I tried Hard75 at the start of the year, I think I did 10 days and in those 10 days I had SO many wins and felt so great and that was even in such a short time.

For example;

• 200% (3x) increase on previous highest monthly video sales
• The store traffic in January 2022 was the equivalent to 25% of the entire 2021
• Completed longest hike with my dog 15miles
• Automated all sales tweets + sales email newsletters for all of 2022
• Social content scheduled daily for following 3 months
• Dropped 10lbs in the month (healthy level without losing muscle mass)

I think a big part of my problem is that because I can automate/schedule so much of my work, sometimes I can do absolutely nothing and still have a great month financially. That's why I've made a checklist of things I should do everyday to make sure that future me is benefitting.

Importantly though, I'm going in the right direction. I started the year at 181lbsand now at 163lbs. It's not as quick as I would've hoped, but its in the right direction. I don't want to drop below 150lbs and will start packing on muscle from there and I feel confident with my knowledge on that front I can get back to a good level physique.

I have the same perspective than MJ and Antifragile.

I eat healthy the vast majority of the time. Yes, I have days where I eat crap food, I am not perfect. And I don't want to be perfect.

When I go few days eating unhealthy food, I feel it. My energy level plummets, and I feel sluggish. I hate that feeling.

What we are saying is why make it a 90 day thing? After the 90 days then what? Why not make it something permanent, something that you just do.

See this.

That's a good perspective tbh. When everything is "perfect" nothing is "perfect" it's your normal baseline (albeit just a really high level baseline). I don't often eat bad food, but when I do, it's a big quantity of it - and then I feel like utter trash the next day (bloated, lethargic, acid reflux, headache etc). I hate that feeling too and then I stick to eating clean for the next week or so.

I wasn't planning on doing 90 days and reverting back to being a slob lol. I was trying to set really high standards for myself for 90 days to kickstart the good habits, with a view of seeing what I'm truly capable of / seeing the positive life changes from changing the habits and then keeping up with it.

For most of us the idea of making big life changes is challenging! Focussing on a short term goal e.g. 90 days, is much easier to mentally compute.

I agree. I also think it's important to have a time constraint on goals. For instance, it's easy to diet down and lose fat or get in shape if you're getting married, or going on holiday, or have a photoshoot or a bodybuilding competition or whatever it is on a certain day.

I think that's hugely another area where I slip up from a business POV..

I have SO much confidence that my business will give me everything I want in the long run.. It's just a matter of how much time it will take to get there. If it takes me 10 years to have a massive house with no mortgage, sportscars, and long term investments / savings - then of course I'll be happy, but it will be massively behind schedule. If I work like a dog then I feel confident it can happen in perhaps 3-5.

I think the issue is that I question myself "is it worth sacrificing my youth/free time/pleasure" for the sake of speeding up a goal by 5 years? But the answer (I know now) is absolutely 100% yes, if the habits that I am doing are negative.

I mean, MJ and Antifragile are primarily focusing on the infinite small wins. The underlying "process". 1-day at a time is easier to compute than 90 days IMO. For after 90 days, you might find yourself asking "what now?". Also, what if you slip a day?

It's harder to mess up on improving 1 day at a time. All you gotta do is get a little more done than yesterday. infinitely. On the other hand, if you slip ONCE or TWICE on a 90-day challenge, you might guilt trip and procrastinate for a bit. Or a WHILE. "Oh F***, I miss a day", "I'm a loser because I can't keep a promise to myself", etc...

Kaizen, the 1-day at a time, the process, you focus on winning consistently.
The short-time challenge is playing not to lose, the sprinter before running out of breath.

Props to the OP for posting this though, it may help to keep him accountable.

1 day is a good idea too. I like the idea of doing things everyday that I know are in my best long term interests.

I'm definitely guilty of the "guilt" of not sticking to something and then just giving up altogether. It's like I have time off from being productive/sticking to my goals/targets and then I feel bad for not doing it, which leads to time off / digging myself into a worse spiral of bad habits and then having to work twice (or 10x) as hard to get back on track.

I think it was atomic habits book where it said it's not the end of the world if you fuk up on 1 day, but if you have 2 days in a row then it turns into a week, then a month then bam it's your identity.

Love the graph you attached btw. Makes a lot of sense!

And the thread helping to keep my accountable - that's a big reason as to why I've done it too tbh. I don't have many people at all I can talk to about business/work and the ones I do, I think like enjoying the debauchery too hah.

I don't see any issue with 90-day challenges (or any time-limited challenges for that matter) as long as the intention is to continue afterward but at a more manageable pace. I think that's what @Black_Mamba_427 has in mind.

I understand @Antifragile's lifelong approach. At the same time I think there's place for both 90-day challenges and "90-year challenges" (@Antifragile think bigger dude, 90 is the new 70!)

Joe De Sena, founder of Spartan Races, says to put a date on the calendar. Once you put a date on the calendar, you get serious. As he says, "You must first commit to something and that forces you to do the work."

Watch this video that goes deeper into this concept:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjDYOo7iL8U


Without that urgency, I don't think that many people can reach their peak performance.

Many years ago I was overweight. I went on a super strict diet and lost 30 pounds in about three months. It only worked because I saw results every week. I don't do well with "slow and steady."

When I was starting out in self-publishing I used to write 3,000 words a day. That's a lot. The pace was unsustainable over the long term. But in the first few months it helped me write so much that it kickstarted my publishing company.

That quote in bold is good.

I agree with the unsustainability of sprinting too. I find that in my work historically if I look back. I decide I want something and I work HARD for it, then get it and then enjoy it.

I guess if you have your own business when you're working by yourself, you aren't always motivated - so when you do feel motivated/creative, then it's easy to run with that until it fades out.

I think the problem has been that I work hard when motivated, but when I'm not, EVERYTHING suffers. Whereas like the above graph suggests - even if i'm not "motivated" I should still do things that are positive everyday and not do bad habits everyday in case it sends me down some kind of guilt spiral.

The thread is probably making me sound like an utter nutjob with mental problems - that's definitely not the case (I dont think, at least?) I'm just in a fortunate position where I am the only person to hold myself accountable and I don't have to "show up to the office 9-5" to earn a pay cheque, which can be a blessing and a curse.

It also seems like everyone in this thread has a strong understanding/belief of their identity? I can honestly say that I haven't really given much thought to the type of person I am, or how others perceive me. I just tend to do the things I enjoy everyday and work towards buying the things I want. In my younger years I definitely had the identity of fitness/health/weightlifting, but I wouldn't have said that defined me.

I guess in the future, I'd like to have a strong family relationships and social circle, go out and do lots of new exciting things (sports, hiking, camping, go up to london more, travel more, experience more things etc) and also maintain a really good physique and have the ability to leave multi-generational wealth and be in a situation where I have a nice big house, car collection, savings, long term investments and only working because I find it fun, not because I have to. I don't know if that constitutes as an "identity" or not.

 

[Antifragile]

@MTF

I love a good rebuttal. Your reply makes a lot of sense and I do not disagree with you. Great examples with some of my favourite people, like Goggins. But I must point out that you pivoted away from the core of my message to @Black_Mamba_427

By simple virtue of defining my challenges in 90 day terms, I am focused on short term. @Black_Mamba_427 said he bad habits to avoid in bold: drinking, smoking green, video games and spending. When I was in my 20s, I became a smoker - horrible addictive habit. I too had a 90 day goal of quitting. And it didn't work.

And what did? How do you quit bad habits? You don't. That my point, you cannot quit habits, you must replace them with new habits.

Goggins didn't do a 90 day challenge to lose weight. I disagree with your positioning of what he did. He defined himself as a SEAL. Now he just had to do a few things to get there. It didn't matter how or for how long. It was happening.

Same here, I found that quitting smoking when I saw myself as a "I am a smoker who is trying to quit on a 90 day challenge" impossible. But it became easy as walking when I returned to "I am an athlete who smokes occasionally in social circumstances", later dropping everything past "I am an athlete". My identity is what defines me. To clarify, these days I do sign up for race events, often a year ahead.

It also seems like everyone in this thread has a strong understanding/belief of their identity? I can honestly say that I haven't really given much thought to the type of person I am, or how others perceive me.

I am so glad that this thread got to the core of what I was trying to tell you. You get it now and it puts a smile on my face.

Habits are everything. They are defining your identity. You are what you do and think most of the time.

Instead of 90 days of trying not to play video games with friends for 3 hours a day, would an athlete do that? Would a world class CEO do that? Would a great husband or a father do that? Would he get high at 5PM?

Ponder this: who are you? What is your identity? Is this behaviour consistent with your identity?

I was cheeky with my 90 YEAR comment, but it stands. If your identity is improvement for 90 years, a lot of changes you listed in the OP are easy.

 

[Angler]

The biggest thing you lose by cycling through this besides momentum, is your positive mental state. You will get the idea that you can't stick to things or any flavor of negative thought trains. That only sets you further back.

This is gold man. So golden that I think I need some sunglasses. Thank you for putting this into words LightHouse.

So a 90-day challenge (or any other similar thing) in my opinion isn't a bad thing.

Instead of 90 days of trying not to play video games with friends for 3 hours a day, would an athlete do that? Would a world class CEO do that? Would a great husband or a father do that? Would he get high at 5PM?

Ponder this: who are you? What is your identity? Is this behaviour consistent with your identity?

Kind of the chicken or the egg first at this point IMO. Both opinions are right, for both means well for the OP. Both of the POVs serve to bring him somewhere forward, better where he is now at the moment. MTF POV serves to get him start the ball rolling and build it up from there. Antifragile is there to tell him that it's easier doing these stuff if you make an identity shift.

Either way you got to try it out and see what happens OP! You got to experience chewing glass for yourself to see which POV you would like to pivot towards. If the 90 day thing works, great keep it up. If it doesn't, ask yourself why it didn't and pivot. Soul-search. Who are you?
On a not so serious note, don't take it too serious. No one is judging you. You know yourself better than any of us keyword warriors.

 

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[socaldude]

We have all heard of the concept of a VECTOR in physics/math. This is like that. LOL

It really depends on how much effort/awareness you are willing to put it to get your ducks in a row. That will determine your direction and magnitude. It depends on you.

 

[srodrigo]

Drink at least 4L of Water

Have you done any research on this? Unless you are an athlete or work stacking bricks under the sun, I'm not sure why you need at least 4L a day. I'm not doctor and can't tell you the exact threshold, but too much water can lead to health problems, mainly sodium being diluted, which can affect your brain in bad ways. 1.5-3L is the most common range that's recommended everywhere I've seen. My dad was drinking over 4L a day and the doctor said WTF are you doing.
I found this article quite interesting Water intoxication: What happens when you drink too much water?

 

[Black_Mamba_427]

I am so glad that this thread got to the core of what I was trying to tell you. You get it now and it puts a smile on my face.

Habits are everything. They are defining your identity. You are what you do and think most of the time.

Instead of 90 days of trying not to play video games with friends for 3 hours a day, would an athlete do that? Would a world class CEO do that? Would a great husband or a father do that? Would he get high at 5PM?

Ponder this: who are you? What is your identity? Is this behaviour consistent with your identity?

I was cheeky with my 90 YEAR comment, but it stands. If your identity is improvement for 90 years, a lot of changes you listed in the OP are easy.

Sorry for taking so long to reply to this thread. As soon as I read your message, the "penny dropped". I realised where I had been fking up this whole time. I never put ANY thought into who I am, or what my identity was and therefore the behaviour was correlated to whatever the hell I felt like doing that day - which doesn't make sense if you want to truly excel in one area (unless that is excelling in being average).

Since reading your post, I have been working near (with some breaks) 12 hours/day. Up at 6:30am and in bed around 12pm. I also massively rekindled my love for what I do after having an audio call with a girl who works in the same industry as me. I remember helping her a few years ago with some tax/accountancy stuff. She seems to have done a lightswitch/turnaround in terms of her success in the last few months so I asked her what she was doing different and she was super forthcoming and gave me a ton of tips and advice. I've been implementing that this month and having SO much fun. 1 week into April and I've already beaten my highest earning Month from this platform in the last 2 years. It almost feels like I'm travelling at hypersonic speed in terms of growth.

Funnily enough, by putting this much effort into work - everything else that I was working on fixing hasn't even seemed like a chore or a task, because it's just become part of what I do and who I am. I joined a new gym which is amazing (really big, great equipment, friendly people) and I look forward to going every morning (well 5 mornings a week) and am having great workouts. I'm not tempted by junk or processed food in the supermarkets, because it doesn't align with my long term goals. A few seconds of pleasure isn't worth sacrificing my goals.

Whilst I haven't smoked in the last 2 weeks, I've been offered it and declined it. I find that after 2-3 days I forget what the feeling is like, and then I no longer crave something that I can't remember how it makes me feel. Besides, I know it will probably make me f-up on my nutrition and if I did it pre-workout it would be an awful workout and I've got so much fire in my belly now for working as I am seeing instant results - I don't really want to distract myself with that. I'm not saying that I will never ever do it again, but I think if I did do it - it will be for one night as a reward/celebration after I had done everything that day. I think I was subconsciously identifying as a lazy stoner/gamer or something. Whereas now I realise (stupidly it took me so long and to read your post to figure it out?) that whilst it could be possible to be hugely successful and wealthy whilst smoking daily - it would be like climbing the Matterhorn with a 80kg Rucksack. Why would I make things WAY more difficult for me, if I truly wanted to hit my goals.

I think that is where I was stuck in a rut. I wanted the Event, the outcome of the hard work, but my behaviours were NOT aligned with the process. Now I'm smashing the crap out of the process, seeing immediate results and LOVING it.

From a fitness POV, seeing lots of positive changes in my physique atm. Abs are starting to pop out and I reckon by the end of the Month I will be in awesome shape.

Can't tell you how much you've helped. I'm not sure why you made it so clear. I've printscreened your post and have it on my phone so that if I'm ever feeling lost again, I can re-read it.

THANK YOU!

Kind of the chicken or the egg first at this point IMO. Both opinions are right, for both means well for the OP. Both of the POVs serve to bring him somewhere forward, better where he is now at the moment. MTF POV serves to get him start the ball rolling and build it up from there. Antifragile is there to tell him that it's easier doing these stuff if you make an identity shift.

Either way you got to try it out and see what happens OP! You got to experience chewing glass for yourself to see which POV you would like to pivot towards. If the 90 day thing works, great keep it up. If it doesn't, ask yourself why it didn't and pivot. Soul-search. Who are you?
On a not so serious note, don't take it too serious. No one is judging you. You know yourself better than any of us keyword warriors.

This thread has made me realise that the 90 day thing was pointless. Well not pointless, but the key is to focus on making EVERYDAY great. Just treat each day as it comes. Don't worry about Day 193 if you are messing up Day 1.

I'm so positive and excited for the future and seeing the results that come with it.

With regards to your last sentence. I think that's very true. I know on a lot of forums and youtube videos to do with the hustle / grinding culture, everyone seems to know what to do and type like they work super hard and have everything figured out, but they aren't being honest. Which is strange, as forums for example are anonymous. I've been guilty of not being honest on forums before too. I mean, purposely writing down what you know is wrong. For example, imagine someone with a really bad gambling addiction. I can't imagine they would be on the fastlane forum and publicly say that they have the addiction and they need to work on it. They will probably just not talk about it, because they don't want people to judge them. But I guess once you can accept it is an issue, then you are aware enough to work on it.

I think a lot of people in my social circle think I'm a hard worker and ambitious and have my sh1t together - but that's just because they see that I have nice things, my own business, sports car, go out for pub lunches mid-week - never seem bothered or make decisions around money etc - but that couldn't be further from the truth. Only after working super hard this last week, I've realised how little effort i was putting in and realised how capable I truly am and just how big my potential really is.

It's truly crazy how quickly you can see positive changes when you consistently work hard in different areas of your life and wipe out the bad/destructive/negative behaviours that don't align with your long term goals.

We have all heard of the concept of a VECTOR in physics/math. This is like that. LOL

It really depends on how much effort/awareness you are willing to put it to get your ducks in a row. That will determine your direction and magnitude. It depends on you.

100%

Have you done any research on this? Unless you are an athlete or work stacking bricks under the sun, I'm not sure why you need at least 4L a day. I'm not doctor and can't tell you the exact threshold, but too much water can lead to health problems, mainly sodium being diluted, which can affect your brain in bad ways. 1.5-3L is the most common range that's recommended everywhere I've seen. My dad was drinking over 4L a day and the doctor said WTF are you doing.
I found this article quite interesting Water intoxication: What happens when you drink too much water?

Tbh, I've kinda relaxed on this. Partly because it's hard to workout, because I have coffee, tea, protein shakes etc. I have a big 2.2L jug which I try to get through on a daily basis. I haven't found that hard. I walk the dog every morning between 5-6miles, don't sleep too much and I tend to sweat and drink so much during my workouts. I'm probably hitting around 3L and i'm fine with that. I'm more using my urine colour as a hydration test and making sure that it's always clear. (sorry for tmi)

Appreciate the concern though

 

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