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Start with you.
I’m learning that the hard way today. I enjoyed work and gave it my best all day. I got a tone done… but didn’t get all the things I wanted to get done personally. I did over 8 hours of work and busted my tail.
But I should have stopped somewhere and taken more care of me and what I needed to get done.
I got up early today. Went to the gym. Got to work on time and worked straight through. I took a couple minutes for lunch and no other breaks or interruptions.
Which means I didn’t get my podcast for my other side hustle done. I need to give my best to myself and my family and the rest to my J O B . That is sometimes great to me and other times worries the crap out of me.
I do my best work when I get up early, read, then go to the gym, get home and get to work. I spent 8 hours today doing that. It was great to get a lot done at work, but upsetting that I didn’t get my podcast done.
I have to figure out all the things. And do things for me, my family, and my job. Letting one go for the others is sometimes necessary, but shouldn’t be a normal thing. Especially if the one that always gets more is your job.
My wife and I were talking about me looking for a different job that would have me traveling more. Which I’m good with, but she doesn’t like the idea as much. My plan would be to be gone and that would be the season of work. Then be home and have a season of family time. I think it might work…
But here is the rub with all of these “self-help” how-to’s… you actually have to set a time limit and go all in for that time to try something.
Right now me and the wife are doing 75 Hard and using the Slow Carb Diet. She isn’t liking it right now because it’s not giving her the weight loss she wants. She is actually ready to throw in the towel and try something else after 22 days. I suggested that we both stay with it until the end of 75 days. She agreed… for now.
We set a time to try something and see if it works, helps, is better or worse. I set these 75 day challenges to find out. During my first 75 Hard I found out that when I read a real book every morning it makes my days better and my life a little better. It actually takes a couple weeks but once it’s going, I feel better and have better days. So you know what? I keep doing that.
One of the books I finished during my morning reading said you should track your time categories so you can work on what truly matters and cut out other things. Budget your time better. Well I tried it for 68 days in my 2nd challenge (the one that I didn’t finish) and I had 68 days of graphs, lines, data entries, and information that didn’t help me and I didn’t really care about. The only thing that was mildly amusing was that I tracked everything including intimate time with my wife. I thought about using the actually stats to say I told you so… but I decided that being married was more fun when my wife is happy, so I just buried that little fact.
Didn’t help me at all. So I cut it and won’t be doing it again.
This round I’m trying something different again. I now from the first round that the slow diet works so I kept that.
I know from round 3 that when I post content and work on my side hustle better things happen for me… so this round I kept that.
I know that drinking water is way better for you then anything else so I drink a gallon of water a day. Kept that from the first 75 Hard Challenge. It keeps me from drinking other crap that’s bad for me. Drink a gallon of water tomorrow and see how much other stuff you want to drink. I dare you!
Years ago when I wanted to win at shooting sports, I practiced everyday. And I got so much better that I took top shop at my police academy and was constantly second top shooter in my Marine Corps unit for years. So this round I’m working on the shooting sports again and have been practicing every day.
Last I’m trying something new. I listen the Dave Jackson and the Logical Weight Loss Podcast. He talks about every time he gets his 10,000 steps in, drinks water, and gets sleep he does way better. Since it’s the 75 Hard Challenge I upped that to 12,500 steps a day.
All of these things haven’t worked yet. But I’m pretty confident that they will. If they don’t; I’ll go back and try something else. It’s only 75 days/10.5 weeks/or 2.5 months. It isn’t a lot of time when you look at your life. And those 75 days are going to pass whether you are making yourself better or worse. You might as well go for better.
75 Hard I will Conquer,
Ben Branam