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Learn to focus on what matters by doing the 75 Hard Challenge especially right now.
At the end of March, I was halfway through my 75 Hard Challenge. Things were starting to look bleak all over.
Covid-19 was starting to spread. My wife and I had already talked about limiting contact with the outside world afraid the news of millions of deaths in America might be right.
On top of that, the oil market crashed in one weekend. I was working for an Oil and Gas services company at the time and all my projects got canceled that Monday morning.
I went another week as normal with not much to do at work. My boss called me first thing Friday morning. He never calls me. It was the phone call to tell me I no longer had a job. Because of oil prices, the company was downsizing and I was part of the first round of layoffs.
Congrats to me! Covid-19 crazy was in full swing. Most businesses were not open. Never mind them even thinking of hiring someone.
Things didn’t look good. I filed for unemployment and put an application in for 15 different jobs that weekend.
Everything was closing and had autoresponders about getting back to me after COVID Crazy was over.
Even Amazon, that was supposed to be hiring 100,000 people waited until they could do interviews in person again to hire drivers. The world had gone crazy and I was stuck at home.
But I continued my 75 Hard challenge because it was something I could control. I finished on May 1.
Now the world seems to be going through a different crazy only weeks after the COVID Crazy was settling down.
Protests turning into riots. Stores being looted… and on and on.
There always seems to be something going on. There will never be a good time to start, and the world will always be ending.
Remember this commercial from Y2K?
You need to focus on the things that matter to you… not what the TV tells you to focus on.
If you watched all the news and all the social media on the rioting going on would it change anything?
You should probably watch to make sure you and your family aren’t in danger. But beyond that, why are you watching? Can you change what happened? Or what is happening?
You can only change you. And by changing you, you can set the example to the people around you.
I have an 11-year-old son that I want to set a great example for. I want him to see me at my best. I cannot be at my best watching the media and getting pissed off. I can be at my best by changing myself and having conversations about the things that matter.
You need to figure out what matters to you and what you can change.
First up, what matters to you? Figure that out! Fast like in a hurry… like now. Put those things in order and make time for it!
When you put things like who the President of the United States is and what he does on your list of what matters you need to look at the things you can change.
There is your sphere of concern (the president and what he does… it’s on my list too) and your sphere of influence. Your sphere of influence is much smaller and contains the things you can change. Like your attitude and reaction to the things the president does and who is elected.
What do you want to show your children? What would your best self do? What would the person that is ten times the person you are do? Now do that!
Focus on what you can change and what matters. Everything else is background noise that you might want to be aware of, but ultimately you have little you can do about it.
Learn to focus on the things that matter to you and that you can change.
I finished my 75 Hard Challenge and kept my workouts going even with the gyms closed and when I was looking for a job.
Having to schedule two workouts a day was one of the hardest things for me to learn during my 75 Hard.
Here we are during crazy times. Are you still scheduling things that matter?
Are you making yourself better?
Are you continuing forward to become your best self?
Or do you let things go because COVID, riots, Y2K, or any other crazy thing that is going to happen to you?
If you are really in the middle of a crisis, you need to shore yourself up and get through it, then go right back to focusing on what matters and becoming the best you.
There will always be crazy happening in the world. We will always live in “interesting times.”
What will you do about it?