In about a week I will be starting 75 Hard. For those that do not know it is a mental and physical challenge lasting 75 days consisting of the following tasks:

• Hold to a diet with no cheat meals or alcohol daily.
• Workout twice daily for 45 minutes with 1 of the workouts having to be outdoors.
• Drink at least 1 gallon of water daily
• Take a selfie daily (does not need to be shared)
• Read at least 10 pages of non-fiction books (hard copy only) daily.  

If you fail any of these tasks for the day you start over on day 1. That is the Hard in 75 Hard, no failures for 75 days in a row. Workout for 44 minutes in one workout, start over. Fail to take the selfie start over. Fail to hold fast to the diet, start over and so on.

So why go through such a challenge? Basically, it boils down to the need in life to do hard things. For some people it is climbing mountains, for others it is Tough Mudders or other obstacle races. For me I needed to do something a bit closer to home to prep for harder things to come. I have plans for the coming years and this challenge, along with the follow up 3 phases afterwards, will help prepare me for those challenges.

In the near future I will open my first business, selling 3D printed models of various types. Just need to get the paperwork in order and pick up a few things but I have already started printing up stock for sale. To work full time and launch a business is no easy task and I know that 75 Hard will help me to those ends. In the IC I have seen this program change lives like no other. It is time for me to do the same.

But why the Tao of hard things? One would think that the concept of Wu Wei would be against the need to do hard things. I argue that it does not. Doing hard things helps lead to the goal of being effortless in your actions.  The harder things that you do, the easier these things become and launch you to new levels of effortlessness in your life and actions.

For now, it is time to prepare for the challenges ahead. I have already started drinking the required water, I start the diet (Keto) next weekend and the workouts this week (outdoor walks and Yoga are the plans for now). The selfie’s I will start this week, and as for the reading, that will start this week as well.

Look for posts concerning my progress in the program as this is where I will hold myself accountable. I won’t be posting selfies here, but I will post updates on how the program is going and the changes I am seeing. Be on the lookout for those posts.

As for now, it is time to get rolling on my water intake for the day and clear space for my second exercise session for the day next week.