The more appropriate saying is, “STAY ready so you don’t have to GET ready.” Alas, I unfortunately wasn’t following these guidelines. Not too make excuses, but between baby #2, the holidays, and then just plain life I got out of shape and way off the rails. Don’t get me wrong, plenty of things still went really well during this time, but despite that I began to slack in two really important areas: health and finances. Worse yet, I know better than to fall into this downward spiral.
At the beginning of the CoVid-19 situation and quarantine this continued for a week or two (in fact it became even easier with the gym closing and more time at home, etc.). I had known for a while some sort of market correction was on the horizon, knew I should be incredibly prepared for it, yet I STILL didn’t do nearly enough.
Finally I realized I had to wake up and snap out of it! Just because I wasn’t where I should be, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do everything in your power to start and get there. Better late than never, right?
This epiphany was a few weeks ago now, as I just finished Day 25 of a program called 75 Hard. 75 Hard is a program created by a game named Andy Frisella, the CEO of a supplement company called 1st Phorm. The criteria list is below. It’s part fitness challenge, but it is equally a mental challenge as well which is what was just as alluring.
As my companies WIMS Consulting, EolianVR, and ARRE (Augmented Reality Real Estate) all continue to grow and scale at a pretty rapid pace I have no choice but to continue leveling up. If I’m not practicing what I preach and leading by example then I shouldn’t expect many to follow. That very much includes health and finances, but also just the mental toughness and focus required as well (pretty obvious, right?)
I’m 1/3 of the way there, 2/3 to go! Here are the rules:
- Work out two times a day for 45 minutes minimum. However, one of them has to be outside regardless of the conditions (I’ve had several late night workouts in the rain already and they were actually glorious).
- NO booze.
- Follow a diet – Mine is essentially based on NO dessert/sweets and intermittent fasting for at least 4 days of the week.
- Drink a gallon of water a day.
- Read at least 10 pages of a physical book (no audio books allowed).
- Take a progress picture each day (luckily those are starting to get better now haha).
So far I’m already down about 15 lbs (I still have about another 15 to go). I’ve crushed 2 books – Zero to One by Peter Thiel and Bold by Peter Diamandis. Next up is finishing Blitzscaling by Reid Hoffman. That being said, there is still a long way to go. There is even more reason to ratchet up as in the next 1/3 as I hit my 34th birthday in about 4 weeks and I want to hit that milestone with serious momentum.
The hard part is getting back on track, the “getting ready.” Hopefully after this time around will make sure to stay ready across the board for whatever comes next.
What are you doing during this time to stay on top of your game and get better? Or are you just using this time to relax and reflect? Either way that is a deeply personal choice but I’d love to hear.