It’s day nine of my 10 Hard Challenge. Why am I posting on day nine instead of waiting until tomorrow? I’ve already “failed.”

Epic Failure

If I had a fixed mindset, I would call this an epic failure. The challenge is supposed to be 75 days, and I already cut that down to 10 as an experiment. According to the challenge creator, Andy Frisella, you cannot modify the challenge in any way, and if you miss any one task by any amount, you fail and start back on day one. (You can learn more about what he says to say by listening to his podcast, Real AF.)

Playing by his rules, I failed on day one because I didn’t drink a gallon of water. I failed on day seven by my rules because I did not complete my 45-minute outdoor workout. And on day eight, by drinking only 32 oz water, having caffeine, and a Truly (alcohol). And I am intentionally failing on day nine because I’ve decided to take it easy today.

Epic Self-Discoveries

Looking at this instead with a growth mindset, while I did not complete the challenge according to his standards or mine, I did learn quite a lot.

First, if I set a difficult goal and then say meeting 50% of that goal counts as meeting that goal, I’m not going to meet that goal at 100%. For my 10-day challenge, I said I’d like to try for a gallon of water per day, but I would consider it a success if I drank 64 oz (half a gallon). Guess what? I drank 110 oz, 96 oz, 76 oz, 64 oz, 64 oz, 64 oz, 64 oz, and 32 oz. For reference, a gallon is 128 oz. I didn’t even meet this on the first day, and by the fourth day, I was meeting only the lower goal.

Also, I’m not sure I want to drink a gallon of water daily, and I’m sure that has something to do with my results here. Actually, looking at the entire challenge, there’s a lot packed into it that, while designed to cultivate mental toughness, are things I don’t want to do. I have a bit of a rebellious streak, and that part of me looks at the list and doesn’t want to do it.

If we look past the water, why did I fail on days seven and eight? By day seven, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed, trying to fit everything in and keep up at work. I went to the gym with my personal trainer and did strength training for an hour in the morning. In the afternoon, I was focused on work and put off the outdoor workout. My main outdoor workouts had been taking the dogs for long walks, and Indy had to be carried on the third and fourth walks, but he also didn’t want to be left at home. Excuses? Yes, very much so. But I was feeling mentally exhausted, and I decided I wasn’t going to berate myself about it. As it turns out, it feels nice to be kind to myself.

On day eight, I was feeling sad, worried, and anxious, and I let that get to me. My go-to self-care for these feelings is caffeine, junk food, and alcohol. I’m not sure I really recognized that before.

What Else Did I Learn?

I learned that I am capable of fitting in more exercise, but I have to be very intentional about it. I did not enjoy outdoor yoga at 6 pm when it was windy and starting to get cold, but it was very nice this afternoon while sunny and warm.

I also learned that I like reading bite-sized amounts from a non-fiction book daily, in addition to whatever other book(s) I’m reading.

Both the exercise and the water made me feel better. I watched less TV overall because the time for all those workouts had to come at the expense of doing something else.

My sleep also improved a bit. I’m unsure if this is from the exercise and water or because I abstained from caffeine and alcohol. Probably a bit of everything?

Also, intermittent fasting from 8 pm to 10 am was pretty easy, but I don’t know if I saw any benefits.

What Now?

Now, it’s time for me to take all the things I’ve learned and develop my own plan for the future. What habits do I want to keep? What do I want to discard?

• I want to continue drinking more water.
• I want to continue exercising more. Maybe setting a goal for five days a week and shooting for quality over quantity.
• I will definitely keep on reading!
• I still want to give up caffeine for good, but this is a hard one for me.

It’s day two, and I will most likely not hit a gallon of water again today. I’m at about 80 oz. To reach a gallon, I’ll need to finish what’s in my water bottle PLUS drink one more full bottle (32 oz). It’s after 8pm and I’d really rather not drink a lot of water just before bed.

Yesterday, I made over 100 oz!!! This is amazing to me, as I’ve set goals to drink ~30 oz per day and failed miserably.

As I mentioned yesterday, I am shooting for a gallon per day, but I’m also ok with only a half gallon.

I first heard about the 75 Hard challenge from some of my co-workers, when we were discussing New Year’s resolutions. More recently, I found out that two of my friends have been doing a modified version of the challenge, which they are calling 75 Soft.  😎

This challenge has been on mind for a while now. It’s not a fitness challenge, per se, but claims to be a mental toughness challenge. I have hesitated from starting the challenge for various reasons, which I’ll share in a moment.

So what exactly is the 75 Hard challenge? The challenge is to complete each of the following tasks for 75 days. Miss any one of them, and start back on day 1.

• Follow a diet. Any diet of your own choosing, as long as it’s aimed at physical improvement. No cheat meals allowed!
• No alcohol.
• Complete two 45-minute workouts, at least one outdoors.
• Drink 1 gallon of water.
• Read 10 pages of a book.
• Take a progress picture.

Some of these sound really easy, at least for me. Read 10 pages of a book? No problem, I pretty much already do that 90% or more of the time already. Taking a progress picture also seems pretty easy, with a little help from my iPhone and a daily reminder.

The challenging ones, for me, are giving up alcohol, drinking a gallon of water (some days I literally drink 0 water), and the workouts.

It’s been MUCH rainier than usual here in California, and while I don’t mind exercising outside, I do not see myself going from 3 or 4 workouts per week to 14 and also doing half of those outside while it’s cold and raining.

Another issue is that I travel a lot, and those travel days seem like they’d be problematic. I’m flying from California to Athens soon, and it’s about 20 hours of travel time. I could try working out during my layout or on the plane, but neither of those options is appealing (or outside). I’m certainly not going to be drinking a gallon of water while flying internationally, or in the mood to exercise when I land. I also hate flying, and usually have a gin & tonic (or two) before getting on a plane.

As you can see, I have a lot of excuses as to why I can’t do this challenge. I found my friends inspiring though. They lowered the water to half a gallon, and made some other modifications. They don’t feel like they’re cheating by not doing to challenge to the letter, so why should I feel stuck with either failing or not starting (which is worse than failing)?

Enter 10 Hard. My birthday is coming up, and I’ll be celebrating with a drink. That doesn’t mean I can’t fit in 10 days of the challenge first. I may, or may not do another 10 Hard immediately after my birthday, as there’s exactly 10 days between my birthday and the next time I have to be on a plane.

In case you’re curious, I’m shooting for meeting the challenge as specified, but I will consider it a success if I drink 64 oz of water per day. That’s a HUGE improvement for me! For the diet portion, I’m giving up all caffeine and drinks with added sugar, not ordering takeout or delivery, and doing intermittent fasting (no food from 8pm to 10am). And lastly, for the workouts, I’ll be doing a variety of things like yoga, walking the dogs, playing Audio Trip on the Quest 2, and strength training with my personal trainer. Hopefully the weather will stay nice over the next 10 days. One unfortunate twist that I discovered today that VR headsets don’t really function outside. That would have helped with the outdoor workouts, so instead I will probably do my yoga outside.

I won’t be sharing my progress photos, but I will share other updates on the challenge.

For day 1:

Diet: Huel Strawberry Shortcake protein shake with Ripple protein milk for lunch, some black olives for a snack, and a homemade pizza for dinner. ✅

Exercise: I ran 5km, took the dogs for a long walk, and attempted to play Audio Trip outside. ✅

Water: 64 oz so far, gotta see how much more I can take today, it’s already getting late. ✅

Reading: Leí mas de diez páginas en español. ✅

Progress pic: ✅