3 years ago I started and finished 75-Day Hard. Finding time to meet the demands of the challenge was easy when NYC was locked down and my obligations were similar to that of Tom Hanks in Cast Away (an overrated movie).

Since then the challenge has gained notoriety, either for being “life-changing” or “unhealthy and unnecessary”… depending on who you listen to/ follow on Tik Tok.

75-Day Hard = 75 Consecutive days of:

1. 2 separate 45-minute workouts (one has to be outside, 1 long 90-minute workout does not count, they have to be separated).

2. 1 Gallon of Water Consumed

3. 10 pages of Non-fiction each day.

4. 1 daily progress picture.

5. Picking a diet and sticking to it (This can be anything.)

6. No alcohol (I don’t drink so that’s easy).

I’m taking this one step further and adding a few of my own:

1. Cold exposure (shower or plunge) for 3–5 mins.

2. 1 journal entry.

3. 10 minutes of meditation.

“ 75 Hard”. The name itself sounds like hustle porn, but the process is valuable.

For me, the real struggle is diet and exercise. In an attempt to incorporate simplicity without sacrificing difficulty, I cut out all my weaknesses: desserts, fried foods, and pizza.

I usually work out 6–7x a week. The increase to 14x per week will compound over the course of a few months. The strategy here will be incorporating lighter training on days my body is telling me to give up. A 45-minute walk counts for this challenge, and so does 45 minutes of pickleball, spike ball, etc.

“Why do the challenge again?” You might ask. I asked myself that same thing on Monday when I posed in the mirror with my shirt off for the daily progress picture. It’s my least favorite of the 6 rules because it’s pure vanity. Looking good in the mirror is a welcome externality, but it’s not the sole purpose behind this.

A couple of reasons I chose to run it back:

1. Forcing myself to be uncomfortable

2. Righting the wrongs from 3 years ago.

Forcing Myself to be Uncomfortable

Forcing yourself to do things you don’t want to do, within reason, will separate you from the pack.

I was only working out when I felt energized, only reading when I felt uninformed, and only eating healthy when I noticed a bit of extra fat. I needed to shake things up.

If you Google “Why is 75-Hard bad for you” (I did so to try talking myself out of it) you mostly get results arguing that “moderation is better than extremes”, and I would agree.

If you followed these 6 rules each day for a year you would certainly burn out. You should be able to enjoy a cheat meal, have a rest day, etc.

But I’d argue sometimes you have to push yourself further than moderation. Sometimes the pursuit of something greater requires short sprints where, by the end of the day, you’re dragging your feet.

I keep a quote printed on my desk:

I want to radically change the way I go about my day. Moderation won’t get me where I want to be. 3 months from now, I’ll scale it back. I’ll go back to working out 6–7x a week, I’ll eat pizza for dinner, and I’ll stop polluting my camera roll with pictures of me flexing in the mirror.

But I will have dramatically improved my discipline and mental clarity.

At the end of the 75 days, I will be in fantastic shape, yes. However, this is all for the mental benefits. From what I remember my first time around, I significantly decreased the friction associated with beginning a challenging task. Making your body do something your mind was not in favor of can be powerful. After a while, your mind stops feeding you reasons not to work hard, because it knows you won’t listen.

These days dopamine comes at a steep discount. Sacrifice and hard work are easily replaced with doom-scrolling and zoom calls. You don’t actually have to DO anything to keep the wheels turning. There’s no wonder why people are speaking out against this “radical” challenge. Claiming anyone who does it is a psychopath and should seek fulfillment in more practical ways. Relative to the way most people are living their lives, yes, this is a radical departure from the norm. Good.

Righting the wrongs from 3 Years Ago

Last time I did it I immediately took to partying for a month from day 76 -100. I fluctuated from one extreme to another. I justified it because I spent the previous 75 days “earning” the right to party. If I’m being honest with myself, I felt terrible.

It was the purest form of self-sabotage. I was approaching a version of myself that I had worked tirelessly to achieve, only to throw it away before I could see what that person was capable of accomplishing over a long stretch of time.

I won’t make the same mistake again. These next 75 days will serve as a launch pad for the next 1000.

What I recommend for this challenge

Daystamp is my new favorite app. It allows me to set a list of daily habits and cross them off as I go. Sounds like a digital To-do list? Yes. BUT it also tracks completion rates/ streaks and identifies trends.

You’ll get to see your wins add up, which allows you to keep the momentum going when you feel like stopping. Nothing is worse than breaking a winning streak.

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