I have been seriously toying with challenging myself. Seriously challenging myself with something like the 75 Hard or the Project 50.
It has been quite some time since I first heard about the 75 hard. I read about it on a blog that I have followed for years. I remember reading about it and thinking, "What an amazing Challenge, I should do it". But then reality sets in and I look at the 'rules' and realize that doing the 75 hard would be HARD. I am somewhat ok with most of the items but the two blocks of exercise one required to be outside has honestly been the deal breaker in the past. I could probably have been on board without that one rule. Let me share the rules of the 75 Hard. You must do the following 5 things for 75 days straight. If you fail, you have to start over at day one.
1. Follow a diet plan
2. Exercise 2 times a day for 45 minutes each time. One of those times MUST be outside.
3. Drink 4 liters of water
4. Read 10 pages of a book daily.
5. Take a Progress pictures each day
I see some merit to the 75 Hard. It would be hard. For me the hardest part would be the two blocks of 45 minutes of exercise with one being outside. It would be difficult. Quite difficult. Which of course is part of the name. But that said, I want a challenge, but I don't want something that I will fail at within the first week. I seriously struggle with getting in my 45 -60 minutes of exercise already due to time constraints! For that reason alone, I have always passed on the 75 hard. It came back under my radar again a few days back and I gave it another look as once again I was tempted. I have decided once again to not attempt the 75 hard. My reasons this time are once again centered around the exercise. Yes, it would be difficult and part of me thinks it would be too difficult for me at this point in my life...but it would be hard and would be amazing to complete. HOWEVER, my reason for NOT doing it is something different this time. My reason is that I am not sure that 75 days straight of 1.5 hours of exercise would be wise for my body in its current state. My body is sore. My body is aching. My rest days are a breath of fresh air and give my aching knees and joints the rest that I need so that I can hit it hard when the rest day is over. For this reason the 75 Hard will still be an elusive thought for me. Maybe someday!
In the last year I have been hearing a lot about people that are doing the Project 50. This is something akin to the 75 hard. But not quite as hard! Let me share the rules of the Project 50. These rules are followed for 50 days.
1. Wake up by 8AM every day
2. Complete a 1 hour routine each morning with no distractions
3. Exercise 1 hour each day
4. Read 10 pages daily
5. Spent 1 hour each day to learn a new skill
6. Follow a Healthy Diet plan
7. Track your progress Daily in a journal
Ok, this is a bit more doable! But I have still had misgivings. Once again, the EVERY day exercise gives me a wee little pause. But secondly, it's the hour each day to learn that new skill. I think the new skill is important! In fact I am teaching myself to knit! (Hopefully within a year or so I'll be teaching myself to Spin wool.....dog fur chiengora to be exact!). But I have so many other things. I wrote recently about my dreams and thoughts and my desire to finish some of these books that I have half finished. That takes time. If I devote 7 hours to knitting, when will I work on those books. It was a quandary for sure!
So. I am going to do my own version of the Project 50.
1. Wake up by 8AM every morning. I'm just leaving this there because why not. But I am usually up by 5AM and consider myself LUCKY if I make it to 6AM.
2. Complete the morning routine with no distractions. Jason and I are creatures of habit. Our morning routine is pretty set in stone and pretty unshakable! So this one will be no issue and I am just leaving it there so that I kinda resemble the original Project 50!
3. Exercise total of 1 hour 5 days a week. This is a modification. The original Project 50 is for 1 hour every day. In my modification, I am pushing for 1 hour TOTAL of exercise on 5 days. If I do a 45-minute exercise video in the morning, well then, I better get my butt moving for another 15 minutes during the day. That alone will be a challenge. Some days that 45 minutes alone is difficult. So, stretching that to an hour will be a challenge!
4. Read 10 pages daily. This one also poses no problems with me as I almost always have a book in progress and it is actually a rare day that I do NOT read.
5. Follow a Healthy Diet. This one should be easy. I already follow a decently healthy diet so this is continuation of that AND encouragement to stay the course and not slip up!
6. Track my progress daily. I track some of this stuff already, so it should be no stretch to track all of this.
7. A New skill. The original plan was to work on a new skill for 1 hour each day. And as I said earlier, this is the one that has held me back from attempting the Project 50. 7 hours is a long time. I havve no problem with learning a new skill and spending time, but I know me and I know that dedicating an hour a day would result in failure. So I am adjusting this a bit. I am aiming for 2 hours a week to dedicate to this new skill of knitting. That is a much more doable number.
Bonus activities that I have added for myself.
1. 20 minutes of activity on my off days from exercise. That could be a walk or hike. It could be a long romp in the yard with the dog. Or a spin on the exercise bike. Something active!
2. Since I have cut down the hours to work on the new skill, I am adding in a word count for writing. My goal for myself is 5000 words a week.
3. No days less than 5000 steps. I struggle some days to get my steps in! So this will be a challenge on some days! (those lazy weekend days!!!!)
So there you have it. My own personal revamped project 50! I think it will be a stretch! Some days and weeks are going to be hard! But I didn't want to coast through because then it wouldn't be a challenge!!!!
I plan to start this on March 1! This will run through to April 19th! At that time, maybe I will reevaluate the 75 hard! (maybe I'll make it my own personal 75 hard or rather 75 hard-ish!)
Feel free to join me on this project!