These are the before and after photos of my 2nd 75 Hard journey. 75 days difference between the photos. Two completely different people!
Here's biggest lesson I learned from #75hard completing it the 2nd time came after the program was over.
The day after I finished 75 hard my 9 year old daughter came up to me that evening and asked if she could go with me on my walk. I looked at her with a big smile and said not tonight, daddy finished his program so I'm going to take the night off.
She looked up at me with the biggest smile.
I could tell she was proud of me! She leaned over and gave me a big hug! Again, I could just tell that she was super proud of me for finishing. She had seen the struggles and the sacrifices that I made for the program.
I then asked her if she understood why I did 75 hard. She said no, why? So I told her the story of how I had done it once before and it completely transformed the trajectory of my life and hers.
We talked about how keeping commitments to yourself helps build confidence. We talked about being healthy physically. Then we talked about mental toughness and mental health.
This is where things got really good...
As most of you know 75 hard is a mental toughness program. Yes you can see from my pictures that if you follow the program you will improve physically but the real secret is the mental toughness and mental growth that you can't see.
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So, Addy and I started discussing mental toughness, keeping promises to yourself, commitment, and confidence. She seemed to understand most of what I was trying to teach her. She then asked me why did I work so hard to finish the program. Why didn't I just take a couple days off? She could see the struggles that I went through to push through and complete the program. So these were great questions...
This turned out to be one of the best teaching moments I can think of for my kids...
I told her I decided to do 75 hard for the 2nd time because some business partners of mine at our last business trip had seen my results from the last time I did it and they wanted to do it themselves.. By results I mean both physical results and the results in business that they had seen. So they talked me into doing it with them again. As I was explaining to Addy that everyone wanted to do it because they wanted to be better.
Better health...
Better fitness...
Better mentally...
Better parents...
Better people...
Better mentally...
Etc...
She asked me "How many of the people that started with you finished, daddy?" 30
I thought about it for a second and answered honestly... Unfortunately nobody that started when daddy did ended up finishing. They didn't make it to the end...
Then she looked confused... I explained to her that this is a very difficult challenge and most people that start don't finish it all the way to the end.
Before I could finish she interrupted me and said but not you, you finished it 2 times! She said that with the biggest smile I have ever seen in my life! I'm getting emotional just thinking about it.
I then explained to her that in this family we follow through. We do what we say we are going to do. We don't make excuses. We just do it! We find a way. Not just when we feel like it but every day!
My 9 year old gets it! The key to happiness in life is keeping the promises you make to yourself! That's it! That's the secret!
That's the lesson that I hope my daughter will remember for the rest of her life!
It is also important to note that the first 3 days of 75 hard when I committed to starting with the group of business partners Addy was in the hospital getting surgery. She was rushed to hospital unexpected and it took a couple days to figure out what was wrong with her.
So the first few days of 75 hard I did my workouts in street clothes in the hospital room and outside at the hospital. I told Addy then what I was doing and why and she still remembers that.. She also saw me come back from outdoor workouts soaking wet from the rain or leaving after putting her to bed to finish the workouts.
In closing, keep your commitments to yourself!
No excuses
Zero compromise
And... Your kids are always watching you! What lessons are you teaching them? Not only with your words but more importantly your actions.
- Matt Smith
#75Hard #MentalToughness #AllOrNothing #0Compromise #100too