30 Day Progress Check In

I posted a few weeks ago about Andy Frisella’s 75 Hard program and how I’ve incorporated it into my own five week program. So if you’re wondering whether I kept going or gave up, wonder no more. I’m still going strong and have a lot to report.

This post is a little late as I’m actually on Day 41 now. I switched hosting providers for my blog and website unexpectedly. So I’ve focused on getting them to work rather than adding more content. You might notice a lot of special characters randomly showing up in posts. I had nearly 400 posts to fix and have gone through 50 so far.

But let’s get back to the program. There were days where I wanted to quit (see the photo from Day 18 when it snowed). I’m glad I stuck with it as I feel better both physically and mentally.

My Progress:

Here’s what I accomplished over the first 30 days of this program:

I’m certainly leaner, have more energy and my clothes fit better. I mentioned in the prior post that I was working my way up to drinking a gallon of water per day. That was a requirement of 75 Hard. So while this is Day 30 of my program, it’s only day 17 of 75 Hard.

What’s not listed in the table is the other stuff that I had accomplished during those days. This includes:

• Reading the daily mass each day and at least three daily reflections.
• Listening /watching several hours of motivational podcasts/videos.
• Reading two books.
• Ensuring that I did something I enjoyed each day.

The Challenges:

My biggest challenge was time – and this is despite the COVID-19 lock down that we’re all under. I’m thankful to still be working throughout all of this but it means I have meetings throughout the day. I start my workday at 7:30 and typically end between 5 and 6 PM. At first, I would walk at lunchtime. But then I needed that time occasionally for meetings and, of course, to eat lunch. So I started getting up an hour earlier to get a 45 minute walk in before work.

Weather was another challenge. I started this in late March but there have been days even into May that have been frigid. The meteorologists are actually predicting snow for tomorrow!  I took the above photo on April 18th. I was wearing what I normally wore to snowblow my driveway in the winter. So bottom line: there have been a number of cold days, rainy days and even a hot day.

It’s hard to get out of bed. That snooze button just calls for me each morning when my alarm goes off. Cold mornings are especially tough. I’m a night person, so rising at 6:20 every day is a challenge. I’ve just had to set my mind to it and get up.

So that’s a quick update. I’ll try to do another on either day 50 or 60. I hope you are doing well during these crazy times. I’ve found a program like this has helped me focus on the good in my life and make progress each day. To your continued success!

James Feudo

James Feudo owns the Boston Web Design Agency JVF Solutions and loves blogging about personal development and communication in his spare time.