Choose Your Hard
Set Your Own Rules for Personal Development
Self-discipline is at the foundation of self-development.
It’s not a lack of knowledge but a lack of practice that often prevents meaningful progress. Instead of following trendy online challenges like “75 Hard”, why not create your own? By tailoring habits to fit your unique needs and life circumstances, you can embarq on a sustainable path to self-development, one that respects your energy and emotions and that aligns with your vision and values.
Why Habits and Self-Discipline Matter
More than goals, what truly drives lasting change are standards, meaning a consistent set of behaviours and habits that you commit to over time. Instead of fixating on results like weight loss or external validation, focus on actions you can control, on doing the right things for you: what you eat, how you hydrate, activities that energize you and self-care practices that bring inner peace.
Shifting from outcomes to standards creates a sustainable system for change and continuous improvement. Write down what you did each day and how you felt about it, rather than obsessing over daily metrics like weight or progress photos. This daily habit of self-reflection not only develops a better awareness but helps you fine-tune what works best for you.
Choose Your Hard
Every step takes effort. Every substantial change comes with challenges. The key is to choose your challenges deliberately, rather than letting someone else dictate them. Take responsibility for what you control, set your own rules. Start a self-exploration journey, know your limitations and practice true self-discipline daily.
Here are some steps to design your own “hard”:
- Start Where You Are with What’s Doable Daily. Don’t run if you’re sedentary, start walking and track your daily steps. Be realistic on your current level of fitness, energy and motivation.
- Be honest about your current abilities and circumstances. Setting unrealistic expectations will only lead to frustration. Find small, doable habits you can consistently repeat. After a period of substantial daily movements, you can start walking and jogging, when comfortable enough you can extend your jogs into short runs.
- Define Your Destination: Know where you want to go, but treat it like a dream and a direction rather than a rigid endpoint. Focus on the daily actions that will move you closer to that vision.
- Track Your Progress: Log what you do every day and how you feel afterward. This tracking serves as both a motivator and a guide for adjustments.
- Stay Agile and Flexible: Life is unpredictable. Your energy and your emotions will fluctuate. Adapt your habits to stay consistent without overwhelming yourself. Adjust your expectations to the season, the weather and your life circumstances.
- Commit to Consistency: Make a Deal toward taking Action with yourself. Avoid skipping more than two days in a row. It’s not about perfection, it’s about showing up regularly.
- Celebrate and Adjust: Reflect weekly on your activities and progress. Celebrate what you’ve accomplished and tweak what isn’t working to ensure your plan remains sustainable.
- Think Long-Term: Don’t expect immediate results. Significant lifestyle changes often take weeks to manifest. Adopt a mindset of patience, thinking in terms of 4-to-6-week cycles. Each cycle builds mental and physical resilience, making the next challenge easier to tackle.
Experiment to Find What Works
There’s no one-size-fits-all formula for self-improvement. Practices like hydration, exercise, or dietary habits are deeply personal, influenced by factors like climate, physiology, and individual preferences. Experiment for a week with small, daily actions to discover what brings you energy and motivation. Over time, these healthy habits will become second nature and part of your lifestyle rather than a checklist.
Take Responsibility: Own Your Wellbeing
Aligned habits support the person you aim to become, they manifest your willingness for change. They are meaningful because they are aligned with your vision and your values. By essence, they form a unique set of behaviours that are meaningful and impactful to you here and now. They will organically evolve overtime.
Challenges like the popular “75 Hard” have their appeal.
They offer structure, rules, and a clear endpoint. However, they’re not necessarily built with you in mind. For example, 75 Hard involves:
- Adopting a diet without cheat days
- Drinking a gallon (about 4 L) of water daily. This one surprises me, especially to prescribe a volume of hydration regardless of your sex, weight, physical activity, the heat and humidity from your environment
- Completing two workouts per day (one outdoors)
- Reading 10 pages of a nonfiction book
- Taking a progress photo daily
While some principles of this challenge are constructive, others may not fit your lifestyle or priorities. Adopting someone else’s plan without adaptation risks demotivation, frustration or disconnection from your dream, vision and values.
Instead, take control of your wellbeing.
Be a rebel and set your own rules! Think, decide, and practice what feels right and effective for you. Start by a sustainable and flexible plan that’s aligned with your vision and values.
Small Daily Steps in the Right Direction Lead to Big Changes
Ultimately, self-discipline isn’t about grand gestures. It’s about the mundane stuff. It’s about small, consistent actions. Each time you practice discipline, you strengthen your ability to tackle bigger challenges. Mental strength is within you; awaken it through deliberate daily effort.
So, choose your hard. Set your own rules.
Enjoy each step on the way and Feel Good about Taking Action: meaningful and impactful change begins with habits aligned to your values, practiced one day at a time in the secret of your own life.
