The 75 Day Challenge Rules: A Solid Approach to Toughness and Self Improvement? [+PDF]

The 75 Day Challenge has taken the internet by storm, and with good reason. With 5 simple tasks per day, the most popular 75 Day challenge initially promised a whole new level of mental toughness.

Note: This article contains affiliate links

However, fitness, nutrition, and mental health professionals have critiqued this fitness challenge as risky and dangerous.

Given that the original intention and approach of the challenge have been very successful for some people variations of the challenge have risen that make the challenge a great opportunity for anyone hoping to break out of a rut and build new habits.

In this post, we’ll review the popular 75 Day Challenge, our new 74 Day Habit Building Challenge that I highly recommend, and my experience with both challenges – committing to skipping alcohol, committing to exercise and recovery, and practicing some great mental fitness routines over 75 rut busting days.

Read on to discover how the pros, cons, best way to approach the 75 day challenge rules (that I recommend), and hear my experience!

Also, feel free to read my 74 Day Habiit Building Challenge Guide: Unlock happiness, health, and self master by building 10 powerful habits.

Don’t forget to download your free 75 day challenge printable journal [PDF]…

And if you’re interested in a healthier alternative to the popular 75 day challenge, be sure to check out our book The 74 Day Habit Building Challenge

This post may contain affiliate links

CONTENTS OF THIS 75 DAY CHALLENGE REVIEW

• What is the 75 Day Challenge?
• What are the original 75 Day Challenge Rules?
• Is the challenge dangerous or worth the effort?
• What are the cons and dangers of the 75 Day Challenge?
• What are the Benefits of the 75 Day Challenge?
• The New 75 Day Challenge Rules
• Tips for getting the most of your 75 Day Challenge
• My Experience with the 75 Day Challenge
• The Verdict: Do I recommend doing the 75 Day Challenge?

THE 75 DAY CHALLENGE SNAPSHOT

What is the 75 Day Challenge? The 75 day challenge was originally a challenge aimed to improve mental toughness by completing a set of 5 tasks everyday related to exercise, eating, and reading.

Pros of the 75 Day Challenge – Great catalyst to spark positive change and create positive daily habits – Encourages adding a new fitness routine – Encourages you to read and absorb knowledge each day   Cons of the 75 Day Challenge – The habits in the challenge aren’t sustainable – The structure can do more harm than good – two workouts a day is too much for most people The Verdict on the 75 Day Challenge Though the 75 Day Challenge started with good intentions, in my experience it missed the mark with too much exercise to be healthy, and misses an opportunity to reinforce long term healthy habits. However, I enjoyed and recommend the general idea of the challenge, with some modification. With a few changes (that we recommend here) this challenge could be an excellent approach to improving your life. Read more on the verdict here. Read more to discover what’s great about the 75 day challenge and how to make it more beneficial for you.

Or, click here to learn more about the book, “The 74 Day Habit Building Challenge”

“THE POSITIVE HABITS IN LIFE NEED TO BE ROUTINE AND AUTOMATIZED. They must be turned into stable and reliable habits, so they lose complexity and gain predictability and simplicity.”

– From the book “12 Rules for Life” by Jordan Peterson

This excellent piece of advice highlights an opportunity to make every task in your chosen 75 day challenge a positive new habit or routine to maintain and benefit from in the long term.

Let’s look at the old guidelines and a new set of rules that we’ll use in our 74 Day Habit Building Challenge for better results.

WHAT WAS THE POPULAR 75 DAY CHALLENGE?

One of the original 75 Day Challenges was a 75 day exercise that went viral on social media, particularly Tik Tok, aimed at building mental toughness by completing a series of 5 tasks every day for 75 days.

WHAT WERE THE ORIGINAL 75 DAY CHALLENGE RULES?

Each day, participants must complete all 5 of the following tasks each day.

1. Follow a diet

2. Workout twice a day for at least 45 minutes with one workout outside

3. Drink 4 liters of water per day

4. Read 10 pages of nonfiction each day

5. Take a progress picture each day

If a participant misses completing all of the tasks before they go to sleep, they must start back at day 1.

IS THE 75 DAY CHALLENGE DANGEROUS OR WORTHWHILE?

Whether the common 75 day challenge is dangerous for you depends on how you approach the challenge and your current health and fitness.

Whether the common 75 day challenge would be worthwhile for you depends on what you expect to get out of your 75 days of commitment.

When taking on “challenges” like these, you have to choose between two types of goals. Are you doing the challenge just to say you did something tough and prove something to yourself? Or, are you doing this challenge to create new habits, practices, and sustainable positive results?

If you simply want to do something hard to do and you’re not looking for sustainable results or worried about health risks along the way, the common and popular 75 Day Challenge the way it is currently written may be fine for you.

However, suppose your goal is to build lasting positive change such as getting and staying fit or losing some weight, keeping it off, or adding a few positive habits like reading more or drinking alcohol less often. In that case, this challenge may need adjustments to align to the last positive change achieved with minimal risk along the way.

The most important question to ask when assessing if this challenge is for you is, “If I continued the tasks from the popular 75 day challenge indefinitely, would the results be positive in a way that I want long term?”

If the answer is yes, we’re building positive habits and positive long-term change that’s right for you. That’s great.

If the answer is “no,” there are some risks, and we need to adjust.

Some of the popular 75 day challenge rules are risky and require much effort that may not lead to sustainable habits or results that will stick after the challenge.

However, suppose you approach this challenge as a catalyst to reprogram bad routines in daily life and build in new, healthy habits and improvements (and we make a few changes to how we execute this challenge). In that case, this challenge absolutely has the potential to be beneficial.

Whether or not this challenge will ultimately be beneficial to you depends on your goals.

IF YOU ONLY WANT A TEST OF GRIT OR A RUSH TO SNAP YOU OUT OF A RUT, TRY THESE OPTIONS INSTEAD

75 days is a lot of time to invest in just testing whether or not you can complete something. If a personal test or a “rut buster” is what you’re after, I highly recommend these taxing challenges that offer challenging conditions and hone mental fortitude and toughness in a much shorter period

• GORUCK Challenge or local rucking groups
• Run a Spartan race or other adventure race
• Run a marathon, competitively or on your own
• Run a triathlon or a sprint triathlon, competitively or on your own
• Do a silent meditation retreat – sitting still and quiet for 4 to 10 days is a true developmental challenge
• Backpack a continent for 75 days or even travel one of my recommended backpacker trails for 2 weeks: Taxing, testing, truly educational, and extremely enjoyable
• Signup for and run the Barkley Marathon with no hope of finishing…because no one finishes

If you’re isolated and can’t commit to going somewhere right now, consider these options

• Run your own marathon
• Do a free silent meditation training at home
• Hike segments of the Pacific Crest Trail, Appalachian Trail, the continental divide, or any trail near you

All of these tasks are great opportunities to push yourself to the limit in a way that might feel like they’re going to break you but happen in a short enough period that the risk is low. Yet, at the same time, the feeling of accomplishment upon finishing is still extremely high.

In my experience, I’ve run an impromptu marathon (alone and in a competition with a few a day’s notice), gone on a silent meditation retreat, and gone on a “road to nowhere” motorbike ride for a week. All of these were risky, taxing, highly beneficial, gave me a real adrenaline rush, and did lead to some lasting positive outcomes – but they didn’t last 75 days either.

There are plenty of short-burst challenges we can do in daily life.  

If you’re giving something 75 days of your life, ensure it serves your long-term goals.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE IMPROVED IN THE POPULAR 75 DAY CHALLENGES? RECOGNIZING THE RISKS OF THE CHALLENGE

For all of its flaws, the popular 75 day challenge have a lot of potential. Anything that shocks us out of bad habits and adds good ones is a great start. But to make this challenge healthy and worthwhile, we still need to change a few things before jumping in.

So, what needs to be improved in the original 75 day challenge rules?

2 workouts a day is risky – go with 1: Beyond one workout per day, there is little benefit and significant risk of injury. Athletes training for a Crossfit competition or the Olympics may do this, but they have a coach, support team, nutritional resources, and a recovery plan you don’t. Stick to one workout on workout days for maximum benefits and minimal health risk

75 days of exercise without rest is risky – schedule recovery days: Worthwhile exercise may break your body down slightly. More importantly, it stimulates recovery or metabolizes stored energy (breaking down fat). This recovery, growth, and improvement only happen when you rest. If you exercise for 75 days straight, you are blunting your gains. At worst, you are weakening yourself and moving closer to potential injury day by day.

“Diet” is too vague and a potential trap for trends – choose specific, healthy eating habits: Most “diets” are fads passed around on the internet that may result in a pound lost for now but are unsustainable long term due to health reasons, interest reasons, or the inevitable cheat meals. Not being specific about an approach to nutrition and not choosing a science-backed option that creates habits we can maintain long term is a waste and, at worst detrimental to our health. Also, the eating plan should take into account the fitness approach.

Taking a picture of yourself every day is a potentially negative distractor, focusing on instant gratification and the “are there results yet” mentality. Focusing on such a granular, potentially negative picture can have a detrimental affect on those with poor self esteem or are already in a rough patch. Physical changes will not come over night, and these daily progress photos are based in the assumption that they will. Instead, let’s focus on the process. Long-term change should embrace the process (daily habits) and ignore the result until the end. Instead, take a picture once at the beginning and once at the end, and use our checklist recommendation below.

Don’t take a picture every day feeding the “instant gratification need” – use a daily checklist as your proof that you’re doing the work, and let that be enough. Understand that the results will come. If you have done the work each day, you have results to be proud of. You don’t need a picture to distract you from that.

Now that we’ve identified the trouble spots, let’s improve on a potentially good thing.

If you are interested in a better challenge over roughly 75 days challenge for self-improvement, consider taking on the 74 Day Habit Building Challenge instead

HOW WE’RE IMPROVING WITH THE POPULAR 75 DAY CHALLENGE RULES

 In our improved 75 day challenge guidelines, we’ll build on the good start already created and correct some of the faults we just talked about by adding some worthwhile changes. Then, further down the page, we’ll share the new guidelines.

 Our 74 Day Habit Bulding Challenge Rules:

• One workout per day maximum
• Sufficient rest and recovery days and emphasis on not just exercise but recovery and mobility
• Practicing habits and routines, we’ll want to keep after day 74
• Choosing specific, healthy eating guidelines that support our overall goals (performance, weight loss, energy levels, mental performance, etc.), not relying on “diets” or fads, and can be maintained after 74 days
• Personalize the rules and goals of the challenge to include your desires and goals
• Keep a checklist and check it off each day as proof that we’re doing something to be proud of instead of tracking “instant results” and misleading results (body image).

WHAT THE POPULAR 75 DAY CHALLENGES GET RIGHT THAT WE’LL KEEP GOING

Despite the important points for improvement listed above, the popular 75 day challenges have much good already built-in, such as working out routinely, skipping alcohol, and building a habit of absorbing knowledge daily. The best option here is to continue with these good points and build on them. We’ll make a few tweaks so that the challenge is sustainable (from a physical health standpoint) and leads to sustainable habits, and we’re in business.

The most significant potential benefits of the original 75 day challenges that we want to keep are:

• Building that “long term commitment” and grit muscle
• Breaking us out of a rut and ditching poor habits we’ve picked up in the last two years of instability around the world
• Building healthy, sustainable habits
• Losing weight
• Improving our fitness
• A catalyst for skipping alcohol
• Building a habit of absorbing knowledge

THE 74 DAY HABIT BUILDING CHALLENGE RULES

IF YOU’RE DOING THIS CHALLENGE FOR POSITIVE LONG-TERM CHANGE – WEIGHT LOSS, HEALTHIER HABITS, MORE DEVELOPMENTAL ROUTINES – LET’S ADJUST THE POPULAR 75 DAY CHALLENGE RULES.

What if you want your results from your chosen 75 day challenge to stick for life? Then upgrade to the 74 Day Habit Building Challenge instead.

The 74 Day Habit Building Challenge is an approach to ~75 day challenges that aims to be achievable in the short term and to permanently ingrain essential habits in the long term.

In the 74 Day Habit Building Challenge, instead of making this a mentally tough, testing challenge to get to the end, we make the 74 Day Habit Building Challenge a program to build essential habits for a happier, healthier, more successful life. We also use scientific research-backed approaches to ingrain those habits deeply enough that they will stick for life.

Interested in building the foundations of a better you, physically, mentally, and emotionally, in only 74 days and lasting for far beyond?

Click here to discover more about the 74 Day Habit Building Challenge approach to building a better, stronger you, in only 74 days.

Click here to learn more about our 74 Day Habit Building Challenge

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Here are the tasks you’ll do every day for 74 days straight:

Be Thankful: Start each day listing 20 things you’re thankful for, written or aloud

If you are alive and breathing right now, you have a lot to be thankful for. Suppose you are aware of all of those amazing things. In that case, you’re more likely to appreciate them and maintain a positive and empowering outlook because of that.

Saying aloud, or writing, 20 things you’re grateful for every morning – will jumpstart your day in a positive, empowering way and put you in a headspace of appreciation and strength regardless of what comes your way.

You can do it in the shower, while you’re making breakfast, or even while you’re in bed.

Self-Affirmations: Remind yourself that you’re awesome: State 20 reasons why you’re awesome and 20 things that you are/do that you should keep doing.

We receive constant feedback (usually negative) and lists of things to improve daily. However, how often do you get reminded of the positive things you do to maintain, reinforce, or double down on?

Nobody is perfect, and no one in this life will be, so focusing on imperfections to correct to reach perfection is not only a dead-end effort but its draining.

On the other hand, highlighting what is good, what is amazing, and what is done well to focus on and grow is a much more pleasant way to get closer to perfection. Of course, you’re not going to get to perfection…but this approach will get you closer in a less soul-sucking way.

Imagine a garden, half crappy weeds and plants we hate, and half great plants with delicious fruits that we love.

Imagine if, instead of pulling the weeds to improve our garden (which is miserable), we simply watered the fruiting plants (much more enjoyable) so much that they grew over and overshadowed the plants we disliked. We’d achieve the same result, a better garden, with a pleasant experience. Of course, it’s still imperfect, but it’s better, and we enjoyed the process.

That’s what this exercise is about.

Every day, highlight 20 things that are awesome about you – on paper and out loud – to give yourself the credit you deserve and to remind yourself to keep doing them. The ego boost will be nice, but you’ll remind yourself to “keep on keeping on” by continuing to do more of what makes you awesome. That’s how you’re going to improve the “gardens” that are your mind, your body, and your life in a sustainable, fulfilling way.

Move: Exercise for 2 days straight, 45 mins per day, take 1 day to stretch, rest, and recover then, repeat

For 74 days, we’ll program consistent and balanced “movement” into our lives – a balance between exercise and recovery

By having an exercise plan of “2 on 1 off” – 2 days of exercise and 1 day of rest and stretching (mobility) and repeating – we have the stimulus to improve physically (exercise), we set aside time to recover while eating right, and we give attention to active recovery (stretching) – to rebuild the mobility and flexibility many of has lost in a lifetime of neglect.

How to move…

For your “movement” or exercise days, do any kind of movement that resonates with you for at least 45 minutes. For example, if you want to walk the dog for 45 minutes, walk. If you want to hike, go hike. Keep in mind high-intensity interval training will burn the most fat and have the best cardio benefits. However, simply building a long-term habit of moving daily is more valuable than pounds lost in the short term or doing a specific workout for 74 days.

If you need high-intensity workout inspiration, you can do without a gym. I recommend these:

• The 10,000 kettlebell swing challenge
• Do 100 kettlebell swings per day, and follow with a 4.5 minute Tabata workout
• The Sandbag HIIT workouts you can do at home; all you need is a **sandbag**
• These Crossfit workouts you can do at home
• The free 30 Days of Yoga with Adrienne series on YouTube
• The ABA Fitness page has tons of workouts and fitness ideas for staying in shape anywhere

Don’t forget to rest after 2 days of exercise:

Every 2 days, we move, and exercise will be balanced with a day of “active rest.” You’ll skip the workout, and you’ll do relaxing but beneficial stretching instead.

For any effective fitness regimen, you need rest. In an adequately intense fitness program, 2 days of exercise creates the right amount of stimuli (tissue damage, hormone production) to make good use of a day of recovery, helping us build strength and burn fat optimally. With fitness over the 75 days, our goal isn’t destruction. Our goal is strength, stamina, and mobility gains, and habits that support that in the long run.

This potential habit, training for 2 days, resting 1, and getting back to training, is a routine we can and should do into old age and indefinitely. If this challenge programs in that routine, you’re winning

For rest days, set a timer for 20 minutes and just stretch your trouble spots. Then check your box on the challenge checklist for that day.

If you need help stretching, I recommend these 10-minute stretch routines by body part

• Shoulders: This 5 way shoulder mobility drill works very well
• Lower back: Mobility WOD posterior chain legs and lower back work
• Hips and Groin: Loosening up the hips
• Lower Legs: Here
• Arms: Here

15 minutes of silence and reflection: Either meditate or sit in a quiet place and clear your mind

Adding the mental component of quiet time and meditation levels up our challenge, so we’re not just challenging our mind with learning and discomfort but promoting recovery from the mental and physical standpoints – something many people overlook in their lives

The mind needs to be trained just like the body, and “mental strength” is rooted in self-discipline and focus.

Additionally, just like the body, the mind needs rest.

Meditation, or just simply sitting in a hammock in silence, carves out 15 minutes that simultaneously builds mental strength through the self-discipline of keeping the mind clear and embracing silence and chill while also allowing our minds to recover from the chaos in a way we don’t normally allow time for on a daily basis.

No matter what your goal, 15 minutes of silence will do wonders for your mind

If you want a little light instruction and a lot of interesting information on meditation, I recommend Dr. Jon Kabat Zinn’s book, Wherever You Go, There You Are.

If meditating is too “woo-woo,” give yourself 10 minutes to calm down and be alone with no stress or stimuli

Eat healthy by minimizing processed sugar and refined carbohydrates in your diet, start the day with protein and fats, and eat within an 8-hour window:

In this day and age, a new fad diet hits the internet every .5 seconds and infects the population with minimal scientific evidence backing the approach. We want to avoid this.

What we want is to incorporate scientifically-backed healthy eating habits that 1) we are certain generally improve our health (based on scientific research and years of testing) 2) we can maintain and stay healthy well after the 74 days.

I highly recommend these eating guidelines generally:

“Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch, and no sugar”

This is excellent advice for eating no matter who you are. In the long term, your weight will drop to a healthy level, and you’ll have enough fuel for the workouts and activities that make you feel alive.

Additionally, start your day with a protein, fat, and a veggie-heavy breakfast – not a sugar bomb coated with syrup, and a side of syrup, sugary frappe

Start applying these guidelines by practicing the following habits over the next 74 days:

• Skip refined sugar as much as possible
• Skip refined carbohydrates (bread, cakes, candy bars, etc.)
• Eat a savory breakfast, heavy with proteins, healthy fats, and veggies, instead of a sugary breakfast
• Intentionally eat vegetables at every meal

Last, I recommend considering adding an “eating window” or intermittent fasting. Maintaining an extended period each day wherein our stomachs stay empty has the following benefits:

• Helps us avoid excessive food-induced hormone spikes throughout the day that highly correlate with disease and inflammation
• Gives your body a period to burn off stored food (fat) instead of burning the food you’ve just eaten
• Gives your body a period wherein no energy is spent digesting food, leaving that energy for the immune systems/recovery systems to be fully engaged.

Best of all, intermittent fasting is a habit that we can apply to our lives indefinitely that will positively benefit us

No Alcohol

As accepted as alcohol is in society, it has a huge list of side effects that make it questionable and definitely detrimental in excess.

The three main reasons not to drink alcohol are:

1. Any amount of alcohol kills brain cells and reduces important grey matter you won’t get those brain cells back. Anything that literally causes brain damage is worth skipping.

2. Alcohol severely affects sleep patterns which in turn causes emotional volatility, mood swings, and reduced decision making capacity for days after drinking.

3. Alcohol consumption usually takes place in way that negatively affects recovery, and hormones, and usually accompanies and enables a slew of other negative habits

All 3 of our reasons for skipping alcohol during this challenge are either to avoid permanent damage or to reverse the damage.

These 74 days without alcohol will allow you to regain a clear head, level emotions, and reach peak physical performance.

Read 10 pages of a non-fiction book per day

For most of us, reading time is generally spent reading blog posts suggested to us by Facebook, designed for a short attention span, and shared based on their “virality” instead of their quality and meaningfulness.

Only consuming information from these sources leads to three problems:

1. We’re only consuming what is suggested by social media algorithms, making ourselves susceptible to echo chambers.

2. We are conditioning our minds for short, controversial, dopamine hit-inducing “content.” Along the way, we lose the benefits that come from reading longer articles and books that communicate robust, deep, and complex ideas that can’t be communicated in a meme or with less than 1,000 words.

3. Living on short-form writing cultivates that “goldfish attention span” and the need for another “hit” while depriving us of the mental calm that comes from a nice, long book

Reading 10 pages per day gets us back into the habit of intentionally choosing what we choose to learn (instead of having it suggested) and committing to absorbing a complex idea made up of complex ideas over chapters.

Education over entertainment.

Spend 15 minutes per day of learning something new or continuing to learn something

Each of us has so many things we would love to do if we could flip a switch and skip the learning process.

I wish I could sing. I wish I could dance. I wish I could sculpt concrete. I wish I could speak French. I wish…

Fortunately, we can’t skip the learning process, and we get to experience the joy of learning something we want to. Not something required for our job. Not something required for our degree. Not something required by our parents, our culture, or our religion.

We get to learn something we want to.

Use this challenge as a catalyst to start learning something you want to do. Learn to blog. Learn to do comedy. Learn magic tricks.

For 15 minutes every day, hit Youtube, open a book, or simply practice to experience learning something you want to learn for at least 15 minutes.

Finally, journal and record the process and how you feel about it (not the progress) daily

This active reflection and recording daily builds valuable self awareness and awareness of what you are learning, what you are achieving (by focusing on the process) and the growth you are achieving and want to keep.

THE 74 DAY HABIT BUILDING CHALLENGE RULES

For 74 days straight, complete all of the following tasks, completing each task at least 9 out of every 10 days.

1. PRACTICE GRATEFULNESS: List 20 things you are thankful for
2. APPRECIATE YOURSELF: List 20 great things about yourself
3. EXERCISE AND STRETCH: Exercise 45 minutes a day for 2 days, then stretch on 1 rest day, and repeat
4. EAT HEALTHY by eliminating sugar, limiting refined carbs, and adding a vegetable per meal
5. SKIP ALCOHOL
6. READ 10 PAGES of non-fiction
7. LEARN SOMETHING NEW for 15 minutes a day
8. DO SOMETHING YOU’RE PASSIONATE ABOUT for 15 minutes
9. RECORD EVERY TASK PER DAY COMPLETED in a journal

TIPS FOR GETTING THE MOST OF ANY 74 OR 75 DAY CHALLENGE

• Stack your morning with the tasks that give you mental energy, positivity, and momentum that will carry you through the day
• Figure out the time management approach that works best for you – time management will be key to squeezing everything in
• Pull someone else in. This thing gets 10x easier with support. I have five people around me doing the challenge right now, and it makes a difference compared to day 1 going solo.
• Make the goal of the challenge to internalize positive habits. Don’t make the goal of the challenge to lose weight. If you internalize healthy habits from the challenge, the healthy changes (such as weight loss) will happen on their own over time. Focus on the process for now.
• Use this challenge as a positive catalyst and an excuse to break into new routines
• Don’t be afraid to tell someone, “sorry brother, can’t drink, I’m doing a challenge,” or “I have to head out now, going to bed early so I can work out tomorrow morning” as excuses to maintain your progress.

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH THE POPULAR 75 DAY CHALLENGES

Like many people over the past year, I adapted to the new normal; with fewer opportunities and motivation to live my “old normal” life, less healthy habits took the place of my lost routines and stacked with old bad habits from before.

After a stint of isolation, I popped out of my cave with my surfboard, eyes squinting in the unfamiliar sunlight, and released, “Wow! How did I get this out of shape!”

Along the way, I realized I was writing less, running less, and reading less. The banality of my limited routines stifled my motivation and led to the current state. Nothing was quite broken, but I had the potential to be better. I had the potential to do better.

I decided to reassess, recalibrate, and rebuild my routines and standards. I did an elimination diet to figure out what foods fueled my body best and which didn’t. I restarted a mobility program and equipped my home gym for calisthenics and Crossfit. Most importantly, I made the decision to jumpstart my actions – with the understanding that motivation would kick in eventually

Around the same time that I had this realization, a friend posted about one of the popular 75 day challenges. He was committing to 75 days of a list focused on self-improvement – which is exactly the kick I was on.

I was sold.

However, after glancing at the list, a few elements seemed slightly risky and questionable.

At first glance, the 75 day challenge he recommended missed a few important points that could make or break the challenge – specific eating habits, sufficient rest from workouts, personalization in the goals, and a long-term positive change and sustainable habits approach.

But the basic idea, committing to positive change, was an excellent start, and there’s no need to throw out a perfect start. Also, I had already been skipping alcohol and working out for the past few weeks, so adding some learning and “mental hygiene” components was a great opportunity for improvement, under the condition that these improvements wouldn’t just be a “flash in the pan” experience, but, instead, permanent.

So, I researched the science of habit building and wealth of research on the most valuable foundational habits for a healthy, happy, productive life, ultimately creating the 74 Day Habit Building Challenge for positive long-term change. Then, I committed to the 74 days, and haven’t looked back.

THE RESULTS: THIS 74 DAY CHALLENGE AIMED AT BUILDING FOUNDATIONAL HABITS WAS EXCELLENT

With a few of the right tweaks, this challenge has gone from being grueling (and potentially destructive) to a daily practice with gradual improvements and a level of satisfaction that keeps me going.

The 74 day habit building approach still requires and hones discipline and willpower, but in a manageable and satisfying way with observable results.

After a month of routine workouts (I chose the 10,000 Kettlebell Swing Challenge), no alcohol, and skipping refined carbs, I’ve lost 6 pounds, feel stronger than ever, and my sleeping patterns and mental focus have improved immensely. I’ve regained a love of reading – choosing it over Netflix – and my mood has been better too. The challenge’s benefits were well worth the sacrifice.

I highly recommend this challenge.

For the physical elements and eating planning, you should consult a health care professional and certified personal trainer to ensure this approach is suitable for your body and your health, but the best thing is to just get moving now!

WHY AM I WRITING ABOUT THE 75 DAY CHALLENGES?

This challenge has the potential to be a 100% positive catalyst for your life – it just needs a few tweaks

In my initial research of the popular 75 day challenges, the most common question I was seeing was, “Are these 75 day challenges dangerous?”

For the average person, I do not recommend the original 75 challenges as they were originally shared on social media. However, the positive impact we can create in our lives with 75 days of commitment is immense.

Building healthy, productive long-term habits is the hardest thing to do, but the best thing to do – so that’s what I’m making this challenge about, and that’s what I want others to make it about as well. 

Challenges are normally about the rush of touching it out – but eventually, we “rebound” and return to our old habits, losing our gains.

I’ve written this post to restructure the common approach to 75 day challenges and instead make them diligent exercises in reprogramming, programming base, effective, healthy habits physically, mentally, and emotionally 

I hope it’s helped you jump into the journey with me.

I’ll look forward to hearing about your results on the other side.

Good luck!!

What to do after your chosen 75 day challenge

So, after you’ve knocked out a healthy and solid ~74 or 75 day challenge, like the 74 Day Habit Challenge or the 75 Soft challenge, what should you do next? 75+75 …or another 75 days.

In our approach, the 74 Day Habit Building Challenge, our goal isn’t completion. Our goal is achieving lasting, positive change. Incorporating research that 74 days is the perfect amount of time to build in a positive habit, instead of ditching our newfound routine because we feel we’ve achieved mental toughness, we instead continue the habits, fitness program, and nutrition plan that we built over the last 74 days. In the next 75 days, we do the work to keep our progress – in physical fitness, habits, and healthy eating – and add one more task about something we care about.

Perhaps we alter our nutrition plan for slight satisfaction but continue eating healthy foods. Perhaps we add self-esteem-boosting positive words as a morning ritual. Perhaps we tone down on our fitness plan, to allow for more social commitments and professional growth, but maintain the exercise and movement to keep our new physical shape and fitness level from our hard earned physical transformation.

The goal of the next 74 days and beyond is to continue the rippling positive developments across our entire life, and maintain that new, more positive life forever.

For more information on the specific guidelines of the next 74 days, and approaching the entire challenge as a habit building, self belief boosting, life changing exercise read up on our upgraded interpretation – the 74 Day Habit Building Challenge.

Update!! The 75 Soft Challenge is a new, more achievable alternative to the popular 75 day challenge options…

The original 75 day challenges shared on social media been amazing approaches to helping people jumpstart, rejuvenate, and reprogram their lives.

However, the demanding nature of maintaining 4 tasks commonly recommended over 75 days have been daunting and difficult for some people. Given we all have work, relationships, and other commitments throughout our lives, balancing those healthily with the tasks in this challenge can be daunting at best and nearly impossible at worst.

That is why we have created the 75 Soft Challenge.

The 75 Soft Challenge is an adaption of the popular 75 day challenges, with a set of beneficial and worthwhile tasks to do on a daily basis, but with more flexibility.

The 75 Soft challenge consists of 10 daily tasks scientifically proven to be beneficial in the long term, and allows you to pick 2 to 4 tasks everyday to do. That’s it.

By focusing on 2 to 4 tasks daily, we aim to gradually build in positive habits into your life in a manageable, enjoyable way, building aggregate results similar to the intentions and approach of “Atomic Habits” and the “Kaizen” approach to success.

Our 10 daily tasks in the 75 Soft Challenge are as follows

1. List 20 things you’re thankful for, written or aloud
2. List 20 things you appreciate about yourself, written or aloud
3. Spend 20 minutes being still – meditate or just sit quietly allowing your mind to calm
4. Exercise daily for 2 days, stretch and rest on the third, repeat
5. Eat healthier by eliminating refined sugar, limiting carbohydrates, and increasing nutrient dense foods
6. Skip alcohol
7. Read a non fiction book for 15 minutes
8. Study something new for 15 minutes
9. Do something you are passionate about for 15 minutes
10. Record your progress and journal your thoughts

From this list, every day for 75 days you should pick 2 to 4 tasks to complete.

As the challenge progresses and you feel more comfortable, feel free to work up to 5, 7, or (ideally) 10 tasks per day.

Interested?

Click here to learn everything you need to know about the 75 Soft Challenge

What if you want your results from your chosen 75 day challenge to stick for life? Then upgrade to the 74 Day Habit Building Challenge instead

In the 74 Day Habit Buiding Challenge, instead of making the experience a tough, testing challenge to get to the end, we make the 74 day experience a program to build essential habits for a happier, healthier, more successful life. We also use scientific research backed approaches to ingrain those habits deeply enough that they will stick for life.

Interested in building the foundations of a better you, physically, mentally, and emotionally, in only 74 days and lasting for far beyond?

Click here to discover more about the 74 day habit building approach to a better, stronger you!

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