Goals

I started the 75 hard challenge on 1st Jan, and have since as a part of this challenge in addition to doing at least two 45+ min work-outs per day - one indoors and one outdoors (which for me are mostly long brisk walks outdoors and yoga indoors - consistently > intensity) avoiding carbs and sugar and not eating any processed, packaged, or fast food or consuming any alcohol or other intoxicants.

I'm currently on day 49 of 75 hard - I have been waking up between 3:45-5am, meditating, journaling, reflecting, reading, doing a hard thing everyday (sometimes it's just getting out of the bed :P) since the 1st of Feb the hard thing has been publishing a post on LinkedIn everyday.

Why the 75 hard?

Someone I coach told me he's going to start the 75 hard challenge on the 2nd of Jan with his friends. In the past he'd missed commitments and made excuses. I have had the great privilege of training with one of the best in the business of staying in the business and here's what I learned from him - no excuses given, none taken. To establish this concept as a foundational principle of our coaching relationship I started the 75hard a day before him. You can't sell what you don't buy :)

In addition to the waking up, working out, reading, rewriting, reflecting - I have since been eating mostly clean protein, fats, fiber and overnight rolled oats (with an exception of my birthday cake, some freshly baked bread and the one bowl of Rajma Chawal). Coffee is my only real vice.

State. Story. Strategy

How did I get this far? Honestly, mostly by starting my day by logging gratitude and self appreciation.

Gratitude

As a part of my 75 hard framework I log (on a shared excel sheet) at least 20 things I'm grateful for first thing in the morning. When I do this well it helps me orient myself from a place of abundance and love and has a significantly positive effect on the narrative I'm telling myself, early on in the day.

Logging 20 things I appreciate about myself helps me call on my highest virtues and sets me up on the pygmalion the capacitates me to play on the front foot through the day.

Through this beautifully simple process I'm reminded that I don't have to do this, I get to do this - whatever it is that I've decided to do. It helps me put down the assumed weight of the things I have lined up for the rest of the day and marvel at the significance of the journey that as led me here and the wonder and beauty that surrounds me in the path I'm on. It also creates the ground for me to be able to cultivate patience and delay gratification.

Delayed Gratification

Asides from the 75 hard challenge, I've also been travelling since early-October spending the first leg of my travels shuttling through Lisbon, Berlin, Hamburg and Amsterdam before landing up in Maryland. By the time I landed in the US end of November I had consumed more desserts and carbs in a couple of months than I had in a year and my body was significantly inflamed. I was in need of a reset, and so after eating some daal (Indian lentils) and sabzi (veggies) for the first few days I went straight into a high protein, high fat (shit tonnes of nuts) and high fibre diet - eliminating carbs and sugars even in fruits and vegetables while going overboard on total calorie consumption. Needed to beat my sugar relapse and didn't think I could have done it from a place of calorie depletion.

Where am I going with this?

Delayed gratification refers to the ability to resist the temptation for an immediate reward and wait for a later reward that is usually larger or more enduring. It is a significant aspect of self-control and is considered beneficial for achieving long-term goals, enhancing personal discipline, and improving overall life satisfaction.

Over this last week my body has been craving carbs - mainly Indian food - lentils, curries, paranthas (Indian breads), vegetables, dosas - you name it. In order to stay the path on my 75 hard while also looking to scratch the itch on my craving for a healthy Indian meal, this week I decided to speak less and eat less leading up to Sunday so I could earn a hearty homely Indian meal for lunch while living upto my own standards.

After eating some freshly baked bread at dinner on Tuesday (yes I micro scratched the itch for carbs), I fasted for 34 hours leading up to my first meal on Friday and am currently in my 40th hour of my current fast as I type this post today.

While I'm really looking forward to a fully blown healthy and clean Indian lunch today, here's an interesting observation I had. My heart RHR is higher when I consume carbs - will be very interesting to see what happens post the lunch today.

The Gita and Systems Thinking

The Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture that is part of the Indian epic Mahabharata (which is probably the longest epic ever written - over 30,000 verses), offers an incredible set of tools and frameworks on the art of living, and has been an almost constant companion in my life since early 2019.

In fact I've sincerely been carrying two books around with me wherever I've gone since I started working as an independent coach in jan 2019 - A Parthasarthy's translation of The Gita and The 5th Discipline by Peter Senge.

The parallels between the central theme of The Gita and Systems Thinking - cultivating the muscle for Neutral Present Awareness have had and continue to have a profound impact on my life.

Systems Tool I'm reminded of:

Quote I'm reflecting on

The Gita - Chapter 2, Verse 47: "Karmanye vadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachana, Ma karma phala hetur bhurmatey sangostva akarmani."

This loosely translates to: "You have the right to perform your actions, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself the cause of the results of your activities, and never be attached to not doing your duty."