75 Hard Experience

Do you have routines to get things done? Or do you make it up every day? [https://75hard.biz/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Routine-941x1024.png] There is a story about Steve Jobs and his black turtle-neck sweaters. Not sure if it is true, but it makes a point. It was part of his routine. The story goes that black turtle necks are all he had in his closet. That way he never had to make a decision about what to wear and when. It was always the same. He used the routine to move faster, save time, and get more things done. I do like having a uniform of sorts at work. I have one type of shirt, six of which I wear with jeans and the same boots daily. I am living groundhogs day that way. But I never have to think about it and it is just part of my morning routine. Routines help me do everything better. It has an order to things so you don’t have to stop and think of what to do. In the military, we have lots of routines. All of them are called different things. The most prevalent, life-saving routines in the infantry were called IAs, or Immediate Action Drills. It is what you did when there was an ambush, contact with the enemy, or took incoming fire. Those things that you should be doing without thought. The more things you did in the military the more IA drills you learned. And then you practiced them all the time. I’m a civilian now and actually take pleasure in the fact that no one has tried to kill me in over a decade. It’s a more peaceful way to live. But we can learn things from IA drills. IA drills were set up to have the most probability of success when things were really bad. Why don’t you set up your life and execute and/or practice your own IA drill daily or more often? I actually have one I’m doing very well, my morning routine. And in the morning it’s an IA drill because I roll out of bed, grab my clothes for a bike ride that I stagged the morning before, and head downstairs to the bathroom. In the bathroom I do my thing, take a progress picture, weigh myself, change into my bike clothes, and head out. I grab a glass of water, already staged, and a water bottle, already staged, and head to the garage to ride my Zwift trainer for 20 to 30 minutes. After that, it’s back to the kitchen for another glass of water, to make coffee while I’m changing out of bike stuff and into shorts to read. I finish making the coffee and sit down to read my 10 pages. When the 10 pages are done I look at what needs to be done for the day and head upstairs to take a shower and shave and get dressed for work. I give my wife a kiss as she is waking up to start her day and am out the door for work. The days that I do my routine go way better than the days that I skip my morning routine. And for any of you that think I can go to work any time I want so you couldn’t do something like this, I’m up at 5 am and at work by 8 am. If I can do it, so can you. It is worth it. Now I’m working on starting a morning routine at work and a nightly routine to wind down and get more done. It works in the morning, I don’t see why it can’t work everywhere. What about you? Do you have a routine for things? Do you set up your routines as IA drills that you do without thinking? Set a routine and follow it for 75 days. You’re life will improve. Ben Branam The post What’s Your Routine? [https://75hard.biz/whats-your-routine/] appeared first on 75 Hard Experience [https://75hard.biz].

Just do one more… Everything [https://75hard.biz/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/one-more.jpg]https://amzn.to/3XpxtpQ I just listened to Ed Mylett’s book The Power of One More [https://amzn.to/3XpxtpQ] and it inspired me to do one more every day towards being great. In everything you do in life, if you do just one more you can be great. No one knows at what exact point the greats have gone from just good to amazing but there was a point, and all it took was one more time. In selection for special forces, it’s going just one more leg of the race, one more day of selection, or just one more time doing the drill. In Marine Corps Boot Camp it was just one more past your limit; One more push-up, one more pull-up, one more mile, or one more time around the drill field. One day during Boot Camp the Drill Instructor gave me the advice to not even make it one more day just make it one more meal. Since we were fed three times a day it was just make it a little further, or just one more. When I got out of Boot Camp and to the Fleet Marine Force we measured days with one more, just two more days and a wake-up. It was a way for us to tell each other just one more. Now in real life, it is just one more thing In my sales job, it is just one more call sales call In my marriage, it is just one more nice word to my wife With my kid, it is one more moment together. A life of greatness can be built on just one more. If you do one more of whatever it is you want to succeed, you will eventually become great. No doubt, it takes time to do just one more. And it takes time and work to b e great at anything. But this one more all the time compounds and before you know it, you will be great. Do one more act of kindness One more thing to get in shape One more thing at work Just one more to become great. It all starts with you. Learn more by reading the book The Power of One More [https://amzn.to/3XpxtpQ]. Ben Branam The post Just One More [https://75hard.biz/just-one-more/] appeared first on 75 Hard Experience [https://75hard.biz].

In everything you do be humble. [https://75hard.biz/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/speak-bubble-iphone-1024x1024.png] Leadership is something I’ve been taught since the beginning of everything… or so it seems. As a Boy Scout when I was younger, leadership is one of their core principles. There I was taught the Scout Oath and Law. Both fail to mention being humble. I grew from scouting to being a United States Marine. Leadership seemed to be the one constant from day one. I was taught leadership principles, traits, and core values. Of 5 traits, 14 principles, and 3 core values, not one mentioned humility. After the Marine Corps, I wanted to be a cop. In my training, I didn’t find humility anywhere. The first time I started learning humility was when I started studying Jui-Jitsu. Humility in Jui-Jitsu is more a form of survival than anything else. You think you are going to go into a fighting place and be the loudmouth, you are going to get humbled, fast. You get to learn the hard way. Then as a Security Contractor, I started to learn a little more about humility. Trying to be “a quite professional” means you have to be humble. Now from a Navy SEAL, Jocko Willink [https://jocko.com/], I finally am getting training in humility. He has an easy saying, “Be humble, or get humbled.” There are a lot of places you can get away with being egotistical. And many people can get away with it for a lot longer than anyone around them would like, but sooner or later, they will get humbled. If you want to be the leader in your family, a leader at work, or a leader in life, you better learn to be humble. As a Marine, I was pretty good at war fighting. I did not like the administrative or uniform stuff. In fact, I was outright defiant of it. I never found my humility as a leader. But the leaders I loved the most around and above me were the ones to come at me with humility. Since I was good at my job as an infantry Marine, I knew a lot about my weapon system, and tactics, and continually studied them. In fact, I read manuals and books so much I was given the call sign “Brain”. The leaders that were humble would tell me about how good I was with my weapons and how they aren’t as good with them or knew anything about some of the technicalities of my job. But they asked me what I needed to be better at that job and used that to help me be better at the rest of the administrative and rear echelon stuff that I wasn’t good at and hated. I was never the uniform-wearing poster boy that you think of when you think of a Marine. I was the dirt on my face, rifle carrying warrior part. As a civilian, I still shoot competitions and go to firearms classes and even teach self-defense with a firearm from time to time. While I’m always one of the best, there is always someone better and someone I can learn from. In fact, as a Marine, we all take great pride in our skill with our rifles. And every time you are on the range there is always a top shooter. And I was always one of the best there as well. But, be humble or get humbled. Every time we went to the range I was never top shot… I was always second. It didn’t matter if we went with the platoon (30 Marines), my company (100 Marines), or even the battalion (almost 1,000 Marines) I was always second by a point out of 350. Very humbling. This week, while you go about your life, try to practice humility. I know it isn’t something we do very well or practice, but if you can lose your ego humility is easy. Try it, Ben The post Be Humble… [https://75hard.biz/be-humble/] appeared first on 75 Hard Experience [https://75hard.biz].

Those who are crazy enough to think they can change the world just might do it. Whether you think you can or think you can’t you are right. [https://75hard.biz/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Gratitude.png] Are you grateful for what you have? Do you express gratitude for it? How often do express gratitude to yourself? The people around you? The world? If you are like most people in this crazy busy world, we don’t stop enough to express gratitude to the people and things around us. And the fact that we don’t do it just makes it harder. It is a habit that needs practice. But if you are grateful for what you have life will become abundantly easier and better. This is simple, but not easy. Here is your challenge to make yourself a better person and the world a better place. Every day for the next 75 days take to social media and express something you are grateful for. I know it sounds too simple, but have you tried it? Do you express gratitude every day? Do you let the world know of your gratitude? This challenge will make you better by stopping to think once a day about what you are grateful for and then expressing it to the world. We all know that social media should be called the social shit show. If it bleeds it leads has gone from the “old media” to the new media. And continues to get worse. Here is your chance to influence that. Here is your chance to make social media a better place for everyone that sees your post. Yes, you will get more likes, shares, and interaction if you post that the world is ending over your bike ride was fun. That was my post yesterday. I crashed pretty hard about one minute into my ride. Got up and pushed on to ride 30 miles. And then posted I was grateful to be wearing my helmet because I bounced my head off the pavement and was able to continue on. Don’t worry about measuring the likes on your post. Worry about helping the one person that will see your post. If you can change one person for the better, and they can change one person, and that person can change another person, we really can change the world. It all starts with you. Ben The post 75 Days of Gratitude [https://75hard.biz/75-days-of-gratitude/] appeared first on 75 Hard Experience [https://75hard.biz].

It’s the everyday things that change us. “Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.” – Lao Tzu For some reason, I remember the end of the quote as your habits become who you are. I sit right now trying to make my habits into who I want to become. But it seems like that daily grind of doing something everything every day is what is getting me. I want to be a motivational writer and podcaster. And this blog is my attempt at doing that. I am working to make myself better, and helping those around me become better, so they can make the ones around them become better, and if everyone becomes a better person, the world would be a better place. Lately, I’ve let everything get in the way of this simple goal. I haven’t been writing or podcasting. I haven’t been working on myself as much as I should. And I haven’t been growing. Everything has a season, but I think we shouldn’t let a season go by without improving ourselves. I just let a season go by without improving me and it sucks. I feel horribly behind at everything. At work I haven’t been doing the simple things to keep going. I’m a salesman, and I haven’t been prospecting, which means I haven’t been bringing in new business. I’ve just been working the business I have and now I’m behind. At home, I haven’t been working on being a better husband and father and I think it is affecting my relationships with my family. Physically I’ve been missing workouts and eating poorly so I haven’t been losing weight or improving my physical prowess like I want to. It all comes back to the simple habit of trying to improve yourself every day. For me, that is reading at least 10 pages a day out of a self-help or business book, listening to a book, and listening to podcasts that help me be better. (Andy Frisella’s Feal AF [https://andyfrisella.com/blogs/realaf-podcast], the guy that came up with the 75 Hard Program that motivated me to start this site is a good one to listen to). Over the last week, I’ve started reading again and listening to more podcasts. I’m hoping to motivate myself into getting better a little at a time. As I get better at me, I’ll get better at doing the grind, which includes this blog. If you are still reading this blog, thanks. I hope it is helping you become better. Ben Branam The post The Grind… [https://75hard.biz/the-grind/] appeared first on 75 Hard Experience [https://75hard.biz].