75 Hard Experience

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Day 63 of 75 Hard: Don’t Drop Your Pack Apr 20, 2020

Show notes

Don’t drop your pack was a saying from the Marine Corps. In the Marine Corps all our back packs had quick connect features that allow you to dump your pack in an emergency. It was a great feature that no one used.

Once you dumped your pack using the quick releases it was a time consuming pain to get the pack put back together so you could wear it again.

Marines use the quick release as an analogy more than anything else because it’s that hard to get the pack back together.

The analogy is at the end of a long hike (hump in Marine Corps jargon) you pull the quick release and let your pack drop because you are done. From experience doing anything more then 15 miles, dropping your pack is the best feeling you will ever have. But you have to do it by taking it off, not the quick releases.

In the Marine Corps work is never done. If you drop your pack with the quick releases you will not be able to put it back on and continue to move. Because no matter what anyone says, you aren’t really done with your pack until you are back at the barracks.

I never met the Marine, but the analogy goes, don’t drop your pack until you are done. When you can see the end, and you think you are there, you will want to pull those quick releases and let that pack full. But don’t do it before you are truly or done, or you will be sorry.

This is where I am in my 75 Hard journey. I’m almost there. I can see the finish line… but it’s no time to drop my pack. Even at the end, don’t use the quick releases or you will be sorry.

So I continue forward with my burden securely on my back. One step at a time. One day at a time.

What do you do when you can see the finish line?

Will you drop your pack in sight of the finish?

Will you cross the line and pull the quick releases?

Or will you finish strong, head held high, and enjoy the victory even with your burden still on your back?

Marines continue forward even after the finish line with their burdens. It isn’t done until it is done.

I will continue all the way through the 75 days, then I will think about taking off my pack.

75 Hard I will Conquer,

Ben Branam

The post Day 63 of 75 Hard: Don’t Drop Your Pack appeared first on 75 Hard Experience.

Day 61 of 75 Hard: Shouting Into the Darkness Apr 18, 2020

Show notes

Ever feel like you are shouting into the darkness? That you don’t hear anything in return and you think that matters?

I feel like I’m shouting into the darkness on the web site. I’ve done this for over a year now and the numbers just keep going down.

Maybe not many people give a shit about making themselves better. I think I’m learning that the hard way.

Ever feel like you are the only one among your group of friends that has actually read a non-fiction book since school? Me too.

What I’m learning here, the hard way (again), is that it doesn’t matter.

If you shout into the darkness just because you want to hear you voice echoed back, what’s that make you? Something I don’t think I want to be.

I want to help people. I want to make the world a better place. I want to be a good Christian, Husband, Dad, Man, Citizen, Friend, and Human Being.

All of that has me shouting into the darkness to help others. If just one person is hearing me. If just one person is being made better by what I’m doing… then it should be worth it.

That humility pill gets hard to swallow sometimes. So here I am. Standing bloodied and battered, but still standing.

I will continue on with making myself better so that I can help the people around me and make the world a better place.

And if I have to shout into the darkness with no voice returning, then so be it.

75 Hard I will Conquer,

Ben Branam

The post Day 61 of 75 Hard: Shouting Into the Darkness appeared first on 75 Hard Experience.

Day 59 of 75 Hard: Make Good Days Happen Apr 16, 2020

Show notes

Today was a good day. I made it that way!

What about you? Did you make your day go one way or the other?

The famous motivational speaker Zig Ziglar used to ask the question in his seminars if you could do anything to ruin your life? Could you sleep around on your significant other? Could you rob a bank? Could you crash your car on purpose? Could you.. he had a long list of things that could ruin your day and your life. Everyone always laughed.

Then he would stop, clap his hands together and say, well if there are things you can do today to ruin your life, is there anything you could do to make your life better? Why not? You can do all these negative things, why can’t you do the opposite and make your life better?

I pose to you the same question only in a reference to a day. Could you do anything to ruin your day? Couldn’t you do the opposite to make your day great?

To ruin my day I could stay in bed hours after I should get up. I could ignore my todo list and just watch Netflix (without the chill part) and eat ice cream all day. I could skip my workout and ruin my 75 Hard Challenge. All of this would ruin my day. Most of it actually sounds fun: Sleeping in, “Netflix and chill”, eating a tub of ice cream, and being lazy all sound appealing on one level. But on the other hand…

Talk about ruining my day on the way to ruining my life. It would be a slow painful death. It might take decades but sooner or later too many of those days will destroy you.

So do the opposite. I got up with my alarm clock. I sat down and did my reading. Then I pulled out my Focus Planner wrote down 3 major things I was going to get done today. Then wrote my five things for my 75 Hard Challenge. Under that I wrote out my miscellaneous other tasks I wanted to get done today (including this post). On the other page I wrote out my goals for the year, quarter, month, and week. I do this everyday to keep everything in the top of my mind. Then I pounded a protein shake (to stay on my diet) and hit the road with a 50 (actually 47) pound pack for a 3 mile hike. I got home and got to work on my todo list.

This is how you have great days. Because I stayed on task I was able to get some extra things done and spend time with my wife and kid.

This is how I have a good day. How do you make your good days happen?

75 Hard I will Conquer,

Ben Branam

The post Day 59 of 75 Hard: Make Good Days Happen appeared first on 75 Hard Experience.

Day 55 of 75 Hard Round 4 Apr 14, 2020

Show notes

Two great days will get you motivated again!

I had two good days back to back after going through a couple bad ones.

When you are in the hard times, it always feels like that is all there ever will be.

When the hard times are over and you are into the good ones, you just feel a relief to be through. So you don’t always enjoy the good times like you should.

I use to do that all the time. And I think the good times would just pass me on by and I would miss them. Now I’m stopping to look.

I had two good days in a row and I am going to call them great. I did Easter Sunday with the family and only did my 75 Hard Challenge and no other work.

Today I went back at it, and got things done with a vengeance. I had more then one obstacle, but I didn’t let it bother me.

I made today a good day by getting things done.

When you get things done you have a cense of accomplishment that brings you joy.

With my accomplishments, comes my joy. I did my list of todo’s like a crazy man and just kept working through two different problems that tried to derail me.

So, I’m doing well. Tomorrow I’m going to have another good day of getting things done and turn it into a great day.

What about you? Will you make tomorrow great? Will you just get through the bad days and then not enjoy the good?

How will you decide if today was a good day or a bad?

75 Hard I will Conquer,

Ben Branam

The post Day 55 of 75 Hard Round 4 appeared first on 75 Hard Experience.

Day 55 of 75 Hard Apr 12, 2020

Show notes

Today went easy… at first. Then got harder. I pulled my web site numbers and it’s painful to see everything keep going down.

Before I didn’t care really. It wasn’t about anything but something I loved to do. Now it’s about trying to make money. To make money I need an audience. Building that should be easy by creating content.

Well I’ve been creating more and more and getting less and less traffic. It sucks.

If you are reading this, obviously you got here somehow. And I really appreciate you for listening.

I will continue working on this site until at least the end of this 75 Hard and then I will see.

It’s demotivating. But I guess that is something I cannot control so I need to go forward with what I can.

I can control the people I interact with and the content I put out. So I will keep going until I’m finished.

What do you do when you hit a demotivating spot?

Do you let it stop you?

Do you dig in?

How do you handle it?

75 Hard I will Conquer,

Ben Branam

The post Day 55 of 75 Hard appeared first on 75 Hard Experience.

Day 53 of 75 Hard Apr 10, 2020

Show notes

Today was a good and hard day. I didn’t get everything I wanted to get done, done. My list of big three things fell away when my son flipped out about having to go for a walk with me this morning.

I finally got him calmed down and we decided he needed another form of exercise. And I think we found one…

We decided strong man style backyard training would be fun. So we went online and ordered a tone of stuff from the local Lowe’s.

I got 300 pounds of sand and a bunch of 2×4’s and plywood. We are going to fill sandbags (which I have a bunch of as preps) with different weights. I’m going to create a couple 10, 15, 20, 25, and 50 pound bags for us to use. It should be a blast.

Then we are going to build a couple movable walls of different heights to toss the bags over.

If nothing else it will be a fun building project we can do. He already got a workout trying to move 300 pounds of sand (in 50 pound bags) with a wheel barrel into the back yard. Then carrying lumber is always hard work too. I had fun. Him, a little less. He gets aggravated that he can’t do as much as me. I’m 6’2″ 330 pounds and have been lifting for the last couple years. He is 10, 5’2″ and about 115 pounds wet. So he has some work to do to catch me.

This seems like a great start. We needed a project and something to work out together with. This should do it!

I got the five things for my 75 Hard done pretty easily and will be building with my son tomorrow.

Setting everything up took way more time then I thought and I didn’t get to film some videos like was on my list. I’ll just have to get that tomorrow.

75 Hard I will Conquer,

Ben Branam

The post Day 53 of 75 Hard appeared first on 75 Hard Experience.

Day 51 of 75 Apr 08, 2020

Show notes

I’m through the funk I had the last couple days and pushing forward.

I think part of my funk is wait loss. A lot of horrible stuff you eat over the years gets stored in your fat deposits. And as you burn those fat stores it releases all of the stuff back into your system.

I don’t know the science behind that, but read it in a couple different places. It was on the internet… I’m sure it must be true!

In reality I have no way to check the above one way or the other. But because it is beneficial to me and not hurting anyone I’m going to believe it.

Next time I get into a depression funk while I’m losing weight I know that it is something from years ago coming back to haunt me. I’ll take my lumps like a man and push through.

The most important thing is that I know it will end. And I know the why behind it.

If you have a why and a timeline for an ending you can endure anything.

Back in the Marine Corps we use to have officers and NCO’s (Non-Commissioned Officers, like Sergeants and Gunny’s) take us for runs at a fast pace without any information about the length or pace or the run. It was hard going after the first mile or so. At the time most of us could run 10 miles without stopping at a pretty good pace. But their was one Sergeant and one Major that could run marathons at almost an Olympic pace. There was no way I could keep up for more then a couple miles at their 6 minute mile pace.

So I would just dig in and try to suck it up. Run through the pain and the unknowing for as long as possible. On those runs more of my Marines fell out then any other. Not because they couldn’t make it physically, it was because they would drop out mentally. Where the mind goes, the body follows.

For me the depression is that run I don’t know how long or fast it is. So I fall out mentally long before my physical body is ready to quit.

Now that I have the cause and a timeline, I know how long the run is at what pace and I know I can push through.

The 75 Hard Challenge keeps reminding me of lessons I learned on battlefields long ago. I continue to learn these lessons over and over again.

I hope you are faster on the learning cycle then me and don’t have to repeat as many lessons. If you are doing the 75 Hard and forgot any important life lessons, it will remind you.

75 Hard I will Conquer,

Ben Branam

The post Day 51 of 75 appeared first on 75 Hard Experience.

Day 49 of 75 Hard Round 4 Apr 06, 2020

Show notes

Today is just another day… but not. Today is the first day I wanted to quit.

I was bored this morning with the challenge and feel I have so much else to do in life right now that I was thinking of throwing in the towel. But I pushed forward.

Now here I site in front of a computer wanted to quit again…

I think the depression monster isn’t far behind. Which sucks even more then quitting!

So I’m pushing forward. And simply writing what is on my mind right now. I don’t know what else to do at this point besides push forward.

Stress from this virus is everywhere. My kid had a panic attack (I think from it) tonight and could only explain that he was scared. Not of what or who, was embarrassed about it because he knows there is nothing to be afraid of, but can’t calm himself down.

That breaks my heart and makes we want to quit too. Life seems to be conspiring against me today.

I could sit here and just give in. Go grab some ice cream, not post this and never come back. It would be easy, but it would throw away everything. And it isn’t what I want to show my son… so you know what!

Fuck this stupid wanting to quit. Fuck sitting down and doing nothing. Fuck crying into some ice cream. That is for quitters and others. I want to do great things. I want to make a company I’m proud of and that can support my family. I want to be the leader my family needs right now.

So fuck all this quitting. Fuck all this Covid-19 bull shit that is everywhere and fuck anyone or anything that gets in my way. I’m going through this.

This turned into a pep talk for myself. But sometimes I just have to motivate myself. And sometimes that’s using language unsuitable for mixed company. Because sometimes I just have to slap the quit out of myself.

So I’m not quitting.

How about you? Have you given up? Will you give up? Can you slap yourself verbally to get yourself back into the fight?

I am and hopefully I’m here to give you some motivation.

Slap yourself figuratively, verbally, or literally if you have to, but don’t ever give up.

That giving up shit is for losers. I know you aren’t a loser and neither am I.

75 Hard I will Conquer,

Ben Branam

The post Day 49 of 75 Hard Round 4 appeared first on 75 Hard Experience.

Day 47 of 75 Hard Apr 04, 2020

Show notes

Today I sent most of the day answering emails and doing a little work. My wife woke up and declared it a day off. And I sort of went with it.

Now I’m doing some work at night. I did get some really important things done and talked to a couple people that really needed help. It was emotionally hard, but I was able to help a couple people. And that was worth it.

I’m finishing up my 75 Hard five things right now. I have this post and a bottle of water to drink. It’s hard to drink the water if you don’t get a jump on it in the morning! So I’m sure I will have to get up and go to the bathroom during the night. But that is a small price to pay.

How are you doing with all the virus stuff? Is everything going well or is it hard?

Just wanted to check in with you and see how you are doing.

75 Hard I will Conquer,

Ben Branam

The post Day 47 of 75 Hard appeared first on 75 Hard Experience.

Day 45 of 75 Hard Apr 02, 2020

Show notes

I continue to move forward. Things in my business are taking way longer then I want them to. But I guess that is the first three rules of business playing out: It will take twice as long you think, cost twice as much as you think, and everyone thinks they are the exception to the rule. I’m not the exception.

So I keep plugging along. I’m starting to worry about the hole ball out thing. Will I get any money from it? I guess I shouldn’t bet on it. That just means I need to get to work harder on my side business to start making some money. I might publish a guid on how to do 75 Hard. Wonder if anyone would buy it?

I continue to move forward with the challenge. Today is Day 45 and I got everything done. I’m am getting excited about my weight because I am down over 25 pounds from my highest and exactly 19 pounds since day 1. That puts me at an obese 328.6. But it’s going the right way. It took me over a decade to get this big and will take time to get back to normal. So I’m optimistic about being where I was a couple years ago under 330. I will continue forward. The diet is working… all be it slowly.

The walking has gotten easy and boring. So in true Marine Corps fashion I found an Alice pack from back in the day. Filled it with a steel plate and other crap and it weighs in at 47 pounds. I did my first walk yesterday of 3 miles with that on. Tomorrow I will do the same thing. I’m just trying to make it a little harder on myself.

Going through voluntary hardship is a good way to be able to conquer anything when it comes. The Covid-19 Virus and staying at home is nothing for me. Just a little more discipline about wiping down surfaces, staying away from people, and washing my hands. I can take care of that easy.

Some of my friends can’t take it. They keep going to the store with their families saying it’s a necessity. Some how I figured out how to get food and other things delivered to me.

If you are going through this challenge I hope you have enough discipline, will power, and respect to stay at home. Some of you in the medical field, law enforcement, and a bunch of essential fields (like power generation, garbage, and sewage) have to go out. And I admire you for putting yourself and family at risk for the rest of us. The rest of the people I see are going to contribute to the numbers of dead.

I can only control what I can control. I keep talking to my friends and helping them get set up with food delivery places. You can bet I’ll be staying away from them.

Is this time in life hard for you, or have you adjusted easily? Are you staying home and taking care of your family as much as possible or are you out and about contributing to the spread of the virus? Are you continuing the 75 Hard while this is going on?

Let me know in the comments how you are doing.

75 Hard I will Conquer,

Ben Branam

The post Day 45 of 75 Hard appeared first on 75 Hard Experience.

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