Trading good for good

Since January 1st, I’ve been doing something called 75 Hard. Long story short: follow a diet (no cheating), do two workouts a day (one must be outdoors), drink a gallon of water a day, read 10 pages of a (useful) book a day, and take a progress picture each day.

I’m 40 days in and doing pretty well.

I have two friends that started 75 Hard on January 1st, as well. They both “failed” a few weeks ago. I use both the word failed and quotation marks because, they will not be completing 75 Hard. Without additional context, you probably assume that, one-dimensionally, they failed or gave up or conceded because 75 Hard is, well, hard.

But I’d argue that they didn’t fail. There are a few things you don’t know about these guys.

One of them is currently in the throws of running and investing in multiple companies. They are shipping a lot of product and growing quickly. He has additional investors to whom he has financial and ethical obligations. He has a wife to whom he has obligations of time, depth, and presence. He was a collegiate basketball player that is no stranger to grueling physical exertion.

The other is the CEO of one of the aforementioned companies. It is a financial firm that just launched this week. If you know anything about spinning up an state-regulated financial advisory firm, you’d know that compliance alone can be a full-time job. Never mind the fact that he is the salesperson, financial advisor, broker, HR department, and everything-else-that-needs-to-get-done guy in this new business. Oh, and he has two kids and a wife, too.

These guys traded one good thing (75 Hard) that would have tested their mental and physical discipline and endurance for another good thing – a level of necessary focus on their top life priorities right now, including their new and existing businesses, their families, and their faith.

I know plenty of people that would probably fail at 75 Hard and have 50 reasons. I’d just roll my eyes and let it go. But these guys? Not so much. They were capable and committed, until it made no practical sense to continue.

Trading good for good can be a great decision. It can also be an excuse. Do what needs to be done, and be honest with yourself as to why you chose that path.