🪄 How to Create your Modified Magical 30
Letter 172
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Aloha fellow learn-it-all 👋
Greetings from Northern Michigan!
These are my parents paddling away with their two doggies stalking a couple of huge blue heron birds in the turtle creek on Walloon Lake after 34 years of marriage.
It was a fun afternoon :)
Now, let’s dive into letter 172 from a learn-it-all. Enjoy!
❓Question to think about
How can I jumpstart my life?
Before I jump into answering this question, a bit of a backstory…
🖊️Writing
In July I read this June update from my fellow writer friend
who wrote about doing the 75 Hard. It looked pretty insane from my first look at it. Here's what this transformative mental toughness program entails for 75 days:Pick any diet and stick to it with no cheat meals or alcohol.
Perform two 45-minute workouts, one of which must take place outside.
Drink a gallon of water.
Read 10 minutes of non-fiction.
Take a daily progress picture.
Yes, I know right. Intense.
This wasn’t the first time I’d heard of this program. I heard
share on his podcast about the 75 Hard in 2021 and my coworker recently shared about her interest in doing it.75 Hard piqued my interest since I knew I’d be in a totally different environment this summer in Michigan, so I wanted to use that as a forcing function to healthy living. Especially after turbulent times with a six-hour jet lag and sailing a couple of days, I craved a reignition of my ideal life away from eating Tootsie Pops and Smarties for breakfast.
I never thought I’d do something like 75 Hard… but I did something even better.
Instead of taking this program, which isn’t backed by science and was started by marketer and motivational speaker Andy Frisella in 2019, I gave myself permission to make it my own.
I invented my own modified magical 30.
I created it pulling inspiration from 75 Hard and zooming out on my life and what I want to be a part of it based on my needs.
Here’s what my regimen looked like and some reflections:
(1) No social media Mondays.
To kick this off, I took the first week fully off of social media, since I was off the grid sailing anyways. My intention with this was to have more conscious media consumption.
Then I read two pieces from people I look up to
Mari Andrew on her life without Instagram for 17 months
Steven Schlafman on Putting it Down: Reclaiming My Attention and Intention From Twitter for the rest of the year
After reading both of these pieces on the same day, I decided no social media at all for 30 days (and indefinitely).
(2) Reading for at least 10 minutes.
I originally planned on doing this each night after I journaled my gratitude and life lessons. I ended up reading in the morning most days since my energy level and time permitted me to. It was a great primer for my writing. I ended up reading the Bible and Hidden Genius by Polina Marinova Pompliano. I’d re-consume Polina’s book on Audible while driving for errands throughout the day for better retention.
(3) At least 30 minutes of writing.
I shot this out of the park. Writing for me includes editing and since for my job I am putting final touches on a manuscript, it is part of my responsibilities during the week.
Since on my weekends, I prefer to minimize screens, I made it optional whether my writing is on my computer.
I wanted to experiment with a system of taking a picture of my journal entries or orating their transcripts via otter.ai to paste into my Notion system, where I manage projects, but that felt like work so I didn’t end up launching that system.
(4) Stick to my diet: daily fruit, vegetables, more protein, and only one sweet.
Since I am coming up on 12 months of no alcohol and don’t like the phrasing of “cheat meals” invoking shame, I’m glad I adapted this diet part to fit personally for myself.
I chose some things that are tendencies that I overlook if I’m not careful with my dietary consumption:
At least one vegetable and fruit per day. This entailed exploring fruit outside of bananas. I leaned on oranges and cherries. A new discovery is baked cauliflower, thanks to my Aunt Linda. It was delicious!
More protein. I ate red meat twice. Chicken almost daily in salads with spinach and avocado. Eggs are a no-brainer. I learned to make them sunnyside up with basil and parmesan. Thank you, Dad and Christa.
Minimal sweets to one max a day. This was usually ice cream or chocolate. I didn’t count the natural sugars like honey in my tea or dried cherries in my salads. This was surprisingly the most challenging part. Alas, I am addicted to sugar. I’m looking at nutrition labels and see that there’s added sugar in almost everything: bread, milk, etc. When it was my time of the month, I threw this rule out the window because sweets are some of the few things that help me get through it so I had two or three. Usually hot cocoa too.
(5) Perform one 45-minute workout outside per day.
I love getting outside. But, sadly it usually goes on the back burner if I feel overwhelmed or stressed. Living with my brother who’s training for his Ironman events inspired me to run, bike, or swim most days. I joined a weekly running club in Petoskey. I counted active recovery days too with long walks or yoga. Social events are also fun, so I included waterskiing, standup paddle boarding, and kayaking.
(6) Drink at least half a gallon of water.
A gallon is 128 ounces, so half is 64 ounces. I own a 40oz hydro flask. A gallon would mean 3.2 of those bottles. Instead, I drank at least 1.5 of them.
This is roughly 8 glasses. I preferred drinking out of glasses so went that route roughly getting up once per hour to fill up. I would trust that impulse. I counted my daily LaCroix and evening herbal tea too.
It’s seamless to drink way more than half a gallon on intensive cardio days.
(7) Take a picture daily.
I don’t love taking mirror shots because they feel too cringe so progress pics were out. Instead, I opted to share pictures of nature or a selfie with my daily workouts on my Strava app where I share my fitness reflections.
(8) Bedtime by a decent hour.
Usually in Honolulu, I would be in bed by 9:30 pm, but here in Michigan, there is still daylight then, so it takes my body some time to get sleepy. I’ve made my bedtime flexible around 11 pm, later by an hour on the weekends. Leaving my phone in a separate room has been crucial to this success. I’ve sat out many movie nights to get to bed at this hour. Totally worth it since sleep lets me show up as my best self the next day.
(9) Duration: 30 Days
The number 75 days seemed arbitrary and I enjoy doing month-long experiments. So I set my sights on the timeline of making this project from July 20th- August 20th. It’s important for projects to have an end date. Projects always have end dates, otherwise, they are continuous without assessment for reflection and any changes to be made.
I loved this so much that I’ve decided to go for another month. I’m looking forward to adapting these next 30 days as time goes on too.
If you had a wand, what do you wish was in your Modified Magical 30?
I would love to know what you come up with as I am constantly adapting my habits.
🔎 Word to Define
Regimen: a plan, or course of action such as a diet, exercise or medical treatment. (Source: Apple Dictionary)
Any regulation or remedy which is intended to produce beneficial effects by gradual operation; esp. (Med.), a systematic course of diet, etc., pursued with a view to improving or preserving the health, or for the purpose of attaining some particular effect, as a reduction of flesh; -- sometimes used synonymously with hygiene. (Source: Webster’s 1913)
⛬ Etymology
c. 1400, medical, "course of diet, exercise, etc. for sake of health; regulation of such matters as influence health," mid-15c., "act of governing," from Old French regimen (14c.) and directly from Latin regimen "rule, guidance, government, means of guidance, rudder," from regere "to rule, to direct, keep straight, guide" (from PIE root *reg- "move in a straight line," with derivatives meaning "to direct in a straight line," thus "to lead, rule").
By 1751 in the transferred sense of "any regulation or remedy intended to produce gradual, beneficial effects." (Source: etymonoline.com)
🌟 Quote to inspire
“Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life.” -Golda Meir
Three Wikipedia-sourced factoids about Golda Meir:
Modern Israel's first and only female head of government
Before passing in 1978, she was described as the "Iron Lady" of Israeli politics
Meir was the first and only female head of government in the modern Middle East and the fourth elected female head of government or state in the modern world
📸 Photo of the Week
I couldn’t ask for better parents.
They celebrated their 34th wedding anniversary over the weekend and even came to cheer me on in my triathlon under the Mackinaw Bridge (that connects the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan).
I literally wouldn’t be here typing to you folks today if it weren’t for that first bicycle ice cream date my parents went on 37 years ago. Thank you for that act of courage they did. Each day, I appreciate more and more all the things they’ve done, shown, and express to me. I try my best to honor them by living the lessons they’ve modeled and sharing my own creation and love with the world. <3
🙏Shoutouts
To my parents for being a true inspiration for what a lifelong partnership looks like
To my friend Alivia and her mom Marcy for helping me to take the leap of faith to sign up for the Race the Straits International triathlon over the weekend! It was a lot of fun and I will need to share this reflection another time :)
To my friend Jill for leading the Petsokey Run Club each Thursday. It’s been so much fun!
I appreciate you reading this!
If ideas resonated, I’d love you to press the heart button, leave a comment, reply to this email, or reach me at vermetjl@gmail.com. If you forgot who I am, I welcome you to my online home.
Never stop learning 😁
Mahalo 🌺
Jen
PS - in case you missed last week’s letter, I shored a 🥅 A Letter to Goals: Reflections on Growth in Swimming
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