“Nothing can be fine-tuned until it’s first consistent.” — Gino Wickman, Traction

I’m on a journey of self-discovery. I’ve made several commitments to myself lately, and I’ve never been a stickler on keeping promises made to myself before. But this time is different.

Maybe I’ve just grown up, or maybe my luck finally ran out and now I have to make my own luck. I’m not sure why this time is different, but I can feel it. Something has changed.

I’ve had a pretty charmed life by most standards. Born and raised in sunny SoCal, a childhood spent at the beach and in the mountains, never wanting for much of anything — to a career unlike most, working on things I’m passionate about, traveling the world, setting my own schedule and making decent money.

But then 2020 happened and almost everything I had spent the past decade building is gone. Savings dwindling, debt piling up… It’s time to level up and move forward in my life. And so I am.

I’ve spent the past 6-months fully focused on self-improvement and self-discovery. For nearly two decades I’ve known that the business world is where I want to be, but I wasn’t cut out for business school, at least I couldn’t get in. (Ask me how many times in 10 years of business I’ve needed calculus. Why is that a prerequisite?)Nevertheless I found my way and have accomplished more than most in this world, but much less than I’d like. So I was given the chance to improve this last year, and I’ve taken it. But enough with playing games and going on vision quests. Now is the time for action.

I consider this Phase II of the New Me™ and here’s what has started as of Feb. 1st, 2021:

75Hard — time to not only get this fitness journey started, but more than anything, hone the discipline and dedication that I have lacked for so long. Today is Day 6, and when I publish this blog post I was hit the gym for workout #2 for the day. It’s legs and shoulders today, if you were wondering.

Bullet/Habit Journaling — I recently finished reading ATOMIC HABITS by James Clear, and it has been a bit part of my commitment to the NEW & IMPROVED DANNY 3.0™ and as part of that ongoing journey, I picked up his bullet journal. This is a new world for me as well, and it has been startling how much I write stuff down but don’t follow through.

Food Logging — I am going for 100% of my calories logged into MyFitnessPal and really working on getting my macros right. I had no idea how unbalanced my diet was until now.

Those few things may not sound like much to you, and they didn’t seem like much to me for the first few days, but now I’m coming to terms that I’ve committed to 2 1/2 months of not missing a single day, it’s starting to look a little daunting. I don’t know if I’ve ever made myself be this consistent with anything before, which brings me to the quote I posted at the top of this post, which I read just today.

The level of performance that I am seeking requires significant fine tuning, and now that I’ve begun building Super Consistent Danny 1.0™ I’m only now realizing how far I’ve yet to go. See you on the other side.