75 Soft

By Molly Mook

The 75 Hard is a mental toughness challenge that was created in 2019 by Andy Frisella. Personally, I saw it gain a ton of online popularity during quarantine in spring of 2020, and its presence hasn’t gone away. No doubt about it, the 75 Hard Challenge is transformative, rewarding, and a huge discipline builder. However, it is also very extreme and restrictive, and that would be harmful for me (and some others). The 75 Hard doesn’t allow for uncertainty, flexibility, or balance. 

For some context, the 75 Hard rules state that for 75 days straight, you must: ● Follow a diet. 

● No alcohol. 

● Complete two 45-minute workouts a day, one being outdoors. 

● Drink 1 gallon of water. 

● Read 10 pages of a book. 

● Take a daily progress picture. 

I was really into the idea of completing a challenge of healthy habits and personal improvement, though. So, this past summer, I completed the 75 Soft with one of my high school besties—it’s an adapted version of the 75 Hard, and we created our own rules. It was still a tough challenge but way more doable and realistic for a healthy lifestyle full of balance. 

Our rules for 75 days straight… 

● Focus on whole, healthy foods without restricting. 

● Only drink alcohol socially. 

● Complete at least one 45-minute workout a day. 

● One active rest day per week. 

● Read 10 pages of a book per day. 

Our 75 Soft Challenge was balanced yet still improved our discipline, consistency, andconfidence. Being consistent with good habits makes me feel my best, so I had an awesomesummer in regards to how I felt about myself. The challenge pushed me to make time for myselfevery single day. I had to plan ahead, push through unmotivated spells, and ingrain healthytasks into my daily life, no matter my schedule. I showed up for myself and honored thecommitment I made, which felt amazing. We pushed ourselves to be our best, most balancedselves. It was also a great move because finishing the challenge didn’t mean I stoppeddoing all of these habits— they just didn’t have to be done every single day.