Guy Reams (00:01.922)
This is day 84, ratcheting up the pressure. I'm renewing my commitment to ambitions. I have big ambitions, but I've also come to realize that achieving those ambitions requires more than just intention. It demands commitments and sacrifices aligned with their magnitude. After reflecting on my current commitments, I've reached a clear conclusion. They're not at the level necessary to truly pressure me to success.
At 84 days into my latest set of commitments, I've made decent progress, yet I feel it's time to ratchet up the pressure to gradually increase the intensity in a way that leaves no room for retreat. Much like the ratchet tool that only tightens every step forward will make backtracking impossible for me. Once the pressure is applied, I will either move forward or I will fail. So what am I going to do? Well, I have seven commitments.
Commitment number one, water intake. I need to drink a minimum of 12 cups of water per day. That's bare minimum for me to be able to run well or able to perform well or just be healthy. need 12 cups of water per day. Despite knowing this, I often fall short and I have a commitment to drink more water, right? But it's not specific enough. So to address this, I'm starting with a small but specific commitment.
drinking two cups of water at the start of each day. So I'm going to lay put the two cups of water out, like one 16 ounce bottle of water or two cups of water, I'm going to have it out and ready to go. So that when I wake up in the morning, the first thing I'm going to do is down 16 ounces of water. Now that doesn't seem like a lot. But if I add that to what I normally drink during the day, that'll automatically increase my fluid intake. So
I've succeeded at this before and this is how I did it. So what I'll do is I'll add to it this time. My trigger point will be wake up in the morning. And then what I'll do is in about a month, I'll add to at another time, let's say when I eat lunch, will trigger every time I sit down to eat lunch, I will add two more cups. So that'll be four cups of water I automatically get every day. And what I'll do is I'll just keep adding until I get up to that.
Guy Reams (02:32.78)
I'm always taking 12 cups of water in addition to whatever else I might be taking. So that's what I've done. I did this for a year and I was able to drink a minimum of 12 cups a day for a year. And that was great. I felt great by the way. So I know this is a critical commitment and a habit to have. So I'm rebuilding it. Commitment number two, morning prayer and meditation. Now I do this already, but I got to make it better.
Like high quality like my quality just sucks right now. So I What I want is a 30 minute session of prayer meditation each morning And that has been transformative for me in the past It's time to this is a time to quiet my mind Reflect and address the pressures that are weighing on me However, i've let the seriousness of this practice fade So i'm going to restart this commitment with a new fervor
And so what I'm going to do is in the morning when I wake up, I'm just going to spend five minutes, five minutes. That's it. It's all masking five minutes. And I'm going to spend that five minutes, not allowing myself to look at my phone, look at my computer, look at my email, do any watch TV, nothing. I'm going to sit in a quiet place and I'm going to let my mind just go. And I'm going to, as
thoughts come up, I'm going to go, that's a nice little thought. Let me put that thought over here. And I'm going to continue to do that until I get into a mindful state where I know what's bugging me the most that day and what I need to really work on. This practice that I started maybe six years ago has been the single most impactful practice I've ever done. And what I do is when I resolve to what I'm going to do that day,
during that meditation system, I then pray about it and I ask God for help and I make a commitment to God that I'm going to do. I'm going to get this done. So that's what I'm going to do morning prayer, meditation, five minutes is all I'm asking. Now what I'll do is I'll increase that five minutes to 10 minutes or seven minutes or something until I get to the 30 commitment. Number three, end of the day reflection. When I started the 365 commitment,
Guy Reams (04:57.422)
which I started several years ago. So I've done basically five or six of these commitments, these 365 day commitments. So what I'm going to do is at the end of the day, I've had this practice that I do where I sit and I take time to reflect and identify unresolved thoughts and I recommit to the day next day and I write a journal entry. Now I've let this kind of fall apart. So I used to follow this really good checklist.
that I did every night and it was powerful and I did it every night for like a year in a row and it was awesome. The problem is I've just let it slide. I still do it, but I don't do it anywhere near what it is. So what I'm going to do is at the end of the day, I'm going to commit to one thing for now and I'll add more later on my checklist. But the one thing I'm going to have on the checklist is just for me is simply to write down the things that are still floating. I don't know if you know what that means.
You're working all day. Like today, there's this, I made a commitment to, a client that I would get something done for them. And I made that commitment and it's on me. It's a weighing on me. Like I got to get it done. But like, didn't get it done today. I didn't have time. Like I'm traveling with my family. That's why I'm recording this in a car. I'm traveling with my family and I'm skiing. I'm doing stuff that
I'm visiting my grandmother. I'm doing things that I just, it's not, don't have time to do this client work, but it's pressing on me. So tonight I'm just simply going to write down that I need to get that done. I'm going to let it go. I'm going to put it down on that piece of paper. This is something that is still on my mind. It's a floating thing that I have to deal with. That way I can say, you know what? I've recorded that now I'm at peace and then I can sleep better.
Commitment number four, the PSS plus one challenge. So you're welcome to join me on this. So if if you listened to this video, you can start right now and join me. You'll think this is freaking nuts by the way, but it works. So a few years ago, I decided to wake. I decided to do one pushup, one set up and one squat.
Guy Reams (07:20.79)
And I picked those three because I think those suck. hate them the most. Right. I hate pushups, sit-ups and squats. So I picked the thing that I hate the most. So I did those. And what I did is every day I would add one. So on day two, I would do two pushups, sit-ups and squats. Day three, I would do three pushups, sit-ups and squats. Day four. And I kept doing that for a full year. And I remember the day when I did 365.
push-ups, sit-ups, and squats. And it just so happened that I was at a conference for my company and I was at the hotel gym. There was other people from my company in there doing their morning workouts. I, know, everybody's on edge when you're doing a morning workout amongst your colleagues, cause you want to look really cool, right? Like it's a big deal. You got to look cool. You can't, you don't want to be like normal. Like when I go to the gym, I'm normally like, I'm so tired. want to fricking do this.
But when you're at the hotel gym and your colleagues around, you're trying to look all cool. Well, I went in there and it just so happened that I had to finish my commitment, my 365.
So I did it. did 365 pushups, sit-ups and squats that day to end my commitment. And people were looking at me like, what the freak? This is amazing, right? So I had the added benefit of the ego trip. the point is, is I did that routine no matter what. There was times when I was doing that in hotel rooms. I even had to do pushups one day in an airplane because I had to get it done before midnight.
Right. Cause I was on a red eye flight and I apologized to the stewardess. I explained her what I had to do. And she said, go for it. And I did my 42 pushups right there. in the, in the area where the stewardess is hanging out, I was very appreciative of let me do that anyway. But the point is I did it every day. Now, when I was done with that, I was a bucket. I wade like 185 pounds and I was the most, had the most lenist.
Guy Reams (09:33.902)
leanest physique I've ever had in my life. So I've let I've, I've dropped that commitment. I dropped it. And as a consequence, I've kind of let myself go a little bit. So I've gained a little bit more weight than I want to. And running's a little harder. I've noticed that my breathing's not so good anymore. So it's time. It's time to get back to PSS baby. So I'm doing PSS plus one challenge starting today. I already did. I just did it.
I did a pushup, a sit up and a squat one seems really stupid. Doesn't it? Well, tomorrow's going to be two. And then in a month from now, this, this is getting real when you have to do 30, right now it's real right now. You're like, crap, I got to do 30 of these suckers. So, and then, you know, two months you're doing 63 months, you're doing 90. And by the time you're doing a hundred, you're like, okay, you're starting to see the, you're starting to feel the effects.
Right? So that's commitment number four. Commitment number five, writing every day. Now I write every day, as you know, because I write this blog and I talk about the blog or I read the blog. I either read the blog on the video or I talk about it. Like tonight I'm talking about it. I'm not reading. So so writing every day commitment. There is a project I'm working on. It's important to me. Nobody knows what it is. It's just mine.
But I need to write something and it's big and it's massive. And I want to get this done. But I'm not making enough progress. My progress is slow. So starting today, and I already did it, I'm committed to writing five minutes every day on this topic until I can get to some gravity of body of work.
So I'll start with five minutes. And as I get comfortable with that, I'll go to more minutes like 10 to 15 to 20. That's where I get up for. I'm writing an hour a day on this topic. My goal is to get to write an hour a day on this very important topic to me. It's probably the most important thing to me personally. So that is worth spending an hour a day on commitment. Number six, rebuilding my memory palace. I'm just really pissed off.
Guy Reams (11:55.426)
that I let my memory palace fall into disrepair. It's now become an ancient ruin. So if you don't know what it is, there's this method of Loki by the Greeks to create a mind palace in your mind to help you remember things. If you got to remember guys like Socrates were remembering these long stories and telling them to people. You had to have a way to memorize all this, right? To give these long speeches. So I learned that
When my memory is firing, I'm just better at everything in my life. Everything is better. Everything is faster. Everything is smoother. Going to the airport is easier. Participating in conference calls is easier. Remembering things you're supposed to do is easier. Remembering long strings of numbers is easier. Remembering what hotel room you're in. Everything is easier when you can memorize things quickly. So I have a memory palace and it's a hundred rooms.
It has a hundred rooms in it and it took me forever to build it. It took me like a year to build this thing and I've let it fall. Now I remember most of it, but not all of it. So I need to go back and do some renovations. So this is going to be really freaking hard. So I'm going to start with five minutes a day. So I'm going to spend five minutes a day, probably at night as I'm laying in bed, I'm going to spend five minutes.
going through my memory palace. And then throughout the day, as I practice it, I'll see things, I'll see numbers and I'll remember the numbers. So I'm going to try that. Like I'm looking at a license plate right now. 1948 is license plate, right? I'll remember 1948. So because I have a rooms that 1948 belong into. So that's what I'm going to do for commitment number six.
Commitment number seven. And by the way, I always commit to seven things, right? That's what I always did. So, I run. Now I do, I run. I love running. Running has changed my life. I was not a runner for my whole life up until I got into my late 40s. I was not a runner. But now I love to run. I consider myself a runner.
Guy Reams (14:19.566)
Even though sometimes I fall out of shape or I gain a little bit of weight or whatever, I still love running. Now, but it's time to ratchet up the running. My ultimate goal is to, is to complete a hundred mile marathon. I've completed a 50 miler. So I want to get a hundred mile or done. I want to put on the back of my car, you know, those stickers you see where people put 13.1, 26.2. I want to put 13.1, 26.2.
50 and then I want to put a hundred right so and then I can go eat that Because there's although there's a lot of people that run hundred mile on marathons There's not that many people that have done it. So my goal is to get that done before I die. So But I require to be in condition and although I'm I can run pretty good now My condition is crap. I let my pace fall apart So what I'm going to do is get my pace on schedule
So I'm going to do that by every running. I'm just going to do a mile every day, just a mile for now. And I'm going to keep working on that mile until I get the pace to what I want it to be. and then I'm going to add another mile to it. So my goal would be to initially build up to five miles at a seven minute per mile pace. That's pretty good for my age. So I want to be able to run five miles at a seven minute per mile pace.
And that's my initial goals to get to that. So I'm going to do that by working on sprint work for a mile every day. Now, in addition to my other long runs and stuff, that's what I'm going to do. So that's my major commitment going forward. So this is where I stand today. I'm recommitting to proven practices by ratcheting these suckers up. Ambition is never achieved in leaps. It's earned through daily action, incremental progress, and an unwavering commitment to improvement.
I'm ready to take on that challenge one ratchet click at a time. Let's see where this next 365 days takes me.