January is officially over! One month down in 2024. This last month I participated in the DEF reset sponsored by Jocko Fuel, Train Hardn and Echelon Front. The idea of the DEF reset is to set a paradigm for the rest of the year by focusing on 8 particular habits. Here is my rundown with the habits.
Up Before the Enemy
Habit #1: Get up and get after it. We all have responsibilities that demand things of us daily. The first habit of the DEF reset is to get up before the responsibilities kick in. Why? it sets the tone of the day and is a window of time for us to get things done that we want to accomplish that normally get crowed out due to the busyness of our lives. What time do the responsibilities kick in? Set the alarm earlier.
This one I was already doing. But part 2 of this habit is not hitting that snooze button. And with a variable work schedule, I had to think through what I could do based on when I got to bed and when everyone at home was going to get up. 05:30 became my target time but there were a handful of 04:30's and 06:00's.
Get After It
Habit #2: Work out - preferably start the day with it. This is one of the most important things that we can do from a long-term strategic perspective. So, this should be first - not to mention it is a great way to shake the sleep from the eyes and get the blood flowing.
Going into the DEF reset this is one area that I was already doing, but I was not satisfied with my workout routine. I was working out 4 days/week focusing on heavy and slow barbell and some dumbbell-based exercises. The goal was to develop strength and muscle hypertrophy.
I decided to take the month off of my normal routine and focus on the programed workouts written by Jason Khalipa with Train Hard. Each week there was a series of 5 EMOM (Every Minute, On the Minute) style exercises using a combination of body weight and dumbbells. They were all 15-30 minutes in length. I was impressed daily with how little time and weight it took to create pain as long as the reps and intensity was there. These exercises were designed not just to develop a muscle hypertrophy stimulus but also to improve overall metabolic conditioning.
Throughout the reset I brought my workouts up from 4 days/week with heavy/slow exercises to 7 days/week focusing on conditioning workouts with some heavy/slow and core mixed in. Moving forward, I am planning on going back to my heavy/slow but daily incorporating more of these conditioning style workouts into my daily routine. I am looking to use the EMOM style conditioning to complement the barbell strength and hypertrophy focused exercises.
Prioritize & Execute
Habit #3 is to prioritize and execute. We all have a list of things that need to be accomplished. And often it seems that the number of things that we need to do is greater than the amount of time we have in which to get them done. Or there are a myriad of distractions that would keep us from accomplishing our work. In this habit, we focused on determining our top strategic goals, filtering them down to weekly priorities. Then every night, write down the top three priorities/tasks for the next day. When the sun was up, it was time to execute the plan.
This was really good for me. I can often get lost in the overwhelming mountain of things to do. For me it was helpful to take time each week to think through what was important for the week. Then as I wrote out each day's priorities, I could reference back to my bigger picture priorities. On a daily level, having pre-written my tasks really forced me to get those done. Without that level of pre-planning, I often rely on motivation (which frankly wanes rather quickly). But with pre-planning, I wasn't asking myself if I wanted to do something... it was written down. It was getting done.
Hydrate
Habit #4: set a hydration goal. This one I didn't really think about much before the reset. I drank water whenever I thought about it or felt like it. For the reset I looked up how much water I should be consuming based on body weight. The number I found was 0.5 oz per 1 pound of body weight. Since I am around 200 pounds, this worked out to about 100 oz of water - or 5 blender bottles (20 oz) of water per day.
Most days this was not a difficult challenge to meet. I would have a full blender bottle with my pre-workout. If the workout was strenuous enough, I would have another 20 oz of free water during the workout. This was followed by a protein shake with 20 oz of water immediately after the workout. Since I do another protein shake in the evening (another 20 oz) all I had to do was fit 20 more oz somewhere during the day.
I can't say that I felt any noticeable differences in the way I felt (other than more frequently needing to use the restroom). But adequate hydration is never a detrimental thing. And moving forward, I will likely try to be more conscientious about making sure I hit that minimum amount of 100 oz / day.
Clean Fuel
Habit #5 is focusing on eating heathy. The idea was to pick a nutrition plan and stick with while trying to avoid unhealthy foods and try to emphasize healthy, perimeter foods - those primary ingredients or foods that are located around the perimeter of a grocery store. There was no specific diet plan to follow, rather each person could decide what diet plan was best for them.
During the reset, I didn't focus so much on specific diets or foods, but rather focused on trying to hit my main macronutrients and monitor proportions. So, my nutrition plan consisted of the following:
Try to follow the 9:20 rule of filling a plate - Imagine a clock face with hands telling the time 9:20. Fill 1/4 of the plate with carbs (between the 9 and 12). The remaining portion of the plate is divided between protein and vegetables (hands between 12 to 4, and 4 to 9).
NO SECONDS! - My goal was to fill my plate the first time with what I thought I needed for that meal, no seconds. This one was tough. There is a significant part of eating that is intensely enjoyable. Often, I would find myself half-way through my plate fantasizing about a second helping. By focusing on firsts only, not only was I able to control the rough calorie intake per meal, but it also made me to live in the moment and enjoy the food on my plate. Most of the time when we take seconds, it serves no caloric needs, only adds to our caloric excess and is not nearly as satisfying as we anticipated.
2 Snacks daily, ONLY - snacking is one of the other areas of weakness for me and a huge extra caloric burden. With the exception of my night shifts, I only allowed a mid-morning and a mid-afternoon snack. And the snack itself needed to be healthy - nuts, cheese, etc.
No Sugarcoated Lies
Habit #6 is no blatant consumption of sugar. That means no cookies, no donuts, no cake, no pie. All of these, while extremely tasty, do not contribute to a healthy diet and hijack the reward system in our brains.
This was difficult! I really like chocolate chip cookies. And to make matters worse, January is my birthday month. With the exception of 1 piece of pie at home on my birthday and one piece of piece of pie several days later when my work colleagues got me another pie (they didn't know about the DEF reset) I cut out all sugary foods for 1 month. I even ordered a Monk fruit sweetener for my tea so that I didn't have to use sugar.
This wasn't easy. On my first day at work for the year, one of my colleagues brought homemade cookies, which is her habit. I don't think it is an understatement to say that her cookies are perhaps the best chocolate chip cookies I have had. Seeing those and saying no was not easy. And when it came to my birthday, not going back the next day for left-over birthday pie was not easy. Squelching the cravings for late night sweets was not easy. But in the end, it was a good opportunity to take control of my cravings - to deny myself what I thought I wanted, realizing later that I am capable of surviving without the extra sweets. And I was also able to experience the feeling that while my brain really wanted sweets, they aren't ultimately satisfying, and I don't feel better after eating sweets.
Back to the Book
Habit #7: Personal development is not just about building the body. Since we are a dynamic blend of body, mind and spirit, complete personal development involves all of these other areas of our lives. To that end, this habit is focused on developing ourselves as a whole person. It involves reading, writing, journaling, meditating, etc. The DEF reset recommended 20 minutes daily.
In the spirit of following the excellence compass, I decided to spend this time reading first focusing on my relationship with God followed by reading directed toward focusing on my relationship with my family. For the last several years, I have been listening to the Daily Audio Bible. It is a podcast that reads through the Bible in 1 year by reading daily from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs. This year, rather than listening while driving, I decided to listen and follow along in a physical copy of scripture. To develop my family relationships, I read through the book, The Shepherd Leader at Home by Timothy Witmer. A daily dose of both of these was hugely beneficial in orienting the rest of the day.
Remember
The final habit is that of gratitude. The task was to take a few minutes each day to stop and think about and remember someone for whom we are thankful. In a world what is driven by abundance and entitlement, taking time to get our minds out of our own personal orbits and taking time to be thankful is refreshing for the soul.
I chose to break the 4 weeks down into 4 themes:
Gratitude for my family
Gratitude for those who had a significant influence in my life
Gratitude for hose who had a significant influence on my family
Gratitude for those who played a significant role in securing and protecting the freedoms and life that I enjoy.
I would try to either reach out personally to that individual or publicly express that gratitude.
This was logistically one of the easiest habits, but mentally one of the more challenging habits. This is not that I am not thankful, but that I don't gravitate toward the level of intimacy in a relationship that is required in expressing gratitude. In the process, though, I found that it was a good opportunity to step out of my comfort zone. Additionally, during the week that I was focusing on the individual members of my family, I found that my posture relative to my family was different. Rather than seeing the antics of my kids as a source of annoyance, I began appreciating each of my kids and appreciate the place they each had in our family.
Final Thoughts:
Looking back on the DEF reset, it was a great month project. There were certain areas that I was already doing and other areas for personal growth. The best part was that it created a community of other like-minded people getting up and getting some. As I move forward throughout the year, there are definitely elements of the DEF reset that plan on carrying forward. 2024 is off to a great start. Let's get after it!
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