Starting 75 Hard

Monthly Favorites - April 2023 - Episode 4

anicholls24@gmail.com (Andrew Nicholls) — Sun, 23 Apr 2023 23:09:13 GMT

In this episode, I want to talk about something I call "monthly favorites".

Monthly favorites are a selection of things I got value from and want to share with all of you.

They will be 1) a book 2) an app or website 3) a podcast or an episode of a podcast, and 4) a person I think is worth following.

1) Book - "You Are The Placebo" by Dr. Joe Dispenza

2) App - Balance app

3) Podcast - Entrebrewer Podcast

4) Person - Luke Belmar

Send me an email at support@andrewnicholls.ca and let me know what you think.

Do you like the idea of a monthly favorites?

What do you think of my selection of monthly favorites?

What are some of your monthly favorites?

Sharpen The Saw Podcast Episode 3

anicholls24@gmail.com (Andrew Nicholls) — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 01:00:19 GMT

75 Hard - Mental Toughness Challenge

In this episode, I talk about the 75 Hard program and my experience doing the challenge.

I go over what 75 Hard is, the rules, and some tips that I found useful while doing the challenge myself.

If you are looking to flex those discipline muscles this will be an episode to listen to.

Extra resources if you want to know more:

Andy Frisella on 75 Hard - ⁠https://andyfrisella.com/blogs/realaf-podcast/14-75hard-a-tactical-guide-to-winning-the-war-with-yourself⁠

Andy Frisella on the Live Hard Program - ⁠https://andyfrisella.com/blogs/realaf-podcast/208-75hard-livehard-winning-the-war-within-unlocking-your-full-potential⁠

Sharpen The Saw Podcast Episode 2

anicholls24@gmail.com (Andrew Nicholls) — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 00:50:27 GMT

Commercial Crab Fishing

In this episode, I talk about my previous job as a commercial crab fisherman on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada.

Hey, it's Andrew Nicholls here, and welcome to the Sharpen the Saw podcast. In this podcast, I talk about how to level up or sharpen your saw and become the next best version of yourself.

In today’s episode, I wanted to talk a little bit about my previous profession. There has always been a lot of interest in what I did for a living, which was a commercial crab fisherman on the beautiful west coast of Canada.

I fished in a body of water called the “Hecate Straits”. It is located right between the Queen Charlotte Islands and the main Land by Prince Rupert.

My commercial crab fishing career stretched from 2014 to the beginning of 2021, or 7 years.

I grew up in a small town just below Vancouver, British Columbia, called Ladner. It was a small fishing and farming community which gave me the opportunity to do a variety of different fishing jobs in my youth.

Some of the fishing jobs I did were herring, gill netting, and unloading fishing boats.

I never thought I would get into fishing full-time. I just thought it was a good way to make some extra money in high school.

Another job I had that secured my foothold in the fishing industry was building prawn, crab, and black cod traps.

Having that extra knowledge about how crab traps were built helped me a lot later on when I actually got on the boat.

I got on a pretty good-sized boat. It was a 69-foot seine boat that was converted to a crab fishing boat. The boat's name was the “Delta Harvester”. It was part of a fleet of boats owned by a super-rich guy named Randy and he pretty much used the whole operation as a tax write-off.

The story of how I got on the boat started with me and a friend of mine wanting to get sober. We didn’t really know how to do that. All we knew was drinking. But luckily for us, we had a mutual friend who had been sober for probably 2 years at the time and he got us into an AA group.

The friend I got sober with was the first one to get invited and then he told me about it and convinced me to go.

I didn’t want to go initially because I thought it was some kind of cult.

After going I soon found out that it was not. In fact, it helps a lot of people and ended up being one of the best decisions I made in my life. I ended up learning a lot about sobriety.

The guy who got us into the AA group was also the one that got us on his dad's commercial fishing boat.

It was pretty crazy. Just as I was getting sober the opportunity came to get on a completely sober crab fishing boat. A very rare occurrence in the industry. The captain had at least 23 years of sobriety himself so he was able to teach me not only about crab fishing but sobriety as well.

I never got on the boat looking to make all kinds of money. For me, it was about finding a change that would be valuable to me in my sobriety. I needed to get out of my town and away from some of the people I was hanging around with who, as it turned out, were just drinking buddies that I did drugs with.

I figured this would be the best way to get clean and stay sober. All I would be doing is working.

An average trip when we were actually out fishing, and not just doing boat work or fixing crab traps, was around 7 days. Although the length of the trips did vary from between 3-14 days.

But before we actually got out to fish we had to do gear work. This is basically going through every one of our traps to make sure they didn’t have any holes in them and just do some general maintenance. If there were holes the crab would get out and traps without crabs don’t pay.

I always get asked if it is like the deadliest catch. Well, it is more like the spin-off they did called “Deadliest Catch: Dungeness Cove” which is based out of Oregon in America. Same crap and style of traps as that version of the show.

Our traps are different from the ones you see on the original deadliest catch and our boats are much smaller.

Our traps weighed anywhere between 90-120 pounds each and we had 1200 of them.

When I first got on the boat the gear pile that came with the boat was a complete disaster. My first round of gear work was a solid 8 weeks of 12-hour days. We spent our time building new lines, buoys, bridles, and mending the traps. This was just to get the gear fishable.

Towards the end of my stay on the boat, we had a very good-looking gear pile. It was super noticeable from how many more crabs we were getting in our traps. Not only that but it made life a whole lot easier when we had to stack them on the boat.

Once we got the gear work done we could load the traps onboard. To initially get the traps into the water it usually took around 3 days of pretty much going around the clock with little or no sleep.

We would get them into the water in 3 loads. The first load is the biggest load at around 500 traps. We would stick roughly 100 into the front 2 hatches and the other 400 would be on deck.

There would be so many on deck that we could barely even get out of the door.

On opening day we would be ready to go. It would open at 8 am on opening day. We would wake up between 3-4 to make sure we had a good amount of bait cut, everything set up, and maybe even a nice meal before we started the grind.

Once we were actually fishing the trips would usually be shorter at the beginning. This was where most of the money is made. Lots of factors go into how long we are out on a trip but we always tried to get in sooner than later. The longer the crabs sat in the hatch the higher chance there was of them dying. If they died they would be no good to anyone. Crab buyers don’t buy dead crabs.

When the fishing season opens we are literally living on the boat for 8 or more months. We fished out of Prince Rupert, which was a long way from where I lived in Ladner.

The crew consisted of 3 people on deck and the skipper/Captain. That was if we could even keep a full crew. It was extremely hard to keep people around because of how physically and mentally demanding the job was.

People think they know what they are signing up for after watching Deadliest Catch but they are wrong. Once they actually start doing the work themselves you can watch their eyes glaze over in real time. Some were all talk but even after the first day, most people would shut right up. Never have I ever witnessed men folding like cheap tents as much as when I was on this boat.

We’ve had people cry, threaten to kill themselves, and all kinds of crazy things like that.

I don’t really blame them, to be honest. This job was definitely not for everyone. I mean I have done all kinds of other physically demanding jobs like structural concrete, roofing, and even building traps was pretty tough but this was on a whole other level. I even spent some days on the stern of the boat contemplating my life. It takes a different kind of mindset to do the job and you have to be a little bit crazy.

The pay was pretty good but we still had the potential to do all this hard work and come back with nothing. We didn’t get a salary or something like that. We got paid a percentage of the catch after expenses.

The average pay was usually between 7-10%. This pretty much depended on the boat you are on and how much experience you had. I got lucky and got on with a skipper who was very generous with his pay compared to other captains.

I started out at 7% because I didn’t have much experience on this kind of boat but was able to work my way up and take on more responsibilities to be paid more.

In the beginning, I started doing bait, and it was my job to make sure everything was tied down. On a fishing boat, you definitely don’t want anything to move, especially when you are in rough weather.

The next step for me was becoming the boat cook. It is way different cooking on a commercial fishing boat than in a restaurant or even back at home. It was my job to make sure we had all the food supplies we needed for each trip. This was an important job. In the same way we fuel up the boat, we need to fuel up the men. I had to make sure everyone was eating so we all had the energy to do what we needed to do.

I got very lucky because a lot of the other boats in the fleet's idea of cooking was to have a fucking table full of cocaine and to hit the local corner store for some pizza pops and junk food. We ate very well on our boat. Prime ribs, pork roasts, and steaks were common to see on the table on our boat.

We spared no expense on food. Usually, at the start of a season, we would drop 3k to stock up on meat for part of the season. It would end up being a little cheaper for us to buy in bulk. We pretty much ate like kings.

We got absolutely spoiled on the boat and could usually get in 3 solid meals per day in-between snacking and working.

On top of all this, I also had to work on deck so pre-planning and preparing was essential. At the end of a long day, I couldn’t forget to take the meat out of the freezer either.

For breakfast we usually had the standard bacon/sausage and eggs but sometimes if we had leftovers from the day before I would make us omelets.

Lunch usually consisted of a quick little dish we liked to call goulash. This would just be leftovers fried up with some rice.

Dinner was where we had our prime ribs, steaks, and roasts.

Making food at some points could be a gong show. Running in and out full fucking chisel to check on the food to make sure it wasn’t burning and getting the work done on deck.

To cook we had a diesel stove. It doubled as our heater to keep the boat warm and for our hot water so it was on all the time.

After being a cook for 3 years I got to become an engineer. I always found myself back cooking because we couldn’t keep anyone around but my main responsibility then was making sure we didn’t sink and that everything was in working order.

The engines we had on the boat were the main engine, a Cummings, 1 big john deere for general electricity and a backup for the crab pumps and hydraulics, Another big john deere that could run everything, and a little Yanmar that was just for general electricity.

I did all the maintenance on the engines like oil changes, changing belts, or fixing anything that went wrong. I kept everything all greased up. I had to have all my engine room supplies organized and make sure we didn’t run out of anything. If anything broke anywhere on the boat like a door or the stove or something I would have to figure it out.

We even had the false wooden deck rip off the boat from the weather that we had to fix. Basically, the boat gets beat up.

Shit just fucking moves like you wouldn’t believe when you get hit with big waves.

I remember a time when we were fishing and the weather was kind of bad but good enough so we could keep fishing. But it was starting to get noticeably worse. Our skipper finally says, “It’s going to start getting a hell of a lot worse pretty quick here so we are going to head in”. We finished up the string we were working on and started tying shit down on the deck. Well out of nowhere a huge queer wave nuked the boat while we were still on deck. The boat completely heeled over and I was looking straight down into the water from the middle of the hatches. Another guy was at the back of the boat and he slid across the whole boat and hit the side rail. Luckily no one ended up going over but we were like “Holy shit”. A surefire way to get the adrenaline going. We ended up taking a beating heading off the grounds but everyone was ok.

There were so many times just like that and sometimes we had to bite the bullet and fish through some pretty big weather. The skipper was pretty good about getting off the grounds before it got too crazy. It could get super dangerous super quickly, especially in that body of water. Because it was really shallow water there the waves got really choppy and were close together. It wasn’t like outside in the open water of the West Coast where the waves were further apart and had a bit more rhyme and reason to them.

There is a reason they call the body of water I fished in the Hecate Straits. “Hecate” means hell in Latin and it could sure be hell at times.

We used all kinds of different kinds of baits. Squid was the main type of bait we used. We put that in bait cups. They were basically jars with holes in them. We did mix some other things with it but usually, it was just squid. In the bait cage, we would put cod, clams, and herring for the most part. The odd time we would get a deal on something else but we pretty much used the same stuff every time.

In one of my last seasons on the boat, we ended up getting a record-breaking load of crab for the whole West Coast of Canada and the USA. It was over 82k pounds of crab! We ended up filling all 4 hatches, something we had never done before. The unloading process ended up being a gong show. We ended up offloading at a place we had never offloaded before and the guy managing the offload was clearly a fucking idiot. We got through offloading half of our crab and had to go somewhere else which caused a lot more crab to die than should have. It ended up being over 24 hours of offloading in the end. Even with the fuck ups it was an absolutely amazing experience and I am very grateful to have been a part of it.

Something most people didn’t know about Dungeness crab fishing is That the fishery doesn’t stay open all the time. There would be a carb charter. The charter was where a boat in the fleet would volunteer/ get chosen to test the crab. What most people don’t know is that crab molt. Pretty much the way they grow is they come right out of their shells. When they do they get supper soft, pretty much like jello, and get way bigger. Their shell hardens back up and they are bigger than they were before. Well, the testing boat samples the crab and basically the closure is determined on a set of criteria that the data shows. If it is a softening trend then the fishery closes and there is a 2-week break, then the test boat sets out test pots and gets data to determine a hardening trend that determines the opening of the next season. We did this to avoid killing the soft crab with our traps.

Anyway, that is a little bit about crab fishing. If you have any questions then feel free to hit me up via the contact information on this website. Thanks for tuning in and I’ll see you at the next one.

Sharpen the saw podcast - Episode 1

anicholls24@gmail.com (Andrew Nicholls) — Tue, 11 Apr 2023 00:32:46 GMT

Welcome To The Sharpen The Saw Podcast

In my first episode, I talk about why I wanted to start a podcast.

I have been making many excuses for why I can't do it so I figured I would take action and get going.

Positive action kills all fear.

Transcription

Hey, it's Andrew Nicholls here. Welcome to the Sharpen the Saw Podcast. In this podcast, I talk about how to level up or sharpen your saw and become the next best version of yourself.

Leveling up and improving is something I've put a lot of effort into the last three years, specifically, and I've made quite a lot of progress myself. Actually, I wanted to use this podcast as another step on my journey to become being the man I want to be. So, in this episode, the first episode of many more, I want to talk about starting a podcast and why I wanted to start this one.

Basically, the first reason that I wanted to start the podcast, on a little more of a selfish note is because I don't think that I'm a good speaker. The only way I know how to get better at a certain skill is to do it over and over and over again. I figured that starting a podcast would be a great way for me to get the reps in and to do something consistently to be able to build my speaking skills.

The things that I want to work on in that aspect, are the way I articulate and explain things so people can understand, and the art of persuasion.

I figured the whole process of making a podcast, like coming up with things to say and actually saying them recorded and then sharing it with people is the best way to get better at that.

The other reason is because I've always loved helping people. And I think one of the biggest things for me when on my self development journey was listening to podcasts of people that knew what the fuck they were talking about.

I listened to a lot of podcasts talking about mindset, business, and those kinds of topics. I have also read a lot of books on those subjects. But podcasts in particular helped me quite a bit.

I am absolutely crazy about music but for the last 3 years I have had more podcasts in my ears. This is because I think to be able to be the man that I want to be, I have to constantly be learning and changing the way I do things and getting different perspectives on stuff that I'm not too sure about. Any free time I get, I'm just listening to podcasts and informational content.

I guess this is my way to be able to share the knowledge that I'm putting a lot of work into obtaining, because I know there's probably people out there that are where I am now or a little bit behind me that could definitely benefit from some of the things that I have to say.

Another thing I want to talk about is actually getting started with something and taking action. Because I know for me, a podcast is something that I've wanted to do for a long time. Well, maybe not a long time, but long enough where I started wondering to myself, am I ever going to do it? I always think to myself like, “oh, I don't have enough time. I've got a lot of stuff on my plate right now. Will I even be able to do a podcast and keep it consistent?”

One of the things that came up in some research I have been doing in how to create a podcast was that many people who start a podcast don’t get past episode 1. Another thing that I learned and think is super important is being consistent with the podcast.

A lot of the best people in podcasting, they never knew where it was going to go when they started, and they were absolutely terrible. Like probably just exactly where I am now. Not really thinking that they could put out some content that other people would enjoy and want to listen to.

That's kind of where I'm at right now. One of the people that I follow, he's a really good marketer, Seth Godin, He writes a lot of books, and is a speaker and a pretty smart guy. One of the things, things from him is there's no such thing as writer's block. There's simply a fear of bad writing. Do enough bad writing and some good writing is bound to show up. I think with that quote right there, it kind of goes along with doing a podcast or anything creative in general. Because at the end of the day, if I'm just sitting there thinking about doing a podcast, that's not going to get me better at it. I think I just need to start recording shit, and putting it out. And then of course, because I'm just starting, a lot of the stuff that I put out is going to be horseshit. I completely understand that. We all have to start somewhere. I mean there might not even be any listeners to this podcast for many, many episodes. I just need to keep pushing on despite all that and eventually with time, I will get better and be able to produce a better product so listeners can get some value out of it and be entertained. At the end of the day, that's what I want to do. I want to put out the best product I can and the only way to do that is to put in enough reps to make it happen and get it done.

That's basically all I got for this one. This is the first episode of the Sharpen the saw podcast and I definitely plan on keeping at it.

I’ve already started brainstorming ideas about things I can pass on or stuff I think people would get enjoyment out of.

If leveling up and becoming a better person is something that you're into or you want to follow along with my journey because I'm still just trying to make it in this world too.

Right now I just started doing a two year business management diploma, so I'm doing some schooling there.

I'm working on a lead generation business. It's a rank and rent model. I can kind of go into more detail on another podcast with that if you guys want to hear about that. I'll probably end up doing it because it's pretty interesting business model and there's lots of potential there, I think. So anyways, this is the Sharpen the saw podcast, thanks for listening and I will see you on the next one.

75 Hard Challenge - Round 2

Thu, 29 Dec 2022 02:35:00 GMT

Get Knocked Down, Get back Up

I have attempted 75 hard before but couldn’t complete it. It was the 1st of January last year, 2022, that I made my first attempt.

Almost exactly 1 year ago.

There is no excuse for not completing it.

I tell myself that my physio was getting in the way but I could have figured it out and continued. It was a justification I made to myself because I was too weak to carry on with the program. It was a cop out of doing something challenging.

The thing is I want what the program has to offer, metal toughness and discipline. That is something I have been lacking lately.

I don’t have much of a problem staying fit, eating right, and not drinking alchol. No, those aren’t problems for me. The problem I have is procrastination and keeping the promises I make to myself.

I like to think I am disciplined and maybe the people around me might agree but I know I need a lot of work. I want to get to the next level.

Some people do the program for weight loss, others for the challenge or bragging rights of completing something difficult. Me? I just want to be better then the man I was yesterday and I believe this program can help with that.

When I first started the program my brother Kurtis Bodie ended up doing as well. Not only did he complete it but he has been doing the next phases of the live hard program. He is an absolute stud! Follow him with the link in his name to see how he is doing.

I am a stubborn SOB so not completing this program didn’t sit right with me.

So like last year I will be starting on January 1st but this time I won't be a bitch and quit.

I have chosen to do a low carb keto/carnivore diet and I will put my workout program below if you want to take a look.

My exercise goal is to gain strength and gain weight. My target weight is 220 pounds. Right now I am sitting at around 200 pounds so I have a bit to go.

Here is a link to Andy Frisella’s information on the >>>75 Hard program<<<

I also go int o a bit more detail myself here >>>75 Hard Rules<<<

But just in case you want to have a quick look at the core rules of 75 hard here they are:

Rules

1) Stick to a diet

2) Exercise - 2 workouts, at least 45mins sessions spaced apart in the day(not one after another). 1 has to be outdoors. (can do 2 outdoors if you want or 1 indoors)

3) 1 progress photo every day

4) Drink 1 gallon a day(3.785 Liters)

5) Read 10 pages per day of non-fiction, entrepreneur, and personal development book

Training Program

Goal: Build strength, and gain weight. Target: 220 pounds

Weight training program:

Monday: Upper body #1

1) Bench Press(Barbell) - 5 sets - 5 reps

2) Bent Over Row(Barbell) - 4 sets - 5 reps

3) Inverted Row(Body Weight) - 4 sets - 10 reps

4) Incline Bench Press(Dumbbell) - 3 sets - 10 reps

5) Skullcrusher(Curl bar) - 3 sets - 10 reps

6) Biceps Curl(Barbell) - 3 sets - 10 reps

Tuesday: Lower body #1

1) Squat(Barbell) - 5 sets - 5 reps

2) Romanian Deadlift(Barbells) - 4 sets - 10 reps

3) Bulgarian Split Squat(Dumbbells) - 3 sets - 10 reps

4) Laying Knee Pull In(Body Weight) - 3 sets - 10 reps

Thursday: Upper body #2

1) Overhead Press(Dumbbell) - 5 sets - 5 reps

2) Bent Over One Arm Row(Dumbbell) - 4 sets - 10 reps

3) Bench Press(Barbell) Closes Grip - 3 sets - 10 reps

4) Bent over Row(Dumbbell) - 3 sets - 10 reps

5) Bench Dip(Body Weight) - 20 reps

6) Biceps Curl(Dumbbell) - 3 sets - reps

Friday: Lower body #2

1) Deadlift(Barbell) - 5 sets - 5 reps

2) Front Squat(Barbell) - 5 sets - 5 reps

3) Hip Thrust(Barbell) - 3 sets - 10 reps

4) Sit Up(Body Weight) - 3 sets - 20 reps

On other days Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday will be free days. Punching bag work, core work, runs, and hikes are things I will do these days.

Outdoors Workouts: I will go for a jog/run first thing in the morning with my dog. Might opt in for doing a hike for a change-up

My First Half Marathon

Mon, 15 Aug 2022 13:52:00 GMT

I have always been a physically active person. Even at my worst, I was always moving around doing something. Even all my previous jobs have been physical. But, I don’t have any experience in running in an organized marathon. I have always thought about it but never pulled the trigger on anything. I guess the closest thing I have done that has been an organized race of some sort was the tough mudder [1] . I ended up training for 6 months with a personal trainer for that and had a lot of fun doing it. Other than that, I have not had a specific event or anything that I was training for. All my exercise has been geared towards just being healthy and not letting myself get out of shape.

I started watching different things on YouTube about people doing triathlons, ultra-marathons, marathons, and event cross-fit stuff [2] [3] . I have always wanted to do some kind of marathon but watching other people train for them just sparked my interest even more.

Having zero experience, I was unsure of where to begin. I figured to just toss on my shoes and start running, and I will eventually get better. I also thought that the idea was to run as hard as I could for the distance I was running. Turns out that is not the most effective way to go about it. So far, what I found was there are 4 basic building blocks of marathon training.

Base mileage . Build your weekly mileage over time, running three-to-five times per week.
The long run. Do a long run every 7–10 days so your body can adjust gradually to long distances.
Speed work. Practice intervals and tempo runs to increase your cardio capacity.

4. Rest and recovery. Adequate rest helps prevent injuries and mental burnout. [4]

I am still trying to develop the right kind of program for myself. Right now, I run Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday(longer run). Weight train Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with Saturday for a rest day.

I was doing a muscle split lifting routine but moved to a full-body workout program for this half marathon. I was told by a personal trainer that this would help my whole body work together for race day. Also, for my long run, part of it is up a very slopped mountainside. Not sure if this will help or hinder me but again, I am still learning and trying new things.

The event I signed up for is 2022 Ronald McDonald House BC & Yukon Boundary Bay Race on November.6, 2022 in Delta, B.C. I am also raising money for the Ronald McDonald House charity that you can donate to at this link if you want to support this charity.

https://raceroster.com/events/2022/62323/2022-ronald-mcdonald-house-bc-and-yukon-boundary-bay-race/pledge/participant/15999384

After my first half marathon, I will start training for a full marathon. I will want to have one chosen a while in advance and have all the travel arrangements figured out. Going forward, after I know a little more of what to expect for an organized event, I would like to have things planned out and have some sort of process in place for myself.

I plan to add some interval work somewhere into my routine but I think I will add that a couple weeks from the race. I still have a bit of time before the event to figure it out.

I will also probably want to do some obstacle courses like the tough mudder or spartan race sometime in the future as well but haven’t thought too much about that yet. I think it is better to just focus on the task at hand first. But I think it is great to have goals to work towards and maybe I can raise more money for other charities!

Resources

[1] https://toughmudder.com/

[2] https://www.youtube.com/c/Bareperformancenutrition

[3] https://www.youtube.com/c/CFProjectMayhem [4] https://www.rei.com/learn/expert-advice/training-for-your-first-marathon.html

Health Benefits Of Seafood

Mon, 14 Mar 2022 23:50:00 GMT

The health benefits of seafood are undeniable. We’ve all heard of omega-3 fatty acids. You’ve probably seen a container full of fish oil supplements sitting on a family member’s kitchen counter, and for good reason! Omega-3 fatty acids are very heart-healthy. But health supplements go through a much less rigorous reviewing process than prescription drugs, and there’s hundreds of them. It’s just not ideal to wade through so many omega-3 supplements just to try and figure out if your chosen supplement is actually giving you any benefits, or you’ve fallen victim to the placebo effect! There’s actually a much better way of ensuring that you’re getting those omega-3’s and more; consuming more seafood.

What makes seafood so great?

Seafood is one of the healthiest foods on the planet, and not just because of the fatty acids! Seafood also contains essential nutrients like vitamin D, taurine, selenium, and other trace nutrients including amino acids, choline, iodine, and vitamin B12. It’s a great source of micronutrients and protein, which itself is very digestible due to the low connective tissue content. Eating seafood a couple times a week can have very positive effects on your health.

Omega-3 fatty acids

If you’re unfamiliar with these terms, the word “fat” might have a negative connotation for you, but oily fish is full of good fats and naturally low in cholesterol content. Experimental and epidemiological studies have proven that the good far outweighs the potential risks of consuming fish, even for vulnerable consumer groups. Omega-3s are excellent at improving cardiovascular health, including reducing your risk of developing cardiovascular disease, suffering a sudden cardiac death, getting blood clots, lessening increased inflammation, as well as many other benefits. People reap great benefits from just taking them as supplements, but it’s naturally better to get as many of your nutritional needs straight from the source. Almost all seafood is full of amazing essential fatty acids. Fatty fish being one of them.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D is essential for bone, teeth, and muscle health because it helps the body regulate calcium and phosphate. Vitamin D is naturally present in few foods, but the body can synthesize it when exposed to sunlight. The past couple of years have not made it easy for us to go outside and get some sun, but it’s not like vitamin D deficiency is a recent issue. It usually manifests symptoms like fatigue, bone pain, muscle weakness and cramps, and even mood changes. If this sounds like you, 30 minutes in the sun and a serving of seafood is sure to help you feel better. If you live in colder climates or at high altitudes, you should make an extra effort to get your daily dose of vitamin D.

Taurine

You might recognize taurine from labels on energy drinks, but when it’s not consumed via caffeinated chemical soup, it’s quite beneficial. Taurine plays an important role in supporting nerve growth, and proper hydration and electrolyte balance in your cells. It can be found in large amounts in the brain, heart, retina, and platelets. Your body also synthesizes taurine naturally, but individuals with diabetes or heart disease should look into upping their taurine intake. It might pay off in the long run.

Selenium

Selenium is an essential mineral and can only be obtained through your diet. It’s a powerful antioxidant, reducing inflammation and enhancing immunity. It also plays an important role in reducing your risk of various cancers and heart disease, as well as preventing mental decline. It should be noted that some of these benefits can only be achieved by selenium obtained through diet (a good example is a Mediterranean diet), not supplements.

Trace nutrients

These trace nutrients are found in tiny amounts in seafood, but they play big roles in regulating various bodily functions. For example, choline is an essential nutrient that regulates several vital functions such as forming cell membranes and assisting in communication between neurons. It can be synthesized, but the amount our body produces almost never meets its demands, so we have to get it from food sources. Iodine is absolutely crucial for proper thyroid function and metabolism control. Vitamin B12 helps keep our neurons and blood cells healthy, helping prevent anemia. These are the main three trace nutrients found in most seafood, but they can be switched out by different ones in some cases.

Protein

In addition to being delicious, seafood is chock-full of proteins. Most seafood has a high amino acid content, which is the building block of protein. Protein is an essential biomolecule that’s vital for countless vital functions and structures in the body. They’re necessary for muscle repair, oxygenation, digestion, hormone regulation, and they play a big role in the immune system response (antibodies are actually just proteins). Though we could all benefit from adding some more protein to our diet, you should be careful not to overconsume, especially if you have kidney stones. If you’re not sure how much protein you should be eating, a good rule is that adults should consume 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.

Your guide to eating more seafood

Some scientifically-backed benefits of seafood consumption are reduced risk of developing coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, some cancers, as well as various inflammatory diseases and sudden death. You may have heard that it’s recommended we eat at least 2 portions of fish per week, but few people achieve this across the world (notably Japan and some arctic peoples). But why not? You’d be doing yourself a big favor by taking advantage of all that aquaculture has to offer. Human health is important. To help you in your new self-improvement journey of eating seafood more frequently, here are some seafood varieties that would be easy for you to acquire, especially if you live in the North American Continent.

Sockeye Salmon

Salmon is one of the most nutritionally dense foods on the planet, and sockeye salmon is one of the healthiest varieties. Also called red salmon, sockeye are typically found in the Northern Pacific Ocean. They’re relatively smaller than other Pacific salmon species and have an unmistakable bright red flesh. Sockeye has been described as having a strong, rich flavor and dense, buttery texture. Some describe it as bolder than regular salmon.
Sockeye is oilier than regular salmon and is the second richest in omega-3s, right after King (chinook) salmon. They have around 8.6 grams of fat and 1.2 grams of omega-3s per 100g portion. Just one serving of sockeye a week can help lower your cholesterol and risk of heart disease or heart attack.
The high-fat content owes to the fact that sockeye tends to migrate further distances during the freshwater part of their lives, so they tend to hold onto that fat for when they return to their natal streams. This taxing journey draws energy from their fat storage, which is why they have such high-fat content.
Sockeye is also an excellent choice of salmon when considering protein content. With such a carb-centric diet, we should take care to consume the proper amount of protein and healthy fats too. In fact, sockeye is the second richest salmon in protein, only 1 gram behind Coho (silver) salmon with 23 grams of protein per 100g serving.
Sockeye is one of the highest salmon in vitamin D, with 14.2mcg per 100g serving. It’s ideal if you want to increase your dietary vitamin D intake, especially since you won’t find many other foods high in vitamin D. Finally, it has the highest vitamin B12 content out of any Pacific salmon species. A single 100g serving of red salmon contains 3.8mcg of vitamin B12, around 200% of the DV (daily value). Making this a great fatty fish to add to your diet.

Albacore Tuna

The Albacore is a kind of tuna found in temperate and tropical waters in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans, as well as the Mediterranean Sea. They’re torpedo-shaped, with a dark blue back and a silvery-white belly. It’s the only type of tuna that can be described as “white tuna”. It has a mild flavor and a firm texture.

You might be surprised to hear that Albacore tuna has a similar amount of protein as poultry, with 23 – 26 grams of protein per 100g serving. So if you get sick of eating chicken, you can switch it up with some albacore.

This tuna is also pretty high in omega-3s. It has 7.2 grams of fat, of which 2.1 grams are omega-3s, per 100g serving. That’s even higher in omega-3s than the sockeye salmon!

One 100g serving of albacore will also provide you with 50 – 55 mcg of Selenium. That’s your daily recommended intake of Selenium right there, and now you’ve supplied your body with a powerful antioxidant.

If you decide to get canned albacore tuna, you should get the tuna canned in water instead of oil, as it’s slightly more nutritionally dense.

Spot Prawns

Spot prawns are actually a kind of shrimp; the largest shrimps found in the North Pacific, in fact! They’re typically found at the base of underwater mountains, in the nutrient-rich waters. Spot prawns have been described as very flavorful and mildly buttery, with a hint of sweetness. They have spots, as the name would suggest, and are reddish-brown in color. When they’re cooked, they turn a vibrant pink. Oftentimes you’ll find roe (eggs) on the underbelly of your prawns. They’re considered a delicacy and can be used as a garnish, but can be washed off if you don’t like them. Spot prawns are an excellent source of protein. It actually has about the same amount of protein as the aforementioned Albacore tuna; about 26 grams per 100g serving. They’re also a pretty good source of omega-3s, which you’ll get even more of if you decide to eat the roe. Shrimp is generally a good source of iodine because they naturally absorb it from the sea. Shrimp usually contain around 30% of the daily recommended value of iodine. Iodine is good for thyroid and brain function and essential for controlling metabolism. Spot prawns also contain selenium and astaxanthin. Astaxanthin gives shrimp their signature reddish color, helping reduce the risk of heart attacks and neurogenerative diseases. Selenium, also being a powerful antioxidant, enhances your immunity and reduces inflammation in your body.

Scallops

Scallop is a common name for a few saltwater clams, found in the deep, cold waters of all the world’s oceans. They have two smooth shells. The upper shell may be brown or reddish in color and the lower shell is usually white. The muscle that holds the shells closed is usually the part that most people eat. Most describe them as having a mild flavor and a soft, buttery texture. They’ve also been called “the candy of the sea”. Having 21 grams of protein per 100g serving, scallops are a superb source of protein. They also have only 0.8 grams of fat – and around 300 milligrams of omega-3s – which doesn’t make it as great of an omega-3 source as some of the other seafood on this list, but they’re great if you’re looking to cut back on fats. Scallops are a good source of iron, zinc, and vitamin B12. One serving of scallops provides you with 18% of the daily recommended dose of vitamin B12 and zinc, and 15% of the daily recommended dose of iron. It’s always a good idea to get your vitamins and essential minerals from various sources, so scallops can help put some food variety on your plate.

Halibut

The Atlantic Halibut is one of the largest flatfish in the world. They’re bottom-feeding fish, with a dark brown top and a whiteish underbelly. They have tiny scales embedded in their skin, which are invisible to the eye and can cause injury to unprotected fingers. Halibut is a favorite among seafood-lovers and has a mild, sweet taste. Halibut is a really good source of protein, providing around 23 grams of high-quality protein per 100g serving. It’s also rich in micronutrients, making it very nourishing for the body. In fact, 160 grams of halibut can provide more than 1/3 of your needs for vitamin B12, B6, as well as magnesium, niacin, and phosphorous. All of these contribute to heart health, energy creation, muscle movement, boost brain function, and even protect your skin from sun damage. Halibut contains 2.5 grams of fat and 740 milligrams of omega-3s per serving, making it a good choice for people who want to strike a balance between getting their omega-3 but also cutting back on fat.

Ling Cod

Neither cods nor lings, these Pacific greenlings are native to the west coast of the North American continent. Lingcod are long-bodied fish that can be brown, gray, or greenish in color with brownish-red spots on their upper back. Fresh fillets have a blue-green shimmer that completely cooks out. Some might describe it as a bad-looking fish, but the taste is a completely different matter. The lingcod has been described as more flavorful than true cods. It has gained popularity in recent years and some people even prefer it to halibut. They’re nearly 90% protein, with 17.7 grams of protein and 1 gram of fat per 100g serving. This makes them a great source of fat-free protein. Lingcod is also a good source of micronutrients like Selenium, vitamin B12, and niacin. It can provide you with up to 70% of the daily value for those micronutrients per 100g serving. That’s definitely nothing to scoff at.

Hopefully, you’ve been convinced to consider making seafood consumption one of your health goals! It really is one of the best things you can do for your mental health as well as your physical well being. A couple of servings of fresh seafood a week is an extremely easy way to boost your cardiovascular health, immunity, and brain function all in one. Try one of these delicious entries and experience the benefits yourself. Eating seafood is really the best decision you can make. Make sure to add the amazing health benefits of seafood to your diet today by eating seafood regularly.

Holos Review - Quick, Easy, And Nutritious Breakfast

Sat, 05 Mar 2022 21:42:00 GMT

If you are like most people, you are busy, and most days, you rush out the door in the morning. Due to your lack of time, you may just have a cup of coffee for breakfast.

Well, you should know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It ensures that you have the energy needed to get through your day.

I was never a big breakfast person, especially first thing in the morning. I either didn’t have the time or was just not that hungry.
With Holos overnight muesli breakfast oats, that problem went away.

In this blog post, I will go over what I got out of adding Holos to my daily diet and some benefits you can expect by adding it to yours.

HOLOS Organic Overnight Muesli

Overview

If you are short on time in the morning but live a busy and active lifestyle Holos would be perfect for you. Simply put a package in the jar, add milk, then toss it in the fridge before you go to bed and it will be ready to go when you get up. All you need to do is grab a spoon and enjoy or take it on the go.

It's so fast and easy that the hardest part is to remember to get it ready before you go to bed. Tons of nutrition value to fuel up your body for the hard day ahead. Not only that but it tastes great and goes very well with any kind of berries if you would like to add them to the mix. I eat this every day and just love it.

Highlights

Very easy to make(1 min prep time)
20g plant protein, 1 billion CFU probiotics, 12g fiber, 13 vitamins & minerals per pack of 90g
Certified Organic, Gluten-Free, and Plant-Based ingredients
10 flavors - Vanilla, Maple + Almonds, Cocoa, Chai, Apple + Cinnamon, and Caramel + Raisin, Peaches, Mocha, Banana + Cranberries, Berries.
Tastes great and goes great with all kinds of berries
Made in Canada
Comes with a FREE jar on the first purchase

Pricing

Price:

~Box of 12 - $52

~Box of 30 - $121

~Box of 48 - $186

Not only is Holos a game changer in the time saving department but it tastes amazing.

I also sometimes prepare it with water. It doesn't come out as creamy but a good option if you can't have milk.

Sometimes when I am feeling saucy and want it extra creamy(even creamier then with milk) I would use heavy cream.

I found it to be a nice light snack that doesn't make me feel bloated or overly full after I eat it but also keeps me feeling full until lunch.

Another way to eat it is to make a protein bowl. You will need to add some more milk to mix in a scoop of protein powder but blends nicely and a good way to fit in some extra protein on those harder training days.

All in all it is a good part of my daily routine to keep me fully fueled for my busy days.

FAQ

4 Best Lion's Mane Supplements

Wed, 02 Mar 2022 19:09:00 GMT

Products Reviewed:

Lions mane powder - Lions Mane Mushroom Extract Powder by Real Mushrooms

Lions mane capsules - Lion’s Mane Mushroom Cognition Capsules By Real Mushrooms

Lions mane iced tea - Lion’s Mane Iced Tea Powder by Botanica

Lions mane coffee - Mushroom Coffee Mix Think with Lion's Mane by Four Sigmatic

Here, I want to talk about the best Lions Mane supplements.

Lion’s mane mushrooms have a wide variety of benefits. Some benefits include protection against dementia, help with depression and anxiety, speed up the recovery time from nervous system injuries, protection against ulcers, reduced heart disease risk, help manage diabetes symptoms, cancer-fighting properties, reduced inflammation, enhanced cognition, and boosting the immune system.

The list of benefits goes on and on. The fastest and easiest way I have found to get all these benefits is through supplementation.

What is the best lions mane supplement?

That will depend on you. Everyone has different preferences so finding the right option might take a little bit of testing and trying out different products. Whether it is powders, pills, coffee, or tea. Luckily for you, I have done the hard part of finding the best products and now all you have to do is choose the one more suited to your needs. You can’t go wrong with supplementing lions mane and you definitely won’t regret it.

Lions Mane Mushroom Extract Powder by Real Mushrooms

Overview

If you want organic look no further. This lions mane powder by Real Mushrooms is made from 100% organic lions mane mushrooms! Real Mushrooms are dedicated to bringing you the highest quality extract available and you don’t need to worry about any added fillers in their products. This goes great in smoothies, shakes, coffee, or tea.

Highlights

80%-90% water soluble
GUARANTEED potency
Rigorous quality control testing to make them Certified Organic, Certified Kosher, Gluten-Free, Non-GMO, Vegan, Dairy-Free, and Nut-Free
100% Satisfaction guarantee
Easy-to-use airtight, resealable health grade packaging
100% mushroom with no grains, mycelium, or fillers

Pricing

$37.95 for a 60 serving pack

Bottom Line

This is a great way to get all the awesome benefits from lions mane mushrooms. It is a quick and easy alternative to getting the real thing. It goes very well with so many things there is definitely something you can incorporate this into your daily diet.

Lion’s Mane Mushroom Cognition Capsules By Real Mushrooms

Overview

Real Mushrooms is back on the list but in capsule form! Still the same high-quality product in a different package. If you are looking for superior brain support and better cognitive health in general, then lions mane capsules might be up your alley. Not to mention the array of other great health benefits that come with it.

Highlights

100% organic
Brain supplement for memory and focus
No hassle refund or replacement if you are unhappy with your order
Undergoes rigorous quality control testing to make them Organic, Kosher, Gluten-Free, Non-GMO, Vegan, Dairy-Free & Nut-Free
Fast and easy to take
More than 25% Beta-glucans & less than 5% Starch

Pricing

$37.95 for 2 month supply(120 capsules) or $74.95 for a 5 month supply(300 capsules)

Bottom Line

Perfect for anyone with an active or busy lifestyle and wants all the benefits of lions mane mushrooms with none of the preparation time. Fast and easy to take on the go.

Lion’s Mane Iced Tea Powder by Botanica

Overview

With summer closing in, maybe you could go for a nice refreshing brain-building iced tea. Chalked full of lion’s mane mushrooms, 750mg per serving. With fully organic ingredients this would be a nice addition to the drink menu. There is also black tea, lemon, and coconut water powder as well as naturally high in electrolytes.

Highlights

Organic ingredients
Quick and easy to mix up
Naturally occurring electrolytes to keep you hydrated
No fillers or artificial ingredients
Contains only 1g of natural sweetener per serving
Comes in a resealable jar

Pricing

$22.99 for a 21 serving jar

Bottom Line

This is a great option to get your lion’s mane daily intake. Having a cold option for warmer climates or the summer makes getting your lion’s mane supplement that much easier. Not only that but it has a great taste that will make you come back for more.

Mushroom Coffee Mix Think with Lion's Mane by Four Sigmatic

Overview

One of my favorite ways to consume lions mane is in my morning coffee. Just half the caffeine of a regular cup a coffee but packs a bigger punch to kickstart your day. Just add water and you are good to go. Also goes great in smoothies.

Highlights

Organic arabica coffee
Fast and easy preparation
Tastes great(just like coffee)
Half the caffeine of regular coffee
Good for focus, concentration and productivity

Pricing

$31.99 for a box of 10

Bottom Line

If you are anything like me that morning coffee goes a long way. With the added benefits of lion’s mane mushrooms take your morning coffee to the next level. This is by far my favorite way to enjoy the benefits of lions mane, easily added to my daily routine.

Conclusion

No matter which way you choose to ingest lions mane mushrooms there is no doubt that getting it into your daily diet can only help you become as healthy as you can be. The vast amount of health benefits makes it a no-brainer. Along with their great taste, these supplements will be an addition to your health arsenal. But don’t trust me, just try them for yourself and be the judge.

FAQ

Monthly Favorites January 2022

Mon, 31 Jan 2022 04:12:00 GMT

Hello everyone and welcome to this months monthly favorites. Today I will be going over some things I got value from in the month of January 2022. This is my way of sharing my favorite things of the month with anyone who will listen and hopefully you can check them out and find a new favorite for yourself. Here I will talk about 3 things which will be a book, an album, and a website. So let's get into it!

Book: 75 Hard By Andy Frisella

So if you don’t already know or haven’t checked out some of my previous writing I started the 75 hard program earlier this year.

Basically, this is a mental toughness program designed to get you out of your comfort zone to build confidence and discipline. There are 5 main rules that you must complete each day and if you are interested you can go check them out here: 75 hard rules .

When I first started the program I tried to get the book but it was sold out. Apparently, it sells out very fast when a new supply is available. Luckily for me when I made a post on Facebook someone I knew reached out and offered to send me a copy.

I ended up reading the book in about 5 days at about 2 weeks into my journey.

It is not a long book at only 194 pages and was a very easy read.

The book starts out with some background information about who the author, Andy Frisella is, where he started, what obstacles he had to overcome, and some of the amazing things he has accomplished. This all leads up to the explanation of the creation of the 75 hard program. He then goes over in detail what each of the 5 rules is and the reason they are designed the way they are.

People often get the misconception that this is some sort of losing weight program or physical fitness challenge. Yeah, most people do end up losing weight if they do exactly as the program suggests but it is much more than that. This will be something you find out when doing the program and reading the book.

You don’t need the book to get going on the challenge and in my honest opinion, I would start reading the book when you are around day 60. I found that it kind of took the surprise out of some of what the program had to offer. If I was to do it all over that is what I would do.

The book finishes with “the eight eras of 75HARD”. Here Andy talks about different things he is going through as he makes his way through the program for the first time. If you feel like reading the book when you begin this is the section I would wait on so you can experience it for yourself first hand.

Overall it was a great book to learn more about the challenge, why it was made, why it was designed the way that it is, and what you can expect going through the challenge yourself.

Music: Blacktop Mojo - New Album 2021 - Blacktop Mojo

I am a huge music fan so I like to try and include something to do with that in my monthly favorites. I have been a fan of the band Blacktop Mojo pretty much since their first album came out. They are probably one of my favorite rock bands for sure. I kind of dropped the ball and didn’t even know they came out with a new album on August 13, 2021! I ended up finding it in early January of this year(2022).

This is a self-titled album, their 4th studio album and it has 12 tracks on it.

Tracklist:

1 - Wicked Woman

2 - Bed Tundy

3 - Latex

4 - Rewind

5 - Jealousy

6 - Make Believe (Interlude)

7 - Darlin' I Won't Tell

8 - Do It For The Money

9 - Hold Me Down

10 - Cough

11 - Stratus Melancholia

12 - Tail Lights

If you are a rock fan I would highly suggest checking these guys out. Here is a link to go watch the official music video for the song Tail Lights . This is a sick track and a good song to sample off the album.
Here is a great cover the singer of the band, Matt James, did with Small Town Titans - “ Hunger strike ” which was a song originally done by temple of the dog. I really think they did a great job with the song and wanted to add it as a bonus.

Website: https://www.acquisition.com/

This will be a real treat for lots of you reading. This website was put up by Alex Hormozi , who is an American entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist. By the age of 32 he and his wife, Leila, had built up a portfolio of companies that crossed $85 million a year in revenue from a variety of different companies including brick & mortar service, licensing, education, SAAS, and e-commerce.

What he offers on the website are: Free courses, a book detailing his process of growing a company, Free podcast, and an opportunity to work with him and his team if you are doing $3million+, would like his investment, and help to scale your business.

There will be a 4 part series of courses he will be offering for free. The first one is out now, the offer creation course which goes along with his book “$100M offers”.

The other 3 aren’t out yet but they are: Lead Generation Course, Money Models Course, and Real World Sales Course.

I went through his offer course and there is a lot of actionable info in there and I will definitely have to go through it again but the amount of value he provides is absolutely outstanding. Alex could easily charge a good chunk of money for what he is teaching.

Some great skills to learn here to add to the tool belt and think pretty much anyone could make awesome use of these resources.

Well, that wraps up another month of my own personal favorites. Let me know in the comments what you think about my suggestions or point me to some of your own. I think it is important to share things that are making a difference in your life. Let’s get the ripple effect in full force here and spread the things we get not only some value from but that we enjoy as well.

I Failed The 75 Hard Challenge 3 Weeks In - Here's What I Learned

Fri, 28 Jan 2022 14:00:00 GMT

We do know that your chances of getting through the 75 hard program go down drastically if you mess up and have to re-start. I guess I will get to experience that first hand.

Was I pissed off that I failed? Yes, initially. But after thinking about it I would rather see this as an opportunity to learn from what I did wrong and how I can avoid those mistakes in the future. So in this post I will be going over how I failed, why I think I failed in this way, and what I learned from this experience.

By now I think you are wondering which ones of the 5 rules did I mess up on:

Diet
2 - 45min workouts a day
1 Gallon of water per day(I rounded up to 4L)
Read 10 pages of a non-fiction book
Take a progress picture

I go over these rules in more detail in this post about the 75 hard program so feel free to check it out there.

Anyways back to the rule I messed up on. With out making excuses or some other bullshit I ended up going to bed without taking my progress photo. Yes this is by far the easiest rule to follow. I don’t think any of us will argue that. I actually said to myself that if anything this is the one I would screw up on. The reason being was exactly what ended up happening. It was so easy to forget in the moment. Being busy and tired then just not doing it.

I mentioned some tips in another post I made and I didn’t even follow my own advice. What I said was that the progress picture was easy and would not be difficult to forget, so take the photo the same time each day IN THE MORNING to make sure it was taken care of……. Well i was taking them after my shower or before bed. That was the mistake.

Since then I take it as soon as I get up and I have not faltered in the week I have been into round 2(should have been 4 weeks).

It is terrible that I had to get complacent and mess up 3 weeks into my journey. I did have thoughts of “oh well I will just eat a piece of cake and skip the workouts to rest up to restart…….blah….blah..blah. But thinking all that stuff was the reason i need to stay on course so I jumped back in instantly with no exceptions.

I’m not in the mindset of the victim, I am in the mindset of I will get this done. I can’t control past mistakes but I can control what I do to avoid future mistakes. This program is about doing hard things daily and things just got a whole lot harder. I can piss and moan or I can say “bring it on”.

If you are doing the challenge I would like to hear from you in the comments below. Let me know how it is going for you or if you have any advice for me.

“Sweat lots in training, Bleed less in battle”.

5 Rules I Use To Live a Better Life

Mon, 24 Jan 2022 00:38:00 GMT

I have a large number of rules that I implemented in my life that have been helping me become better than the person I was yesterday. I have never been one to settle for average and love pushing the pace. If you are happy with being average some of what I talk about here might offend or upset you. This is not my intention. I think we can all achieve more than we currently have and these are some of the things I am working on and think will help other people. This is the whole purpose of my blog aside from me wanting to improve my own writing skills. I hope this does help and if you have any feedback I am always happy to hear it, whether I agree with it or not.

1) Be the first one to do the dishes 2) Early is on time and on time is late 3) Never choose the lazy way out 4) Never complain without a solution 5) Don't be resentful

1) Be The First One To Do The Dishes

Some people might call me crazy on this one. “Why would he want to be the first one to do the dishes” and to be honest a few years ago I would have said the same thing.

I have come to realize that taking the easy way out of things no matter how significant is not the way to grow. Doing something as simple as this helps build those discipline muscles. Do I want to do the dishes? No, but I want to be helpful, I want to be of use, and I want to be doing things I don’t necessarily want to do on a daily basis.

There will always be a little voice in the back of your mind telling you not to do something or why you can’t do something.

I also think this shows your character. If you are the first one to get going on doing the dishes people notice. This says hey this person is reliable and is willing to put in the work.

I have had so many people compliment me because of this. I am the type of person who wants to help out. Even if some of them do kick me out of the kitchen.

2) Early is on time and on time is late

Nothing is worse than being known as the person who is always late. To me, that shows a few things about the person.

You could care less about where you needed to be
Disrespect of the time of the person who is waiting on you
Unreliable
Incompetent
Bad at time management
Excuse maker

Nothing says “I don’t give a fuck about your time” like being late and making the person wait on you. This drives me absolutely nuts. It doesn’t matter if you meant to do it or not. To me, this is a slap in the face.

Being late will always be followed with excuses like “oh the traffic was bad” or “I slept in” or whatever bullshit you have because you don’t want to admit you could have done better. Stop focusing on why you can’t do something and start focusing on how you can get it done. This alone has been a huge paradigm shift for me and I think it will help you to.

This doesn’t only apply to business meetings, this applies to your friends or any appointment you have. Make a habit of giving a fuck about other people's time and I bet your life will be better for it.

3) Never choose the lazy way out

“If it were easy everyone would do it” and that is exactly what being lazy is, it’s easy. I never understood why people strive for the bare minimum. I mean that was me when I was a child and a kid in my early 20’s.

Doing things you don’t want to do but doing them anyways is all part of growing up. This all goes back to doing hard things and challenging yourself. If you become better you will improve not only your life but the lives of people around you. There will be a ripple effect.

The same is true if you are lazy and useless. This may be an unpopular idea but I believe that everyone is capable of better. Stop being a victim and being a sponge of society. I think laziness is a disease. Get up and take action on things that will move you forward!

With that being said, I am not saying you can’t take a break or have those lazy days. The problem I am trying to guide you away from is making those things a habit. Everyone needs some downtime and in fact, it is healthy to do every now and then. There is, however, a fine line between downtime and just being lazy.

If you are wondering why you have gone nowhere in life or perhaps your life isn’t where you want it to be maybe being overindulgent in lazy behavior might be a factor. This is not easy for people to admit but maybe sit down and really think about what kinds of things you are doing on a daily basis and ask yourself “Is this really going to help me get to where I want to be in life”. I know how easy it is to fall into the laziness trap and I was there but it got to a point where I really had to do some self-reflection and get my ass in gear.

This isn’t an overnight process either. Building discipline is a lifelong pursuit. It really depends if you are fine with being average or if you want to be extraordinary. To be more than average you will have to do things the average person won’t. The question now is, who do you want to be?

4) Never complain without a solution

It is ok to complain and vent to get things off your chest. But it is better to be thinking about ways to fix the problem. The more you get into problem-solving mode the better you will get at it and your brain will start to be wired for it.

A lot of people will disagree with me here but just stop and think of how whining and complaining are helpful or beneficial at all. Does it really solve any of your problems? I have been trying to do this for a while now. Do I still bitch and moan without having anything productive to help the situation? Yeah, I am still human but being conscious of this allows me to take control and re-think the problem.

Sit down and reflect on what you were bitching about. Ask yourself “is this something I can control”, “How can I fix the problem”, “what can I do to avoid feeling this way in the future”. It may sound crazy to you now but if you start doing this in your life it will make a difference.

Switch out of the cry baby mindset and start thinking like a problem solver.

5) Don't be resentful

In my experience, people seem to think that being resentful is a good thing. Again we come back to “if it were easy everyone would do it”. It is harder to forgive someone. It isn’t easy to let something go but if you live your life resentful of everyone who has ever wronged you it is a losing battle. This is allowing them to win and control your mental and emotional state. Being resentful is being in a state of negativity all the time. Negativity attracts more negativity and you become a sour and bitter person. This is such a drain of energy and a waste of time. It takes more energy to hate than it does to let go.

This is also something they teach in AA. This is for good reason. Resentment is toxic to our inner lives. The big book of alcoholics anonymous even says “Resentment is the number one offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else”. Any recovering alcoholic knows that if you are holding onto resentments you have a much lower chance of recovering. This is simply another form of addiction and if left unchecked it can be fatal.

Here is a great quote from Jordan Peterson about resentment:

“Consult your resentment. It’s a revelatory emotion, for all its pathology. It’s part of an evil triad: arrogance, deceit, and resentment. Nothing causes more harm than this underworld Trinity. But resentment always means one of two things. Either the resentful person is immature, in which case he or she should shut up, quit whining, and get on with it, or there is tyranny afoot—in which case the person subjugated has a moral obligation to speak up. Why? Because the consequence of remaining silent is worse. Of course, it’s easier in the moment to stay silent and avoid conflict. But in the long term, that’s deadly. When you have something to say, silence is a lie—and tyranny feeds on lies. When should you push back against oppression, despite the danger? When you start nursing secret fantasies of revenge; when your life is being poisoned and your imagination fills with the wish to devour and destroy.”

Be sure to comment below and tell me what you think of these rules or what some of your life rules are.

My 2 Week Update Of The 75 Hard Program

Fri, 14 Jan 2022 22:09:00 GMT

This is my first time through the 75 hard.

When I first heard about it I think it was around April or May of 2021. It was on one of Ryan Holidays podcasts and he was talking about his experience with it.

It caught my attention but I also thought that I would never be able to accomplish it.

That was what Andy Frisella, The creator of the 75 hard, likes to call “the little bitch voice”. It’s the voice that tells you that you are not capable or you’re not good enough. It tells you that you are ok with the way you are, it makes up excuses of why not to do something.

I let my little bitch voice get the better of me then.

Fast forward to when I stumbled upon an episode of Andy Frisella’s podcast. This was at the end of December. Andy was talking about discipline and confidence and I felt I was lacking in both departments. It was then and there I told my little bitch voice to shut up and I set the date for the first of the next month, which happened to be Jan.1 or the new year 2022. Looking back I should have just started at that moment but I am still glad I set the date.

Early win - Started My YouTube Channel

So anyways with that little bit of a back story out of the way, I want to go over how things are going with the 75 hard over the first 2 weeks of the program.

First of all within a matter of days of starting I did something I would never believe I would ever do, which is start a youtube channel. Now I don’t know if starting the 75 hard and starting the youtube are correlated but I found the willpower to fight fear and just pull the trigger on it. Did I know anything about YouTube, filming, editing, titles, thumbnails….ect? Not a single thing but I did end up getting a video published. 1 explaining the channel and the other going over the rules of the 75 hard.

I have to say they both are shitty and I am kind of embarrassed by them. But you know what, everyone has to start somewhere and I know each one will be better than the last.

How The Program Is Going So Far

So getting back to the actual program itself.

The diet I set out for myself is going fairly well. I have had cravings and I do think about all the food I have left behind. I thought this would be a breeze but It is definitely more difficult than I thought initially. I also know the food that I left behind was absolute garbage for my body. Sure it tastes good but it is doing nothing for my body and mind.

The gallon of water(3.78541 liters) or I rounded up to 4 liters, has been a lot better than I thought. What I mean is, I only ever drank between 2-3 liters a day on a good day and far less on a bad day so naturally I figured this would be pretty difficult. While I have had some times so far where I had to chug some before bed, generally since I have been consistent all day this hasn’t really been an issue. This will probably become more difficult when I have to travel to do some physio where I will probably be doing workouts for a few hours a day if it is anything like the last physio I have done. Te drive there is about 3.5-4 hours on a good day and the roads are terrible right now so It might end up being a lot longer. Not to mention the piss breaks haha. This is where I will be tested and be a change from the routine of being in my own home.

The 2 workouts a day has been going great. I am pretty sore most days and have been doing some weight training in my home gym, usually in the morning. I have had some sessions where I just hit the punching bag and sit on the cardio bike but those are definitely a good workout. For the outdoor end of it, I have been hiking behind my house with my dog. The snow is deep and there is a good amount of uphill on the route I take. I have a few different routes I can take so have been able to switch it up. Each of these workouts is usually longer than the 45 minutes required. Again I think the challenge will be when I am doing physio workouts away from home. I will figure it out.

The reading 10 pages a day of a non-fiction book. This one hasn’t been a challenge for me and have already crushed 1 book called “show your work” by Austin Kleon. I had the 75 hard book arrive and am almost done with that one as well. Typically I have been reading more than 10 pages each day. In fact, I think I read probably 100 pages of the 75 hard yesterday and another 35 pages so far today. I have already built a pretty solid habit of reading and so far there hasn’t been a problem here. I am definitely not saying this to brag but only trying to be straight up. I don’t think I have gone 75 days in a row before so things may change with this. I still have a long way to go.

I have been on top of the progress photos each day. Usually, I take them before or after a shower or before bed. I have had only 1 time I can recall where I had to get out of bed to take it. I have even thought to maybe take it right when I get up so I don’t have to worry about it. Really trying to be conscious of this one because it seems so easy that it could be easy to overlook.

Overall

Overall I have been doing pretty well with the program so far.
Have I had some thoughts about giving up? Yes and that is what my little bitch voice will say when things are hard.
I know I need this program and I suggest if you are even thinking about it, you need it more than you know.
So stop making excuses and go for it!

The Top 3 Things I Have Learned From 9 Years Of Sobriety

Thu, 30 Dec 2021 17:29:00 GMT

There are so many things I had the opportunity to learn in the 8 years of my sobriety. Some lessons learned stand out more than others.

It took some thinking to come up with the top 3 things that I personally got the most value from. But these are things I can’t just keep to myself and wish I knew when I was first getting sober. Some of these things may seem obvious but they are things that I never realized or even thought of in the beginning. I will write more about other ones in later posts but for now, I want to share with you my top 3.

Change Your Friends And Surroundings

This is probably one of the most important things to keep in mind if you are thinking about getting sober. I never thought in a million years that who you hung out with and your environment would impact my ability to become sober.

You truly are the average of the 5 most people and ideas you hang out with. I only really realize how this ended up being a very important piece on my road to recovery looking back at it now. Hindsight is 20/20.

Lots of the friends I had that I assumed were real friends, ended up just being drinking buddies. These were never the type of people I would call if I had a problem, they were the people I called when I wanted to go out and drink. I’m not saying these were bad people by any means but we just were on different paths.

I think changing my friend group happened organically and was never something I consciously thought about. At the time it kind of hurt when the calls stopped coming in but I realized it was for the best. I was no longer a drinker and that scene wasn’t in my best interests going forward.

I think if I knew what I know now I would tell myself to really think about the people I was hanging out with and if they were actually holding me back or pushing me forward.

What came with losing my drinking buddies was a change in my surroundings. I was no longer going to bars or drinking parties. I did try to in the beginning but it just never worked out. You notice so many things when you are sober that go unnoticed when you are drunk. None of that stuff appealed to me so I started going home earlier and earlier because of this and eventually just stopped going altogether.

I think a part of me wanted to hang onto how things used to be. I was later presented with an opportunity for another big change that would drastically change my environment. I was offered a job on a commercial crab fishing boat and everyone on the boat was sober. I was never the type of person to jump on a huge life change like this but to me, it felt like the stars were aligning so I made the commitment. I didn’t know the full weight of how changing my environment would play such a big part in my sobriety but I knew I couldn’t stay where I was. I know that was the best thing I could have done for my sobriety. It was a hard and scary choice but I don’t think 9 years of being sober would have been possible otherwise.

I know other people struggling with getting sober. They have been in and out of recovery centers for many years. The one thing I keep seeing with these people is they keep going back to the same exact place and expect different results. That is the definition of insanity. This is the never-ending cycle and in my opinion, will stay the same unless friends and environment are addressed.

Take It 1 Day At A Time

I am not going to sugarcoat this at all - getting sober is not easy. Actually, it might even be one of the hardest things you will ever do. You know how the saying goes “if it were easy everyone would do it”. The sad truth is that so many people struggle to stay sober. Getting sober is a huge change for most people, especially if you are an alcoholic. For me, drinking became my identity and it was hard to let go. When I was looking for something to do the first thing that always came to mind was to drink. “I will never drink again” think about how that sounds to a person who always has booze on the brain. Which is the large majority of alcoholics. This will seem like an enormous obstacle. That is why you will hear “take it one day at a time” in most AA groups.

Now, this may mean something different for some people but for me, it means to break down the massive task of becoming sober. Thinking of it in its entirety was pretty overwhelming for me. Being able to reframe this into small obtainable goals on a daily basis made it much simpler to digest this massive task, or so it seemed like at the start of my journey. Honestly, don’t overcomplicate this. I know we as alcoholics tend to do that. Remember that getting sober isn’t something that happens overnight. This is not to say that you won’t decide to get sober and stay on that path. Fortunately, that is what I was able to do. This will not be the case for everyone.

Is there a potential you may have a slip-up? Yes, but don’t beat yourself up about it. Think back to when you were little and you were learning to ride a bike. I am certain you didn’t just hop on and start ripping over jumps or hauling ass through bike trails. If you were anything like me you fell and you fell a lot. Did you just say “oh well I guess I will just give up and bike riding isn’t for me”? Maybe some of you did but I will wager you got right back on and kept at it. For some of you, it will take 1 time, for others 10 times. The point here is don’t give up, you owe it to yourself to keep going.

Some People Will Need AA More Than Others

I don’t go to AA anymore like I used to. I feel like I am ok without having to keep going several times a week as I did at the beginning.
My path might not work for everyone and some people might even need to go consistently for life. We all are individuals and this isn’t a one size fits all type of thing.
One thing I highly suggest to everyone is to go to AA for at least the first year. You will learn so much about alcoholism and yourself that you didn’t know before. I think you will also find out how much you need to be going to stay on track.
I went into it thinking this was some religious cult but from my experience, it wasn’t like that at all.

In fact, you don’t even need to be religious. I was never into mainstream religion but I have always believed in a higher power or something greater than myself. I say this because I think this part might be the reason some people are turned off by it but it was definitely not what I thought.
Another thing I went into it thinking was that I could learn how to drink in moderation. My plan was to take a break from drinking for 1 year, learn how to control my drinking, then continue on with my life. Boy was I wrong. This won’t sit well with most people and when I realized this I was upset too. Hearing the stories from other people going through the same things as me and being able to learn from the mistakes they made before me really opened my eyes. Unfortunately, there were even people who went back out drinking and ended up dying from it. All of that changed my perspective about what being an alcoholic really is. All of this stuff I would probably have never known had I not given AA a chance.

Conclusion

Getting sober won't get easier but you will definitely get stronger. I know a lot of people still struggling with addiction.
If you are an alcoholic you need to realize that the way you are thinking has gotten you to where you are. You need to let go of the ego and be open to listening to other ways of thinking if you truly want a shot at becoming sober indefinitely.

We all will have a different journey when we get on that path but hopefully these insights can help someone better their life.

I know I would be way worse off if I hadn't found AA.

Monthly Favorites - December 2021

Tue, 28 Dec 2021 18:30:00 GMT

Hey everyone, my name is Andrew Nicholls and today I want to share with you 3 things I enjoyed from December 2021.

This is my way to share the things I have found interesting or got value from each month. Not only that but it lets me think back and recall the kinds of things I learned or was useful to me in my life so as to keep them on top of my mind.

First I want to talk about music and one new artist I found in particular.

Then we will explore a learning platform called SkillShare that I came across which I actually am really enjoying and have learned so much from already.

And finally, I want to introduce you to a book I got a lot of value out of which is called Peak by Anders Ericsson & Robert Pool which is basically about deliberate practice and how important it is to obtain greatness in the field you are in.

So let's jump right into it.

New Music - Warren Zeiders

I have been a huge music fan pretty much my whole life so I always get super stoked on new music. I found this guy Warren Zeiders on Youtube music. It was on a recommended for me playlist or maybe the similar to section. Anyways, I usually check out new stuff and I have to say I was blown away.

I am really into the country/rock style of music so this was a big plus to stumble upon this. Warren Zeiders is a brand new artist for me and I guess his new album is his debut album called "717 Tapes" which came out in October. The first song I heard off the album which was first released as a single was "Ride The Lightning". Sadly there are only 5 songs on the album:

Never Look Back
Ride The Lightning
Boys For Life
Dirt Road Don’t
Loving And Hating You

There is not a song I don’t like on the album. My favorite song keeps changing from “Ride The Lightning” or “Boys For Life” but I can not get enough of his music.

Warren Zeiders does have another album on YouTube music (probably on other platforms but this is the one I use) that is a bunch of acoustic covers and is also pretty badass. This one is called “Acoustic Covers” and there is also a Deluxe version. Warren does a great job with these covers. Most of the covers are songs I know very well and he absolutely killed it.

He kind of reminds me of a "Tyler Childers" or "Whiskey Myers" and has definitely become one of my favorites. I highly recommend checking him out and adding him to your playlist.
Here is a link to his Youtube video Ride The Lightning to get you started.

Skillshare - A Learning Platform

So next up I will talk a little bit about SkillShare. This is a great platform if you want to learn about pretty much anything. One of the first things I jumped into while taking advantage of my free week with the service before I paid for a year was how to make and edit videos. The monthly favorites was actually a class project that the instructor "Ali Abdaal" gave us to do so we could take action on what we learned. This is the blog post for that video and I am still working on the video (a bit of a learning curve) but should be done at the beginning of January if I am being honest. He taught the class using final cut pro X which I couldn’t use because that software is only for apple. I decided to start using Davinci Resolve and you guessed it, there was another class on skillshare that I am going through now to learn how to use it.

I have since gone through several videos, some of which aren't the best of quality but the majority of the ones I have done have been really great value, especially at just over $200 Canadian for the whole year. Even if you aren't into video creating or editing they have a ton of other topics that you might enjoy like productivity, creative writing, Leadership, management, and many more.
If you want to take a break from Netflix and flex those mind muscles this is definitely worth the investment. If you want a free month to try it out I will leave a referral link. I don't get anything if you don't make a purchase after the free month. If you actually do end up paying for the service they tack on a free month for me on my paid subscription. I only got a free week just going to their website here but there are probably other ways to get the free month if you don't want to use the referral link . Either way, there are options to try it out before you buy it and see if you can get some value out of it. You really have nothing to lose.

The Book Peak - By Anders Ericsson & Robert Pool

The book I wanted to show you guys is called Peak by Anders Ericsson & Robert Pool . This book is all about becoming an expert in your field through something called "deliberate practice".

From the book, the best way to implement deliberate practice is to find someone who has figured out how to do whatever it is you want to learn and has established training techniques that you can follow. The practice you do has to not be too hard that is overwhelming and you can't do it but at the same time, you will want it to be challenging. You want to stay away from doing things that are too easy because then you aren't improving very much.

Deliberate practice also involves getting immediate feedback so you know where you went wrong and can fix the problem right away. Doing this will improve your mental representations of what you are learning and involves building on or modifying previously acquired skills. This is what I got as deliberate practice from the book.

There were also tons of examples throughout the book of people who do deliberate practice on their road to mastery. They also talk about "so-called prodigies" like Mozart, Picasso, and Serena Williams and how they may not have been born with their talents after all and how they may have developed and improved their skills through intense focused practice.

Overall I think there were a lot of great insights in the book and think anyone can learn something from it, especially if you are looking to improve your current skillset.

Conclusion

So these were 3 things I got out of December of 2021. I hope whoever has the chance to read this gets some value from this and would love for you to share with me some things you have gotten out of this month or even the year for that matter. Feel free to shoot me a message or leave a comment, good or bad, so I know how to improve myself. See you next month with more of my favorites!

Starting 75 Hard

Mon, 27 Dec 2021 18:23:00 GMT

The rules are simple:

1. Follow a diet - No Alcohol or cheat meals

2. Workout twice a day for at least 45 minutes with one workout outside

3. Drink 1gallon(4 liters) of water per day

4. Read 10 pages of nonfiction each day

5. Take a progress picture each day

I originally decided to start this challenge on Jan.1,2022. It wasn't a new years resolution or anything it was just something I thought would do me some good.
This was my first attempt. I ended up failing the challenge on day 30 something and got right back into it. 20 or so more days into it I stopped.
My excuse was that it was getting in the way of my physio but at the end of the day that was all BS. I could have figured it out and kept going. I was weak and used that as my way out and to justify me stopping.

That didn't sit well with me because I never quit anything. So I decided to give it another shot, 1 year later, Jan.1, 2023.

I wanted to update this post with more insight with what I saw to be working and what I think should be avoided.

Follow A Diet

To say “follow a diet” is very broad. But the whole point of this program is to better yourself. So what that means is not to go on a diet of processed fast food.

This means eating clean, whole foods. But as long as the diet is good for your health you are free to decide what diet you would like to do.

I felt like I was thinking too much into this so I just simply said I would only eat whole foods so I didn't just get stuck on this and could move forward without any problems. Sometimes I over think thing but just making a choice and sticking to it is all you really need to do.

I do eat relatively well already but there are still lots I can do to improve. I do like the occasional bag of chips or bowl of ice-cream so those are the main things I will be cutting out.

Another big thing about the program is to not drink alcohol during the whole 75 days.

The no drinking alcohol part that most people find really difficult will be a breeze for me since I have been sober for 9 years already. I still have to work at it everyday but I have built in habits to help me with that over the years.

Overall I think this will be tough to do for 75 days consecutively but I am excited to get going on this. It does look pretty simple in theory but I can see why this would be difficult to do for 75 days in a row.

Some other diets I would do would be keto, or a carnivore diet.

Workout twice a day for at least 45 minutes with one workout outside

I have been on and off with weight training since I was 13. I would say for the most part pretty steadily since then but I did take some longer breaks in that time period.

Right now I do I do 4 weight training sessions each week.

Monday: Upper body #1
Tuesday: lower body #1

Thursday: Upper body #2

Friday: lower body #2

These session are usually around 1 hour 30 mins long.

I go for a hike/fast paced walk/run with my dog every morning for my first outdoor work out. I go a little later in the day to get some sunlight(stays dark late during winter) 2 times a week to get a nice mountain hike in which is usually 2 hours long.

Other days when I am not weight training I will do some cardio, extra stretching and some punching bag work.

The challenge here for me will be doing this every day because I am used to having days in between for rest.

I think I have a head start on this because I do already do 2 workouts most days and one is outside but I can see it being difficult.

Drink 4 liters of water per day

My first attempt at this challenge I though this would be one the the hardest tasks to complete each day. While it is certainly not easy it is not even close to as bad as I envisioned it to be initially.

I bought some liter bottles to fill up to make the tracking a little easier for myself and to have a bottle around me at all times so I can be sipping from it consistently throughout the day. I can see myself getting into some trouble and having to chug a bunch later in the day so hopefully, with this strategy, I avoid that.

One other note is you will have to pee......a lot. I try to knock this one out a couple hours before bed so I am not waking up through the night needing to hit the pisser.

I do suggest starting out strong right when you wake up.

Read 10 pages of nonfiction each day

This one I think I will find a lot easier than the other ones personally, because I usually read nonfiction each day anyways.
I do go through times where I find myself slacking So this will be a good opportunity to stay consistent..
The hard part will be not missing a single day for 75 days but as with the rest of this challenge, I am super excited to take part in the challenge and push myself.

I do have a nice long list of reading material so I won't have a problem picking up something to read.

Take a progress picture each day

This is the one that I think most people will underestimate.

It sounds so simple but can easily get forgotten especially when you are tired and busy.

This is how I failed my first attempt.

I was taking it after my shower at the end of the day. I was in a hurry to get to bed and woke up and realized I forgot.

What I changed going forward is doing it the same time everyday, right when I wake up. That made things much simpler and now I don't even think about it.

It is also very interesting in seeing how your body transforms during the process.

With out the pictures it is hard to notice a change because you see yourself everyday.

Conclusion

All in all, I know this won’t be easy but that is exactly why it appeals to me so much. I know I do give myself easy outs and I make excuses but with this challenge, there is no room for any of that. Some of it will come easier to me while some aspects of this challenge feel like it is almost out of reach. I am not thinking about this as a physical fitness program but as it was intended as a mental toughness exercise.

For anyone reading this, I would like to know about your experience. What was hard for you? Have you been thinking about doing this challenge but always told yourself “it is not the right time”? What was easy for you? Tips & tricks?

Send me a message through Facebook or hit me up through my email. Links will be in this post. Happy to have some accountability partners when going through this.