Day 66 of 280 | The 7-40 Challenge
James Clear said something in Atomic Habits that changed how I think about this entire year:
You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.
That’s why, in the 7-40 Challenge, I haven’t spent much time talking about specific goals. I have them. But the things I talk about most often — in these blog posts, in the documentation I do personally, in the conversations I have about what I’m building — are the habits. The framework. The system.
Because I know that if I execute the seven habits the way I’m supposed to, the goals will incrementally start to build toward what I want. The system carries me there. The goals just tell me which direction to point.
I work out every day because I want to lose weight and be in better physical shape. I’m 47 years old and not getting any younger. If I don’t take care of my body now — if I don’t make myself healthy and lean and strong — I’m setting myself up for failure. Not someday. Now.
I read 30 minutes a day because if I stop putting good information in my brain, I become stale. My thinking gets flat. I have a hard time innovating because I don’t have any new thoughts affecting what I do. I have specific books I’m reading because I want to grow in those areas — but the habit is 30 minutes a day. The habit is the system. The books are the fuel.
Every one of my seven habits is built around the same question: how do I fundamentally get better, day over day, and get closer to the person I want to be?
Not based on a New Year’s resolution I’m striving toward. Based on the framework I’ve set up. Because at the end of the day, if I don’t build the framework, how can I honestly say I want the results?
Clear also said this:
It doesn’t make sense to continue wanting something if you’re unwilling to do what it takes to get it.
That one cuts deep. Because it’s true about everything.
If I’m unwilling to put in the hours to lose the weight and get in better shape, then why even set that as a goal? I don’t want to live in this self-defeating cycle where I know I’m out of shape, I accept that I’m out of shape, and therefore I stay out of shape. That sounds like dying prematurely.
In the same way, it’s pointless for me to say I want to be a writer and not be willing to put in the work. It’s pointless to say I want to build something and then sit on my hands waiting for the perfect moment.
You have to have a good system in place. You have to focus on the pieces of the system that drive you toward your goals — not on the goals themselves. And you have to be willing to engage with that system every day, because it doesn’t make any sense to keep wanting something if you’re not willing to put in the time and effort to get it.
So if I want it — and I want it bad — what am I willing to do?
For the 7-40 Challenge, the answer is clear: I’m willing to focus on these seven things every day. I’m willing to focus on BiblePictures365. I’m willing to focus on my books as DMT Willis. I’m willing to focus on the things that are driving me forward — because those are the things I said I want, and I’m going to prove it with my action.
And here’s the bonus.
When I do all of those things — when I do them every day with excellence — I live out what Annie Dillard said:
How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.
If I have a good framework in place, and I work diligently at applying it to the things I actually want — not just the things I say I want — then I’m enriching my days. And enriching my days enriches my life.
That gives me clarity. That gives me the ability to push past my fears. That gives me the ability to do things I didn’t think I’d be able to do.
Case in point.
Just the other night, I was facing real anxiety. I had finally decided to throw myself out there — to declare to the world that I’m a self-published author with a book I’m proud of, available on Amazon right now.
I sat down to make the promotional videos. And no joke — something that should have taken me less than five minutes as a public speaker, I sat with for over an hour. I shot it. I reshot it. I couldn’t get through it. The frustration was unreal.
And then I realized what was happening. It was anxiety. And Seth Godin says anxiety is practicing failure in advance.
I was sitting there rehearsing all the ways it could go wrong instead of just doing the thing.
So I put the camera down. I took a breath. And I told myself: I am not going to let this get in my way. I may not be able to shoot it the way I wanted to. But I can shoot it a different way and still make it count.
Was the video great? Probably not. It hasn’t even been viewed 200 times across both channels. But that’s not the point.
The point is I looked anxiety straight in the eye and said: I’m not listening to you. I’m pushing through.
Would I have been able to push through if I didn’t have a system? No. Would I have been able to push through without the daily habits building my discipline and my confidence for sixty-five days? No. Would I have been able to live with myself the next morning, knowing that how I spend my days is how I spend my life, and that I gave in to fear? Absolutely not.
If I give into anxiety day after day, I’m living an anxious life. I’m practicing failure in advance. And I refuse to do that.
The system is the point. The habits are the framework. The goals take care of themselves when the framework holds.
And the framework is holding.
Day 66 Scorecard:
✅ Bible study and prayer
✅ Walking
✅ Reading (Show Your Work — Austin Kleon)
✅ Calories tracked
✅ Water (100 oz)
✅ Gratitude
✅ Exercise
✅ BiblePictures365
✅ Creative hour
David Willis 