Author: David Willis

Day 19: The Limiting Belief I’m Done Carrying

~ David Willis ~ Leave a comment

I’ve been reading “Your Best Year Ever” by Michael Hyatt during my walks, and today I hit the chapter on limiting beliefs.

It punched me in the face.

The Limiting Belief I’ve Been Carrying

“Social media is too difficult to figure out.”

I watch others build audiences, create videos that get views, write posts that get engagement – and I wonder why they can figure it out so easily while I struggle. I have the desire to lead by example, but I can’t get my message out.

Here’s the truth I need to admit: I’ve been using this as a cop-out.

Sometimes I think limiting beliefs are just forms of laziness. We allow ourselves to believe them because it’s easier to stay small and not put the time in to really master what we say we want to do.

For me? I’ve always prioritized other things over social strategy. And the difference I’m encountering now – on Day 19 of perfect execution – is this: I want to stop wasting time.

I want to achieve these things for myself. And I want to use that experience to provide hope for other people.

The Real Cost of Staying Small

The crazy part is, I don’t know if I’ll ever really know what staying small has cost me.

I’m a firm believer in the butterfly effect. By making ripples and striving toward good things, we inspire others to do the same. And while I’ve tried to do that in my personal life for many years – hopefully people have seen it – I have not articulated the reason WHY behind what I do.

That’s a missed opportunity to lift somebody else up.

I can’t measure the cost of ripples I never created. The people I never inspired. The conversations that never happened. The transformations that never started because someone didn’t see that it was possible.

Why Now? Why This Challenge?

I think I’m like everybody else – you get old enough and you realize your opportunities are starting to slip past you.

You’re not as trim as you used to be. Your hair’s not as dark as it once was. You’re moving slower, aching more. All these signs of time passing, and yet a full list of things you still say you want to do.

For years I’ve read Dan Miller, who wrote “48 Days to the Work You Love.” One of his favorite sayings: “Don’t die with your music still in you.”

At 47, I’ve got music still inside. And I’m done letting limiting beliefs keep it there.

The New Belief I’m Building

Starting Day 20, here’s what I’m choosing to believe instead:

I have a message worth sharing.

We have agency in our lives, and it’s our responsibility to use that agency for good. By forming habits that serve us instead of working against us, we leverage that agency and make the world a better place.

Social media isn’t too difficult. It’s just unfamiliar. And I’ve figured out harder things than this.

I revised a 105-chapter novel in 19 days. I’ve executed seven daily habits with zero misses. I’ve written 19 consecutive blog posts while learning compound interest principles and teaching myself systematic transformation.

If I can do that, I can figure out how to create a 60-second TikTok video.

The Shift Starts Tomorrow

Day 20, my creative hour shifts focus. I’ve finished the first revision pass on my novel. Beta readers (my wife and son) are reading it now. While they give feedback, I’m building the distribution infrastructure I’ve been avoiding.

No more cop-outs. No more staying small. No more prioritizing comfortable over uncomfortable.

I have a message worth sharing. And starting tomorrow, I’m learning how to share it.

Day 19 Scorecard: ✅ Bible study ✅ Exercise (Workout A) ✅ Reading (Your Best Year Ever – limiting beliefs chapter) ✅ Calories ✅ Water ✅ Gratitude ✅ Creative hour (first novel revision COMPLETE – 97 chapters)

Nineteen consecutive perfect days. The limiting belief ends here.

The best time to stop staying small? Now.

See you tomorrow for Day 20.

Gratitude Sunday: The Teacher Who Built the Bridge

~ David Willis ~ Leave a comment

It’s Gratitude Sunday, and I’m thankful for a woman who changed my life – though I didn’t realize how much until my wedding anniversary last week.

My wife reminded me of something I’d forgotten: things in my life that led me to where I am today that I didn’t identify until she pointed them out.

How Singing Led Me Down a Path

I used to be a singer. It was the thing I wanted to do most in this world.

I discovered my love for singing in high school – choir and show choir (yes, I was in show choir). For the first time in my life, I’d found something I truly enjoyed. Something that came somewhat naturally. I had a decent voice – as Danny Kaye said in White Christmas, I did fairly well in living rooms.

When I started applying myself, things changed fast.

Sophomore year: Made All-District Honor Choir. Tried out for All-State. Didn’t make it. I was devastated.

Junior year: My music teacher gave me an opportunity to attend a choir clinic before school started – learning the audition music for All-State Choir. I wanted to go desperately. But I didn’t have the money.

She let me mow her yard. Paid me. I did other work. I earned my way to that camp.

That was the first time I’d done anything like that – putting my own physical work into my success. Through that hard work, I made All-District again. I made All-State. That summer, I attended the Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute.

Senior year: District choir. All-State Choir again. Arts Institute again. And I made a National choir.

Freshman year of college: Full music scholarship to sing bass in my hometown choir.

I did that for a year, then decided I’d outgrown my hometown. Even though the university was good and the people were kind, I needed to get away. So I moved to Edmond, Oklahoma. Got a full scholarship to sing there too.

Why This Matters

My love for singing led me to work hard. Working hard led to opportunity. Opportunity led me to the place where I’d meet my wife.

Not long after we got married, my love for singing faded away. It was something I could do. Something I was definitely better at than in high school. But I looked at the singers around me and saw the dividing line – they were pursuing this as a career. And that, in truth, was no longer what I wanted.

I didn’t realize at the time that my singing had taken me from where I was to where I needed to be – to meet the woman who’s been my best friend on this earth and my wife for over 27 years now.

The Star of Today’s Gratitude Post

Mrs. Wilkins saw enough in me to work with me – helping me take the talent I had and make more of it.

My favorite story about her happened senior year. She called me into her office and, without much formality, said: “I have something to tell you. People don’t really like you that much.”

That seems counterintuitive for a gratitude post, but hear me out.

I said, “Why?”

She said, “Because you’re entirely too arrogant.”

I said, “I’m not arrogant. I’m confident.” (Which is, new flash, the code word for arrogant.)

She then asked if I would check my ego and begin treating others with respect, courtesy, and kindness.

I didn’t understand it at the time, but it was exactly the conversation I needed.

The Foundation She Helped Build

Mrs. Wilkins gave me some of the building blocks I needed to get to my wife. She also gave me character blocks – so that when I start feeling too full of myself, I remember her lesson: Yes, you may be talented. But there are others far more talented. How you treat people is the important part. Do this with humility and grace.

Mrs. Wilkins, if you’re reading these words, know that you’ve had a profound effect on my life – not only in aiding the butterfly effect that got me to where I am today, but also in calling me to aspire to develop the character I so desperately needed.

Thank you for the way you did this – not just for me, but for countless students who came into your choir room. You pointed us to excellence and helped us be the best we could be. And you did it with more grace and compassion than I know I deserved.

You will forever be one of my favorite teachers and a profound influence on my life.

Thank you.

Day 17: Creativity Isn’t a Lightning Strike (It’s Showing Up When You’re Tired)

~ David Willis ~ Leave a comment

Ninety-four chapters revised. Eleven to go.

I’m tired. My brain hurts from thinking about series setup, sequel planning, and whether this YA superhero story can actually be different from every other superhero story out there.

But I still protected my creative hour tonight. And that’s what I want to talk about.

Creativity Isn’t What You Think It Is

For years, I thought creativity was this mystical force that descended when inspiration struck. Lightning from the sky. The muse visiting. Magic.

Nope. That ain’t it.

Here’s what I’m learning on Day 17: Creativity is problem-solving. That’s it.

Sometimes it’s inventing brand new things where there’s a need. When I was drafting my novel originally, I had to create activities, scenes, dialogue from nothing. That was hard. That required imagination and invention.

Sometimes it’s taking something established and making it better. Now, in revision, I’m refining what’s already there. I’m solving the problem of “how do I set this up for a potential series without losing the current story?”

Both are creative. Both require showing up. Both feel completely different.

The Real Reason I Protect This Hour

I dedicate an hour to creativity every night for two reasons:

One: I want to inspire 1,000 people who are stuck. Sometimes you need to see somebody else in the trenches working through similar problems. You see them finding success, and you start to understand that you can have success too.

Two: I love the superhero genre, but it’s inundated with the same takes. I’m trying to write something fresh, accessible, clean – a YA story that doesn’t make parents nervous. That requires solving creative problems every single day.

These projects aren’t just about making stories. They’re about answering my larger questions: How do I make a contribution to the world? How do I make myself better?

Day 17 Reality Check

Today was harder than Day 16. I’m at that point in the book where critical thinking about series setup slows me down. Am I still in the honeymoon phase? Probably. Has this gotten brutally hard yet? Not really.

But I’m close to the finish line (11 chapters left), and that’s giving me energy. The ebb and flow of the creative process – some days flow, some days grind.

And I still showed up.

For Everyone Thinking “I’m Too Tired to Be Creative Today”

Here’s the truth: You’re always going to be too tired. You’re always going to have some excuse that comes up.

What’s one problem you need to solve right now? How can you think outside the box to solve it?

That’s creativity. Not waiting for lightning. Not waiting for inspiration.

Just showing up and solving problems.

Day 17 Scorecard: ✅ Bible study ✅ Exercise ✅ Reading (finished Made to Stick, started Your Best Year Ever) ✅ Calories ✅ Water ✅ Gratitude ✅ Creative hour (chapters 91-94, 89% complete on first revision)

Seventeen consecutive perfect days. Creativity isn’t magic. It’s showing up tired and solving problems anyway.

The best time to start is now. Not when you’re inspired. Not when you feel creative. Now.

See you tomorrow for Day 18.

Day 16: Truth vs. Projection (Why Transformation Fails Without Honest Data)

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When we’re trying to make transformative progress in our lives and we don’t live in truthful capture of what we do daily, we set ourselves up for frustration, failure, and disillusionment.

The transformation either takes longer than we expect or doesn’t happen at all. And we start believing—falsely—that transformation isn’t possible.

But here’s the truth: the issue isn’t that transformation doesn’t work. The issue is we’re projecting instead of capturing reality.

My Weight Struggle: A Case Study

Weight has been a struggle most of my adult life. It’s not that I haven’t known how to lose weight. The formula is simple: take in fewer calories than you burn. Basal metabolic rate plus exercise minus food intake equals weight change.

I’ve known this for decades.

But knowing and doing are different things.

I wasn’t doing the actual math. I wasn’t tracking my basal metabolic rate. I wasn’t calculating calories burned through workouts. I wasn’t logging every bite that went into my mouth.

I was projecting what I thought I was eating. “I’m being pretty good today.” “I didn’t eat that much.” “This is probably fine.”

And the scale didn’t move. Or it moved the wrong direction.

So I’d get frustrated. I’d feel like transformation was impossible. Like my body just didn’t work the same as other people’s.

The brutal truth? I was lying to myself.

What Changed on Day 1

When I started the 7-40 Challenge, I committed to tracking every calorie in MyFitnessPal. Every single one. No guessing. No “close enough.” No projection.

Capture. Truthful, unvarnished data.

By sticking to a calorie threshold every day and logging my daily exercise, I’m being much more honest in this challenge than I would have been otherwise. Because I know I have to watch what I put in my mouth much more rigorously.

If I don’t, I’m just lying to myself—and to anyone else I tell this story to.

The Truth Creates Clarity

I got into a conversation the other day about truth—in regards to current events and politics. My response to the person I was talking to: there’s the truth, and then there is what both sides want to call the truth.

Many times, neither side is actually reporting what actually happened—just their version.

Sherlock Holmes had it right: “It is a capital mistake to theorise before one has data.”

Give me the data. Give me the facts and patterns. Let the truth emerge from that—not from what I want the truth to be.

The Mirror Moment

So here’s the question I’m asking myself on Day 16—and the question I’m asking you:

Are you being truthful about the things that matter to you?

If you’re not seeing the change you want, are you projecting instead of capturing factually?

What will you do to change that today?

For me, it’s MyFitnessPal. It’s the scale on Friday mornings. It’s the daily blog post that holds me accountable. It’s the unvarnished truth that I’m 16 days in, 90 chapters revised, and the weight hasn’t moved as much as I’d like.

That’s not failure. That’s data. And data tells me what to adjust.

Day 16 Scorecard: ✅ Bible study ✅ Exercise (Workout B + Walking) ✅ Reading ✅ Calories ✅ Water ✅ Gratitude ✅ Creative hour

Sixteen consecutive perfect days. Projection eliminated. Truth captured.

The best time to start being honest with yourself? Now.

See you tomorrow for Day 17.

Day 15: When New Habits Feel Better Than Old Ones

~ David Willis ~ Leave a comment

Fifteen days in, I’m noticing something: it’s hard to fall back into old habits when you’re actually seeing results from the new ones.

When you’re losing weight, when you’re busy revising your novel you’ve always wanted to write, you’re writing on your blog daily, doing yoga, feeling stronger from lifting weights and so many other things – these things definitely feel better than scrolling. Better than someday. Better than letting time slip by and not capturing what you can.

The challenge right now isn’t motivation – that will come later. The challenge is pacing myself. Taking these things one step at a time and not letting my eagerness overplay my hand. I’d rather take my time building something steady than be a flash in the pan.

But here’s what I know: the best time to start is now, and that’s what I’ve done. The things I need to figure out, I will. The bridges I need to cross will be crossed. Each day I prove to myself I can do at least one day more.

That will be enough.

Day 15 Scorecard: ✅ All seven habits

See you tomorrow for Day 16.