We do hard things. That is one of our family mottos. It is something that we have tried to instill in our son. It is who we choose to be.

I remind myself of this motto on days like today. I am tired. My body aches. I have been busy with things not on my list, but I still have to get the important stuff done. It is hard. But, it is what we do.

Why is this important? It is important because things will always be difficult. Days will not go the way we expect. “Responsibilities” will get in the way of goals. It will be hard, but that is the stuff we do.

I am 84 days into my 100 Day Strong journey. I refuse to quit my goal. So, after I finish here at the church (musical rehearsal) I will get to the gym. I most likely won’t get into bed until after 11. It will be worth it.

What goal are yo working on now? Do you persist when it gets hard? How do you keep going?

Today is a day of rest. We are celebrating Christmas with very old friends. There is laughter. There is food. There is joy. I am thankful.

The goals keep marching on. #keepmovingforward

I am tired. It has been a long journey and there is still some to go. I am going to admit it now, I am definitely tired. However, I am not tired in a worn out sense. I am tired in a content way.

Does that make sense? We spend our energy every day. We either work on things that get us to our goals or other things. If we are going to be tired, we might as well be tired working on things that carry us closer to where we want to be.

That was my excuse in the past. I was busy. I was tired. I had other things that had to be done. They were not leading me where I wanted to go. I wanted to feel proud of my accomplishments, but somewhere inside I knew something was missing.

For this reason, these past 82 days have been so different for me. They have been purposeful. They have been full of activity. I have been beyond tired many days, but I am tired and content. It is a better way to be.

Do you have a goal you have been putting off? What will it take to get there? I am ecstatic with how fast things have changed for the good. I have a feeling you will be too.

It appears my resolve is about to be put to the test. I have made it 81 days into my 100 Day Strong journey. Over the next week I am taking part in my church’s Christmas musical. There will be some days where time will be very slim. However, the goal marches forward.

My thought is this: if I can make it through these days and keep my goals in check, I should be able to handle most anything. That has been the ultimate goal of all of this. Consistency.

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out. – Robert Collier

That is what I have been doing. Small efforts every day. Where has this gotten me? I have lost over 30 pounds. I have written every day. I have consumed 100+ ounces of water daily. And many other things. It is starting to add up. Slowly. Consistently. Awesomely.

I am about to be tested. I plan to pass this test with flying colors.

Repetition. It seems tedious. It seems boring. It is also so important to improve at anything. You have to get purposeful repetitions.

That is one of the lessons that I have learned throughout my 100 Day Strong challenge. Could I actually make it 100 days and accomplish the tasks I set out? So far I am 80 days in and still going strong. How? Repetition.

This is the beauty behind the List I made at the beginning of this journey. The reason the List works so well is because it lays out specific tasks to accomplish daily. I have gotten repetitions at those tasks. After 80 days many of them are becoming second nature.

I can look back over my life and see where repetition has worked for me. I remember practicing for hours in high school to become a better singer. After a lot of repetition and hard work I received a full scholarship to sing in college. To go from where I started to where I ended up, it took a lot of reps.

Where has leaning into the details and being willing to get reps worked for you?