Tag: health

The Rules That Make Excellence Possible: Day 27

~ David Willis ~ Leave a comment

Day 27 of the 7-40 Challenge
Tuesday, January 27, 2026

I’m reading Carmine Gallo’s book Talk Like TED right now, and in Chapter 1, he asks a question that stopped me on my walk this morning:

“What makes your heart sing?”

The answer came immediately: Being a husband to to my bride. Being a father to my son.

That’s what makes my heart sing personally.

But then he asks another question: “What is your obsession? What are you passionate about?”

And that’s where things get interesting.

The Answer I Didn’t Expect

My obsession isn’t separate from what makes my heart sing. They’re connected.

I’m obsessed with becoming the best version of myself—not for followers, not for book sales, not for speaking fees—but because I can’t be the husband she deserves if I’m dragging.

I can’t be the father my son needs if I’m physically exhausted, mentally foggy, emotionally drained, or spiritually disconnected.

The better I become—physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually—the more I can show up as the man they need. The more I can model the kind of intentional, loving marriage that’s lacking in so much of the world today.

And here’s the thing: I can’t fragment myself. I can’t be excellent at home and mediocre at work. I can’t be disciplined with my spiritual life and careless with my body.

Excellence has to run through everything, or it doesn’t run through anything.

What My Day Job Taught Me About Transformation

I’m a data professional. I’ve been doing this work for over 18 years.

And here’s what I know from my day job: There is process. There is order. There are rules.

Data management isn’t chaos. It’s systematic. Organized. Deliberate.

When you have clear rules—agreed-upon ways to do things—everyone knows how to play the game. Everyone knows what success looks like. Everyone has a shot at excellence.

If I don’t know the traffic laws, I’ll run into people.

If I don’t know the rules of football, I’ll tackle the wrong person and the other team will win.

If I don’t have clear habits, I’ll drift through life wondering why nothing ever changes.

Rules aren’t there to penalize us. Rules are there to help us play the game better.

And by knowing the rules and following the system—the workflow, the structure—we actually have an opportunity to be excellent.

The 7-40 Challenge: The Rules of My Game

So what are the rules I’ve set for myself?

I have to be spiritually healthy.
I have to be physically healthy.
I have to be mentally healthy.
I have to be emotionally healthy.

Because if I’m healthy in those four areas, I can do all the major things I need to do in my life: be a husband, be a father, be a good worker, be a good friend.

That’s why the seven habits aren’t random. They’re strategic:

  1. Bible Study & Prayer → Spiritual health
  2. Exercise (1 hour daily) → Physical health
  3. Calorie Tracking → Physical health
  4. Water (100oz daily) → Physical health
  5. Reading/Learning → Mental health
  6. Gratitude Practice → Emotional health
  7. Creative Work → Mental and emotional health

These aren’t restrictions. They’re the agreed-upon structure that makes excellence possible.

Just like the data governance frameworks I use at work, just like traffic laws, just like the rules of any game—the 7-40 Challenge works because it has rules.

And when you know the game, you can play it well.

How This Helps 1,000 People

Here’s why this matters for my mission to help 1,000 people:

I’m not trying to inspire anyone with motivational speeches. I’m not selling quick fixes or secret formulas.

I’m defining the rules of the game clearly so that anyone who wants to play can play.

Seven habits. Forty days. Analyze. Rinse. Repeat 7 times.

That’s it. That’s the game.

You don’t need to figure out your own system. You don’t need to guess what works. The rules are clear. I am proving the framework as I go.

And just like at my day job, when you define the process clearly, everyone else can follow it too.

That’s not restriction. That’s freedom.

Freedom to focus on execution instead of decision fatigue. Freedom to know exactly what “winning the day” looks like. Freedom to become excellent because the path is clear.

What Gallo’s Question Revealed

So when Carmine Gallo asked, “What makes your heart sing?” I thought the answer was simple: my family.

But what I realized on my walk this morning is that the 7-40 Challenge IS about my family.

It’s about becoming the man she deserves and the father my son needs.

It’s about not fragmenting myself—being one integrated person who brings the same commitment to excellence to every area of life.

And it’s about using the same process discipline that makes me excellent at data work to become even more excellent as a husband, father, and human. And vice versa.

The rules don’t limit me. They make excellence possible.

And if they work for me, they can work for you too.

Because the game has rules. And when you know the rules, you can win.

Day 27: Complete ✓

All seven habits executed. The rules are working.

Round 1 Progress: 27/40 days (67.5%)

See you tomorrow for Day 28.

Day 23: The Video I’ve Been Avoiding For Years (And Why It’s Finally Out There)

~ David Willis ~ Leave a comment

Twenty-three days into the 7-40 Challenge, and I did something I’ve been calling “too difficult” for years.

I filmed my first YouTube video. Posted it. Extracted clips with OpusClip. Distributed them to TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts.

It’s rough. It’s not my best work. The descriptions aren’t perfect. The tags aren’t optimized. I’m not even sure anybody will see it.

But it’s out there. Right here actually.

And that’s what matters.

The Friday Weigh-In

This morning I stepped on the scale: 282.2 pounds.

Day 1, I was 289.5. That’s 7.3 pounds down in 23 days.

I’m establishing Friday as my official weekly weigh-in day. Every Friday, I’ll report the number – up, down, or plateau. No spin. Just data.

7.3 pounds in 23 days. The system works.

But today isn’t about the weight. Today is about the thing I’ve been avoiding.

The Thing I’ve Been Avoiding

Social media.

Not just posting on social media – I’ve done that before. But actually BUILDING a presence. Filming videos. Putting myself on camera. Creating content that might inspire the 1,000 people I want to reach.

I’ve been calling it “too difficult” for years. I’ve said I don’t understand it. I’ve watched other people build audiences and thought “why can they figure it out so easily when I can’t?”

The truth? I’ve been protecting myself from vulnerability.

It’s easier to blog in obscurity than to film a video where people can see my face, hear my voice, and judge whether I’m authentic or full of it.

But here’s what I realized reading Michael Hyatt’s chapter on Risk this morning:

Publishing today is more important than perfect.

The Hook That Broke the Pattern

I asked myself: “Can you name one thing right now that you’ve always wanted to do that you’ve been avoiding?”

For me, it was this. The video. The social presence. The public documentation that goes beyond written words.

So I took the outline we’d built, hit record, and started talking as if I was speaking to a friend.

I didn’t script every word. I didn’t rehearse. I just went with the rough outline in my head and answered each section naturally.

Toastmaster training kicked in – I’m actually pretty good at speaking extemporaneously if I have an outline. I talked through:

  • The hook (name your avoided thing)
  • My story (47, stuck in “someday” mode for 20 years)
  • The 7-40 Challenge system
  • The data (7.3 lbs, 97 chapters, 23 perfect days)
  • The mission (1,000 people need living proof, not theory)
  • The call to action (start now, comment your avoided thing)

Seven minutes. One take. Done.

OpusClip Made It Easy

Then I did something I wasn’t planning to do today: I signed up for OpusClip.

The whole workflow I’d been overthinking? It was actually easy.

Upload the video. Let the AI identify viral moments. Download the clips. Post to Instagram and TikTok directly from the platform.

I’m on the starter plan right now – wanted to try it before committing to pro. But honestly? It worked exactly like it was supposed to.

Three platforms. Multiple clips. One creative hour.

Why It’s Not My Best Work (And Why I Posted Anyway)

I don’t have the appropriate hashtags. The titles aren’t SEO-optimized. The descriptions are bare-bones. All the “crap that normally goes with it” – I skipped most of it.

I’m not certain anybody will see it.

But here’s the thing: even with perfect optimization, nobody was going to see my first video anyway. I have no subscribers. No algorithm momentum. No existing audience.

The point of Day 23 wasn’t views. It was breaking the pattern.

I did the thing I’ve been calling “too difficult” for years. I filmed. I posted. I extracted. I distributed.

I proved to myself that I can be uncomfortable and survive.

Day 24’s video will be slightly better. Day 30 will be better still. By Day 100, I’ll have reps under my belt and know what works.

But none of that happens without Day 23.

The Best Time To Start

Michael Hyatt’s Risk chapter hit me hard this morning. He talks about how meaningful achievement requires stepping into discomfort. How comfort equals boredom.

I’ve been bored with my own avoidance for too long.

So today I chose action over perfection. I chose vulnerability over polish. I chose NOW over “when it’s ready.”

The video is out there. It’s imperfect. It’s uncomfortable.

And I’m happy it’s done.

Day 23 Scorecard: ✅ Bible study ✅ Workout A ✅ Reading (Your Best Year Ever – Risk chapter) ✅ Friday Weigh-In: 282.2 lbs (7.3 lbs down) ✅ Walking ✅ Calories ✅ Water ✅ Gratitude ✅ Creative hour (First YouTube video filmed, posted, and distributed via OpusClip)

Twenty-three consecutive perfect days. The thing I’ve been avoiding for years? Done.

The best time to stop avoiding the thing you’ve been avoiding? Now.

See you tomorrow for Day 24.

Day 20: Why DDP Yoga (And Why This Time Is Different)

~ David Willis ~ Leave a comment

Twenty days into the 7-40 Challenge, and I’m realizing something: I’ve been doing DDP Yoga on and off for years. But I’ve never done it like this.

Let me explain.

Why DDP Yoga?

When I started looking for a yoga program that fit my life, I had a few non-negotiables.

First, I needed something approachable. Yoga is incredibly good for your health, but I’m a 47-year-old married man. I don’t need to do yoga with young women in spandex. I need to hang out with a guy in his 60s in gym shorts, focusing on nothing but the physical benefits. That’s exactly what DDP Yoga gave me.

Second, I remembered Diamond Dallas Page from his WCW wrestling days in the ’90s. I was a bit of a fan back then. But what really caught my attention was when he went on Shark Tank to get funding for his business.

That’s where I saw Arthur’s story.

The Arthur Story That Changed Everything

Arthur was a veteran who used to jump out of airplanes. He did a lot of damage to his body through his service to the country. By the time DDP met him, Arthur was using arm canes just to move around. He was much larger than was healthy. Doctors didn’t know if he’d ever walk normally again.

But on Shark Tank, Arthur stood next to DDP—a fit, trim man full of vitality. There was a video of him running. Full speed.

It’s hard to argue with those results.

Why That Story Mattered to Me

Around the time I picked up the DDP Yoga app in 2019—after spending the back half of 2018 healing up from surgery—I felt extremely broken.

During my cancer surgery and recovery, I lost 50 pounds. Then I had all the lymph nodes surgically removed from my abdomen—a massive abdominal surgery with a huge midline scar running down my stomach.

I didn’t know if I’d regain my core strength. I didn’t know if I’d ever feel normal again.

Through DDP Yoga, I’ve been able to regain a lot of my core strength and flexibility. And I did it in a way that’s uplifting and positive—because that’s who DDP is. The program is low-impact. It doesn’t overtax my muscles, but it definitely works them out. I get my heart rate up without hurting myself.

There are different workout programs on the app for people at every fitness level. I’ve gotten much more flexible and stronger over time.

But here’s the confession: I’ve never actually finished a full 13-week cycle.

Why This Time Is Different

I made it through one 13-week cycle once, but I didn’t do all the prescribed workouts. I’d push things off. Rearrange the schedule. Skip one here and there. Just mess around.

This time, I have my workout plan already established. I know exactly what days I’m doing things on. I look at my phone, see what’s up for that day, and that’s the workout I do.

Part of the beauty of DDP’s app is you can set the workout schedule to be what you want it to be on the days you want. It was very easy to take the 3-4 yoga sessions I wanted per week and arrange them around my lifting days.

So I’m lifting, doing yoga, and walking—without overburdening myself on any specific day. It’s balanced. It’s sustainable.

But here’s the real difference:

I’ve decided to be completely transparent with myself and the world.

I need transformation. I do not want to wait any longer to step into this.

The best time to start is now. And that’s exactly what I’m doing.

Arthur went from arm canes to running. I went from post-cancer brokenness to regaining my core strength. But both of us had to actually show up and do the work.

Day 20. DDP Yoga Energy 2.0 is up next. I’m not skipping it. I’m not rearranging it. I’m doing it.

Because this time, I’m not just trying to finish a cycle. I’m building a foundation that lasts 280 days—and beyond.

Day 20 Scorecard: ✅ Bible study ✅ Exercise (Walking) ✅ Reading ✅ Calories ✅ Water ✅ Gratitude ✅ Creative hour ✅ DDP Yoga Energy 2.0

Twenty consecutive perfect days. No skipping. No rearranging. Just showing up.

The best time to start is now.

See you tomorrow for Day 21.

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

~ David Willis ~ Leave a comment

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 12: More Than Just Checking Boxes (Why This Challenge Is Emotional)

~ David Willis ~ Leave a comment

I’m in the Emotional chapter of “Made to Stick” this morning, and something caught my attention.

The Heath brothers tell a story about a soldier cook. He had retired, but when offered an opportunity to cook for soldiers in Iraq, he jumped at the post. When asked about his job, he didn’t say “I prepare food.” He said: “My job is morale.”

He understood something deeper than the task list. Yes, he cooked meals. But his real job was building the strength soldiers needed to keep fighting, to survive, to stay mentally sharp in war.

That hit me hard. Because the 7-40 Challenge can’t just be about checking boxes.

The Real Job

Bible study. Exercise. Reading. Water. Calories. Gratitude. Creative work.

Seven habits. Forty days. Repeated seven times.

On the surface, that’s what I’m doing. But here’s the truth: my job is to be living proof that change is possible.

I was made to help people. To make their lives better, easier, more purposeful. I feel that call deep inside me—the need to take care of people, to build them up, to show them what’s possible.

But I can’t do that and ignore myself.

I have to fill my cup so I can fill others.

Why This Is Emotional for Me

This isn’t self-improvement for self-improvement’s sake. If the goal were just about me, it would be much too small.

I’m doing this because:

My family needs me healthy and strong. Fewer illnesses means less stress on my wife. More energy means I can be active, do the home improvement projects we love, spend time doing whatever activities we choose. Better mood means better interactions with everyone around me.

My son needs to see this. Not hear about transformation someday—watch it happen in real time. So when life gets hard for him, he knows it’s possible to choose differently.

The 1,000 people I want to impact need proof. By clearly defining the transformation I’m undergoing and letting people watch it play out in real time, I’m demonstrating the courage they need to name their own transformation—which may be completely different than mine. But watching mine unfold might inspire them to face theirs.

The Ripple Effect

When I’m healthy, strong, and energized, my world improves. And everything my world touches improves.

My marriage gets stronger. My parenting gets more present. My work gets sharper. My ability to help others grows exponentially.

That’s not narcissism. That’s stewardship.

I can’t pour from an empty cup. And at times over the past twenty+ years, I’ve run on fumes, talking about “someday” while my cup stayed empty.

Not anymore.

Motivation and Movement

The soldier cook understood: his real job was giving soldiers the strength to keep fighting.

My real job? Giving people stuck in “someday” mode the courage to actually move. To break from routine’s gravity. To start now instead of waiting for perfect.

And I can only do that if I’m doing it myself.

Day 12. Twelve perfect days behind me. Not because I’m special, but because the mission is bigger than me.

Day 12 Scorecard: ✅ Bible study ✅ Exercise (Workout B – back, biceps, legs) ✅ Reading (Made to Stick – Emotional chapter) ✅ Water ✅ Calories ✅ Gratitude ✅ Creative hour

The best time to fill your cup? Now. Not for yourself alone. For everyone who needs you at your best.

My job isn’t just the habits.

It’s to be living proof that change is possible.

See you tomorrow for Day 13.