Tag: love

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 22: When Comfort Became the Enemy (And Why I’m Grateful For Discomfort)

~ David Willis ~ Leave a comment

I’m reading “Your Best Year Ever” by Michael Hyatt, and today a quote hit me like a punch to the gut:

“When it comes to meaningful achievement, comfort = boredom.”

Let me be clear about something: I wasn’t bored with my life. I love my life. I love my family. I cherish the time I have with wife and my son.

But I was absolutely bored with how I was handling the hard things in my life.

And that’s a dangerous kind of boredom.

The Comfortable Pattern

For a long time, it was really easy to come home from work and sit down on the couch. Get ready for dinner. Have a glass of wine. Tell myself I deserved it and do my best to escape the day I just had.

Here’s the thing: I had nothing to escape. Sure, there were stressors like any other day filled with jobs and decisions and everything else. But I didn’t need to escape anything.

Yet I was using the wine to combat stress.

Wine in itself is not a bad thing. But when you drink it as much as a stress reliever as you do for enjoyment, it’s probably become an unhealthy thing.

And time goes by so quickly. You put on some weight. You find yourself doing the same things every day, not getting anywhere.

That’s when comfort becomes boredom.

The Red Pill

You know that scene in The Matrix, don’t you? Where Morpheus offers Neo a choice.

Take the blue pill and you go back to your life. You believe whatever it is you want to believe. Everything stays comfortable.

Take the red pill and you’ll see how deep the rabbit hole really goes.

For me, the 7-40 Challenge has been a lot like the red pill.

What I’m doing, I enjoy. But it is not necessarily comfortable. I am not bored. I am challenged. And I’m more hopeful than I have been in a long time.

The Discomfort I Chose

When I started this challenge on January 1, I told myself I was going to have a dry January. I want to make it very clear: I don’t use alcohol to excess. But the fact that I have used it to relieve stress is something I didn’t particularly care for.

As I started this journey, I wanted the challenge itself to be the stress relief. Doing things that excite me. Treating my body well. Really spending time with my family where I’m completely present and plugged in.

It’s human nature to take the easiest path. When confronted with a hard path or an easy path, it is really, really hard to take the red pill.

But meaningful achievement? That’s on the other side of discomfort.

What’s Actually Hard

The individual tasks aren’t hard.

Reading my Bible is the first thing I do every morning. It’s not difficult. I want to do it.

Tracking my calories, my water, exercising every day – I want to do them. But I would naturally gravitate towards not doing them because there are so many other pressing things that need to be done.

Reading every day is not something that comes naturally to me. I love getting new information. I love new ideas. But setting aside the time to listen instead of daydreaming or whatever else it is I do has been very different.

Gratitude is where I want the natural position of my heart to be. I want this habit to be an outflow of how I truly feel on the inside. The truth is, I feel so entirely blessed and thankful for the life I have – even though I’m not completely where I want to be.

And I’ll admit: the creative hour paired with social media learning and all that comes with it is very challenging. I’m much more of a private person than I thought I was.

But I also know you can’t inspire others and hide your light under a basket.

The hardest part isn’t any single task. The hardest part is doing ALL of these tasks EVERY day.

The Compound Interest of Discomfort

I wrote earlier this month about compound interest – how when we do things over and over, we get surprised at how far and how fast we can go.

That has been the result I’ve seen this month.

I’ve accomplished things this month I didn’t know I could do. And the month is only two-thirds over.

What could I do if I could keep up this kind of output this year?

It boggles the mind.

Why I Left Comfort Behind

I wasn’t bored with my life. But I realized something critical:

If I’m going to take care of other people and inspire other people and be everything God intended me to be, I need to take care of myself.

I need to challenge myself to excellence.

I need to take better care of my body, my mind, and my spirit.

I need to be the transformation I want to see for others.

And I can’t do that sitting on the couch drinking wine.

Day 22 Reality

Today I rebranded all my social media accounts around the 7-40 Challenge. YouTube. Instagram. X (Twitter). TikTok.

It’s uncomfortable putting myself out there. It’s vulnerable documenting this publicly.

But comfort = boredom. And I’m done being bored with how I handle the hard things.

Michael Hyatt was right. Meaningful achievement lives on the other side of discomfort.

Day 22 Scorecard: ✅ Bible study ✅ Dirt work (replacing walking – garden beds getting built) ✅ Reading (Your Best Year Ever audiobook) ✅ Calories ✅ Water ✅ Gratitude ✅ Creative hour (Social media rebrand – all accounts updated) ✅ DDP Yoga Fat Burner 2.0

Twenty-two consecutive perfect days. The discomfort is worth it.

The best time to leave comfort behind? Now.

See you tomorrow for Day 23.

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.

Gratitude Sunday: My Mom and George Bailey

~ David Willis ~ Leave a comment

One of my favorite Christmas movies is It’s a Wonderful Life.

When I was younger, I liked it because an angel comes down and helps a guy get through a hard time. You get to see his whole story unfold and figure out who he really is. I didn’t see the deep significance as a young person watching this movie for the first time.

As I’ve gotten older, George Bailey’s story has become far too familiar.

I see it in life all around me. People—many wonderful people—don’t realize the good they do. They don’t understand how their influence has shaped the world around them far more than they know.

One person I can see this to be true about is my mother.

A Life of Selfless Love

My mother is one of the most selfless, wonderful people I have ever met or had the pleasure to know. She is kind and caring and deeply concerned with the well-being of others.

This flows from her relationship with God, which has been solid for as long as I can remember. She loves Jesus dearly. And because of that, she has consistently, over the years, shown people God’s love in countless ways.

I’ve seen her stop in the grocery store and share God with people or stop and pray with them just because she knew they needed it. I’ve seen her give of herself and run herself ragged to make sure that the people she served and the people she loved were taken care of.

But I’m going to tell this story from my perspective, from what I’ve seen in my own life.

Songs and Stories in the Early ’80s

My mother, in the early ’80s, started telling me stories about Jesus. She would sing songs and read the Bible with me. She was very involved in making sure that I knew that Jesus loved me—and also building me up to be a confident and strong young man.

She was consistent in her love.

I reminded her the other day that she’s the reason I know Jesus, just as she’s the reason many other people in this world know Jesus as well. She’s the reason people have found hope when they didn’t have any. She’s the reason people have found kindness when they most needed it.

She has been God’s love to people repeatedly throughout her life.

And just like George Bailey, I don’t think she understands just how far her influence has gone.

The Billy Graham Question

It makes me think.

If I asked you, “Do you know who Billy Graham is?” most of us—whether we are Christians or not—have heard the name. We know he was a very famous minister. We know that he touched countless lives with the love of God and with the message of God’s salvation.

But if I asked you, “What was the name of the man who introduced Billy Graham to Jesus?” I don’t think many of us would know who that is.

You never know the effect you have on someone’s life. You never know the influence. You never know the good that you do. You’ll never see the full picture.

But that shouldn’t stop you from doing good.

My Gratitude

So to say the least, I’m grateful for my mother.

I’m grateful for the way she’s loved me and taken care of me. Even though it’s been many, many years since I’ve lived in their home, she still loves me and prays for me to this day like I’m her baby boy.

Her influence on me has been outstanding.

And I can only imagine the influence she’s had on others—the people whose names I’ll never know, whose stories I’ll never hear, whose lives were changed because she stopped in a grocery store or prayed with someone who was hurting or sang songs about Jesus to a little boy in the early ’80s.

She’ll never know how far her influence has gone.

But I do know this: I wouldn’t be here without her. I wouldn’t know Jesus without her. I wouldn’t be attempting this 7-40 Challenge without the foundation she helped build in my life.

So thank you, Mom.

For being God’s love when I needed it most.

For never giving up on me.

For showing me what it looks like to live a life of purpose.

You’re far more influential than you know.

And I’m forever grateful.

#ThankYouCampaign #GratitudeSunday #ItsAWonderfulLife #GeorgeBailey #MothersLove #Faith #Jesus #Grateful #FamilyLegacy #Influence #740Challenge #Purpose #ChristianLife #Thankful

Day 9: Twenty-Seven Years and Just Getting Started

~ David Willis ~ Leave a comment

Today is my 27th wedding anniversary.

Twenty-seven years ago, I married my best friend. And sitting at the table with her this morning, talking about all the unlikely things that had to align for us to even meet, I’m reminded why Day 9 of the 7-40 Challenge matters more than any other day so far.

This isn’t just about me. It never has been.

The Butterfly Effect (Or God’s Perfect Timing)

April 1, 1998. I walked into a church in Bethany, Oklahoma, volunteering with the college minister—for what, I don’t really remember. As we walked in together, a beautiful lady with blonde hair walked toward us.

The minister introduced us. She quickly said hello, then politely ignored me. Talked with the minister and was on her way. Little did I know I had just met my future wife.

It was like we were destined to meet. But here’s the thing: I was only at that church because of a singing scholarship that brought me to that university where the college minister was a student. My bride had only transferred to that university three months earlier because she wanted to be closer to home. I’d been at a different church where I was the youth leader until just a month before. Then a rappelling trip in late April. A whitewater rafting trip in June.

Every random piece had to fall into place exactly right.

Twenty-seven years later, we’re still here. Still talking. Still building a life together. I can’t even describe how grateful I am.

Here’s the truth: I’m 47 years old, staring down the reality that 27 more years won’t be enough time to know her, to be her friend, to do everything we still want to do together. It just isn’t long enough to love her completely.

But I’ll take every second I can get.

Why I’m Doing This Challenge

For years, I’ve worked on bettering myself in various ways—career, faith, creativity. But I’ve simultaneously neglected things that matter just as much. My physical health. My strength. My energy.

And here’s what crossed my mind this morning: I have to be here. Not just alive, but present, capable, and strong. I want as many more years as I can have. God willing, that’s a whole bunch.

We love being married. We love building our family. We love being creative together. We love working on homes together—improving things, building things, creating beauty out of work. That requires strength. Stamina. Being physically able to show up and contribute, not just watch from the sidelines because I didn’t take care of myself.

I need to be a helpmate to my wife—not a burden she has to accommodate because I let myself fall apart.

I need to be an example for my son. I want him to see his dad doing the hard thing at 47, not talking about it someday. I want him to watch me transform, so when life gets hard for him, he knows it’s possible to choose differently. To start now, not later.

I want to see my grandchildren. I want decades more with my best friend. I want to keep growing, keep achieving, keep building.

The best time to start taking care of myself? Not someday. Not when things settle down. Now.

Because 27 years from now, I want to be sitting at that same table with her, talking about all the things we built together in these next decades.

And that starts with Day 9.

Day 9 Scorecard: ✅ Bible study ✅ Exercise (Workout A) ✅ Reading ✅ Gratitude ✅ Water ✅ Calories ✅ Creative hour

Nine consecutive perfect days. For her. For my son. For the life we’re still building.

Happy anniversary, my darling. Here’s to 27 more—and I’m going to be strong enough to live every one of them well.

The best time to start is now. Not for yourself alone. For everyone counting on you to be here.

See you tomorrow for Day 10.