Here Comes Hell Week Part 1
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Erik Bertrand Larssen for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine.
The time has finally arrived and not a moment too soon. My life, my schedule, and my apartment are a mess that needs to be put to order immediately. (BTW, I did make that 4:30 am workout).
For those of you who are just joining us and not familiar with what I’m referring to or with how much of a scatterbrain I am, you should go back and read my first article. Believe me, when you see how close I am to disarray (practically first name basis) you will want to see what could help turn my life around.
Hell Week
The answer is, of course, Hell Week. Hell Week is the defining event of BUD/S (Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL) training. While I am not trying to become a Navy SEAL, the concept of Hell Week is to push yourself and really see what you are made of.
Erik Bertrand Larssen, a former Norwegian Army paratrooper and the number one performance coach in Norway, has written a book entitled Hell Week: 7 Days to Your Best Self. Having gone through one himself, he has surmised that doing this is a great way for everyone to truly get to know themselves and make the necessary changes that you would like to your life. Well, I am more than ready for that!
Hell Week is structured so that there are seven rules that you should follow, one to focus on for each day. However, it is also meant to be a very personal experience. People decide to go through their own hell week for many different reasons. You can start if you want to conquer your fitness goals, time management skills, adaptability, ability to manage stress or all of the above.
The Plan
The week and all that is learned during it will help you to become an all around more successful person. It brings out your best self. I am planning my week with the goal in mind to become a more organized individual. I want to completely eradicate the days of “surprise deadlines.”
In case you are unfamiliar with the term Surprise Deadlines– projects that you completely forgot about until someone reminds you of the deadline that always seems to be right around the corner.
They are the actual worst surprise you can receive, and they seem to happen in my personal and professional life. I will not miss them.
With this goal in mind, I read the book cover to cover. All of the rules are great, and I am sure will benefit me greatly. However, there seemed to be a few that stuck out to me that are complete genius. They seemed to have been made with my image in mind.
So the plan is, while I will most definitely be implementing all of the rules, I will be sure to be much more strict with myself on the few that I feel will benefit me most. These include Rule Number 5: Take charge of your digital life; Rule Number 6: Get hyperfocused; Rule number 7: Step up your game.
These three rules are game changers for me. Maybe they do not sound so revolutionary to some. But for me, if I could accomplish these three alone, my life efficiency would increase by at least another 2000%. No exaggeration. Of course, as I mentioned, they are not the only rules I will be abiding by, so let’s go over them all and what they will help me to accomplish.
Rule number 1: Early to bed, early to Rise
“Life is too short,” she panicked, “I want more.” He nodded slowly, “Wake up earlier.”
~Dr. SunWolf
Dr. Sunwolf knew something that I didn’t. After reading Hell Week: 7 Days to a Better You, it became clearer. If you feel there is not enough time in the day, an easy way to get more time is to wake up earlier. I have no schedule in my life really, except to be at work at a certain time.
I always said that I wish there were more hours in the day so that I could cook more, or workout more often. It turns out I don’t need more hours; I just need to use them more effectively. I had no set time to go to bed before. Some nights I would get 4 or 5 hours of rest, and then I would make up for it on the weekend by sleeping way too much.
Somehow I figured that my crazy sleep patterns averaged out to a healthy sleep schedule. It just made it harder for me to sleep making bedtime for me very restless. I constantly wake in the middle of the night and grab my phone in terror to check the time. Waking up is the hardest thing for me to do, so I am always in fear that I have overslept.
I don’t even remember what it feels like to have a restful, full night of sleep. So this week I will make sure that I am in bed at the same time every day, and wake at the same time every day. This will hopefully have a few benefits.
- It will allow my body to get used to this sleep pattern so that I can fall asleep more easily overnight and not wake up to check the time every hour.
- It will allow me to have more hours in my day to accomplish all that I have planned.
- It will help me to form healthy habits that will manifest in other areas in my life as well.
Rule Number 2: Look Your Absolute Best at All Times
“I have always believed that fashion was not only to make women more beautiful, but also to reassure them, give them confidence.”
— Yves Saint Laurent
I don’t think I could have said it any better, so why not let Yves say it for me! I completely agree. Whenever I feel uncertain about something, it makes it 10x worse if I do not look my best. And with my chaotic sandstorm of a “routine,” there are often when I run out feeling more frumpy and disheveled than I am comfortable with.
Not during Hell Week! One thing that I have been dealing with lately is ill-fitting clothes. I have recently lost a bit of weight, so all of my clothes seem to make me look frumpy and clueless. So I decided to go shopping! I just purchased a few essentials that would do well in any setting. New sweaters, basic tops, and jeans that don’t fall down all day. You know, the basics.
This week I will do something that I have not done since high school: plan all of my outfits for the week ahead of time. I believe that high school was the last time I did this just because it was the last time I had time to do so. In college, I formed the habit of living in workout clothes (so practical and comfortable).. Then when I began working, I always had more than one job at once. With my organizational skills being non-existent, that meant that I had NO extra time to worry about fashion.
Don’t get me wrong; I still loved it. However, I have not been able to find the time that I used to have Sunday evenings to spend an hour or two planning outfits and hanging them for the week. Thanks to that extra hour or two I will have in the day from rising early, that will all change now.
To be Continued…
These are only the first two rules that I will be implementing throughout the week. If you would like to hear about the other five, which include the three that I mentioned above, check out Part two of the article, you won’t be disappointed!
