In an earlier chat log under my Hell Week 2.0 consistency tracker, I mentioned an idea I find to be deeply important, an idea that only occurred to me during this most recent Hell Week. Previously, I approached the many challenges I faced as if they were simply vehicles to transport me towards a vague notion of "progress", an idea deeply rooted in the material side of self-improving. Come this most recent HW, I realized that while these various challenges engage you towards greater heights, they must also be treated as a way to define what you wish those heights to be. A fellow member of this community, Benjamin, raised the idea of "potential" being intertwined with this, and I find that, incorporating this concept, there is more to be seen and said about my previous ideas. To sum up the collective discussion brought up, I would say this: That which pushes you to your limits is, in truth, an opportunity given to you to understand both your potential and your vision for it. As I promised in an earlier post, I'll give some details on my project on day 6 of HW. If you could, please give your thoughts on my hypothesis as well as some ideas on the methodology I might use to test it. (This will be a bit wordy, so please bear with me) The main idea that I propose is that when one's actual self aligns with another's preconceptions, there is a higher degree of social comfort than if that person were to have clashing external and internal worlds. This is primarily based on reported speeds at which we judge people (1/10th of a second to 7 seconds), as well as the psychological phenomena known as cognitive dissonance. Although cognitive dissonance is typically treated as an internal mechanism, it may also have implications within the external, social world. (I don't just propose that people may feel discomfort due to clashing evidence, but also that people may feel comfort if their evaluation is correct) An example of this theoretical "discomfort" may be told through this example:

What the title says

I’ll attempt to update this daily, with both my wins and losses on the fronts provided by Epoch.

We will discuss: - When will we do hell week? - Do you intend to get rid of a part of yourself, or do you want to stress test a part of yourself? - Public Accountability (Daily public check-ins, ) - Things to do during hell week, negotiate the current schedule below: DAY 1 – PHYSICAL LABOR I {SHOCK} - 500 pushups - 10 km walk/jog/run (push yourself) - Wake up at 3 am regardless of sleep DAY 2 – BOREDOM - No phone all day. (Not even skool, you can go on the next morning, write this down.) - Read at least 1 entire book. - Eat the same simple meal all day if possible (Example: Rice.) DAY 3 - PHYSICAL LABOR II - Journal day 2 the morning after in a new post - 500 pushups - 10 km walk/jog/run (push yourself) - Wake up at 3 am regardless of sleep - Stay offline except for work + check-in - Journal day 3 at night in a new post DAY 4 – Midweek Collapse (Your mind expects you to lay off, you shouldn't.) - Train even when energy is low - 600 pushups (100 more, just to push your mind.) - 10 km walk/jog/run (push yourself) - Wake up at 3 am regardless of sleep - Stay offline except for work + check-in - Stare at a wall for an hour. DAY 5 – CONSTRAINT DAY Can you function with less? - Eat only one meal, (dinner, preferably) - No phone - Work with pen + paper only - Limit speech to essentials (like a vow of silence, but essentials are allowed) DAY 6 – OVERLOAD - 12 km run/jog - Finish an entire project, if you need ideas, tell me. - Ask one person if you can help with anything (within reason) [to teach kindness] DAY 7 – CLOSURE & REINTEGRATION Meaning, and integration, not immediate relapse. - Long reflection post (at least 2 paragraphs, a paragraph has 4-5 complete sentences.) - Decide what you plan to keep from the hell week, which practices etc...

In around a day or two, I plan to start a "Hell Week" in which I physically and mentally push myself to my limits (the only exception being on Christmas day). I'm looking for any tips, rules, or special challenges I should incorporate into this week of self-discipline. Thank you.