Today is October 5, 2024—my 53rd birthday. It feels different from the others despite not being a milestone birthday. There's a shift in my spirit, a palpable sense of purpose stirring within me. I've had birthdays before where I reflected on the passing of time, especially the big ones at 40 and 50, but this one feels charged, electric, like it holds the key to something bigger. Today marks the beginning of a new chapter.
This isn't just another birthday resolution or a fleeting burst of motivation. It's a conscious decision to reshape my life in a way I've never dared to before. I feel it deeply—in every fiber of my being. After years of contemplating change and having several starts and stops, I am ready to face my obstacles and dismantle everything that has held me back. I'm ready to evolve and create the life I've always imagined, not just in theory but in action. The next three years will be a transformation journey, a deliberate pursuit to unlock my full potential and leave a meaningful legacy. I am finally stepping into my power, and I invite you to follow or join me as I embark on Project 55.
So what is Project 55, and how did it come about?
I felt something was missing for several years but couldn't place it. I started researching and came across a program called The Strenuous Life. The more I read into it, the more I felt it would provide me with what I needed. So, in April 2019, I signed up and was a member of Class 032, where I had completely bought in. I completed the 12-week boot camp with flying colors, earning the TSL Challenge Coin. From there, I completed the vaunted 52-week Agon Perfection. I stepped into leadership in the Texas region. And then COVID arrived and derailed the train.
Since COVID came and went, my consistency with anything of value has been a rollercoaster at best. My greatest accomplishment was fighting through and earning my degree; however, the failures mounted. Over the past three years, I have had more start-and-stops than I can count, including as recently as a month ago. I also went through a period where I felt lost after I graduated. I had put five years of my heart and soul into the degree that I didn't know what to do when it was over. It hit me especially hard when classes started this fall, and I wasn't enrolled. While reflecting, I knew I needed to rediscover purpose. Before this, I had thought about purpose but was singularly focused on physical fitness and health. In April, I rucked 90 miles, which I intended to be a launching pad for more. Instead, I fell flat and lost all I gained, which was evident when I went to Alaska in August. Too often, I had to sit back on a park bench while my wife took off into the woods to see a mountain lake or a salmon entry point. It killed me. On the cruise ship, I decided I had to make fundamental changes. Since my absence from college was eating at me, I wanted to go beyond physical health. I buckled down and started evaluating my life piece by piece.
And from that, I came up with this crazy idea that I now call Project 55.
In a simple explanation, Project 55 is a three-year plan where I set goals, and either I achieve them to make the change I say I want, or I accept that I won't make those changes. For example, in April, I shared a photo of my closet with my book club when discussing The Comfort Crisis. The picture showed a closet full of shirts, which were the size I wanted to wear, not what I currently wear—hanging as a visual goal to lose the weight to wear them. I gave myself to my birthday to either wear them or remove them. I am packing up the shirts today and storing them in a tote. We'll come back to this soon. The first order of business was to lay out how I wanted the program to work. I first worked on a target date. For weeks, I went back and forth over two dates: October 5, 2026, or October 4, 2027. The first date represented a two-year plan, the latter a three-year plan. The real question was, how long did I want to commit myself? As I went back and forth, it became clear that a three-year plan made more sense, partly because I knew it would take longer to fight my challenges.
Creating Project 55
Here is the structure of Project 55:
Year One: Removing obstacles and tearing down the damage
Year Two: Rebuilding your temple
Year Three: Establishing your lasting legacy
The first year of Project 55 is where the work begins. It's dedicated to identifying and removing the obstacles that hold you back from achieving your potential. This starts with giving yourself an honest evaluation—reflecting deeply on your strengths and weaknesses, understanding where you've succeeded, and confronting where you've fallen short. Once you have this clarity, you will establish important goals aligned with your vision. Year One focuses on tearing down everything that stands in the way of becoming your best self. While this is the most challenging year of the project, it's also the most critical. Breaking free from old patterns, limiting beliefs, and external influences requires perseverance, but you can do it with determination.
After clearing away the debris of your past, Year Two focuses on rebuilding your life with intention. This is the phase where you re-examine your goals. Have they shifted? Do they need to be adjusted? With new insights from Year One, you'll flex your goals to push yourself even further. Subtle, timely hints will signal to those around you that something significant is changing. Year Two is about solidifying your foundation and creating a life aligning with your aspirations.
In the final year of Project 55, the focus shifts to legacy-building. This is the time to apply the finishing touches to your transformation. Celebrate the goals you've achieved, and make peace with the ones you didn't reach—understanding that failure is part of growth. As you reflect on your journey, you'll start to share your experiences, using your story to inspire others. Your legacy isn't just about what you accomplish; it's about how your journey empowers others to begin their transformations.
Great! The framework is laid. Contemplating goals
I took this part seriously. I agonized for weeks, trying to filter through what I wanted to do. The purpose of this is not to set ten goals, fifty goals, or a hundred goals. It's to set tangible goals based on how one truly wants to transform one's life. So, it starts with what I call the Umbrella Goal.
My Umbrella Goal is to transform myself into the person I always envisioned myself to be by removing the things that prevent me from getting there, committing to the changes I must make to get there, and establishing a lasting lifestyle to stay there.
From there, you get into the specifics. I broke goals into different categories, which I call my "Great Eight." They are as follows:
Health & Fitness
Family
Spiritual
Personal growth & development
Career
Side business & hobbies
Financial
Community
Take as much time as you need to think of and decide on your goals. Make goals within the framework for Year One, Two, and Three. Whether short-, mid-, or long-term goals, the most critical aspect is making them personal. Do them for you, not someone else. You do not have to set goals from all the categories on the list, and you can add those that are important to you. Furthermore, don't feel you must restrict yourself to a single goal, but don't overwhelm yourself with so many goals you sabotage yourself.
I must make an important point: If you achieve a goal, that is amazing. If you do not reach that goal, accept it with peace. This program isn't about success or failure but about learning about yourself and accepting who you are with grace.
With that said, let's talk about Year One. Year One: Removing obstacles and tearing down the damage
I am not happy with my current state of being. I allow my health and fitness to fall into areas that embarrass me. I find ways to avoid people as much as possible, going against every fiber of my being. I make excuses to stop doing the things I love when they get difficult. I fail to lead by example. I complain and make noise about things instead of getting in the fight. I represent the people I profess not to be like. I am apathetic, fat, lazy, weak-minded, prone to surrender, uncommitted, incapable of sustaining drive, and unwilling to do what must be done. I feel like a failure, and I have wasted 25 years of my life.
The first obstacle to overcome is being honest with myself.
I'm not going to lie to you; admitting that hurts. It shames and embarrasses me and makes me feel like a giant fraud. However, it's also liberating because I found drive in this process. To use an analogy, I am a steam locomotive. The boiler is cold, the rods and pistons are locked in rust, and the frame is a mess. But the bones are good, so the restoration begins.
Looking ahead
For the next 364 days, I will focus on removing obstacles that prevent me from being who I am in my purest form. Whether it is health, fitness, appearance, mental, emotional, spiritual, work, anger at things beyond my control, or any of a million other "reasons," I will work on them. Confront them. Take them head-on. I'll even get, as I participate in accountability with my TSL friends. In short, I am developing the will to remove obstacles.
Each week, I will share an entry about my journey (maybe more if compelled.) I'll discuss my specific goals and how things are going. I'll be candid with my experience because I expect many challenges, setbacks, and pain, but these are all obstacles to overcome.
When Year One ends, one of my goals is to open a particular tote and start wearing a collection of shirts I always wanted.
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