Before I had time to finish the Life Design pre-training and enjoy the scholarship to participate in the full course, I received a new challenge. MIF Publishing House is organizing an intensive “Hell Week” based on the book “At the Limit” by Eric Bertrand Larsen. I heard a lot of positive feedback both about his creation and about the technique in general. There are still more than two weeks left until the full Life Design course, so I decided not to let my willpower muscles atrophy. Of course I'm participating!

What's the point hell week? These are 7 days of powerful pumping and going beyond your boundaries. You change your usual schedule and do several times more and more intensely than usual. Erik Larssen, the creator of this technique, is considered one of the best business coaches in Norway. He served in the special forces, where he underwent that very “Hell Week” - a real test of strength and spirit. It was really difficult for Larsen, but now he remembers this week as the best and most effective of his life. Realizing the full power of the technique, Erik Larssen decided to create a “civilian” version of Hell Week, which absolutely anyone can take.

Hell Week provides a number of rules that must be followed over the next 7 days:

• Get up at five every morning.This condition is just a gift for me. I have long wanted to regain the habit of getting up early. All last summer I woke up around 4:30 and it was the most wonderful time of the day. It was very easy to get up; often you didn’t even need an alarm clock. After waking up, I went out into the yard and greeted the dawn, leisurely drinking warm water with honey. Then a run, meditation, Surya Namaskar and a couple of apples for breakfast. I spent the next hour reading a book, blogs or articles on Life Is Interesting. By 7 am I was completely ready for the work day - water, sports and motivating reading raised my mood as high as possible.

• Go to bed at ten every night.I am also grateful for this point. Over the past couple of months, my planner has been filled to capacity with interesting goals and tasks, and I want to accomplish as much as possible before the end of the day. Therefore, my bedtime now is very late, around one or two in the morning. Of course, this also affects the late rise. Well, relatively late: for me, waking up at 8 already means oversleeping. This week I will try to get things done as efficiently as possible during the day to free up the evening and go to bed early.

• Physical activity - at least once a day, preferably in the morning.Wonderful condition. I introduced them into my schedule a month ago, but here the emphasis is on the morning routine of doing them. Firstly, it energizes, and secondly, I did it in the morning and forgot. There is no need to torture yourself and force yourself to study at the end of the working day, when your strength is running out.

• No procrastination.Oh, this procrastination. I have been struggling with it for quite some time, and there are already some positive results. I'll continue in the same vein this week.

• Resolve all personal issues before nightfall.I agree, great rule. I've been following him for quite some time. You have the whole day to deal with personal matters; you shouldn’t do them late.

• During working hours - no social networks.Now this is a problematic point for me, since I created a group on Facebook for Hell Week, and now I am constantly distracted by messages from the girls participating. Well, what can I do, I’ll turn off notifications during working hours and read them all at once in the evening.

• Any kind of sweets and substitutes are prohibited: potato chips, carbonated drinks, chocolate. Eat only healthy foods. Chips, soda and other trash food are already , so there is no problem. And over the past two weeks, I have begun to monitor my diet even more closely: I have eliminated all industrial sweets (chocolate, cheesecakes, candies) and bread, as well as all drinks except clean water. Every day I note the presence of fruits, vegetables, cereals in my diet, large quantity water (from 1.5 l). I will continue to follow these recommendations.

• TV is prohibited.I haven’t used a TV as a TV for a long time, except perhaps as a receiver for a flash drive when I want to watch a certain movie. Giving up movie viewing for a week is not a problem at all.

• Work hard, be focused, engaged and conscientious.Focus is the key to effectiveness. I use timing, it helps me. I'm measuring required quantity time for specific task and I do it without being distracted by anything. When I know that the clock is ticking, I begin to work accurately and clearly.

• Stay upbeat, positive and determined.Necessarily! At least get this phrase tattooed on your forehead. A positive attitude is the basis of all life in general. I'm lucky, I'm a pronounced optimist. But I periodically have bouts of sadness and soul-searching. The main thing is to immediately cut off the rising shoots of depression. As soon as I notice “rotten” thoughts, I immediately do something. Fast physical activity helps me: jumping in place, squats, push-ups. Anything to get the blood flowing and clear the brain. I also talk to myself mentally: “Olechka, everything is fine, you’re smart, everything will be wonderful - you know,” and I always smile at my reflection in the mirror. Works!

• Don't forget about quality rest.Something I've really forgotten about for the last month. I created , which helps me achieve the maximum of my plans. And every evening I give myself green pluses and red minuses - for completed and unfulfilled, respectively. My perfectionist nature wants to do everything perfectly well so much that I forget about rest. I don’t even give myself a weekend. Just yesterday I realized that this was wrong! You need a day of rest and relaxation, which you can spend as you wish: with a book in your hands on the sofa, with your family, or by organizing a trip. Doesn't matter. The main thing is to break out of the daily hustle and bustle and prepare for the new week. I'm implementing this rule!

So, my Hell Week began today, March 28 at 5 am, and will end on Sunday, April 3 at 10 pm.

One of the goals of Hell Week is to help you develop the habit of excellence. This means increasing your productivity, receiving more positive feedback from others and, therefore, feeling better.

Every time I talk about habits, I remember my sister. In school, I worked hard to get good grades. I managed to achieve what I wanted, but I worked like hell at it. They considered me a nerd and tried to stay away. My sister studied at a measured pace, day after day, from nine to four. No more, no less. Not only did she get high grades, but she also had plenty of free time after the school day - and she always knew what she had already done and what she had left. My sister managed to set a new school record for overall high scores, and she continued to perform exemplarily throughout high school and law school. Her grades were so good that it annoyed many, especially since from the outside it seemed as if they were easy for her.

And her secret was healthy habits and routine actions.

Those who know me well know that I like to think that I can push myself every now and then and work around the clock. But if you constantly work at such a rhythm, it will definitely affect both productivity and life in general. Then this approach turns into a bad habit. If you want to maintain performance for a long time, without good habits You can’t do it - as well as without rest, recovery, communication with family and friends. I will dwell on this in more detail when I talk about the program for Saturday and Sunday - the final days of hellish week.

They say, richest man in China he worked seventeen hours a day for forty years without any vacations. Maybe it's true, maybe it's fiction. In any case, it doesn't sound very attractive and hardly responds common sense. Even considering all his achievements. It is possible that if he had allowed himself to rest and relax properly, he would have earned even more.

Among my clients there are many women who suffer from the so-called smart girl syndrome. They want to do everything perfectly and will not settle for anything less. This is a very common and definitely very bad habit. Such women take on too many responsibilities and are unable to say no. There is nothing good in this, because anyone who thinks in this way is sure to become exhausted. And it will probably torture everyone around. The problem with these women (and many men who live by the same principle) is that they do not use the on and off key - they always operate in one mode and therefore do not distinguish when something really requires perfection, and when an acceptable result is enough.

I like the phrase “quite normal” - an expression that is suitable for a great variety of “work situations” both in the profession and in personal life. It is necessary to learn to separate tasks of different orders.

If you bring something to perfection that could be left at a “normal” level, you are only wasting your energy and testing the patience of those around you.

In this case, you only demonstrate poor prioritization. No one expects you to go above and beyond, so you won't get feedback and won't add value to the company.

When I tell my clients that there is nothing good in striving for perfection if the task can be done “normally,” it comes as a revelation to many of them. “What you are doing is bad,” I explain to them. - Your work leaves much to be desired because you try to achieve perfection in everything. If you want to do truly worthwhile work, you need to learn to prioritize.” My words give them a good boost, because these people sincerely want to do their job well.

I say the same thing to professional athletes: do you think you have to train for 24 hours?? hours a day because it makes you feel more productive. In reality, there is nothing to be proud of, because your best competitors gain an advantage by allowing themselves to rest - and you will not beat them unless you understand this. One of the conditions for success is recognizing the importance of rest. Limit the number of things you need to be good at.

So, your habit is an automatic behavior pattern. In certain situations, you react in a certain way without even realizing it. Habits can be physical, like scratching your head when nervous, or mental, like a lack of faith in your ability to overcome an unexpected challenge.

Perfectionism in everything is a bad habit. Some tasks need to be performed perfectly, but some need to be brought to an acceptable level.

Our habits are automatic and we are only partially aware of them. So how can you change them?

The key to change is tender word"feelings". Talking about feelings is not encouraged everywhere. In particular, such a ban exists among brutal representatives of the stronger sex. However, in my professional field feelings play an important role. They are the cornerstone of human existence.

It is common to think that in an environment where everyone puts on a stern face, talking about feelings is a sign of weakness. In fact, the opposite is true. However, expressing emotions and feeling sorry for yourself (your lips tremble, you sob constantly) are not the same thing.

The willingness to show your feelings, to allow them to be seen is a demonstration of inner strength.

Even trying to understand them speaks of strength. The ability to recognize and work with your feelings is a wonderful tool that is useful in many areas of life, and in particular it is necessary when changing habits. New habits need to be brought to automaticity: an optimistic outlook on life, self-confidence, organization, taking care of yourself and friends; supporting your own children, strengthening their self-esteem and self-confidence; the ability to not take oneself too seriously; the ability to win and accept defeat; willingness to trust your intuition; commitment to your goals and dreams; development of empathy; the ability to feel comfortable in front of an audience.

How to achieve this? One of two ways. The first one is painstaking work: over a period of time you are slowly but surely moving towards the desired result. The second is changes made in one fell swoop.

Let's discuss the second option first.

The most common reason for change is a truly painful feeling.

You are passed over on the career ladder by someone much younger than you, and it turns out to be so unpleasant and humiliating that you begin to work in increased productivity mode. You pant as you climb to the nth floor, and a female colleague makes a sarcastic remark about your generally imperfect shape; it hurts your feelings so much that you start exercising. Professional fishermen make the same decision, having learned during a routine medical examination that it would not hurt them to tighten up so as not to lose their permit to work on a fishing vessel. Or if your friend dies in a car accident after speeding, then immediately after the incident you will begin to drive more slowly. Of course, you already knew that speed kills, but you considered yourself a more talented driver than most people, and you believed that you could afford this weakness because nothing bad would happen to you. When this topic affects you personally, you slow down. Some people, after going through a similar experience, begin to care more about their friends.

If you have been hoping for a long time that life will be kind to you, it is very unpleasant to suddenly realize that many things do not happen on their own.

Knowing that you need to work hard on your efficiency, assertiveness and organization can be quite stressful. I think many of you are familiar with all this.

Sometimes it is enough to stop, be alone with yourself and ask questions: am I living the life I would like to live? If I continue to act the way I acted, what will happen to me in a year, five, ten years? Hell Week can be an effective incentive to get rid of some bad habits.

It is impossible to artificially induce strong feelings, so most of you have to go the long way, gradually making subtle adjustments to your life.

For example, you want to go to bed earlier, get up earlier, plan your time more carefully, do more sports or children.

It only takes one minute for change to begin! Just imagine - one minute a day. You can certainly devote one of the minutes that make up a day to change.

If you're a late riser, set your alarm a minute earlier than usual and get up a minute earlier than usual. If you don't exercise, start your workout with one minute. How many push-ups can you do in a minute? How many steps can you go up? Never planned your day? What can you plan in sixty seconds? One minute is just the first step. The next one will be two minutes. In a month you will already have half an hour. In two - a whole hour, which may have been your goal. When combined with self-talk and visualization, changing your habits is not that difficult. And if you start with Hell Week, the progress will be even more noticeable.

Good habits make us more efficient, goal-oriented, and free up time for other activities. The goal of Hell Week Monday is to be more conscious of all your habits and routines.

Your success is the result of willpower and purposeful actions, and not a random coincidence!

What do you think is one of the most popular literature in America? No matter how paradoxical it may sound, some of the most popular and best-selling books in the United States are books on self-development and personal growth. The number of trainers, coaches and motivational speakers with millions in fees is simply off the charts.

After all, it would seem that nothing new is happening. Every book tells well-worn stories. The script of most motivational books is predictable, like a new episode of a Brazilian TV series: the author of the book lived in poverty and at some point realized that this could no longer continue. At that moment, a brilliant decision came to him that changed his whole life and brought money, happiness and success.

Despite the fact that the same music is playing in the barrel organ, people continue to hastily pull out credit cards, having seen another hit from one of the gurus, and absorb tons of information. But nothing in life changes.

Let us ask the question again: “Why”?

Because, as former Norwegian special forces soldier Erik Bertrand Larssen said: “Your success is the result of willpower and purposeful action, not a coincidence!” In life, only the actions you perform matter!

By the way, Eric is also now a coach and author of books on personal growth :-) There is one “but”: if you read his book and do exactly everything he advises, your life will definitely change. Definitely!

Because I have never seen such a way out of my comfort zone in any book!

Welcome to Hell Week!

Without self-pity

Without Self-Pity is a book that has sold 223,000 copies in Norway alone. What is the reason for its popularity and how is it different from other books?

There are no snotty stories about difficult childhoods and enlightening moments. The book carries the idea of ​​the “hell week” that recruits go through before enlisting in a special forces unit.

Eric tried to move personal experience, which he received during Hell Week, on daily life. He believed that if a person is able to go through those difficulties, then his personal life can even be changed. This is how the concept of his personal hell week was born, which he talks about in the book and invites his students to go through.

Hell week

What's the point of Hell Week?

The author correctly considered that if we take long-term periods of time (for example, as described in the book “12 weeks”), then people often lose track and give up. At the beginning, all people are excited about their goals and plans, but as soon as the first difficulty occurs, they give up and long-term planning is abandoned.

Larssen decided to propose a new technique. It looks like a 7-day marathon (not that long, you'll agree), in which you will take small steps every day to change your life.

At the same time, the marathon has general rules:

• Hell Week starts on Monday at 5:00 and ends on Sunday at 22:00
• Every day you have to get up at five in the morning and go to bed at ten in the evening
• You should have a plan for the week, which is broken down into each day. You must concentrate on your goals and objectives
• You must be active and energetic
• It is prohibited to use social media during working hours, but you can’t watch TV at all :-D
• It is forbidden to make irrelevant calls to friends and relatives, or to chat with colleagues over a cup of coffee.
• Every day you should exercise and eat right

Quite a challenge, right? :) But if you decide to give it to yourself, you will be very pleased. Let's see what Mr. Larssen suggests we do day by day.

Monday

Monday's goal is to work on habits. You probably already remembered the promise you made to yourself: “Okay, I’ll start on Monday...”

Everything we do with you is a habit. Turning off the alarm and continuing to sleep is a habit. Opening social networks instead of starting work is a habit. A cup of coffee with chocolate cake instead of exercise is a habit.

Eric suggests making a list of all the good and bad habits. Next, look at them and make a decision: which habits do you want to keep and which ones do you want to get rid of?

To make this list impressive, the author suggests getting feedback from those around you. Ask people: What are my good and bad habits? Feedback guaranteed to surprise you! :-D

Starting Monday, start replacing bad habits with good ones. No self-pity! :-D

Tuesday

Tuesday is a day of awareness. On this day, the author suggests working on internal and mental attitudes. Eric believes that the effectiveness of the whole day depends on the ability to tune yourself. It's not that difficult to do. The secret lies in asking the right questions.

For example, if you work with clients, ask yourself the following questions every day:

• How well do I know my product?
• What good can I do for my clients today?
• How can I improve my work?
• What can I do to increase my sales?

Regular answers to these questions will help you stay on your toes and improve your personal performance step by step.

Wednesday

Wednesday is dedicated to management own time. This day is perfect for those who feel like everything is falling out of their hands and it’s impossible to manage their affairs.

Larssen suggests doing a simple exercise that Armen Petrosyan talks about so often: take a piece of paper or open an electronic document and write down all the things that you need to do in the near future.

Next, you will need to take a calendar or diary and simply write down the tasks you have written down by day. Only after this does Larssen talk about the need for quality planning: a plan for the year, month, week and day.

Thursday

Thursday is a real day without self-pity. The author suggests living this day non-stop. That is, not going to bed at all. I cannot say how useful this experience is, but judging by the reviews, it has helped many people.

The main motive is to awaken hidden reserves of strength and energy in you, as well as force yourself to step out of your comfort zone.

In addition, an additional task for Thursday will be to fight your own fears. You will need to choose a task that you have been afraid to do for a long time, and take the first step towards meeting it.

A serious challenge indeed!

Friday

Friday is dedicated to rest and recovery. On this day you will need to learn how to quickly recover from heavy loads. By the way, this does not mean that you should lie on the couch. Rest is multifaceted :-D

The author suggests learning to use short pauses for sleep and meditation, as well as simply periodically switching to activities that require a different type of energy. For example, after a meeting with a client, read your favorite book for 5 minutes or call a friend back.

The goal of the day is to learn how to recharge the internal battery in any conditions.

Saturday

Saturday is dedicated to internal dialogue. On this day, your task is to learn to get along with the very guy who sits inside you. Especially if this is the same guy who always says bad things about you:

• You can not
• You can not
• You're not worthy

Do you know this one?

Your task will be to turn off the inner voice and “reflash” it. Larssen suggests focusing on the positive:

• What am I good at?
• What positive qualities do I have?
• What are my strengths?
• What can I be proud of?
• What do I like about myself?

Answering these questions will help you turn off your inner critic and make it your friend.

Sunday

The last day of Hell Week is all about slowing down and rewards. Rewards for achieved goals and completed experiments.

A special point is the reward. If you've passed all the challenges of Hell Week, just reward yourself with something nice. Going to your favorite cafe, traveling to your favorite city, buying the thing you want.

This approach will help you maintain intrinsic motivation and remember that behind any trials and difficulties a pleasant reward awaits us.

Instead of a conclusion

Hell Week is a serious challenge. You will need to challenge yourself and live 7 days without self-pity. I will say that I use all the techniques of hell week in regular practice with the exception of no sleep on Thursday :-D

If you're stuck in your comfort zone, this will be a good boost. The experience will definitely change your attitude towards life.

Are you ready to take a risk?

Then buy Larssen's book and start preparing for your hellish week.