To win at Hell Week, you need to bring your A-plus-plus game. There’s no margin for error here, no “I need to sleep in this morning” or “I really want to meet friends for a drink after work today.” In the military version of Hell Week, I saw guys get reprimanded all the time for the smallest infractions. Maybe they’d fall asleep during their watch, which can obviously have huge consequences on the field of battle. Or they’d leave behind something minor, like a sock or water bottle. A slipup that small could be enough to send them packing.
My Hell Week isn’t quite so severe. But I demand a lot. Do you like to check your email on your phone before you go to bed each night? Not this week you don’t. Fond of hitting the snooze button a few times before you finally roll out of bed? Not on my watch. Each day of Hell Week has a specific theme, an area of your life on which I need you to be hyperfocused. But there are certain rules that apply across the entirety of Hell Week, from 5:00 a.m. Monday morning until 10:00 p.m. Sunday night, when I expect you to collapse in a heap of fatigue and satisfaction. With that, here are your seven rules of Hell Week.
Yeah, I know, you’ve been hearing that since you were five years old. So why hasn’t it stuck? At least you’re not alone. Somewhere between fifty million and seventy million Americans don’t get enough sleep to the point where it significantly affects their health, alertness, and safety. Not impressed by that fact? Try this one on for size: a recent study found that getting an extra hour of sleep per week (not per day, mind you, per week) can increase wages by more than 4 percent. Not a bad little raise for simply giving your mind and body the essential rest they need.
There is one major exception to this rule during Hell Week that I have to point out here. It happens on Thursday, when I’ll ask you to skip sleep altogether and spend all night engaged in productive work. I’ll cover this in more detail later in the book. For now, consider yourself forewarned.
You’ve probably heard the old adage “Dress for the job you want, not the one you have.” During Hell Week, I want you to extend that to your entire life. That doesn’t mean you have to rush out and buy a new wardrobe for Hell Week, but I do want you to go up a notch with your clothes and appearance, so that you’re looking your absolute best when you walk out of your home each morning—hair neatly brushed, shirt or blouse ironed, fingernails clipped or neatly manicured.
I even want you to take special care of your appearance when you’re knocking around the house. Impress your spouse or your kids, or even just the family pet. Hell Week is about establishing new patterns of behavior. Sometimes a “fake it till you make it” philosophy applies, and upping your appearance is one of those times.
I can’t remember the last time I met a highly successful person who didn’t work out regularly. There’s an inextricable link between physical fitness and mental health, which in turn allows for peak performance and productivity. During Hell Week, I want you to take this principle to the extreme by exercising every day for a minimum of one hour. You can choose to do two thirty-minute sessions—a good option for very busy people or for those who aren’t yet in top physical shape. At least two of the exercise sessions during the week must be extremely vigorous, relative to your current level of fitness. If you usually run 5Ks in forty minutes, I want you to run a 10K in under an hour. If you’ve only ever done the beginner’s spin class, go for the intermediate or advanced. Hell Week is all about pushing your limits (as much as your health and doctor permit), and physical activity is one of the best opportunities to do so.
Along with sleep and exercise, a healthy diet forms the three-legged stool that’s essential for a sound mind and body. I want you to forget the traditional three-squares-per-day model and instead eat more frequently throughout the day—say, five smaller meals, two of which should be snacks. I don’t like to get too prescriptive with the actual menu planning, since people often have dietary restrictions or strong preferences for certain types of foods. But generally speaking, I have clients stock up on easy-to-prepare items, including eggs, fruits and vegetables, nuts, granola, yogurt, and grains. There is no shortage of advice out there on creating a healthful diet. The important thing is that you do it.
Of course, all kinds of junk food—including potato chips, soft drinks, and chocolate—are strictly forbidden during Hell Week. I also insist that you don’t use alcohol. These are big sacrifices for people—and that’s exactly the point.
Smartphones and tablet computers were supposed to simplify life, but for many of us, they’ve resulted in digital overload. It’s just not possible to keep up with so many information streams—from email to your Twitter feed to your friends on Facebook—and still be productive in the areas that matter, namely work and personal relationships with family and friends. Hell Week will force you to break the harmful digital habits that have likely crept into your life in recent years.
This will require several measures. First, you will not use social media in any personal form during work hours. I realize that many people’s jobs now require them to be on Twitter and Facebook. If that includes you, I need you to be disciplined and not take a detour into your old college friend’s Instagram page.
Last but not least, you will not watch television during Hell Week. Don’t worry, your favorite show will be there a week from now (though I hope any tendency to binge watch will be gone, or at least greatly reduced).
If you work in an office, you have a natural separation between work and home life. But technology has done a lot to blur the line. Per rule number five, think about how many times you check your Facebook page at the office, or your work email at home. In fact, this rule has a lot to do with managing digital distractions, but it goes even further. During Hell Week, I need you to make a conscious effort to make work only about work. Text messages, phone calls, and emails to friends during office hours (whatever those may be for you) are forbidden. Conversely, when you walk through the door at the end of the day, you need to be 100 percent focused on your home life. If you have a family, give them your undivided attention. If an evening workout is part of the routine, pour yourself into that. Your goal is to make it to about 9:00 p.m., when it’s time to get into bed with something to read, preparing your mind and body for a solid night’s sleep.
This is the most amorphous of the seven rules, but it’s also the most important, which is why I like to end with it. Hell Week is a test of your will and mental fortitude. You’ve got to be in it all the way. I’ve had clients give me less, and in every case the return was less than it could have been. Those Hell Weekers who do go all out, without exception, come away from the experience with a renewed focus and direction. So what exactly does staying the course involve? I’ll return to the theme throughout this book, but it boils down to the following principles:
Hard work. Whether you’re completing an important assignment at work or simply folding the laundry, I need you to tackle every task with purpose and resolve.
Dedication. As a follow-up to hard work, I also need you to see every task through. Modern life makes it very easy to slip into a start-and-stop rhythm, where you end up getting very little done. Even if it means taking on fewer projects, the ones you do commit to this week must be completed.
Proactivity. Don’t wait for things to happen to you. Be the agent of change. Maybe there’s an important conversation that you and your spouse or partner have been putting off. Or you and your colleagues have been batting around a new idea at work. Take charge of the situation and see that the idea finally comes to fruition and reaches the right people. This is the week to get it done!
Positivity. You will stay pleasant, positive, and solution-oriented at all times. When we think of a hardworking, take-charge person, he or she often looks like a real ballbuster. It doesn’t have to be like that. You can be hyperproductive and still treat people with decency and respect.
Focus. I need you to be aware and conscientious of everything you do this week. Pay particular attention to the role you’re playing in different situations. There are times to talk and there are times to listen. There are times to lead and there are times to follow. Be conscious of which role is required of you in any current moment, and embrace it.
• • •
It’s a lot to take in, I know. Following every rule will not be easy, and that’s precisely the point. Remember the words that opened this book: you can take a lot more than you think. But you need to push yourself to that limit. In a sense, we have it easier in the military, in that we have our commanding officers barking orders and forcing us to carry on. For you, that motivation must come from within. But I know you can do it. And while I won’t be there in the flesh, my words are here to guide and inspire you. Okay, it’s go time.