You have started dozens of projects. That half-finished painting sits in your studio corner. Your guitar collects dust while you scroll through YouTube tutorials you’ll watch later. The knitting needles remain tangled in a project you abandoned three months ago. If you are searching for a way to break this cycle of unfinished ideas, the 75 day hard challenge, adapted for creative minds, might be the powerful framework you need to finally transform those intentions into masterpieces.
Sound familiar? You’re not alone. Most hobbyists struggle with the same problem: starting strong but failing to maintain consistency. We get excited about a new creative pursuit, dive in headfirst, then gradually lose momentum when life gets busy or motivation wanes.
What if there was a way to break this cycle? What if you could harness the same discipline that transforms bodies and minds to transform your creative practice?
Enter the 75 Day Hard Challenge, a mental toughness program that’s helping hobbyists worldwide turn their passion projects from wishful thinking into tangible achievements. By adapting this rigorous framework for creative pursuits, you can finally build the consistency needed to master your craft.
A Quick Note on Mastery
You may have heard of the 10,000-Hour Rule popularized by Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, which suggests that’s what it takes to achieve elite, world-class expertise. For us hobbyists, that number can feel daunting and unrealistic. The goal of this challenge isn’t to become a legendary concert violinist in 75 days. It’s about achieving personal mastery—building profound skill, finishing projects, and developing the unshakable creative habit that allows you to make meaningful progress and find deeper joy in your passions. This framework is your catalyst for that transformation.
What is the 75 Hard Challenge?
Entrepreneur Andy Frisella created the 75 Hard Challenge as a mental toughness program designed to build discipline and eliminate excuses. Over 75 consecutive days, participants follow five non-negotiable rules with zero room for compromise, miss even one day, and you start over from day one.
The Original 75 Hard Challenge Rules
The original challenge requires participants to:
- Follow a diet with no cheat meals or alcohol
- Complete two 45-minute workouts daily (one must be outdoors)
- Drink one gallon of water per day
- Read 10 pages of a non-fiction book daily
- Take a progress photo every day
While these rules focus on physical transformation, the real magic happens in your mindset. The challenge trains your brain to follow through on commitments regardless of how you feel in the moment.
If you are exploring new passions, our guide on hobbies for women can help you discover fresh ideas to stay consistent and creative.
Why This Challenge is a Game-Changer for Hobbyists
Traditional goal-setting often fails hobbyists because it lacks the structure and accountability needed for long-term success. You might set a vague intention to practice more or finish that project, but without clear parameters and consequences, it’s easy to rationalise skipping days.
The 75 Day Hard Challenge framework addresses three critical areas where hobbyists typically struggle:
Skill Mastery Through Consistent Practice: Research shows it takes approximately 10,000 hours to achieve mastery in any field. While that might sound daunting, 75 days of focused daily practice create measurable improvement and build the foundation for long-term growth.
Project Completion: The all-or-nothing nature of the challenge eliminates the option to quit when projects get difficult or boring. You’ll push through creative blocks and finish what you start.
Unbreakable Creative Habits: By linking your hobby practice to other daily activities, you create a routine that becomes automatic. After 75 days, creative work becomes as natural as brushing your teeth.
The Adapted Rules for Hobbyists
Here’s how to transform the original 75 Hard rules into a powerful tool for creative growth:
Your 75 Day Hard Challenge Checklist
Rule 1: Daily Creative Practice (45 minutes minimum)
Dedicate at least 45 minutes daily to your chosen hobby. This could be painting, writing, music, woodworking, or any skill you want to develop. No exceptions, no excuses.
Rule 2: Skill-Building Study (10 pages daily)
Read 10 pages from books related to your craft each day. This could include technique guides, artist biographies, or industry publications. Audiobooks don’t count; you need the focused attention that reading provides.
Rule 3: Document Your Progress
Take photos or videos of your work daily. This creates a visual timeline of your improvement and helps you identify patterns in your creative process.
Rule 4: Physical Activity Supporting Your Craft
Complete one 45-minute workout daily that supports your hobby. Musicians might focus on finger dexterity exercises, artists on hand and eye coordination, writers on posture-supporting core work.
Rule 5: The Hobbyist’s Diet Rule
Eliminate one habit that interferes with your creative practice. This might be social media during creative time, watching TV in your studio space, or any other distraction that derails your focus.
The Hobbyist’s Diet Rule
Just as the original 75 Hard diet eliminates foods that don’t serve your physical goals, the hobbyist’s version requires you to diet from behaviours that don’t serve your creative goals.
Common creative “diet” restrictions include:
- No social media during designated creative time
- No consuming other people’s creative content in your chosen medium during practice sessions
- No multitasking—when it’s creative time, it’s only creative time
- No negative self-talk or comparison to other artists
The key is choosing one specific restriction that directly impacts your creative productivity and sticking to it for all 75 days.
Sometimes the hardest part of building a habit is breaking free from feeling unmotivated. If that sounds familiar, our guide on hobbies for women who feel stuck in life shares simple activities to restart your creative journey.
75 Soft Challenge & 75 Medium Challenge: Sustainable Alternatives
Not everyone can commit to the intensity of 75 Hard, and that’s perfectly okay. The beauty of this framework lies in its adaptability.
What is the 75 Soft Challenge?
The 75 Soft Challenge offers a more flexible approach while still maintaining structure and accountability. For hobbyists, the adapted 75 Soft rules might include:
- Practice your craft for 30 minutes daily, with one rest day per week
- Read 5 pages of craft-related material daily
- Take progress photos three times per week
- Complete three 30-minute physical activities per week
- Maintain your chosen creative diet six days per week
This version acknowledges that life happens while still building consistent habits.
The 75 Medium Challenge falls between Hard and Soft, offering a middle ground for those who want more structure than Soft but find Hard too restrictive. You might practice daily but allow for shorter sessions on busy days, or maintain your creative diet five days per week instead of seven.
What to Expect: Amazing 75 Hard Challenge Results
The transformation that occurs over 75 days often surprises participants. What starts as a simple commitment to daily practice evolves into a complete mindset shift.
Real 75 Hard Challenge Results from Hobbyists
Consider Olivia, a weekend watercolourist who struggled to improve beyond basic techniques. After completing her adapted 75 Day Hard Challenge, she had created 75 finished paintings, read eight technique books, and developed a distinctive artistic style. More importantly, she had built the confidence to sell her work at local art fairs.
Or imagine Lucas, who owned a guitar for five years but could barely play three chords. His 75-day commitment included daily practice, music theory study, and documenting his progress through video recordings. By day 75, he was performing at open mic nights and had written his first original song.
These results are not magical, they are the natural outcome of consistent, focused effort over an extended period. When you remove the option to quit and commit fully to the process, remarkable progress becomes inevitable.
The physical documentation aspect proves particularly powerful. Watching your skill level improve day by day motivates you during difficult periods and creates a portfolio of your growth that you can review whenever you doubt your abilities.
Transform Your Creative Life in 75 Days
The difference between hobbyists who achieve mastery and those who remain perpetual beginners isn’t talent—it’s consistency. The 75 Day Hard Challenge provides the structure and accountability needed to bridge that gap.
Whether you choose the full intensity of 75 Hard, the flexibility of 75 Soft, or the balanced approach of 75 Medium, you’re committing to take your creative practice seriously. You are choosing growth over comfort, progress over perfection, and discipline over motivation.
The best part? You don’t need to wait for the right time to begin. Forget expensive equipment, perfect conditions, or divine inspiration. All it takes is the willingness to show up for your craft every single day for 75 days.
Ready to start your 75-day challenge? Download our free printable PDF checklist and journal to track your progress! This comprehensive tracker includes adapted rule checklists, a 75-day calendar, and reflection pages to help you document your creative journey from start to finish.
FAQs
The 75 Hard Challenge, created by Andy Frisella, is a mental toughness program built on strict daily rules with no compromises. While the original version focuses on fitness, at FemmeHobbies we’ve adapted it for hobbyists—helping you build discipline, stay consistent, and finally complete your passion projects.
The original 75 Hard can feel extreme for some, as it demands strict physical discipline. However, our adapted hobbyist version focuses on creativity and consistency, making it a healthier, more sustainable approach for long-term growth
In the original 75 Hard rules, two 45-minute walks would technically fulfill the requirement for two workouts (as long as one is outdoors). In our hobbyist version, we’ve reimagined this rule entirely. Instead of two workouts, we require:
One 45-minute session of active creative practice (e.g., painting, knitting, writing).
One 45-minute session of skill-building study (e.g., reading a craft book, watching a tutorial, planning your project).
This adapted approach ensures every minute invested directly contributes to your creative growth and mastery.
