I finished 75 Soft. Here's what the data actually showed me 📊
Happy April, friend!
Writing this from Kaohsiung with a full heart and honestly a little bit of pride I'm still getting used to feeling.
A few weeks ago I nished the 75 Soft Challenge. And I have some things to say about it as I jump into Round 2!
✨ TLDR ✨
💪 Finished 75 Soft Round 1 and actually tracked the whole thing
📊 Had Claude turn my paper tracker into a spreadsheet so I could see the real data
🧠 What the numbers showed me vs what I felt was a whole moment
🐍 Did some deep reection on what this challenge was really about
😂 Had a "fuck it, we ball" moment and started Round 2 this week
Why I Even Started This
I want to revisit why I started this challenge in the first place, because it matters for everything that comes after.
I started 75 Soft with four whys:
To build a real system of self-care habits
To make time for my soul, spirit, mind, and body because I owe that to myself
To get back to the healthiest version of myself in my 30s
To bring more joy back into my life
That's it. No aesthetic goals. No before and after photos. Just me deciding I was worth showing up for.
The Reflection (And Then the Data 😂) I took real time to journal through the whole experience. I'm
After finishing, I took real time to journal through the whole experience. I'm genuinely proud of myself for that. The reflection alone felt like its own kind of win.
But then my systems brain kicked in and said we need receipts 😂
So I had Claude digitize my paper tracker into a spreadsheet. And looking at the actual numbers gave me something the journaling alone couldn't: a clear picture of what I genuinely did well versus where I actually fell short. Not just a feeling. Proof. And now I have something real to work with as I think about how I want to show up in Round 2.
What This Was Really About
Here's the thing I kept coming back to in my journaling.
I spent a lot of my life abandoning myself to keep other people comfortable. Shrinking. Accommodating. Putting my own needs last.
I didn't move across the world to NOT experience life on my terms. I could have stayed in Boston stressed out in a cubicle if that was the plan. 🫠
This challenge was never really about habits. It was about practicing the belief that I am worth being consistent for. That my body, my joy, my peace, my growth deserve the same energy I pour into my clients and my work.
Round 1 was about proving I deserve self-care.
Round 2: Already Started 😂
Had a "fuck it, we ball" moment and jumped straight into Round 2.
A couple of intentional tweaks this time:
I swapped out home cooking (Taiwan food is too good to feel guilty about 😭) for daily Mandarin study. Thirty minutes plus character writing practice. Long overdue.
I made my reading habit more broad, twenty minutes of reading or a hobby I enjoy, because joy needs to be built in on purpose.
Day 1? Missed my steps by 400. Didn't get to Mandarin. Showing up anyway. That's the point. 😂
Coming Soon 👀
I've been sitting on some things I can't wait to share in a bonus newsletter, including an AI tool shift that's been quietly changing how I work and something fun I built that you'll actually want to try. Stay tuned.
If you're in a season of choosing yourself, even imperfectly, even one day at a time, you're not alone. That's exactly where I am.
Sending you love and grace 💙
Ashley
✨ Your turn ⤵
Steal my 75 Soft tracker and make it your own. Grab the Canva Template Here
