Think back to a time you made insane progress in your life.

What were you focusing on?

What were the conditions?

How were you feeling?

What were you doing?

Why did it happen?

I think back to June 2022.

It was winter.

I remember the dark mornings.

I remember the long walks in the cold.

I remember my accountability partner, Alex.

I remember when my roommate had a friend over.

It was a Saturday.

We were chatting in the TV room before I had to excuse myself.

Her friend looked at her, confused, but my roommate explained that I was going to study.

This had been my routine for the last 6 weeks or so.

I vividly remember my roommate saying, “I wish I were as disciplined as she is.”

Up until that point, I hadn’t thought of it as discipline.

For me, that time was a time to set new standards.

And a lot of being sick of being sick.

I had been in a rut.

My business was stagnant.

University work was overwhelming.

And I had a kickboxing tournament in October.

I had taken some time off from kickboxing to heal from an injury.

This unconsciously led me to take everything easy.

I put school on the back burner.

I spent more time watching TV.

I wasn’t as consistent with outreach.

I was going to bed late and waking up late.

I went out with friends nearly every Friday.

But once I got the go-ahead from my doctor, I knew what I was doing wouldn’t work.

If I really wanted to fight in October’s tournament, I would need to go all in.

Not just in kickboxing.

But everything.

Imbalance for New Balance

Everyone talks about “balance.”

Balancing your work and life.

Balancing your health and fun.

Balancing your career and your hobbies.

Balancing your spending and your savings.

Balancing your personal growth with just living life.

Now, don’t get me wrong.

I love balance and I value it deeply, but over the years, the way I think about balance isn’t always practical.

In fact, striving to always be balanced can hold you back.

Think about it like this:

There are months when you don’t save anything because of unexpected expenses.

There are times you have to work late and don’t have the evening to chill.

Your training took a backseat in December because you went out more.

You saw your friends and family less because you started dating someone.

And if you’ve just started dating someone, your friends and family won’t see you all that often.

Life happens, and often, we have to sacrifice one area of our lives to see another grow.

Balance isn’t a perfectly weighted seesaw.

Not every side will be equally balanced.

One side demands more of you than the other.

Most know this.

But others try to maintain balance all the time, and that's what holds them back.

They try to give a little here, a little there and don’t forget about over there.

All in the hopes that it will level out and balance itself out.

In theory, it sounds great, but life doesn’t happen in theory.

All this striving for balance leads to:

• Burnout — because you’re spreading your energy too thin.

• Frustration — because nothing feels like enough.

• Mediocrity — because the focus required to excel at anything is diluted.

Maybe you’ve experienced imbalance and chaos for a really long time, and you want things to settle.

You want to breathe, and you want things to calm down.

You know your situation better than I do.

But you’re not who I’m talking to.

I’m talking to you who says you want freedom, growth, and to level up your life.

I’m talking to you who says you want to reach your highest potential.

I’m talking to you who says you’re tired of the same old, same old.

I’m talking to you who says you want more from life.

If this resonates, you need to be honest with yourself.

You need to realise that when you say you want balance, what you're really saying you want is comfort.

And if you want things to change, you can’t:

Hold onto your old routines and habits.

Keep repeating the same things.

Keep playing to the status quo.

Because all this and more is the excuse that keeps you from doing what it takes to change.

If you never choose to stop chasing “balance”, you’ll wake up 10 years from now with:

• A body you hate

• A mind that hates you

• Relationships you hate

• A job or career you hate

• A soul that’s slowly dying within you

And a lot of regrets and ‘what ifs’

Balance can become the shield that keeps you from taking risks.

And risks are the only way forward.

The reward for the risk will be balance.

Stretching The Extremes

And the reward for the risk will be balance.

Because balance is not the starting point.

Balance is the reward.

The artist disappears into their studio for 6 months, obsessed with finishing an album and drops the album of the year.

The athlete disappears into brutal training camps during the off-season and comes back better than ever.

The entrepreneur disappears for 3 months, working on 1 new product and comes back to completely disrupt the industry.

Trying to balance the seesaw or walk the middle path isn’t what creates breakthroughs.

Breakthroughs come from the times you disappeared and went to the extreme.

And the science backs it up.

Hebb’s Law — “neurons that fire together, wire together” — explains how neuroplasticity works.

When you throw yourself into something extreme, novelty and challenge trigger your brain to rewire at high speed.

When someone moves to another country, they learn the language faster than in the 5 years of Duolingo lessons.

When you do 75 hard, monk mode or any self-improvement protocol, you rewire your mind, body and habits faster than any other time in your life.

That’s the power of these periods or seasons of extreme.

When you go into it with a new goal, magic happens.

• You notice opportunities aligned with your new goal.

• Your mind filters out noise and focuses on only what matters.

• You take different action and rewire your nervous system.

• You expand your capacity.

And there’s an incredible payoff for these seasons of extreme:

You return with a new standard.

A new set point.

Your ‘new balance’ is higher.

And you get to enjoy a better quality of life.

You don’t get balance by staying comfortable.

You get balance by going extreme, stretching your capacity, and letting everything else play catch-up.

Balance doesn’t come from moderation. It comes from extremes.

Moderation maintains the status quo. Extremes create new realities.

When you stretch the extremes, you create a new equilibrium.

A new standard.

Imbalance, when applied intentionally and with purpose, is the way to create a foundation for balance.

Seasons of Extreme: Monk Mode Reimagined

We hear about “monk mode” (or similar self-improvement protocols) a lot these days.

But the mainstream idea — cutting off everyone to make money — misses the point.

True seasons of extremes are holistic: mind, body, soul, and craft.

You disappear for a purpose, focusing on a problem until it’s solved.

The aim isn’t just output or income — it’s a whole life upgrade.

When you think of a season of extremes, there are 4 key traits to keep in mind:

1. Focus — Focus on a singular goal. Be ruthless with what you give your attention to. Eliminate distractions that split your attention from what matters most.

2. Building — Decide what habits and skills you’re developing and acquiring.

3. Experimentation — Treat yourself like a scientist: try, fail, adjust, repeat.

4. Intensity — Give yourself permission to push beyond comfort. It’s in going outside your comfort zone that you grow the most.

Create Your Season Of Extremes

So, how do you create your own season of extreme and create a new balance?

Here’s the protocol:

1. Block Out 3–6 Months

Mark it on your calendar.

3 months should be your minimum because it takes around 66 days to change a habit completely.

So 3 months min and 6 months max.

2. Commit to One Goal

Pick the goal that, if achieved, would pull everything else forward.

Ask yourself: If I could only win at one thing in the next 6 months, what would it be?

3. Give Yourself Permission To Be Extreme

Get sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Give yourself permission to be extreme.

Take your current status quo and amplify it.

• If you do 4 hours of deep work, push it to 8.

• If you run 2 km, push for 5.

• If you drink every Friday, cut it out. Cold turkey.

• If you study 30 minutes a day, stretch it to 2 hours.

This is about raising your floor.

4. Pick Your Levers

Choose 3–5 daily habits that directly move the goal forward.

For this, you need 5 habits:

3 habits for your mind, body and soul and 2 of your own choosing: finances, education, beauty, career, etc.

You don’t have to have all 5.

You can just have the 3 for your mind, body and soul, as these are non-negotiable.

You can’t change your life without changing yourself.

5. Disappear and Immerse

Cut out what doesn’t align.

That might mean saying “no” to friends, changing your routines, or deleting apps.

Think of it as going ghost.

Disappear and come back unrecognisable.

After the Extreme, There’s Balance

Going back to my winter in 2022.

I disappeared, and I gave myself 3 months.

I cut out everything unnecessary and focused on 5 habits:

1. Daily outreach (10 emails)

2. Kickboxing training at 6 am

3. Sales study for 30 minutes minimum

4. Meditation (for one hour)

5. Sleeping at 9 pm

I said no to friends and outings (unless it was a special occasion like a birthday or milestone celebration).

I even told my mom the latest she could call me was 8:30 because I was going to be sleeping at 9 pm.

This was the first time I had ever been so extreme in my life.

But I can assure you, it paid off.

Here’s all that happened after:

• I signed 3 clients in that time.

• I got into the best shape of my life.

• My mental health was the best it had ever been

• I was the most confident I had ever been at the time.

Those 90 days created the foundation for the life I’m living today.

That season of extreme gave me the balance I experience today.

It raised my standards and showed me that I am capable of more.

Remember:

Balance doesn’t come from doing everything moderately.

It came from being unbalanced in the right direction.

So… I hand it over to you?

When are you going to the extreme?

The middle path is the fastest path to stagnation.

The season of extremes is the fastest path to the life you really want.

The fastest way to a balanced life is to be unbalanced.

Thank you for reading.

I hope you enjoyed it.

See you in the next one.

— Shana