A Secret I've Been Holding for 6 Months

Around this time last year, I was exercising almost every day.In fact, on Wednesdays, I was exercising twice per day.Plus, I was commuting on my bicycle--which meant I was putting up another 4-10 miles on the bike, each day, just to get around.But guess what?I took a contract last November and I was pulling 80+ hour weeks. I stopped working out. I got sick in January and spent an entire week in bed.When I finally got up, I didn't go back to the gym.What I'm trying to tell you is that I've been using my busy work week as an excuse for not exercising. It's bad. I'm probably in the worst shape I've ever been in (and I was a smoker for 9 years)!!The weird thing is that I'm turning 30 in February--and I just can't start my 30s like this.I've got about 7 months to get my act together, which means I'm getting back on my routine.Just wanted to share this moment of doubt, hope, and motivation with all of you.It's embarrassing and I hate these moments. We all want to appear strong and motivated all the time, right?Of course, we can never be strong and motivated all the time. What we CAN do, is create a strong habit of behavior that wakes our bodies up at the right time, gives our minds the right thought patterns, and pushes us past those moments where our willpower may fail us.Going to the gym every once in a while doesn't help. It's daily, consistent, relentless action that changes you.

"Every workout is like a brick you lay in a wall. Each day, you lay another brick. At the end, how strong will your wall be?"

-Chris' High School Track Coach 

2 Minute Action

What do you feel is holding you back from daily, consistent, relentless action?My excuses have been: moving to a new place without a good gym, not wanting to pay for an expensive gym membership and my busy, 80-hour work week.What are your excuses? Are they excuses? What might you tell someone else if they gave you those excuses?

Did you really sign up for this?

I wrote a whole blog post and then deleted it. Why?It was terrible. It was another post about those small, incremental improvements.I feel like I'm losing momentum, like I'm losing traction, or like what I'm doing isn't making impact.It's so easy to feel this way.It's also embarrassing to admit it. I'm the motivation and productivity guy from Medium! I have all the answers! Duh!But you signed up for the truth!You signed up for the unadulterated, raw, bare-naked, (mostly un-edited,) before-Medium version of my content.As a perfectionist, it's hard to look at this post and say it's not ugly. I mean, it doesn't feel like the others. It doesn't feel like the best post I've ever written.And if it's not always the best post I've ever written, what's the point? Right?The truth is that the critic in the back of my head is important, even if it's unreasonable.It's a strength that points out inefficiencies, deficits, and imperfections that must be fixed. In fact, it's one reason I'm valuable in the marketplace!Let me explain . . .It's a strength that points out inefficiencies, deficits, and imperfections that must be fixed. In fact, it's one reason I'm valuable in the marketplace!But let's be clear about that voice: it's only useful if it's useful.What I mean is; if it increases motivation, great. If it demoralizes or subdues, ignore it.Fear and criticism should be given attention but NO power.Analyzing is useful. Ruminating is not.Is this what you signed up for?

2 Minute Action

Hit reply and let me know. Do you feel like you're getting what you signed up for?What did you expect when you signed up? If it takes more than 2 minutes, it's your fault. :)One easy way for me to tell if this is going well is to watch how many of you join my new, private Facebook Group.You're all invited, and I'd love to see you there. :)

Self-reflection

It's simple, but it's so hard.One of the toughest challenges we face every day is looking at ourselves in the mirror and making the conscious decision to fight for ourselves.It's so easy to lose hope, traction, routine, or sight of the prize.It's much harder to remind ourselves every day of what's important.The funny thing is that this decision takes less than a minute. It seems so easy when we look at if from the surface.But when it's beneath our skin, looking back at us . . . it's so much scarier.It just costs attention and the emotional labor of showing up in front of ourselves (our worst critic). It's scary but powerful.It costs us the most valuable things we have . . .  our attention and our emotional labor. It means we must show up in front of ourselves (our worst critic), completely bare.It's a scary and powerful notion.Just think . . .That small, deliberate moment of focus, every day, compounded over a lifetime.Drip, drip, drip.Relentlessly moving in the direction of your dreams, no matter what obstacles surface each day, you resiliently recalibrate.That's a habit worth building.

2 Minute Action

Take two minutes to ask yourself one of these self-reflective questions:

• What's something life's teaching you, right now?
• What's something that's difficult for you now, but was easy as a child?
• How would you like to be remembered?

"We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and the depth of our answers."

-  Carl Sagan