Laying the Groundwork

From the time I was a child, I knew that one day I would have my own business. I don’t know why I had that conviction, because it was totally incongruent with the life I was living. But the seed was planted and slowly germinated and sprouted over the years, before finally taking root.

The problem was that I had no idea whatsoever what the business would actually be. And that made it awfully difficult to prepare for. Because I was unsure of what was to come, I focused instead on preparing myself to be successful, regardless of what I ended up doing. And once I had achieved some success, I found I needed to redouble my efforts to avoid falling into complacency.

I started with mindset. It seemed to me that all the successful people I knew or had been exposed to had a certain swagger about them. A quiet confidence in their abilities that made their success an inevitable result of the life they lived. I certainly didn't feel that way at the time, so it meant a lot of "fake it till you make it." I identified certain attributes in people I admired and found ways to begin integrating those characteristics into my life. Gradually, with diligent practice, they became a fundamental part of my being.

Next came body work. All the people I admired had very high levels of energy and I knew that physical fitness was a vital cornerstone to a sustainable, high energy lifestyle. Although I'd been going to the gym with relative consistency my whole life, it was clear that I had been slipping and needed a kick in the ass.

I distinctly remember a day in the gym when I was thirty-five. In between sets I looked at myself in the mirror and was not happy with what I saw. For the first time I really noticed age beginning to catch up with me. There was less muscle and more fat, and I just looked damn tired. I decided then and there that from that day forward I would begin aging in reverse. Now, at forty-three, I look and feel better than I did at twenty-three.

Finally, I knew I needed to work on my spirt. I was carrying around the baggage of decades of heavy living and I needed to clear space for new energy. This has been the most brutal practice of all because it's meant accepting everything that has ever happened, then coming to peace and finding meaning in it. All of it. No matter how difficult.

Over the next three days I'll be going into more detail on each of these topics. I'll tell you more about what I experienced and the practices I used to navigate my way through. It’s been the work of decades for me, but I wasted lots of time and hit a lot of dead ends along the way.

If you're brand new to these ideas, then my hope is that you'll find the inspiration to get started. If you're already familiar with them, perhaps something in my experience will resonate with you and help push you to a higher level. Each of us is different and will need individual strategies to maximize our potential, but we're all on a journey and I believe the ideas are universally applicable.

But ideas are not actions. Even the most powerful insight is nothing but a passing fancy unless you seize it and do something with it. And the sincerest resolution is simply wishful thinking until you follow through. Once you connect your focused attention with determined action though, everything changes.