WHAT HAPPENS ON DAY 91?

I've pretty much always been an early riser. I remember when I was in high school, I would wake up at 5:30 in the morning to shoot hoops at the local elementary school down the street for an hour or so before heading off to class. While working in the gaming industry, my day often started at 3:30 so I could get to the gym by 4:30 to get my workout in before hitting the office around 6:00. And when I was working in a gym across town, I would be up at 3AM in order to be ready for my 5:00 training session with a client.

At 3 in the morning, I would eat my Clif Bar and a yogurt, and surf the TV channels. There isn't much on at that time of the day. Except infomercials. Lots of them. And it seemed like one out of every three was about a new, high-tech exercise program. And they prey on our need for instant gratification by touting the benefits you can achieve in only 90 days, or fewer. Yup, no matter how you look today, by exercising for an hour a day for less than 13 weeks, you will have the body you've always dreamed of.

So I started thinking: What if this were true of everything we do? How awesome would that be?? Let's take a look at school. Just imagine...I can study my butt off for the next 13 weeks, and then never have to read another book again, ever, because I would know everything I needed to know. What about my faith? I'm still working on improving that daily, but it's nice to know that in 90 days I can back off and cruise to the pearly gates! And let's not forget about work. Yeah. I can show up at 6AM, work hard until 8PM, and retire on November 1st. That's the ticket!

Of course, none of these examples are realistic. And neither are these "get slim quick" exercise videos for 3 easy payments of $39.99. Regardless of your goals...losing weight, finishing that triathlon, or landing the big promotion at work, it takes years of focus and dedication to reach and maintain world class levels. And that's true in EVERY part of our lives. Education is (or should be) a lifelong endeavor, not something that stops at age 18 or 22. We need to practice our faith every day for the rest of our lives. And if we want our business to thrive, we have to consistently strive to make better products, provide better services, and enrich more lives.

So let's stop thinking about quick fixes and shortcuts to success. For the overwhelming majority of us, there is no such thing as the 4-Hour Work Week. Lasting rewards will come only by pushing past obstacles every day for the rest of our lives. As humans, we are the ONLY species that can change the direction of our lives. If a bird wants to fly west for the winter, it can't. It is programmed in its' genetics to go south. Day in and day out, we need to take the actions necessary to change those things about us that we are not satisfied with. And on day 91, you'll see how far you've come, and realize there is still more to do.

Move Better. Move Stronger. Move Longer.