Motivation after an Injury/Big Race

It's a strange phenomenon.

I worked so hard for so many months to prepare for the Hawaii Ironman 70.3, and I accomplished my goal with a great time. Following the event, I took a 2.5 week break and did nothing at all. The break was necessary to let a long time hip injury settle down, and it worked great. No hip pain at all. However, it is much tougher than I thought it would be to get back into a training groove.

It seems that getting started, with anything, is actually the toughest part of the process.

Getting started, again, back onto a regular, consistent training regimen is tough. Getting started on a major report at the office, getting started cleaning out the garage, getting started with a home remodel.

These are really all the same. The toughest thing is just getting started.

I needed to remodel my home from the second we bought it nearly 14 years ago. But the task was overwhelming and expensive. So I sat on it and only did the most minor of superficial repairs that were absolutely essential. Then finally, I decided just to paint our master bath. That's all. I hired a few guys from the local paint store to help strip off some paint, and the next thing I know, I've completely remodeled nearly every single aspect of our home.

I waited 14 years and did basically nothing. Then in the course of six months I:
-painted every room in the entire house
-painted the exterior
-installed a new slate roof
-installed all new exterior windows and doors
-upgraded all electrical
-installed new fixtures in all bathrooms
-installed all new flooring in 100% of the house
-installed an Endless Pool, deck, landscaping
-did a mini-landscaping upgrade
-installed new granite counter tops in the bathrooms
-installed two new kitchens with all new appliances
-the list goes on and on

The important take away here is two fold:
1. The hardest part is just to get started
2. Once started, the speed in which things get accomplished is absolutely amazing

No one can possibly believe I did this remodel on my own (i.e. no contractor, but of course, subs did all the physical labor) nor the speed in which so much was accomplished.

Finally, I clearly realize that getting started, whether with a training program, an important report, cleaning the garage or a mid six-figure home remodel are all really the same.

As Nike says: Just Do It.

Just get started!

My company, IdeaBridge was started the same exact way...The correlation is amazing.

About ten years ago, sitting in a private room at the Jonathan Club in downtown L.A., my very good friend Joseph challenged me to just get started with a simple step. "Just open a checking account. It doesn't matter what you call it, just open that account and get something started."

He challenged me to start my own company and advise executives on the programs, tools and processes that I had developed over the years to improve the performance of bank executives and sales people. I didn't know about running a training or consulting firm at all.

But once I took him up on the idea, of "Just open a checking account", well a whole series of decisions had to be made and the wheels were set into motion.

What is the name I am going to put on the account? I need a business name. But before I decide on a name, I will need to figure out exactly what we do. Are others doing the same thing? Yep. OK then, how will my company be different, how will we position ourselves, what will we offer, why would people come to us instead of going to others who are more established, how will we price our services, and what exactly ARE our services?

I had to think about all of these things, and try to develop answers to these questions.

It all started with one simple challenge to: "Just open a checking account."

Do you want to get in shape? Do you want to change your habits? Do you want to resume a former schedule and become more disciplined?

My experience has been that you don't need to have the whole thing figured out with a detailed plan just yet.

What you need to do, right now, is commit to taking some small action...today.

Right now if you can!