I’ve been hammering on daily routines and recurring rituals over the past 2 years.
Over the past 90 days, I pushed hard on a few key goals – one of them being the preparation for this Energy and Action project. As the past 90 days came to a close, I realized I need to greatly simplify all of the things I had in motion, and get very, very focused on a few focused and do the simple things in life.
As a very strong figure in my career said once, at the end of a very significant accomplishment for the corporation in which we were all high fiving and backslapping (another phrase from a differing mentor from back in the day…) – he reminded us to not forget the basics, as success is about doing the simple things really well and consistently. His exact phrase was ‘it is great to celebrate today, and you guys all earned it. However, many in your spot have forgotten the basics – do the blocking and tackling each day and put in the time to support your teams. You do that, you will continue to succeed as leaders.’ This was a guy that had been around over 20 years and was synonymous with the word ‘integrity’ – so when he spoke – you listened, hard. Fast forward from early 2014 to today and …
This 30 Days of Discipline is dripping with this type of thinking, and the first day was continuous echo chamber of habits that in some cases have been chiseled into form – in some cases made of granite. In other cases, some habits have softened due to a variety of things that all boil down to excuses and a lack of intention on my part. This program has some very simple, very basic things that are essentially building blocks to greater routines and habits – I know this to be true. Regardless of the simplicity and in some cases repeating things I already do as habits, I’m doing the program exactly has Victor has laid it out.
Today was kind of an ass kicking on one of the habits (there are 12 embedded in the program) – Habit 5 – which is focused on getting through a set amount of pushups, body squats (no weight), and situps. Now I’m in solid shape with a strong bench, squat, and core – but this routine caught me and kicked my ass. Basic movements, simple amounts being demanded – and it was hard. I loved it.
The simple things, the routine, and the feeling of accomplishment afterwards are all gifts from God aimed at enabling your full potential if approached the right way. Well, today I got through all three of the movements, and I’m going to post my times for completion here to compare the progress that I’ll surely accomplish in 30 days:
Pushups – 5 minutes and 53 seconds
Squats – 4 minutes and 53 seconds
Situps – 9 minutes, on the nose
Cannot wait to knock out the remainder of the habits tonight as I close this post down.
Bringing it here, are you?
