Life is a puzzle some times, …is it not?  We just can’t quite figure out how to take the next step.  We know that we want more or need to have something else in our lives, but just don’t quite know how to get there.  Or we keep that thing in our lives that continue to holds us back from taking the next step.

Now all of you know that I’m about fitness, nutrition, goal setting and at times,  here to offer my experiences in life, ….about life,… to you.  I hope that you will find something that you can take away to encourage you to take the next step.  But dog gone it, sometimes life is a riddle, or a puzzle that has many moving parts.  Where do I start to figure this puzzle out is a common question.  And…really…the first step is the hardest right?  Or just trying to know where to start.  So my encouragement to you about that step is…….. stop sitting on your butt and do something.  Anything!  Make a move to figure this thing out, even if it’s an uncertain move.  No move at all is inaction and unless you’re some sort of brainiac that can figure it all out in your itty bitty head before hand, then I really need for you to be writing this article.

But even as puzzling as life is, we tend to make it harder.  So, take the first step and then, maybe, just maybe the next one will present itself to you and help steer you along.  So you’re asking yourself, what the heck is he talking about…. Well, I’m glad you asked.  This puzzle could be how to figure out what you need to do in starting that exercise routine you’ve put off for 30 years, or finding out how to start eating right after a lifetime if dining under the golden arch’s.  Or it could be that next move in life at work, at home, in that relationship or frankly how to get that dang dog from peeing in the house.  But until you are willing to take the first step, you’ll never see the second one.

So, I’ll finish here by talking about this little video.  A very few of you may know that I like to work with wood and build boxes.  Some of them are puzzling to say the least.  From taking a log in the woods, to planning a design, cutting and preparing the material and then working on the box itself trying not to make cuts out of sequence and ruining the whole project and then seeing it’s completion only to say ……..What the heck, I don’t even know how to open this darn thing I just made………  well not really, but you see life is that way some times.  We make of it what we want of it.  I’m all for setting a new course direction, especially when I love where it’s headed.  It’s a puzzle no doubt…….but I’m taking the first step.  How about you?

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What makes some people so successful in their career or life’s pursuits where it seems that everything they touch turns to gold?  On the flip side, how come a lot of other people we know seem to struggle and toil over the same issues time and time again?

Let me propose to you that the first person knows something or has something that the second person does not.  Would you agree with that?  I think most of you would.  So what is it?  That’s the million dollar question.  If you could just find out what that thing is and how you can get it, that would be the real solution to all your struggles in life.

I’ll pose a few scenarios to you;  And since this site is really about fitness, the first one will be about that …Why is it some people never manage the time to stay in shape, while others run a few miles each day even though their lives are just as busy?  They have the Slight Edge!  It’s there in your life whether you know it or not.  It’s either working for you or against you.  Your health is the most prized possession you have.  Yet many people don’t give their prized possession the attention it deserves. You wouldn’t expect to eat a double cheeseburger for lunch and then keel over with heart attack from it.  Not today and not tomorrow.  But a lifetime of that type of eating will certainly put you on that path.  So it’s not the 1 junk food meal, it’s the thousands over a lifetime.  Eating fresh fruit, complex carbs, lean protein and such will give your body what it needs. It’s easy to eat right and it’s easy to not eat right.  Both are easy, but in the long run they have dramatically different outcomes.

The same is true for exercise.  Not doing a bit of exercise for a week or so, won’t put your body in sad shape, but a lifetime of no exercise will certainly put the pounds on. A few workouts a week, twenty minutes here doing a fast walk or run, doing some resistance exercises here and there, all add up to what your body needs.  Both of these examples show the slight edge in our life.  A little bit each day will either reward us, or put us on the wrong path.  Yet the day we do it, just that one day in time doesn’t have much of an effect.  The days add up and the slight edge has worked for us.

The second example is finances.  It’s the same story a lot of you have heard.  Two people age 24 talk about retirement and how to invest to make a million bucks by age 65.  One takes steps, small as they are and invest 2,000 dollars a year for 6 years.  The other just meanders through life not giving much thought to retirement and then meets his friend again at year 7.  He asks his friend how he’s doing and how are his investment plans going.  His friend says ‘I’m all done!”  At age 65 by the magic of TIME his friend will have a million dollars even though he doesn’t have to invest 2 cents more here at age 31.  So the friend who didn’t start investing wants to be in the same shape and starts his trek towards the million dollars at age 65.  The only difference is, he now has to invest 2000 dollars a year until he’s 62 to reach that mark.  His procrastination cost him 33 years!

So the slight edge in life can have a profound effect.  But it’s never to late to start.  It’s not simply “Will Power” that will get you there.  All it is is TIME.  Do a little each day, regardless of the goal and you will achieve it.

So get off your (you know what) and get on the “Slight Edge” of life and succeed!

If you enjoyed this post and hopefully found it useful, please take a moment and click “SHARE” below and give it a little Tweet up top.  Thanks!

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I recently met a new friend, Kim, who was walking by and noticed that I was reading a motivational book.  Asking what I was reading, I responded that I was reading “Eat That Frog” by Brian Tracy.  This led to some good conversation about inspirational and motivational books to help you.  I truly believe from that encounter that Kim is going to become a good friend.  You can look at person and tell very quickly that they have a heart that cares for others, a drive that moves them forward in life and a DNA, or “Determined Natural Ambition” that sets them apart from others.

We met again and enjoyed some great conversation and also talked a bit more about books that help us to grow.  I was trying to recall some that I had recently read, but I’ve read so many and started and stopped others only to pick up another one, that I could only name a few at that time.  Inspired by our conversation, I came home and looked on my bookshelf.  I have over 50 at a quick glance.  I decided that I would grab a few of my favorites off the shelf and just put them here as a recommendation for you to read at some point in your life.  They’re all great and I’ll add to this list at a later time, but for now here’s a few to get you started…

• EAT THAT FROG by Brian Tracy – His sub title of “21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time” truly fits what’s inside the cover.  From planning your day to focusing on results to motivating yourself into action are just a few of the topics covered.
• SPARK by John Ratey – is a great book to read about how the mind and the body interact to help keep us healthy and strong.  Our brains are much like muscles that can grow with use or wither from inactivity.
• FAILING FORWARD by John C Maxwell – What makes achievers excel?  Why do some people skyrocket while others plummet?  These are just some openers that John speaks to in this book.
• WHO MOVED MY CHEESE by Spencer Johnson – How we deal with change in our lives so that we can enjoy less stress and more success in our work and our life.
• THE MAGIC LAMP by Keith Ellis – “Goal Setting for People Who Hate Setting Goals”.  This book was originally recommended to me by my good friend joey Petri and I’ve found that this book is very helpful for me in gaining momentum.  there is a process to the madness called “L.A.M.P”, but I’ll save that for you to find out what it means.
• GO FOR NO by Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz – OKay, in a nutshell “Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones, but “No” Can Never Hurt Me”
• MADE TO STICK by Chip Heath and Dan Heath – My friend Tony Horton (author of the famous workout P90X) recommended this book to me.  Why do some ideas thrive while others die?  And how do we improve the chances of our worthy ideas?  This book is AWESOME!  Thanks Tony!
• TRIBES by Seth Godin – Do you want to be a leader or a follower?  Tribes are all the rage these days, but someone has to lead.  Surprisingly that could be YOU!
• THE SLIGHT EDGE by Jeff Olson – My good friend Judy Zavislak has shared this book with me and I must say it’s one that has really made a huge impact on my life.  The slight edge over time will make me into a person that I cannot even fathom today.  Doing the right thing albeit ever so small, each and every day will help me to succeed in those dreams.
• THE RICHEST MAN IN BABYLON by George S Clason – Take a journey back in time to learn economic tips and tools for financial success that are still applicable today.

All of these titles can be found quickly by clicking on my Recc Books.  But if you are anyone like me, you might already own these treasures.  Just dust them off and give them a read.  Please check back here after you do and share with me and others your comments on these books…or others.

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Hi There!  Today I’m sitting here just thinking about little steps.

Really….just little steps.  And how many it would take to realize reaching goals I have set for myself. Today I took a little step and tomorrow I’m going to take another.  I have found that success will not be had by buying a lottery ticket or taking giant steps or leaps towards it.  It won’t happen that way.  But it will happen as I make small steps each and every day in the right direction.  I would rather take small steps in the right direction than play day after day the lottery in hopes of winning it big.  Why do people do this?  Because it’s easy.  Let’s toss the coin the other way… if it were easy, we’d all be millionaires. If it were easy, we’d all be fit and trim and gorgeous as my good friend Tony Horton says…(I know , some of you are already, but humor me).  Why aren’t we all these things?  Because it’s easier to NOT do the things that will get us to those goals.  It’s easy to play the lottery instead of making sound good choices each day.  It’s easy to eat fast food, grab a soda or just not eat all day.  The steps of life are hard whether we know or admit it to ourselves.

So let me back up a few million steps.  There is a path that few choose.  You could call it the road less traveled or the path that few find.  But we know the road and we know the path.  So, I want to take a step in the right direction.  I’ll take another step tomorrow going the same way, and again the next day. You see, I won’t have success that first day, or the second, or the third, but some day down the road when you least expect it, I’ll be that millionaire, or that fit and trim guy, or person who others will say “man, he has it all, how did he do that”?  The same could be said for the person taking the wrong little step each and every day.  Just one day in the wrong direction doesn’t really hurt or matter, but a lifetime of taking those steps will lead to disaster.

So what’s my point you ask?  Good question!  My challenge to you today is to make a decision that will lead to your success.  Do it each and every day.  It doesn’t matter if the task is very small or seems insignificant, but over the long haul, one day you’ll wake up and wonder at the success you’ve achieved.  Not because you leapt one giant step.  But because you steadily made progress towards your goal bit by bit.

It’s like the water hyacin on a large pond.  The little plant starts out growing and is no larger than a quarter the first few days of the month.  Even two weeks into it the hyacin still has only grown to the size of a small overturned boat, but on day 29 you discover half the pond taken over by the plant.  On day 3o the whole pond is covered.

Reaching your goals in life will most likely not be accomplished by buying a lottery ticket, but will be gained by making small incremental, stead fast movement each day in the right direction. I want to help you get there.  I want to help you build a success strategy. I know my site is mostly about fitness and nutrition, but honestly I would love to help you in succeed in whatever you attempt.  Sometimes it not about what steps to take, but it may be that you need someone to help hold you accountable.  We all need that accountability partner in life.  I have one or two that I can say have made a large impact on my life and helped me steer in the right direction.  What will you do today?  Choose the path least taken or the one that most travel and never reach success.

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