A friend of mine retired from the Army last year and he told a very interesting story as part of the ceremony. He got the opportunity to go on an Honor Flight.
Honor Flight is a program that flies our military veterans to Washington DC to see their memorials. The whole day is dedicated to honoring them for their sacrifices.
My friend said that of the 100 veterans on the plane, 50 of them had to be wheeled aboard on wheelchairs. After a full day of flying from Huntsville to Washington DC, seeing all the memorials, and then flying back to Huntsville you would think they would be in rough shape. Of the 50 that were wheeled on, only 25 had to be wheeled off.
The rest walked off that plane on their own.
Have you ever felt physically better after a day of flying? No way! It is an exhausting process that saps your energy, so how were they physically able to walk off of that plane under their own power?
They had a powerful Why.
They didn't undergo some miracle, medical procedure. They underwent a miracle, mental procedure. Much like Simon Sinek's famous TED Talk about the power of why for business leaders, you need to find a powerful Why that drives everything you do.
Think back over your life. Has there ever been a time when something meant so much to you that you were willing to put all your efforts toward it?
Maybe it was getting a college degree, going after a promotion at work, or trying to make a sports team.
Whatever it was, I can guarantee you had a powerful Why to get you through those times when your goal seems so far away. For the times when you felt tired and defeated. You have to have a strong Why to do something extraordinary.
My challenge to you is to figure out your Why. When you do, you will not tell yourself that you are too injured, too sick, too frail, too overweight, too out of shape, etc... to exercise.
Instead, the things you used to use as excuses will just be bumps in the road that you are prepared to roll over on your way to success.
I will leave you with one more example of someone who had one of the most amazing Whys I have ever heard. I used to train a guy named Scott.
Scott was a great guy, stayed very busy at work, and was always talking about getting this "50 pound addition off the front of my house".
Scott would train with me for a little while, then drop off the face of the Earth. He kept up this pattern off and on for a few years.
Then one day, he walked in and I could tell something was different. Scott had on his game face.
Scott walked up to me, gave me a check for a year of training, and said he was going to stick with it this time. Now I like to make money as much as anyone else, but I also like do everything I can to get my clients results.
So I told him I could guarantee him results, but he had to show up for that happen and I mentioned his pattern from the past. I asked him what was going to be different this time. His reason gave me goose bumps.
He told me, "Yesterday I turned 49 years old. My dad died of a heart attack when he was 50 years old and I was 8 years old. I'm on almost the same exact path my dad was on. He worked all the time, he was 50 pounds overweight, and did nothing about it. His death put my whole family though so many hard times you can't even imagine. I've got a 7 year old son and there is no way in hell I am going to let him go through that."
Now THAT is a Why right there!
PS-Scott lost the "50 pound addition" and then some. He is now 56 years old and has kept the weight off.
No reason you can't be the next success story. Find your Why.
