🔥 One Thing
January 17th, 2023. 📅
That was the day I decided I needed to change one thing in my life.
Not everything.
Not a full overhaul.
Not a complete personality rebuild.
Just one thing.
It didn’t have to be a big step.
It just had to be a step.
Because movement creates momentum.
The Sled Ride 🛷❄️
One winter when I was a kid, my brother tied a sled to the back of his car during one of our Oregon snowstorms.
He also had a lead foot… so speed wasn’t the issue.
Picture this:
Me on a sled.
A rope tied to a car.
Snow everywhere.
Suddenly, I feel the sled slowing down. The rope goes slack.
I look behind me — and the neighbor’s mutt is nipping at my heels 🐕
My brother?
Laughing.
I start screaming (pre-puberty scream 😅) for him to speed up.
It was that classic younger sibling feeling — complete powerlessness while your older brother decides your fate.
Eventually the dog gave up.
We hit light speed again all the way home.
It was an incredible ride.
But here’s the thing:
I wasn’t creating the momentum.
I was relying on someone else to pull me forward.
The Snowball 🌨️
When you’re stuck — like I was — sometimes one step is all it takes.
I love the snowball analogy for fitness, but it works for everything.
You just have to get the ball rolling.
Speed and momentum matter.
Because when momentum is strong, you can roll through the flat, slow seasons.
Without it?
You stall.
Or the mutt catches your heel.
Over this journey, I learned something important:
I have to build my own snowball.
Yes, we need accountability.
Yes, we need encouragement.
My wife has been huge for me in that. At one point I even told her she had permission to throw water on me if I didn’t get up when I said I would 💦 (not sustainable… but she enjoyed it).
But here’s the truth:
No one can get out of bed for you.
No one can run your miles.
No one can lift your weights.
They can cheer.
They can support.
But you have to grab the snow, pack it tight, and start rolling it yourself.
It starts as a 4-inch ball.
How big it becomes?
That’s up to you.
So What Was My One Thing? ⏰
Let me ask you something.
If your alarm screen looks like the McDonald’s menu — alarms every five minutes — you might relate 🍟
There are two types of alarm abusers:
1️⃣ The habitual snoozer (that was me).
2️⃣ The 10–15 minute interval setter.
I could hit snooze while still asleep.
I was waking up with just enough time to barely get to work.
Rolling in later and later.
No morning plan.
No margin.
Hitting snooze wasn’t small.
It was affecting everything.
No time to pack lunch → Taco Bell runs 🌮
(Okay, Baja Blast runs… let’s be honest.)
Rushed clothes decisions → anxiety.
No structure → no momentum.
No momentum → no growth.
That one habit was quietly snowballing in the wrong direction.
The System 🔧
So I changed one thing.
I stopped sleeping in.
I bought a digital alarm clock.
Week one: set for 5:30 AM.
Placed in another room.
Then I set my phone alarm for 5:25 AM.
That gave me five minutes to get up and shut off the real alarm before it woke up the whole house.
No snooze.
No negotiation.
I’m proud to say:
I haven’t hit snooze since January 18th, 2023.
I love that I know the exact date.
Because that One Thing changed everything.
Today?
My alarm goes off at 4:00 AM.
And I get up.
The Real Shift
The wake-up time wasn’t the magic.
The decision was.
That one small win created momentum.
Mornings became structured.
Workouts became consistent.
Food improved.
Confidence grew.
Snowball.
Roll.
Build.
Repeat.
Your One Thing ❓
What’s the one habit quietly rolling downhill in the wrong direction?
What’s the small thing creating anxiety?
What’s the 4-inch snowball you could start building today?
It doesn’t have to be dramatic.
Just take one step.
That’s how you build momentum.
That’s how you build confidence.
That’s how you change everything.
🔥
Next week I’m going to talk about my struggle with consistency — and how I tend to take one thing… and try to make it way too big.
Because that’s a whole different battle.
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