One thing

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 One Thing:


January 17th was the day that I decided I needed to change one thing in my life.  I needed to take one step that would create movement.  It did not need to be a big step, it just needed to be a step. 


This one winter when I was a child, my brother was pulling me on a sled behind his car during one of our Oregon snow storms. He also had a bit of a led foot, so speed was not an issue. I was on a sled attached to some rope attached to his car.  All the sudden I can feel the sled slowing and the tension in the rope loosening. I looked behind me and the neighbor's mutt was nipping at my heels, and my brother was allowing it to get closer and closer. I immediately started to scream (pre-puberty scream) for my brother to speed up. I could see him laughing. I was having the feeling that all younger siblings have. Powerlessness to the impending doom that the older sibling was going to inflict. Eventually the dog gave up and we went back to light speed all the way home. It was a great ride, but I was relying on my brother to give me the momentum and speed I needed for the journey. 


If you are stuck like I had been, sometimes taking that one step is all it takes. I love using the snowball analogy for fitness, but it works for pretty much anything.  A person just has to get the ball rolling down the hill. Speed and momentum are so important in the process of change. The reason is because without speed and momentum, we can’t roll through the flat slow areas and we get stuck or the mutt finally grabs onto your foot.


Over this journey I have learned that I have to be the one to create my own snowball. But we need people for accountability and encouragement to keep progressing. My wife is one of those people for me. I have even tried giving my wife permission to throw water on me in the mornings if I was not up by the time I had committed too (not sustainable but she had fun). Those who support and encourage us can't get us out of bed, make us run on the treadmill, lift the weights for us, or put on our walking shoes and walk you around like a puppet. We have to get the snowball rolling with our own hands. Pick up the snow, compact it into a firm ball, and start rolling. That one small thing starts as a 4 inch ball. How big it gets is up to you for changing that One Thing. 



A screenshot of a phone Description automatically generated


So what is it? What is that one thing that you can change that will snowball.? For me, I had gotten into a terrible rut of sleeping in. If you are reading this and your cell phone alarm system looks like the menu at McDonalds with intervals of 5 minutes for an alarm, you came to the right place. There are really two types of people that abuse their alarms. First is the habitual snoozers, hitting snooze so much that they can hit snooze while sleeping. The other is the 10-15 minute alarms set in intervals. I am a snoozer for sure. I was getting up with just enough time to get to work. I was arriving later and later to my job. I had no plan in the morning. During that time of my life hitting snooze was the one choice impacting my whole process. No time to make lunch resulted in frequent visits to Taco Bell. I love Taco Bell, well I love Baja Blast Mountain Dew, and Taco Bell is the only place I can get it. I digress, my whole day was impacted. Picking clothes can be stressful and on a tight timeline it would create anxiety. What is that one thing that creates anxiety and is a snowball that rolls uphill ruining your goals? Maybe you start with that? First thing I do when I get home is layout my workout clothes and put what I am wearing to work for the next day in my gym bag.


By this point I am sure you have guessed it. I choose to stop sleeping in and I choose to start getting up early. I bought a digital alarm clock and for the first week I set it for 5:30 am. I put the alarm in a different room than my bedroom. I then set my cell phone alarm for 5:25 am. I knew when my phone alarm sounded I would have 5 minutes to get up and turn off the alarm clock in the other room before it woke anyone up in the house. I am pleased to say that I have not used the snooze button since January 18, 2023.  I actually love that I know the exact date I started this One Thing because it has had a significant impact on my life.  Now my wake up time is 4:00 am. 


What is that one thing you can do to make a snowball? Everyone is different, finding One Thing could change everything for you and how you reach your own fitness goals or any goal you have.  As I progress with these blog posts, I look forward to talking about how things have snowballed for me from changing that One Thing. 


Next week I will talk about my struggles with consistency and how I tend to make one thing way too big. 

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